Greetings from Baby!

What a pain in the butt. In trying to be different, I thought it would be a good idea for us to send a card similar to a holiday card but not a holiday card, to our friends this year. Good idea in theory. But so hard to execute.

"Why Amanda? What's the problem?"

Thank goodness you asked. For starters, December is just way to chaotic for me to send a mailing to 100 of our closest friends and family. So don't anybody expect a Christmas card from me. I enjoy getting them from everyone else and have them on my fridge year round, but I just can't get to that when I've got Ada's birthday, four Christmases, the New Year, and that's when we recover from Thanksgiving celebrations and a turkey induced coma. My oh my. The timing just isn't right.

Then I thought maybe we could do something cute for some other holiday. Coming up next we have Valentine's day and that would be a great option. I had a goal to make some sort of mailing happen. I even told a few friends they might get Ada Valentines. But... that's just not going to materialize either. Why? Because I can't get a photo of this kid that is worth spending over a dollar a card to send to everyone and their mother. She just isn't cooperating and I'm not taking her to a cheesy Sear's Portrait Studio when one of my best friends is a photographer and just hasn't been down to visit for a photo shoot yet.
The options so far...

See more at Ada's snapfish page...

Not only do we need a good photograph, but we also have to decide how to do it. A snapfish card? A postcard we design and have printed? And what about the recyclability of the card? I don't want to spend all this money for people to put her in a landfill at the end of the month. There isn't an obvious answer to this so I'm going the lame route. I've decided that until I get an awesome photo of her that I really want everyone to plaster all over their houses, I'm just going to post more photos of her here, on facebook, on snapfish, and have someone print a copy for her grandparents so that they can see how cute she is.

I will say, as a new mom there is this pressure -- probably all put on myself by myself-- to produce a cute baby announcement. Then, an annual Christmas card. I want to participate in the whole system but just have to work out the kinks. Bear with me as I try to negotiate with myself to find a happy medium that fits my need for convenience, is good to the earth, not ungodly expensive, and relatively efficient, all while being insanely creative and fun and stress free.

Any suggestions? I'm open to all options at this point.

In any case, Happy almost Valentine's Day from my little stinker.