Amber is 2!

I can't quite believe that my baby girl is now 2 years old! The past two years have gone by so fast. And she's even a big sister now to our lovely Joshua.

I took these photos back in January, around Amber's actual birthday, and since then the terrible 2s have definitely hit! She now refuses to smile in photos, whereas before she was quite happy, and very used to it, since I have done a mini photo shoot with her once a week since she was born. I like to do a little family group update on both children each week with their latest photos. They show whatever mood the kids are in at the time, and for Joshua it's all smiles and laughter at the moment. For Amber, it's smiling like she's just done something naughty, or grimacing, or poking out her tongue! She's certainly got a very stubborn streak to her. I wonder where she gets it from?

Anyway, I digress. I decided to take some 2nd birthday cake smash photos, so I could compare them to her 1st birthday cake smash photos. In some ways, her 1st birthday ones were considerably easier, since she wasn't walking yet, so it was easy to keep her in one place. She wouldn't eat the cake a year ago though. Now, she knows what cake is, and was stuffing as much of it into her mouth as she could in one go! Still, it made for some funny sugar-high photos!

If you take a look at the photos below, you can see some of what i'm talking about. In the first photo, as with your typical 1 year old, they haven't had much sugar before and aren't really sure of what to do with the cake when it is put in front of them. In the second photo, Amber definitely knows what to do with the cake!

I am showing these comparisons in order to set some expectations for your cake smash. Cake smashes are traditionally for 1st birthdays, so if you do decide to book a session, know that if you want photos like the second one below, you'll have to slowly start introducing your baby to sugar at least a few weeks before their cake smash. I completely understand that most parents aren't very keen on the idea of this, so just be aware that your gorgeous 1 year old might just stare at the cake in disgust and not want to even touch it, let alone put it anywhere near their mouths.

Don't worry, we can still get some gorgeous smiley photos of your little one, and I do happen to love the photos where the baby is looking very unimpressed by the whole situation. All you need to do is have realistic expectations of what your baby is capable of at 1 year old, and have fun with what they can give you!