Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 08:22AM 
Lately, I've been thinking about the differences between number one and number two. I just read that sentence back and took the terms '#1 and #2' to mean something a little different than birth order...if you know what I'm sayin'. Great, now I can't stop thinking of my children as '#1' and '#2'. Miles always gets the shit end of the stick around here. I'll be back with more once I reboot my brain.
Monday, June 14, 2010 at 08:04PM To be perfectly clear, I eat at McDonald's. I was thinking about that this evening when Eva asked for nuggets and fries, and my eyes lit up like a Christmas Tree on crack. Cheeseburger hold the pickles, thankyouverymuch. I also eat at Wendy's. Small chocolate frosty, pleaseandthankyou. And Taco Bell. Bean burrito with onions washed down with a crunchy taco, scrumdiddliumpsious.
Given all the garden hoohah, I didn't want there to be any misunderstanding as to what we're really talking about here. It's a metaphor for my life: slow food gardener meets a Big Mac.
The following is a series of images starring the usual suspects. I've been shooting in Mile's room, uhhm, I mean my studio to practice with the light. It's magical. The light's pretty good, too.
Eva, daily, miles, photography Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 01:31PM 
There are two very important items of business to discuss today.
1. A little over a month ago, I decided to leave my studio downtown. It's a bitter sweet decision because I loved my studio mate, and I had mega plans for the space. I assumed, once Miles was born, I'd want to get out of the house as often as possible. The reality has been quite different. I have small chunks of time making it nearly impossible to get over there. So Ferris and I decided to put Eva and Miles in the same room (sort of) and turn Miles' room into my studio. At this very moment, Miles is napping while I bust out a few items of business. Over the next few weeks, I plan to move Miles' stuff into Eva's room and bring all the photography equipment in.
The thing I miss most about my old social work job is my desk. Without it, I realized how much I loved having a space all to myself, a space to be organized, a space to work. My vision for this space is no different than my old studio. I want an entire room (back drop and seating area) to use for shooting. It's going to be well-designed and comfortable. Most importantly, it's going to be accessible. I'll keep you posted as plans move foraward. Hooray!
2. Miles is a terrible sleeper. At one point, he was only waking up once a night to eat. Once turned into twice...turned into thrice...and it all went downhill from there. I'm all for comforting, nurturing, and loving my children to the point of ridiculousness, but I draw the line when all of that nurturing becomes totally unsustainable. I cannot CANNOT live without sleep, and each time Ferris tried the bottle thing Miles would wake up again for more....more MAMA.
So, we decided to cry it out. There's a whole step-wise method to 'crying it out' which is entirely too structured for us. Basically, Ferris takes over (because he has no milk in his tits) and does a bunch of comforting techniques (including letting Miles scream in his crib for a while) over a period of several hours. It's brutal. It's brutal for Miles because he wants boob and who can blame him for that? It's brutal for Ferris because trying to comfort a screaming baby is torture. It's brutal for me because I have to resist the need to rush in and make everything better for everyone. But two nights later, by some miracle, Miles figured it out and slept 7 hours straight. I fed him, and then he slept a few hours more.
And we all lived happily ever after...
Amen.
miles, mothering, photography Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 01:56PM I left these two alone for a few minutes and came back to this. At first glance (and sound), I thought she was choking him. Quite wrong, mama, quite wrong.
A few weeks ago, we discovered Eva has the ability to make Miles come unglued. No one else can do it...just her. Believe me, we've tried everything. The first time he giggled, I knew I hit the jackpot. I've always hoped for one of those laughing YouTube babies. Ferris is out of town for a few days, so this is a little present for him.
Note: Vimeo and I have been having a rough go of it. Despite several attempts to fix it, you can only see about 20 seconds or hear about 45 seconds. You get the drift, though.
She Makes Him Giggle from Stephanie on Vimeo.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 07:47AM Once upon a time, MAV of 3191 fame and I were neighbors on a quaint little street in Portland's West End. She's the blogging real deal, one of the originals and very successful. She has lots of great side projects, one of them being WEE.
And, as you can see, she fell under Miles' loveable charms much like the rest of us.
