Digital

I was thinking the other day about how different it is for me to take pictures of my baby than it must have been when my parents took pictures of me.  Thinking about the idea of waiting to pick up the pictures from the drug store, having no idea how they turned out, and inevitably flipping through stacks of pictures to find the one where the right people were looking the right way with the right expressions on their face....a great pic must have been SO exciting!

Typically, for every picture that is a winner, I go through about ten attempts, maybe more. It starts with a vision-- Zoe's first experience with bubbles is so adorable, I'm going to get a perfect picture of her cute smile as the bubbles rain down. And so it begins......

The mouth suddenly opens....

The head abruptly turns....

And turns the other way.....

Kind of dazed and stunned-- as good as we're going to get!

Sometimes I keep trying like a crazy person, irritating the heck out of my baby and myself.  I won't even tell you how many times I attempted the video of her first steps before Aaron finally caught it last month- which seems pretty silly now that she is walking all over the place!  Other times I give up, and go ahead with what I get rather than my perfect vision.  Is that a metaphor for parenting?

Most of the trials don't make the transfer from camera to computer, but here are a couple of battle losing shots.  I picture my disappointment ripping open the little picture envelope at the drugstore and seeing sideways eyes and no smiles! I had promised that for Zoe's sake when she's grown I would only post pictures that put her cuteness in perspective, but I guess just this once....

The babies not quite getting the message to smile for the camera!

Trying for a cute shot with Nana!

What is WITH the tongue, girl???

I swear to you she looked right at me in between every shot this day!

My personal favorite:  Aaron making fun of her repeated refusal to look at the camera