Still Celebrating the Season

Tonight I took Owen to have his picture taken at the studio at the Atrium mall. The woman assigned to us was practically a miracle worker, as far as I'm concerned. Owen's behavior in general runs the gamut from charmingly rambunctious to birth control, and tonight he was an absolute disaster. We got to the mall an hour early because I was thinking I could maybe get a little christmas shopping in before our appointment. Fail. Owen would not stay in the stroller and did about $60 worth of damage at Williams-Sonoma before I managed to pig-wrestle him up to the indoor playspace on the 4th floor, where he could at least run around like a maniac without costing me anything. After 45 minutes of letting him do that, I started to think it was a brilliant strategy - he'd be docile and accomodating when it came time for the photos. Wrong. So, so wrong. When we got to the studio he was TERRIBLE, and I sat there cursing myself for even coming up with the stupid picture idea in the first place. Owen kept running away - not just away from the photographer, but OUT OF THE STUDIO ITSELF into the mall. When he wasn't doing that, he was pulling on the backdrop canvases, knocking over all her props, and sticking his fingers into anything even vaguely electrical looking.I did my best to keep him on task, but it's no easy feat to whale myself around these days, and I was pretty much doing a lousy job of toddler managing. So it was actually a shock, when she finally showed me the pictures, to see that some of them came out really well despite the mayhem. In 24 hours, you will be able to see the photos for yourselves (apparently they post them online 24 hours after the session, so start checking around 8 tomorrow evening). There are two separate sets of directions, for grandparents and non-grandparents, so pay attention.

Instructions for non-grandparents:

go to www.portraitsimple.com
select 'portraits online' followed by the studio location, which is the atrium mall in chestnut hill, ma
the password is 2803
enjoy

Instructions for grandparents

see above. However, when you get to the point where you have the option to purchace prints, I advise that you...don't. I am sure you don't think I had Owen's picture taken two weeks before Christmas with no intention of using said photos as Christmas gifts. Furthermore, if you don't like the prints I chose, I have it on good authority that there is a giant sale in January and all the pictures you had taken in 2009 are heavily discounted. Plus, we are now 'members' of the studio and if I go back and buy more prints, I get 10% off (even off the discounted January prices). So hold your horses until after the holidays, is what I'm saying.