Smile Pretty !

Elaina's first birthday is creeping up on us sooner than we think - it's only 2 weeks away !

Since I try to be somewhat organized and think that I'm on the ball once in a while, I decided to take Elaina to get her birthday pictures taken. Yay ... I did something ahead of schedule for once !

I left work early and allowed plenty of time to get her around and play prior to plopping her on the table to smile on command. All good mom -stuff, right ? When I got to the sitter's house to pick her up, she told me that Elaina had only had a few short catnaps the whole day versus her typical 2 hour stretch nap that she is accustom to. I nearly hit the floor, she was barely able to keep her eyes open ! As we were driving to the portrait studio, I heard her in the backseat with her motor going. Those are true-tired sounds. I was traumatized thinking that she would surely fall alseep 5 minutes before our arrival and be miserable. Luckily, she proved me wrong !

As I was taking her from the car, we stood outside to let the fresh air and warm breeze refresh her and re-energize her. Going into the store, we checked in for our appointment and the clinging began. Elaina wanted to be held. She wanted her binky and she wanted no part of sitting on a hard table all by herself. Two mugshots into the session, I admitted to the photographer that this may just be a waste of her time. She may have felt the same, yet she continued and actually captured some genuinely sweet smiles from Sleepy - Beauty ! I was impressed !

Once we finished and I was selecting our photos, Miss Smiles proceeded to run around the store, smiling and getting into everything. In fact, another shopper commented on what a lovely, happy baby I had before me ! She was a smile machine - after her pictures !

She never was able to fall asleep and so we went shopping. The funniest part of our night happened in Wal- Mart. I was selecting some baby food off the shelf and a jar slipped off and shattered everywhere on the floor. " Oh CRAP ! " was the first thing to come from my mouth. Elaina looked down at the mess and then looked me in the eye and said, "Uh-Oh !" I nearly forgot about what had just happened as I was laughing out loud ! Elaina was the 'Uh-Oh" girl tonight. When she would drop her binky or fall down - it was followed by an instant "Uh-Oh" used in perfect context every last time ! What a funny girl !