The sun shone today, however in a different place than it was a week or so ago, so I started to photograph too late in the morning. But the babies were happy in their new jammies and eager to show off so the work went very fast. I am most proud of our newest bi-racial babies. This is a first for the orphanage so I am wondering why it took me so long to recognize how cute they are and why I was not seeking them out earlier.

Meet Grace, who is feeling much more at home today than she was yesterday. I still need more practice with the make-up for these babies. Those lips are way too pink. I hate the burgundy lips that is ordinarily used so I think I went too far in the other direction. Now in the photo I see I must find a middle way. She is such a patient dear child that I think she will be up to another visit to my lipstick palette to pick a better color for her.

Her closest cohort  is Kyra who came with her color already in her skin. She is livelier and has more confidence. She insisted on having the elephant pacifier and I find I can deny her nothing, She lacked the coordination to get it in her mouth and kept asking, "ow? ow?"  After the photo I laid her down and showed her how to drop her chin so the nipple went in her mouth. Then she was sleepy and there were no more photos of her today.

Gracie wanted a flower to match the flowers on her sleeper. I tried to explain that all that were blooming were too big for such a little girl. She just could not understand that flowers came in different sizes. She knew what size she was and the flowers on her jammies were the right size. Why were my flowers wrong? You can see she is still questioning my excuse.

Gabe was trying to say something to tell me what he wanted to hold for his photograph. He tried and I tried but we could not understand each other. Now, tonight, seeing his photo I know what he wanted. The little toy car that was in the basket. He is looking at me as if he thinks I am not very bright that I could not figure that out when he was on the photo stand. He has serious doubts about my ability to run the orphanage.

Last, but not least! is tiny Clair. I took in her jammies more last night but saw when I was holding her today that they needed  even more tucks. I think I need to think that every seam needs to be resewn. That did not happen today. Instead I weighed and registered the whole crew. Tiny Clair only weighs 10 ounces. What a tiny handful she is! Our tiniest baby ever.

I wanted to show how close the skin tones for Grace and Kyra are by photographing them side by side. Doesn't Grace look happier with Kyra holding her hand below the photo? She does need someone to love her. Who doesn't? My one small satisfaction is that I got the right lip color on Kyra.