3 months

Three months already? And yet it feels like she's always been here. 

I guess this means I can't say I have a newborn anymore. Three months seems positively in the baby stage don't you think? 

Miriam is such a smiley girl. She is a joy. She has been a bit of a mama's girl lately, but it's Daddy who she tells the best stories to. We are enraptured by her little coos.

She doesn't get tummy time enough I'm afraid. She always starts screaming about two minutes into it.
Check out the cute ruffled bum! 

Many thanks to Danielle for this cute outfit.

I finally busted out a headband and bow. She wasn't quite sure what she thought.

Little girls are so fun. I never knew how much I would love the pinks and purples and ruffly bums.

Not totally convinced about the bows yet though. :-)

blue eyes and bubbles

Miriam is an expert spit bubble maker. She can make some seriously big ones. And she's really good at doing multiple bubbles at the same time. She's talented, what can I say? What's even cuter is how when Asher sees her making them, he points at her excitedly and exclaims, "Bubbles!" Bubbles of any variety happen to be one of his favorite things.

Aren't her blue eyes pretty? I'm not so secretly hoping they stay blue. Selfishly mostly for photographic reasons. Blue eyes are so fun to photograph. Asher's didn't start turning brown until he was 6 months so I won't get my hopes up. And brown or hazel eyes are nice too. So uh, if Mimi's turn, don't tell her I once wished them blue.

family home evening at the park

Monday for family home evening we walked to a nearby park and let the kids run wild for awhile. It was a beautiful evening to be outside. I brought my camera along and got some cute pics of the kiddos.

Looking at a plane

I love the composition of this one and Miriam's face, just wish Jared had a more neutral shirt on.

It got kind chilly by the time we walked home. I was glad I brought sweatshirts for us.

The swings were the hot ticket item at the park last night. 

The kids were having a lot of fun jumping off and wanted me to take their pictures.

Jumping photos are always fun don't you think?

bras overrated?

Confession: I have SO not been wanting to wear a bra lately. They all just feel so constricting and annoying. The weird thing is when I was first nursing Asher, I wanted to wear one all the time to support all the extra weight. Now, I have been trying to contrive ways to go without one in public without anyone noticing.

Anyone else out there feel this way? Or am I just one step closer to full on hippie-dom?

For practical (need something to hold the nursing pads in) and modesty purposes I can't be sans bras all the time, which means I REALLY need to invest in some new nursing bras. Any suggestions? I want something super comfy with no underwire. Help please!

the latest from "at mother's breast"

I'm still plugging along with my little breastfeeding project. I took a break for a bit when Miriam was born but have been photographing nursing moms again and posting once a week over on At Mother's Breast.  I really love this project. I love meeting moms who are passionate about breastfeeding. I love the friends I've made and reconnected with through this project. I love how I have become even more enthusiastic about nursing. And braver about nursing in public! I really feel that by seeing breastfeeding portrayed as normal and beautiful, which it is, we will become more comfortable with it. The more it is seen as just ho-hum ordinary, the more women will choose to breastfeed and breastfeed longer!

The CDC recently released the Breastfeeding Report Card for the US.  Utah tops the list with the most mothers who breastfeed at birth. Nearly 90% of Utah mothers breastfeed their newborns. But at 6 months only 58% are still breastfeeding and at 12 months only 35% are still breastfeeding. Although these numbers are better than the national average, we still have lots of room for improvement. Moms need more support!

I hope my project can be one small part of the solution. I feel honored to be able to capture such tender moments between mothers and their babies. I'm still interested in having other photographers contribute to the site, so if you are one or know one who would like to submit photographs of nursing moms, let me know! I especially would love to see more ethnic diversity represented in the images. I want every mom to see someone she can relate to.

Thanks to all of you have supported me in this undertaking. Keep spreading the word!

Here's a little sampling of some of the latest images...

Alisha

Amy

Genevieve

Chelsea

Liz

wood

As we explored the dry creek bed last week, I was drawn to the water worn wood mingled among the rocks. Wood that has been softened by water is especially beautiful. One small piece especially stood out to me and begged to be photographed. I had no choice but to oblige. I'm pleased with how these turned out because due to the very bright sunlight it was quite hard to see what I was doing.

pretty in pink (bumGenius)

We are a cloth diapering family. Asher has been using bumGenius since he was 2 1/2 months old and now Miriam has some of her very own. In pink! Oh how I love the pink ones! Because she's such a little thing the bumGenius didn't fit her until now so we've been using the newborn inserts with some smaller covers since her cord fell off. Plus disposables at night and when we are out of the house for longer than an hour or so. I'm so excited to have new bumGeniuses for her now. They are great for overnight and being out and about because they don't leak. And they are SO cute. I'm seriously in love with the pink. I kinda wish I could have justified getting her only pink, but alas my practicality won out and I got some yellow, white, blue, and a green one too.

And for fun... wanna see a side by side comparison of Miriam and Asher at 2 1/2 months in new bumGenius diapers? Here ya go:

Look how chunky Ash was! He weighed several pounds more at this age than Miriam does. 

Colors aside, doesn't Miriam just look like such a lady and doesn't Asher look like such a boy?

Ok, one more... check out his rolls! (And his awesome posing.)
I don't think Miriam is ever going to get rolls like that.

Even his toes were chubby.

Also, I really miss that north facing window we had in our NC apartment. Such great light all day long.

avenues street fair

Hey Utah friends...

I'll be photographing nursing moms tomorrow from 10-12 am at the Avenues Street Fair... find me at the Mom's Breastaurant booth between K and L streets along 7th Avenue in SLC! 

I might be there later in the afternoon too depending on how Miriam is doing.

Come on out and get your photo taken!

floral friday

The last from Grandma's garden...

temple quarry trail

Last week I took some breastfeeding photos at Temple Quarry trail. I had never been there but discovered it is a delightful little trail at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon. There are lots of great spots for photos and TONS of rocks to climb, so I knew we had to bring the kids back there. Monday being Labor Day, we loaded the kids up in the 'burb and set out to explore.

The trail is named Temple Quarry because this is the area from which the settlers of the Salt Lake valley got the granite to build the Salt Lake Temple. There are still chisel marks in some of the stones. One of the coolest things about the area is that at this time of year the creek bed is dry so its just a huge stretch of rounded rock. Very fun to climb and a great place to find cool rocks to take home. We told the kids they could each pick one and so of course Isaac and Olivia found one to fight over. Other than that, they all really enjoyed themselves. I think we'll be going back there. And I will definitely be suggesting this as a site for future family photos.