Mike and I decided to have a housewarming party on Saturday. Which means this week we’ve been busting our butts doing all the things around the house we should have done over the two months since we moved in. You know, like unpacking the non-essential boxes, assembling new furniture, and finally putting things on walls.

We have a nice long hallway that all the bedrooms are off of, and I’ve been plotting the photo display for the biggest wall since we moved in. I finally purchased all the frames, my dad came over to help me install wall anchors and screws, and my frames are all hanging nicely on the walls. They just need photos.

my new gallery
photos *I* took, not these random boat photos

There are two large frames, and I’m going to put a photo of Annie and Maddie in each. I know exactly which photo I want to use of Annie:

annievert

I don’t know which picture to use of Maddie.

I know which ones of her I’m going to use in some of the other frames, but I’m agonizing over this picture. I’ve been going through photos, looking for a gem that I may not have seen for a while. I’ll find one that’s almost right, except she’s looking down, or the shade is across half her face, and I’m so mad at myself for not making sure each photo was perfect. With Annie, if I don’t get the picture just right, I keep snapping away. I wish I’d done that with Maddie. I just thought I’d have more time to get those flawless photos.

I keep hoping that there will magically be a new photo. And there won’t be. This picture has to be perfect because unlike Annie’s photo, I won’t replace it when she gets older. Maddie will always be stuck in time, thousands of imperfect photos memorializing my sweet girl.