So I laughed and said I am NOT spending $500 on pictures

     Two weeks ago we spent the day in hell.  That is to say, we got Adrian's pictures taken professionally. I don't want to name the place we went because I know it's possible to have a good experience there. Michelle always takes her kids there and gets good pictures. For now I'll just call it "that place." Original, yes? (wait, is that an actual store somewhere? I don't know.)So anyways our goal at That Place was to get 3 month pictures of Adrian. My MIL also wanted pictures of him in the baptism outfit she made. So we figured we might as well get it all done at once.

I took pictures of the pictures because although we got a cd, all we have is Matt's netbook and it doesn't have a disk drive. So the strange shadows are me.

     There were several other spawn in the place running all over and sitting in other peoples car seats. The bottle I made for adrian spilled all over my purse. When it was finally our turn, our photographer informed us that Adrian was his first 3 month old. This wasn't a big deal. However he asked if we wanted Christmas pictures and we said no. So of course he handed my 3 month old a glass, glitter covered Christmas ornament. Then he gave Matt a white glove and part of the sleeve of a Santa costume so he could hold a plate of a fake cookie and milk in an offering to Adrian. The whole thing made zero sense to me. Adrian gave him a look like "what the hell is that?" So when we finally got to the pictures we were actually there for, Adrian was starting to get hungry and annoyed. I didn't know what color background to pick, so he picked black. I think it's too harsh for a baby but I didn't realize it until we were picking out pictures. After a few pictures Adrian needed to eat so we took a break. The photographer asked us to change outfits while we waited, so we didn't end up getting as many of the normal 3 month pictures that I wanted. Also the only ones that I actually like are in the baptism outfit.

     Adrian gets too hot in the baptism outfit so he didn't stay in it too long. There's the pants outfit and then a coat that looks like a gown. So my MIL wanted pictures of both outfits. We told the guy to get a full view of the gown but somehow that didn't happen. By the time we needed to pick out our pictures I was stressed and tired. Of course, I was working with a sales person instead of someone who actually cares if I get what I want. I made the mistake of telling him first hand that we needed a 16X20 canvas for my in-laws so I think he got $$ in his eyes. We went through one time and picked what we liked. Then he acted like that was done and started moving on. I looked at the price and it was over $500 no joke. I immediately thought he was legitimately crazy. So I laughed and said I am NOT spending $500 on pictures. So he said "well it's cheaper this way" and I asked how much it is per sheet and he said "but look at all this cool stuff you get in the package." Finally he said we could cut back on pictures. So we went from 25 "packages" (three sheets each of the same pose) to 18. If we went any lower we would pay the same price since we needed the canvas, and we would just get less pictures.  I'm not going to tell you how much we spent on pictures because you'll want to punch me in the face. But my in-laws helped. I really wanted to talk it over with Matt but we pretty much didn't have a choice. What a waste! Especially since we mostly got sub par pictures. We could have redone it but the whole thing was so horrible I'd rather just make sure the 6 month pictures go better. The moral of the story is: know your price point, stick to your guns, and know when to say NO. Like I told Emilee for some reason in college "'No!' is a complete sentence."

Don't even get me started on the "designer sheets" that came with the package.  This is the only cute one. Some of these things just look so ridiculous. All I have with me right now are the ones I picked out for myself. My MIL left them in MN when she went up for a party. 

Next time I'm planning to do what any reasonable, mature adult would do. I'm taking my mommy.