My friend Nikki is a photographer in Scotland, and the last time we’d gotten to see each other was back in 2008 when we both happened to be at a photography convention at the same time! I found out that she would be visiting Miami so we decided to make plans. She had her son Jack with her (he’s 8) and Zachary was off  school for spring break, so we thought lunch with the kids would be a fun idea. We went to one of my favorite pizza places, California Pizza Kitchen, in Ft. Lauderdale, and the kids enjoyed getting to know each other, playing with Zachary’s iPhone, and eating some yummy pizza. It was great to catch up with Nikki in person, too!

I really enjoyed watching the boys together. Even though they are a few years apart, they became instant friends. I was impressed by how great Jack interacted with a little boy half his age, and Zachary just loved hanging out with a big kid! Their age difference is just a little more than what my boys will be after baby #2 is born, so it gave me a bit of a glimpse a few years into the future, when Zachary has a little brother to play with. So exciting!

Here’s a photo I snapped with my point & shoot camera before we parted ways that day (yes, the boys are wearing long sleeves… the pic was taken over a month ago and we were in the middle of a cold front!). How cute are they??

After Nicolas was born, I attended a posing workshop held by another photographer friend, Lindsay Brynn. I really wanted to see Laurel and the baby, but it was a lot of fun to see how Lindsay does things with her set-up, since I shoot in a more photojournalistic style when I take pictures of newborns, rather than the more posed style that Lindsay is known for. While I still love shooting in my own style, it’s definitely a lot of fun to learn new techniques!

I was looking at these images this week and thinking about our own little boy on the way! I’m be 31 weeks pregnant this week, so there are exactly 2 months left until I’m due. We are busy getting everything prepared for the baby and getting more excited as the days pass by — especially Zachary — he is sooooo looking forward to being a big brother! And I know he will be a great one.

There’s still so much left to complete on my to-do list, but we are getting there… and I can’t wait until I, too, will have a squishy and adorable new baby to hold!

Last month Zachary was on Spring Break from school, so we spent a week, just the two of us, spending time together. We also met up with Aunt Amy for lunch, which Zachary was very thrilled about, and actually remembered to take a picture:

That week, Adrian started working in the new Táve office in Ft. Lauderdale, and I took Zachary to see the office, and we also got lunch together. Táve Studio Manager is the product that Adrian and his business partner Jason created a few years ago to help photographers manage their businesses better. It is a valuable part of my daily life and helps me run my business and keep track of my clients and photo shoots. Adrian used to work at home in the same room as me, but as you can imagine, that isn’t the easiest thing to do, so he and Jason got their own office last month. We are all so much more productive now!

I love this picture of Adrian and Zachary at the office. Zachary was so used to having his daddy home all the time, so he was truly excited to find out where Adrian was going each day. Now when I tell him that daddy is at work, he knows what work is!

We’ve also been dedicating a day each weekend to spending time together as a family. Last weekend we filled up the baby pool and all three of us had a good time splashing around. Zachary adores being in the water as well as running around outdoors in the backyard (and saying hi to the doggies a few houses down as you can see). I think this is going to be a very fun-filled summer and I’m sure we’ll be going to the pool frequently as well as using the baby pool!

I swear it’s been so hot out lately that it feels like summer has already arrived here in South Florida. Just as a reminder to all of my Florida friends (and those of you who also live in hot, sunny places), don’t forget to use sunscreen when you and your little ones go outside. I really like the spray on sunscreens (Target has a good one with the Up & Up brand), but I usually use a high-SPF lotion on Zachary’s face, back, and shoulders when we are playing in the pool. You can never be too careful!

We have a lot of fun things to look forward to this spring. Next week we are celebrating the Passover dinner (aka- the Seder) which will be at my parents’ house. A few weeks later we will be celebrating Adrian’s 32nd birthday, and also in May I’m shooting my first destination wedding of 2011 in The Keys. So excited about getting away for a few days, possibly relaxing and reading a book, and capturing some awesome images.

Before it gets too hot in the next month and a half, I’m also hoping to check out a few more South Florida Farmers Markets with Zachary. I love going to those since they always have so many interesting things to see and taste.

What are your plans for this spring? What are you looking forward to the most?

For those of you who don’t know what Grad Nite is, Disney closes the park on select evenings every spring to allow high school students from all over the Southeast into the park on a special field trip that lasts all night long. The kids get to dance in the clubs on Paradise Island, eat, ride on all the rides, listen to concerts from select musical guests (the year I went, it was Destiny’s Child, Jessica Simpson, Youngstown & BB Mak!) and basically have a blast. It was at Grad Nite that I rode my first roller coaster ever (Space Mountain)! I definitely understand Disney’s reasoning for not wanting to close the park down any longer, as they’re losing out on ticket sales in a prime tourist season, but it’s a tradition that high school students all over Florida and the surrounding states will surely miss!

The week that we had Grad Nite, my friends Shelley and Jeremy and I were also in Orlando for the State Spanish Competitions. We arrived separately from our classmates with our teacher, since we had permission to leave the competitions to attend Grad Nite, and our teacher took this picture of us before everyone else arrived. I’m glad I have the image to commemorate the beginning of our Grad Nite experience!

I will always remember the wonderful time I had at Grad Nite!

Kim was in town to attend a friend’s wedding in South Beach, so I picked her up at her hotel, and we headed off to find lunch at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami. We had decided to check out the food trucks, but weren’t exactly sure where they parked, so we parked my car and took a walk ALL over Bayfront Park.

I actually had never been to the park during the daytime, and even then, I hadn’t been in maybe 4 or 5 years. It was a really relaxing place to walk around, take pictures, and chill out. Walking around Bayfront on such a beautiful day made me realize exactly why people decide to move to Miami. The serenity of looking out on the water, the cool ocean breeze, and the tropical setting all takes you away from everyday life and stress. It’s like an oasis right in the heart of Midtown Miami. So cool.

Finally, we found the food trucks. The two trucks at Bayfront that day were Sakaya Kitchen’s Dim Ssäm à gogo and the cleverly named Montaco truck visiting from Montauk, NY (get it? Montauk-o? ha ha!). Kim is vegetarian so she opted for one of the yummy veggie items on the Montaco menu, while I got the short rib spicy tater tots and kimchee eggrolls from Sakaya. No, I couldn’t finish it. It was way too much food. But, it was insanely delicious and I’m already thinking of the next time I can have the egg rolls again. They were just spicy enough and the ginger sauce was fabulous!

I’m so glad I could give Kim a little tour of Miami on her first real time visiting the city as well as share this fun experience with her. We sat, ate, and talked in this totally empty “seating area” right near where the trucks parked. I’m surprised no one else was eating there because it was such a great place to sit and chat, though it was kind of sunny out. Finally we were done eating and a little sleepy from the sun, we headed back to the car. I dropped Kim back off at her hotel so she could prepare for her friend’s wedding festivities, and before I knew it, it was time to get ready and head over to the P&G event that night.

Meeting old friends that I’ve known online is such a treat. It’s like seeing a friend who you haven’t seen in a long time, except it’s the first time you’ve met. Such an interesting feeling, but always a lot of fun.

On Sunday I attended a beautiful “Mother Blessing” or “Blessingway” baby shower for one of my clients, Daisy, whose maternity portraits I captured last month. I had never heard of a Blessingway before until I received my invitation and was so excited and curious as to what it would behold! I had such a great time. There were so many beautiful aspects of the ceremony/ritual, I thought I would highlight some of the things I really liked.

• The Blessingway began with the leader lighting a smudge stick & passing it around the room. As each woman received it, they introduced themselves to the group.
• The leader described the history of a Blessingway very briefly (that it is a special ceremony inspired by the Navajo to mark transformations in a woman’s life).
• We were asked to close our eyes and listen to a meditation read by the leader. The meditation talked about a woman’s power to create life. I wish I could remember everything it said but it was beautiful!
• We sang a really beautiful Native American song, The River is Flowing, while the leader (Daisy’s midwife) honored the mom-to-be by washing her feet in water fragranced with special oils and rose petals. Daisy’s mom also put a garland of flowers in her hair.
• Everyone was asked to bring a special bead for the mom-to-be’s labor necklace which would be made as a focal point to concentrate on during labor. We presented our bead along with a word to describe it and our wish for Daisy as a new mom. My word was “serenity.”
• Each woman was given a blank card to write on and a pen, and were asked to think of special traits about themselves that they love the most and would like to pass along to the new baby. I chose passion, creativity, lightheartedness, and kindness.
• The mom-to-be is asked to write down three things (worries, fears, etc) that she wanted to release from herself before giving birth. This paper was burned to symbolize the release. We all went around the room and read our words, and some people read poems or quotes too that they wanted to share. I read a line from the Dar Williams song that I shared the other day on the blog, “The One Who Knows,” since it has significant meaning for me as a mom.
• There was also a “rain ceremony” with a rain stick, and we read affirmations to encourage Daisy and support her that she would have a perfect birth, quick healing, etc etc.
• We used hemp cord to join our wrists and make a bracelet to bind our energies and wish for a healthy birth for the baby. The bracelet is cut when the birth is announced.
• There was a candle lighting ceremony where each woman lit a candle and placed them all on the table/altar to burn.
• After the ceremony was over, everyone enjoyed lunch and cupcakes from Misha’s! While having lunch, we decorated special posters that Daisy plans to put up around her home with affirmations to encourage her during the laboring process.

Check out the embedded YouTube below to listen to the song, The River is Flowing, which we sang during the ceremony.

I really loved all of the symbolism from the Mother Blessing/Blessingway. It was such a great day for everyone who came. I think it would be fun to incorporate some of these traditions into a new tradition for myself when I have my next baby.

Here are a few photos from the day:

Daisy during the ceremony | Me and Daisy after the ceremony

All of the participants' candles lit on the altar

Images photographed with the Canon PowerShot G11.

On Saturday, I had a big photoshoot in Miami, where I shot down on the beach in Key Biscayne by the Ritz Carlton, and then moved on to the Design District of Miami. It was my first time shooting down there and I had a great time. My fifteen year old client was very fashionable and took direction really well, so the shoot went great and I’m very happy with the results. I’d like to get down to the Design District again one day just to shoot textures and fun stuff, as I really didn’t have any time to do any shooting on my own while I was there. I managed to grab this one shot though – I can never resist photographing pretty flowers – especially when they’re hot pink!

On Sunday, I took Zachary to the Flamingo Road Nursery and spent nearly two hours there with him picking out some new plants and pots for our garden. He was such a good boy! He sat in the push-cart most of the time with all of the plants and I kept him quiet with cookies. :) We bought a bunch of new herbs, veggies, and fruit — the roundup is: strawberries, summer squash, fennel, parsley, cilantro, lemongrass, jalapeño peppers, and pinot noir peppers. I also got a small succulent rock garden for the patio corner… I just love the way those look.

Zachary absolutely loved going to the plant nursery and I foresee another trip there in the future, at least just to walk around and explore, even if we don’t particularly need to buy anything. It’s a great place for a kid to see all of the beautiful plants, flowers, and trees, and learn more about them. Here’s a picture of Zachary I took with my point and shoot in the Herb Center:

When we got home, I planted all of our new additions with Zachary in the backyard, which was a bit interesting since he wanted to “help” so I had to work pretty fast to get the plants in before Zachary decided to do it himself – LOL. Some of the strawberries on our strawberry plant were already ripe, so Adrian, Zachary, and I each had one and it was amazing! Our neighbor Courtney stopped by with her daughter Brianna to see the garden, which was nice, since Brianna is 18 months old and the kids were able to play a bit.

By the time we finished playing outside, I was totally exhausted and so was Zachary, so when we went back inside, he fell asleep for a little bit, and I made some tea to wake myself up and caught up a bit more on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I’m now about 2/3 of the way through with and it’s really starting to get interesting.

Overall it was a great weekend. I’m really, REALLY excited about all of my new plants, I’m thrilled about the photos I took on Saturday, and I’m also happy to have made a new friend out of my neighbor, who I will hopefully see again soon for another playdate.

Plus…. we have our own family pictures next month – well, actually it’s like two weeks. I am insanely excited about it, since one of my favorite local photographers is going to be doing them! More info on that after I actually have them done, because as of now, I have a whopping zero planned for that little adventure – no clue what to wear, what to do, where to go…. At least I have the date reserved! That’s a start…. right? :) Locals, if you’re reading and you have any thoughts of where might be fun for my little family to go take family photos with my nearly two year old boy… please do not hesitate to comment or just shoot me an email or twitter message! :)

Needless to say this is such a busy time of year. One of my goals with Photo Fun Month (aka #photofunmonth) is going to be posting a picture every single day in November, even if it’s just an iPhone shot. As a photographer, sometimes I forget to document my own life when I’m busy working hard for my clients, and while I LOVE my job and have a blast making beautiful artistic images for them — it’s not fair to Zachary to forget to take shots of our day to day happenings just like any other mom would be doing. More on that in a couple days though, as I will be posting something about the fun giveaways and the daily photo challenge on November 1st!

For now, here is some wedding art for you, and I’m sharing it here first! My friends Nicole & Scott who we’ve been friends with and have photographed many times since Adrian and I originally started shooting way back in 2005 got married last weekend and here is one of my favorite portraits so far from their wedding:

Thursday

We went to visit my grandma, which Zachary always loves. LOVES. I can’t put into words how much he adores visiting my grandma, his “GG” – and wish I had a video to show you of the way his face lit up as he took off running towards her the moment he saw her when her front door opened. He ran full force towards her, giving her a huge hug!! That’s not a gift he gives to many, so it’s quite obvious to me how much he loves being around his GG.

Friday

I liked Friday because I got a rare bit of me-time, and Zachary had a blast at the gym with Adrian. He’s been going to the Kid’s Club with Adrian at the gym and absolutely loves it! At first, he didn’t like it, but after two days, was running around laughing and having a great time with all the other kids. He’s such an adaptable little guy. I dropped my two boys off for some exercise and headed over to the library to pick up some books for myself – including Eat, Pray, Love. I’ve heard so much about it and know from others that it’s a book that makes you very introspective about your own life, so I wonder how I’ll feel after reading it. I have  one or two books to finish up before I start it, but I’m sincerely looking forward to reading it, and then seeing the new movie with Julia Roberts.

My BFF Amy also came over on Friday night. She picked up some yummy Chicken Kitchen for dinner (my new favorite “fast food” place). We spent time playing with Zachary and he had fun showing her all of his favorite books and reading them together.

Saturday

Ah, Saturday was awesome. A perfect summer day – we attended my friend Carol’s daughter Olivia’s 3rd birthday party at our city’s aquatic center. It’s an AMAZING aquatic center – they have a splashground (playground with water, sprinklers, the works!) and a heated baby pool, plus a lap pool for the grown-ups. Zachary and I spent a couple hours there for the party and had an absolute blast! We loved it so much we are actually going to go back again this week with Adrian. Zachary didn’t want to leave because he was having so much fun!

After the party, Zachary got to spend some quality time with his grandma & grandpa (who bought him some cool new Sperry Topsiders boat shoes at Stride Rite) while Adrian and I drove up to Palm Beach to visit our good friends, Jason and Lu, and their newborn baby, Lana! Their little one was SO adorable…. I got to hold her and rock her for quite a while and it was so nice to hold a cuddly little newborn baby that wasn’t trying to run away or grab my cell phone. LOL. Though I’m sure she’ll learn all in good time! Holding Lana made me excited to have another baby someday, but for now I’m happy to enjoy the rest of my little guy’s babyhood while I can. I took some photos of Lana while I was visiting with their family and here is one of my favorites:

Sunday

It was a pretty lazy day. I had a craving for bagels so in the morning I ran over to the bagel place and picked up some of my favorite bagels and cream cheese – jalapeño flavor! Turns out Zachary takes after his mom and likes that flavor too. It was fun sharing a bagel with him for breakfast. We relaxed for a bit and then towards the end of the day, I took Zachary up to the mall and walked around for a bit. I got a Starbucks and he drank his milk while I had my Chai.

That night, we gave Zachary a gift — my old iPhone! No, he can’t make calls or anything. It’s on Airplane mode. But we’ve installed some baby games and flash cards, and I’m using it as an educational toy to teach him words, animal sounds, and shapes. He absolutely LOVES his new toy and has been loving playing with the apps I downloaded for him. I’m looking for more free iPhone apps for babies/kids so if you have any suggestions, please let me know. I’ll be writing a blog post soon about my favorites – for iPhone as well as iPad.

Monday

Although it was a workday, Monday was a slow summer day and Zachary and I spent lots of time together since preschool doesn’t start for one more week. We played a lot, colored a lot (even colored on the floor for the first time – oops! After I scolded him, Zachary tried to wipe it off with his hand – cute, but a baby wipe did the trick). We also read books together, had snacks, and Zachary and I had some great “conversations.”

I’m so very excited that his vocabulary is expanding. The other day, he tried to say his own name for the first time! Hearing him  try to pronounce “Zachary” was too cute! While looking through one of his Bright Baby 100 First Words books, he said “picture” for the first time.  He is now saying “that?” and pointing when he wants me to explain to him what something is in a book. I think that shows a lot of thought going on in his little head. He’s not even 2 years old yet and already knows so much and can do so many things. He’s also getting pretty good at coloring and loves sitting at his picnic table and coloring with his mama. :)

Every day is a whole new adventure with our little Zachary. :)

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