Birthday Week Day 2: No Pictures Please

As part of Andrew's 1st birthday celebration, I wanted to get some professional photographs to mark this momentous occasion. We did it for James and wanted to keep the tradition alive. It was a beautiful day and he was in a great mood - full of giggles and smiles.

I dressed him up in his special 1st birthday outfit and headed over to the Elevee Photography Studio where our family photographer, Erica, was ready to capture this wonderful milestone.

Or so I thought.

Andrew wasn't having it. AT ALL. The minute we walked in the door the smiles disappeared and his grip on me tightened. When I brought him into the studio and attempted to put him on the floor in front of the gorgeous backdrop, the screaming began. The tears continued until the moment I put him back into his car seat and drove away. Can you say FAIL?!

My plan B was to get him back into his special 1st birthday outfit and snap some photos in our front yard over the weekend. Well, Mother Nature decided to bring on some rainy 30 degree weather so that was not happening.

So, instead, I snapped these shots. They are not professional. They are not perfect. But they are true to the type of kiddo Andrew is. A silly, curious, high-energy little man who is comfortable in his own surroundings with the people he loves most.

I asked Erica if she can send me some of the photos she did take while we were in her studio. Most of them are of him crying, but I need to have a record of it so that I can remind him when he is a Dad and his little boy is not cooperating on picture day. :)

And Without Further Ado

We took family pictures a few weeks back.

Not. Half. Bad. :)

Now for the plug.  We can't say enough great things about Erica of Elevee Photography.  Not only is she awesome to work with, she takes amazing photos.  Seriously - check her out if you are in the market.  I mean look at the shot of that smile!!  Killer!

Picture People

A few weeks back, we took advantage of a great gift I received at my baby shower (thank you Kim Newland!) and this week, we received the goods.  The Mangiaracina's met with Erica of Elevee Photography at the Sully Plantation on a chilly day in October to do our family photo shoot.  When I called Erica to schedule the shoot she told me that she was 100% booked until the end of the year (boo!), but she was able to squeeze us in if we could do a week day (yah!).  Luckily, we all had Columbus Day off so that was our day.

We all dressed in our finest and headed to the site to meet the lovely Erica.  She was fun, bubbly and a Mom herself to 3 young girls so she totally related to all of the baby-isms we encountered during the shoot. And believe me, we encountered a lot.  Like  A LOT a lot!!  Our typically happy, smiley, giggly little man decided that this was the day he would not crack a smile.  We did everything in our power to make him smirk. There was dancing and singing and bouncing and swinging but nothing worked.  NOTHING.  He was more interested in checking the place out than to give a big smile for the camera.

But despite this obstacle, Erica was able to get a bunch of really great photos.  At the end of the 2 hour shoot, she caught the one smile of the day and actually got 2 photos of it!  And since she is such a great person, she is actually offering us another session at half price since James was so serious during this one.  Score!  Hopefully this time, he'll give us a peek at those pearly whites he's been working on so hard.  :)

Enjoy!

 



 

 

Psst:  The video is a little grainy when viewing it on the blog.  Check it out on YouTube using this direct link.  Enjoy!