mila | kaya updates

• her sense of smell is ridiculously sensitive - i found out by accident when we walked into hollister.  she HATES the smell of strong perfumes, colognes and room deodorizers.  she screams like she's hurting and since she only cries when she's hungry or extremely tired this painful kind of cry is very very disconcerting.
• her newest thing is this sniffy face that she makes.  it's like she's laughing through her nose and curtis says she looks like yoda when she does it.
• she giggles!!!  it's rare but curtis can get her to do it.
• she holds her own bottle.  when she's drinking milk her left foot starts to hover and then stays suspended in the air.
• we're trying to get her to eat solids and she won't have it.  if looks could kill i would be deader than dead.  and then we discovered avocado.
• she's moved on from sucking her wrist to sucking her thumb
• she HATES tummy time and to avoid it she puts herself to sleep...by sucking her thumb as soon as she's on her tummy.
• my sister tells me she loves it when you sing to her.  i'm not sure what she's talking about.  when i sing to her all i get is a blank stare.  she totally digs glee though so maybe there's something to it.
• she LOVES TV.  greeaaaat.
• she HATES eye contact.  i wonder if she got that from me?  are psychological hang ups genetic?  lol.
• she just discovered the mirror and loves to look at herself now.
• the jumperoo is her most favorite toy these days
• we got her 2 bunny security blankie things.  we named it veggie and fruit. she loves them both so much they are covered in drool.

the photo shown below was actually shot by sherri johnson at a photography workshop i taught at.  my watermark is there only as a deterrent.  kaya, my lil companion taught with me for the entire day.

we took kaya to the OC fair!  

curtis and i have been together for 5 years and we have a fair photo booth picture for each year we've been together.  this year we've got kaya with us ;)

playdate with her korean brother dylan!

the following pictures were taken by my friend lorrie prothero (who kindly baby sat for kaya one day while i attended a business workshop).  again, my watermark is only there as a deterrent.

lorrie got her sniffy face!

back to my pictures... kaya handling her bottle.

mila | wedding photographer . pacific edge villas laguna

they were almost done with vows but then raleigh had one more thing he had to say.  he turned his back to kelly right in the middle of the ceremony and said "...this is the last time i will ever turn my back on you".  thank god for auto focus coz the tears were blurring my vision.


congratulations kelly and raleigh.  i love you both!  


venue: pacific edge hotel
pacific edge coordinator:  rebecca peng
wedding coordinator:  natalie cassaro
catering:  jay's catering
flowers:  stacey fits of floral occassions
music:  DJ Todd


just as a note if you decide to hire jay's catering for food you have to try the veggie lasagna and the chicken that's in some kind of wine reduction sauce that i don't know the name to but it's to die for!  oh and pacific edge redecorated their villa and i LOVE what they've done to the place.


ah... moments from the first look.

my friend garrett davis who seconded for me that night got this rad shot during the first dance.

and then ... we cut cake.  and what started out as a simple act turned into the ninja cake cutting session in a blink of an eye!  party on!!!

btw thanks garrett for getting these shots of me.  yes... i get excited about fun shots and like to share.  and yes, i do anything to make sure my brides look good.  this includes going around and around in circles behind them as they dance trying to pin their dresses on so they don't trip.

and now for my kick ass shot of the night.  kelly decided that she was going to toss the bouquet from the 2nd floor.  she wanted me to capture the shot from the third floor.  when i got up there i immediately realized that it wasn't going to capture the moment well enough.  so i sprinted down the stairs yelling at the top of my lungs to wait for me before she threw the flowers.  she didn't hear me.  but i got this shot anyway.  just in the nick of time.  and THIS is why i wear comfy flats instead of heels.

mila | a trip to virginia

it was time for kaya to meet her grandparents!  so at 12 weeks we took kaya on her first plane ride all the way to virginia.  i read up on all the tips n tricks for lil munchies flying.  i was paranoid.  i've been a traveler since i was 9 and am all too familiar with the nightmare of infants with wings (and horns).  there's something about take off and landing that just upsets kids to no end.  ears popping, pressure, noise, who knows what else.  i read somewhere that if the baby was asleep we were safe.  my cousin told me to put her to breast (since at the time kaya was still breastfeeding) and the sucking motion would help her with her ears too.  putting her to the bottle would be the same reaction.  these were all well and good but what if kaya was awake and not hungry.  game over!  luckily kaya is as chill as they come.  she really wasn't bothered at all.  there were four other babies on the plane and it was the first time i was relieved by that many potential criers on a plane.  they were all bawling and i was a grinning proud mommy that my little one was a quiet lil clam.  


so far there's only 3 things that make kaya cry.  when she's hungry ... so we had a bottle ready and prepared as soon as she started up.  boy was she spoiled with the service on those flights!  when she's tired ... which took a little bit of rocking and she would be out.  and strong perfumy odors.  i know this sounds weird but she really hates perfume, cologne and room deodorizers.  so the bathroom on the plane was bad news.  as soon as we walked in she would shriek and as soon as we stepped out like a switch, she was done.  don't ask... i can't explain it except to say that strong musky perfumes make me pukey and she might have a severe case of what i have.


grandma and grandpa are in love with her.  she didn't have a moment of down time.  literally she was in someone's arms the entire 4 days we were there.  required some retraining for when we got home lemme tell ya.  here's the pictures from the trip.

mila | wedding photographer . marina del rey . fanta sea yachts

giddy to share a sneak peek of omar and alexis' wedding.  it's gonna make you drool for more.