Penelope was a little more on the ball at her six month session. Enough so, anyway, that she had no interest in posing for any pictures without holding on tightly to Mommy or Daddy (who again came with us). We were able to get her six month milestone shot, her sitting upright on her own, but it was a close call. I had been working with her for weeks but she was still a little wobbly. The photographer was a pro though and made it happen. No other pictures were happening, though. My husband held our fussy baby and tried to comfort her but all the excitement seemed to just make things worse. Finally, the photographer came up with a brilliant idea. He made my husband, a guy that works out pretty regularly, take off his shirt and we stripped the baby of everything but just her diaper and got lots of gorgeous "Daddy and Me" shots. Something about a black and white photo of a bare-chested man holding a tiny baby is incredibly tender and sweet and it’s probably my favorite picture taken of both my husband and daughter, ever.
At nine months she needed to be able to stand and hold onto a chair for the milestone shot, so I began working on this about a month early. This time we went without Daddy and the session went pretty well. We got the milestone shot right away and I was even able to change her into a few different outfits for some other pictures.
Her one year session was definitely the most challenging. My daughter, just a day shy of her first birthday and at the height of her battle with separation anxiety wanted nothing to do with anyone at the photography studio. Apparently this is typical for 1-year-olds, but it didn’t make me feel any better. For her milestone shot she was supposed to be standing next to a rocking horse independently or with one hand on the horse to steady herself. We had worked on it at home, but at home she was barely cruising so I knew it was a long shot. Add to that her separation anxiety and her first year milestone shot ending up being of her riding the rocking horse instead of standing next to it. We tend to do things differently in our family anyway, so that fit. There were a lot of tears during this session so thank goodness the photography studio has a talented retouch artist that removed the redness and tears from her face.
The result of all of this was a beautifully framed series of each of her milestones from her first year with her name engraved along the bottom. Did I go too far in my quest to beautifully document my baby’s first year? I don’t think so. Whenever we have company and they see the pictures of my daughter for the first time a lot of people gasp (though still no one has cried yet) and comment on how remarkable they are. So yes, we are thrilled we have such terrific pictures of our daughter’s first year. After all they are only this little once, the money spent was definitely worth it, and we made it through the year without losing our cable television subscription.
Megan Kerns is the stay at home mother of 1-year-old Penelope Mae. She is originally from Kansas City, Mo., but currently lives in Dayton, Ohio, with her husband and their two cats.
