I promised myself I wouldn't post too many family sessions in a row, but it being world breastfeeding week,  can't help myself! Let me explain. While I was in LA for a wedding a couple of weekends ago, I snuck in a quick and casual shoot with one of my FAVORITE little families; Christina, and her wife Patty, and their sweet baby Beatrice. Well- Bea is in this phase where she wants to nurse while being read to. It is kind of adorable. (If a wee bit of a nuisance to her patient mama.) And since we were happy to sit back and let her direct the morning (rather than try and pose a busy toddler), that is what we have a lot of photos of! Which I loooooove. I am so happy to be able to share a positive image of (what our country considers extended) breastfeeding, and I think it is important to be vocal/upfront about breastfeeding. The more people are exposed to it, the more normal it becomes and our society accepting of it, the more woman are likely to be successful in meeting their breastfeeding goals. (Here is some reading on the subject). In other news, how AWESOME is Bea's drum set? Pickin up skills from her  ma! RAD. Thanks guys, for letting me be a part of this morning! PS All Images are totally suitable for work! 

As usual, I am available to photograph YOUR family in Southern California. Email me at desertfete (at) gmail (dot) com.

That is all I have to say.

 

If you guys haven't noticed, things are shifting a lot in my life's focus. I don't mean Henry, but photography. I am still trying to figure out how that works with this space, vs another one dedicated to that pursuit, but until I figure all that out, I hope you don't mind if I keep sharing here. And of course, if you would like ME to photograph YOU, please email me! (desertfete at gmail dot com). I have very reasonable rates. (I live in San Diego, but am often traveling to other parts of California anyways).

One afternoon during our trip in New York (while Ben and Henry were snoozing) I snuck over to the gorgeous Gantry Plaza State Park to take photos of one of my favorite picture taking, blog writing ladies, her adooooooorable baby Harper, and very cute hubby Vivek. I am trying to talk this family into moving to San Diego! Ha! Check out the pictures if you like, below. Thanks Mercie & family!

Our baby is growing HAIR. While I thought I was looking forward to the occasion, I am actually a little sad. Every time I bend down to kiss his previously smooth dome I am assaulted with a mouthful of fuzz.  When I go to stroke his little noggin, I am met with resistance if I move in the wrong direction.

I don't know about this whole hair thing.

Do you sometimes... forget how to spend free time? Like when I was crazy busy working almost full time and writing a thesis, the days are pretty packed right now. Between my office job and my weekend job and trying to be fully present whenever I am with my boys, well... "me" time is scarce. Sometimes I will chance apon a sliver of it, and not know what to do. I waste the precious minutes wringing my hands: Do I relax? Sit outside? Do something creative? But I am always doing something so I want to do nothing! It's a terrible trap. Anyways, it is one that I did not fall into one recent afternoon. Instead I pulled out Henry's much neglected baby book (it hadn't had an entry since I was pregnant). It was an hour or two very well spent. I am looking forward to more creative projects just for fun!

Sakura Bloom Diary: Exploration

photographs taken by michelle of rad + in love

Today on my lunch break I picked up some crayons for little Henry. His first artistic endeavor ensued after work. SO CUTE.

My baby boy turned one. We had a party. A balloon. There was family, and friends (big and little). I made a cake that did not suck, giving Henry his first bit of refined sugar. He got a wagon. (And yeah, lots of other cool things!) I made some decorations. He handled all the excitement like a champ. Here are the pictures.

Sakura Bloom Diary: Style

photographs taken by michelle of rad + in love

Last week I had the complete honor and enjoyment of joining the Mann family at the hospital to photograph the birth story of their son. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Guys, this is my jam. I enjoyed it so much. All of the photos are completely suitable for work (I promise. I was not even in the room when the baby was born. Except you might get weepy, if you are like me), but I included a jump, so as not to inundate you all with every last photo that I could not leave out.....

My boy is turning one this weekend. CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE IT! We spent the weekend preparing. Presents are on their way, crafts are completed, supplies purchased and gathered. We wanted to keep it on the simple side, but also to invite all the people who love him so. I think I did a good job letting myself get a little creative with crafty decor fun, but without going overboard, you know? Another cake was tested and succeeded. Pizzas will be ordered. Beer will be poured. This post is about the party, really. If I can find the time, I am sure there will be a long sappy one to come about MY BABY turning a YEAR. Boggles, no?

Ya'll remember I mentioned that Michelle and I were working on a little project together? Well, the time is here to share.  If you don't mind, I will start with a back story.

As you might know, if you follow Celia and I at Hank + Lucy, Henry has never been one for a stroller. (Or a car seat, but that is a saga for another day...) No problem. We had invested in not one, but two great baby carriers. We were ready. Prepared. Good to go. We were well on our way to becoming baby wearing experts.

Baby, what, you ask? Turns out, wearing your baby in a carrier on your body has a name. The deeply rooted tradition enjoys thriving popularity today wordwide, for a variety of really rad reasons.

We were ready to sign up. One problem. Henry wanted to face forward, and all of our carriers had him facing toward us. He would only tolerate them for the shortest of naps.  I knew of one popular forward facing carrier, but I had also heard they were kind of bad on developing hips, so I was hesitant.

Enter the Sakura Bloom styleathon (which my friend Elizabeth won!). From that contest, I learned that babies could sit forward in a ring sling.  We were thrilled.  So was Henry. We were in love.

Fast forward 8 or 9 months. Henry still hates his stroller, and we still love "wearing" him. He now quite likes a variety of carriers, but our Sakura Bloom is still one of our favorites. It is so cute!

So when Leigh of Marvelous Kiddo and the team at Sakura Bloom invited me to participate in their latest blogger project, The Sling Diaries, I was so honored, and (after making sure Michelle was on board, and panicking a little at so much sharing) thrilled to accept.

Here is the deal. Once a month (for 6 months!) myself and 12 other blogging mamas are assigned a specific concept, and are tasked with posting a photo journal entry of us & our littles (in the sling, natch) expressing the concept. I will post all of my entries here, but you can follow all the other entries on the Sakura Bloom pinterest page. The good news? They will be (mostly) wordless. (So this wordy post will be the last one you have to suffer through.) The kinda scary part? I have to post real actual photos of myself on the blog every month. Eeek! Hold my hand? I'd like to mention we are not being paid or compensated, but we did receive some slings to wear in the photos. And finally, you might wonder why I will be posting these here instead of on the baby blog? I had a hard time with that. I see this as a project in documenting our life in general, and also a creative exploration between myself and Michelle. And this is my space for that kind of stuff. So.

I hope you guys enjoy! I am sure looking forward to what the other lady's come up with. First post is tomorrow. Yikes!

*Oh, man! I forgot to mention! To kick off the project, they are giving away a free sakura bloom sling. Check it....

Just developed this roll of film from a pleasantly family filled week. All within a few days Henry had; one grandma, one grandpa, 2 aunts, and one cousin in town. If you saw our little family trees, you would know that is ALOT to have in town at once. It was great.