Ok, if you know me, you know that I am a lactivist, no not the kind who would accost you on the street for bottle feeding, but the kind who is obsessed with knowledge on breastfeeding and all the things that go along with it. Especially bras!!!

Imagine my excitement when I found out Victorias Secret sells nursing bras online. HELLO!! I think it could only get better if they came in my size! Actually they offer a really good size range up to DD and about 6 choices, one being underwire. The only drawback is that about 80% of women wear the wrong size, so ordering online isn't the best thing unless you have been professionally fitted recently. (Maybe I will make a bra tips post later.)

By the way, Mothers Guild in Ventura has the largest selection of nursing bras in the county! If you haven't stopped in for a fitting, now is the time. Really, you owe it to yourself to own at least one proper fitting bra. With all the work those little puppies go through, they deserve it too.

Just a reminder that nursing bras don't have to be ugly, you can actually feel somewhat like your former, pulled together self... looking like your former self is harder... it might require changing your spit-up covered shirt. LOL.

*baby-maker, picture-taker

Fast Frame in Ventura (next to Toppers Pizza near the Mall) is hosting our next photo event. It will be held on April 24th & 25th by appointment. Please email us at info@beyond-images.com or call us at 983-3399 to schedule your session.

Our regular packages are viewable on our website under the info tab. These sessions differ from our normal ones in a few ways.
Our regular session fee is $300.
They last anywhere from 1.5-3 hours depending on the client.
These sessions include a disk of the images with copyright release authorizing prints up to an 8x12 size. Plus an emailable slideshow, images posted on pictage for sharing and ordering and a hardcover photo book of your favorite images.

How the FREE events work:

-There is NO session fee!
-Sessions last about 15 minutes.
-Images are posted on www.pictage.com for purchasing in about a week.
There is no obligation to buy, just come in for a fun mini-session and purchase only what you want!

Plus we are giving a $5.00 Gift Credit to ALL pre-registered guests. Schedule your session and then go to http://www.pictage.com/453890.
Pre-register "Sign the Guestbook" BEFORE the event and the $5 Gift Credit will be automatically emailed to you.
Our photo pricing on pictage is $25 for an 8x10. Various print sizes are available and for the first 30 days online we will also be offering a 2 for 1 special giving a free duplicate print for every print ordered!

Time slots are limited. Please contact us today to schedule your free session. See you there!

*baby-maker, picture-taker

Deb & Matt were contest winners last year, winning a FREE wedding in our August Essay Contest.

We went with them for a little tour of their wedding location, Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills and Keith took a couple quick shots while we were there. Stay tuned for their Wedding in a few weeks!

Never assume your baby HAS to do something just because they normally do.

I never really realized how much of an impact my habits were on my kids. I am such a "mom on demand" that I never really realized how my lack of structure was effecting them. We were lucky enough to enlist the help of Baby Sleep expert, Kathy Sinclair (www.babysleepsolutionsla.com).

I will talk more about our sleep journey with both boys later but what I wanted to express was that it was not my SON who insisted on sleeping in his car seat for the first 11 months of life, but ME who thought he did.

It was also not my SON who insisted on sucking down bottle after bottle of almond milk (more on that later too) when my milk dwindled due to pregnancy, but ME who thought he wanted it.

When these things were taken away cold turkey and replaced with more mommy time and snuggling he didn't even flinch!

HELLO!!!! I am the one responsible for my childs habits!! DUH!

So when you think it will be impossible to take away that binkie, bottle or sippy cup, give your kid a little credit. They might just surprise you.

*baby-maker, picture-taker

I suppose in life you always want what you don't have. In terms of children, I guess I always wanted a girl because of the "dream" that was put in my head from childhood. "When you have a daughter, you can give those to her." All the dresses of mine that were kept for my own little girl and everything else for the child I was one day going to have. So I guess its really a matter of mourning the end of the dream. The mother-daughter relationship that I will never experience and all those "one day..." images that have to be re-drawn. So when I found out I was having another boy, it took me a few days to process it. Finally I came to some conclusions about the whole "gender preference" thing.

First of all, the only thing I can't do with a boy is walk him down the aisle, and really, that means very little in the grand scheme of it all.

Second, the Mother-Daughter relationship that I so craved as a child and wanted to experience some day is not gone, merely re-written. Who says I can't take my sons to the spa for a day of pampering? Who says I can't talk to them about girls the way I would talk to a daughter about boys?

Really, there is nothing I can possibly miss out on, unless I let myself miss out on it.

I read once that you spend one month deciding what gender you are hoping for and 9 months telling yourself it doesn't matter as long as it is healthy. Maybe we should skip that first month and go straight to the healthy part.

One of my fave shows is House of Babies. Its a show about a birth center in Florida. The midwife said "some people want a specific gender, but maybe the gender they want isn't what is right for their family". I think that is the case.

Some one up there obviously has a plan for all of us, and I have to think they might know a little more than I do.

*baby-maker, picture-taker