A Smile is Contagious!

Meet Will!  Will just turned one and I could have eaten him right then and there!  He reminded me of my middle boy at this age- just happy, happy, happy!  His session was full of smiles and laughter.  As I looked through the portraits, I was hard pressed to find one that he wasn't grinning from ear to ear.  Just made me smile watching his happiness!  And Will has a lot to smile about...he is baby #4 in his family...the only boy in  a house full of girls...adorable girls that love their baby brother.  I loved this first portrait with Will and his sister Julia- Julia being the helpful big sister assigned to play Patty Cakes with Will...she look her job seriously and with great success as Will giggled despite the death grip she had on his wriggly wrists!   I'm a sucker for little baby hands and feet so the second portrait grabbed my attention right away... look how his baby hands are positioned so perfectly...it makes all the little chub and dimples look so yummy!  And all those little baby teeth...just a great portrait altogether.  But hands down the third portrait is by far my favorite!  It grabs me as a photographer AND a mother.  As a photographer, I immediately am drawn to the sparkle in Will's eyes...the profile of those unmistakable eye lashes...the placement of the mom's hands so her wedding ring is a key element in the portrait.  But as a mother, I love the smile...of the MOTHER.  The mom was not prepared to be in any portraits...all you moms know getting out of the house with even one clean, fed kid is enough to ask, makeup is  a luxury no one has time for!  But this portrait was at the end of the session when Will's patience with us had come to an end.  I asked his mom to play with him in hopes of stealing a few more sincere expressions.  This was the last snap of the camera...I am so glad we persevered!  I almost cropped in so nothing but the mom's hand was showing, but as I did I noticed the smile on the mom's face.  It evoked vivid memories of the emotions I feel when my children smile at me.  I can remember as a new mom when my little ones first started smiling, the intense feeling that overcame me whenever my baby smiled.  I remember thinking, "Wow, this is a feeling I have never felt before!"  It didn't matter how tired I was, how frustrated I was, how overwhelmed I was, as soon as that smile was flashed, a wave of happiness overcame me.  I won't be surprised if the mom asks to be cropped out altogether in this portrait, but I had to include her for this blog entry.  To the moms with new babies, this feeling never goes away.  My three year old can lay down on the Walmart floor and pitch the biggest fit of his life, but when I am buckling him in his car seat, all the world sings as he flashes his smile....My four year can explode in a tirade of anger as he melts down over being beat at Mario Carts on the Wii, but when he finally calms down through tear stained cheeks and smiles at my silly antics, I totally forget about the earlier incident...My six year old can sass me as I lecture her for some six-year-old-offense (ohhh, that can really get at me!) and yet one sincere smile and I have forgotten the pre-teenage attitude she so perfectly exhibited.  Yes, the feeling you get as your child smiles never lessens, never dulls.  And so as a mom, I love that third portrait...Will is precious, his smile is perfect, his eyes sparkle, but the mom's smile is what I love most...reminds me of why we deal with all the chaos, all the sleeplessness, all the WORK of motherhood...because nothing, and I mean NOTHING can replace the feeling of watching your child smile!  It is contagious!