The Everyday Things - Luke's 1 Year Photos

I witnessed an accident, right in front of me, on the way home from work yesterday. It shook me, everyone was safe (thank God) but it was literally right.in.front.of.me! The two cars head-on collided and spun within yards of my car. Debris flew all over, hitting my windshield. It got me thinking, the things I take for granted. In a few brief moments that I was paralyzed from shock, not even the sound of car horns from behind me could snap me out of it, my life seriously flashed before my eyes. I always thought if I were on my death bed I'd want to remember all the important things in life, like the day I met my best friend/my soul mate/my husband, our first kiss, the night he asked me to be his girlfriend, the first time he told me he loved me, the way my body tingled every time he smiled at me or gave me a look (any look!), our wedding day, the birth of our first child, our second, first steps, first words... you get the idea. To my surprise, however, you know what moments raced through my mind in those brief seconds?! How badly I would miss how my hubbs lays on the bed at night with a bag of red vines opened on top his chest, eating one by one as if on a conveyor belt, the look he gives me when I clumsily break a glass or forget where I put my credit card, the sigh when I tell him "I forgot," the look Luke gives me right at the moment when he's caught, his sheepish grin when he's getting into things he's not supposed to, his splashes in the bathtub, his fighting and pulling away when we attempt to Nosefrida him.

I snapped out of it and stepped on the gas, to paralyzed, still, to even make sense of what just happened. I didn't even SEE what happened because I was too busy, distracted by my conversation on the phone, probably looking but not seeing, you know?! It was on my way home that I realized that every.single.moment (even the ones I think will never make it in the book!) I share with my loved ones is a gift. All the times I've told hubbs how unattractive it is that he eats licorice "like that" on the bed, those are the things I would miss most. The everyday things.

I only hope that this realization will help me to be a better wife and mother, a person who really embrace every.single.moment God gives us because we never know when it will be our last, and what memories we will leave behind... though I do hope it's more than just a broken glass or misplaced credit card!

And on a completely different note. Here are some photos taken by the very talented Sarah K Chen for Luke's last official year session! I think he was 14-15 months here, a little past a year but wow, even from just two months ago he's already looking so different!

I kid you not, every single morning I watch Luke walk to the elevator and am just so amazed that the little 6 lb 15 oz boy I gave birth to "not too long ago" is walking on his own already! Complete and utter denial!
















this one is enlarged and framed on our wall

Sorry for the over share, you know how I roll ;)

Response to Questions

Hey Guys! So I can't believe it was Wednesday when I wrote up that last post! Time seriously flies by waaaay too quickly! Here are my responses to your questions, thanks for commenting and wanting to know more ;)

1. What does your husband do?

My hubbs works in transportation, he's like a dispatch manager, in the office. I say "like' because he used to be the manager until they recently promoted someone else, so, technically not really sure what his title is. Lame, i know, sorry!

2. How long have you and your husband known each other?

We met in July 2004. So, 6.5 years! We met in Vegas. He was a good friend of my cousin's whom I had never (up til that point) met. We seriously locked eyes and were in love. Cheesey, but true ;)

3. Small-ish place, how many bedrooms do you have? Will my (future) kids share a room or have their own? Will they stay in your bedroom for a while?

Yes, very small place. I don't know how they managed to squeeze 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms in this place! Our master bedroom is a nice size, not large by any means but nice. We have a queen-sized bed, two full (one tall, one short) dressers and two night stands (and a bunch of junk!) so it's a nice sized room. Luke's bedroom is also a nice size, smaller than the master but a good size for all his furniture and there's still room for toys and to toddle around. Our third bedroom we use as an office/gym/storage. It's walking room only, seriously, a safety hazard if and when there's an earthquake!

This room will be Luke's room when we start planning for our next baby. So yeah, they'll have separate rooms for awhile but after a year or so (or when the 3rd baby arrives) Luke and baby #2 will share a room. This is entirely for convenience. Luke's on a pretty tight sleep schedule so we want to keep consistent with that as much as possible when the new baby arrives. Baby 2 will sleep in a bassinet in our bedroom for the first couple weeks, then it's off to his/her crib/room.

4. What kind of camera do you have?

I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and usually have my Canon 50mm f/1.2L lens on (especially for all indoor photos of Luke). I have a few other lens that I'm trying to shoot more with, it's silly to let them sit and collect dust ;) If you want me to start listing which lens I use in my shots, let me know, I have no problems doing that.

5. What are your favorite camera settings for taking pictures of Lucas?

While my settings will vary depending on the amount of available light I have (i shoot in full manual), I typically shoot at a f/1.6-1/8 with my 50mm on indoors. Actually, even outdoors I shoot pretty wide. If I have my 50mm on outdoors I usually shoot at a f/1.8, with my 135L I'll usually shoot f/2-2.2. Of course there are variables but these are my typical f-stops for shooting Luke.

6. Did you have to do any special treatments to get pregnant and to carry Lucas to the end of pregnancy?

No special treatments. I've never had a problem getting pregnant (well, not yet anyway!). I think, with Luke, I got pregnant the first or second month of trying! I did have a high risk pregnancy from day 1, though. A lot of spotting in the first and second trimester and then pre-term labor/contractions at the beginning of the third trimester. I was put on bed rest around 32 weeks and then right when I was supposed to be released from bed rest, at 37 weeks, i had Luke two days before the 37 week mark! I wish i had a video camera on hubbs when I told him my water broke! lol, his reply, "No babe, you just peed!" and when I insisted that it wasn't pee, he said, "but the nursery's not done!" lol! we had planned to put Luke in the nursery from day 1, well, sometimes things don't always work out as planned and he ended up hanging out with us in the pack-n-play (thank God we ordered the one with the bassinet feature! and thank God it arrived just the day before!) for a few weeks!

7. Have you always lived on the west coast?

I was born and raised here in so cal but spent a year in NYC when I was 21. My employer had an office out there and asked if i wanted a change of scenery, heck yes! it was fun while it lasted but couldn't wait to come home! as much as i always say i'd like to move out of so. cal, i just don't ever see that really happening.

Thanks for the taking the time to ask questions :) Maybe I'll start sharing a little more about personal stuff if you guys are interested. Idk, i'm not all that interesting though, lol.

And I know I don't post here all too often but if you want to follow more closely, you can like Amber Wood Photography and follow my pro blog for more current updates.

If you have any additional questions at all, don't hesitate to ask ;)

Hope you all have a great week ahead! I have two weeks off from duty (yippppeeeee!) so I can work on closing referrals and not have to stress about being on duty!! It's going to be a GREAT two weeks ;)

Take care!

and one from the valentine's session (coming soon to my pro blog) today with Luke and his friend Maddy.

Quick Life Update

I'm at the computer, in our office/workout/storage room the size of a fairly large shoe box, working (ahem, updating the blog). no really, i'm taking a break so i can give a quick update because i want to try and post/share here more often. i see i have 95 followers but i hardly ever get any comments so i'm wondering how many of you really follow my blog? as i'm typing i'm coming up with an idea, i'll throw it out there quick and hit send before i change my mind...

are you interested in knowing more about me? luke? my gorgeous husband? i'm thinking about dedicating a post entirely to questions from you, my followers ;) that is IF you have any questions. i'll be so bold to say that nothing is off limits. ask me anything! ask a few questions if you'd like. if i don't get any questions, oh well, no biggie, just thought i'd liven it up around here a little ;)

ok, back to my quick update (seriously, my brain/mind really bounce around like this... every second of the day! it's quite exhausting!).

so i'm on the computer, a referral open in front of me. writing away, trying to organize the documents/my notes from the interviews before i start typing away, entering contacts from referrals over two weeks old (oppsie, we're supposed to have them entered into the system within 72 hours from contact, clearly not happening here :( i have luke's monitor here, staring at me in the face. it's somewhat ridiculous that we still (ever, really) use a monitor since our place is the size of a little larger of a shoe box than the room i'm in, and we can pretty much here an ant fart from the other end of the house! but whatever, this monitor provides peace, reassurance that my baby boy is still breathing.

he's rolling around in his crib right now, pressing all of Scout's buttons, i hear "2 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins of bedtime music." i guess Luke thinks 10 mins will cover it ;) oh, now i hear, "Hi Lucas, would you like to play?" lol.

Luke is getting so big, so fast! He's barely now walking on his own to the elevator, not that he couldn't before, we just never allowed it because we didn't want to be chasing after him! now he's just too heavy, he knows the way on his own, it's cute he's paid attention all these months ;)

He loves climbing up on chairs and couches now. Getting up and down from the bed (this is still a little rough but he tries, and usually falls on his butt on the way down ;)

He's a crazy, crazy boy. He loves head butting us, so grabbing my face, attempting to take a big bite out of it! he's so affectionate, laying his head on my shoulders, legs, whatever he can get ahold of. he's better about not throwing so many fits (whew! couldn't wait for that to pass!).

He loves to eat, it's the cutest thing when he walks me over to the kitchen in the morning and points at the stove like, "get to work, mom!" clearly he's hungry. i have a sense of pride that he points to the stove (and not, say, the pantry), it shows i cook at the stove often ;) He's a great eater, I'll pretend it's because i'm a great cook (when i KNOW that's not the case, lol).

update on me: my day job is still crazy, my side/photography job is pretty non-existent but i'm not in a rush so i can wait ;) i wish there were more hours in the day and, at least for my time at work, there were two of me! work is seriously CRAZY! i'm on the verge of a panic attack every.single.day because there's just too.much.work! i'm worried that i won't be able to get pregnant because of all the stress :( oh, have i even mentioned that we're trying again??? well, not really trying/trying, like not testing or anything, i'm too exhausted to add THAT to my plate but we're more like, *hoping* it happens sooner than later.

ok, gotta get back to my referrals. please come out of hiding and leave a comment, ask a question, something! it'll help get me over here more often with updates, promise ;)

and because posts are better with photos, here's one i took last night. it's the first moon shots i've ever taken and i must admit, i'm a little in love <3

Luke is 16-months...

and hubbs is asking me when i'm going to give this monthly-update thing up?! truth be told, i haven't been good about keeping it up regularly, anyway. actually NO, i SUCK at keeping it up. every month it seems like such a GINORMOUS task to have a photo session and sit down to pound out all the ways that luke is super cute (ok, that doesn't sound like such a ginormous task but mentally, yeah it is!). so i've been keeping little notes on my phone to help me remember things to type when i finally sit down to pound it out... and where do you think that phone is?! lol, not in front of me! but i'm here, and if i don't do this know i don't know when/if i ever will.

so here goes. no pictures to follow, unfortunately, but i just shared some from this past weekend on my pro blog so you can check out the most recent pics of luke here.

what he's eating: everything! he still has a really great appetite and doesn't refuse anything. we do, however have to feed him his veggies first and hide the toast so he'll eat his scrambled eggs first. and french fries?! let's not talk about those. he gets those very rarely and when he does, it's like 5 after he's finished with his meal and milk.

what he's saying: no clear cut words yet, i mean he repeats "babe," "truck," "car, dad, grape," etc, but he's still not much of a talker.

what he's doing/his interests: he absolutely LOVES hubbs' new car/truck, pretty much an over-sized toy (an FJ Cruiser in Blue) that Luke cries to get into every morning that I try and put him in my car (which he never had a problem with until daddy went out and bought the coolest truck in the world!). did i mention how luke LOVES this truck?! seriously. it's pretty annoying.

how he's sleeping: for the most part he doesn't cry much when we put him down for naps (still on 2/day) or to bed at night (still on his own in his crib, about 11 hrs/night). we got into this (bad) habit of watching tv with him for 10-15 mins right before bedtime and it's the cutest thing when luke walks us over to the bed and asks, by pointing and grunting, to put him on the bed. we used to read books every night until that started to become too much of a chore and were fighting with him to stop running out of the room.

how many teeth? i've been so bad about documenting when his teeth are coming in. i'm not even sure how many he has right now, 12-14 i think :( he has two molars for sure, and then a third coming in (i believe, bad mommy!). he likes to bite me when he's excited, his attempts at reminding me to document and i STILL neglect it!

on a schedule much? he's pretty routine still. up by 7:30, breakfast by 8:30, nap by 9:30, up at 11, lunch at 12, nap at 2, up at 3:30, snack at 4, dinner at 6, bed by 8:30.... and a whole heck of a lot of fun in between!

luke is SO MUCH FUN these days. he has quite the personality, a lot stubborn, a little trouble maker, a heck of a lot of lover (definitely loves his mommy and daddy!) and has clear preferences (like daddy's car, mommy's arms when rocking to bed, etc.).

luke's into this head-butting thing right now. whenever he's mad and/or unhappy he'll run down the hall, cry, throw his body on the ground/chair/wall/whatever is available and bang his head down.. causing him to cry even more. we're beyond telling him to stop doing that. we've redirected him, scolded him, left him alone, eh, nothing works. hopefully it'll pass soon because that boy is losing brain cells by the minute some days!

luke's definitely a rough and tough little boy. very aggressive and even mean! he head-butts me quite regularly, bullies his almost-3-year-old cousin on a regular basis, and is very hard/rough on his toys. we purchased him the cool, electronic Big Foot toy for Christmas (primarily because he loves his cousin's Spike dinosaur so we knew it'd be a hit!) and after initially (for like a day!) being afraid of him, this is how he treats him on a DAILY basis! (i lied, here are some pics that i had share-ready).











yes, we have some concerns :/

and while luke is more of an observer, not easy to lend a smile, when he smiles, boy does he smile! and his giggles and laughs! DIE! every night before bed he usually spends a good 30 mins in utter delirium. he seriously goes maddd when he's tired; spins in circles, gets all loopy, runs into walls and furniture (unintentionally this time). he's the sweetest little boy and in the morning, when he cracks his little bashful smile, my heart pauses for a moment and it's then when i see the miracle of life and love.

ok - now i'm getting delirious so i'd better get to bed now. i'll try to be better about checking in.. yeah, yeah, empty promises i know :(