10 Months Old!

Sophie turned 10 months old a few days ago. It is tripping me out that she is 2 months away from turning 1. It really is crazy how quickly it all goes by. She is our crazy little mobile baby, and we're loving it. She's exploring things and touching things and looking at things and eating things. Seriously too much fun! She finally got her first tooth about 2 weeks ago after what felt like a good few months of teething. The weirdest thing was that after all the teething, the day it popped through was no big deal at all! I would have almost missed it if I hadn't seen the little sucker just above the gums.

We went outside to take just a few little pix of the big girl. She was way too distracted (my dad's dog, Scooter, was there and she was just watching him the whole time) and she didn't give us any smiley ones, but here's some cutesy pix of her, none-the-less:

Three Kids

Here are three pix of kiddos from a shoot I did a few months ago. It was an extended family shoot, so I had John come and help me. I had been warned that one of the kids was going to be difficult to shoot, as he did not like having his picture taken. AT ALL! The shoot in general was a challenge, as our time and location was limited, due to the constraints of most of the family that were traveling into Redding.

They were really the sweetest family to shoot, however, and we had a lot of fun, as the kids ran around their back garden, and John and I worked to get some good photos. John was a huge help and was able to warm one of the little boys towards all the picture-taking. He snapped these three shots at the end - definitely the best shots of the session, I think!

Speaking of photo shoots, I'm taking a bit of a break from it all for now. Moving into a new house, with a very active (almost ten month old) baby, is just making my life mega busy. Hence, the name change on the blog, as well as other things. Photography had begun to stress me out, and I was losing my joy and passion for it, and instead was waking up in the middle of the night with semi-panic attacks concerning future and past shoots and edits and techniques, etc. I'm still hoping to grow and learn more about the artistic side of it all, but will let it become something I enjoy again and hopefully actually grow more creatively in the midst of it. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut and need a bit of a break really.

Anyway, here are the wonderful pix from my wonderfully creative husband (the second and last pic are of the one boy who adamantly refused to look at the camera for the first 15 mins of the shoot, and just look at what John was able to capture towards the end! He is so good with kids):

Summer Days

Yes, summer is officially here. With temps hitting the 100s (yes, I live in Redding, CA), there's no denying it. Jeans are out, shorts, dresses, tanks, bathing suits are in. I have to say though that 101F (a whopping 38C for those Europeans out there) feels a heck of a lot better when you're not pregnant! I'm truly amazed at the difference. Though yes, 101F is still pretty stinking hot! (Our high so far this summer is 106F (41C).)

So what do you do if you grew up in England and never really dealt with summer weather that was above say 77F (25C)?

Well, the trick is, to be outside either early on in the day (though it can be 85F by 9am). If you do venture out later on, stay in the shade or by some cold water (pool/paddling pool/sprinkler, etc.). Start the car 5 minutes before you leave anywhere and let the AC blast. In the evenings, just before going to bed, open all the windows and let the fans go crazy. This will help cool the house somewhat, but only if the day has been less than 103F. It will still sometimes stay above 80F at night and that is just not a comfortable sleeping temperature (at least, for me, it isn't!). Drive out of town in any direction, you'll go up in altitude and the temperature will drop anywhere from 10-30 degrees.

These are a few tricks I've learnt from living in Redding. And this is only my second summer here. It's amazing how nice 90F can feel after a week of above 100F!

Despite the heat, we're looking forward to lots of pool-time at my dad's, camping in the beautiful landscapes of Nor-Cal, family camping vacation in Oregon, other family vacation in Florida, working on our garden and seeing it become beautiful. Loving and looking forward to summer with my husband and my baby.

Some pix of us enjoying the summer weather:

Paddling pool!!


Hanging out outside one morning:

By Trinity River up in the mountains for a friends' kid's 1st Birthday party:


This pool will be used a lot this summer:


And just because it's so cute... Sophie standing up: