NikkiZ hates having her picture taken. HATES IT. I am sure this is all my fault as I have chased her around with a camera as soon as I was able to leave the bed after her birth. When I say, “Smile!” she either ignores me completely…

Or she gives me this god-awful “smile” that looks like she’s being tortured.

So. Now I have learned to position myself in weird places (on the ground, in a pool, upside down, etc…) so that I can have the camera aimed at her when she smiles on her own.

So - have you had a child like this? Will she ever start to smile for me or will she always scowl the second she sees the Nikon strap around my neck? Maybe I should start bribing her? I mean - I don’t mind the candid shots - I actually love them. But it would be nice to periodically show she’s happy and not dreadfully pissed off.

I haven’t had a lot of free time to blog (go figure) the last few days as I’m trying to either (a) Keep everyone in my family alive, a task that is much harder than I anticipated, or (b) Catch up on sleep by forcing the kids to nap with me. AndyZ is a much better sleeper than his sister was, but I’m feeling more tired because I can’t sleep as much during the day as I did with her. The nights were impossible with her, but since it was just her during the day, I could stay caught up relatively easily. The nights are easier, but still not long enough with AndyZ. But I can’t nap as much during the day because his evil sister thwarts all of my attempts. Like today - she slept for 30 minutes at naptime. THIRTY MINUTES. That’s not even enough for me to fall asleep, much less clock in any catch up time.

However, I have been trying to upload at least a few new pictures to flickr every day. For those of you not keeping tabs on my new flickr photos, I thought I’d add a few of my favorites here for you to see. AndyZ is still a grumpy old man and NikkiZ is still active and adorable. In case you were wondering…

I have had a few photo sessions at our Target Photo Studio in the past. I’ve always been pleased with the work as it compares to the price. It’s no professional studio with an actual photographer, but for my typical budget and for our needs as a family, it has served us well.

They periodically send me email coupons for various services they’re testing out or backdrops they’re introducing. I rarely even pay attention to them, because I really only use photo studios for group/family type shots. This week, however, the coupon featured some small girls in fairy costumes. It advertised that they were bringing in costumes and for about 30 dollars or so, you could bring your daughter in for photographing around fake flowers and a floral backdrop. I considered it for a moment because it gave you a LOT of photos for $30. But then it occurred to me: I can buy the costume myself and just take my daughter to the Botanical Gardens for photos.

And let me tell you - that is the BEST DAMN IDEA I’VE EVER HAD.

Friday night we went to Target and actually found a butterfly/fairy costume - which is even better in my opinion. NikkiZ loved wearing it and we spent three hours this morning going around the Botanical Gardens taking pictures. I took 320 pictures. I’ve gone through them a few times and can honestly tell you that they are freakin’ AWESOME. I assure you that by the time I’m done editing and uploading them to flickr, you will wish you had never seen a picture of my daughter in a Butterfly costume.

I didn’t really have time tonight to do much, so I just picked out a batch that I loved just so I’d have something to show you. I’ve lightened/boosted/or cropped these - but nothing else. The weather was great and my daughter behaved perfectly with the promise of time in the fountains when we finished.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. And I hope that you won’t get so sick of seeing me upload the rest of the batch in the next week that you break up with me. I will spare you the pain of showing EVERY photo here, so you’ll have to actually go to my flickr page for the others throughout the week. Remember…if you can make it 11 more days, I’ll probably start photographing my new kid for awhile, assuring you a break from my daughter, the Butterfly.

I took this picture yesterday. NikkiZ was curled up in the carseat after I had put the clean cover on it in preparation for AndyZ’s arrival. Lucky I’m so anal about tagging photos in flickr because I was very quickly able to dig up other reference photos so that you can be as somber as I am thinking about my baby lost to the years.

The first day she rode in it

A few months later

WHERE DID MY BABY GO? And how is it possible that in just 19 days, there will be an entirely different baby in that seat? And he will also be mine? And officially one of three kids. I’m starting to freak out over here, people.

But beyond just the comparison of NikkiZ in that seat yesterday and years ago - do you see the brown thing in the seat with her? That is my Ewok and I thought he was lost. I had even mourned him, the only toy/doll I was every truly attached to. I slept with him from age 10 to age 18 and off-and-on into adulthood, depending on when I needed his presence to ease my anxiety. Then suddenly - several months ago - he vanished. And I was very sad.

And I totally tried NOT to act like I was sad because - come on - what 32-year-old woman cries over a lost stuffed animal. NOT ME.

(At least not when anyone was looking.)

I took a crapload of photos this weekend. A lot of photos where NikkiZ is truly enjoying herself and laughing at something. So, it was very hard to choose one for Best Shot Monday.

After not getting rained out at Panoply this weekend, I thought I’d let NikkiZ run through some fountains downtown. I assumed she’d be like her brother and think this was a dream come true. She approached the fountains timidly, like she was hoping to hide from the water at first. This caught me off guard because her brother - at the same age - would have been running around like a maniac through the fountains until I’d finally have to set some sort of steel-cage trap to catch him and take him home. After every excuse in the book (she had to take her stickers off her arms, her hairbows out, her necklace off…) had been used up, she finally approached the fountains just close enough to get a few sprinkles on her shirt. AND THEN SHE RAN AWAY SQUEALING. This is the picture you see above. The exit squeal.

She did this several times and really enjoyed herself. When she was done (which she declared long before I would have expected) she demanded a towel because she was soooo wet. You know - those sprinkles! They’ll drench you! Holy Cow!

Next time we’re taking her brother - so he can show her how it’s done. Either that, or I’m putting down the camera and jumping in with her. Which I would have done this weekend if it wasn’t for the fact that I was wearing a light shirt and no one wants a wet t-shirt contest participant at 36-weeks pregnant. TRUST ME.