Pictures.

Since Elena turned 6 months old I decided to get some pictures taken of her. I found a coupon for Sears Portrait Studio that had some special package of a bunch of pictures for $4.99, so I thought I would take her there to take some quick and cheap photos. So I called to make a reservation and I wanted a 12:30 appoiontment but they said I had to do either 12 or 1, so I went with 12 and shifted her eating schedule a little that day hoping she would be in a good mood at picture time. My plan worked and when we got to Sears at 12 she was super happy and ready to take some pictures. Only problem was they were running behind (of course). We had to wait 30 min before we could start with the photographer (hmmm....the original time I wanted in the first place!) So by the time I dress Elena and they start taking pics she is starting to get unhappy and tired. The photographer didn't do a good job trying to get her to laugh and kept stopping to help people that walked in - even though Miss Elena is getting pretty upset by this point. We got a couple of good pictures in the end but I was just very annoyed with the whole situation.

So then we sit down to order the ones we want and that is when they start telling us, "oh if you get that special package any other poses/sheets cost $20 per sheet" Are you kidding me?!?! 20 bucks?? So of course we end up not doing the deal I originally wanted and paying more for less pics than I planned on. Then I ask about printing out the same day and oh yeah that is $3 extra per sheet(even though it says same day printing on my coupon)! Now Robert and I are even more annoyed - and probably would have just walked out if we didn't have any pics of Elena that we liked. But we did do we just paid and left. I am never going back there and thought I would share for anyone looking to take photos. Some of you may like Sears and maybe we just had a bad experience but we were very unhappy. (Towne East location by the way)

I still wanted some better pictures of her so I decided to try Portrait Innovations. A lot of my friends have taken their kiddos there and I really thought their pics came out good and what did I have to lose, right? What a difference!!! We had to wait a little when we got there but the photographers and staff were so much nicer to work with. If Elena was starting to get mad or not smiling they would bring another person in to make goofy faces and noises to make her laugh. (Farting noises always work with Elena!) It was so much better than my Sears experience and I had so many great pictures to choose from. Granted I spent more than I was going to originally but I got a ton of pictures plus the disc of the rest that I didn't choose (some of which I really liked). I will definitley be going back there and would reccomend it to anyone! Here are some of my favorite shots:
We also had her 6 month check-up this week and she is 27'' long -- 90th percentile (not too surprising there!) and also weighs 15lbs 13oz -- 50th percentile. But at the rate she is eating her veggies I have a good feeling that weight is going to start zooming up there! She is lovin' her food with flavor!! :)