babyGap should be paying me.

Until verrrry recently, the thought of taking the baby to a Kinderphoto or PicturePeople or another of those get-em-in, get-em-out kiddie photo places made my skin crawl. They do a hard sell* of pictures, they ooh and ahh (unconvincingly) about how adorable your kid is in high-pitched voices while trying to get you to frame poster-sized prints for hanging above your fireplace, your parents' fireplaces, and even... the babysitter's fireplace.

My thing is: we have a great camera. It's just as good as the cameras these places use. But, their lighting set up is much better than anything I can do at home. So, I thought I'd give it a try and here's an example of what we got as a result:


Not bad, right? I wish I'd taken a moment to consider the wash-out of a white backdrop behind a baby in a white onesie, but overall, not bad. In fact, I'm thinking of trying to sell this to babyGap. Think they'd go for it? Can't you see it on the inside cover of the next issue of Martha Stewart Living? Surely every parent thinks their kid is the cutest thing on earth, but I think I now have hard evidence of this fact. :)

*I walked out of there about $40 poorer. I thought that was pretty good considering the first "package" they attempted to sell me was upwards of $500. I think I may have snickered when she showed me that... and then politely tried to advise the salesgirl to not waste her time on me. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Mike rocks the Dean’s Centennial Seminar Series

Mike and colleague Josh Leonard will be presenting a high-profile lecture next week at Northwestern. If you're unable to make it (!), watch this video to get a layman's glimpse of what Mike is doing at NU.

Food, glorious food!

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Originally uploaded by megbeltran

Christopher's 6 month birthday was yesterday! The past month has been the most eventful of his little life, thus far.

As you can see from the latest photo set, he's now dabbling in the art of eating solid foods, he rolled over, he just recently perfected the art of sitting up, he's using a pincer grip with his thumb and pointer finger (right hand preferred, thank you!), he had RSV (ick!), babbles with lots of intention, grew a little more hair to cover that sweet head of his, and giggles - nay - cackles when tickled!

Happy 1/2 year Birthday, sweet baby.

Snippets

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Originally uploaded by megbeltran

A peek at life around here in the last few weeks...

A new crib, cooking, playing, and staying warm in the dead of winter.

Though these images show a pretty happy kid, he's got one heck of a cold at the moment. We're doing our best to cheer on his immune system, as well as keep ourselves in operating condition.