Attempting to get a "Good" Photo with a Baby

I place the "good" in quotations as I have learned over the past two months that you can't expect the perfect shot but you should just hope for one that is "good" or "okay" which standard varies according to the particular instance and setting.

I provide two series below illustrating this. The first is showing a hat that my dear friend, Auntie Lauren, made especially for Jane. I wanted Auntie Lauren to have a special photo of Jane wearing the hat- seems like a simple request but it took way more effort and compromise than I was expecting.

Jane was not at all cooperative at first, as evidenced by the following 3 photos where she just kept screaming and crying.

I was trying to get a good photo of her without her binkie but after several minutes of screaming at the top of her little lungs, I decided it ultimately wasn't worth it and put the binkie in.
She calmed down but still, not perfect as both of her eyes are closed.

I tried several more shots of her with the binkie and while she was calm, she just didn't want to have both eyes fully open so I settled for the "good" one of the bunch where one eye is open and the other is at least partially open.

And even when she is in a slightly better mood, it is still tough to get a "good" shot. My co-worker Ashley knitted this blanket especially for Jane and while she was not crying, it still took awhile to get a "good" shot.

She first had both of her eyes closed
Then she didn't want to look at me (the only thing on that side of her is a brown wall which appears to be much more engaging :-)
The following was the "good" enough shot where she is somewhat looking forward, though she is reaching for some unknown object.
I recognize just how lucky I am that we have a digital camera where I can actually see exactly how the photo turns out immediately, rather than hoping for an ok photo and finding out they were all terrible months later when they were developed. I truly appreciate all of the hard work and effort done by my parents so that I have many good shots.

I still have NO idea on how to make this process any easier though so you will be encountering many more "good" photos of Jane :-)