day 41 : the monitor

day 41 : Yesterday was Ben's birthday, but it wasn't very much fun. Paul is still sick and at his morning doctor's appointment she decided he needed a bunch of tests done so we spent the whole afternoon shuttling him to different lab/doctor places. When it was time to put them to bed Paul didn't want to sleep. When we finally did get them down I was sitting and staring at the monitor and realizing that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I like that I can leave the room and bring it and know that the babies are safe and I will be able to help them if they are hurt or scared. But I hate that we can't even have a birthday dinner without the constant wooshing sound of their white noise machine filtering through the speaker. We never really get to stop and sit back and enjoy the evening because the monitor is that constant nagging reminder in the background... the babies might wake up. I will be very happy when they are old enough that we don't need it anymore.

day 40 : stroller pushin' dad

day 40: Sunday was a pretty laid back day. We did our usual thing around the house and I got a bit of work done... in the afternoon we went on a long long walk with the babies in the BOB. Until Paul decided he was done with the walk and insisted (by crying) that he be carried the rest of the way home. We traded off but still ended up with sore arms and backs. That baby is getting big!

day 39 : happy early birthday!

day 39: Monday is Ben's birthday and we were invited to a potluck (unrelated to the birthday) today so I decided that as our contribution to the meal I'd bake a cake. It's been a VERY long time since I baked a cake and it was fun to revisit my old hobby. It was even more delicious than I remember although I'm glad it was... because it took me pretty much the entire day to make it :) The poorly piped lemon on top is to show that it was a lemon cake. Mmmm lemon buttercream :)

day 38 : babies love their veggies

day 38: These were too cute to pass up... even though I just posted a baby photo. The babies each decided to spend the afternoon chewing on stuffed baby toy vegetables. Yum.

day 37 : 6 months old

day 37: my two favorite babies turned 6 months old today. I may have a slight bias but I'm pretty sure they have the cutest faces I've ever seen. Happy half birthday peanuts!

day 36 : dryer scare

day 36: We've always had problems with our dryer. It is very very poorly vented (from where it connects to the house to the outside) and it's not our fault... it's an old house and it probably needs to be redone. We had our landlord try to get the vent cleared out a few weeks ago because our laundry was taking AGES to dry. Well it seemed to be better but this morning I threw in a load to the dryer and noticed a funny smell. I turned off the dryer and unplugged it and tried to air out the room. We had a repair guy come out today and there was BURNT LINT in the inside of the dryer. There was so much stuff stuck in there that it started burning. YIKES!! Talk about scary! So we paid him to clear it all out and he recommended that we talk to our landlord again so we can get it actually taken care of. Um... yes. Will do. Immediately. Good thing I noticed the funky smell... and thank goodness for same day dryer repair people. We wouldn't survive a single day without being able to do baby laundry :)

day 35 : chicken chuckin' mo

day 35: Today was sort of like most days. Lots of being in the house. A little more fussiness than usual thanks to what might be Paul being sick (he's running a temperature but with little else in the way of symptoms) and a few new tricks from the babies. Today's new trick from Amelia? Throwing toys. Check out baby-rific for the whole story

day 34 : hair zoo

day 34: Because I didn't take any photos earlier today and I think Ben and I were both a little loopy from lack of sleep (the babies are slightly sick and so not sleeping well) I present to you: Hair Zoo. The sun rises over bouncy seat zebra in the Ben hair savanna.

day 33 : sad to see it go...

day 33: I do so love the 24 1.4 and I am sad to have to return it tomorrow... but I only had it for the weekend. Sigh. Maybe soon I can buy one. If anyone is looking for a ridiculously expensive birthday present idea for me (that maybe you want to give me a few months early) I won't object... hehe... Today was sort of back to business as usual after Ben's big day (and night) of being super-dad and watching the babies on his own. I was too tired after the wedding yesterday to drive all the way back to LA so he spent the night with them solo and was even in great spirits when I came home this morning. What a pro! I am so glad that the peanuts have such an amazing daddy (and I have a pretty swell hubby myself!)

day 32 : wedding! wedding!

day 32: Yesterday was my first wedding of the season (woohoo!) and I was so excited to not only get to shoot a wedding (which I love) but to also get to shoot it with some ridiculously awesome lenses. Check out this shot with the 50 1.2. Pretty much the only thing in focus is ONE of her eyes, the depth of field is that shallow. I really shouldn't rent things I can't afford because now I want both of them :)

day 31 : fun time tomorrow!

day 31: Tomorrow is my first wedding of the season. True, I shot one a few weeks ago, but it was as a second so I don't really think it counts. Tomorrow is my first REAL wedding with one of MY clients. And to celebrate I rented 2 fab lenses, the 50 1.2L (which I took this shot with) and the one I'm even more excited about... the 24 1.4L. I am pretty sure it's going to be my new best friend. Too bad I don't own one :)

day 30 : h&r blech

day 30: Doing taxes stinks. Yesterday we did our taxes. And so by association yesterday stunk. Not only did we owe money (boo) but we also paid h&r block an arm, leg and two ears for having them help us. Very not cool. After getting home from the super depressing meeting with the tax guy we had no energy for cleaning up the messy kitchen. Lucky me however that Ben decided to be super dad and not wake me up this morning to feed the babies and he even cleaned the kitchen. He's the best ever.

day 29 : she's getting so big

day 29: Today my mom watched the babies for a bit while I was in the home office working on taxes (fun stuff). Paul was asleep but Amelia woke up so she was playing with her and I could hear them in the other room. It's incredible to me that they are getting so big and so much more interactive. They learn something new every day. Now when you hold things up for them they reach for them and grab them and look at them. I love watching my mom play with them... it makes me realize how amazing they are.

day 28 : afternoon stroll

day 28: Today I went for a long walk with the babies in the evening. I love looking up through the trees in our neighborhood and seeing how the late afternoon sun lights up the leaves and makes them glow. I wish I'd stop and notice things like that more often.

day 27 : dear new sample album...

day 27: dear new sample album; How do I love thee? Let me count the ways... I just got my new sample album from Forbeyon (the new company I'm using this year) and it's my new bff, I love it to death! Here's the sweet cover:



I can't wait to make these for clients, they're gonna die when they see how awesome they are!

day 26 : nick & emma

day 26: The wedding theme continues with Nick and Emma's engagement photos... I can't believe I'm about to do this (it's quite embarassing) but take a look at this post from a few years ago of the two lovebirds :) They were some of my very first couples portrait subjects and now that they're getting married how could I not say yes to being their wedding photographer?! I like the new portraits just a hair better than the old ones and can't wait for the wedding :)

day 25 : allison's getting married!

day 25: holy cow, I can't believe that in a few short months Allison's going to get married! How ridiculously exciting is that?! Today was her super fabulous bridal shower at Bonnie's house. I was glad to have an afternoon out of the house and Ben did an A+ job of watching the babies so that I could have a worry-free outing. Everything was beautifully decorated and super delicious and it couldn't have been any better! Here is the guest of honor and the super talented hostess :)

day 24 : a much needed walk

day 24: Today was not a great day. In fact it was a pretty terrible day. Paul started off the day by crying for the first 30 minutes of his morning nap. Then we went to lunch at Ben's office. That part went ok. On the way home Paul fell asleep and I decided that instead of driving around for his nap I'd take him into the house and put him in the crib. BAD IDEA. Not only did he not go back to sleep when I took him out, he screamed at me for an hour. So did Amelia. Then they fussed at me for another hour. It was not pretty. I decided to salvage what was left of the afternoon by taking a very long walk after they ate their 3 o'clock bottles. I walked from 4 until almost 6 o'clock and felt much better afterward. I took this on the way.

day 23 : red dress

day 23: Today's outing was to one of my very favorite (and very overpriced) stores to pick up a dress for my sister's wedding shower this weekend. Since having the babies I no longer fit into 90% of my old clothing, and especially don't fit into any dresses. I haven't thrown them out yet in the hopes that someday they *might* zip again but I'm starting to doubt it. Anyhow here's my cute new red dress.

day 22 : more pauly goodness

day 22: I know there have been a lot of Paul-tures on here lately, and this isn't called the Paul-o-rific blog, and it's not a Paul a day blog either... but I just couldn't resist this one. He was having a visit from his great grandma and look how cute he is!! SO CUTE!

day 21 : movie time with herbs

day 21: sorry for another late night in the house blog post. I meant to bring my camera when the babies and I headed to the beach this afternoon but I forgot. We didn't see much anyways, it was windy and they were tired. After dinner Ben and I watched a movie. We've taken to watching them in a pile of blankets on the floor in the library since it's further from the nursery and we don't want to wake them with the sound of the TV. Herbie likes to get in the pile. I think he likes it because he's not allowed in our bed and this makes him feel like he's part of the family :)

day 20 : lots of errands

day 20: sorry this post wasn't put up last night. I was very very tired. We switched up the babies' schedule (which made for a long day in itself) and then I wanted to run some errands after dinner and ran into the longest EVER grocery store line. I also picked up a jumperoo for the babies. Yes. A jumperoo. They jump in it I guess :) Isn't this photo from the instruction manual a little creepy? That's not my hand camera shake, that's in the picture. I guess it's supposed to show jumping?

day 20 : squeezable

day 20: how do I love the peanuts? Let me count the ways... they are so darn cute I just can't stand it. I love their little outfits and little shoes... I just want to eat them up!

day 19 : first wedding back!

day 19: Yesterday I photographed my first wedding of '09 and first wedding since having the babies. I was so excited to finally be back in business... I really missed getting out and shooting. More photos on my wedding blog.

day 18 : relax

day 18: Well today was pretty much anything BUT relaxing. It was kind of a hectic morning. I decided to stay in between 10 and 1 to let the babies catch an extra nap before we went out at 2. They had other ideas and didn't enjoy me trying to put them down at a non-standard nap time. Amelia had her first physical therapy appointment today and she did not enjoy that either. Ben and I recovered by going to a CPK with the babies on the way home :) First wedding of the year is tomorrow... can't wait!

day 17 : at the zoo

day 17: Today the baby twin playgroup invaded the LA zoo... Paul was quite excited about it as you can see :)

day 16 : good fortune

day 16: Ben and I went to dinner tonight (thanks mom for babysitting!) and imagine my delight upon opening this fortune:



Are you reading this Paul? Amelia? This means you :)

day 15 : visitors!

day 15: Today Allison came to LA to claim her long loaned bed that we'd been keeping here at our place for the last few years. At first it had a home (the guest room) but was seldom used. Then it moved up in the world as not the guest bed but the "grandma bed" when my mom moved in with us for a few months after the babies were born. Most recently it lost its spot in the house when the babies graduated from our room to their nursery. It lived in the "library" between our living room and kitchen for a while for grandma's occasional overnight visits but was mostly just in the way. Now it is gone. I kind of miss it. At least I got some company for the day.. Allison and her friend Kelly. Shocked to find out (while looking at the last year's book) that photo-rific is alive and well again :)

day 14 : prune-y mess

day 14: The babies ate prunes today... 'nuff said :)

day 13 : another (better) haircut

day 13: The fam (Ben + me + peanuts) had our first official family photo shoot today. There was no way I was going to have it done with my super horrible haircut so I made time on Saturday to go to get a quick fix from a better place. I LOVE the new haircut, so much better than the last one! Here's a quick picture... forgive the expression, I always look awkward in self portraits.