If you’ve ever met me in person, you’ve probably caught me wearing my favorite jewelry pieces from Sentimental Silver™. My good friend Christi J is the owner/designer of this hip line of personalized sterling silver jewelry and I wanted to share her website and a few pictures since Mother’s Day is less than a month away. (Note: since these necklaces are handmade, the ordering deadline for Mom’s day is Sunday, April 20th.)

My suggestion is to forward this link to your hubby with a “hint hint” type of email (and I assure you, Christi is used to working with ALL sorts of clueless guys who are buying presents for their special gals) or maybe just treat yourself to something special this spring.  I can say that Grandmas also LOVE the necklaces!

BONUS: Use the coupon code “MOM” to receive 20% off your order (excludes gift certificate purchases.)

These are images she sent me from her latest BLOG entry introducing her newest pendants that are shaped like stars. She also has circles, squares, ovals and other shapes available.

This little guy came to see me today and he was SOOO excited to be here that he nearly refused to doze off - even with a full belly he thought there was just too much excitement to miss.

See, I am the coolest photographer in Phoenix. Gavin thinks so - giving me the “thumbs up” endorsement!

Practicing for GQ….

Finally, with the help of a paci and some close snuggling with Mom, he gave in to the inevitable….

Since both my husband’s and my family lives in the Midwest, we fly, on average, 2-3 times a year, if not more (Sarah took 6 round trip flights in her first year!)  Scott and I have the “get to the gate” routine down to a science and both kids are pretty well behaved on the flights. BUT this is all dependent on there being TWO of us to man all the bags, stroller and car seats… I am doing the unthinkable (at least to me!) next month: Flying solo with 2 kids.

I came across this product Tuesday, in an old issue of Good Housekeeping that was at the YMCA (I was stuck with GH because all the old issues of People, Star, US Weekly and OK! were taken!)

CARES Kids Fly Safe - FAA approved Child Restraint Harness.  If you look at their website, it looks like a really cool product (and it received the GH “Good Buy 2008″ award). It offers the safety of the shoulder harness for the toddlers without the bulk and hassle of hauling the carseat on board the plane! I bought one today for Sarah - I will have a full usage review in May!

Bowls, buckets and basets are a two-fold joy for me - they hold itty bitty newborns and really emphasize how small they are and they serve as containment devices for crawlers.

This rustic wooden bowl is my latest acquisition - I got all giddy when I saw it and I think the other shoppers at the store though I was crazy when I exclaimed to my husband “I can put a NEWBORN in here!”

Baby P (just two weeks old!) got to be the lucky newborn to break in the new bowl. As you can see, she thought it was a BLAST!

Here’s another one - I mean, who doesn’t love a smiling baby!

One from the end of the session - Miss P got a little fussy at the end, but as you can see, the time it took persuade her that things were okay was WELL worth the effort. One of my favorite Mother/Daughter images.

Almost one year ago I featured newborn Miss Olivia on the blog with her older brother & sister. I’ve had the pleasure of photographing her over the course of the past year and last month photographed her for her 1 year portraits. She’s such a dainty thing - I think her mom said she was around 16 lbs at 1 year old, but she is just so precious and fun to photograph!

My 4 year old, Kevin, started t-ball last month. His first game was actually last weekend but I had to miss it because my 20 month old developed *another* ear infection and I was with her at the doctor’s office last weekend. So - today was the first game I was able to watch and photograph.

If you’ve never had the chance to watch 3 & 4 year olds play t-ball - it’s pretty amusing. When a ball is hit, they ALL run for it - I mean - 7-8 kids chasing ONE ball down - most of the time 2-3 kids land on the ball as if they were trying to recover a fumble in football.

Kevin did great! They each bat three times (they only play 3 innings) and each time he had a nice solid hit. He is learning more and more how to field the ball and developing the proper throwing techniques. He’s a long way from signing with the D-backs, but he’s having fun!

In the “ready” position…

That batting swing looks good to me!

This little gal came in with her mom & dad just before Easter for a fun session. Mom indicated she was a very serious little girl but I have to say that I love her Mona Lisa smile. She was a gracious little thing who crawled all over the place (she was VERY interested in seeing my camera) and she even was kind enough to let me try out my new petti skirts!

This one definitely makes me smile. Love the content look.

…. to share. While downloading these images to my PC tonight, I just HAD to edit a few to share on here. Baby M was a delight to photograph - she snoozed quite a bit and at the slightest bit of fussiness, she was easily soothed by Dad. She also qualifies as the smiliest newborn I’ve ever photographed!

How can you *not* fall in love with her?