Day 61

This picture just makes me laugh. Meet my fluffy cat, Henning. Every morning my 2 cats are waiting for me to come into the kitchen, sitting on the kitchen counter next to the faucet for a drink. As I've said before, they are prima donna kitties. I fill their bowl with fresh water and they still sit there and wait for me to turn the faucet on. And I do. Because I love them.

Day 60

Perhaps the most valuable lesson this little project has taught me is that the photo of the day might be lurking where I least expect it so I damn well better have my camera with me, I damn well better be ready, I damn well better be looking, and I sure as hell better have something for my full time almost 3 year old buddy to do when the opportunity does arise. Such is the case in this gritty parking garage Liam and I parked in to go to the downtown Berkeley library. Liam is sitting behind me while I take this photo, on the filthy concrete, reading library books. No shame.

Day 59

Liam and I took a little sunset hike around Point Isabel, a regional shoreline park about 5 minutes from my house, this afternoon. I've forever wanted to take my camera there at sunset. It's just such a great little microcosm of all the things that are great about this area . . . right on the Bay, home to native California grasses, view of the Golden Gate Bridge, etc. I feel so lucky to be able to do things like this with him. We are surrounded by regional parks with hiking trails and the weather is SO mild here. He loves to throw rocks into the water, dig in the mud, play with sticks . . . all the things that help little kids appreciate nature. He often times points out how "pitty" the sky looks at sunset. Anyway, so I was standing at the bottom of this hill with him, hand on the shutter thinking what a nice composition the blue sky with the orange clouds and the strong line of the peak of the hill made, but how it was missing something of interest. Before I know it, Liam is scrambling up to the top of the hill and I know my moment has arrived. He is a better little model than he will ever know!!

Day 58

Gotta LOVE sidewalk chalk. I always love how it gets all over his hands, his shoes, his knees, his butt. My little artist. And the sun always shines so beautifully on our house in the late afternoon, right onto the front stoop. I could take my camera out there almost every day really.

Day 57

One of our favorite rainy day activities!

Day 56

Special thanks to my little photo assistant, Liam, who aided in the rock throwing for this image on our daily sunset walk/bike around the block.

Day 55

Day 54

Today I was trying to capture the essence of my day and I truly felt like my ratty, cluttered, lettuce head told the story best really. With a three year old running around a 900 square foot house that always seems to be undergoing some kind of self inflicted "home improvement, do-it-yourself project," which never seems to reach any kind of completion, my life often feels as though it is spinning out of control. I think it must be a most prevalent phenomenon in stay at home moms . . . the more in control your hair and house feel . . . the more in control your life feels. So as the day comes to a close, I have come to 2 conclusions: 1. Time for a haircut and 2. Time to implement mandatory, daily "play quietly in your room" time . . . for all members of the household.

Day 52

We got a climber on our hands folks. This child is not even 3 and he climbed at LEAST 5 feet high into this tree by himself . . . should I be worried?!

Day 51

Oh good grief. Rain rain, go away. Oh well, at least it makes for good photographs!

Day 50

The twins came over for a playdate this morning as Baby J. and Mom and Dad came home from the hospital yesterday. The boys played until they dropped. Little T. did not take this construction hat and construction vest that my mom made off the entire morning! This is him, hard at work . . . I need to get him working on our addition with that concentration.

Day 49

Wow...it's absolutely disgusting out. Considering it is currently hailing on my house, I'm thinking I'll just go ahead and conclude my photo shooting for the day with this image. I love preschoolers in rain boots. I wish I could line up all Liam's little classmates on the long yellow bench in their play yard and take a photo of all the boots. There's just something about them that is way too cute. And yes, they ARE on the wrong feet. He put them on all by himself :)

Day 48

See, I CAN actually make photographs without having an adorable little face in front of me. A little rain + a little sunshine + concrete = fantastic texture and reflective light quality. I was having a tough time deciding between these 3 and they all worked so well together, I decided to go with a triptych.

Day 47

Phew, all caught up, but just barely. Yes, ONE more little person photo for today. We arrived home late Monday night and my good friend here with the twins went into labor the next morning so Liam and I entertained the boys at our house after school. I love having so many little people in my life. They keep me on my toes, young, happy, smiling. The boys were SO good and they are SO excited for their new baby brother who arrived around 6pm last night. Their dad texted me a picture and I showed the boys and I almost cried watching their reaction to it. They just stood there in awe, eyes wide, literally for like 5 minutes, and then all of a sudden, T. just starts belly giggling. Congrats Mom and Dad . . . looking forward to meeting the little guy . . . whatever his name shall be :)

Day 46

Couldn't leave without a little mini session with the sisters. Literally the sweetest little girls I know. Little E. is the best big sister a girl could have really. Even at 2, she wears her huge heart on her sleeve, and this is the affection that just comes naturally from her . . . we really didn't have to prompt her at all. She dotes on Baby A. constantly and Baby A. just soaks it all in. This morning Liam was looking at this picture and he says, "What they doing mommy?" and I say, "E. is giving Baby A. a kiss," and Liam replies, "Oh.....THAT is why Baby A. is smiling mommy." Exactly buddy. Exactly. Love you girls. Thanks for a great visit. Can't wait to do it again in the summer!

Day 45

It's pretty cool when your best friend has their first baby right around the same time you have your first baby. Liam and E. are 6 months apart. They'll be in the same grade and everything! Little E. was SUCH a gracious host of her toys, her space, her cheerios. They got along quite well really all things considered and Liam enjoyed being the big kid on the block for once (his best bud's are 9 months older, all his cousins are older, and he's one of the youngest in his class). Anyway, of course E.'s mommy and I have romantic notions for their future :) so we had a little fun with their Valentine's Eve dinner date. Nothing spells L-O-V-E like cheeseburgers and macaroni.

Day 44

C. took us to the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. on Saturday where they have a very cool "Building Zone" for kids. After watching Liam go at it with this bulldozer, I'm thinking they should rethink the name . . . "Build and Demolish Zone."

Day 43

These next few days are FILLED with little people images. As I mentioned, Liam and I went back East to visit my college friend and her new little family. This was our first time meeting sweet little A. and those blue eyes and perfectly pink porcelain cheeks were worth the trip alone! Isn't she just perfect?!

Day 42

On our way to Northern Virginia for a long weekend with my best friend from college and her two little girls. On this day, I took 2 pictures: this image with my 24-70mm and this image with my 50mm . . . the morning light struck me. I was up at 4 am, on a plane with my 2 year old by 7 am, off the plane at 5 pm, rental car by 6 pm, and at her house by 7 pm. This was about all I could come up with. Take it or leave it :)

Day 41

My other beautiful baby, basking in the morning sun. He is a total pre-madonna. P.s....going back East to visit my best friend and HER beautiful babies for a few days. Will catch up on posts when I return!

Day 40

Being a full time mommy means I don't always have the time to go to amazing locations for photographs. Most days, I feel like I'm working with nothing unless I'm taking a photograph of my son, which truthfully, often feels like cheating as it is hard to make a bad photograph of him. Today Liam romped around the park like a maniac after school. I had a feeling it was my only chance to make photograph #40 because I knew his monster 2.5-3 hour nap would soon follow. At least the color scheme and reflective quality of the climbing structures were somewhat interesting and allowed me to make something out of nothing!

Day 39

Ok, I know I am biased, but is he not the cutest little stinker you've ever seen?! It's been an interesting age these last few months, not really "2" anymore, but not yet "3" either. On one hand he seems so big to me and on the other hand he's still just my little tiny peanut. Today for instance, in one moment he's climbing trees in the yard and "reading" books to me, and in the next moment, taking a 2 hour nap, waking up with those big, sleepy, puppy dog eyes and tousled mop, and curling up in my lap to snuggle while he comes to full consciousness. When he's all curled up, he still fits perfectly in the crook of my arm just like he was a 6 month old again. He's a trooper when it comes to me and my camera . . . most days, he's completely over having it aimed at his oh so cute face. Lately, I've taken to trickery though . . . this image I told him I was taking a picture of the raccoon on his new tshirt and that we were going to send it to his Grandparents. Hey...whatever works.

Day 38

Liam had his own little personal Super Bowl Light show after the game on the walk home from our neighbors'. Liam says, "I am lighting up the night!"

Day 36

Today I had a photoshoot with http://www.peaceablekingdom.com to create images for their revamped website. Very photogenic kids who are there to do what you ask. Wow . . . I could get used to that!

Day 35

The street we live on is nothing special, but our house is at the peak, and the sun sets right on it. This is the ugliest, most worn down fence on the block, surrounding the most worn down house on the block, who also happens to be our neighbor. But the sun setting on it made it photo worthy, if only for a moment. It's fun trying to make an image out of something I usually view with such detest :)

Day 34

This week, after dropping Liam off at school, I tried to do things I wanted to do rather than do things I needed to do. Blissful. Earlier this week, I spent an hour at Ross Dress for Less :) Dangerous. Today I took a little photo walk around the neighborhood. I love this kind of shooting . . . finding things in the urban landscape that make interesting, graphic, and abstract compositions. And usually, for wedding and portrait shooting, this kind of bright sunlight is detrimental, but when creating more abstract images, the dark, delineated shadows can really add to the graphic strength of the composition. Anyway, this is my ode to the upcoming season of March Madness. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE college basketball. I play basketball. I bleed basketball really. I just bought a Nike tshirt for myself that says, "Play Maker." I didn't take it off for 2 days. I was raised my 2 Hoosier parents and to me, this image screams Hoosier. I may just have to enlarge and frame :)

Day 33

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the "Happy" in "Happy Meal" is not a false advertiser. For $3.00, the underage crowd can get a cheeseburger, apple fries, a jug o milk, and a toy. What's not to love?! Now, I'm not particularly fond of fast food and I'm not particularly fond of Sponge Bob Square whatever whoever, but Liam eats very little meat so I'm cool with the occasional burger and as far as the toy goes, Liam thought it was a yellow robot so we avoided the whole Sponge Bob introduction altogether . . . and besides . . . this Sponge Bob Robot thing squirts water through the flower on his hat. So we enjoyed a Burger King picnic in our backyard on this 70 degree California "winter" afternoon. So many things to make me and little boy smile. Now I'm about to end this very wonderful day with a g&t in the new cocktail glasses I just bought . . . the grownup version of a "Happy Meal!" Cheers.

Day 32

Much to my dismay, spiders and ants love our house. Spider webs are pretty cool though, especially when the late afternoon sun is hitting them oh so.