Toddlers and Tiaras, Eat Your Heart Out

Nola's Nonnie is in California, along with her camera, her portrait backdrops, baby-positioning poser seats, large reflective lighting screens, feather boas, and a crew of four assistants (all aged five and younger). I know, you think I'm kidding. All of this is true, and I have to say that it's equal parts funny and fabulous.

We took Nonnie's equipment, along with the help of her entourage (my sisters, Kim and Allyson's kiddos) and converted a pool table in Kim and Taylor's Summerland rental into a regular Sears Portrait studio. Over the course of three days, we shot a Nola calendar, entitled "Your Girl for All Seasons."

I decided to post a picture or two for each month as it passes. Since we only have one more day of January left, there's no time like the present! Don't worry, if there were any proceeds for the calendar, they would be earmarked for Nola's future therapy sessions.

When Good Babies Attack

At first we thought that this was going to be one of the hundred or so videos of Nola making some sort of adorable sound (yes, believe it or not, we have only posted a fraction of these on the blog); however, as you watch the clip you'll see how an innocent game of "Pthwwwwt" can turn into a full blown baby attack.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Ah, Summerland

What a wonderful weekend we had. All girls and wee ones. It's always comforting to see and catch up with old friends, while Nola makes a bunch of new ones. I look forward to watching our children grow up together.

Sorry for the redundancy of the pics, Sarah, Erin and Jenny, as I ripped these pics straight from your blogs and/or Facebook. I promise I'll get on the mommy wagon and have a camera ready at all times as Nola grows. Thanks again for a great weekend!

The Not-so-Happiest Rant on the Block

For some time now, I've been trying to figure out why people don't just gush over my precious little baby. At least, her gender isn't constantly being edited by well-meaning strangers anymore (i.e., "Is 'Noah' wearing his big sister's clothes?" -- comments like these not only made me want to add more frills to her clothing, but made me wonder if I had one of those annoying voices that always sounded a bit like I had a cold. Nola? Noah? I dunno.)

People either don't notice her, like, when I take her and the dog on walks, old ladies -- lemme repeat that, OLD LADIES will stop me and say, "What a lovely dog!" with not so much as a peep about the frilled-out infant riding on my chest.

I've even taken her to highly populated places, like Costco, and donning the cutest possible hat I could find in her collection, I had three strangers tell me, "What a cute hat."

I think the final straw broke last week when I went makeup shopping for the first time in about a year, and the saleslady said to me, "Oh, look at your baby! How old is she?"

Proudly, I tell her that she'll be six months in a couple of weeks. To which the saleslady replies, "Oh, you should have seen the cutest little six month old boy just came through here with his mom."

GAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

I know that I'm probably being a little bit too touchy with this whole, "Isn't my baby cute?" issue, but I just hate the thought that I'm actually one of those parents with a not-so-cute baby who is in blind denial of the fact. In fact, I'm going to stick to my instincts with this one, and claim that people do find her to be beautiful, but they just don't have the nerve to tell her to her face.

Bjorn to Be Wild

While Aunt Jaimee was still in California, we headed over to the Santa Barbara Zoo along with Kim and her kiddos. Nola was generally non-plussed as usual, despite the fact that we took part in some extreme box-sledding.