Smile Baby

This summer I have started to worry I take/post too many pictures of the kiddo.

Before I didn't care because she changed SO fast I didn't want to miss anything. There were also lots of firsts, first food, crawl, steps, haricut, ice cream, etc etc etc. You have to document all that right?!?! Plus digital cameras make it too easy to just snap away, hoping you will get that one best shot every time they are doing something adorable. So you do get the great shot, but you also have 100 pictures of something that was really not that big of a deal.

I noticed there were too many pictures when I did my summer back up and stored a whooping 161 pictures for June, and July already has 195! For scale, May had 50. Which means, when I have time with Wee I am a bit camera happy. Granted, these are not all of Wesley. We have had a full summer. But I would bet she's at least 60-75%.

Just as an experiment, two weeks ago I took Wesley to the Children's Museum. We love it there. Lots to do and see. But we have been before and last time it was properly documented on um..film? jpegs? Anyway we got proof already. So when we went this time, I tucked my phone away and refused to look at, tweet, update a status, or most difficult--take any pictures. It was tough. Several times she would look at me just right or be so into something I would really want to share, but I held strong. And you know what? We had the best time. I got to see everything she was doing, I really watched her little head take it all in. It was our day, no one else had to see it or know every move we made.

When you have a kid they are your world, you love them so much more than you can explain. And now that she is turning into a real person I feel like I just want to tell everyone. But I do realize everyone doesn't care as much as me.

So here is my public resolution: I Mary Elizabeth, heretofore, be it known, shall TRY, to take less pictures of my child, or at least delete all the ugly, blurry ones and only save those that actually matter. Hence, I shall enjoy my child fully and not miss moments, while trying to document said moments with technology.


P.S. I'm still going to take too many pictures, I am still going to post too much about my kid on facebook, I am still going to make photo books (thank you groupon!). But this experiment opened my eyes to letting go of the camera more often and enjoying just her. Because it is going by too fast, and we have plenty of pictures!