“When I went in for my 38 week appointment, the last thing I expected was for my doctor to tell me my baby needed to come out either that day or the next. I’ve heard the consensus is usually that the mother to be is ready for the baby to come out, but I just wasn’t. While I’ve been told that I’ve mellowed a lot since college, I was hysterical the day Alyssa was born. The attitude adjustment has certainly helped my first year being a mother. While Alyssa has adopted the go-with-the-flow attitude, and I’ve tried to follow suit, we’ve had some hiccups. Mostly due to Alyssa getting a double ear infection at the end of January that just wouldn’t go away until we had tubes put in her ears at the beginning of April. I was not so mellow the first time I found green stuff oozing out of my daughter’s ear. I screamed for my mother (I’m not crazy, she was actually visiting for the week while my husband was away for business). She calmed me down and we went to the doctor. And when it happened the second time, I had to be the calm one so my husband could freak out. Through all of this, my little girl was full of smiles, giggles, and mischievous little looks, so I don’t know why I expected her to be different when we had her one year portraits done while she has a sinus infection and is teething with her very first teeth (two at once! I can’t believe I thought they wouldn’t come in). Would Alyssa be okay sitting in a hat box? Sure. Would Alyssa mind sitting on the cake? Not a problem. How about lying down next to/in the cake? Again, not a problem, although she did have to do some ab crunches for good measure. She had six pack abs that would rival the Spartans until her most recent growth spurt . It almost made me lay on the floor with her and do ab work. She’s just a bundle of inspiration. And I am so lucky that she’s like this all the time around everyone. I’m also very lucky that she stopped scowling at the camera at about 6 months. My mother thought it was her. I dared her to go through my 200 plus photos of the first 6 months of Alyssa’s life and find a picture where she smiled. And while we couldn’t get Alyssa to really smile while taking her bath, which is unusual for her since she loves her bath, she also wasn’t giggling and trying to climb out, which is her new favorite passtime. I will take the small victory where I can get it. My husband and I have spent the past year melting whenever she smiles and sighing with contentment when she snuggles. Alyssa has us so firmly in her perfect little palm that we’re just along for the ride and loving every moment of it.”
Rhode Island and Massachusetts newborn, baby, child and family on location photographer