Why Not At Costco?

Can you believe it! One of my kids... and taken at Costco of all places! Yep, so you know what we did today. I had to though. Take the picture I mean. Ethan took a long nap before we left and so I knew he would be fully awake while there. So I thought maybe I should try putting him in the shopping cart for the first time since he's sitting so well these days. And then my mind went to wanting a picture of that. No, not going to bring along my big camera for a snapshot in the parking lot. Oh where is that point and shoot... Has a card, yep!, has batteries... We're good to go! And why I don't this more often, I don't know. Maybe because I hate using it - it doesn't focus very easily - but still, it doesn't hurt to have it in my bag at all times. I'm always with the "bag" after all. Although I just have to tell you that the "bag" was lacking wipes today and I didn't know this until I was trying to clean off churro crumbs off Emma's face, AFTER our Costco shopping and while having a cheap Costco lunch. Wow, glad Ethan was delayed from his usual afternoon "business" and I didn't have to find out I didn't have wipes while trying to change him! That so wouldn't have been good. Then again, right outside of the restroom in Costco is the section of diapers and wipes... I guess I could've figured out something. And I really am jumping from one tangent to the next, so time to start a new paragraph. :)

I really thought I also might be sharing our first crawling photo of Ethan because after we got home I put him down and he attempted to move his leg forward... then down he went with his usual "plop!". Any day now, I tell ya. He's up on all four, rocking, lunging forward... He just has yet to figure out how to coordinate his arms and legs forward. But he's all over the joint regardless. And it's so much fun to watch.

But sad too. Seriously, I'm really having a hard time with letting my "baby" grow up. Everytime he does something new I think about how it's the last time I'm going to see a baby of mine do whatever it is he's doing. He's our last. This is it. So everything he does is so bittersweet to watch. It dawned on me today how the younger sibling is always referred to as "my baby" or given that little extra something of affection that is really hard to describe what exactly it is... Anyway, I understand it now. It's hard to watch your last one grow up. You want to hold on to all those things you will not witness again from your own children. I don't know if I'm making any sense or sounding like a big dork, but these are the things I think about these days. Even letting him hold his own bottle is hard (greatly relieving!), but hard. No, not yet! I'm just not ready to let go.

Okay, enough for one entry. All of you have a great weekend! And thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Here She Is Again

Wow, can you tell that I haven't been playing with any personal photos since I am only sharing session photos? I promise I'm still taking photos of my kids too! :) I'll get to showing them to you someday...

But in the meanwhile, I just have to share some of my favorite photos of this little girl... She is too cute! And just turned two! I don't know if you can tell in these photos how tall she is, but she is a very tall two year old. She is so sweet and girly. You should have seen her trying to feed the birds and then running away from them every time they started moving towards her. And poor little thing fell during our session and scraped up her knees. I think we all thought we were done, but she was a trooper and let me take a few more. I'm so glad too because a few of my favorites were taken right after that.

















Thanks again to the parents of little Miss "I" for asking me to photograph your beautiful daughter. It was a joy! May God bless her richly in her third year of life, and always.

Beauty, Times Two

Aren't these two little girls just the sweetest? Older sis is almost 1 1/2 years old and little sis is 3 months old in these shots. They are so cute and such a pleasure to photograph. And I love their nursery - mom did an awesome job of decorating - so pink and girly.

Thank you to mom and dad for sharing your sweet babies with me. I LOVED working on these and I feel honored that you would ask me to take photos for you.

Just One For Now

I've been messing around with my background colors... Still don't know if I'm on sold on the changes, but maybe it will help when I update my banner. I loved my original colors, but they weren't very "me". I love red and blue together so I thought I'd go with that. We'll see what I think in a week or two.

In the meanwhile, I thought I should post a photo of one of my children since I haven't been doing that much lately. I have a ton, but no time to go through them. This was Ethan's first swing ride a couple days ago. I promise more pics of my kids soon...

Update on Dennis...

For anyone who may be watching my blog for an update on Dennis... Well, turn of events. I spoke to Jerrie on Friday afternoon, only to find out that Dennis wound up with a bad infection that showed up on Thursday night. He was in so much pain and discomfort that she had to call 911 and he was taken to Anaheim Memorial. It looks like the infection could have been caused by the pick-line that was put in for his stem cell collection. Anyway, so he didn't go into the hospital for his transplant this weekend after all.

It is a blessing really that the infection showed up when it did. Had he gone into the hospital and been given his chemo treatment, and then found out about the infection (especially since infections like to hide out until the worst possible time to manifest themselves), that just wouldn't have been good. He would not have been able to go through with the transplant... and you can only imagine how this could have been a really bad situation not being at full strength.

So Jerrie expressed how grateful she was for all the prayers that were going up for Dennis... They were working to keep Dennis safe and in the best possible care, even though the game plan had changed. It will be at least another couple weeks before he can go in for the transplant. He needs to get rid of this infection first.

I will keep you updated on his progress and thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. Keem 'em coming!

Prayers Needed!

On many Wednesdays, you will find the kids and I at Rubio's with two of our favorite people in the world, Dennis and Jerrie Warner. Jerrie and I worked together at Disneyland and have kept in close touch since I left - she is very much like a mom to me and one of my dearest friends. Both of them are like the kids' third set of grandparents. Emma LOVES seeing them, and I think we are all very fortunate to have each other.

Last August, Dennis was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, which is cancer of the blood cell. It is in the same family as Lymphoma & Leukemia, but is said to be the less evil of the three. I got this definition from a website (http://www.multiplemyeloma.org/): "It is a cancer of the plasma cell, an important part of the immune system that produces antibodies to help fight infection and disease." It is said to be an incurable but treatable disease.

So far, Dennis has done remarkably well with treatment. And when you see him, you would hardly know that anything is wrong. He looks healthy and strong, and always in good spirits. He suffered with a bad infection during Christmas, in which he has recovered well from. A couple weeks or so ago he had his first dose of chemo, and also did very well with that.

This Friday he goes in to City of Hope for surgery. He is being given a stem cell transplant, of his own stem cell. For four days last week, they did a collection of his healthy stem cell that was taken through his blood. The collection went very well. When he goes in tomorrow (3/23) he will first be hydrated, in preparation for the chemo treatment that he will be given on Saturday. It will be a strong dose, and the purpose is to kill all of his stem cell. On Sunday he will be given a day of rest and then on Monday he will be given the transplant from last week's collection of healthy stem cell. He could be in the hospital for the next few weeks. They will be closely watching how well his body can produce blood again. And as with any transplant, there is the fear of rejection.

Jerrie had to help me get all these details straight and I will refrain from attempting to give any more info, in which I may not relay correctly. But there is no doubt that Dennis needs lots of prayers right now. They both do. I gave you the procedure dates because I know it helps to specifically know what to pray for each day. Please remember them in your prayers this weekend and for the weeks to come. The Lord has been very good to Dennis, providing in every way. I believe there is power in prayer and power in numbers. Feel free to pass along this message to anyone you feel will help in this way. God bless you and thank you for your support.

And to Dennis and Jerrie, we look forward to our next lunch date together. We love you both very much! May God bless you and keep you in His care always.

100 Days and Counting...

These photos were taken to celebrate this baby boy's 100th day of life- It is Korean custom to celebrate this milestone in a baby's first year. This was such a good session with a very loving family. And the room we used in their house was a photographer's dream room... It was a huge room with wooden flooring and a large window that went along one whole side of the room. Awesome. It was mom's idea to place their beautiful couch in front of the black backdrop and I think it's just lovely.



The above photo is my favorite shot... I love the intense look and that he's looking right at the camera. And he looks like such a little man! Don't you just love the arms?







Just like us, they have an older girl and the age difference between the two is also similar. Their little girl is so cute, and just like someone else I know, didn't really care to cuddle up next to her little brother for a photo. But I love this shot with her dad (and Curious George of course!) And isn't mom a doll? I got some sweet shots of her and baby.

Can you blame me?

I just got home from a photo shoot and I seriously couldn't help but play with at least one photo! Isn't this little girl gorgeous?! She just turned two last Friday. She was very shy with me, but oh so cute and very sweet. Her parents were just the nicest people and I really enjoyed spending some time with this wonderful family.

So to her parents, thanks guys for inviting me in your lives for even a short moment to capture the sweetness that is your beautiful daughter.

3 Month Old Beauty... My Niece

Her name is Ivy Meadow and isn't she just beautiful? Definitely at her chubbiest at three months, and so pink and cute. A sweet disposition too. Barely fussed at all. Her mother and I were exhausted by the end, with trying to prop the bears up, changing the backdrop, and trying to find ways to keep her propped up. But I am so happy with how these came out, and thanks to my sister-in-law's creativity, learned a couple new things that will help me with future shoots. So thanks Carol! And thanks for sharing your little beauty. I love that I'm asked to take photos of my nieces and nephew - what a privelege!

One Year Old Princess

This one year old beauty is the daughter of a couple that we used to work with at Disneyland. Isn't she a cutie? There are other photos of her on my website at 4 months and then 10.5 months. This photo session was difficult because she was very clingy with her mom and wouldn't sit on her own for anything. In fact, except for the one of her outside, all inside shots were taken sitting on her mom's lap. We managed to get a few sweet shots and she really looks so adorable wearing her birthday tiara. What a doll!

Almost caught up!

I have been proofing sessions like a mad woman lately... But I am almost caught up and I'm excited to share some of my favorites. So I think I will post a few from each of my recent sessions for the next week.

The first set is from a maternity and newborn session that I did in February. This new mommy is the daughter of a friend that I worked with at Disneyland. While working on these photos, I was amazed at how much she looks like her mother. They look like they could be sisters! I did her maternity session maybe a few days after her due date - talk about cutting it close! She was obviously the fullest pregnant woman I have photographed, but so very cute and petite-looking.

The baby was so beautiful and he was such a good baby. Newborn shoots can be tough! But he was a trooper. I got so many great shots of mother and baby. Not so many of father and son, but this is one of my all-time favorites! Isn't it just the sweetest!

Bath Time Comparison Shot

I promised a comparison shot a couple days ago and here it is! I had the hardest time finding a similar bath photo of Emma and of course, I really struggle with the quality of those older photos. So this one of Emma was the only one I could settle on and she is about a month older than Ethan in his photo.

I don't think they look anything alike here and honestly, that is pretty much how I feel every time I go through old photos of Emma. It's only in expression that they look alike. I even noticed while searching through photos that Emma appears to be so much bigger than Ethan and she was already sitting up by herself at seven months and Ethan isn't. Maybe in another month for him. We also thought that Ethan seemed so much chunkier than Emma ever was, but I guess not! That girl had huge cheeks and thighs! Ethan has definitely lost some of his chub as of late, ever since we bought the Jumperoo. He's been jumping it all off... But I'm pretty sure he eats better than Emma. He certainly isn't as picky.

Okay, enough comparing for tonight. Till tomorrow...

Happy Birthday Felicita!

Today is my dear friend, Felicita's birthday. Felicita and I met in college back in 1991 and dormed together for three years. She is Canadian and these pictures are from our last visit together, 4.5 years ago in Canada. Much too long to not have had a visit. She was almost 8 months pregnant with her first child, Heidi, whom I still have yet to meet. Since that visit, we now have two children each and she has moved twice. It is very sad to think that we have not seen each other in so long; even sadder to think that we have never seen each other's children. I know our girls would have a blast together, and maybe even be "kindred spirits" and "bosom friends" as Felicita and I are. :) And I'm sure our boys would hit it off as well (given Ethan has a little more time to appreciate a playmate.)

So to my dearest friend Felicita, whom I miss so much, I hope your birthday was wonderful and filled with special blessings that you will carry in your heart all year through. May God bless your new year richly with all His love and goodness. It is my hope that we will soon be able to plan a visit. Can't wait to go to tea! Maybe we'll even bring the girls... or not! :) I love you lots and Happy Birthday!

Today's Scene

Not technically sound photos... But will I cherish these always? Always. I came home from a shoot today and after hubby made me a yummy lunch (I was so spoiled today), the four of us hung out in bed, cuddling, enjoying each other. Ethan had just woke up from a nap and he was so cute and cuddly. Emma was "fixing us something to eat" so we had a second lunch of calorie-less imaginary food. And it just melts my heart when I see moments like this.

And speaking of calories, I don't know what Daniel is trying to do to us, but he now has two scone recipes down pat. Today he made chocolate chip scones and they are to-die-for yummy! Wish I could share with all of you because you would be quite impressed. I also need to just get them out of the house... Why is it he makes 16 at a time?