Portrait Time

Back in February Tanner turned 5. I managed to get him to the doctor for a well-child visit but failed to bring him in to get his picture taken. This must have been the case the last 3 years since I've only gotten Tanner in once when he was two. When it was getting closer to Garrett's birthday I decided I might as well wait a little longer and bring them both in. Since we were finally all healthy I decided I better bring them in before one of them got sick again.

Yesterday I managed to give them both haircuts and a bath so they were good to go this morning. Last year for Garrett's first birthday he was very uncooperative. I was really hoping that having a sibling there this time would make him less shy and want to participate a little more. Nope. He acted the same exact way. Somehow we managed to get a few good shots again. Here are the results:


This is my favorite of Garrett. Oh wait!! Oh No!! I just realized that his left hand is flippin' the bird! I think. That's what it looks like now. Great!! This is one that I got an 8x10 of! Oh well. That also fits his personality I guess! :D



A split second before he ran for me.



This is his "I'm trying not to smile" face. I almost didn't get this one because his buck teeth are showing but it was so "him" I couldn't resist.

This was one of the attempts to get him to cooperate by having Tanner participate with him. They were supposed to hold hands facing away from the camera and just turn to look at each other but you can see how Tanner was trying to encourage him to relax.

I thought this collage of Tanner was pretty cute.

This one I think is somewhere between "I'm bored out of my mind" and "I know I'm irresistable".

This is pretty classic.

This is my favorite of Tanner. He is so handsome!

My Little Shadows

One day while doing some laundry this is how these two ended up. It's been a little while since this happened so now I don't remember who layed down first or how either of them ended up like that but I just thought it was cute/funny.
You can tell a couple things from these photos. 1) Garrett isn't that much smaller than Tanner even though there is just over 3 years difference between them. 2) They both have their fingers/thumb in their mouth. My laundry room is pretty tiny.

All Done

This is how Garrett ends up most mealtimes when he is ready to get out. Sometimes he sits and plays with his foot like it's a toy and then I've got extra parts to wash before he can get out. The funny thing is that I never see him actually getting his foot in that position, it just shows up there. This is probably his leverage for pushing himself out of the seat in an attempt at escaping the high chair. He now has to be buckled everytime he gets in it.

On this particular occasion Tanner decided to tickle his foot for him.

Favorite Things

So here's a photo of what happens if I try to take a shower while Garrett is awake. Things to take note of:

1. Tanner zoning out playing hotwheels.com


2. The tissue box is mostly empty with tissue scattered everywhere;


3. The corded phone is off the hook


4. Jon's headphones are missing vital pieces and on the night-stand under the phone


5. Garrett is holding a glass frame


6. Oh, and the obvious fact that he is ON the nightstand


7. Something not obvious is some of the ball-like "flowers" behind him had been picked off the stem and he had some in his mouth

Stuck

Garrett is fully into climbing and such and this is how I found him one day when the lock was not done.

First Haircut

A haircut was long overdue for Garrett but I wanted to wait until after his 1 year pictures before I cut it. Since I finally got the pictures out of the way, a few days later he got his hair cut.
His hair was nice and long at the top where one would have a mohawk and at a section in the back.
The spot I usually pick for my youngest kids is on top of my bathroom counter (with all my stuff moved out of the way) and the really little ones get to sit in the bathtub sitter to keep them contained. He did really well in the beginning but soon got ancy. He found the water spray bottle and started sucking on it. That kept him pretty well entertained for the remainder of the session, although at the end it got some hair on it and he kept putting his mouth on it anyway. "Oh well" is what I kept telling myself.
I think I cut off about 3 inches from the longest parts and left about 2 inches on his head. What a difference it makes...to me at least. His hair is so blonde and fine/thin that unless it is pulled away from his head it wasn't that noticeable. He is so handsome now!
Before:























After:

Photo Shoot

Garrett finally had no bruises, bumps, marks, or illnesses all at the same time so I finally brought him to Target to get his 1 year pictures done (at 14 months). I dropped the other 3 off at Laura's a block away so they were not a distraction during the session.

After waiting about 40 minutes, (and yes, I had an appointment) it was finally our turn. I brought him in and he did not want to be separated from me. They took a few with me in them but he would just not cooperate alone. He either had his thumb in his mouth, was leaning for and looking at me, or was throwing a huge basketball to me. I wouldn't mind a straight-faced shot of a kid this age but he didn't want to be alone for even a few seconds. At one point I stood behind the photographer to try to play peek-a-boo but he started crying. The photographer was not much help either. She did a few raspberries or what-not at him and said his name but that was about it. Her ability as an actual picture taker or creativity with pictures is not in question, but her ability to interact with or relax a small child was.

At the end I was just sitting there (feeling hopeless) holding him and gave him his little stuffed puppy-dog (which he's not attached to but I think is just adorable) to hold. He put his thumb back in his mouth and that was the last picture she took and happened to turn out really cute. I was not hopeful about the outcome of these photos. I figured I would have to reschedule and bring the kids with me to make him less scared.

About half hour later they finally showed me the pictures and surprisingly they were decent enough to order. I think maybe the one by himself, I'm holding his hand or something. So here are some scans of those photos.