Fall Family Session

I literally JUST got our photos from Christina Cho Photography, but I cannot contain my excitement. I always tell her that whatever session she just did was "my favorite", but I'm serious this time...THIS is my favorite.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't even think about doing a family session until earlier this month. Reasons being are: 1) I'm not in the greatest shape; and 2) Having a baby in a photo shoot is very unpredictable. Will he be cranky? Will he not want to be carried and just play on the dirt? What if he's camera-shy? What if he poops his pants in the middle of the park? All these scenarios kept popping in my head, but then I remembered the day of our newborn session. Owen was reeeaaallly grumpy that day, but it wasn't apparent in the final photos...well, except for maybe one or two of them. But you know what? I loved every single one of those photos, so I quickly contacted Christina.

We had our photos taken at Riley Wilderness Park at Coto de Caza (que fancy). Ralph and I decided to arrive a little early, just in case Owen fell asleep (to wake him up), was hungry (to feed him), peed/pooped (to change his diaper), etc. (See what I mean about "unpredictable"?) It also gave us the opportunity to look around and have Owen get used to the place.

The place was gorgeous. We had already done our sessions at a "green" park, the beach, and at home, so I really wanted a place that had an Autumn look to it.

Thank you, Pooh Bear, for making Owen smile that day!

Yes, that's the same book we used at our maternity session. Where did the time go?! *Crying*

Thank you, Christina!!! This is DEFINITELY my favorite session, by far! And also a huge thank you to Christina's husband Katzy for entertaining Owen, carrying our stuff, assisting Christina, etc. You guys are awesome!

"Adventure is out there!" - Nine Months

Fun Facts About Owen:

• Eats with his left hand.
• New sounds he makes - squeals, raspberries, snorts.
• First tooth came out!
• Has an ugly face he makes when he's upset.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had Thanksgiving lunch at my family's, then we went to Riverside to have Thanksgiving dinner with Ralph's family. Then afterwards, we took a quick trip to Target to see what the deals were...and since all apparel was 40% off, Owen went home with some new clothes. Perfect timing too, since it's now starting to get REALLY cold (about time!).

This month's photo was inspired by the movie "UP" (though I made a hot air balloon instead of a dirigible). The photo above was the very first photo we took because Owen immediately started crying after a few seconds. At first, we thought it was because he didn't like how the basket felt (it's a bit prickly); but even when I cushioned it with a blanket, he still cried. Then we thought it was the hat/goggles, so we removed them, but he was still not having it. It was probably the worst photo shoot we did. We took a lot of breaks, but Owen just was not in the mood.

We even put his favorite toy inside and let him play with the props to get him used to it. 

But this was what happened as soon as we put him down.

We even changed the basket. Nope. Not okay.

And that was the end of that.

I only have to do this 3 more times, and it'll be all over.

I forgot to share these photos a few posts back when we took Owen to a pumpkin patch. He was disinterested and was really put-off by the wood chips. He hated sitting on the ground, and he hated sitting on the stacks of hay. He wanted to be carried the whole time, but as soon as he saw a pumpkin, he wanted to go down and touch it.

At 9 months, Owen is still our active, vocal, and mischievous little guy. He still follows his daily routine, and his eating/sleeping/playing habits haven't changed very much...probably just eating/playing a little more and sleeping a little less (help). Here is a recap of what has happened within the past month.

Rather difficult to get a clear picture of it, but there's his little tooth!

My grandmother is visiting from the Philippines (since my wedding two years ago), so she finally got to meet her first great-grandson! It took some time for Owen to warm up to her, but they're buddies now.

Owen's hair grows at an alarming rate. And once we saw how long his hair was (photo above was taken after a nap), we said it was time to go back to the barber...

...too bad he wasn't as happy as he was during his first haircut. He cried. The. Whole. Time.

And it was a good thing he got that haircut because we had our Fall session with our amazing photographer/friend Mrs. Christina SERRANO! Can't wait to see the photos!

And, of course, our usual trips to Disneyland! I can't wait till Owen starts walking around...because at Disneyland, he hates being carried, and he hates being in his stroller. All he wants to do is crawl around on the ground.

Future Star Wars nerd.

He got his Pooh Bear, and now he has Tigger too!

*Sigh* So much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for the job that I have. I'm thankful for the people I work with. I'm thankful for my health and the health of my friends and loved ones. I'm thankful for my family, especially my mom, who takes care of Owen so I could work. I'm thankful for my husband, who goes above and beyond for our family. And finally, I'm thankful for my baby boy Owen - he is my pride, my joy, the light of my life. Thank you, God. Life is good.

Owen's First Halloween

It's no secret that my husband and I are Star Wars fanatics - during our wedding recessional, we walked down the aisle to the Star Wars theme song; our firstborn son was either going to be named Luke, Lucas, or Owen; and there are just dozens and dozens of Star Wars toys, posters, figurines, etc. in our home.

So when family and friends were asking what Owen was going to be for his first Halloween, it didn't take very long for me to decide that he was going to be a Star Wars character...and it didn't take very long after that for me to decide that he was going to be Wicket, the Ewok.

Of course, I wanted to incorporate Ralph, Wendy, and myself in the Halloween fun, so I was going to be Princess Leia (Endor outfit, of course), Ralph was going to be Han, and Wendy was going to be Darth Vader. And since Star Wars costumes are usually expensive, I wanted to try and make as many of the outfits as I can.

Having ZERO experience with a sewing machine and never even been at the "Fabrics" section at Joann's, I came to the conclusion (almost right away) that I was in way over my head. I mean, I wanted to make our costumes from SCRATCH, for crying out loud! And by "scratch", I do mean buy-yards-of-fabric-and-cut-them-into-pieces-then-sew-them-together "scratch". After trying (and failing) with Owen's, I realized that the only outfit that I could make was Leia's poncho. And I did.

So what was I to do about Owen's outfit? I found a DIY tutorial on how to make an Ewok costume on Pinterest, and it sounded sooo easy - just combine a bear costume with an orange t-shirt, and voila! You're done! Uhhh, no. For the life of me, I could not find an inexpensive dark brown bear costume NOR an orange t-shirt. Luckily, Owen had a dark brown onesie, and I just bought a bright orange t-shirt and used brown dye to tone down the color. Here is a more detailed step-by-step of how I made Owen's Wicket Costume.

It's a good thing Ralph's was easy to make because I was OVER IT after finishing mine and Owen's. Overall, I'm happy with the outcome. Ralph's pants should have been brown, but dark brown slacks (just like dark brown bear outfits and orange t-shirts) were hard to come by.

We went to my parents' house in Irvine to have dinner and go Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood. We were joined by Ralph's mom and cousin Bella! I didn't get any good pictures while we were Trick-or-Treating because it was too dark...but Owen didn't last very long anyway. We only went to about a dozen houses before he rested his head on his Daddy's shoulders, which means he has "tapped out".

His "Can you stop taking pictures of me so I can go to sleep?" face.

Of course, the candy that Owen collected today is really for his mommy and daddy (sorry, son), but my mom was kind enough to make him a Halloween basket with baby-friendly snacks. :)

Until next year! Hope everyone had a Happy (and safe!) Halloweeeeeen!