Malibu Nights

Last night was one of those chill family nights you know you'll remember for a long time.

After mom got off work at 5 she picked us up and we rushed to Zuma Beach in Malibu for a photo shoot. It was perfect conditions, not too cold, golden hour, and the family of 4 I was photographing was dressed to a T. The shoot went great and ended just after the sun went below the ocean and as we all were getting a little chilly.

We hopped in the swagger wagon and drove down the PCH to the World Famous Malibu Inn. After warming up and filling our bellies we heard live music coming from the next room. Z and I headed over to check it out and we found 3 old "vets" jammin' out to an almost empty room. Zoe's face instantly lit up, she pointed to the guitar and said "Dada? Guitar?" I told her she was correct and that this guitar player was a helluva lot better than daddy. She smiled, asked to get down; "Down Dada" and she started dancing.

The girl danced for like 30 minutes straight! We let her stay up past her bedtime to do so! And I think it made the musicians' night, since there was no one there. :) It was a beautiful moment.

Cheers!
-marc

The Bottle Master

I like to call myself "The Bottle Master". One thing no one ever tells you about becoming a parent (there are a lot of things people neglect to tell you) is that your life will revolve around the bottle. No, not whiskey or alcohol although sometimes you want that too, we're talking baby bottles.

Depending on your breastfeeding schedule you will come into multiple bottles at some point your child's life. Whether it's storing breast milk for later or you're now on forumla, we've accumilated more bottles than a recycling center. Big bottles, small bottles, plastic, glass, fancy and cheap we've seen 'em all. And ... get this ... they have to be clean! I know, who knew?!

So every day it's a few minutes of standing at the sink w/ hot water, soap, big and little brushes and gettin' these little boogers cleaned and ready to go for another round! Even Zoe has sippy cups that have to be cleaned... it's a lot of work! And did I mention we don't have a dish washer?

Here's to anyone who's ever cleaned a bottle! Kudos to you. I've been doing it for almost 2 years now and see no end in sight! But that's ok, it's just one of the many ways I get to show my girls I love 'em ... being the Bottle Master. :)

Cheers,

-marc

Working Remotely

A site to get some funny looks, iMac, Coffee, Baby Bottle...

Today I have the rare opportunity to take I and myself to a coffee shop to "work". While we tried working, we really did, but it's kind of hard to work one handed while feeding with the other. But now I is asleep in her car seat and I have a chance to get something done.

Oh wait. The internet sucks. It may be the literally 9 other iMacs in the shop sucking the weak internet signal dry but forget trying to FTP something or handle heavy web work. That'll hafta wait for Z's nap time later. 

But I can blog!

 

I'm excited to see how the new Blogger photo browser will look with these photos I took of the girls yesterday while mom was shopping! Thank heavens for a grassy area outside the store . . . we didn't have to go in and shop!

It looks like Blogger is trying to incorporate Google + more by implementing this photo browsing technology. Very exciting! I see Tom Anderson, the former CEO of Myspace using Google + as a blog, but like I said a few weeks ago I'm still waiting to see how they combine the two programs.

I've got 16 more precious minutes of this deja-vu type experience. It's funny, the woman who is watching Z at the moment also has a two year old. She's one of the more active members in the mommy group we joined. Close to 2 years ago I was in a coffee shop very similar to this when she and her 2 girls walked in. We'll call them M, S, & T. M, (the mom) approached me and mentioned how calm Z was being in her car seat. I was tapping away at the same laptop I am now and we made small talk. She left, came back a few minutes later and said "You should join our mommy group!" I laughed and said "But, I'm not a mom!" "No matter", M said, and a few days later I was striding our stroller around the park with a bunch of mom's with kids close to Z's age. More on the mommy group later...

Now Z is at M's house playing w/ T (the 2 year old) and I and I are chillin' at a coffee shop. Good times!

The view from Z's window this morning

One last random picture that means a lot to me. When we moved into our home a few months ago one of my favorite things were the flowers and plant life around the yard. In the mornings the sunlight comes into Z's room and hits the flowers just right. I'm so excited to be able to provide a beautiful view for our children on a daily basis. The photo doesn't do it justice, but it's cool anyway.

Alright! Time to pick up Z and really get some work done.

Cheers,
-marc

Life Lessons and Tiredness

Ballons provide excellent opportunities to teach life lessons to children. What?! Life lessons? Keep reading if you dare...

This has happened twice now, to Miss Z. She has had some ballons and neglected to hold on to them regardless of mom and dad telling her she won't have them any more if she lets go. I don't know if she gets it or not, but the tears don't last too long and I always say "if you want something, you gotta hold on to it!" Wow... cheesey and totally "parent" but hey, that's me!

I snapped this shot last weekend at one of the birthday parties we were at as Z's ballons slowly floated into the sky.

Since then Stacey and I have been more tired than I can ever remember. With her going back to work (she just completed her first full week this week) and the transition and adjustment of handling the kids there just aren't enough hours in the day to sleep! I grabbed one nap this week, but only for an hour and Stacey got to sleep in today! (Tomorrow is my day to sleep in, but I have a shoot at 10:30 so we'll see how that goes) MAN we are tired. Tired tired tired. Having two kids, two full time jobs, and somewhat of a social life really takes it out of ya!

But never too tired to blog. Love y'all.

Have a good one.
-marc

Goin' out with Mama!

Every once in a while, when the stars align, Stacey and I get to go out WITH OUT the kids! It's pretty exciting, and Thursday night was no exception. With empty car seats in the back, Z & I with one of our trusty dusty babysitters we headed down to Silverlake to the old Spaceland (now Satellite) to celebrate my best friend, Michael Brown's Birthday!

We saw this awesome band, The Album Leaf, who blew my mind. I don't know if you know this, but I have a little music blood in me. Before I started kindergarden I took piano lessons. I hated it then, little did I know I would later regret begging my mom to let me stop taking them. Now I have an acoustic guitar that I like to play whenever I get a chance. I don't remember the last time I saw a band live, so knowing how hard it is to play the guitar and sing, and what talent it takes to produce good music, I was entranced.

It's always nice to get out w/ the moms too. Even if it's not a romantic date with just the two of us, we love seeing our friends outside of the parent world! Granted we might be those proud parents who only talk about our children and show off pictures ... but what can ya do? We got to see a lot of our friends, some we hadn't seen in a long time. We cherish those moments with our pals.

These are just a few pictures I snapped with the Hipstamatic App on my iPhone. Love that camera! And one last one for the books - me and my beautiful wife! 

Aiiiight, have a good one! :)

The Girls And I Take A Walk! (And Zoe gets Shots!)

I know you all love seeing my face ramble about nothing at all. Let's be honest, the only reason you're here is to see how freakin' cute my children are. I understand that, and am totally cool with it. ;) So put the video on mute, fast forward (is that a term any more?) to the girls and enjoy!

Here's a link to that "controversial" video I was talking about. Here's the video! ;) LOOK AT THAT BEARD! FREAKIN' AWESOME!!


What do you think? Was I wrong/weird/in the clear for posting a video of my child getting shots? Speaking of which, you think she's loud in that video - good thing I didn't video yesterdays ... HOLY CRAP she has good lungs. She kinda knew what was going on too when we walked into the Dr's office... but she was cool. She's a trooper.

The girls are healthy and above average on their growth charts. We are very blessed to all be in good health. Eating right and exercising helps a lot!

Cheers!

-marc

Working from Home

Working from home with 2 babes is not the easiest task in the world. As a photographer / web designer I am lucky enough to be able to work from home and watch my children. The trick? Cordinating nap time!

Putting a 2 year old down for a nap is fairly easy at this point. She knows after lunch it's nap time. I, our 3 month old (TODAY 9/13) is another story. She eats, naps, and wants attention when she wants. We've got her on a great eating schedule (4 ounces every 2 hours) but her nap time comes whenever she decides. Every once in a while I get them to nap at the same time and I get a few hours, hopefully, to work.

Running our photography biz means answering phones and e-mails during the day, editing and uploading photos at night, and cranking out websites whenever I get a chance. Having 2 children does not hinder my ability to run a business, I just have to be very organized with my time. Hard, but not impossible.

One thing I really strive to better every day is giving the girls what they want and need. Sometimes it's important to get off the computer, not answer the phone, and really focus on the girls. Z knows what is going on in her world, and daddy's attention is the best gift I could ever give her. I love them, and want them to know they are loved every day, more than photography and more than web work. But they also have to know that if they want diapers and formula, and fun toys mom can't do it all on her own, daddy's gotta work a little bit too.

Now mix in laundry, keeping the house clean, making lunches, feeding I, and washing dishes and you've got one busy daddy!

Weekends are family time though. Unless a shoot comes in, (which is fun! not work) my weekends are focused on the family. Random mini vacations, park dates and lots of play time take up Saturdays and Sundays as we try to spend as much time with mom and not worry about work.

Now ... when do I blog??? :)

Cheers,

-marc