Pictures | Japanese Crackers

Julia is just over one month old now, so we had to do the ritual one-month photo shoot and shrine visit. Saturday was the day we scheduled and as plans always have a way of going according to anything but, so did this one.

We all got to the photo studio “on time”, meaning plus or minus ten minutes of the appointment and things seemed to be going well. Layla was very cooperative, even having fun, and neither her nor Julia were crying. The problem turned out to be that not only was Julia not crying, she couldn’t even stay awake.

We got in a few pictures of the whole family but before we were even half way through shooting the pictures, the kid fell asleep. And despite all our best efforts she just refused to wake up. We tried everything, from loud noises that made Layla jump to water in the face to poking and prodding. She was out like a light.

In the end, we rescheduled the last few shots because after nearly an hour I think the photographer was just getting tired. I think everyone was (Julia excepted, of course).

After the photo studio, we headed to the shrine to get a blessing from a monk and a shot of sake. This time, Julia was wide awake. And gassy. As the monk said his prayer in Japanese and we bowed our heads, I held onto the little one. She was getting fussy so I stuck my finger in her mouth to keep her quiet. That worked, in the sense that she stopped crying… but she was far from silent.

When the prayer ended and we left the prayer room, the monk who was conducting the prayer offered us a shot of sake on our way out. Not wanting to offend anyone, I took the little saucer of alcohol and thanked him. Layla wanted to have a try, so we were more than happy to oblige her. Luckily, she didn’t like it.

Outside, we took some shots of the family together in front of the shrine. Check them out in the gallery. As we were taking pictures, Layla decided to show off a few of her new poses… I swear I have no idea where she picked those up from!