I will say, though, that this particular "Month" photo shoot was a memorable one, for sure. Though it doesn't necessarily contain the best pictures, I'd say it's probably the one I'm most proud of overall.
It actually started off as a bit of a group shot, since Abby was hanging out while I got busy with the preparations and insisted on sharing the couch with her little sister, initially.
The hot flash was low on battery and acting finicky, so I took the plunge, switched to manual, and went without.
It was refreshing to work with natural light for once, but my babies' sudden movements were making me jumpy on such a low shutter speed, and I wasn't terribly pleased with the high contrast and graininess of the pictures.
I switched back to my old standby setting of Auto and a hot flash for the next several, though I did come to regret it just a bit when the flash failed me on a couple of key shots (though I did manage to mostly salvage them in editing). Because finally, I had my intended subject alone, and I wanted her clear and well-lit.
Amidst all of the clicking and flashing, she finally revealed all eight of those beautiful, hard-earned teeth.
And here comes my favorite shot of all, which I was thrilled to capture. Mia shook off her hair bow during the afore-pictured giggling session and confusedly tried to get it into her eye line as it dangled precariously from the ends of just a few strands of hair.
Got it!
She was so excited about her small success that she had to get up and start moving. I took advantage of the little break from posing to get some action shots.
Tom set her down then, for one last go-round, and I tried my hand at manual again. Of course, this time the flash went off when it was not needed or wanted.
Finally, it occurred to me to just turn the thing off, and after one last shot, we called it a day.
And what a day it's been. She's continued to repeat the second new word in her verbal repertoire, "bottle," and has tried her hand at some new ones, such as "don't."
Best of all, though, was her impressive attempt at "Pumpkin," the nickname of her once soon-to-be and now brand-spankin'-new younger cousin.
"Puh-kih," she mimicked, and I'm sure it was her way of saying what we all are thinking:
We love you already, little Joey. Welcome to the world.
