It's a.......

Girl!

It's a girl, it's a girl, it's a girl, girl, girl.

We are so thrilled.  When I found out that Eleanor was a girl I was very excited, but to hear that we will be the parents of two daughters...well, it just put me over the moon.  My head is filled with visions of two precious girls running through sun-drenched fields.  Sundresses, flowing locks, the whole nine yards.

Joe and I can't wait to meet Ellie's little sister and to watch them grow together.  What better gift could I give my daughter than a sister to be her friend forever?  We have also pondered how exciting it will be when they are old enough to steal each other's clothes and boyfriends, the fights that will ensue, and what a drain on the pocketbook it will be if they get married close together.  Yeah, we've looked that far into the future.  Can you tell we're excited?

Originally I was going to post a picture of my belly with a bow glued to it (clever, I know) - but on second thought decided not to put my protruding hairy belly button on the internet for all to see.  The flower's classy, right?

A couple weeks ago I rocked this Motherhood thing

Yes, it's true.  There are many days that Ellie and I watch more than our fair share of Hoarders and Blue's Clues (a show for mommy, then a show for baby, rinse and repeat). 

I don't blog about those days because 1) I've got a reputation to maintain and 2) you all have these days too; you don't need to read about them here.  But a couple weeks ago I had a where I was just so proud of my mothering efforts.  We did something fun!  I forced myself to relax and relinquish control.  I overcame my obsessive need for a clean house and opted instead for a morning of memory making.

We made a playhouse!  We painted a box.  We invited some friends over and had a grand time. 
Seriously, nothing makes me feel like a better mom than the occasional day like this.

Of course, after painting the box for a while, it became way more interesting to paint ourselves.

Just before the painting got too chaotic, we dumped those little girls in the tub and called it a day.

Look at these faces.  That's how you know there was a good time all around.

Bye everyone.  Come back next time my mom lets me do something super fun.

I can't wait!

What do you do with your children that makes you feel like a superb mother?  What are your mothering proud moments?  I need more ideas around here.

Fashion Friday: celebrity doppelganger

If Eleanor is one thing, she's a character.  The question is which character is she?  This week's Fashion Friday has the answer. 

A couple months ago Ellie woke up from naptime with the most amazing hair.  I broke out the camera to document it.  She was obsessed with this toy bling she was wearing and before long, I noticed some real diva-like behavior.

Lounging around without a care in the world.

Busting moves straight out of music videos.

With the hair and the attitude, I knew she was reminding me of some musical performer.

But who?

Finally it came to me.

It's Baby Mariah!

In that case, sing on baby.  Mama wants to live off your royalties one day.

If you need her, she'll be in her trailer.

Gosh, I love this girl.

*Mariah image from here.  All other photos by moi.

The Bump and the Hair

20 weeks this time around sure feels bigger than the last.

All week I've been singing oh -oh, we're halfway there, oh-oh livin' on a prayer.

I had some crazy anemia for a while, but it's soooo much better now. (thanks to a really disgusting supplement)

There is a reason my head is not showing in this picture.

I dyed my hair.

It was a crazy crazy idea.

I'm so nervous to show you.

Deep breath.

See?  I told you it was crazy.

My grandma told me I look like Lady Gaga - and I think she meant it as a compliment.

I was going to wait to show the internet this drastic change until I had a decent picture with a cute outfit, make-up and everything.

But the roots are coming in faster than you'd believe.

So I had to settle for Joe's photo of me all dressed up for hip-hop class.

That's right Internet - I went platinum and I take hip-hop class*.

I'm full of surprises.  That's how we keep this relationship fresh.

*I bought a 10-class pass to a studio in the city, and it's been SO MUCH FUN.  I've also done theater dance and swing, with belly dancing and ballet coming soon.

As Good as it Got : final touches in the old apartment

Yeah, I know it's such old news now.  But for those of you who followed some of our improvements to our old apartment, I thought I'd show you a few photos of a couple projects we actually finished. Also, just wanted to get some documentation up of what the rest of our first NYC apartment was like.

Green plants on top of the bookshelves - they brought a nice softening to the room.

Awesome round mirror (super cheap at IKEA)

And the crowning jewel was our family photo wall.

It took us almost a year to conceptualize, gather materials, paint and hang.

I love how it brings some family history into our living space.

We can look up and see a number of big events and fun times in our lives.

I'm very happy with the way the living room turned out.

The purple hallway was always a conversation starter.

In this photo, the front door is just off to the left and the kitchen is just to the right.

I like this photo because it gives you a good idea of just what a small space we had.  When you go around the corner in the hallway, you see this doorway.  From the doorway you can see our dresser, our bed, and a wardrobe crammed at the foot.  You can also see the wall to Ellie's little closet/room.  We really crammed a lot into this room - and it felt like a sailor's quarters.

Not much to say about the bedroom.  Our decorating didn't get this far in 1 year.

Ellie's room wasn't really decorated, but we hung our old Halloween costumes and her birthday pom-poms to give it some color.

Also, what you see is what you get in this photo - her room was about 5'x6.5'

Super tiny!

Ellie wanted to make sure you got a good look at the diaper genie, as it was her favorite feature in the room.

And here is the adorable art piece that hung above it - made by my awesome friend, Holly.

We loved our little apartment in the time we lived there.  And I love that everywhere we go, no matter how long we plan on staying, we try to improve it and make it feel like home.  I really miss our old kitchen with it's brand new appliances and I miss the natural sunlight of B-52 (not to mention, how cool was it to live in the love shack?), but there are SO MANY dreamy things about our new apartment.  

I'm sure in time we'll have it spiffed up and looking like home sweet home.  Can't wait to get started!

Birth over Blog

I promise I was going to blog yesterday.  Promise.Promise.Promise.  I was looking forward to a complete week with blog posts every day.  But then I got a 3am phone call and it was time to go photograph a birth for a really great family.

Well, actually I almost photographed a birth.  See, that's the funny thing about labor - it can be a little unpredictable.  I missed the actual debut of this little guy (as did his dad and almost the midwife).  But as disappointing as that was, I'm still glad I was able to document most of the day for this family.

Did you know I'm a birth photographer?  Ask me more about it if you're interested.  Go here if you'd like to see some images.  I'm looking forward to sharing more photos from this birth on my photo blog soon.

We're Back

Two days ago we rode a car, an airplane, a bus and a subway - but we finally made it home from vacation.  We're all moved in to our new place and just focusing on getting it settled and making it home.  Not much time for photographing and blogging right now, but I'll make an effort to share some of our stories and photos from the summer soon.

I hope you are all having wonderful summer adventures.

Bye-Bye First Tri

This photo perfectly captures the feelings of the first trimester for me.  No energy to smile, or even open my eyes for that matter.  My body is here with you guys, but who knows where the heck my mind has gone.  What is going on with my hair?  And yes, I'm wearing a zip up hoodie out on the town, so what?  The minute I saw this photo, I just knew...this is visual evidence of what the first 3 months feel like.

no motivation
lazy lazy lazy
nausea (but luckily no vomiting)
feeling so bored with myself
watching waaaay too much TV

But look!  I recovered - those dark days of early pregnancy are behind me now.  I have more energy, I got a haircut, started wearing make up again.  Baby steps.  Slowly, slowly I can feel myself returning.  And before you know it, I'm checking out books from the library and feeling the urge to model in front of my computer.

OK, that's quite enough.  Let it be known, I am 16 weeks along, feeling great and feeling a little tiny person move inside me.  There's nothing quite like it.  Goodbye first trimester, you won't be missed around here.

All you ladies who have been/are pregnant, I'm curious to know.  What's the first tri like for you? Pukey?  Exciting?  Worry fraught? Normal? Tell me, tell me please.

Happy Fourth of July!

Get a load of Ellie's patriotic outfit and beauty queen wave.

She could be MISS Independence Day this year.

Sorry the blog's been dark for the last couple weeks.  We are in full scale moving mode.  2 more days until I live in an apartment with an elevator!  Yipee!!  Just wanted to check in to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and to leave you with a solemn promise for more blog posts soon:

- Joe's birthday celebration

- final apartment tour of improvements

- recent family photo session

- pregnancy update ('cause I know you're all dying to know)

- fashion fridays, of course!

Today we will be packing, picnic-ing, and sticking close to the phone in case our neighbor's illegal fireworks light our apartment on fire.  I hope some of you out there are enjoying barbecues and pool parties and parades today.  Eat a hotdog, make a cannonball, and catch some candy for me!

Check!

Yes, we finally did it.  Another big item on the NYC bucket list.  A years' long dream fulfilled.  We bought the discount tickets months in advance and waited with great anticipation for this night.

And aside from the nasty sinus infection and near tragic babysitting miscommunication (what do you mean you're not coming!?!) we had a good time.

But.

To be perfectly honest, it didn't blow me out of the water.   Does that make me a total snobby loser?  Here's the deal: I've been listening (and singing along) to the original broadway cast recording since my freshman year of college.  It set the bar SUPER high for any live performance to try and match.  And EVERYONE talks about how much they love this show.  Serious gushing, people.  So I went, and I saw it, and I was like, "meh."

I know it sounds bad.  But I had no desire to obsessively flip through the playbill and read all the bios to figure out how these amazing people got here and how I could become one of them.  I didn't gush about the show to people I saw later.  I didn't talk about it all night long with Joe.  Aaaaahhh, how lame and frustrating is that?

I've narrowed it down to 2 main issues:
1. I was waaaay too familiar with the show, and so there were no surprises for me.  Surprise is important.
2. Because so many people love Wicked, I built it up in my mind to such proportions that I fully expected to have an out of body experience in the middle of the performance.

You'd be surprised how often I let myself build things up that much, and how often I am disappointed.

Ah well, next time the trick is to not wait years and years to see a show - see it before the whole world does and then it can be exciting and thrilling and wonderful and I can gush about it to all my friends.