Happy Birthday Eva - from belly to breath

I can't believe I haven't posted these belly shots yet! They are some of my favorite pictures yet. I set up a little studio in my living room to shoot my friend Geraldine.



If you want to feel life at it's very most raw moment, you need to see a baby be born. To see someone take their very first breath is something unlike any other experience in this world. To see the strength of a mother dealing with something so powerful and painful, and fully being able to understand what she is going through is tough...but so amazing. My respect for my friend Geraldine will always hold strong. It was really hard to witness her pain, and to be reminded of so many things that I still carry with me from Adelaide's birth....but I'm so thankful to her and her husband for letting me be there to try my best to help them get through the most amazing day of their lives. They are such great parents already! Welcome Eva!!!

Morning Walk

We didn't get very far before Adelaide found an amazing little puddle that she fell in love with. I let her get as wet and dirty as she wanted...and then we came home =) She really had a blast in that dirty little puddle.

First Pig tails =)

I know, next time I'll work harder on getting her part straight =/

Earning her keep

Babysittin

One of the ways I've been thinking I could make extra money is by watching another kiddo. It's great because then I'm still with Adelaide, and we have lots of fun toys and a great yard to play in...but I wasn't sure if I could actually handle two of them at once. So we tried it out. I watched Oliver for 7 hours on Friday...and we did good! He is such a good little boy, and that makes it much easier. He had a lot of fun, and him and Adelaide played together most of the time, so I just had to be there to make sure nobody go hurt. It was fun, but very tiring! I couldn't leave them even for a second, so if I had to pee, they had to come with me. The miracle was nap time when we all 3 went upstairs and I gave him his bottle and nursed Adelaide and they both went right to sleep! It was AMAZING - although Adelaide woke up 45 minutes later and was so excited she started yelling and woke up Oliver. Next time I might have to let him have some peace downstairs in her crib =)

Here they are when they were tiny

Happy Birthday Grandpa

We are so happy because my dad decided to drive up here and spend his birthday with us. Adelaide had so much fun, and I had fun watching them together. I think they have a special bond. They stayed very busy together! Happy Birthday you old man! We love you so much!!!! Riding the fire truck And a bike ride with Rascal Reading magazines together (just ignore my mess of a closet) And here are some funny videos!

Good Morning happy girl

Adelaide has a new baby wrap!

Adelaide

Today for the first time Adelaide was able to put all of her shape blocks in the right place, like a light just turned on and she figured out that you have to match the shape of the hole with the shape of the block! She is so smart.

She has two pairs of shoes, and today she has put on each pair seperately, all by herself, and on the right feet! She is so smart!

When listening to music Adelaide will tell you if she hears a guitar, flute, violin, banjo, or harmonica. She loves music and can really tell the difference in many different instruments. She is so smart.

The most amazing this that has happened so far today (it's only 9:30 in the morning) is that she wanted to cuddle with me on the couch for a whole hour! I just held her, and we talked about bike helmets, harmonicas, froggies, and dancing. She nursed a little, but mostly just laid her cheek on my warm chest, looking at me and feeling safe. I was in heaven. I'm so glad I'm here with her, so I was able to be here when she needed me to be. I think she has been missing me a bit, I've been busy with these photo shoots and editing, and trying to do yoga when I can. It's nice that I can make up some time with her that matters.

One other thing is she has been waking up at 5:30 in the morning ready to go. Today Myles brought her downstairs and put her in her crib with her toys. She quietly played in there for over an hour! All by herself and happy! She is wonderful, I couldn't ask for a more amazing person to be my daughter!

7 Years....no broken Mirrors - ha I rhymed =)

7 years ago today my life took the best turn it ever could have. 7 years ago(and I really can't believe it was really THAT long ago already!)I had just returned from Prague. I was living European for a year in the most amazing city in the world. I was a new person with new ideas new feelings about life. I came back to San Diego because I had friends there who would support me, give me a place to live for free, a car to drive, food, and even a job pulling weeds. It was such a great life, but of course I couldn't take advantage of them forever. I owe my friend Ross so much for that though, he really took care of me, but this is not the point of my post. I drove Ross' truck up to San Francisco for my friends wedding. The day after that (May 26th 2003)I picked up my friend Creed and drove him to Chico because I was going to visit my dad while I was so close. Creed wanted to be dropped off at Myles' house, and apparently so did I, because once I got there I never really left. I fell in love with Myles as soon as I met him. I knew, KNEW that he was for me. I went back to San Diego to gather my stuff and came back to Chico. And here we are now. 7 short and amazing years later.
We have been back to Prague twice since then. Ireland too. This isn't a post about that either, but I like to think of those days and the things we've done between. We also went to Costa Rica, Mexico, all over Europe a few times, and of course bought our first home, got married, and best of all, had Adelaide. The best parts of both of us are in her. We are all so happy and lucky to be together.

Wedding shoot!

Here is a sneak peak from the wedding I shot on Saturday. There are so many good shots, it's hard to decide what to put on here. Let me just say that it's hard work shooting a wedding, and more hard work editing the shots etc in between taking care of a toddler! Thank goodness for Myles (and naps) otherwise my little photo business would never happen =)

18 months

Adelaide is already a year and a half! Here is how she looks now. She had a check up today and we saw an actual MD this time. We wanted to establish care with their practice for those "just in case" situations where seeing our Naturopath Catherine isn't the right answer. Thankfully we haven't had one of those situations yet...but you never know. Her name was Dr. Martin. I really liked her and she was great with Adelaide. She answered all of my questions and was also very relaxed about things. I think she moved from San Francisco which for some reason makes me like her more, I guess because I feel like she is from back home. She said that she can tell Adelaide is a very healthy little girl with a strong immune system. I know this due to breast milk, her healthy diet, and also the cod liver that she loves to slurp up daily.

Here are Punkie's stats for 18 months.
Weight - 22 lbs 2 oz (20% which seems slight, but nobody seems concerned)
Height - 31 3/4 inches (which puts her right at 50%)
Head circumference - 18.5 inches

Fun weekend

This weekend was packed with stuff to do. On Saturday we went to the Alberta Street art hop. It was fun for Adelaide to see all of the dogs, babies, and musicians. Here is her and her daddy watching a bag piper.


Sunday was the Parkways bikeride. They close of a 6 mile loop of streets to cars so there are only bikes and strollers on the street. It was very busy and crowded, but Adelaide loved it. We spent some time at the park playing on the swings and slides. I got to meet up with some old friends that I used to work with. I'm sorry that I didn't take any pictures. It was a really fun, yet tiring day!

Curly girl

Also be sure to scroll down - as I added in some pictures from this month that will show up before the other posts that had already been posted earlier. Does that make any sense?

Engagment Shots

When you get the chance to photograph people who are this beautiful, you don't pass it up! I just did this shoot today and am too excited to wait until tomorrow to post a few. Congrats to these two !

Little clothes

catch up

I need to catch up this blog with pictures and words, but it's been far too nice outside these last few days and the last place I want to be is here on this machine. We have been having fresh salads from the garden daily, and today Adelaide got to run around the front yard naked. I had a photo shoot today, another one for tomorrow. Summer is on the way and I can't wait to spend every single moment of it outside.

Bath