Why Baby Pictures Should Never Be Scheduled On Moving Day

Today is the day! Everything needs to be moved out of the apartment and into storage. I knew it would be a busy day, but yesterday I realized I haven't taken Victoria to get her picture taken and I really should before we go, so...of course I scheduled that for today too.

Jason and his brother and two nephews were busily working, carrying out all the large furniture and clearing away all the remaining junk in several storage units that we don't need any more. I was in charge of packing up the kitchen. Everything was going great - Victoria was sound asleep, Antalya was engrossed in an episode of Seasame Street. I got one box packed before realizing I needed to bake a cake to take to family dinner tomorrow and now would be the best time to do that. I quickly make the cake, throw it in the oven, make the frosting, and then wash all the dishes. I throw the remaining eggs in a pot to hard boil so we can eat them without dirtying a dish. Before I know it the cake is almost done, along with the eggs. I will have just enough time to quickly take a shower with Antalya, wake up Victoria, feed her, and then make it to our 11:00 picture appointment. But just as I was commending myself for having such a smooth morning - everything suddenly takes a turn.

Seasame Street ends - Antalya decides she wants to take a bath so she heads upstairs, hops in the bathtub with her clothes on and turns on the water. Victoria wakes up screaming, the cake has 4 minutes left, and the eggs are still boiling. I'm stuck. All I could do was tell Antalya she needs to take off her clothes if she wants to take a bath (she doesn't know how to take them off by herself - but at least I feel like I have done something). I tell Victoria its alright and that I will be right back (of course this doesn't calm her down - she's an infant - she doesn't understand me). I rush back downstairs and watch the timer for a minute and decide I can't wait any longer. I pull the cake out, turn the oven off, and then turn the burner under the eggs off hoping they will also be done if I cut it short a few minutes. Race back upstairs. Take Antalya's clothes off, quickly bath her, rush to get my screaming Victoria, put Victoria in the bath with Antalya for a quick wash, take Victoria out and get her dressed and calm.

Antalya is still happily playing in the tub, start nursing Victoria. Antalya decides she's all done, hops out and comes runninig towards me. She slips (the bathroom rugs are already packed) and hurts herself. I set Victoria down which makes her scream, chase Antalya with a towel, pin her down to put a diaper on, try to find clothes for her - but I cant remember where I've put them amidst all the chaos. In the meantime Antalya has torn her diaper off and is running towards Victoria yelling "baby, baby, baby" (that's my queue to go rescue Victoria). Somehow in the next 10 minutes I manage to get us all dressed, Victoria fed, and the girls in the car. I cant find the bow I bought to put on Victoria, but that's alright, I'll just stop at Kid 2 Kid on the way and run in to grab one. It's already 11:00, but I stop anyways to grab the bow. I go to pay only to realize I have spent my last dollar at the dry cleaner early today, my Visa card has been canceled and the new one hasn't arrived yet, which leaves me with only my American Express which the store does not accept. So I race back out to the car and scrounge up all the change I can find, luckily it is enough and I am able to pay for the bow and leave. We arrive at the portrait studio 15 minutes late, but they are kind enough to still get us in. This mother breathes a huge sigh of relief!

The pictures turned out great. Victoria looked beautiful. And I'm glad I made the effort to record what she looked like at this stage.