Milestone Meltdown

One of the very first things I did when I found out I was pregnant was go and buy the cutest monthly milestone stickers I could find. I was SO excited to plan out unique and fun monthly photo shoots with my favorite tiny human.

The first few months were a piece of cake. All I had to do was lay a blanket down, plop my little nugget in position and do crazy and embarrassing things that I'd never show another soul to get her to smile...and it worked like a charm...

These photo sessions were a BREEZE. I often did them when I was home alone with Olivia. I got her ready, put her down, and she stayed there... Little did I know how I took that cooperation for granted.. Around the time that Olivia discovered how to roll over was when it all went down hill... and it went to hell in a hand basket real fast...

Her 5 month photo shoot was a total shit show....We dressed her up in a Detroit Red Wings jersey (Daddy is a HUGE hockey fan!) and laid her down and she WAS NOT HAVING IT. It probably took us about an hour to get one decent photo...(by the way, this is not the decent photo.)

Honestly, it just got worse from there.. Her 6 month photo was attempted at an apple orchard, where again, she was less than thrilled and did not want to stay still for 10 seconds...

I swear as the months went by I just got more and more frustrated.. which is so ridiculous.. but I'm finding out that I am one of those psychotic moms that needs everything to be "just so" and everything has to go EXACTLY how I see it playing out in my crazy head or else the world is freaking ending.. yes.. I am so sorry to my wonderful husband... he married a crazy person.. but that is neither here nor there...

The point is that I still attempt these photos every month.. and today.. as my husband and I struggled with our little terror for a little under two hours, I wondered, why are we even doing this? What is it all for? We take a million pictures of Olivia every single day... Why am I taking "special" monthly photos? To hang in one of those monthly photo frames? (Which I totally have one, obviously, but still)

When I bought those monthly milestone stickers that thought never occurred to me. Why did I need these stickers? What was the purpose? To drive myself insane and torture my little hellion? It never even crossed my mind. Everyone else does it, so clearly, I needed to do it too.

Which really got me thinking of all the things in life I do just because other people do it...

Never the less, I'm sure I will see this saga through to the end.. we only have two more monthly photos until our year is complete (I've never been a quitter). But, I figured this was some interesting food for thought... In all aspects.. not just parenting.. Why do we do certain things... Is there even a real reason?

I wanna see some monthly photo fails Mommas.. Give me the best you've got!

Here are my fails from this afternoon for your enjoyment: