Today I thought I would be ambitious and go get some pictures taken of Jackson at a certain well known picture studio. For the sake of the story lets refer to them as the "micture meople."

I arrived early for my appointment and I was prepared. I mean I had a bottle of gel, snacks for Jackson and I (not messy snacks for fear he would ruin his outfit), two airplanes, a bouncy ball and my free 8x10 coupon. Jackson performed beautifully (beautifully meaning fidgety, uncooperative and about as a good as a 2 year old can do)

After the pictures (20 minutes) they told me to return in 15 minutes to view the proofs and I happily obliged. I returned right on schedule (Children's Place is having a great sale by the way, and now I'm $20 poorer).

11:35 (scheduled viewing appointment)
I arrive to a zoo of people in the studio. None of them were employees. All had anxious kids.

11:45
Jackson finishes his snacks. He also eats half of my granola bar.

11:55
Couple ahead of me in line decides they want to see their pictures in a cherry frame instead of black. Jackson is entertained by a punch balloon.

12:05
Jackson has a close encounter with the punch balloon in action. He starts to throw his airplanes and ball around the studio.

12:15
Family enters the studio with ice cream. Jackson is sick of toys, has no snacks and now cannot stop saying "ice seam."

12:25
Jackson has completely unraveled and is hysterically crying, inconsolable and only wants ice cream. Everyone in the studio is looking at me. I know they know how I feel.

12:35
I finally get to view pictures and the employee asks me if I need some time to calm Jackson down. Time? "No I respond, just let me look now and choose one." I bite my tongue, choose a picture and head out in a total of 2 minutes.

Here is what I ended up with:


No wonder it's been almost a year since I've done this. Good thing I wasn't a paying customer or I would have had much more to say. At least the picture is cute, but at what price?