Live and Learn...

Abigail and I were having a wonderful day. She was especially perky and fun this afternoon. I was getting a little tired of being in the house so I decided a trip to Wal-Mart was "necessary."

On the fly I grabbed Abigail's Easter outfit JUST TO SEE how much the WalMart portrait studio was. I figured it must be pretty cheap, since it's WalMart right?

So I get to the portrait area and tell them I just want one pose in her Easter dress. They tell me it's $20 for one sheet on one pose. I figure this was ok and grandparents would be happy seeing how it is her first Easter and all. Plus Abigail was passing out smiles, so I felt the urgency to seize the moment!

So we sit Abigail down (on a not too cute green blanket in front of a not too cute backdrop by the way, but it's ok Abigail's cute enough to steal the show). Voila! She smiles right away! I look at the picture and say "great!" thinking that was it and we could go now. But noooo... I was informed they HAD to take 6 poses.

Me - "But I only want to buy that one picture"
Amber - "I still have to take the other poses"
Me - "Fine."

So we do a couple more poses, and everything's going fine. Except the lady (Amber) keeps putting Abigail in positions where she has to hold up her head. I tell her that Abigail JUST STARTED holding her head up and can't do it for too long because she gets tired.

Amber - "Just a few more, it won't take long"

By pose number 3 (a belly shot where once again Abigail has to hold her head up) we start losing her. Abigail is getting really really tired and fussy. Her naptime is getting closer and closer. I tried calming her down a couple of times and it was a no-go.

Me - "We're done."
Amber - "I still have to take the picture"
Me - "Then just take it of her crying, I'm only buying the first one"
Amber - "Why don't you try changing her diaper, that could be it"

URRRGH! I know what the problem is! She's TIRED! I'm ready to just say forget it and run, but I decide to go ahead and change her diaper to prove my point. Frustratingly though, after the diaper change she is calmed down. Now Amber thinks she's smarter than me!

I just wanted to get the whole thing over with, so I prop Abigail back up there and with some fussiness and soothing get through two more poses.

By now it is 30 minutes past her naptime and her poor little eyelids and falling. I felt like a horrible mom putting her through this when all she wanted to do was take a nap... Again I tell Amber I'm done. Again she says she HAS to get the final shot.

So I rock Abigail and she falls asleep almost immediately. Poor baby... so worn out...

We took the last shot with her sleeping in my hand.

Now after this was all over and done with Amber sits me through 30 minutes of cropping and "enhancing" and collages... even though I repeatedly told her it didn't matter, I'm ONLY BUYING THE FIRST ONE! She keeps trying to talk me into these packages that are "$1,000 value, but today I can give it to you for $299!"

What really upsets me about this whole thing is I finally did get suckered. I bought one sheet of the first photo of Abigail smiling... but I also bought the last photo where she's sleeping. I couldn't help myself she looked so cute! But now Amber is going to push other little babies to exhaustion because she knows moms like me will still buy the last shot! I can't believe I did that!

Even at the check-out she's trying to sell me memberships to come back and work with her again... uh no?

I can't beleive how rude I sound in this post, but I was just so frustrated. It's all fine and good for Amber to wear my baby out, but I'm the one that has to take that fussy baby home!

Finally... for 8 3.5 x 5 pictures it cost me $40. I went to the WalMart photo kiosk after this and printed about 15 pictures I took myself for $4.00!!

Never again. I'm not saying I'll never do professional photos again, because I know I'm not that strong. But NEVER Wal-Mart again, and NEVER on an impulse, and NEVER 6 poses. (at least until she's older)

Live. and Learn.