a bag of chips

Oh, boy. Or girl.

Remember, a few posts back, I mentioned I was looking for some maternity models?  Well, I had my first one last weekend.  Here is one of my favorites from the shoot.  You can view the rest of my faves here.  What an awesome experience to get to share in their excitement and anticipation.  They were just the sweetest people. 

I finally have...

...an IPOD. My darling husband has heard all the subtle hints I've been dropping for the last, oh, year or so, and today he had Aidan give it to me.  It's an early birthday present.  So, it's official that I'm no longer the last person in blogdom, scrapdom, or at the gym to have one.  Give me a week and I'll be wondering how it is I've gone this long without one and pitying the fools who have yet to catch on.

Music has been such a huge part of my life.  Jazz, country, rock-and-roll, bluegrass, funk and disco, and, since my hubby's appearance in my life, soca, calypso and reggae.  Whole ages in my life can be defined by the music I listened to, and listening to certain songs (like anything from The Eagles or Boston) can bring my childhood memories rushing in.  Hearing The Carpenters conjures up memories of a very short and pudgy me riding in my mom's Corvair, standing on the seat next to her, cruising down some wide street in the San Fernando Valley.  In fact, I can actually remember one particular car ride, singing along to The Carpenters' "Top of the World" on the radio and looking over into the car next to us to see a lady singing along to the same song, and both of us smiling at each other.  Little golden nuggets of little me, defined by and resurrected by music.

Since having kids, however, I've noticed that the Sting, Frank Sinatra, Nora Jones and Miles Davis CDs in my car have been replaced with Baby Einstein, Veggie Tales, kid movie soundtracks, and other kid picks.  While I enjoy singing along with the kids and listening to the same CDs over and over and *OVER* again, and while I love that this stuff we listen to in the car is defining for them this time in their lives, I miss my music.  I realized a few days ago that I have not listened to any of my jazz CDs in months, and perhaps a few years.  That's going to change now.  I'm getting a bit of me back.

So, thank you, honey.  You're the best.  Love you. 

Ketchup.

As in catch up.  As in what I'm doing with this post since it's been so long.  Get it?  Man, am I a hopeless dork or what?  Wait.  Don't answer that.

We're all fine-ish, thanks for asking.  Aidan and Makena are growing like weeds and testing our parenting skills on a constant basis.  They're just kids acting their age and we try to be aware of that with every charming new thing they try to get away with.  One of the more challenging issues is that as a four-year-old boy, Aidan is way more likely to do things that Makena, at 3 years old, would not be doing were they not brother and sister and around each other all the time.  It's a rather unfortunate monkey see, monkey do scenario.  My mantra these days:  I will survive.

Miss Nadia currently has an ear infection and eczema on her face and neck.  Poor thing.  She weighs 17 lbs 15 oz and will be six months old one week from today.  I can barely grasp that, you know.  Just last month I was astonished at her turning five months old and eating baby food already.  Now here she is, almost six months old, and I'm going to have to start pulling out her bigger-sized clothes and putting away the things that don't fit her rather pudgy but totally adorable figure.  She's kinda sorta sitting up on her own and has discovered her feet.  She's also quite taken with her reflection.  She thinks she's pretty darn cute.  That makes it unanimous then.

Our Trini visitors have since returned to Trinidad and life is once again back to normal (although I'm noticing that whenever we get back to normal, normal isn't what it was when we left it).  While they were here, in addition to our LA road trip, we went to La Jolla, Sea World, Tijuana, and to several grocery stores and a few malls.  We also enjoyed some good Trini eats - souce, macaroni pie and pelau, and my father-in-law's fabulous rum punch, with PUNCH being the active word there.  Hooooooo boy.  We really enjoyed their company and hope they'll come back again soon.

We've all had some form of snotty, coughy crud (I actually got strep throat) and now, it seems, that I am the only woman ever to pull a groin tendon.  Hurts like a you-know-what.  I'm walking like George Burns and grunting with every movement.  I was told it would take at least three weeks to start feeling better and I could still be in pain a good six months from now.  I don't even know exactly how I did it, but I suspect that running around with The Bigs at the park on Saturday was not such a smart idea since I only ever run baths and errands.  Good thing I joined a gym now that the Girl Scout Cookies have left the building.  Now I just need an I-POD for all the time I'm going to be spending on the treadmill and in the weight room.

And now a little about my honey who totally deserves it but is not given much attention on my blog.  My hunky hubby is adjusting to some changes at work with more class and professionalism than I thought humanly possible.  I mean, he's a classy, professional guy so I shouldn't be too surprised by this, but I am.  It's one thing to know something about someone and it's another thing entirely to see it in action.  He is loyal, hardworking, dependable and freakishly smart.  All of that and a cute butt.  I'm a lucky lady.

So, for your viewing pleasure, I'll wrap this up with some recent photos of The Bigs and The Baby getting a scruffy kiss from her daddy. 

 

Models needed!

I'm looking for at least one pregnant woman who resides in Southern California and who would like to help me with building the maternity section of my portfolio.  If you are pregnant and are interested, or know someone who might be, please send me an email or post a comment.

Thanks!

(And have to been to my photo blog yet?  Check it out using the link to the left or by clicking here.)

ETA:  Thanks for the awesome response to this request.  I think there are a lot of women in Southern California who have been drinking from the same glass.  If you're still interested in a maternity session, pop me an email!  Thanks again!

Remember love.

I did this layout with one of my favorite recent photos of the Bigs loving on each other.  I love it when I've got my camera in my hand and I ask them to give each other a hug and they actually do it, willingly and with smiles.  It's one of those cosmic moments with planets aligning and everything.  So cool.

So I started playing around with some new Tinkering Ink paper and loved this paper for my background.  What says love better than red and pink?   Then I thought about what I wanted my title to be and what I wanted to say.  And then I got it.  I want them to remember the love they have for each other and how much they need each other.  When Makena is sad at preschool, she wants Aidan to comfort her.  And when Aidan is sad or hurt, the genuine look of concern on Makena's face says how much she loves and cares for him.  So when they're angry or fighting or annoying each other, now and when they're 15 and 16 years old or 74 and 75 years old, I hope they'll always remember the love.

Couldn't we all remember to remember the love? 

Nothing much. You?

Yeah, that's about the sum of the past week or so.  Still entertaining the in-laws, which has really been quite nice.  It's been great getting to know them a bit better.  They go back to Trinidad next Wednesday and it's going to be tough saying our good-byes.

I saw a great billboard ad today for the Better Business Bureau.  The tagline is "Teach an old mouse new clicks."  How brilliant is that?  I love good slogans.  I would never do well in advertising but I sure appreciate those who do.  In fact, I was watching "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt and, while the movie is not one of my favorites for many reasons, I love the slogan they come up with for Nike's Womens division.  "No games, just sports."  What are your favorite ad slogans?  Please share!

Also, I've been putting together a list of "It Never Fails" moments.  Like:

It never fails that the moment I drift off to sleep, the baby wakes up crying.

It never fails that the moment I cancel plans due to a rainy forecast, the day turns out sunny and beautiful.

It never fails that the moment I sit down on the potty, the phone rings.  In fact, the phone rang exactly two times yesterday.  And each time I was in the bathroom.

It never fails that when you're in a hurry, every slow driver gets in their car and pulls right in front of you.

It never fails that the day after I throw something away that I've been holding on to, I'll need it.

It never fails that the moment I get on the phone (which is usually answered as I'm running out of the bathroom with pants at half-mast), one of my children will start screaming (probably at the fact that mommy is running out of the bathroom with her pants down).

It never fails that the day after I pay full price for something, it goes on sale.

It never fails that the minute I bring home fresh pears from the grocery, they go bad.

Anway, that's just a few of them.  I've been keeping a little memo pad with me to record when I have another "It never fails" moment.  Have any you'd like to add?  I'd love to hear it.

So, there you go.  That's just about all the time I have for today, since, because it never fails, that the minute I get on the computer, someone needs something.