I know everyone always says that kids grow up fast and from personal experience I can definitely attest to that, but it’s always surprising to me just how different a family can be in a short amount of time. The last time I was able to work with the Lyman family was when their youngest was a newborn and we were celebrating her arrival! She was the easiest newborn and may have set the record for the fastest I have ever completed a session for a newborn because she barely made a peep the whole time! Fast forward to this fall and she is so big and running all around and definitely had an opinion on when she was interested in pictures and when she was more content to just snuggle with her mama, (which are honestly some of my favorite shots of the day). Getting to watch a family grow and change in front of my lens is one of the reasons I’m passionate about this work.
Today is the youngest your kids will ever be and they just don’t stop growing so even if it’s a lot of work to get to a photo shoot and plan it all out, it’s always going to be worth it in the long run. And even if things don’t go as planned, that’s just part of the story and something that you can talk about for years to come! A tip that this family knows well is to make sure there is a special event after the pictures so it’s not just immediate bribery, (although that works sometimes too ;)). The kids were so excited to pick out their favorite ice cream after the session and that may be all the motivation they need to decide family pictures are exciting, not only for the moment but also for the family time afterwards. 
