She's a SUPERSTAR!

I can't believe Avi is already 9 months old! I haven't kept up to date on this blog, but am hoping I get a bit better now.

This evening, Avi had a photo shoot for a boutique clothing company - her first photo shoot ever (we haven't even gotten professional photo's done prior to this point, so we definitely went into this GREEN as can be). A friend of friend works at the PR company representing the clothing company, and suggested we submit Avi to the casting call. We did, and within a week, I got an email telling us that she was picked as one of the baby models!

I prepped the nanny about the shoot, and asked her to put Avi down for a nap prior to us leaving for the shoot - so she wouldn't be cranky....of course Avi didn't comply with the request and ended up only taking a short 20 minute nap on the way instead.

When we got there, I was promptly given an outfit and asked to change Avi. In the "changing area", there was a baby boy there who had been photographed for the better part of the afternoon. He was waiting for Avi to get to the location so they could take a few shots of the two babes together. The images we were taking was for the company's christmas catalog, so they put Avi in a thick furry jacket (with a hood), leggings, and boots (see above images) and the baby boy in a coordinating furry jacket, pants, and socks. For the first shots, Avi was quietly taking in all the surrounding hoopla. Our attempts to get her to smile went completely unnoticed by her; she stared at the group of three/four individuals jumping up and down, playing peek-a-boo, and singing like we were basically insane. However, baby boy was thrilled at the antics going on around him, and he smiled away!

The next shots were of Avi by herself in various super cute (probably overpriced) outfits. Each time we repeated our attempts to make her smile - unfortunately, Avi just wasn't in a smiley mood. One of the assistants kept asking me "what makes her smile?" - I told her usually everything I was currently doing made her smile (singing "if you're happy and you know it" "wheels on the bus", making animal sounds, jumping up and down, etc). Who knew my kid was camera shy!

We progressed through the assigned wardrobe as best we could, and by the last shot, I was ready to scoop my baby up and take her home!

My biggest take away from this experience was 1) evening photo shoots for infants are probably never a good idea 2) I probably would make a HORRIBLE stage mom and 3) if we EVER do this again, daddy is coming along - he makes MUCH better animal noises than mommy!

Some secondary take aways (of the more tangible kind) included:

• A small stipend for our time which we'll put towards Avi's college fund
• Hopefully some jpegs of the shots taken today so I can post/print some for myself
• Getting the catalog so we can share and have as a keepsake for Avi (we'll get it in the mail once it's complete)

After I strapped Avi in her carseat to come home, she promptly fell asleep. She was so exhausted she slept a good 1 1/2 hours.

For those of you out there who have known of my "get famous" dreams, don't worry, Avi will be spared from those silly ideas :)!!