PHOTOSHOOT

We had something pretty exciting happen on Wednesday. Caleb was asked to be part of a photoshoot for St. Jude. We debated sharing this news because we don’t know what, if anything, will happen with the pictures they took. But it ended up being a really fun day so we thought we would share some behind the scenes pics.

A St. Jude rep called us just a couple days before the shoot to ask if we would want to be  a part of the photoshoot. Given my background and how open we are with sharing Caleb’s story we said we’d love to. So we showed up on Wednesday and met the St. Jude person in the lobby and she walked us back to where their photo studio is. Let me just say I had no idea what we signed up for. They have a full video studio and photo studio. The geek in me freaked out because their studios are gorgeous! They had wardrobe and makeup… I mean it was the real deal! The wardrobe lady came out and dressed Caleb in what is now his most favorite shirt, his dinosaur shirt! Caleb was not a fan of the photoshoot idea leading up to Wednesday, especially since he can be a little on the shy side, but I swear this dinosaur shirt changed his mind about the whole ordeal.

We get Caleb changed and he looks adorable and then they look at us and say, and you guys will be in some pics and video too right? And I panic because I did not come prepared for that. I had not done my hair or makeup and James hadn’t shaved HA HA!  If they wanted the real life of a St. Jude family we are definitely REAL! Of course we were happy to be a part of the shoot and wardrobe provided me with a solid color shirt and did my makeup. The icing on the cake was they did James’ makeup too by powdering his head. Caleb found this very amusing!

Now it’s time for the shoot and we started in the video studio. They basically shot some b-roll of Caleb smiling and laughing on camera. Then I sat with Caleb and we did the same thing. We smiled at the camera, laughed with each other, etc.

I was shocked that Caleb was just loving all the attention and he was in a great mood when we moved on to the photo studio. They had Caleb do a bunch of different poses, kick a ball, hold his hands up and cheer, etc. For the last part of the shoot James and I got in the pics with Caleb. We all looked at each other and laughed etc. Caleb had the best time and when we left he said, “the photoshoot was really fun can we do that again sometime?” I was shocked because Tyler is usually the one who is photogenic and loves attention, but now Caleb loves it too. I am so thankful that all the awesome people at St. Jude made this a fun and positive experience for him so that going forward I won’t be worried about agreeing to do something like this.

As I said before, I have no idea what if anything these pics will be used for but who knows… maybe you’ll see Caleb on their social media or on some advertising in the future.

Caleb was so worn out from all the fun that he took a nap when we got home. He would not let me change him out of his dinosaur shirt though, so he just looked adorable laying there in his collared dinosaur shirt taking a nap. It definitely made me laugh. It was such a fun day and it’s nice to have those in the midst of all his treatments.