After our unborn child had its picture taken we decided to have ours taken, too. Near sunset we made our way to Corona Del Mar for a portrait session on the beach. A pro photographer would be shooting this time, instead of me.
We arrived a little early and enjoyed walking the beach in our bare feet. Emma, who's had a thing against the ocean since getting splashed one time, enjoyed herself. Perhaps she's given up the grudge.
The photographer arrived a little after we did and directed us to pose, pose again and then - pose some more. She really seemed to enjoy Emma... she couldn't stop laughing at all of the "cute" expressions she made. (We think she's cute, too, in case you were wondering.)
I was a little dissapointed, to be honest. The pro was using my camera, my lens and my flash. (Well, she had the 550EX as opposed to my 420EX, but the difference is minimal.) I guess I was expecting a little bit more from a pro. You know, some L-series zooms or a sweet, sweet prime.
But, no. Her gear was my gear. My gear was her gear. Ah, well. Such is life.
At any rate, I snapped a few pictures, too, so we'll compare next week and see just how pro a pro is!
Continue reading "beach photoshoot"
@ 9:59 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (1)
Oh! I almost forgot. Here are two of the promised shots of Marla's growing belly. I love it!
@ 9:05 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (0)
We had our big "Baby Tour" on Wednesday. The "Baby Tour" is that awesome ultrasound session you have sometime in the second trimester. If you've had it done, you know what I'm talking about.
The ultrasound tech begins poking and prodding with the probe, pointing out interesting features along the way. It's a lot like the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland, only without the corny jokes.
"And here, you see The Kid's the feet. See those little toes? Aren't they cute?"
"And this, of course, is the head. See the nose? And the eyes? So cute..."
You don't, of course, see the eyes or the nose. But it sure sounds a lot better than, "See the eye sockets? Aren't those cute eye sockets? And how about that nasal cavity!"
Continue reading "baby update #2 (ultrasound tour)"
@ 10:19 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (4)
I'm normally really annoyed when our association water sprinklers go off in the middle of the day and stay on for hours. It's fun when things malfunction and waste precious resources, don't you think? In this case, though, it happened in the late afternoon on a weekend when we happened to be outside playing, anyway. What better way to introduce Emma to the fine art of playing in the sprinkler.
My brother and I would do this all the time growing up back in Georgia. One of my father's most cherrished pictures comes from just after a session in the sprinler. In the picture we are both down to our underwear, covered in mud and eating "hunkies" on some railroad ties in front of our house on Crowe Drive. Ahh... childhood.
Anyway, the sprinklers were on and Emma was off in a flash to play in them. Marla was watching her orginally and I was in the house. Marla, being the contientious mother that she, is was careful to have Emma only play around the edges, putting only her hands in. She ran inside for something and left me outside with Emma. You can see the results of my parenting skills.
I also slapped up a gallery of shots from early in July. First up is Emma Grace just being her normal, sweet self. This is followed by her being a HAM for the camera and wearing underwear on her head. As you can see, she quite enjoys the response it brings!
Lastly, Miss Emma took a walk with Daddy in O'Neill Regional Park one afternoon and decided it would be best if she went shoeless. While the pavement was nice and toasty warm it left her feet as nasty as could be!
@ 12:20 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (3)
Our favorite "celebrity chef" Alton Brown was in town yesterday so, of course, we had to attend. He was doing a cooking demonstration and signing autographs at The Shops at Mission Viejo.
We'd seen him once before at the LA Times Festival of Books back in 2002 when Marla was pregnant with Emma. He cooked ribs and signed our copy of "I'm Just Here For The Food." We figured Emma would definitely need to meet him for real this time. On the menu: beef jerky (made with a box fan) and funnel cakes. How can you go wrong with that combination?
The mall was packed, but after waiting in line for hours we finally were able to get our Sodium Chloride Containment Unit signed. (Emma entertained herself decorating cookies (and eating icing galore) while Mommy and Daddy took turns standing in line.)
View Gallery As Slideshow
Continue reading "alton brown in mission viejo"
@ 2:47 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (0)
We love our little town, it's true. Rancho Santa Margarita is such a family-friendly town with lots of parks and such to keep everyone occupied.
The fountain is just outside a Baja Fresh that Marla really enjoys. Emma has looked at it longingly for many months now and we finally let her play in it.
We ended up having to ride home nekkid (poor, dead Lewis Grizzard) the car because she was dripping wet.
The second group of photos is, of course, from the lake in Rancho Santa Margarita. I loves me my circular polarizer. Deep blue skies and no glare on the water. Enjoy!
@ 9:46 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (0)
Chuck E. Cheese may be the happiest place on Earth while weathering the blackout days for season pass holders at Disneyland. Emma's quite fond of the carosel and drving the little yellow bus.
She has, unfortunately, already shown signs of talking on the phone while driving, as other Californians do.
I remember really loving Chuck E. Cheese when I was a kid. Did you know that Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari also started Chuck E. Cheese? That must explain it.
Some things never change, I guess, if Emma's instant affection for a giant rat is evidence. The groovy animatronic band is gone, replaced with a teenager in a battered rat suit and some flashy video screens, but kids still seem to go crazy and have a blast there.
@ 1:59 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (0)
Emma's new thing is taking all of her clothes off. "Emma get naked!" she likes to shriek. I'm convinced that she's just excercising a new-found skill (getting herself dressed/undressed) and not a budding nudist or anything.
She's also quite fond of "driving" Marla's car. She'll press every button, turn every dial and (try to) shift every lever. The car's a mess when she's done, of course, and I'm convinced we'll blow a speaker any day now.
Combine these two activities (nakedness, driving a car) with shutterbug parents and you get what can only be described as a photoshoot fit for something like Maxim Baby.
PS - I think I'm going straight to Hell for this one. And this one.
@ 6:36 PM by TNorthcutt | Comments (0)
