Happy Pesach

Today I spent the day cleaning. Scrubbing things down, cleaning things out. It was much needed.

While cleaning, I remembered God's faithfulness to His people. That He sees when a people is suffering and oppressed, and He hears their cries for help, and He will answer. God saves. Miraculously, sometimes. Our God is a God who saves. He was faithful to save His people out of Egypt and He is faithful today. Tonight we remember when God spared the firstborn of Abraham's descendants and delivered them from their oppressors.

Video Shoot

Just a quick image from our shoot with Richelle Dante...you can see more images from the shoot by clicking here.

We had so much fun working with Richelle! Nathanael is currently in process of editing it together right now, and it is looking fantastic. Stay tuned.

PR

For my readers from Southeast Asia, and anyone else,

whatever your political views,

who doesn't love nasi goreng?

Oh it always makes my day to hear Bahasa Indonesia.

Flower Power

Yesterday we at Heschle Video Production did a shoot with Richelle Dante, a fabulous photographer from Orange County area. It was super fun--she had an awesome vision for an intro video for her website (stay tuned, it'll be here in not too long at all!). Needless to say, we had a great day filming for her project. Check out her website here.

When it was all over, we still had two bags of flower petals, so this morning Layla and I made good use of them. :-) Here is my favorite shot from the day...

Disneyland - "The Happiest Place on Earth"

Oh Disneyland... :-)

We went to Disneyland on Monday with Nathanael's sister and her boyfriend who were visiting from Kentucky and with my parents. I never understood before how my mom would be happy just to have us kids happy. But now I understand. My happiest moments were when Layla finally fell asleep for a nap and when she met Mickey Mouse and smiled. Going on rides myself wasn't all that exciting, especially because I was always concerned about Layla. Sigh. Having a kid wrestles selfishness away (or at least highlights its presence).

Lessons from the day: Kids get CRANKY when they miss their naps! Oh my goodness, so ironic because over the loudspeakers they keep proclaiming "Disneyland, the happiest place on earth" but seriously everywhere we looked there were kids screaming and crying and throwing fits (including our own), especially as the day crept into the afternoon and naps were being forsaken for rides. It was truly amusing. Would have made a great little video. Not for promoting Disney though...

Layla refused to nap. Practically the whole day, which is crazy cuz she usually fits in about 4 - 5 hours worth of naps during a day. The more tired she got, the more overstimulated she got, the more she fought sleep. It was not fun.

And she was super ornery about her stroller. Would not have it. Only wanted to be held. Which brings me to lesson #2: be sure to practice things before you really need them. This applies to baby sitting in stroller, baby being held in Moby or other wrap (which we have done repeatedly so she's real good about it), using a bottle, using a pacifier, playing on her own, etc etc.

Enough! I will try to apply these lessons in the future but probably will forget by then. :-) In the meantime, thanks for reading!

Busy

We've had relatives here visiting for the past week, so I apologize for the lack of blog action...It's been good and loads of fun, but also exhausting. Among other things we packed into their short time here, we made a trip to Disneyland, Farmer's Market, the beach, the harbor, Chamomile Cafe, and the bluffs. Here is a picture to tide me over until I have the energy to write a real post. :-)

Mirror

Exercise

During pregnancy and now mommy life, exercise is sometimes a challenge to fit in. But so important! And honestly, I always feel so much better about life and everything after some good exercise. :-)
For those in Santa Barbara, there is an excellent pre-natal class taught by Tracy Schmidt at the YMCA on Hitchcock. She also teaches a post-partum exercise class which is also awesome! I highly recommend it. :-) The first session is free, and you don't have to be a member of the Y to join the class. After that it works out to about $5 a class. Anyways, it's super fun--dance, stretches, breathing.

Peek-a-Boo

So yesterday Layla created the most adorable game. After she finished eating, she looked up at me with her big sparkly blue eyes and then cracked the biggest grin. Seeing she had my attention, she buried her head in my arm, then looked back up, smiled, and buried it again. She repeated this most beautiful game of peek-a-boo several times.

I wish I could describe the emotion, the feeling. It's like falling in love all over again. With my baby. And as both Nathanael and I fall in love with this little person, we fall in love with each other afresh. It truly is beautiful.

Fall in Love: Layla's Video

The Layla and Mommy Video from Sacred Space by HESCHLE on Vimeo.