We had our friend do them for us, and she was awesome! I hadn't wanted any naked tummy shots (not naked body! Just showing tummy skin) because again, I was nervous and shy, but she talked me into it, and I'm SO glad she did! They actually have ended up being some of favorite shots she took that day.
Then in August, when Growly Bear was 2.5 months old, we took her back to our friend so she could take baby shots of her. I absolutely love them, and get a little teary every time I look at them (which is often, because I can't believe how fast time is going, and I look back at her itty bitty baby photos frequently and wonder where on earth the past 8 months has gone already!).
I decided about 2 weeks ago that it was time to display some of these beautiful photos, which up until now, have just been sitting on my computer, waiting for me to be inspired. Also, I was pretty horrified when I looked around the house and saw that I didn't have ONE real, hard copy, printed photo of Growly Bear anywhere! I must have close to 10,000 photos on my laptop of her, (No, I don't think I'm exaggerating!) but I didn't have one baby photo of her displayed in the house! Her Ultrasound photo has lived on our fridge since last January, but that hardly counts!
So, we took a road trip to find picture frames (remember my slow driver rant? Yeah, that's the day!) and I got some really great ones for not much money at all. I'm pretty cheap and love nothing more then getting a good deal. I assumed that a picture frame was a picture frame, so I didn't really inspect them, grabbed an assortment of sizes, and was done. I didn't think about them again until my photo order got here in the mail the other day.
I pulled them out and started framing my photos, got to the second to last frame, and realized that there was no hardware on the back to hang them on the wall! Seriously, why would they even MAKE a photo frame that can't be hung up? I guess that's what $4 per frame will get you.
I'm not going to lie. I threw a bit of a drama queen hissy fit. It may have involved bad words and me tossing some frames around a little bit. I know what you're thinking! You're thinking, "Whaaa? No way! Not her! It can't possibly be true!" but it is my dear friends, it is.
Luckily, my husband is brilliant, as well as tall, dark and handsome (not that those traits necessarily play into this scenario, but it's a fun little fact that I like to mention once in a while) along with many other fantastic things. He patiently explained to me that he would drill holes in the back, run string, and we could hang them that way. Whew! Psycho wife rant nipped in the bud!
Once he helped me with that, and had me calm and all set up, he announced that he was leaving the house for the afternoon and I was on my own to hang them. Apparently he thought that trying to hang 13 photos, straight and evenly spaced in an aesthetically pleasing fashion with me wasn't an ideal way to spend his Saturday afternoon... I know! I don't get it either!
After begging and pleading and finally resorting to shooting him "The Look" he begrudgingly agreed to help. The first couple of photos were pretty easy. After that though, it got a little tedious. I tried to play nice, mostly because he was holding the hammer, and I didn't want him to get fed up and be tempted to toss it through the living room picture window. I only made him remove about 8 nails and re-place them. Not bad, considering my control freak side can be a little demanding sometimes.
There were some mess-ups along the way though. Like a big black dot from a Sharpie placed a good inch higher then it should be, which resulted in it being VERY visible between too pictures. (Lets not point fingers at who placed it there, it really doesn't matter anyway...). Plus, my nice clean glass which I had methodically buffed seemed to attract every speck of dust and finger print and smudge possible. And then there was the fact that even though the string was a great quick fix for my lame cheap frames, it wasn't actually ideal to getting them to hang straight.
All things considered though, it went very well. It only almost ended in divorce a couple times, and when all was said and done, we decided we did still love one another. Plus, the end result is kinda fantabulous, so I'm going to go ahead and mark this down as a success!
Don't take my word for how great it looks though! See for yourself:
And the really good thing is, when it comes time for me to hang the next set, when buying frames, I'll know to look for the hardware on the back! Live and learn my friends, live and learn.
Love and Hugs