Info AquaScape

I can't believe I get to stay home every day and take care of this bundle of joy! I did it! I took a leap of faith and told my boss that I'd like to extend my 3-month maternity leave for at least 1 year until I finish nursing Rosalina. K's job seems somewhat stable at least for the next 6 months (they're looking to hire him on soon, which means health insurance benefits, baby!). Plus, my mother-in-law isn't able to babysit as much anymore, so it just wasn't worth it to pay for childcare when I really, really  want to be there for my kids when they're younger. I love having a little girl... she's literally my living doll that I get to play dress up with. While it may have seemed nerve-racking to pull the plug with my company, I was scared to death about telling my parents. Yeah, the same parents who both worked their entire lives and paid for my engineering bachelor's and master's degrees. The same mother who told me when I got marrie...

When Dexter was 2 weeks old, I had a Groupon discount for a studio photography session for a disc of 10 digital, retouched images. It was a really good deal and the photographer did decent work, but in hind sight, I feel that Dexter came out looking kinda... weird. Above: newborn Dexter taken by a professional with studio lighting and heavy editing Below: newborn Rosalina taken by me with natural lighting and minor editing Since then I have paid for a photo session of our entire family (this time in an outdoor setting), and again, I feel like most of the images didn't have us looking our best. Maybe I'm just super picky or there wasn't enough time to get our kid in the best of moods. Then I saw this article on DIY newborn photography . Wow, if I could make my own setup at home and take pictures over the course of many days to get that perfect pose, maybe I could produce results that looked professional (and several hundred dollars cheaper). Materials The only...

A baby sprinkle is this slightly new, slightly controversial concept of having a smaller party to celebrate second, third, and so on pregnancies (because a "sprinkle" is smaller than a "shower"). Some people think that it's wrong to hold more than one baby shower (especially if the children are close in age or the same gender) since gifts, decorations, and food can be so expensive. Others believe that every child is a blessing and therefore should be commemorated somehow. As an introvert, I don't really care for parties where I have to be the center of attention, so I was perfectly happy skipping out on the baby sprinkle trend. However, one of my close friends enthusiastically insisted so I figured, "Why not?" But we definitely have to establish some ground rules... 1) No gifts. There would be no designated "time to open presents" at the party, especially since we already have a ton of hand-me-downs from friends for our baby girl....

Probably the #1 reason why most parents get their kids into modeling is because of pride and the belief that their children are the cutest things on two legs. As for me, I was completely driven by financial reasons. Before Dexter was born, K told me an interesting story about an acquaintance who was in the US military and, while stationed in Japan, was approached about baby modeling for his daughter. She ended up earning more than enough for her college fund. So armed with only a little Internet research, I decided to try it out for our firstborn. Here's what I learned in the process: 1) Location, Location, Location Sorry, if you don't live near one of the major advertising headquarters (e.g., New York City, Los Angeles, Miami), your opportunities for making the big bucks will be limited. However, other cities still need talent for local ads, so if you're interested, it won't be hard to join a modeling agency. Agencies need a lot of people in their line-up because...