Happy Birthday, Nana!

So, remember last year when we had all kinds of issues with our Christmas pictures? Looks like Christmas picture disasters might turn into an annual occurrence.

You might be wondering, "Um, that's great and all, but what does that have to do with 'Happy Birthday, Nana!'?" Well, this year we did Christmas pictures on the sly as a surprise birthday gift from Miles and his cousin Lyla. The plan was to make the trek down to Lexington the day after Thanksgiving to have a joint session at Portrait Innovations.

Before making the trip, we gave Miles his bath. Approximately 37 minutes after his hair dried, Miles decided to rub his breakfast plate - complete with bacon grease - on his head. Within the next 15 minutes, he puked all over himself and Mommy. Now - we're definitely not dumb enough to dress him in his picture clothes beforehand - but it did set a bit of an ominous tone for the rest of the day.

Miles and I both were at the start of a cold (still working on getting rid of it), but we decided to pack up the car and drive to KY anyway. Sure, we were super happy to see the Kolb family, to check out their new house, and to help a little bit where we could...but the main purpose of the trip was for the joint photo shoot.

At first, it looked like things were going according to plan. Miles and Lyla both had their naps, seemed to be in good spirits, and managed to keep their clothes in good shape. We arrived a little early to find - not surprisingly - a zoo at the picture place. Despite the craziness, they were able to get us into the studio right on time for our appointment. (Insert plug for Portrait Innovations here...love 'em!)

The problem was - Miles didn't really have much time to adjust the chaos. When I set him down next to Lyla in their matching Christmas jammies, he immediately freaked out, clinging to me like a baby monkey. Throughout all of this, Lyla was cheesing for the camera. After many songs and goofy faces, we decided to ditch the cute jammies look and try again with the dress clothes.

I thought maybe having me disappear for the next shot would help Miles not be so clingy, so I moved as far away as I could and kept peeking in, trying to adjust myself in a spot where Miles couldn't see me. I just couldn't stand not being a part of it, so when Kari peeked her head out, I asked, "Do you think it would make things worse if I went back in there?" I knew it was bad when she replied, "I don't think it can get any worse..."

We were having no luck, so I finally asked the photographer what she could do with me holding him. We got all of two smiling shots - one goofy maniacal smile that didn't look like Miles at all, and this one:



Sure, he has a tear in his eye, a blip of snot bubble, and a Christmas tree ornament behind him that makes him look like he's wearing a crown. And forget the fact that you couldn't see his entire outfit - including the perfect shade of grey pants to match his sweater...the ones I searched every kids' department in Indy for. For all the drama, we got at least got one good shot!!

The picture people were able to take that shot and do a 70s-ish floating-head montage with Lyla for Nana's present. Nana reports that she loves it. Then again, she also said she started crying before she even opened the package, so I'm sure she would have loved the screaming version of the Miles picture too. The little collage do-hicky probably worked out for the best, because the chances of getting Lyla and Miles both smiling in the same shot were slim to none.

The great part of all this hubbub? We found Supermodel of the Year for 2029...Lyla Anne Kolb! Just check out this face:



I accidentally mailed my copy of the other cute smiley one to Nana...I want that one back, Nana!

Because we didn't want the matching cute jammies to go to waste, we recreated the scene at Casa Kolb the next morning. Yes, there are DVDs in the background, our fancy set includes a sheet on the ground, and we had to bribe Miles with Cheerios. I think it's cuter this way - the bedhead is authentic!