Strike a Pose

I was recently asked to…wait for it…be on the cover of a textbook! Yes, I truly was. An instructor that I had in college asked if I would supply him with a picture of me and Lucy for his newest book. At first, I didn’t really take him too seriously. Yeah, the cover of a book- ha. But, after more discussion, I realized that he might actually be serious. I apparently look like a “typical mother in my age group” and Lucy is “a beautiful baby.” :) I like the beautiful baby part, but not so much the typical mother part. All I can do is picture mom jeans and a minivan – both, I do not have!

My sister is a photographer, so it was soon planned that my sister would take photos and I would give them to him. He is a psychology instructor and wrote the book on the Attachment Theory. In the photo, Lucy and I would display that special bond between a mother and her baby. All is well that ends well.

It sounds easy enough right? I mean, a picture is worth a million words. Surely, getting a picture to say, “the baby (Lucy) has created a relationship with her mother (me) and will more than likely develop normally, emotionally and socially,” should be pretty easy. Whew, alright so maybe we had our work cut out for us.

“Act natural,” people would tell me. Uh-huh. I doubt they want a picture of me wearing my husband’s boxer shorts, an over-sized ‘Hard Rock Café’ t-shirt, with my hair in a questionable – at best – pony tail, holding Lucy in her gilder. Better yet, let’s just get me doing some middle-of-the-night feedings in a large t-shirt and my undies. It will be the most ‘unstaged’ photo you could ever get!

After deciding that I was in fact NOT going to act natural, we ventured to the lake in town. There were a few fishermen to work around, but no big deal. We took several pictures, trying to get the lake in the background. Lucy continually looked at the water, conveniently located away from the camera. Basically, everything was more interesting to look at than mommy – oh a bug, oh water, oh a car started, hey there is a guy over there, my fist sure tastes great…. This went on the whole time.

Thank goodness my sister is tremendously talented and snaps photos like lightning. We ended up with some pretty great shots. It became more about pictures for Lucy and me to cherish years to come and less about the book. Some will remind me how I felt at that very moment. It was sweet and, at times, hilarious. Lucy drooled, giggled, and drooled some more.

Although not a natural setting or natural clothing for sure, we ended up capturing that bond perfectly. It is very obvious how much love I have for that little, bundle of wonderfulness. So, here are some of the photos. Enjoy! As far as Lucy developing normally – it’s in the bag! Haha. :)

*Note: not all the pictures were of me lying down; they just happened to be the ones that worked best.