68- Portraits and a Bottle

Today, my little baby is 6 months old! Such a milestone. All kinds of toys, bottles, cups, foods, all say: "6 months" or "6 months +." Ah, the world that is now opened to us, that we've reached the 6 month mark! Baby E can push up on his arms while on his tummy, can sit unsupported for a little bit (not sure exactly how long, he's kind of wobbly), takes food from a spoon, responds to his name, can roll onto his back, laughs, smiles, grabs at toys - I am so proud of him. So proud of all that he is able to do, and the love and joy he brings us. So today, we had another milestone, more of a milestone for his mamma rather than for him. We went to a department store STUDIO for pictures. JC Penny's Portraits. I was in the JCP on Monday making a return, and was right by the portrait studio. I looked around at their samples, and ya know....they were cute. And I thought, how simple and nice it would be, to let someone ELSE do all the work with taking pictures. Don't get me wrong, I love taking pictures. But I really like to do outside pictures. And our backyard is really muddy, and I didn't feel like dragging props everywhere. So we made our appointment for today. THANK GOODNESS we were the first appointment of the morning, because they got behind real quick. Overall it was quite an interesting experience. After taking pictures, they load them up and you are supposed to pick RIGHT THEN what poses you want, in what size picture, and how many! The pressure! There were only two photographers, and they were bouncing back and forth between taking pictures, uploading my pictures, answering the phone - all the while the waiting room filled up with more picture subjects. Time continued to drag on as I waited for the photographer to come back and walk me through my Order. Eli began gnawing on my shirt (I had taken him out of his carrier to fend off the hungry crying that was about to erupt, that applesauce only lasted so long). My blood sugar began dropping. People were complaining about how long it was taking to get their turn. The lady finally starts going over the package with me - I had marked all kinds of poses I liked, and I remember saying "I guess I'll take that one in an 8x10"  several times; we added on the cd of all the poses as well. Later on, after looking at the receipt, apparently I agreed to join the photo perks club or whatever too, she gave it to me 40% off since I had a coupon. My whole order was 40% off, which is great and all, but when you are randomly ordering pictures, and then don't want to back up and start taking some off, because you don't want to anger the waiting crowd anymore, and you and your baby are hungry enough to both starting gnawing through your shirt - well, you get the picture, I had no idea what all I had just agreed to. At that point, I would have paid anything just to LEAVE. The overall damage wasn't that bad actually (of course I'm not going to put in print what I paid, but seriously, it wasn't THAT bad). I am frustrated with myself that I didn't just stop and take off all those 8x10's, because I also purchased the CD OF ALL POSES, meaning I can get prints made cheap at Costco!! Live and learn, I say. Live and learn. So, once I receive all of my prints and cd in 2 weeks, I will have to post some on this blog. We did bring in our own cowboy boots and hat, so he could have a six month picture similar to his birth announcement.

Well on to our next topic. Last week, E started having trouble with taking a bottle. Seems like he outgrew the nipple size on the bottle, I'm guessing. So this week has been trial and error, trying to get him to take a bottle - we want to wean all together, but even without weaning in the picture, he needs to be able to take a bottle when I'm at Bible study on Thursday mornings and Sunday afternoons. (we tried a sippy cup as my friend Carolyn suggested, but that went over like a ton of bricks). Well tonight, he took a bottle from ME of all people. I stopped at Walmart earlier today, and on a whim bought a cheap Gerber bottle set because it had a medium flow nipple, and I haven't been able to find "medium" flow all that often. Well lo and behold, that is the one he took. While sitting in his feeding chair. I am so grateful we found something that worked, so we are back on track. I will try sippy cups with him again, just not yet. Here is a pic of E taking the bottle from me:

Look at him holding my fingers, sweet baby. Poor thing had been crying as we worked on this bottle thing. But he finally got it!

Doug bought him half a cake for his half-birthday today! I love how I just have to say Eli's name and he looks up smiling at the camera. Do I have this kid trained already or what.

My two loves! :)