So when I became a Mom 3 years ago I vowed to be that annoying picture taking person who people hated, at the time, but thanked profusely decades later. However, as I called my husband to announce my water had broken and to come home post haste!... I stood in the midst of boxes! I didn't know where my toothbrush was, let alone the diaper bag or CAMERA! Yes, we rushed to the hospital with nothing! No cute baby outfit to focus on while pushing, no soft music and no change for the vending machine! All the pictures from my daughter's first few days of life were taken with my husband's phone, which was better than the alternative of nothing but was not the picturesque, perfect Mom behind-the-camera-getting-the-perfect-shot-every-time-with-perfect-lighting-and-amazing-skill... that I vowed to be.
I've grown sine then and I've let go of my idea of the perfect picture! My new motto: at least I have a picture! And after accidentally deleting my 2nd daughters 1st birthday party and 1 year photo shoot before it was properly backed up... my standards have become even more realistic.
That being said, I just want to encourage you to simply take pictures! Bad ones, good ones, silly ones, staged ones and every picture in between! Because in 20 years when your kids and grand-kids turn on your computer and click through all of the picture you took of them ( I'll blog about that injustice another time), they are not going to care whether the lighting was perfect or that every moment of their life was forever etched into a 4x6 picture. They are going to be happy to look back and share memories.
And just to encourage you to take more pictures I grabbed each of my kids for a quick picture today! 10 minutes total! You can too!