The Laurent Files

check me out here now

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:39:00 +0000

This site has moved...head over to Maya Laurent Photography to see what we're up to now!

moving on

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:59:00 +0000

It's time to move from this blogger account and onto the photography blog! I debated whether to keep Laurent Files for personal and have photography be for, well, photography. But I think it's good for my clients to see my personal side too. I'm not deleting this blog as I have so much written on here that I need to archive somehow. Any suggestions anyone? BUT you won't see me posting here anymore!

So without further ado I would like to send you to my new blog. And don't forgot to update your RSS feed.

Leave me some comments and let me know what you think! And you gotta check out more photos of Lee!

Pat did an awesome job on the logo and the design of the blog. I was a pretty picky client! Ha!

moss

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:01:00 +0000

On our anniversary weekend Pat and I took a walk around the Winona Lake area. We both had cameras in our hands and did a walk of our own, just like Shutter Sister's walk at BlogHer.

I kept finding moss everywhere and kept taking photos of it. It amazed me how moss can grow on something as strong as concrete. The contrast of the green on mostly the concrete surfaces made the area vibrant. Some would say it made it look old but I saw it differently. It seemed fresh and lively, bringing new live to something old.

Check out other best shots this week at Mother May I.

Senior: Haley

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 15:25:00 +0000

We drove up to Decatur to shoot Haley's senior photos last weekend. As we pulled into her driveway Pat and I got so excited at the scenery that surrounded her home! Talk about the perfect place to take senior photos!

Haley was so much fun and totally knew how to work it for the camera! We talked to Haley about what she was planning on doing after her senior year. She's been working at an animal hospital and hopes to do physical therapy with animals. How cool is that?!!!

You'll notice the logo on the photos...more coming soon on that! We're working on getting my photography blog up and running and ready to share with you all! Coming soon!!!

I had a really hard time picking favorites but I can't post all of them so here's a few.

They had this awesome barn that we of course used as a backdrop!

Love this shot of Haley laughing.

And another one catching her laughing!

See what I mean about her knowing how to work it for the camera?!!!

My angle of Haley looking at Pat for a shot.

This is one of my favorites!!!

They had a ton of fish that were jumping hanging around the pier wanting to be fed. Haley looks gorgeous in this photo!

Another beautiful one!

We had to take some corn shots for sure! This fence with the corn in the background ruled!

Haley having fun!

We found a random beach ball and Haley was laughing the whole time we took these photos!

Haley's brother Alex jumped in for some photos too!

And the jumping shot!!! Pat's favorite of the day!

Look at all this stuff we found to use for photos! This hot pink lounge chair was just perfect!

Haley and her dogs, oh and their kitten made it into the photo too. He followed us around the whole time!

And to end the session Haley jumped on her trampoline. Talk about one fun girl!!!

Haley's mom, Shar, gave us a grape pie as we headed out after the photo shoot. We had never heard of grape pie and as you can see we were anxious to try it. It is amazing!!! Thank you Shar! I'll have to get the recipe from you!

six years

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:49:00 +0000

Sunday marked 6 years ago that I married Pat. Six years ago I could have never imagined the places we have gone. We have grown so much since that hot summer day that we got married standing on the grass of my parents' lawn. I remember stumbling over the words with emotion coming through every pore and sweat from how hot it was!

If I could have seen what laid ahead of us 6 years later I would have said no way. We were at a completely different point and had a completely different focus in our lives at the time. I look back and realize how much we've developed into who we truly are and how that continues to develop.

I would have known we'd be supportive of each other but had no clue how much my husband would be encouraging me to jump into unknown territories and to just put it all out there. I knew we'd always laugh but I didn't think he'd still be able to bring tears to my eyes as I laugh or that we'd still be able to have toothpaste fights and water fights just like kids. I knew he'd be a good dad, but had no clue what I would feel like when I see Zane snuggle into his dad's shoulder and watch Pat whisper to me, "I love this."

I saw us together, walking and holding hands through it and we still do just that.

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:45:00 +0000

Everyone always tells us who they think Zane looks like, whether it's me because of the big brown eyes or Pat because of the hair and facial features. When Pat and I were looking at these we were laughing because of the similar faces these two have in each of these photos. The top one cracks me up...very serious two there!

And both of them have a very curious look here. Zane gives me faces all the time and I stop and say, "That is your Daddy's face! Don't give me that face I already know how to deal with that one!"

oh yea we have a dog too

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:31:00 +0000

Poor Truman has not made it on this blog in awhile due to some kid named Zane taking over the photos! In true Truman style once we got to the lake, he wanted to be in it. He fetched the ball over and over again. While he might be slower now and can't jump as high, he's one golden retriever who can still fetch a ball and swim.

shooting from the hip

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:09:00 +0000

I'm constantly looking for inspiration of trying things out a bit different. Shutter Sisters is the perfect place for this and if you are a photographer and haven't checked it out...go now!

One of the topics recently is shooting from the hip. Pat does this all the time and gets some pretty funny shots of me usually making some crazy weirdo face. I tried it out this weekend at the lake as I was trying to keep up with Zane as he ran to towards the lake with his big ole life vest on. I needed one arm to grab him if ran onto the pier too quick so I thought shooting from the hip was perfect.

Here I am trying to keep up with him!

coke ad

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:06:00 +0000

We had a great weekend at the lake with Pat's extended family. I have a ton of photos but need to let Pat on the computer so more to come later!

In the meantime though here's Pat's cousin's daughter, so I think that makes her our second cousin or Zane's second cousin? Whatever, she's a cousin! She was just standing there watching all the boys play on the beach. She was very serious about her coke.

Check out other best shots at Mother May I.

sam

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:37:00 +0000

We met up with Sam, Val and Andy at their nearby park to get some 2-year-old photos of Sam. We chased Sam around the playground and the fields as he played. He is one active little guy! Pat played peekaboo with him when I was doing the family photos which resulted in some hilarious laughing shots!

Sam was not shy at all. After we were done and Pat and I were headed out he even gave me a hug! Sam I'm your photography whenever you need one!!!

Meet Sam...

Sam had no fear of climbing up high!

Swinging with Mommy and Daddy.

My favorite shot!

Look how serious both Sam and his Daddy are. This is serious business climbing things!

Okay not always so serious!

Another type of swinging!

Mommy and Sam.

Daddy and Sam.

And some family photos...

Love Sam laughing...thanks Pat for the peekaboo.

Pat's favorite!

After taking the shot above Sam had a fall...poor little guy! We all tried to run to catch him before falling but none of us made it in time.

No worries though he was back to normal in minutes and running around.

Love the toes in the sand.

Sand on the hands!

It's work keeping up with Sam!

I love the way Sam has his hands behind his back. How cute is that?
Had to get a shot of Val and Andy. They were cracking up the whole time. What a fun family!

celebration

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Zane's friend Parker, my good friend Jenni's son who you've seen here a few times before, turned one last weekend! It was crazy enough to realize Zane was one and now Parker's there. These two are just curious about each other right now but we know they'll be trouble together later! We were so glad we got to share the day with Parker and his family and Zane didn't have a tantrum while we were there! Victory!!!

Here's the birthday boy...

And here's my cutie playing with Parker's cool toys.

Parker was a little freaked out by everyone singing happy birthday to him!

Still curious as to way everyone is looking at him and singing!

Oh wait there's a smile! He realizes there's a cupcake!

How cute is he?

And now we have the progression to share with you...first fingers in.

Then he starts to dig.

And then destroy and conquer!

Yum!

By the end of the cupcake mess Parker had it up his nose pretty good. It was really funny!

The leftover mess.

And Jenni was brilliant to have a baby pool set up. Talk about easy clean up! And here's Zane checking to make sure Parker's grandpa has him.

Check out other takes on celebration at The Land of K.A.

too fun

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:41:00 +0000

How do we start to introduce you to MJ and Nicki?! When they hired us to shoot their destination wedding we knew it would be so much fun but we forgot how much fun their engagement photos would be! As I was editing these today Zane was sitting on my lap and when I got to the bike photos he actually starting laughing!

I hate that these aren't larger to show you...new blog coming soon! But hopefully they give you somewhat of a feel of how fun these two are! We can't wait to be part of your wedding weekend you two!

As we went through the pictures there were barely any that one of them isn't in mid laugh!

How sweet is this?

Hilarious!

And then the lovey dovey side!

One of my favorites.

There's something so sweet in the moment right before two people kiss. Does this not prove that?!

And here we are with some cheesiness!

Another fav!

Checking each other out.

Pat's favorite.

Love the city in the background.

And here we have the tandem bike!!!

As MJ said, the tandem bike is "glorious!"

Totally looking cool on the tandem.

High five we're getting married!

How many people get a ring shot with a bicycle handle?

Who needs a motorcycle when you can have a tandem?

This is the one that made Zane laugh!

They are way cooler than those girls!

Thanks so much you two for an awesome time!

cuts. bruises. gashes. more cuts.

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 02:11:00 +0000

This is a simple little gash here, but I feel like Zane's forehead is a perpetual showing of the klutziness I have passed onto him.

He can't seem to figure out that when I'm unloading a car and the door is open, to look up and your head won't go straight into it. Or that walking around looking at your shadow is not always the best choice when door frames, corners and other hidden obstacles jump out at you! That dogs don't always see you coming, most things have sharp corners and pavement does leave a nice mark on any part of your body that hits it. Trust me, my forehead has hit pavement in recent years and I remember! (Long story on that one!)

But then I think there's something to all these cuts, bruises and gashes. He's exploring and it shows. Though the majority of the exploring is with his head down watching his shadow, the way the lines in the pavement go or the bugs on the ground, he's still exploring.

Check out other Best Shots over at Melody Slurping Life.

leap

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:41:00 +0000

I sit here looking for some photo ideas on other photography blogs and I'm judging my talent. And then my husband reminds me that some of these people have been doing this for years and look how far I've come in just a few short months completely devoting myself to this. And then I look over to my desk and see a signed wedding contract to scan and send to the awesome bride and groom and right on top of it is the card I cutout that the hospital gave us of Zane's foot prints that I want to scan as well.

I then I remember, I don't need to be making tons of money at this, I need to be doing this because I want to tell him I followed my dream, no matter how hard it might get at times. That judging myself against others was a waste of time and that I focused on my talent, my special things I'm good at, and though I have flaws, it makes me who I am, writer and photographer, mother and wife, all mixed up in one person.

And then I look at photos I took while Zane and I waited for his Grandma L. at Starbucks. He got to sit in the front seat (we were parked - calm down!) and he got to chew on a straw and was completely happy. And then I turn away from the other photography blogs, and laugh at these photos. Perfect or imperfect, it's thanks to him and hopefully future children that I'm taking this leap.

Baby Truett

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:41:00 +0000

I met Truett's mom, Cara, through several friends, which has just been funny how many common people we seem to know! Cara was the very pregnant maid-of-honor in my friend Lacey's wedding. We all were really hoping we wouldn't have to take her to the hospital during the wedding!

Truett waited a bit longer to come and now he's here and a couple months into this whole new world. And I must say he seems pretty happy about it! Of course when we went to take photos with Mommy he cried, why does that always happen? Zane seems to do the same thing with me! It's always with Mommy!

Adam and Cara have such a handsome little guy! I swear that Truett watched me the whole time and was Mr. Model himself. I might need to borrow him for more shots!

Meet Truett...told you he was happy! I wish I could have video taped what Adam was doing to get this smile!Had to prop him up on some cool antique furniture.

Hanging out in his crib.

Mommy trying to calm down Truett.

How cute is this family?!!

This is how I got here! Please stop kissing!

Love love love this shot!

Sleeping on a rocking chair...which of us wouldn't want to take a nap here?

Look at these eyes and that adorable little baby mouth.

The whole family.

I love when I catch people just being completely natural. Adam just kissed Cara all on his own and it created this moment.

The first baby of the family couldn't be left out of the pictures!

Another fav...

Truett's got some serious love from his Mommy & Daddy!

Baby Cole

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0000

We met up with Cole and his parents at a park in Columbus, Ohio for these photos. Cole's Mommy, Laurel, is my sister-in-law's best friend. Cole is truly blessed with such fun and loving parents. We took photos of Cole when he was a newborn and it's crazy to see how much his grown. But one thing that hasn't changed is the love you can see from his parents. Both Laurel and Jason handle him so well and Cole just eats up their love. I think it really showed through in these photos too.

Cole's feet are much bigger than his itty bitty newborn feet!

Love this shot of Jason playing with Cole.

Another favorite...we got in trouble from the park ranger during this shot. I guess we are not aloud to be in the planted bed area even though they weren't stepping on anything. The funniest part was as the park ranger was talking to me I kept snapping the photos. Ha!

Such a cutie!

Lovin from Daddy.

After this set of photos Laurel said to me, "I hope you got that! That was good stuff!" I didn't ask them to do this at all, they just were playing with Cole.

One lucky kid!

They just can't kiss him enough!

Just chillin.

Playing with one of his favorite toys. Check out those eyelashes...it's always the boys!

I just love baby faces.

Laurel got Cole to smile from singing "Hey good looking."

Too cool.

Thanks Laurel and Jason for letting me photograph your family!

birth control

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:03:00 +0000

Pat and I talk all the time about having a second child. We have so much fun with Zane and think it would be fun to add to that chaos! However, we then have days like this one. Zane has entered the tantrum stage and then we think, "Do we really want to do this again?" The drama is actually pretty funny but frustrating at the same time. Here is our lovely Zane as shows us his acting skills after being put in time out over and over again for stomping his feet, chasing and hitting Truman with his push toy and the list goes on and on. I think every action is a test now. I thought this didn't start till age two!!!

And yes, I took photos of him in this lovely stage and video too! I think why just document the pretty when there's sometimes ugly too!

Check out other best shots over at Melody's.

Kristi & Brian Baby Bump

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Coming soon in August Pat and I will be an Uncle and Aunt! We are excited to spoil our nephew like Zane is spoiled. Remember the loud toys guys? We'll get you back!

We were glad that it all worked out to go visit Brian and Kristi and take their pregnancy shots. I think pregnancy shots are so much fun and fun to be able to show little ones what Mommy looked like pregnant. It rained for some of our time there so we just grabbed an umbrella and shot anyways.

Look at their dogs in this shot...hilarious!

These two dogs have no clue what's about ready to enter their house soon!

Brian and Kristi did some really cool paint on the nursery walls.

Look at Pat getting a cool shot! This is way it's always awesome to have him there.

Kristi looks so happy in this photo...even if her feet are swollen!

Brian trying to hear Camden.

I know Brian's blurry but this photo was just too cute. Who cares about the blur!

How funny is this?!

I love these two shots of Kristi. Do you think they'll let me put Camden in the middle of road like that?

Every pregnant woman needs her ice cream!

Two more baby bump close ups!

this is it

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:34:00 +0000

This is it...the feeling I knew I'd have eventually. The feeling that I'd rather stay up right now and edit photos because I'm so excited to show the rest of the photos to Pat and Mel, to show Laurel photos of Cole, Kristi's pregnancy photos and baby Truett's photos. But I guess I should sleep so that when I edit their photos they don't look all crazy!

Thank you for everyone who is supporting me so much throughout this whole jump into my business. You don't know how much it means to me and I couldn't do it without you. Mom, thank you for inspiring me.

And this weekend...all I have to say is tandem bike! I CAN'T WAIT and Pat is pumped too!

Baby Ethan

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:37:00 +0000

Mel began the night as any pregnant woman would, by deep cleaning their room including wiping down the baseboards. After talking to her mom she mentioned the idea of nesting and that maybe their baby boy’s delivery was close but Mel didn’t think too much of it.

Later that night, much later, Mel woke and felt different, something wasn’t the same and she called her doctor once, then again, to find out indeed her water had broke. The doctor told her there was no rush so Mel wisely took a shower and got things packed up. In the meantime Pat sat up in bed, woke up, and sat some more. He was in shock. It was really happening, their son was on his way. No more talking about him being here or how Mel could possibly start labor, it was here and they were headed to the hospital to have their baby boy. The crib and nursery furniture wasn’t even in the house yet, Mel had a to-do list of things to get organized and they weren’t expecting this a month early.

Even though to-do lists may have not gotten finished and the timing in the middle of the night made it all a bit crazy, they couldn’t be more joyful at the arrival of their precious baby boy, Ethan. He arrived a healthy boy with just having to take home a billi blanket for a while. But he’s off that now and is relaxing with his Mommy and Daddy.

Pat and Mel we are so excited for you two as you venture into less sleep, giggles at baby farts and joy you cannot describe to soon-to-be parents until they’re there. You’re there, experiencing it all for the first time…enjoy (and try to sleep)!

Here is Ethan cuddling with Mommy.

And Zane had to investigate Ethan. Can't wait to see these two play together someday!

Ethan decided to peak at me while he heard the click click of the camera.

How precious is he?!

My favorite shot!

I love little baby hands!

Sweet shot with Mommy.

It's so cool to see Pat as a Daddy. Ethan seems to like him that's for sure!

Another favorite shot!

Look at that soft baby skin!

Oh wait...this might be my favorite! I can't decide!

Parker's Almost One!

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:51:00 +0000

In the midst of starting my own photography business I'm using this blog to post some previews while Pat designs my logo and new photography blog. No pressure, Pat, I mean, yes pressure...I want a new blog!!! :)

So I get to share with you photos I'm taking here in the meantime! Ignore the fact that they aren't super big photos like I'd normally like to have!

Parker is my friend Jenni's adorable son. He is just 5 months younger than Zane so the two of them will be getting into so much trouble together. I was laughing the other day thinking about when they're old enough and Jenni and I tell them funny stories about our college days together! But that's not for a REAL long time that they'll be hearing those!

Check Parker out, like you can miss him with those EYES!

I love the wee bit of drool in this photo...working on those teeth!

I love this photo!!! There's just something about catching a moment when a child cracks up Mom and Dad!

The best part about outside photos is all the cool stuff to play with!

More favorite photos!

EYES EYES EYES!

This picture just cracks me up!

Lance's photos with Parker are super cute but I am so in love with this one with Jenni and Parker!

We'll let this last shot be my best shot for this week. Check out other Best Shots at Mother May I.

16 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:56:00 +0000

Stats (at 15 months!)
Weight: 22 Pounds
Height: 31 inches
You are in the 20% now baby!!!

Zane,

Well at least I kept up with the monthly letters for your first year! My goal was to do these every other month after your first birthday, so let's just start here and hope that happens. Give me a bit of a break, I'm trying to keep up with you!

I am not even sure where to start. Since you turned one it's like all of these things just clicked and you change each and every day. On Mommy's birthday dinner night it clicked that you could walk for more than a few steps. You walked up and down Grandma and Grandpa's hallway and were clapping the whole time you were so excited! You took a few weeks of a break and went back to crawling but came back to the whole walking thing. Now nothing stops you. You can back down steps, although you do start the backing down process far away from the step, you walk over most things, although you have your Mommy's tendency to bump and/or trip over things, and you can turn your walk into a sprint.

We took you to the pet store for the first time. You laughed and laughed at the dogs jumping around. You could not believe how many birds were in one place and your mouth was open while you starred at all of them. You thought the hamsters were cool too, but the deal is none of those in our house! Sorry they smell! The fish were pretty exciting too and Daddy ran by the snakes and Mommy ran by the tarantula...yes your parents are wimps!

Your use of words seems to come and go. We were reading to you one night and you pointed to a cow and said Cow! Of course you wouldn't repeat it but you for sure said it. Since then you've said dog, teddy and seem to whisper thank you sometimes. I want down is another favorite that you choose to use once and awhile. I keep waiting for you to just start blurting out things but I know you're taking your time. You are picking up new signs weekly and seem to enjoy the process of learning a new sign. Your favorite is dog and bird right now...imagine that! Oh and of course eat, which I think you would say all day long if it resulted in yogurt or milk given to you each time you asked!

Mommy and Daddy's bed has always been fun for you but now it is your adventure land. You no longer need our help to get up on the bed and generally can make it off the bed pretty safely. You love playing with our alarm clock which has messed us up a couple of times in the mornings! Truman is always laying on our bed and you just climb right on up and start petting him. We're hoping once you move into a big boy bed that he'll decide to sleep with you so we have some space!

You have discovered a love for music and we are so proud! You dance to all music and love to turn up your stereo in your room. As I type this your Daddy and you are out in the family room jamming to some Michael Jackson...Billy Jean! We'll tell you later, but Michael used to be normal. Oh we have so much to teach you!

Another first for you was going to your first art museum. We did this for Mommy's birthday and you were in awe. You starred at each painting, pointed a ton and smiled at everyone who passed by. We took you out of your stroller and you crawled around the museum in the modern art section. At first I wondered what people would think as you crawled around and then I thought, he's not touching any art, who cares! You had an absolute blast! Hopefully it's just the beginning of an appreciation for art!

You do seem to appreciate Daddy's paint brushes. You always come into the office while Mommy's editing photos and point to Daddy's paint brushes. Once you're given one you light up and pretend to paint the floors. You're even so interested in the paints that you pick them up and try to drink them. Thank heavens for the caps on them but I'm thinking we need to move them up soon before you figure out how to take those off!

We had one freak out moment around Easter. Grandma and I were on her computer looking at something and you were right there on the floor playing. You were playing with one of those plastic Easter eggs and pulling it apart and putting it back together. No big deal, right? Not until you decided to stick it in your mouth and suck in. I heard you cough and turned around to see you turning bright red. We jumped right next to you and could see the egg suctioned to the back of your throat. I was able to pull it out but boy did it ever scare you, along with us!!! No more eggs till next year, hopefully you'll not be putting things in your mouth as much then!

We started swim lessons to get you used to being in the water with Grandma and Grandpa C's pool and Grandpa and Grandma L's lake house. You seem to like it but the timing of the lessons hasn't been the greatest. It's right at the beginning of your normal nap time so you really like to snuggle and be cuddly instead of kick like the other kids. That's okay...I figure you'll be more alert this summer when it's not nap time!

You just recently have started to tantrum at a new level than before. You know how to tell us NO and like to test us when we say NO. We're slowly learning how to deal with and to put a stop to it at the beginning but boy some days are pretty challenging. On Mother's Day you decided to have one of your worst days and half the time your Daddy and I couldn't stop laughing because it was so ridiculous! You test us sometimes and then hours later will snuggle up to me and it seems to wash away. We'll remind you of all of this of course when you have children! You still like to bite too and I still seem to be the victim most of the time. You completely understand the idea of a timeout and as we count before you get to that you choose to listen most of the time. The rest of the time I think you're just seeing if we mean business or if we're just testing you.

You have turned into a boy within the last several weeks. Cars and trucks make you gasp and you say "OH WOW!" as they pass us on the road. As the planes flew over to the track on Race Day we would run you out to see them and as they circled several times you would run to us in the house and beg to be picked up so we could run you outside to see them fly over. We would then stand outside and you'd point and gasp in complete awe. It's so fun to point dump trucks out to you as we drive and to run you outside as the mail woman and the trash truck come by our house.

You still are in love with your Teddy. Teddy now sits on the kitchen table as you eat, lays on the ground next to you as you look through your books and is in your mouth just hanging as you run around the house. It's the cutest thing but we're just praying Teddy doesn't get lost because I can't seem to find another just like him.

We have had so many times recently when Daddy and I have watched you as you get completely soaked and dirty sitting in the mud right beside a creek throwing rocks, playing with a sprinkler for the first time or throwing sand out of Grandma's sandbox. You LOVE being outside and when it rains you stand at the back door just looking out wondering when you can go play. We do play in the rain a lot but just not when it's lightening, which has been a lot recently! You are out to discover the world and no one's going to stop you! We don't really stop you from trying to eat leaves or dirt, it's good for your system! I guess we should pay attention to which ones are poisonous though!

The past few months have been particularly busy as Mommy has adjusted to a new job and pursuing photography. You have been so flexible and amazingly willing to go with the flow. I've been stressed, Daddy's been stressed and you have been at times too. But yet we've had moments of pure joy that show us there's an end to the madness and that we're headed in the right direction, it's just going to take time. I love the days I have off with you and love the fact that I can be more flexible now.

We had a friend lose their baby this past month. It rocked us to the core of how lucky we are to have you, tantrums in all. The night after the funeral I came home to just be with you, and you didn't want anything to do with me! It made me laugh that you had no clue what was going on and just wanted to be the baby boy you are and just play instead of cuddle. And that was okay, I was in tears as I watched you play with Truman. We are so blessed to have you growing into a healthy toddler who can't keep his hands off anything!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

See more 16 month photos here.

fires

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:00:00 +0000

We drove over to Ohio this weekend to take pregnancy photos of Pat's brother and his wife, Kristi along with some other family photos too. On our way over we came around a bend in the highway and Pat and I both saw this huge cloud of smoke. We didn't think anything about it till we got a bit closer and saw a huge ball of fire go up into the sky. As we got closer explosions kept happening and we realized it was a truck cab on fire. It was crazy! It looked like something right out of a movie. Pat of course grabbed the nearest camera (we had three in the car) and shot some pics of it. As we passed it on the opposite side of the highway our side of the car facing the fire fogged up and the windows were hot to touch. I don't know how people were still passing right next to the truck. We got very lucky because moments after we passed they blocked both sides of the highway and shut it down. I can't seem to find out the news on it but my grandpa said he heard about it and it seemed like no one was in the truck, I certainly hope not.

As the weekend went on Zane got way off his schedule...and there was the fire wrath of an off-schedule Zane! We never know what to expect when this happens. It ended up being massive tears as I took some family photos in a beautiful garden park. Pat was supposed to be second shooting with me but he ended up walking all over the park with our crying son. You could hear him as he passed us. Zane had skipped his afternoon nap and it was not pretty!

We should have known not to stop and eat dinner but we tried. After several chugs of milk Zane literally fell apart. He tantrumed like we've never seen him do before. We're talking high pitched screams, feet kicking, arms everywhere and head banging in the high chair. Pat swooped him up and took him outside just as our food arrived. I got to go boxes and we were out of there! Both of us were so embarrassed! I know it happens to everyone at some point but it's still just as embarrassing!

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here

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:40:00 +0000

I am still here! Just not very active on the blog but believe me very active in just about every other part of life. We've had lots of graduations, parties and all kinds of other things are brewing up here in the Laurent household. More details on all of it soon. Pat's painting like crazy, Zane's running through sprinklers and I'm going through some photos...but personal ones! It's about time! Zane is due to have a letter written to him, oh about 4 months ago!

A little note to anyone reading in the Columbus, Ohio region. I'll be in Columbus this weekend if anyone is interested in photos. Seniors, families, babies, I'm up for whatever! So just shoot me an email at mayacrev at yahoo.com if you are interested and we can try to work something out!

Sorry for the lack of commenting and activity on other's sites. I'll get back to you eventually!!!

the stare

noreply@blogger.com (Maya) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:13:00 +0000

We attended two graduation ceremonies this weekend and Zane was out in the hall a lot running around. During Pat's cousin's graduation he dropped a car down into the bleachers and you could hear it clang all the way down. Too funny! We had my brother's graduation also at which he held up for a bit but got extremely annoyed by having to sit. How dare we try to have an almost 16 month old sit for that long! With no flashing lights or crazy spinning things to watch!

When he was content he was usually staring at someone. Here he is walking with Pat's dad through the hallways after graduation just casually staring at everyone. And then as he was running up and down the hall with Grandpa he had to stop to flirt...not the best photo but hilarious to catch him in the act. We are in serious trouble with this boy!

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