Say Cheese! ...Or Not.

So many people like/comment on the many pictures I post of Ryan on Facebook. Most of the pictures have two similarities- (1) A ridiculously adorable outfit of some kind, and (2) A huge toothless baby grin. Now I just have to be fair, here. I don’t want people thinking I am an insanely skilled photographer (even though I feel like I am pretty good at times) or that my baby never cries. The latter is quite the contrary. So I am writing this post to show you how much work goes into getting a cute picture of my kid. The end product normally looks something like this:

First of all, Ryan doesn’t own any ugly outfits. I only bought/kept things I knew he’d look cute in, so choosing cute photo clothes is an easy task for me. I just go to the dresser and pick something up. Next, I always photograph him in the morning after he eats because that is when he is always the happiest! Finally, I shamelessly coo and talk to him in the mushiest baby talk you have ever heard. There are lots of, “Hello baby boyyyy”s and “Mommy loves youuuu”s. That’s how I get the big grins!

It’s important to note that for every good picture of Ryan I have about 25 less than perfect ones.  (I keep them all on my computer though because I am convinced there is no such thing as a bad picture of my baby…) When I am taking pictures I just snap snap snap. It's better to have tons of photos to choose from than not enough pictures. Some of the not-so-Facebook-worthy pictures where I can't get Ryan to pay attention to me look like this:

Then there are times that he decides hand chewing is a much better use of his time than taking pictures. Those pictures look like this: 

Then there are other difficulties like this:

And this:

My point is, getting pictures of a grinning baby requires a lot more than just a happy baby. I'm happy, but I don't go around grinning at people all day every day... When Ryan does that it's cute, I'd just look like a creeper.

By the way- this outfit? Yard sale. 25 cents. HOLLA!