Behind the Smiles

My walls are lined with pictures, family photographs, portraits.
My children's milestone years are captured and hung in matted frames:  3 months, 6 months, 9 months, a year and so on...
Now that Logan is older, the pictures are hung together - both kiddos at 2 years, both at 3...both at 4.

I have a stack of frames on the kitchen table, just waiting to be lovingly filled and hung in just the right place.  Logan turned 5 and Madison is almost 9.  I split the months and had their birthday pictures taken on the same day.  The pictures are beautiful - smiling faces, cute poses.
A small amount of rearranging will be necessary to make sure the "5 year old" pictures are hung together - nothing too major, just a few changes. 

I survey the walls, strategizing the arrangement when a giggle escapes me...these pictures are great - of course they are - why would anyone hang bad pictures, anyway?  But these smiles were hard earned.  The irony is inescapable.

Each photograph shows a smiling child. Just moments before there may have been tears, arguing, pleading, chasing, yelling - well, not too much yelling, just a little.  Children must be clean and well groomed for these pictures, right?  The rushing to bathe, dress, fix hair, drive to the photography studio, re-do the hair, plead with them to smile - these days are simply exhausting. 

When my children were smaller, I was one of those moms that brought a change of clothing and took pictures in front of multiple backgrounds.  Now, the outfits are chosen carefully but there is only one.  I have taken a curling iron with me to re-curl Madison's hair while we were waiting our turn.  I have tucked in Logan's shirts countless times.  We have had new fancy shoes and there were times that we went with a "no shoes" theme.  We take pictures of Logan...then Madison...then the two of them together...mom sneaks in for a few too.

Madison is, and has always been, a complete ham.  Ever since her first photo shoot at the age of 3 months, she smiles on cue.  It's so easy.

The poor photographers use all the tricks in their bag to get a good picture of Logan - they have been known to call in a teammate for backup.  There have been stuffed animals on their heads, goofy sounds coming out of their mouths - all to try and get a little boy to smile.  Something he does all the time, mind you, but rarely on cue.

The studios are always packed, too - families all doing the same rush-yell-plead-comb dance, all in hopes of capturing a moment - a single frozen-in-time moment in a quickly fleeting childhood - a frozen moment to hang on the wall.

I treasure these pictures - both for the record of my children growing up and for the "behind the scenes" craziness that occurs on each picture day.