Picture Perfect

With all of my kids, I've had 3 professional pictures taken of them during their first year: one at 3-4 mos, one at 8-9 months, and one around 12 mos. So, Mathison has been overdue for his one-year-old picture. His 9 mos. picture was taken at Kiddie Kandids, and all of the poses were so cute that I spent more money than I should have on a deluxe package (we still have tons of pics left over). I decided to be economically minded this time and scheduled a photo shoot at our local Wal-Mart. They have a $5.99 special going on, and I promised myself that I would stick with that package and not buy any extra photos. After several tries, we finally got a decent shot of Mathison - but in order to get the special, the photographer had to take additional photos. Well, my artistic side soon got the better of me and I got caught up in choosing the different backgrounds, props, etc. Then, my perfectionist side took over and I insisted that each shot be perfect - no stray hairs, bunching shirts, or looking off to the side. After several re-takes, I came to my senses; why was I obsessing about getting "perfect" takes of these extra photos if I wasn't planning to buy them? I took one look at the frustrated photographer and the impatient customers waiting their turn and decided that I'd better buy some additional pictures in order to save face. After all was said and done, I'd spent just as much money and far more time than I did at Kiddie Kandids - and I'm sure I'll have just as many extra pictures lying around collecting dust!