Tenley Clark Photography

Caps for Sale.

2012-02-29T17:26:00.002-08:00

I don't know how many of you have heard of or read the children's book Caps For Sale but it's awesome. i thought it was a classic everyone knew but turns out I was wrong. Or at least no one I know has heard about it. Once we had Zachary I knew I had to buy it for him and he already loves it. Mostly because of my silly old-time Boston accent and monkey noises I do. I however love it for the gorgeous color palette. It's swoon worthy for sure. I just had to do a little photoshoot inspired by it's beauty with my beautiful boy.

Like always I hand-made the crafts used for the set (out of construction paper). His hat is from this Etsy shop.

I hope you enjoyed our silly little shoot!

365 Zachary: November

2012-02-22T22:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the 365 pictures I took of Zachary back in November that I haven't shared yet:

November is Dave's birthday so he got to celebrate his first birthday as a daddy! We went out to a comedy show with our friends and Pop-pop watched Baby Bear. My dad HATES having his picture taken and ducks out of every shot I try to take so that picture of him with Zack asleep on him is very special to me. I love those two lots and lots and they love each other lots and lots. Melts my heart!

Dino stare down. In his super warm jammies from a cold night. Eating his first solids! (rice cereal)

We took him to his first wedding in November. He was the best dressed guy there. Let me tell you, it is not easy finding fancy clothes for a 5 month old.

Lots of eating pictures. I think I was a little too proud of this new step. I love how he always used to eat in a heel stretch when we used to feed him in the swing. Too funny!

While shopping for his fancy clothes my mom got him this adorable bear hat from Baby Gap. So fitting for my little baby bear.

After a year of trying to get Dave to help me pick a new duvet I just went ahead and bought this one. I love me some gray stripes. And clearly so does Bubs!

Usually I'm the one putting my foot in my mouth. This AMAZING quilt was made by the mother of a friend of ours. Isn't it spectacular!? I'm still in awe. Zachary loves pointing and staring at the different robots. We called the little mister Baby Bot a lot in the womb and are a robot loving family.

Woodland Wish is one of our favorite books. I get excited to read it and even Daddy (who is picky as heck) loves it! It even comes with a free song to the book. It's whimsical and adorable and has amazing illustrations. I highly recommend it. That's Bubs in the crib standing all by himself!

We got Zachary his first jumperoo. He loves that thing. I swear sometimes he is going to jump himself right out of it. He now thinks that whenever he stands he needs to jump. I swear his chunky thighs are stronger than mine. I'm so impressed with how many squats he can do. The second image is his cousin Sophie very sweetly reading him Time For Bed on Skype. Another moment that seriously melted my heart and another one of our very favorite books. It was wonderful to get to see all those sweet faces again and have them "see" Zack.

There you have it. There was a little very late glimpse into our November. I'm pretty sure the Xfinity turtles posted their pictures before me. Slow and steady. Winning!

Feeling the Love.

2012-02-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

It's probably an understatement to say I have a heart addiction. Sounds like something I need treatment for. Maybe I do. Nevertheless, I love hearts! This is one of the reasons that I love Valentine's Day so much! I get to binge on hearts all month long and not be judged as if I think am living in a Disney movie. Ok, maybe people still do but I have a pretty good excuse to let my love for hearts hang out there like a plumber's crack. I was free to wear my heart on my sleeve, in my hair, on my feet, and in my tummy.

Since I couldn't buy Zachary chocolate-shaped hearts I decided to make all of his purees for the month heart-shaped. I'm not sure I'll be able to stop. Cute food is another addiction of mine.

I made lots of heart cookies (made with the recipe from this awesome treat cookbook my mom got me) and yummy dark chocolate cherry glazed brownies with the recipe for Ruche (by Elsie & Emma) to deliver to loved ones. And a the bow and arrows I made for our little family shoot.

I love Starbuck's holiday cups! & a indoor pizza living room picnic with two sick boys

some of our heart decorations.

As you can see I made lots of heart-shaped food. Holidays make me want to bake lots and eat horrible-for-you delicious foods.

Sometimes I swear I like the time leading up to holidays more than the holidays themselves. Decorating, crafting, shopping and baking/eating treats to prepare is the fun part. As I said in the previous post our actual Valentine's Day was actually pretty awful. Alas, I still love it. I think all the anticipation of the prep makes you so excited that you will be a little disappointed no matter what. I'm always bummed when the actual day arrives because that means no more month-long celebration. Anyone else?

Now onto celebrating my Irish roots! Or just eating lots of Lucky Charms (marshmallows only, duh!) and wearing one of the three green things I own.

Struck By Cupid's Arrow

2012-02-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

We did a fun little photoshoot on Valentine's Day (a little family tradition for the past 3 years). We decided last second to actually do it that day (as we were a little cranky and, as always, sleep-deprived). I whipped up a bow, two arrows and wings in like 15 minutes. The bow was made from a wire hanger and yarn. The arrows were made from construction paper and cake pop sticks. And the wings were made from cardboard from a t-shirt box, white paint, and yarn. I know. I could totally teach Janky Crafts 101.

Yes, he will hate me later in life for this. I figure it's bound to happen either way. At least I got some cute pictures out of it.

I hope you enjoyed our silly little love fest! I also hope you all had a great Valentine's Day. And if not, hooray! It's over!

I spent the night throwing up and having my Mom over to watch Zachary (thanks Lady!) so it wasn't great but we made up for it by taking a baby to a fancy dinner this weekend. While he's in his shrieking at the top of his lungs phase. Ya, not the best idea. Delicious food though!

Clouds in first three images are Photoshop Overlays from vol. 25. Dress is from (my favorite) Ruche.

Scrabble Sundays: True Love's Kiss

2012-02-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

This week I chose to do a quote/song title from one of my favorite movies Enchanted since I'm feeling the Valentine's love. Now I'm feeling the need to watch it. I would probably fall asleep five seconds in anyways. That's what I'm off to do now. Well, hopefully. I'm not sure we slept more than like two hours combined last night with the poor guy up all night with teething/something pain. Wish us luck.

What are you guys doing to celebrate Valentine's Day? Or to un-celebrate it?

Guide to Making Your Own Baby Food.

2012-02-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Hello lovely readers! I thought I would put together a little post about making your own baby food since so many of you are new mothers. Don't have kids? Well you could be like Jessica Seinfeld and use purees to make your own meals even healthier.

I get a lot of questions from people about what making your own baby food entails. It seems most people think it sounds like a lot of work and so mystifying that they don't give it a second thought. I'm here to hopefully take a little bit of the mystery out of it and tell you how EASY it is. Not only easy but I actually think it's FUN! This is coming from a fast food junkie who never used to like to cook and HATED chopping.

I, like other mothers, want better for my child. I would like to guide him to better, healthier eating (and as a bonus I have even started eating some healthy home-made meals). I know there are organic, healthy baby foods out there. Lots. But that gets expensive! I chose to make our own because 1. it saves money 2. I know exactly what is in his food 3. I can make my own flavor combinations 4. it is easy to guide him into eating the same foods as us 5. I think store baby foods smell and look gross. If I wouldn't eat it, I don't expect him to.

By the way, I get not everyone has the time, or care, to go this route, so seriously please don't take any of this as a judgement if you buy your food. It's hard to find time to shower as a mom let alone cook (yes, I just admitted that I don't shower publicly). One of the biggest things I've learned becoming a mom is to not judge any one else's parenting. We all are doing our best to get by and do what works best for us. Just wanted to make sure that was said.

You only need a few things to get started.
-a food processor
We use one made for making baby food but that's not necessary
-a good baby food book
I use Top 100 Baby Purees (ugly cover, gorgeous pictures). I also hear great things about Super Baby Food as well. This will help be a guide to what can be frozen, what age they can have certain foods, and of course how to prepare them.
-a good knife
So helpful with all of the chopping you do.
-pots & a steamer/microwave-safe dish to steam
-ice cube tray & ziploc freezer bags /storage containers

Above is a peek at a few of the things we have in the freezer as an example of what you could puree. We also have mango, pear, strawberries, sweet potato, tilapia, & chicken.

There are also lots of foods that you can make that you don't even have to puree. You can mash up some banana or avocado. Or give them rice cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt. As they get older you will be able to dice some fruits into tiny pieces they can feed themselves or even give it to them whole as they get better at eating. Giving them something like a big piece of carrot to gnaw on is great for teething (note: I wouldn't recommend leaving them unattended with something like that though).

You'll obviously need to start with some good produce. You don't need to get all the different foods at once. We started out giving him one new food a week and started adding more slowly. As I notice something is running low I will just pick more up at the store that week and prepare it while cooking our dinner. I wouldn't recommend making a ton of one food at once though as purees are typically only good up to 6 weeks.

With most foods all you have to do is peel, chop and either boil or steam them until they are tender and then puree. You can add a few things to certain purees before you process them. For instance when they are starting out it's nice to mix in some breast-milk/formula for a familiar taste and a thinner consistency that's easier to eat. If it's breast-milk you can't re-freeze it or microwave it though, so keep that in mind. You can also add a little unsalted butter to things like carrots (cooking carrots with fat makes the beta-carotene absorb more readily) or sweet potato. Or a dash of cinnamon to apple or pear.

After cooking your food and processing it to a smooth puree pour it into ice cube trays and put them in the freezer. If you choose to use storage containers just put them pre-portioned into those and store. Keep in mind when portioning their food that you can not save anything that they don't eat once their spoon hits it. It's better to give them less and add if they seem hungry still than to waste a bunch of food.

If you choose to go the ice cube tray route you can just pop those little guys out once they are frozen and put them in a labeled Ziploc bag. It can be helpful to add the date you cooked it to ensure that you don't use food that is past the 6 week expiration date. Yes mine say things like "winner, winner, chicken dinner" and "show us your bleubs". I also add silly drawings if I'm feeling artsy. I'm a child with a child.

Even though the books give all of these recipes to make things together, I cook everything separately. The great thing about storing his food this way is that I can then create my own combinations later on so that he isn't eating the same things all of the time. With the exception of apples & pears (his favorite) he rarely eats the same meal twice in a week. I swear sometimes his food is better than mine. I have a hard time not eating it and it makes me frown at my own cold dinner. One unexpected combination (from my book) that I found delicious is chicken, apple and sweet potato. Zachary loves it!

A few other "helpful" tips:
-Feed them after they have nursed/had their bottle. Food at this time is just for practice and they still need to have at least 18 to 20 oz. of milk a day. So, it's good to feed them that first to make sure that they aren't too full of food to have their milk.
- It's best to wait at least three days in between trying new foods to see if they are allergic.
-Microwave the frozen purees until they are piping hot and let cool. This will help kill bacteria.

Again, I am in no way an expert on this situation. I am just sharing what we do in case someone out there is interested. Feel free to ask any questions you have or share your thoughts or own tips on the subject.

The Fate of Fruit.

2012-02-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

Scrabble Sundays: All You Need is Love

2012-02-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

Taken with iPhone.

I haven't done one of these in a while, but one of the Instagram prompts for the day was words and I thought it would be fun to do one again. This is one of my favorite quotes/lyrics of all time. I figured it would be appropriate given the upcoming Valentine's Day.

Sorry to keep this short but I've got to get back to editing a few sessions and a wedding while the little munchkin is asleep. I have a post coming up this week about making your own baby food and will be doing one on self-portraits soon. Feel free to let me know if there is a post/topic you'd like to see on here!

Instagram January Photo A Day

2012-02-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

I have a confession. I have become mildly addicted to Instagram. I know. I have been sneaking around behind my Droid's back with the mister's iPhone. Even worse I sometimes use the pictures I take with my Droid and turn them into Instagrams. Shock. Awe. The horror.

Things have gotten pretty awkward around here. I think he's onto me. He's shut down a lot a lot recently. He's been hiding messages and he's always too drained to talk. I'm filing my official divorce papers in April and moving on to a new sexier phone that doesn't make my pictures blue and get possessed every other day. Hopefully.

So in my trysts with Instagram I began a little fun challenge that @fatmumslim created. She made a list of words/themes for you to take a picture representing every day of the month. Fun! I take so many pictures and it can be exhausting to upload and edit constantly so I am really enjoying documenting every day life without all the hullaballoo (great word!).

1. You
In my new Tenley glasses by Warby Parker from my mom. Yes they are named Tenley!
2. Breakfast
I swear I don't eat Starbuck's for breakfast every day. Sometimes it's McDonald's =)
3. Something you adore
Adore is the understatement of the century.
4. Letterbox
Had no idea what this was at first. We call it a mailbox.
5. Something you wore
Love my saddle shoes I have had since high school.
6. Makes you smile
Love this sign in our backyard. I'll miss it when we move in May.
7. Favorite
Missed this one.
8. Your sky
Taken from the car window while driving around trying not to wake the baby.
9. Daily routine
He's the best daily routine I've ever had! He took the place of showering and sleep.

10. Childhood
Me when I was like 7 in one of my mom's awesome smocked dresses she used to make me on 4th of July.
11.Where you sleep
12. Close-up
I cheated here. This was taken with my DSLR. Didn't have a phone.
13. In your bag
In my vintage bag/diaper bag
14. Something you're reading
One of our favorite books. Love the Mary Blair illustrations.
15. Happiness
He's happy. He's my happiness. Double points.
16. Morning
A couple of sickies.
17. Water
He LOVES bath time. And yes he's well fed. And I love it.
18. Something you bought
Delicious Falafel Drive-In.

19. Sweet
Nice excuse to get my favorite food. Great day with Baby Bear shopping for vintage, drinking hot cocoa and grabbing a cupcake downtown.
20. Someone you love
Taken on our first date night in 6 months.
21. Reflection
Rainy day.
22. Your shoes
My love. My chucks.
23. Something old
My vintage pyrex the mister got me for Xmas. He spent a lot of time researching patterns and everything. So sweet!
24. Guilty pleasure
The Bachelor.
25. Something you made
Well.. ya.
26. Colour
One of my Expedit shelves.
27. Lunch
I don't eat on days I shoot weddings so I skipped this one.
28. Light
Taken out the window driving through San Francisco on the way home from a shoot. (actually where the wedding was the day before)

29. Inside my fridge
What? Your fruit isn't alive?
30. Nature
I live in the suburbs. The only nature around me is the weeds in my backyard.
31. You. Again.
Blonder than I started the month.

I hope you enjoyed a little look at these silly little images. I'm doing February too. Should be fun.

Happy February!

2012-02-01T23:21:00.000-08:00

I hope your February's are filled with love, kitschy hearts, too much chocolate, silly faces and lots of baby drool! Minus the drool. Ours definitely will be. I'm already dreaming up a few things to bake and crafts to make if (fingers crossed) I have time and a healthy baby this month. Our January was spent sick. The entire month. Ya. Not so great. Thanks to some antibiotics, after he had a 104.3 fever and woke up shaking and panting, little man is doing better and so am I. And I am so very thankful.

Here's to hoping February is filled with more sleep and I don't see the clock hit every single hour all night long. Please excuse me. Sleep deprivation makes me whiny. Happy thoughts: Cupcakes. Disney. Starbucks. All better.

Quesadillas & Jalapenos.

2012-01-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

For my second week of trying new recipes I decided to try another two Pioneer Woman recipes. Her recipes are just so yummy! There was also a 49ers game on and I wanted to make something for the mister to enjoy. I tried both the Quesadillas de Camarones and the Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Thingies.

The first thing I made were the jalapenos and they were delicious. They weren't really for me but I still tried one, or two, and I must say they were pretty tasty. I think next time I would leave even more seeds because we love our food super spicy.

Here is an instagram photo of the jalapenos before loading them with cream-cheese and wrapping them in bacon:

All in all I would give the Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Thingies 4/5 cupcakes:

As for the Quesadillas de Camarones it was a bit bland. It was pretty good but the shrimp definitely needed more flavor. I would find a way to make that happen next time. Perhaps letting it marinate overnight in the sauce? All things considered I would give this dish 3/5 cupcakes:

Mackenzie's Tea Party.

2012-01-24T12:55:00.000-08:00

I did this session back in November with the super adorable Mackenzie. She was the perfect little model! All smiles, giggles, and full of energy. She laughed every time the lid to the teapot fell off and it was too cute. Such a doll! Have I said how much I love what I do? It is sessions like this that really make my heart sing. I just love capturing kids being kids. Playing pretend. Sharing tea with a furry friend. Fits of laughter. Peekaboo with the canopy. Pure magic. And when they are this cute? Well that's just the Funfetti sprinkles on top!

Mommy Questions

2012-01-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

One lovely reader, Samantha, asked some questions the other day that I thought maybe some of you might be curious about so I thought I'd make my answers into a post. She said,

"I hope you don't mind but I wanted to ask you some questions about being a mommy? I've been following your work for a long time and I love your posts about Zachary! He seems like such a happy and healthy baby! First, I am a new mom and Its been a rough couple weeks (recovering from a c-section and getting the hang of breastfeeding) tell me it gets easier? lol When did you start doing tummy time? How did you guys play when Zachary was just a few weeks old?? Any advice or tips on bonding? Whats your bedtime routine like? Does Zachary sleep through the night? Thanks for any feedback :) and keep the posts coming!"

Let me start by saying that I am in no way a baby expert or a pediatrician. I only know what we do, what works for us and what I learned from 9 years as a nanny. Ok now with that said...

I am probably the world's worst person to ask if breast-feeding gets easier. Like seriously. I have been through 7 months, like still to this day, of absolute hell. I don't want to go into details, as it's truly gory, but let's just say I had doctor's telling me they had never seen anything ever like it, I'm a hero, and I could write a book about it. Ya, that bad. Now that I've completely terrified you haha... I still stuck with it though. Through tears, excruciating pain, and zero sleep because I had to pump 12 times a day. But I made a promise to myself to breast-feed for a year and thought it was that important. So, even though doctor's gave up on me and I'm still a bit of a medical mystery I stuck with it. And you know what? I'm so happy I did. I am now able to actually breast-feed my son, with minimal pain, and it's amazing. I couldn't be happier. So, I guess the moral of the story is that even in the worst circumstances it gets better. Hopefully you are in a better circumstances and I would suggest that it you stick with it if it's important to you. It will hurt less. They will get more efficient at it. Plus, it's actually super convenient and great bonding/quiet time. The first few weeks are the hardest too. Especially while recovering. It will all get easier though. I promise.

You can start tummy time as soon as the umbilical cord falls off. It's good to get babies off of their backs for a about 30 minutes combined a day since they spend so much time on their backs. They will more than likely cry quickly but try and get them to do it a few times a day for as long as they're willing. A nice way to do it I found, especially when they're really little, is to lay down with them on your chest.

When Zachary was really little I would play with him a lot by making faces at him, holding mobile-like toys above him and swaying them, and singing and dancing with him a lot. He really loved walks and swinging on our porch swing as well. His favorite toy at that age was actually a spoon with some colorful ribbon tied to it. I got the idea from a Gymboree Baby Play book I have that you might find helpful for different games for each age group. I think just holding them and interacting with them is the best thing you can do for them. This answers your other question about bonding too. I know that some people will disagree with holding your baby a lot but I love it. I carry Zachary all day unless we are playing. I wore him in a Moby sometimes when he was little and use a Bjorn now when we are out. They like being close to Mommy, feeling your warmth and hearing your heartbeat. It's as close to the womb as they can get now. Breast-feeding like I said earlier is another great way to bond. Though when I had to bottle feed I didn't feel like I was missing out on any bonding because I spent all day holding and interacting with him. Plus, I would talk to him while I fed him. I understand that not everyone gets to be home and spend all day giving their baby 24/7 attention though so, breast-feeding I know is very special time for the working out-of-the-house moms I know.

Our bedtime routine is pretty standard, though his bedtime is later than others (9pm) because his dad works late and it just works better for us as a family. We do bathtime (every other night) with lots of singing and splashing (his favorite), lotion and a little baby massage with more singing, pajamas, vitamins, read 3 books in the glider, nurse, and then if he hasn't fallen asleep rocking while singing lullabies and shushing.

What happens after that though is the only bad part of the day. He does not sleep through the night, at all. He's a pretty bad sleeper and napper. He gets up like 6 times a night and a lot of those take about an hour to get him back down. Sometimes he's up for a 2 hour stretch crying in there. Yes, that means I don't sleep at all. I have been seeing the clock hit every hour lately. It's pretty miserable. So, ya don't ask me for sleep advice. I feel like I've tried it all, to no avail obviously. If anyone has advice for me I'd love to hear it. I'm willing to try almost anything at this point, though I'm not too keen on crying it out.

Being a mother is one of the hardest jobs. It's 24/7 and you literally never get a break. I define it as sacrifice. But in the best way. Sometimes the hardest struggles come with the greatest rewards. That, to me, is parenting. It's the greatest reward I have ever been blessed with but comes with a very worthwhile cost. Though some of this sounds like complaining it's really not. I wouldn't trade it for anything and feel like the luckiest lady every time that boy smiles at me (so every other second haha). I'm sure you feel the same. Just use those moment to get you through the tough times. I try not to ever think "I can't until he can" or anything like that. Enjoy them now because they will never be this way again and every age has it's beauty and it's tough times.

I hope that's at least a little helpful. Sorry it's an essay. =)

Flashback to October

2012-01-19T23:56:00.000-08:00

The one upside to being a photographer is that your kids will have lots and lots of good pictures of them to reflect on when they get older. The downside is that you spend so much time editing and culling through client photos that if you ever had a moment free the last thing you want to do it spend more time editing and culling through your own pictures. That is assuming you have a free moment too. Being a new mom means that I do not. We won't even go into how little time I have to put towards personal hygiene. Ya.. umm.. next topic. Well, I'm doing my best to try and not let my pictures of Zachary sit collecting dust. So, here are some of Zack's 365 pictures from back into October:

Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders

2012-01-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

I'm a sucker for a good list. I love them like Hasselhoff loves a good drunken cheeseburger. I think I love them too much. Like, I may spend more time making lists than actually accomplishing things on them. It's a problem. Yet, without the list I am lost and slightly insane. Cause this brain? It's the Energizer Bunny of ideas and tasks. It doesn't even stop long enough for me to write things down usually or finish a thought before another one comes red rovering on over. With these thoughts only taking a fleeting residency in my brain I must jot them down in order to ever have them come to fruition. So ya, I love lists.

One of my favorite lists to make are goal lists. It's fun to sit down and remind yourself of where you want to be as good motivation to get things going. I know fully well that some, or most, many never happen or my goals may change as they have so many times. I mean you people think I change my hair often? I change my mind more than I change my clothes. Don't judge. Speaking of which I just dyed my hair blonder. See what I mean? Anyways...

Back to the point, one of my goals for this year was to try one new recipe a week. Every good Suzie Homemaker needs to start somewhere. I'm hoping that by the end of the year I will become a better cook, eat in more often, and almost burn the house down less. I figured I would share them on here with a rating and link so that any of you who are looking to try out new recipes too can try some of them yourselves.

An Instagram of my 2012 goal list:

For the first week of January I just had to try this DELICIOUS looking recipe by Pioneer Woman. Jalapenos, bourbon, barbeque, and meat all in one scrumptious little meal? Ya, that is pretty much heaven for Dave. (we substituted whiskey for bourbon because it's his fave and because it's a little sweeter)

I have to say that these little sliders are AMAZING!! I mean really, really good! I would suggest that any of you that are having Superbowl parties make these. And don't be surprised if your guests all try to kiss you after having one. Did I mention how good these are?

Ok, so the first meal of the year was a big success! Hooray! (despite the homemade fries that never seemed to fry, but we won't talk about that). And I will give this recipe:

5/5 Cupcakes. Because all food should be judged on a scale based on the greatest food ever =).

Athena.

2012-01-11T17:43:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday I had the honor of photographing this beauty's sweet 16 party. So, I wanted to share some portraits from our session at Capitola in October. I have to say that I am so impressed by this girl. Not only is she absolutely stunning but she is a complete sweetheart and total trooper! You see the water that she is in in the picture above? Well I was in it too and it was FREEZING. She wasn't just willing to get in it, but she didn't even flinch at the cold. It was such a fun shoot with her and her family, who drove 6 hours round trip just for the shoot. I'm such a lucky girl to have such amazing clients who will drive all that way to have me photograph them. And then to have clients who are sweet and look like this? Well that is just the cherry on top. I swear I could have photographed her all day!

Candy Cane Hearts.

2011-12-31T00:15:00.000-08:00

Two days before Christmas Zachary and I decided to get in the spirit by taking pictures with candy cane hearts galore and these adorable giant holiday lollipops my mom got us. We may have gotten a little carried away.

Apparently our antics spread cheer through the house like the scent of freshly baked cookies and our Christmas tree even began to feel the love.

And then all of a sudden our Christmas tree began shifting into twinkling stars, beautiful butterflies, and ... headphones?

What a show-off!

Bingeing on Christmas Cheer.

2011-12-29T23:19:00.000-08:00

The weekend before Christmas we had a magical time filled with holiday cheer. I was determined to ensure that this Christmas was perfect for Zachary, it being his first. And by Zachary I mean for me because he is only 6 months and really does not care no matter how many Christmas books or carols I sing. Because of one reason or another we still were without a tree by the week before and still hadn't taken Zack to meet Santa. This was not ok with me. I was the girl who would shush her baby to sleep to the tune of Jingle Bells every day. So, to make-up for it we spent the weekend bingeing on Christmas cheer.

First we took Zachary to meet Santa:

I've seen a lot of pictures lately of babies' first trips to meet Santa and every single one looked like they were being forced to listen to Michael Buble. Tortured, that is. My little man was all about it though. It really was an incredibly awesome experience that we will never forget. Sweetest elves. No line. Zachary smiled immediately and then loved just getting to hang out on Santa's lap while Mommy looked at pictures. Santa was very sweet just talking to him and the second picture was even taken because while we were looking at the other pics Santa called for his elf to capture Zachary's fascination. I wasn't too surprised. He had been really into illustrations of Santa in the books we had been reading, he loves the color red, and he's a photographer's child.

They even let us take our own pictures while there. I didn't really want to be "that" parent so I kept it brief, though I did pull my D300 out of my purse =).

We did get a family photo with Santa. That however will not be shared. I'm all about self-humiliation. I mean you should see me dance. But you have to draw the line somewhere sometimes.

We then headed off to cut-down our tree:

He went from amused to perplexed quickly. Usually people reserve that look for my aforementioned dancing.

Later that night we headed off to Christmas in the Park in San Jose. I had remembered it being pretty lame. It was quite the opposite though. Pure magic.

These are some pictures taken with Instagram on Dave's phone (cause I'm lame and have a Droid for now). You can follow me @tenleyclark.

The next day we attended a very fun Christmas party:

Ok so you can't tell it was very fun by this. I didn't get too many pictures as we just enjoyed the company.

It was truly a lovely weekend.

I am currently watching Rio for the first time. Holy cuteness. I'm dreaming up how to train Roxy to have our own handshake and take photobooth pictures together.

Our Christmas Card 2011

2011-12-27T23:11:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a very happy holiday season, whatever it is that you celebrate! We had a fantastic time enjoying Zachary's first Christmas! As a new mom, I was pretty bananas trying to ensure that it went perfectly. I will share more on our festivities with pictures later. For now, I will share our Christmas cards that we sent this year now that (mostly) everyone has received theirs in the mail. The card was designed by me as well as the pictures all being taken by me. For the record, I don't recommend taking your own family portrait with a cranky 6 month old and a remote.

And here are some close-ups and extras:

That's all for now. I am off to try and recover from the paper-cuts and needle wounds from handmade gifts this year =).

If you did a holiday card this year please share. I absolutely love seeing them!

A Very Merry DIY.

2011-12-13T01:02:00.000-08:00

Today I wanted to share with you a super easy, yet super cute holiday DIY. My favorite holiday color is silver. I'm obsessed. I love it with blue and red especially. So, I knew I had to make something incorporating that. I love garlands. I love the word "merry" (it's just so merry!). And a tiny project was born.

So, I was prepared to have to cut the letters out of foam and either spray paint them with silver glitter paint or go the messy route with glue and sprinkling glitter everywhere. Then, I saw these at Michaels (local craft store). They are pre-glittered foam sheets. Awesome. I bought 5 of them and some silver ribbon to match. I came home and printed out the letters in a font I liked and used it as a template to draw on the back of each of the sheets (make sure to do the letters backwards when drawing on the back- especially the R's). Then I cut each of the letters out, took a yarn needle and threaded the ribbon through and then just wove the ribbon in and out of two places on each letter. And there you have it, a very merry decoration!

Told you that was easy =)

DIY: Mitten Garland

2011-12-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

Hello lovelies! Today I have a little very easy holiday DIY. I was inspired this season by all of the cute little mitten graphics I saw on Christmas card templates and decided I wanted to create my own little garland of them to give our home that cozy holiday vibe. I thought that I would share just in case some of you would like to make some too!

A. I printed out a little mitten pattern I created for the project, but you can free-hand a design or even trace a mitten you have for reference. I then pinned the pattern to the felt and cut out my design.
B. I cut out two mittens for each color I wanted to use.
C. Then, I took my pattern and cut the bottom inch or so where I thought the band might go and used this to cut one for each mitten. I chose a color I thought would look good with each of the colors of the mittens.
D. Next, I got out the craft glue...
E. Put the glue on the band...
F. And glued the band to the bottom of each of my mittens (I did it so that each mitten set would have one right and one left- thumbs facing each other). You can sew this part to make your mittens a little more durable, I just didn't have time with the little mister.
G. For the next step, I threaded my embroidery needle with embroidery thread in one of my colors and tied a knot at the end. I came up through the outer edge of the mitten (side opposite the thumb) and up and around to the back again and back through.
H. I kept my finger in place while pulling through to create a loop and while it was like this I did one stitch through to the backside again and tied it off in the back.
I. Hooray! You have a cute little mitten! Now repeat it for all of your remaining mittens.

For the last step, take a ribbon, yarn, or whatever you'd like and thread it through the loop on each of your mittens in the order you like to create your garland. Now hang it up, grab a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy your new cute and cozy decoration!

... and since we are on the subject of mittens, here's one of my favorite moments on television:

Oh how I love that! MEOOOOW!

Do you have a favorite holiday DIY you have done or seen this season? Share in the comments please! I'd love to see what pretty things people are making and get more inspiration!

PS. I have another holiday decoration DIY coming up soon that is super cute and incredibly easy.

Half-Birthday Boy!

2011-12-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

clouds by vol. 25

This past Saturday my little baby boy turned 6 months old! I know I keep saying this, but it seriously is going WAY too fast for me! I am having a hard time believing he is no longer a newborn let along half a year old. This past month has been so intense with him learning a new thing every day. He is at such a fun age and I am loving every minute of it! He really is the HAPPIEST baby. We could not be luckier.

I have been wanting to take the above picture for a while and thought it would be perfect for his half-birthday shot. Inspired by one of my favorite movies, Up!. For his half-birthday we did a countdown and celebrated with kisses in the morning, took our Christmas card pictures, went to the Carol of Lights in Downtown Campbell with Uncle Ben, ate dinner at the Sonoma Chicken Coup, Mama got a cupcake and ate it in his honor (don't judge me), got pears for the first time.

Here is a glimpse into the past month:

New tricks: army crawling, sitting up by myself for a few minutes, eating solids, hit things hard, actually shaking a rattle well, saying "mama no" and "dada no" when you cry, high-fives, first tooth, closing the fridge door, not sleeping anymore, taking steps while holding our hands

Favorite toys: Baby Einstein piano, Captain Calamari, Leap Frog music table, new Luv U Zoo jumperoo, Derby the Dinosaur

New foods I've tried: rice cereal, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, avocado (you loved it and then hated it)

Other favorite things: food, the color red, trying to get Mama's Starbucks and Daddy's bloody mary's, reaching for everything in sight, jumping a lot, Mama's singing, new favorite song- "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", pulling hair, LOTS of kisses, bath-time, clapping with Mama's help, dancing, being tickled, being "tick-tocked", being thrown in the air, attention, chewing on everything especially our hands, animals (you LOVE the pishi (kitty) and and the dogs), standing, being nudey, playing "mama kitty"

Things I dislike: sleep, avocado (1 for 2), being put down to sleep (still napping in our arms), being put down ever, not being able to see us

Cute things I do: raspberries all day, giggle a lot at everything, smile at everyone, high-fives, sticking your tongue out, talk all day, pterodactyl noises, toot when you eat, eating your feet lots, the way you look at your Mama and Daddy, lots of open-mouth kisses

He ended the month at 17lbs 8oz! My big boy!

Here is his 6 month crate picture sitting up like a big boy:

And since I didn't post them here are his 5 and 4 month ones too:

5 months

4 months

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-05T18:36:00.000-08:00

This Thanksgiving was a tad bit uneventful for Zachary and I. We got all dressed and took Daddy to work. Then, we headed to see my parents with no plans for dinner. After taking a few of these pictures at his Mimi's little Mister took a good long nap and we ended up spending most of the night on the couch watching Top Model. Luckily, there was some delicious food when we went to pick up Daddy from work so it's ok. As I said before, we celebrate the day after in our family so don't worry we got a proper Thanksgetting with some super yummy food! It feels a little boisterous to say that food you cook was yummy, but whatever. It was. My mom made a really scrumptious turkey to top it all off. No pictures from that day though. My hands were too full of food to take pictures =).

Zachary with his Mimi.

Zachary and I, dressed up with no where to go. Dress from Modcloth (my favorite new dress).

These pictures are super special to me. Bailey is 13 now and I love this girl! It means a lot that she got to meet Zachary and play!

I started prepping a bit the day before. I made these yummy caramel apple bites from A Beautiful Mess. And their delicious spiced apple cider recipe, which I loved so much I've since made it a few times. This apple brown betty recipe from Pioneer Woman that was SO good! This sausage stuffing recipe that just might be the best stuffing I have EVER had! Thank goodness I made a soup kitchen's worth (pictured above being prepped) of it for only 6 people, so everyone got leftovers. And these traditional mashed potatoes.

Thanks for sharing a look into our Thanksgiving. I am in a super baking/cooking mood. Any recipes that you LOVE?

Scrabble Sundays: Let it Snow

2011-12-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

We don't get snow here in the Silicon Valley, California. I'm sure that some of you went all Hulk with envy as you wake up at 5 am to shovel your car out of an avalanche of snow. Before you pelt me with snow balls think about how much it adds to the holiday spirit. We have had several sunny Christmases in the 70's. It just doesn't quite feel right. The grass is always greener with envy.

I chose to write "Let it Snow" today because for some reason I can't stop singing it this season. My favorite Christmas songs are "All I Want For Christmas" and "Baby It's Cold Outside" (though it's got a bit of a predatory vibe). Still, this has been what I sing all day. What are your current songs you just can't get out of your head? Holiday or otherwise.

DIY: Flask (gift for dads & dudes)

2011-12-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

I came up with this idea and made it for my honey last year for Christmas when we were expecting. I thought I would share because let's face it, guy's are hard to figure out gifts for. Especially when you are wanting to make something. Dave is a bartender and loves a good bourbon and Coke the way I love a Starbuck's latte so I thought this would be a funny and appropriate gift.

First, you'll want to measure out your fabric. I just laid the flask down on the fabric and wrapped the fabric to figure out size. Luckily, plaids make cutting straight and measuring a lot easier. You can use a measuring tape if that's easier too. Make sure that you add a little extra on the width to ensure that there isn't a gap in the back. I overlapped mine in the back a little.

Next, figure out how big you would like your message to be and cut a piece of felt. Mine was a 3"x3" square. Then, figure out how you want your message, or image, to fit. You can see a little in the above image that I used a disappearing ink to write it first. I used a kid-like font to add to the message =). Then embroider your message. Don't know how to embroider? Perhaps you can cut a picture out of fabric or use fabric paint/markers to do something (but use fabric instead of felt then). Next, sew your felt square to the center of your fabric piece.

The last step can get a bit messy. I took Mod Podge and covered the back of my fabric (using a paint brush) and carefully adhered it to the flask making sure it was centered in front first then wrapping it in the back. I finished with a coat of Mod Podge on the outside of the fabric to really seal it and protect the fabric more. It takes a while to dry so maybe don't wait until Christmas Eve night to make it like I did =)

I made a little jigger to go with it using scraps of woodgrain contact paper coated in Mod Podge. It says "Longpour" and "Shortpour" if you're curious. Because Dave is a bartender that was his nickname and it was only natural to call Zack Shortpour in contrast.

I hope you enjoyed this little DIY! If you make one please share a link to a picture in the comments. I'd love to see!

I have a cute little holiday decoration DIY coming early next week, so look out for that!

Happy December!

2011-12-02T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is what happens 10 minutes after Daddy walks out the door for work and you have a $1 Santa hat from Target just begging to be photographed.

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving it was like I had a bomb strapped to my chest. A ticking time-bomb of Christmas spirit that exploded the second the holiday was over. Christmas carols came pouring out of me the second the clock struck midnight. My Cinderella pumpkin turned into a gorgeous red sleigh filled with merriment. I am determined to devour every last morsel of holly jolly from the cookie jar of Christmas cheer. With this being Zachary's first Christmas I am even more obsessed than normal. These little hands are itching to craft and bake every waking moment.

Here's to egg nog, tinsel, mistletoe, carols, wreaths, trees, and too many yummy baked treats.

Whatever your holiday, how do you celebrate and what are you looking forward to this season?

September in November

2011-11-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

Like lots of mothers, I have fallen victim to letting those gigabytes and gigabytes of images that we take of our little ones sit in the proverbial attic of our hard drives collecting dust. All of the work we do documenting every tiny moment just to have these special images sit there in a corner like an awkward acne-ridden teen at his first dance. Down with dust I say! This wallflower is feeling courageous and asking the pretty pictures out on the floor for a spin. Thankfully they said.

So, even though it may almost be December, here are some of the 365 pictures I took of Zachary back in September.

Looking fancy in a bowtie after turning 3 months, playtime in his new crib (since it isn't used for anything else yet, whoops!), kiss from mommy on his 3 month birthday.

Playtime on his playmat and with his favorite toy (Baby Einstein piano- best purchase ever!- he still loves it), loving his Tigger and giving him hugs, looking all gansta' in his hoodie with his homie Changington Pup

Doggie footie pajamas!

Portraits with Daddy- surprised faces at his work, falling asleep at the park, excited to go the Art & Wine festival with Pop-pop and then passed out after a long day

First time in his Bumbo, hanging with Pop-pop while Mama gets home from a shoot, Bear bottom

3rd roll-over ever and then never stopping

Nap in his new BOB stroller from Pop-pop that got a flat after the 3rd time using it (don't worry it's fixed now), hanging with his buddy Gavin

Zachary's reaction to reading Peter Pan for the first time all by himself =)

Blog templates by Vol. 25 (everything is 50% off today- love her stuff!)

I challenge all of you with kids, or not, to go through some of your old pictures and get them printed, post them, whatever. Just let them be seen and treasured the way they should.

That baby has a mustache.

2011-11-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

Just checking in. And what better way to say hello than a baby with a mustache? I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and Thanksgiving if you celebrated!

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-11-24T01:10:00.000-08:00

My little turkey and I want to wish you all a very, VERY Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all fill your bellies and hearts.

Zachary and I will be Thanksgiving orphans going to see Daddy at work and then driving around to see my parents. Don't worry though. This belly will be full of stuffing and mashed potatoes on Friday. Or what we call Thanksgetting in my family. Even Zachary will be getting his first taste of sweet potatoes that day. My little boy is all grown up. Eating solids, sitting up by himself, and we are going through his first tooth coming in and his first cold at the same time. No sleep for us, but my little tough guy is still the happiest baby. Who secretly loves Wizards of Waverly Place and is the luckiest mom ever? This girl!

Here are a few things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving (in no particular order):

My family
cupcakes
Disney movies
Starbucks (salted caramel mochas at the the moment)
Getting to spend all of my time with my baby boy
The wonderful families I have gotten to photograph this holiday season
Documenting Zachary at this very perfect time because it's going WAY too fast
Sweet emails, comments and tweets from sweet people
Once Upon a Time & Glee
Singing & Dancing all day every day
That I got the chance to meet a very special and wonderful man Mick (who passed away earlier this month)
That I am finally able to breastfeed my son again & being healed
Getting to see Sara Bareilles in concert next month finally
Zachary's first holiday season

What are you thankful for?

Halloween & SuperZack

2011-11-08T17:18:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm a little late to the Halloween post train. Fun family holiday sessions and a sick, teething baby have me pretty busy at the moment. Anyways... Zack went as Superman for his first Halloween. Call me nerdy but I was super excited even though he can't really enjoy it. I couldn't wait to make him the coolest costume around. That didn't happen though. Our friends Courtney & Grady let us borrow their Superman costume for pictures and he just looked too cute in it. So that's what he was.

It was really the perfect costume. He's got a natural cowlick in the front of his hair that curls that I call his "Clark Kent". A doctor even asked when he was hospitalized if we had found him in a barn, referring to his Superman-like strength. Kaiser is classy like that. He also loves flying around our house like a bird... or a plane.

Here are some pictures of our Halloween with the Green's:

A couple of pictures with Daddy before he had to go to work.

Courtney is pregnant with another little boy, due in Feb. Grady made this adorable prego-pumpkin in her honor.

Gavin dressing up in his Mommy's cowgirl hat.

Gavin went as Max from Where the Wild Things Are. It's his favorite book. I'm a big fan too and almost got the same one. That would have been cute to have 2. Court was the cutest pregnant witch ever!

I dressed up last second as a girl scout. I just happened to have a super cute vintage outfit that I found last year. Apparently I'm a bad scout since I haven't earned a single badge.

We made to about 5 houses. Both boys were way tired. I hope you all had a fun Halloween. What did you go as? Link to pictures if you have them. I'd love to see!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

We went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago for Baby Bear's first trip. It was fun and such an adorable little patch. We had the whole place to ourselves to just take pictures and be silly.

If Zachary had Facebook

2011-10-27T23:38:00.000-07:00

... this would be his profile picture.

My baby is so cool, he takes arm-out self-portraits already. This picture makes us chuckle.

Just wanted to let you all know I'm still alive. I'm working very hard on editing like 25 different family sessions. Holidays are a busy but incredibly fun time. I have met some amazing people and adorable kids. I feel so fortunate and LOVE my job!... Back to editing. =)

I promise I will be back to posting more next week as I catch up on work.

Mustard Yellow.

2011-10-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite fall color is mustard yellow. What's yours?

Cardigan, tights and flats: Target
Dress: Ruche

Happy Fall!

2011-10-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

It's finally starting to feel like Fall here. It went from 93 degrees in our house last week to cold and rainy yesterday. I just love Fall! Overcast skies are my favorite. I love the moodiness. They are the angsty teenager of skies. It's my ideal light for a shoot. It allows me to shoot pretty much anywhere as it acts like a giant gorgeous soft box.

Zachary and I took this picture the other day to commemorate the changing seasons. Yes, I put him in a suitcase. Being the professional model he is, he didn't mind. Maman Sherry (his grandma/Dave's mom) knew how much I love vintage suitcases so she bought it for me. Super sweet huh? I decorated it with a felt leaf garland I made based on Elsie's DIY.

I love kicking off Fall with my favorite hot seasonal Starbuck's drink. What are your favorite seasonal traditions?

Moon on my bed and dreams in my head.

2011-10-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

"Sleep in my eyes
And stars in the skies
Moon on my bed
And dreams in my head
That's what I'll wear tonight"

-From (one of my favorite childhood books) Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear by Nancy White Carlstrom

Has anyone seen "The New Girl", the new show starring Zooey Deschanel? In case you haven't, she spends a lot of the show making awkward jokes, doing dorky dances, and inventing her own theme song. In case you are wondering what I am like in real life.. that's pretty much it. I am the queen of ridiculous dancing, awkward jokes, sound effects, and making up random songs to narrate everything I do, including several theme songs for Zachary. Zooey as usual makes it adorable and cool. I however just am just obnoxious. It was sort of strange to watch someone being better at being you. I love Zooey though so I'm ok with it.

I did come up with some really good theme songs for Zachary today however. I also changed the words to several beloved lullabies. Why? Because I find the original lyrics disturbing. They are all about babies falling out of trees and all of their possessions breaking. Nothing soothes a baby to slumber like crooning about their impending doom. No thanks. I'll just keep scatting about grilled cheese. You know, while raising the roof. Cause I'm cool like that.

PS. my baby boy is 4 months today! Hooray!

FAQ Answers: Part 2

2011-09-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

Where do you find inspiration for some of your baby photos??
I am inspired a lot by children's books and movies. Not only are the illustrations beautiful but the stories are filled with whimsy and imagination. Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland are my two favorite stories and inspire me so much.

Where did you buy maternity clothes? (I'm having a hard time with this!)
I had a hard time with this as well. I got a lot of my clothes handed down from the two wonderful women I used to nanny for. Maternity clothes are just expensive and you'll never wear them again. Other than that Target and Motherhood were the two stores I shopped at. I bought a lot oversized normal clothes and empire-waisted stuff from Forever 21 also and just tried to fit in the clothes (especially the baggier items) I have for as long as I could. And lots of jeggings and yoga pants haha! Thankfully maternity-friendly styles are in style right now and some of the clothes you may even want to wear after. Hope that helps!

What do you [do] for work?
Photography!! =) I was a nanny for 9 wonderful years, and was a studio manager to another photographer up until I gave birth. Dave and I made the decision for me to go full-time with my own business after Zachary was born. It was just time to follow my heart and passion. Plus, I love that I get to be home with my son all day!

What does an average day consist of for you?
We are a family of night owls. Zachary usually goes to bed around 11pm when his dad gets home and then we go to sleep around 1. We are currently only getting up in the middle of the night once which is awesome. I start work at around 10, editing, working on my website, answering e-mails, etc. I stop working around 3 and Dave goes to work. Zachary and I spend the rest of the day playing, going on walks, tummy-time, bath-time, working more when/if he naps, and taking a picture for the day. I spend a lot of my day feeding him and pumping. It's awful and I don't recommend strictly pumping to anyone who doesn't have to do it. It has been very taxing. Weekends, and sometimes weekdays usually include shoots, running errands and seeing friends and family.

You should post a video for zack so we can see his cuteness live! Lol
You got it! I have a ton of videos. I just need to finally upload them.

when will the new website be up?! :)
Hi Tricia!! (one of my beautiful brides and probably the most fun wedding I've ever been to!) It will be up very, very soon! After making one from scratch and designing it fully myself I had to start over which is no fun but it will be up hopefully by early October!

What kind of camera do you use?
I am currently shooting with my mom's Nikon D300. I have the same camera but my mirror is broken at the moment. I am waiting not-so-patiently for Nikon to release the D800 so I can buy that. I thought it would be announced three weeks ago but no cigar. Hopefully soon though. I also shoot some film. I have a few polaroid cameras, a Fuji instax mini, a Holga, a Lomo Fisheye, a Lomo, and my mom just got me a Nikon F100.

To add to that, do you use any software that enhances the pictures? What are your favorite settings?
I use Lightroom for 90% of my editing as I shoot everything in RAW and love how quickly I can adjust, rate and organize my images. I use Photoshop to sharpen and fine-tune my favorite images from a shoot. I use to live in Photoshop but I am trying to use it as little as possible lately. My favorite presets for Lightroom are Lily Blue's Waterplay set and TRA's presets. Everything else I just adjust as I see needed for the image.

What is some must have baby gear?
What I'm learning is that every baby is different and some will LOVE something and some will scream if you try to put them in it. It's a good idea to let your baby test out the toys and things of other kids before maybe spending the money yourself when at all possible. That being said, one of our favorite things the first month or so was the Boppy Lounger. He loved it. It was a great place for him to nap and hang out.

I also loved the Moby Wrap because he never wanted to be put down and I didn't want to put him down. It was a great way to be able to get dishes done, etc. I still wear it whenever we go out.

If there's anything specific you'd like to know about I'm more than happy to give my 2 cents. We did a lot of research on every item we bought and registered. Speaking of which Baby Bargains is a great book for help on what to get! Oh and if you're planning to breastfeed a good pump and glider are worth the investment! My dad also just got us a B.O.B. jogger and it is awesome!

I'm curious to hear how you came up with your blog name! :)/ I was looking at your flikr account pics and got confused. Is your name Brittany, or Tenley?
These are kind of the same question so I put them in one. It's one of the most common questions I get lately. I know it's confusing. My real name is Brittany but I decided to change it for my business to Tenley because I felt like it fit my brand/me better. I wanted something a little more unique and quirky, like me. My last name is very long and people can never pronounce or spell it correctly so I decided to use my mom's maiden name, Clark. I have been changing my name since I was little. My brothers make fun of me all the time for it.

How do you do to take such bright pictures? They have the perfect colors and the perfect light. I love to take photographs of babies too, but I cannot get such nice colors and light, they are always a little too dark or too bright. Are there any tips you can share? I have a Nikon D80 by the way.
Well thank you very much! The best tip I could give you is to learn to shoot manually if you aren't already. This will allow you to control your exposure in camera and get it how you want it. I personally like this a little blown-out and bright so I over-expose by 2 stops most of the time.

Do you dye your hair yourself? If so, any brands to recommend?
I've been dying my hair myself for most of my life and as you might be able to tell by looking at pictures I do it A LOT! I am currently going to a salon because I won't do highlights myself, but when I dye my hair at home I love Loreal Preference and Perfect 10.

What's your height?
Very short. 5'2".... if I'm rounding up =).

3 months.

2011-09-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late with this post. He's almost 4 months now.

Here are some things about this last month that I want to remember:

Hugging his stuffed animals. Learning to play his piano. Lots of laughing and smiles. Sleeping through the night. Fighting naps. Splashing in the bathtub. Lighting up when he sees Daddy. Playing airplane. Grabbing his toys, batting them around and putting them in his mouth. Holding his binkie. Smiles for Changington Pup. Baby massages. Looking at the pictures in a book. Kicking with excitement. Loving Captain Calamari. Best friend Tigger. Very ticklish. Open mouth kisses. Baby conversations.

Sorry if it's a little quiet here this week. I am working very hard on the new site and marketing materials. I will do my best to post often though, with Part 2 of the FAQ coming soon. Happy Thursday everyone!

Week 13 (Zachary 365)

2011-09-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

AUG 26

AUG 27- We went to breakfast with Uncle Ben and Meri and took this picture later because I was wearing one my favorite dresses that I just got back out from 9 months of not being able to wear it.

AUG 28- Dave's work party at the bowling alley. I love this picture because it's my two boys being so sweet with their favorite baseball team represented in the background. PS. this is proof that he can (could) sleep anywhere if you hold him. It was insanely loud with people chucking bowling balls and music and he took a good little nap.

AUG 29- I just adore these pictures! I know you love the tiny faux-hawk I gave him =)

AUG 30

PS. In case anyone is wondering I do not edit his eyes. They really are just that pretty and I usually photograph him by a window to get a pretty catch light.

A Little Red Balloon

2011-09-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

Zachary James. Baby Bear. Boo Boo. Boo Boo Bear. Bubbys. Bubs. Bubby Bubberton. Bubs Magrone. Mister Mister. Mr. Cutebottom. Squirmy Wormy. Zack Attack. Captain Zack Farrow. Senor Stinkypants. Smiley Cyrus. Michael. Mickey Charles. Perfect. Baby Bot.

These are just a few of the names we call him. He may just have an identity crisis one day.

FAQ Answers: Part 1

2011-09-12T12:04:00.000-07:00

How did you and your boyfriend meet?
We met at a local dive bar while I was playing pool with his friend that I knew. We had seen each other the week before. As I was leaving with my friends he waved at me from across the room. I stopped in my tracks and said "Oh, cute boy!" and started walking towards him and my friends had to drag me out haha. We spent the whole night glued to each other and have been ever since. See, you can meet the love of your life in a bar!

What's your favorite song, movie and book?
That's a tough questions! It's hard to pick just one.
Favorite song- "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles, "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips, "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West are just a few
Favorite movie- "The Little Mermaid"
Favorite book- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Do you want more kids?
Absolutely! It will be a while before we have another one though. I'm going to have them until I get a girl now =). Just kidding. But kind of not.

How did you become so creative? Any tips?

I'm pretty sure I was just born this way. I just needed to find a way to channel it. I think I realized in high school that I don't think like normal people do. I was extremely hyper and my thoughts were super random. I'm a huge daydreamer and my mind bounces from one thought to the next very quickly. When I started doing photography it was just a good way for me to put my thoughts into an image. As far as tips, I would say just to seek inspiration constantly. I look to movies, music videos, songs, books, art, etc. for inspiration constantly. I read a lot of blogs of creative people and love websites like Pinterest and Flickr. And keep a notebook with you always to write down ideas as they come to you. You may not use it right away but it may come in handy later for something else or inspire an even better idea.

Any advice for the last couple months of pregnancy and the first couple months of baby? Also, was baby bear planned or a wonderful surprise?
The best thing you can do during the last few months is to enjoy your last few moments to do what you want when you want, because it will never be this easy again. Go on dates with your husband, read a book, go on a trip. Taking a shower will soon be a huge task so really enjoy your alone time and take extra long showers while you still can.

For the first couple of months with the baby just enjoy it! It goes by so quickly so just soak up every moment of it. It will be hard but just focus on how incredibly worth it it is. Each stage comes with its ups and downs and I think too many people are eager to get out of a stage because of its stresses instead of focusing on its beauty.

Our little bundle of love was not planned but was the best, most amazing surprise! We knew we wanted to have kids but wanted to wait until we were married and more financially stable. We had just moved in together after 2 years of dating when I got pregnant (on birth control). Though it's not how we ideally would have planned it I couldn't be happier to have this little man in my life and wouldn't change a single thing!

how do you always look so good in your photos?
Well, thank you very much =) I think that good lighting is very important in making anyone look good in a photograph. I use window light and photograph my subjects in shade 90% of the time because it's the most flattering light. I use to Photoshop a lot. That's actually why I started doing photography, to have work to edit because I loved it. Lately though I've been trying to do as much in camera and just do minor tweaks (color, exposure, sharpen) in Lightroom and Photoshop. Good lighting is key.

what happened to your old blog?

I took it down. I keep a notebook with me all of the time to write down ideas and lists. Once it's full I put it away and never look at it again. I like knowing it is there but I love the feeling of having a new pretty notebook, a blank canvas, to fill. That blog was like an old notebook. I wanted to begin fresh with this blog.

what made you decide to pursue photography as a career?

My brain is constantly daydreaming up so many ideas and thoughts that I needed a creative outlet. I am not a painter or a musician, this is my art. I thought I would be a conceptual fine art photographer because that is what I really loved (and still love) in college but over time I've realized how much I love photographing kids. They, like me, live in a wonderful land of make-believe and daydreams. Plus they are so full of life and energy.I absolutely love what I do! The more creative a shoot is, the more it makes my heart smile. =)

what is your favorite photo?/color/blog/Broadway musical?

Favorite Photo- probably Gregory Crewdson's Ophelia. It's just so incredibly gorgeous. I love everything about it!

Favorite Blog: Elsie's A Beautiful Mess. It's full of inspiration, adorable DIY's, and so much cuteness! It was one of the first blogs I ever followed and is still my favorite. I am a huge blog addict and currently have 131 in my reader.

Favorite Broadway Musical: It's like picking a favorite child =). I just love so many! I would say it's between Spring Awakening and Wicked though.

is there any actor/actress you'd love to take a photo of?
Right now I'd have to say Emma Stone. I love her. She's hilarious and beautiful. As for an actor, it'd be Paul Rudd, for pretty much the same reasons. I think they would be up for something silly and creative. Plus I'd just love to meet them!

Scrabble Sundays: Flutter

2011-09-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend indoors feeling under the weather. I watched a lot of Taking Care of Business with Tamara Lackey on Creative Live, editing client images, and working on the website (which will hopefully be up soon!). What did you all do this weekend?

Week 12 (Zachary 365)

2011-09-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

AUG 19- Dave's cousins came into town and we spent the day with them at the hotel. It was so great to spend some time with them!

AUG 20- Stacks for breakfast with Uncle Ben (Saturday morning breakfast is a new tradition in our house)

AUG 21 - I cut-out "I love you" and put it on the wall behind our bed (with little tea lights all over the room) to surprise Dave one night when he got home from work. With all of your attention and energy going to the baby all the time it's important to remind each other that we love each other too.

AUG 24 - His new friend Monsoir Bunny that I got him for his 2 month birthday. It's a good thing he has the rest of his family to teach him French (his dad grew up in France) because I clearly don't speak it at all. I thought I had named him "Mr. Bunny" but I fused Monsieur (mister) and bonsoir (good evening). Now it's just funny and stuck. He also conveniently only speaks the french words I know. Most of which are from "Les Poisson" from the Little Mermaid.

Isn't he so cute? He's from Super Sock Monkeys. I just love all the little creatures in that shop.

Happy Friday!

Sleep Well... Good night!

2011-09-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

The above quote is from the book Time For Bed by Mem Fox (thanks Leah!)

It's impossible to love anything more than I love this boy! My heart aches with love and I stare in amazement each and every day at this incredible little blessing. To me, he's perfect. I love every single tiny little detail about him. In a time where everything else seems to be going wrong he is what is right in my life. He's so absolutely wonderful that he makes every bit of strain more than worth it. There is not a single moment I don't cherish with this boy. This stage is so wonderful! I want to freeze time and keep him just like this forever. I have tried doing the freeze dance to no avail. Where it failed at actually stopping time it did succeed in me looking super cool, so I still came out a winner.

Thanks for sharing your comments on what you are loving lately. They were so much fun to read, and super sweet! Hope you all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! We went to a fun BBQ at our friend's house. I would share pictures but silly me forgot to put a memory card in the camera. Perhaps I can do an interpretive dance to re-enact it for you. Maybe with a little freeze dance thrown in just for fun. Happy Tuesday!!

Scrabble Sundays: Love

2011-09-04T23:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a little too tired to write anything tonight, but, on the topic of love, I would love to hear what and who you guys are loving lately? Share anything you want on the topic of love. I'm all ears =).

PS. Thank you guys for the super fun questions on last weeks FAQ post! I can't wait to answer them. I will get a post with those answers up soon.

Week 11 (Zachary 365)

2011-08-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 12- First trip to his new pediatrician (I love the hot air balloons they have everywhere. Super cute.) He got his round of vaccinations and took 'em like a champ.

AUGUST 13- Playtime. Roxy had just come up and said hi and made him smile.

AUGUST 14- Breakfast at Southern Kitchen with Uncle Ben (our roommate). Going out for Saturday breakfast is our new favorite ritual. They're all mesmerized by the ceiling fan. Silly boys!

AUGUST 15- Picture time with Mama. I say it all the time, this kid is the most kissed child EVER!

AUGUST 18- Bath-time. He's learning to kick and splash and likes when I sing "Under the Sea".

My Buddy and Me

2011-08-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the My Buddy toy? I never had one but that song from the commercial would always get stuck in my head. I'm pretty sure I just aged myself to some of you. I still giggle when kids reference "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"when we tell them his name. We call him Zack Attack because of "Saved by the Bell". That's how we roll. Pretty sure that after my son Zack Morris is the coolest Zack ever. Then Zac Efron (or Zefron, as we call him in our house). Did I just admit to loving "High School the Musical"? Heck yes I did! Why thank you! Yes, I am the coolest 26 year old ever.

I have been dying to get some good pictures of my little bundle of love and I. Being both the mom and the photographer you always get left out. The only pictures up until now I either had a major swollen face from bawling my eyes out when I first saw him in the hospital or are camera phone pictures. It kept getting put off, just like the family photo we still haven't taken, but he's just growing too fast and I knew I would regret not having a picture of us at this age. It's by far my favorite time. He's not mobile yet but he's so much fun and interacts and plays. I tell him he's perfect, gorgeous, the best thing ever, etc. all day long. I'm pretty sure I'm going to give him an ego by 4 months. That's what moms are for.

Thanks for the questions so far! For anyone else who has questions for me leave them in the comments on the FAQ post. Happy Monday!

Scrabble Sundays: FAQ

2011-08-28T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have been getting a lot of the same questions lately (what camera I use, advice for new moms, etc) so I thought I would do a post addressing these for those who are interested. I wanted to see if any of you had any questions for me as well. They can be about anything, all I ask is that they aren't mean =).

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Mama's Good Boy.

2011-08-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

Dave asked me to revise this image with a little added text. Apparently, when he saw these images side by side he immediately thought that the left image image represented what Zachary looks like when he's with me and the right is what's he's like with him. Mama's little angel. Daddy's little devil. Or at least that's how he put it. He has his sweet boy innocent face when he's with his Mama. Then I leave the room, and then it's time to wreak havoc. I maintain that he's the sweetest, funniest, happiest baby ever though. He, like me, is probably just bored of watching Ancient Aliens and every episode of the Universe six million times when he's with Daddy. Just kidding honey. But really, I hate space. It's terrifying. The end.

Ahoy Baby!

2011-08-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

I sure hope my son doesn't grow up to hate me for doing this stuff to him haha. I decided to do a pirate picture similar to the one we did when we found out we were having a boy (see it here). Speaking of which, our friends are finding out right now what they are having and we are on pins and needles to find out! So exciting!

We still haven't had time to work on his nursery/my studio just yet. I can't wait to decorate a little space for him, but I am not excited to get him out of our room. He's a pretty awesome sleeper lately though so hopefully it won't be too bad. I will miss having him next to us and being able to put him in bed with us in the morning.

With the way our schedules are who know when we will get time to set it up anyways. We work opposite schedules and the weekends have been packed with stuff to do. Even though I work from home, it's tough not spending actual time together. Thankfully I get lots of time with my little mister though. We have a lot of fun together! It's awesome spending all of my time with someone who thinks I'm super funny. =)

There were some of him smiling that were adorable for this but I decided that pirates don't smile. I like his "what are you looking at" face in this one. He cracks me up.

Week 10 (Zachary 365)

2011-08-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

AUGUST 5- A beautiful Afghan made for us by the sweetest guests at Dave's work.

AUGUST 6- Hanging out with Roxy and Mama on the bed.

AUGUST 8- He's learned to stick his tongue back out at you if you do it to him. So cute!

AUGUST 9- In his hoodie (that he outgrew the next day)

AUGUST 10- Instax (apparently he thinks vomitig everywhere is awesome)

AUGUST 11- Finally awake at Mommy & Me

Thanks for taking a look at our 10th week together!

Juxtapose: Coffee

2011-08-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of a new series I will be doing on here called "Juxtapose". I have always been drawn to juxtapositions. I love having images placed next to each other that speak to one another. So, I thought I would make my own little juxtapositions on here from time to time. This week as you can see we have coffee beans and then my morning mug of coffee. Why coffee? Well, let's just say coffee and I are like Romeo & Juliet. It's quite the tantalizing tryst. I don't drink. I don't smoke. I drink coffee.

I've tried to stop, or even just slow down, but then that green mermaid sings her siren song and I find myself in line ordering a vanilla latte and listening to the Pick of the Week. Hello, my name is Tenley and I am addicted to coffee.

For now though I will only be able to have half of him. Half-caffeinated coffee is like watching a concert on DVD. It's just not the same, but you'll take what you can get. Darn you breastfeeding!

And something I did just for fun (with a sleeping baby in my arms- not so easy):

Gavin & Avet's First Birthday

2011-08-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

The other weekend we attended a joint first birthday party thrown by our friends. Not only do Gavin and Avet share a birthday, but they were born in the same hospital right next to each other. So neat! It was a very fun day filled with lots of very cute kids. We had so much that we went back again later to hang out and eat pizza with them.

There was a lot more than just birthdays to celebrate it turns out. Gavin is going to be a big brother! We are so excited for our friends Courtney and Grady to welcome another sweet baby! Congrats guys!

Here are some random pictures from the day:

Gavin (birthday boy 1)

Avet (birthday boy 2). I have shoot with them this Saturday and can't wait. What beautiful eyes!

I love this picture of our sleepy boys and Shaina and Dave.

Damon and the boys.

Love this picture of Gabe.

And his adorable brother Finn.

Gabe being sweet with his brother.

And then trying to eat my baby =)

And then wrestling with Uncle Dave (he had a lot of energy). So cute! I love his curly hair!

Scrabble Sundays: Escape

2011-08-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

There are lots of things that I wish I had more time to do. We all do. A big one for me has always been to read more books. I tend to favor magazines being that I'm a big visual person and I enjoy the lack of time commitment. I still however love a great book. I just love curling up on the couch and escaping my own time and space, if but for a brief moment. I always find it interesting how someone else's story (whether fact or fiction) can sometimes help you see your own life more clearly. It's like the Windex of the soul. Sometimes you get a little bird poop on your windshield in life and you need some help seeing past it. Really deep, I know.

I'm currently beginning what I like to call "Project Forgotten Tales". I have an awful habit of getting book ADD and abandoning ship half-way through a lot of books because a shiny new book caught my eye. Shiny things often make me lose focus. So, the objective of this project is to finish what I've started. I am not allowed to pick up the new shiny new book I want to read until every book is read to "The End". I am giving myself one free pass: The Nanny Diaries. I won't force myself to endure that again (no offense if you like it). I should also read all of the books I have bought and never even touched before I buy a new one. With a new baby this should only take me about 5 years to accomplish. Go.

What books are you all reading? Anyone else have a stack of unfinished books?

Oh, and the book in the image is The History of Love by Nicole Krauss if anyone is interested. I did read that one the whole way. It's absolutely beautiful. I'd highly recommend it.

PS. I just typed this whole post one-handed (holding the baby). I've got mad typing skills. I try and tell them to lighten up. Baddum Chu (bad joke drum sound).

Week 9

2011-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

That smile right there, well, that is my reason for existing. It will also be the end of me when he wants anything. I'm doomed. The above picture might just be my favorite picture of my beautiful baby boy yet. I am going to have to have that one printed and on the wall.

Right now I am singing to my handsome little mister and he is cooing, smiling, and making noises back like he is singing with me. It's too cute for words. I can't wait until he can really sing along. The smiles are in abundance in our household tonight and that is just fine by me.

JULY 29- On a walk with Daddy.

JULY 30- At his friend Gavin and Avet's first birthday party (with Auntie Courtney)

JULY 31- Big eyes.

AUGUST 1- Tiny hands and bored of tummy time.

AUGUST 2- Hanging out in the swing, which he is finally starting to like. Mama is very happy to get to eat with two hands sometimes.

AUGUST 4- Silly face.

2 Months.

2011-08-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is already 2 months old. I swear I am going to blink and he will be walking and then I will blink again and he will be graduating high school. It really is amazing how fast it all goes. I am so in love with this boy exactly as he is to the point where I have become completely obsessed with documenting every bit of it. Thank goodness I am doing project 365 because I don't want to forget a single detail from this time. I really have become a mad women, grabbing the camcorder anytime he does anything. I try and take mental pictures when there isn't a camera nearby. I just wish he could stay like this forever. We really are so very lucky to have such a happy baby and I stare at him in awe, my heart filled with love and gratitude everyday. I'm not sure what we did to be so lucky.

This past month he has really started to get a little personality. He loves sitting and making faces with me and has begun to try and mimic my faces, which is so adorable. He also has started having little baby giggles and coo's frequently. He spent like 20 minutes the other night just laughing at the ceiling while I was reading him a story. It was so cute. For some reason the kid loves the ceiling in my studio. It's a good thing it will be his nursery in the coming weeks.

As you can see he is also getting so big. We obviously keep him well fed =). He's up to 12lbs now. I've been taking a picture of him in the crates every month to show how he grows in relation to them. The image on the left was taken when we was 8 days old and the one of the right he was one month:

He's wearing the same onesie in the 2 month picture as in the one when he is 8 days old.

Things are really starting to look up for us. We have been getting more sleep which is wonderful and I finally got a diagnosis on a bad health situation I was going through and am starting to heal. Hooray!

My Puppet.

2011-08-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

"I'm just a toy, just a funny boy
That makes you laugh when you're blue
I'll be wonderful, do just what I'm told
I'll do anything for you
I'm your puppet, I'm your puppet" -"I'm Your Puppet" by James & Bobby Purify

I have always loved floor scenes. From the Kindle commercials to the many photographs and beautiful music videos created from a high vantage point. Oh, the creativity. Then there were the gorgeous series of photographs Mila's Daydreams by Adele Enersen. What a perfect way to do something creative with a baby since all they really can do is lay there. I've had lists of ideas for images to create in this vain for quite a while now and never got around to it. Now that I have the perfect little model though I couldn't resist. This specific idea has been in my head for a while so it felt good to get it out of there as it's getting quite crowded in there. I'm going to have to start charging my ideas and constant to-do's rent as they overstay their welcome. And when they don't pay, they, like so many before, will be evicted to my notebook. Or as I call it, the Land of Homeless Visions.

And what I said about him being my perfect little model is totally true. This little man was dancing and moving just like a little puppet the second I laid him down. It was absolutely adorable! I almost wish I had video taped it instead of taking photographs. The out-takes are just too precious. He is definitely turning into a photographer's child. As soon as there is a phone or camera on him he stares right at it and most of the time smiles. I'm sure the day will come that he will resent it, but until then I will click away in utter bliss at that sweet little face.

A special thanks to our roommate Ben who let me wake him up to play puppeteer.

Week 8

2011-08-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

My baby boy turned 2 months today and I'm in shock. Here's a peek into his 8th week:

JULY 22- Morning bottle

JULY 24- Playtime with Mama (please excuse my pajamas and morning hair. Having a new baby means never looking presentable.)

JULY 25- Saying goodbye to Drunkle Jeoffrey. I cry every time.

JULY 26- On his new blanket Mama had made for him by Bittybug Boutique.

JULY 27- He wanted to show his Pop-pop how good he looks in pinstripes! My Dad's a big Yankees fan. His Dad is not, Sorry honey!

JULY 28- The changing pad. His favorite place ever. Seriously.

Week 7

2011-07-27T16:19:00.000-07:00

This week was a very special week because my brother Jeff came to visit from New Hampshire to meet his nephew! My brother is a very special person to me and I love him with all of my heart so it was absolutely wonderful to have him here. Everyone loves my brother and was so excited to have him here. Our uncle even drove from Montana just to see him. This proved to be true even with Zachary. He loves his Drunkle! And who could blame him with how sweet he was with him. It was adorable! We miss him already!

JULY 16: Trip to Santa Maria to meet (my) Mimi. He loves his Drunkle Jeff!

JULY17: Baby Bear in his Bear Swing

JULY 18: With his Drunkle Jeff.

JULY 20: On his new-to-him playmat (thanks Steph!). He loves it!

JULY 20: More tummy time!

The Weitz's

2011-07-26T23:56:00.000-07:00

An unbelievably beautiful family huh? This gorgeous clan is basically family to us and we absolutely love them. We are so glad that Finn and Zachary will be close in age as they grow up. I can't wait until they get old enough to play together.

We did a quick session at their home, in their bed, back in May and had a great time. I have a thing for family portraits in a bed. Like, I want to ask them to prom type of thing. There is just something so real, cozy, and intimate about a family all snuggled up on a mattress and pillows.

Week 6 (Project 365)

2011-07-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

JULY 8: Hanging out on the bed

JULY 9: Auntie Kristin's Surprise Birthday Party

JULY 11: Looking out the window

JULY 12: Tummy Time

JULY 14: Playing with ribbons (these pictures make my heart SO happy)

Week 5

2011-07-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

Week 5 was a big week of firsts for our little man. He had his one month birthday, his first 4th of July, his first walk and his first bath! Here are some of the pictures that I haven't posted yet from that week:

JULY 5- First Walk

JULY 6: First Bath

(this one was taken by his Daddy while I held him- thankfully he likes baths better now)

JULY 7: Second Walk (and finally awake for it)

Weeks 1-4

2011-07-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

I want to catch up on some of the images of Zachary that I haven't yet shared here. That way I can go down to one weekly post that shares all 7 of his 365 images from each week and I can get back to some of my regular posts and even add some new ones that I'm excited to start!

So without further ado here are some of the stragglers from his first 4 weeks of life:

June 13 (his feet are on a beautiful afghan that was made for Zack- so beautiful!)

June 17 (the day our poor little guy got sick and we went to the ER)

June 20

June 21 (with his friend Filbert)

June 23 (his first time in his swing)

June 25 (tummy time!)

June 26

June 30

Tomorrow I will be sharing his images from week 5 and then Friday week 6. Hope your Wednesday is going fabulously!

My Boys.

2011-07-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't think I could love Dave anymore than I already did. Then, he became the father of my child. There is something very special about seeing the man you love become a dad. There's a beauty in the pride within his glance as he looks at the child he created. I sit and observe the bond of a father and son and admire it for how amazing it is in this moment and marvel at the foreshadowing of what is to come. I can only imagine how that look of pride will grow the day our son throws his first baseball or picks up his first guitar. He is already completely and irrevocably in love with our boy and to get to watch it, well, that is better than any cupcake in the world.

Here are some pictures I took of the two of them when Zachary was just 1 week old:

And this is the front of a the Father's Day card I made for him:

As you might have guessed he is one of the biggest Giant's fans ever. Oh and this isn't photoshopped (other than the text). I had him lay on my white backdrop and tried to get him to hold the bat. Instead he put his hand over it at one point and it just so happened to look like he was holding it.

And here is a little mock baseball card that I made to put inside the card:

Sail Away.

2011-07-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken when Zack was just 11 days old but I haven't had the time to do these little doodles until now. It's amazing how big he is getting so quickly. With how much he eats though I'm not surprised. My sweet little chubby boy =)

Though I am sad that he is getting older each day I am enjoying that with each day he interacts a little more. We can now play and he will smile and coo and kick his little legs with excitement. His favorite toy is a wooden spoon that I tied ribbons from, a game I found from a Gymboree book. We do a lot of the same things everyday around the same time. We swing on the porch swing, go on walks, take a bath, play with toys, and then at the end of the night I sing to him while we slow dance for a good 30 minutes as he dozes off. It's pretty sweet.

I try to sing to him a lot as I did when he was in the womb. It seems to calm him and make him happy. What I didn't realize until the other day is that I am now starting to sing everything instead of saying it. Little bit embarrassing but also a fulfillment of one of my greatest wishes: to live in a musical. I'm just glad no one is around to witness it and thankful he is unable to tell.

My brother is here for the next week and I couldn't be happier. Zachary and I are really enjoying the time with his Drunkle!

3 Years.

2011-07-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today I walked into my favorite dive bar as I had every Tuesday and Thursday the summer before. I had been gone for the past year finishing college and now returned to the familiar sounds and smells of Karaoke Night at the Peacock Lounge. This night would be different than any before. This would be the night I would meet the love of my life playing pool in the corner of that bar. We would sit entranced in conversation the whole night. He would remember my drink and offer me his coat but refuse even a handshake goodbye because he did not want to ruin the electricity we felt. We would spend everyday the next few weeks staying up in my room talking until 6 am surrounded by boxes and Friends would be playing in the background. I would walk him to his car bare foot each morning as the sun rose sad to watch him leave. Hoping each moment could last forever. Eager for the next to come.

And though each moment couldn't last forever we would spend the next three years making magical memories and building a love and partnership that hopefully can. Each year has been more beautiful than the last with this past year being spent creating our most treasured moment yet, welcoming our son. Our bond has grown stronger with each day that our little baby bear grew into a bigger piece of supermarket produce. I can't wait for the years to come and the beautiful memories will now make together as a family.

I truly love this man more each day than the last and I still get butterflies when I look into his eyes. And as I did in those first weeks I walk him out barefoot each day as he leaves for work. Sad to watch him leave but overwhelmed by the fact that this wonderful man is mine and that he will later return to the home we now share together and the family we have made. And in these moments I close my eyes with the knowledge that I am the luckiest girl alive.

My Dream Come True.

2011-07-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Posting here has become a lot harder than I thought it would be. Eating and other mundane tasks have become a lot harder than I thought they'd be too. I suddenly have to wait for a single short-lived quiet moment just to be able to go to the bathroom. These are my small victories every day now. And the days I get the dishes done? Forget about it. I'm running around the house doing my best Rocky impression looking around for my well deserved cookies and medals because that my friends is a big deal. Ah, my new incredibly beautiful life! And it truly is.

I have been dealing with a lot of health issues and problems in these last 5 weeks postpartum. The most recent being that I came down with mastitis and spent Monday with a fever of 102.7. There is a lot of other stuff too that I'm not sure I want to speak about. It has been a tough time to be honest, but I still can't help but sit there on my porch swing everyday in awe of how incredibly blessed I am. I look at this beautiful baby boy in my arms and nothing else matters. He is quite literally my biggest dream come true. The one thing I always knew I wanted was to be a mom and here I am. Living my dream. Having Zachary makes everything in life more than worth it.

So, every time I start to get a little "why me" with all the things that keep piling up in these last weeks I just look down and there are a pair of the most gorgeous almond-shaped blue eyes staring back at me and poof it's all gone.

PS. Aren't these crates amazing? Our roommate finds the coolest stuff sometimes. He found these on a curb during Spring Cleaning.

The Ladies Love A Man With A Guitar.

2011-07-08T20:25:00.001-07:00

Since his Daddy is a musician and plays a guitar I thought it would be cute to do a couple of pictures with a guitar for him.

Things are starting to get into a routine here and getting easier. Our little hungry, hungry hippo is now going 3 hours between feedings which has been amazing. I love my little chubby bunny!

I would write more but I've got a little fussy baby being a squirmy wormy in my arms and typing one-handed is one of the harder things I have learned to do with one hand.

Hat from Bittybug Boutique.

Fourth of July.

2011-07-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Zack's first Fourth of July. Papa Bear had to work so it was just the two of us. In order to celebrate we:

Took some red, white, and blue pictures. He is such a happy boy and finally felt like smiling for the camera. =)

(the left image was taken with my camera phone- please excuse the quality)

And then we went out on the porch swing to listen to some early fireworks. Zachary loves being on the swing. It's his favorite part of the day. It's the only time we get outside and he gets something new to look at. We are about to go on our first walk though so hopefully he'll love that.

Later on that night we went out again and got to see a couple of fireworks some neighbors were setting off. He didn't even seem to notice, but I was pretty excited we got to see anything at all.

What did you all do for the Fourth of July?

One Month.

2011-07-03T23:08:00.000-07:00

Our little Zachary James turned one month old today and I can't believe it. That went by so quickly. I have a feeling I'm going to be begging time to slow down everyday from now on.

This month was filled with lots of smiling, chirping and birdie noises, being a noisy sleeper, hating diaper changes, grumpy brows, your "Get off me Homes" arm gestures, lots of hand sucking, a very hungry boy, lots and lots of milk, snuggles, the most edible cheeks ever, non-stop kisses, burps in the face, loud toots, holding hands, sleep deprivation for Mama and Papa, , Drunkle RJ and Auntie Veronica visiting from New Hampshire, cousin Samila staying for a week, holding your head up, afternoons on the porch swing (your favorite time of the day), reading in your new glider, lots of Mama singing to you, lots of trips to the doctor, your first trip the ER, and slow dances with Mama.

I just wanted to take a second to say thank you, THANK YOU, so much for all of the wonderful comments on the last two posts! You are all so very sweet and each one made me smile. It means so much to me, really.

The Smell of Pine Tar and Maple Syrup in the Morning.

2011-06-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

What's that you say? That's a strange blog title? Yes, well that is what I smell like ladies and gentleman. That's right. Pine tar and maple syrup. Ah, the lovely scents of postpartum. When I just smelled like maple syrup it wasn't so bad. Just made me want pancakes. Now, though it's a whole new disgusting menagerie of fragrances. Why do I smell like that you ask? Well, the maple syrup is from taking Fenugreek. The pine tar is from Grandpa's Pine Tar Soap which I have been using for an awful rash I have had since I gave birth. It's called PUPPP (warning: don't google it) and is common in pregnant women but not common postpartum. It now spans my entire body and is making me pretty miserable. I have tried everything and I'm still itching like a dog with fleas. Yes, I just compared myself to a dog. Hello Mommyland, goodbye shame.

I'm sorry for the lack of posting lately. Life with a newborn is a 24/7 job. It's a miracle if I get time to pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave for dinner. And sleep? That hasn't happened since a couple of days before I gave birth. It's amazing how you can function off of 2 hours of combined sleep a day. Well just look at this face and you'll see why. No matter how sleep-deprived, itchy, frustrated, or in pain I am I just look at that little face and all is beautiful.

I have been taking a picture everyday so I will have to share more on here. I promise to leave out the lovely details next time though =).

Our tough little man.

2011-06-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who might have noticed a lack of posting over the last few days the above image says it all. Our poor little love bug got sick Friday after his first pediatrician's appointment. He had a temperature of 102.1 and we had to take him to the emergency room at midnight that night. It was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced. He broke out in a rash right when we got there and they immediately began x-rays and tests.

We spent the next two and a half days in the hospital where poor Zachary was put through so much. There were 16 failed attempts (stabs) to get an IV in him. It literally became a contest to see what nurse could finally do it and a social worker even got involved. Then there were three failed lumbar punctures. That's 9 needles into his spine for no reason. He's one tough little man though. One doctor asked if we were sure he wasn't from the planet Krypton.

Needless to say the last few days have been very difficult. No one should have to go through that with a 2 week old. Thankfully (and I truly mean that) we are home now with a healthy boy and that is all that matters.

We were in the hospital on Sunday for my birthday and his daddy's first Father's Day. Here is a little camera phone portrait of me and my baby boy on my (not-so-happy) 26th birthday:

He's the best present in the whole world!!

Now I'd love to try to find a way to not be at Kaiser every other day. Fingers crossed for smoother sailing from here on out.

My Little Baby Bear

2011-06-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

Since his nickname is Baby Bear I thought it would be only fitting for him to play the part. =)

Now only if he could hibernate like this at night...

Bear Hat: Pine Meadow Crafts

Who does he look like?

2011-06-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

The nine months you are pregnant are spent trying to guess what your baby will look like. What characteristics they will draw from each parent. Then, the moment that little love of your life finally arrives every little detail is inspected to see who's nose, eyes, lips he got. When I first saw him I thought that he looked like Daddy, until I remembered the newborn photos of me I had found a few weeks before. Luckily, I had them with me in the hospital so we could look at them. Sure enough I made a little mini-me. Well, a little me with Daddy's feet.

Witness Exhibit A:

Hope your Monday is absolutely wonderful! Mine couldn't be better with this sweet boy by my side =)

Scrabble Sundays: Zachary James

2011-06-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I want to start off by saying a huge THANK YOU for all of the sweet SWEET comments on my last post! Thank you for all of the congratulations and sharing in our joy! I read every comment and they really warmed my heart. <3

Zachary is ten days old today and getting bigger every minute. He is the sweetest, happiest baby. He spent most of yesterday asleep with a big smile on his face. Too cute for words! We are just spending these moments soaking in every bit of our first days with our baby boy. It already feels like it's going so fast. I want to make sure to take it all in so I never forget how beautiful this time is.

The blanket in these photos was hand crocheted by our friend Holly for Zack. We absolutely love it! It's so incredibly soft and is big enough that we kidnap it for ourselves. She made the most beautiful gifts for our boy. I will have to share the rest later. Oh, and she is expecting her own little one. Congratulations Holly!!

Zachary James

2011-06-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

As some of you might have guessed by my absence, we had our baby!! On June 3rd at 9:49am we welcomed our beautiful baby boy Zachary James into this world. There are no words to describe the love that I felt in my heart the instant I saw this little man. My heart is filled to the brim with love. I have spent the last few days just starting at him, so incredibly in love. He is covered with kisses all day long. Every little face he makes melts my heart, and he has so many of them. His smile is the highlight of my days (he's a big smiler).

These are just a few pictures that I managed to take amongst the recovery. There will be plenty more little newborn photos on there way. I am hoping to do a 365, a picture for every day of his first year. I don't want to forget a single moment of it.

I will be sharing a little bit about our birth experience soon. I promise nothing gory. We had him naturally. Yes, all 8lbs 10oz of him. It was the most painful, beautiful and rewarding thing I have ever done. He is my biggest and best accomplishment in life.

Scrabble Sundays: Still No Baby

2011-05-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

I feel like this is what I am saying all day lately. We are 4 days late now, which I am totally fine with. People are always saying that they can't believe I am moving around all of the time and that they can't believe how relaxed I am. The truth is the only thing that makes me feel anxious for him to come is everyone else. I feel like everyone we know is freaking out more than I am and that makes me want to make him come faster. It's almost like you feel like you are disappointing people every time they text and you have to text back "still no baby". Don't get me wrong though, I absolutely love that people care so much and that they are so excited to meet him, and of course we can't wait to meet him either.

Until he decides to come I have been enjoying some time to relax and get stuff done. I will be sharing some pictures later of a little trip to Berkeley on Saturday that was really fun. I even went to one of my favorite places, the bookstore, on Sunday. It was so wonderful!

Oh and of course, Happy Memorial Day everyone! I hope you guys had a wonderful day and weekend. I'd love to hear what you guys did to celebrate if you feel like sharing. =)

Rainforest Cafe

2011-05-27T17:16:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we went up to the city (San Francisco) to meet our friends Natasha and Eric for dinner while they were in town. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Yes the food is pretty terrible, but the ambience is killer. It's like living in Jumanji but the animals don't attack you. I wish I could make a bed in some leaves and live there. The conversation and getting to see our friends was of course even better than the ambience. Here are just a couple of pictures that I took while we were there:

(being pregnant you must locate restrooms immediately upon entering a place)

Yesterday was Baby Bear's due date and this little mister still isn't here. It would be nice if he came this weekend while Papa Bear is home but he will come when he is ready too.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and enjoy the extra time off if you get it. We will be home eating lots of spicy food and taking lots of long walks. We already had yummy spicy thai food for lunch. Yum!

My Studio Tour

2011-05-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

Let me just start by saying how awesome our current house is. We love it. It has a humongous deck (I totally just giggled writing that #imfiveryearsold) in the backyard. A three car detached garage for a Man Cave. A windmill. That's right, we have a miniature golf windmill in our backyard. It's next to the unfilled koi pond and rustic wagon porch swing. Did I mention our house is awesome? Unfortunately though, we will be moving in 2 months. I have been so lucky to have a wonderful studio space all to myself for the last year and will miss it greatly. Hopefully our new place (when we find it) will have a little corner I can call my own. Sure it won't be the size of a one car garage like this one, and it won't have huge sliding glass doors that provide awesome window light, but that's ok. Before I leave it though I wanted to do a little tour and share my little haven (aka the Lady Hole) with you all.

PS. It already doesn't look like this anymore. It is filled with baby stuff at the moment. Tables have been turned into temporary changing tables. Shelves now house baby books. You get the idea. The sacrifice is most definitely worth it though. I will enjoy rocking and singing to him in his glider (when it arrives) in this little nook I've called home for the last 10 months.

Bunting from Paper Source.

Owls- vintage, Brother XR-7700 sewing machine from my lovely mother (note to self- put a picture in the frame), doilies from Urban Outfitters, tree stump pin cushion by My Imaginary Boyfriend (awesome name)

Wizard of Oz dolls from McDonald's, big owl bought at Renegade Craft Fair (can't remember artist and not on owl), little owls by Lori Nichols for Night Owl Paper Goods, bow made by me, birdie made my awesome sister-in-law Leah, mug from Urban Outfitters, too many books to name but a lot of Nicholas Sparks, Gregory Maguire, and Stephanie Meyer, photo business books, and fairytale books (I know, I'm super cool). Muppet from my brother Brian (super awesome gift). You can build your own at FAO Schwarz.

From left to right:

1. yarn, Fuji Instax Mini 7s (love!), bunnies by my friend Sharleen Morco

2. a Rainbow Brite Sprite (Buddy Blue), monthly journals I think my mom got from Pottery Barn, buttons, lollipop, dinosaur from Michael's

3. mustache from Paper Source (thanks Deana!), Polaroid land camera J66, owl- vintage, buttons, box of paints

4. rainbow Polaroid land camera, felt, tissue paper

5. some of my photo books- favorites include Twilight by Gregory Crewdson, Bodyscapes by Jean-Paul Bourdier, Thin and Girl Culture by Lauren Greenfield, Annie Leibovitz at work, a vintage 60's Lee big-eyed artwork (I love his work!), Holga

6. Owl by one of my favorite shops Skunkboy Creatures, bin is Liberty of London for Target, hot glue gun, cupcake jar from Michael's, felt rose made by me

7. Lion (named Leonard) by Eco Snoopers, fabric, another Polaroid

8. binders from Target, Real Simple filer, washi tape from this shop, Lomo Fisheye camera,

9. owls were a gift from one of my favorite clients (bought at our local flea market)!

10. Box of film, lots of markers and coloring utensils, watercolor, Renegade Craft Fair candle, Nikon N55

11. Disney The Art of Up, Mary Blair Alice in Wonderland and The Art and Flair of Mary Blair, Domino The Big Book of Decorating, The Big Ass Book of Crafts, Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories, The Polaroid Book, Holga, The Photo Book, Listography, Design it Yourself, Hand Job: A Catalog of Type, Polaroid Joy Cam

12. Deer artwork by Caitlin Kuhwald

Please excuse the large amount of backdrops and photo equipment in the left corner. I have still yet to figure out a pretty way to store them. Yes, that is a mustache on stick in my paintbrush tin.

Mannequin bought at a flea market, dress- vintage from Smitten Clothing, grape soda pin (Up! is one of my favorite movies ever!) from Jegas Creations.

I don't play guitar, the boyfriend does, and he let me steal one to learn on one day. Butterfly decals from Target.

2 days left until Baby Bear's due date. It's a good thing I love crafting because I'm on pins and needles over here (lame jokes= awesome distraction).

Please offer up any fun distractions in the comments if you have them!

Scrabble Sundays: Happy Birthday Jeff!

2011-05-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday one of the greatest and my most favoritest people on this planet! I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like my brother. In fact, they don't just like him, they look up to him and add him to their list of their favorite people too. For good reason. He is one of the funniest guys you will ever meet. He's always wearing the most inappropriate shirts. He is the most talented writer. His wit cannot be outmatched.

Most of all he is a beautiful person. The definition of family man. There is nothing more important to him than his family and he makes sure we all never forget that. I know it sounds like I am making him sound to be too awesome to be true. The truth is he is even more awesome than I could ever put into words. I love my brother so incredibly much!! Apparently so much that I found a man just like him to build a family and spend forever with. Yes I realize that's weird. Don't judge me.

The aforementioned inappropriate shirts.

Oh, and here is one of the gifts that we got for him:

By LennyMud

I love you brother!!!!

Scrabble Sundays: Baby Bear

2011-05-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's not a Sunday but I have missed the past couple so here's a make-up one. I had Papa Bear help take this today as it proved impossible to get this shot myself. Or frustrating at least. He did a wonderful job and I'm proud that he not only got it in focus but got the exact framing I wanted. Way to go baby!

We are now 39 weeks, with only 6 days until his due date. It has been a chaotic last few days with lots of little false alarms here and there. I've had contractions very close together and long a few times now and then after a while they just stop. This little nugget is playing games with me. I wish he'd pick something like Candy Land or Clue instead. This one's not so much fun.

I will have pictures from week 37 and 38 coming soon. A friend of mine from college did maternity pictures of me and I love what I've seen so far! She's awesome! I'll have to share when I get the rest =)

I have also done a few family shoots recently I need to share and I will be posting a tour of my studio on Monday!

A giant heart and a growing baby bump.

2011-05-10T22:36:00.000-07:00

I made this collage as a 20x20 piece mounted on styrene to put up at my shower. Just thought I would share! This documents weeks 17-35 of our pregnancy. It's so fun to see how much the belly/he has grown and all the fun things we did.

I can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that he could be here anytime now. I think all day about how I could literally go into labor that very next moment. Then within a few, or a lot of, hours our lives will be forever changed and we will become parents. I get asked everyday if I'm nervous and I'm really not. Don't get me wrong I'm nervous about the birth (we're going to TRY to do it naturally) but not about parenting. I guess 9 years as a nanny makes me feel at least a little more prepared. Though, I know it's not the same at all. I've also just always felt ready to be a mother. I have always had those maternal nurturing instincts, which is why I began nannying in the first place.

The part I'm most overwhelmed and nervous about is getting everything ready for him. I work all day doing things around the house, running errands, and trying to finish client work in time for his arrival. I have lists, I mean LISTS, of all the things to do before he is here. Every time I feel a cramp I tell him "not today". I'm not ready yet. I'll take the discomfort of these last days over the being unprepared any day.

At the end of the day though all that matters is that he gets here healthy. That both of us come out of the birth ok. If that happens everything will be perfect no matter how many things are left on that to-do list.

A question for any of you who are mothers: Did you actually relax in the days leading up to your due date? Also, if any of you had natural births I could use some encouraging words!

16 days till our due date.

Belly Painting!

2011-05-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

(all images in this post were taken by my lovely and wonderful mother)

The day after my shower before my sister-in-law Leah had to go we decided to do a little belly painting as we ran out of time at the shower. We did this at Leah's shower for my niece and it was so much fun! It was such a beautiful day outside and we enjoyed soaking up the warm weather. Especially Leah coming from New Hampshire.

I really enjoyed just sitting there and having them decorate my belly. It tickled a little bit. It must have tickled a lot for the little mister because he was a little Mikhail Baryshnikov. He danced and kicked so much he was making it hard for them to paint. It's quite a sight to see him shapeshifting my belly like that and I think they got a kick out of it.

I think they did a beautiful job!

I had my second shower Saturday and it was incredibly lovely! So wonderful to be surrounded by such great people. Their warmth, love and generosity truly touched me and I love each and everyone of them, even the ones I just met! I'll post pictures once I get some.

Dave had his diaper party (a party for the guys where they bring us diapers and we supply drinks and food) the same day. I won't be posting pictures of that though =). I wasn't there but I let's just say I came home to Papa Bear wearing a diaper. Haha. He asked me if I still loved him when I walked in. Silly boys! And of course I answer yes.

Happy Mother's Day.

2011-05-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

Lady,

Thank you for being an amazing mother. For always being there when I need you. For spoiling me way too much. For taking care of me. For Wednesday night dinners. For craft fairs, Starbucks, and frozen yogurt. For chick flicks, the Bachelorette and Top Model. For fancy chocolates. For big Christmases filled with love. For ballet recitals. For trips to New York and tickets to musicals. For movie dates. For spending days painting my room red. For spoiling Roxy too. For listening. For the advice. For everything you do for me and our family. For being the amazing grandma I know you will be. And for the lessons you have taught me to be the best mother I can for him.

I love you with all of my heart!

-Lady Jane

And here is a very heartfelt and touching note I wrote to her on Mother's Day when I was seven (I think):

I don't sound spoiled at all. And check out that awesome outfit. I can't say I thank you for that one Mom. =)

To all the mothers out there, the daughter's of amazing mothers and expecting mothers I hope you had the most amazing day and felt every bit as appreciated as you should be for all you do!

A very pirate baby shower.

2011-05-06T02:09:00.000-07:00

(all photos in this post are thanks to my wonderful mother who photographed the event for me)

This last Saturday was the first of our two showers. It was thrown by my lovely sister-in-law Kristin who did an amazing job! She spent so much time making all the little details. She made it filled with all of the favorite things: cupcakes, crafts, cute babies, etc. I can't tell you how grateful I am to her for all the work and care she put into giving me an awesome baby shower that I will never forget!

This is Captain Calamari. He is captain of the diaper cake and he's super cute!

A big thank you to Kristin, Holly and Jessica. We spent all night Friday baking cupcakes. Red velvet, Funfetti and Chocolate with Peanut Butter frosting. All of my favorites. The Funfetti frosting is a traitor and got all melty. I love them too much to make them walk the plank though.

Kristin and Jessica spent days making these paper flowers for centerpieces. They are so incredibly beautiful! I love them so much! I can't believe they made each of these by hand. Some seriously talented, and patient, ladies.

Kristin and I put these lollipops together that we found at Michael's. They just happened to be the perfect colors. We also had a onesie decorating table. That's the beautiful host, Kristin with hers that says "My Drunkle (our name for uncle) loves me" and on the back says, "But my Auntie loves me more". So cute! I loved looking at them all later.

There was also a table for writing notes to Baby Bear and creating pages for a little scrapbook for me to add pictures to. The scrapbook was the idea of my other sister-in-law Leah who had this at her shower. I seriously love scrapbooking. I'm cool like an 80 year old in that way. I can't wait to read all the notes people wrote later!

This little stud muffin is Connor (and his mommy Michelle). He was the real entertainment at the shower. He was flirting with all the ladies. He told his mommy I was pretty when I walked away. Such a charmer. Then he kept saying hi to me the whole time. We tried to teach him to wink. He sealed the day with a sweet kiss. Don't tell Dave =). Be still my heart with this ladies' man.

This is Gavin, Baby Bear's buddy-to-be. We seriously love this boy. He's the sweetest. He and his mommy and daddy are coming over tomorrow night for dinner. I can't wait to see that little man!

I feel like a broken record but we are so incredibly blessed! Everyone has given us the most sweet and generous gifts. But we of course are the most lucky because of the outpouring of love we have received. This little guy has no idea how lucky he is to have people who love him so much already! We couldn't be more thankful!
A picture of my mom and I in the bathroom mirror. We're super classy like that.

Oh and remember that surprise I mentioned in the last post that made my shower EXTRA special?

Here she is! This is my sister-in-law Leah, who you might recognize from my previous New Hampshire posts. She is one of the greatest people on this planet! I'm not over-exaggerating. I would defy anyone to find someone who didn't like her. She flew out to surprise me for the my shower. I kept saying how she was the one thing missing from it so it definitely felt complete with her here. I couldn't have been happier than to share that with her and to spend some time with her. I love that little lady!!

Week 35: Capitola

2011-05-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

For our week 35 shoot we headed out to beautiful Capitola to feel the sand on our feet and scare little children with my giant belly. We both would love live there one day. He grew up on the beaches in South France so I know he would love for his little guy to get to do the same. For now we will just have to take him as often as we can. Those colored homes make me swoon every time.

(that's right, I jumped like that at 35 weeks pregnant- not quite as high as him =) - taken in one try too)

Pictures from the shower coming soon and some belly painting fun! I got a really great surprise that made the shower extra special. =)

Week 34: The Light

2011-04-25T22:17:00.000-07:00

We got a little bit behind on our pictures. Every time we set up a shoot it fell through and it's just difficult to find motivation to do anything when I finally get a second of downtime. Nonetheless, I made a commitment to make Baby Bear a book and a book he will get. So, even though I feel like an elephant and the last thing I want to do is take a picture I will still continue to do so as I grow to sizes fit to be a float in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

Today was the first day in a while where I have come home and there hasn't been a giant box on our porch step. I am so incredibly in awe of how truly nice people are. It's beautiful and I'm honestly so touched by the outpouring of love that I get a little sappy and teary-eyed sometimes. I blame the hormones.

We could have never imagined that people, some who are nearly strangers, would be so generous and giving. We haven't even had our two showers yet and already have every big item we registered for. Some from people I have met only once. I feel so blessed and happy that I am bringing my baby into a world where he will be surrounded by such absolutely wonderful people.

Speaking of showers my first shower is this Saturday. I can't wait! My sister-in-law is making it filled with all the things I love and putting so much into it. I couldn't be more thankful. Like I said we're incredibly blessed. =)

This image is Gregory Crewdson inspired. He is one of my favorite artists and photographers of all time. If you haven't seen his work you need to. It's beyond gorgeous.

Scrabble Sunday: Happy Easter

2011-04-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! We didn't really do anything to celebrate over here. Celebrating takes energy. Something I don't really have at this point. I did however make us breakfast and help the boy make some beef jerky. That's right, my man makes his own beef jerky. How cute is he?

I get so excited for how much more special the holidays are going to become. I can't wait to do little Easter egg hunts with him one day and make him a little Easter basket.

What did you all do for Easter?

PS. I got the idea for the eggs cut out of paint chips from a design blog and can't remember where. I'm usually really good at keeping track but I failed on this one. Anyone who knows where it's from please write it in the comments. It is such a cute idea and I want to give proper credit.