my advice to new parents

DO NOT, under any circumstances, take an 18-month-old for a "professional" portrait session.

Unless, of course, you would like to wrestle a tantruming toddler for 45 minutes, hoping to get them to stand still for two seconds, three wardrobe changes, and one---just one, please---smile. Yeah, it was THAT fun.

In retrospect, 6 months would have been the ideal age for a photo shoot: they can sit up unassisted, perhaps crawl and roll around a bit but are by no means mobile, and are easily amused by rattles and squeaky toys. Ahh, the good old days!