Vogue

After almost 4 months of incessant scolding from his Grambot & Nonni, Eli finally had his picture taken professionally, not only to capture this amazing moment in time, but also to replace my senior year picture on Mom's wall of fame ... shame? (You're next Jamie!) We wish we had Jay nearby to pop over and snap some great shots, but airfare can be a bit pricey nowadays. So instead we went to the Mall. That's right. Sherwood Mall in Stockton, no less - right next to the food court.

Awesome.

Taryn and I lef the Bay Area that Friday afternoon to have a "date night" and leave the Biddles with his Grambot & Grandpa. We saw the new Harry Potter at Stockton's downtown theater. (By the way, it was pretty good: lots of great camera angles, good movement and lighting. The story was adapted well, except for how they wasted too much time on fluff and rushed through the meat of the tale. And my personal gripe: did we forget that this story is not just about the boy Harry? What about the boy Tom Riddle? It's just as much his tale. Anyways ... so be it.) Oh yeah, as for the "date night," we went with Kendall, his friend J.C. and J.C.'s son Adam. Not much of a date, but a lot of fun.

We had been planning the trip so that Eli could spend some quality time with his Great Grandma that Saturday. She's smitten. Especially after she got him to laugh by bouncing him in her lap. Eli loves to stand and has really strong legs and good body control. His Great Grandma had him standing on her legs and was bouncing him up and down making lots of funny falsetto noises. They both had a blast, and as soon as his laugh came out, Great Grandma was melted butter. What a stinker. He even impressed his Great Grandpa. He kept commenting on how quiet and aware Eli is - how great his focus and how even and composed his temperament. Great Grandpa even thought his physical abilities were impressive. They all got to see his teeth, watch him roll back-to-tummy and tummy-to-back, heard him laugh, and best of all, Grambot & Grandpa got to experience him sleep through the night. What an awesome Biddles! Way to keep up a streak, Buddy! But the best comments were about how happy the Lil' Man is.

So anyway ... we ended up spending all day that Saturday at the Bacon's, then stopped by Eli's Nonni's house on our way out of town. Except we never left town. Kendall and I took some time to discuss my story ideas (thanks, Buddy!), and Nonni got to have her some Biddles. When I woke up on Sunday (last, of course, 'cause Kendall doesn't count), Taryn and Cathy had already decided that it was the perfect time to get Eli's picture taken. After a quick search through the phone book, and an even quicker phone call, we were off to the Mall.

Eli was amazing. Even the photographer and his wife were impressed. He's the 1st baby that they've photographed that didn't cry or fuss. We sat him up in a tiny armchair, and Eli held himself up really well. Then we stripped him down and put him on his tummy. He kept his head up perfectly and was smiling, laughing and making faces, with Taryn and me standing behind the photographer. We had his rattle out (thanks Denise!), his Sophie - we pulled out all the stops. And it couldn't have gone better. At one point, he was laying in my arms looking up at me (you'll see the picture of me kissing his face, it was at this time), then gave a good grunt and loaded his pants with gusto. That's probably why there were so many smiles to be had.

Here are the six shots that we picked when all was said and done. We chose not to include any pictures of him in the armchair, because his naked ones were better. And it'll probably be the last time that he let's us take pictures of him naked - or the last time the State does ...

Behold the beautiful Biddles in all his Naked Glory ...

Here we were able to not only get a great shot of him laughing, but you can also see his teeth. He has two on the bottom in the center. The two on the top in the center are right on the verge of poking through.

This one is great because if you look close, you can see all of his drool glistening on his face and hands. Baby's are hilarious. Look into those eyes ...

And here's the shot of Eli and his Daddy. What a Booger. Again, the only reason he looks so happy is because of what he's just done in his diaper ... or maybe I'm just that good ...

Taryn will have these shots posted to Snapfish if anyone would like to order copies.