Photo Shoot

Yesterday was Leila's big day- her photoshoot with Nicolas & Bears. It was an interesting experience! All week I was wondering where it would be since the location was TBA when they set the date. I finally found out that it would be at the home of the lady who first approached us in August, and a driver would be sent to pick me and Leila up. Perfect! It was supposed to be at 3:40, which already seemed late but I got a call during the day that our pick-up time was being moved to 4:40 and would take until 8:00. That was during Leila's nap, so I let her sleep and sleep and finally got her up four to get ready to go. I never let her nap long, but it wanted her to have as much stamina as possible. Really, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I hadn't been told very much about it.
The driver was on time to pick us up, and in the van was another mom originally from Poland, her helper, and her one year old baby girl. I could see why they wanted the baby- she was so cute with big blue eyes and a whole head of hair. We drove and drove way out into the New Territories and I had no idea where we even were, and the van pulled up into a gated community that had dwellings as close to North American style that I have seen in Hong Kong. It all looked very fancy, and there were garages, big front doors and back yards. You just don't see that here- just lots and lots of high rises! Inside was huge and fancy- the kitchen alone was easily as big as our flat! To think that my friend's tiny HK flat cost $400,000 USD to purchase would probably make this home of Elaine's worth millions. Anyway, it had all been turned upside down to make it work for a photo shoot and they had had kids coming and going throughout the day. Leila and little baby Emily were the last two of the day.
Leila loved getting her hair and make-up (a bit of lip gloss and blush) done. She was so shy and cooperative. While they did this, a boy and a girl finished up the last of their pictures so once she was done, they were ready to start.

Getting Leila set up in her first of EIGHT outfits. She was really excited at this point, but once they started taking pictures, I think she realized that it was more difficult than she thought. I know how hard it is to take pictures of my kids. I mean I KNOW! It's hard! That CNY photo session is still very fresh in my mind. But I only worry about their face- not their hair, their pose or whether their clothes are looking perfect. (Later I sometimes regret that I didn't fix their hair or wipe their face, but it's hard enough to get the smile!) When the picture is supposed to be about the clothes, that really changes things. Leila would smile, but it would be too forced. We'd get her to laugh, but then her shoulders would go up, or she'd move her arms in front of herself and wiggle and tap her feet. And then her hair would get messed up and have to be fixed. It was all really tricky to have her be able to just stand with her hands at her side and SMILE. So after the first outfit she announced to me that she was done and wanted her regular clothes back on. But unfortunately we had many more wardrobe changes to go.

(Refueling with grapes and goldfish for the next round....)

All the while, Leila and the baby would switch off. I would never want to do something like this with a baby! At least Leila sort of understood what was going on. It was a little hard on little Emily, especially as time went on. But she was a very happy little girl and did really well. I have such a new respect for babies and children that you see in catalogues!

Getting Leila ready for her weekend trip to the country club....oops I mean, for the next pictures. Seriously, this company sells clothes as if these children are off to Martha's Vineyard or for a weekend on a yacht. It's so over the top! Also, all the kids that they advertise with are Caucasian and clearly they are marketing to Chinese people since all their locations are in HK and China. Kind of funny.


Leila had her moments where she wanted to be "all done", but we pushed through, and they got what they wanted. We were finally done at nine. And she fell asleep pretty quickly on the drive home. I was surprised that when she woke up this morning the first thing she told Mike and Annika is that she had fun at Nicolas & Bears. Out of curiosity I asked her if she would want to do it again and she said she wouldn't. It was pretty stressful. I think I'd only want to do something like this again is if there was actually some cold hard cash involved. :) But there were some catalogues from last year lying around, and the pictures were really nice. When it's all said and done, I think it will be fun to see the pictures and it definitely was an experience!