Atlanta Baby & Child Photographer Blog | Angela Calderon

I was looking through some papers that my son brought home from school today and I came across a drawing that I just had to share with all of you. It’s perfect timing since Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and his birthday was a few days ago on the 15th. What a beautiful dream to have and what a wonderful man to honor.

P.S. For those of you who read the blog via Google reader or other blog reader services be sure and stop in and check out the cool new flash header!

I’ve been tagged by a few other photographers – Season, Ashley, Heather & Amy and I’m just now getting around to it.  I’m sorry yall, I’ve been a little under the weather, I wasn’t ignoring ya!

So I’m supposed to list 8 facts that you might now know about me.

1.  I grew up in Nashville, TN

2.  My Grandmother & my Aunt raised me

3.  My first job was at Chick-Fil-A.  It’s not as big out here on the West Coast as it is in the South, but boy oh boy it sure is yummy.  They even have a scholarship program for high school kids and I was lucky enough to be awarded one of their scholarships for college.

4. I have a real live turtle named Herman.  He is a box turtle and I’ve had him since I was in the 5th grade, which was way back in 1985.    He lives at my Grandmother’s home in TN.

5.  I cannot have my feet covered up when I sleep, it smothers me.  I can’t wear socks while sleeping either.  I get that from my Great Grandpa, he used to sleep with his feet sticking out from the covers.

6. I’m big foot.  No really I am, I wear a size 10 shoe and I’m 5’11.  That’s pretty tall for a chick.

7.  It takes me 3-4 sittings to read a magazine.  The first time I flip through and skim, the second time I flip through and read the articles that are hyped on the cover and the third time I read the really long articles.

8.  I can speak German.  When I was in high school I didn’t want to attend the school that was local to me so I figured out that if I took German (which wasn’t offered at my local school) that I would be able to transfer to the school I wanted to.  Oddly enough German doesn’t really do me any good here in Los Angeles.

Phew that was painful and darn it now you all know how boring I am.  Now I’m supposed to tag 8 other cool people!  I’m so slow that I’m guessing some of them have already been tagged, oh well, once is never enough!

1. Theresa Stanton
2. Marci Ralph
3. Kimberly Hill
4. Heather Morrow
5. Jessica Grieves
6. Michelle Walker
7. Melissa DeMille
8. Traci Montarti

I finally made it back home from North Carolina!  Phew!  It took me 14 hours to get there, it was one nightmare of a trip getting there with crazy turbulence, missed flights and sitting on the runway forever.  I arrived there much later than scheduled.  I went to Greensboro, NC for a Photography Workshop and it was awesome!  I feel like I have 40 brand new friends after this weekend, it was so much fun to sit around and talk shop with people who have the same passion for photography.  We even sat in the driveway of the hotel one night at midnight for a Photoshop jam session.   What a bunch of nerds we were!

Oh and I have to tell you, I have found a new bed that I must buy.  The Marriott has one of the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.  Gone are those scary germy old school bed spreads, they now have awesome high thread count bedding and the mattress, well it’s to die for.  You can even buy it!  I told my husband I think we have found our next bed.  Check it out: http://www.shopmarriott.com/index.aspx

Here are a few shots from the weekend:

isnt this little one the sweetest thing ever, she told me she wanted to come and visit me in California!

So now I’m frantically trying to get everything together for our family vacation on Friday.  Everyone say prayers, cross your fingers, chant, whatever you do, that my children will cooperate and behave on the 5 1/2 hour flight to Maui.  This is our first “real” vacation in ages and the kids are so excited to go.  My daughter keeps asking each day if it’s “time to go to the airport”.  Too cute!

I’ll be blogging from Hawaii sharing some photos.  This is my first time to go there, even though I’ve traveled to so many other amazing places, this is my first time visiting Hawaii. 

Next week my sweet baby girl will be turning three.  Yes I said baby, she is and always will be my baby girl.  How is it possible that this little person has only been with us for three years when it feels like she’s been a part of our lives forever.

I’ll go ahead and confess that she’s feisty and with that I’ll also tell you that it’s quite the understatement.  Yes she throws tantrums, yes she screams and cries and yes she has had a bout of the terrible twos.

But….. I started thinking about the phrase “terrible twos” and decided that it’s not really applicable.  Putting the tantrums and outbursts aside I suddenly had flashbacks of her past year.

Is it terrible for someone to come up and hug you and say “I wub you Mama”?

Is it terrible for someone to tell you that you are her best friend? (ok she got that line from Charlie & The Chocolate Factory – her favorite movie, but it’s still sweet)

Is it terrible for someone to laugh and giggle without a care in the world?

Is it terrible for someone to get so excited about learning new things and wanting you to share in that joy?

Is it terrible for someone to come running to you smiling with open arms when she sees you after only a few hours away from each other?

Is it terrible to hear a little voice behind you in the car singing the ABC’s?

Is it terrible to hear a sweet little story about the wonderful “shockolate” cupcake she had at a friend’s birthday party at school?

Is it terrible to have to dance around the room while holding her in your arms while she giggles and sings?

Is it terrible to see the love that she has for her brother and other friends and how she just wants to be with people?

When I add all of these things up it makes me realize that the “terrible twos” really don’t exist.  There is nothing terrible about this precious little gift of mine who makes my heart skip a beat when I see her smiling face, when she tells me that she loves me and shows me how independent she has become by dressing herself and constantly repeating “I do it Mama, watch me”.  She is a dream come true.  So you’ll have to excuse me as many of my posts over the next week will be about her and celebrating her last week of two.

This afternoon after preschool we came home and played outside for a while.  We were waiting for my husband and son to come home from karate so I snapped a couple of very quick shots of her.  She usually runs the other way when I have my camera out.

In case you are wondering, she’s eating dirt.  So much for a girly girl!

She was so excited because she saw Daddy driving up with her brother: