Posts
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Colorful hat
Just edited a picture of Wes with this colorful hat. Bought the hat online and really like the way the picture turned out. Thinking of turning this into a canvas :)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
My 2-year old
Being two is tough... It is a time when everything is magnified emotionally. Kayleen can be the most pleasant toddler, singing, laughing, and expressing herself clearly in such a cute way. But wait until she doesn't get her way....oh the wail, whine, and tears! It can make even the most patient person (e.g. David) loses his cool. Below are some pics taken at our nearby park. I was scouting for locations for my next shoot and thought to bring her along. Why not, right? She'll be a cute little model. Well..everything was great until she spotted the lake water. Of course, she wanted to jump right in. I had to physically restrain her from doing so, and she had one of the biggest meltdowns. She just threw herself on the grass crying and wailing, and refused to be picked up. Soo...irritating and embarassing! After a while, I was finally able to pick her up and calm her down. Then as fast as it came, she was fine, smiling, and laughing, and became a cooperative little model (sigh....). Please tell me that a 3-year old don't throw tantrums like that? Or is that a hopeless expectation??
Thrush
Poor Wes! Looks like he's got thrush again :( This is an oral infection that is common among small babies. He got it before and was treated for a while before it disappeared. Looks like it's reappearing again. So sad when he has it because he keeps spitting up his milk big time. Milk is his only food right now so the poor little guy must be hungry everytime this happens. Not to mention the inconvenience to us as well....lots of laundries! Hope he gets over this soon!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Beach Fun
Since summer is almost over, I wanted to blog about our visit to the beach a month ago (July 17th). It was the first time we took Kayleen to the beach. I thought it was pathetic that we've never taken her to the beach given that we live in Southern California and how much she loves the water! So... we decided to go. The prep of going somewhere with 2 small kids (somewhat far, for a long period of time, and a "non-home" location) requires extensive prep. The prep started a few days before by buying the required "gear" for the beach. You know.. the usual big umbrella, beach mat, sand kit, swim suit, cute beach clothes for the kids, etc. Yes, sadly, we adults haven't been to the beach for a few years as well so we don't have all those goodies.
Then the night before, the "real" prep started. Diaper bags are examined to make sure that they contain all the necessary stuff. Is one change 0f clothes enough? How about if it gets wet? How about if the baby throws up/spits up? How many diapers should we bring for each kid to last us a few hours? How do we keep the milk for being spoiled (I guess we should bring a cooler). But how do we warm it up conveniently? What kind of snack should we bring and how much? To add to the madness, David decided (and I agreed) that we should have an egg salad for lunch. Yum, yum...but little did we know that Ralphs and other markets do not carry egg salad! We were so set on egg salad that I decided to MAKE it the night before. Yes...as if we had tons of free time to do this in addition to the prep!!
After a few more hours of prep in the morning, we finally got to the beach around 2P. It was a beautiful day, perfect for the beach, not too hot, not too cold. The beach was crowded even though it was a Thursday. We had to walk quite far from the parking lot. Thank goodness we brought the stroller! Because of all the stuff we brought, we had to make two trips from the parking lot to where we set up our stuff.
My oh my....Kayleen went crazy when she saw the water!! We thought she may get scared by the big ocean, but noooooo....she went right to it! It's actually scary for us. She literally had no fear of the water, even though the waves could easily swiped her off her feet. David had to constantly hold her, because if not, she would just go into the ocean! She also enjoyed playing with the sand. Wes, on the other hand, did not really enjoy the whole experience. Maybe when he gets older. Check out the last picture below....he was just about had it there hehe...! Afterwards, we bought some ice-cream at a gelatto store nearby. It was sooo...good! Reminded me of the yummy gelatto we had in Italy eons ago.
Did we enjoy the beach? Well, it was a 12-hour prep time for a 2-hour beach fun but it was all paid off when we saw how much Kayleen enjoyed her first beach experience. So, yes, but I wish we went to beach more often prior to having kids because I don't see having a "relaxing" time at the beach anytime soon!
Then the night before, the "real" prep started. Diaper bags are examined to make sure that they contain all the necessary stuff. Is one change 0f clothes enough? How about if it gets wet? How about if the baby throws up/spits up? How many diapers should we bring for each kid to last us a few hours? How do we keep the milk for being spoiled (I guess we should bring a cooler). But how do we warm it up conveniently? What kind of snack should we bring and how much? To add to the madness, David decided (and I agreed) that we should have an egg salad for lunch. Yum, yum...but little did we know that Ralphs and other markets do not carry egg salad! We were so set on egg salad that I decided to MAKE it the night before. Yes...as if we had tons of free time to do this in addition to the prep!!
After a few more hours of prep in the morning, we finally got to the beach around 2P. It was a beautiful day, perfect for the beach, not too hot, not too cold. The beach was crowded even though it was a Thursday. We had to walk quite far from the parking lot. Thank goodness we brought the stroller! Because of all the stuff we brought, we had to make two trips from the parking lot to where we set up our stuff.
My oh my....Kayleen went crazy when she saw the water!! We thought she may get scared by the big ocean, but noooooo....she went right to it! It's actually scary for us. She literally had no fear of the water, even though the waves could easily swiped her off her feet. David had to constantly hold her, because if not, she would just go into the ocean! She also enjoyed playing with the sand. Wes, on the other hand, did not really enjoy the whole experience. Maybe when he gets older. Check out the last picture below....he was just about had it there hehe...! Afterwards, we bought some ice-cream at a gelatto store nearby. It was sooo...good! Reminded me of the yummy gelatto we had in Italy eons ago.
Did we enjoy the beach? Well, it was a 12-hour prep time for a 2-hour beach fun but it was all paid off when we saw how much Kayleen enjoyed her first beach experience. So, yes, but I wish we went to beach more often prior to having kids because I don't see having a "relaxing" time at the beach anytime soon!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Cute Little Miss J
Beautiful Miss S
It was a great day at a fantastic location (her grandma's gorgeous backyard) with a great model and enthusiastic parents... If my session can always be this perfect! I had a great time photographing Miss S on July 27th. My only challenge was selecting the ones I wanted to edit since there were so many great ones!
The C Family
Here are a few pics from my session with the C family on July 24th. It was quite a tough session, with full sun and runaway kids :) Thankfully I managed to get a few good shots. Check out the beautiful ringlets on Miss T! And what a handsome boy you are Mr. L! Nice family....
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Nanny
My life with our previous nanny (Tante D) was great. She loves the kids, helped us manage the house, and basically did a great job. I was even able to do some photography business on the side. Oh the good old days (sigh)... She then decided to move to New York to be with her son. No big deal, right? Surely we can easily find a replacement. Wrong!!! For the past 3 weeks, we've gone through 3 nannies. Yup...you read that right, THREE nannies!
The first one decided that she couldn't do the job (after 1 whole day). She needed to have a private "break" room so she can recharge and renew herself every 15 minutes throughout the day. That and a 30-minute shower. Umm..we didn't think it would be a fit given the nature of the job, don't you think?! She also carried Wes like a sack of potatoes, with one hand and talking on her cell with the other.
Enter the second nanny... I actually wasn't too sure about her. But she came after a few outrageous interviews/attempts (e.g. a candidate demanding a 7-day paid holidays, a candidate going MIA after the interview, etc.). So we decided to give her a try. This one was truly a piece of work. First of all, she couldn't remember our kids' names after 4 days. Kayleen became "that little girl" and Wes became Kevin. The kids also did not like her. Wes constantly cried while held by her, and Kayleen yelled "Mommy, please help, Mommy" whenever she was around. She also has a catering business on the side so she constantly talks on the phone. Plus she only wants to do things her own way. Example of our conversation:
"Tante, you can use Soft Scrub to clean the bathroom".
"But I usually use 409".
"We don't have 409, just use Soft Scrub".
"Not 409?"
"No, Soft Scrub functions the same way".
"Why not 409? It works great".
"NO!! We don't have it, just use Soft Scrub!!". Ackkkk...!!!
She was extremely clean though. She cleaned out our house, our backyard (including picking up after Obi-Wan!), even our garage. Too bad this wasn't our main priority, so she got to go.
The third nanny looked promising in the interview but showed her true color once she worked. She was veerrrryy.....ssssllloowwww. She also was VERY quiet and basically didn't speak a word to Kayleen, which just didn't work well when you try to play with a 2-year old. Plus, unfortunately, she has B.O. This was a problem since she has to carry Wes throughout the day. So again, she got to go.
Anyways, we are still nanny-less as of today so the search continues.... Below are some pics of our dear nanny taken on her last day with us.
The first one decided that she couldn't do the job (after 1 whole day). She needed to have a private "break" room so she can recharge and renew herself every 15 minutes throughout the day. That and a 30-minute shower. Umm..we didn't think it would be a fit given the nature of the job, don't you think?! She also carried Wes like a sack of potatoes, with one hand and talking on her cell with the other.
Enter the second nanny... I actually wasn't too sure about her. But she came after a few outrageous interviews/attempts (e.g. a candidate demanding a 7-day paid holidays, a candidate going MIA after the interview, etc.). So we decided to give her a try. This one was truly a piece of work. First of all, she couldn't remember our kids' names after 4 days. Kayleen became "that little girl" and Wes became Kevin. The kids also did not like her. Wes constantly cried while held by her, and Kayleen yelled "Mommy, please help, Mommy" whenever she was around. She also has a catering business on the side so she constantly talks on the phone. Plus she only wants to do things her own way. Example of our conversation:
"Tante, you can use Soft Scrub to clean the bathroom".
"But I usually use 409".
"We don't have 409, just use Soft Scrub".
"Not 409?"
"No, Soft Scrub functions the same way".
"Why not 409? It works great".
"NO!! We don't have it, just use Soft Scrub!!". Ackkkk...!!!
She was extremely clean though. She cleaned out our house, our backyard (including picking up after Obi-Wan!), even our garage. Too bad this wasn't our main priority, so she got to go.
The third nanny looked promising in the interview but showed her true color once she worked. She was veerrrryy.....ssssllloowwww. She also was VERY quiet and basically didn't speak a word to Kayleen, which just didn't work well when you try to play with a 2-year old. Plus, unfortunately, she has B.O. This was a problem since she has to carry Wes throughout the day. So again, she got to go.
Anyways, we are still nanny-less as of today so the search continues.... Below are some pics of our dear nanny taken on her last day with us.
Hello World!
So I finally was convinced that I NEED to have a blog (thanks a lot Sandra!).... One more thing to hook me up to the computer and as if I have tons of free time (sigh...). We'll see if this blogging thing works out...
Since I'll also be using this blog to post pictures from my photo session, I want to have the images posted big. Let's see if the size is to my liking...
Since I'll also be using this blog to post pictures from my photo session, I want to have the images posted big. Let's see if the size is to my liking...
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