Letters to our Children | October

Dear Children,

Hi my sweet sweet babies. Mama recently found out that one of her childhood friend lost his baby boy. The thought of someone I care so much about not being able to hold his sweet sweet baby ever again made my heart break and ache so so much.  That night I held you both a little longer, kissed you more times, and took in your sweet scents post-bath a few breaths more. I told you both that we are so so lucky to have one another, for you to have your dad and I, and for us to have you both in our lives because not everyone is so lucky. We need to appreciate it as much as we can. I know that in our life time, we aren't always going to see eye to eye..but can we please always try our best to communicate..and even when we aren't getting through to one another, please still always remember that we are there for each other, that we are a team and we've got each others' backs? And maybe then we would be a little kinder to one another and never say things we regret even when we are angry. I promise I will try my best to do that and never make you doubt how immensely happy and grateful that I am your mama. Promise. 

Max - this morning Baba wore his cockroach costume and biked you to daycare while you wore Evie's old dinosaur costume. Fun, right?! You've become the life of the party, especially our dance parties at home while we blast the Young MC Pandora station.  You have this eagle dance move where you reach your arms behind you and you twist and jump. You are completely fearless, super social, and just love to play and participate.  Your Baba and I were both amazed at how well you were participating in all the games at Evie's friend's 4th birthday party this past weekend. You follow direction extremely well and obviously pay a lot of attention to what is happening around you in an effortless way. You'd run and line up against the wall like all the big kids and were completely unfazed by all the older kids and activities.  You've also been saying lots of words. This morning, Evie taught you how to say TWO. You've also been saying ello (hello), nana (banana), gup (cup), baba, emma. You also excel in copying our expressions and making faces. Your sister and you are constantly feeding off of each other, shouting, hollering, dancing, and competing for attention! 

Evie - where do I begin? So many things to note because I don't want to forget a single thing. You apparently sleep talk...your dad heard you say "mmmm...coconuttttttt...yummm" in the middle of the night. You recently had an interesting exchange with your classmate about body parts, clarifying to him that you don't have a "gina" but a "vagina" and a booty butt. Since then, you've come up with a hot new single called "get your own booty butt." On top of all this, you committed your first real crime (which we won't talk about further here) but thankfully, your father handled it with flying colors, managed mama at the same time, and made it a good learning moment. You continue to throw some crazy tantrums, including an episode where you sobbed giant tears because  you bit your own finger one night on purpose. Between those chaotic moments, you are incredibly sweet, witty, funny, and loving.  

I love you both and I can't wait for upcoming Asia trip together! 

Love,

Mama

P.S. We just got home from trick-o-treating. Your dad and I are exhausted! E - you did great! Your bucket is full of candy and you and your friend took turns knocking on the door! M - you were unstoppable! Who knew a not-even 18 month old could collect that much candy. You refused to be left behind by your sister and you demanded candy from every house by shouting and squealing. We couldn't believe how much you ran!!! Nice job, babes.

P.P.S. I realized that majority of photographs in this post have motion blur...and while I would never deliver galleries full of blurry images..I can't help but wonder that one day when I am old and frail..and I close my eyes to think about my fondest memories, will it pop up just like this? I kind want to think yes and that kind of makes me want to cry happy tears.

 

Ready for memories like this with your family? Contact me to book a session near Ventura, CA!

Po Chi Fung is a Ventura County Lifestyle Family and Newborn Photographer, also serving Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and other surrounding areas. She captures real-life moments with a documentary approach on film to tell your family's story. 

Film Friday...the Halloween edition | Ventura Family Photographer

Happy Friday!!! Happy Halloween weekend!

Because I am a super boring person, I never cared for Halloween until the kids were born but boy, I think I am starting to enjoy it. We dressed up as the Peppa Pig family and wore our costumes to Gaver Farm for the second year in a row. I must say, Jeremy helping me make pig snouts at 10pm might be my favorite Halloween memory this year. GO TEAM. If you haven't been, Gaver Farm is awesome!! We went two weekends in a row and had a blast :)

Enjoy the photographs!

Ready for memories like this with your family? Contact me to book a session near Ventura, CA!

Po Chi Fung is a Ventura County Lifestyle Family and Newborn Photographer, also serving Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and other surrounding areas. She captures real-life moments with a documentary approach on film to tell your family's story. 

Oh ordinary life! | Ventura and Santa Barbara Lifestyle and Documentary Family Photographer

So thankful.

I am sitting here typing and the sun is shining and the sky is gorgeously blue. I am sipping on my coffee and J is out in the yard working with 12 bags of mulch. We had a wonderful weekend with my wonderful mother-in-law and we took the children downtown for a delicious BBQ dinner and then to a fall festival and a pumpkin patch on Sunday (btw, a cold gloomy day turned into a day with beautiful sunny blue skies with perfect fall weather!). I look at these photographs from my best friend's visit and I am so happy the kids are loved and cared for by so many people. J and I talk often about how grateful we are to have this "ordinary life," I want nothing dramatic...I just want to be able to snuggle with them, read stories together, eat a family meal, and go for a walk to the playground. Life is already so perfect that way.

Some favorite images from the past month - playgrounds, apple picking, lake living, bike riding, and home living.

This might be my latest most favorite portrait of the big monster.

This might be my latest most favorite portrait of the big monster.

That look..my confident little bicycler.

That look..my confident little bicycler.

May your week be as joyful as this.

 

Ready for memories like this with your family? Contact me to book a session near Ventura, CA!

Po Chi Fung is a Ventura County Lifestyle Family and Newborn Photographer, also serving Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and other surrounding areas. She captures real-life moments with a documentary approach on film to tell your family's story. 

Film Friday...the Saturday edition!

I got my scans back from our amazing weekend in Vermont attending a family wedding. It was the BEST trip we could have hoped for to wrap our crazy summer up with an awesomely relaxing time. All I did that weekend was swim, eat, drink, play, canoe, dance, paddle board, and sleep. It was the weekend that our family SO needed to kind of just slow down and enjoy each others' company.  Some photos from the trip!

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!!!

Letters to our Children | September // Ventura Family Photographer

Hello my children,

I am enjoying this change of season and really, the change of pace! We are finally home for some weekends before we take our long vacation in Asia, yippeeeeee! We had the best time in Vermont for your Aunt Ruth's wedding, spending most of our time paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming. It was SO SO great to spend that time with you and being present and not rushing every second of the day. That weekend really made your baba and I think about the life we want. Gosh peeps, this summer was a great one..and now we get to look forward to the cool, breezy weather, sweaters, Halloween, and pumpkin chocolate muffins :)

Alright, since I always start with Evie, out of fairness, I'll start with Max this time.

My dearest Max - Oh little babe, you're not so little anymore! You're running, doing naughty things and even instigating couch jumping with your sister. You love to say "cheers" and cheer us with your cup, chicken drumsticks, blueberries, and anything else in your hand. You are so sweet, you give the warmest hugs, and you have the best giggles. You are friendly and social..and oh my gosh, I think an extrovert! You're not afraid to run into a group of new friends and just start playing. I love that about you.  You're also testing boundaries and I'm also starting to have to show you where these boundaries are. Your baba laughs at me every time I try to enforce rules with you because he knows how badly I want to cave. I'm going to admit that if he wasn't watching, I might have bend a few of them for you but it wouldn't be fair to your big sister, so I am trying my best. Currently, you are practicing using your spoon rather obsessively and I am happy to report that you're doing a pretty good job. You love to dance and clap to music, and you love to be rowdy! You love Evie and you want to do all the things that she can do.  While we were at the lake, we realized you were crying in the water not because you were cold or wanted to get out, but because you wanted to jump into the water from the boat like Evie was doing! Also, the way you stare at her when she's practicing on her balance bike is a mixture of envy and desire.

Oh my dearest Evie - I am pretty sure I have said "gosh, 3 is hard!" 4000 times!!!! I know it is developmental but it is really hard to not react when you are yelling! Thank god I know how cool and wonderful you are.  But anyways, you are growing so fast that I can't believe it sometimes. You are speaking and articulating your thoughts so well. That other day, I heard you saying alphabets out loud and counting in Spanish. You're about to transition into the next classroom and you are so excited. It was so neat to see this renewed excitement for school and you wanting to be a big kid and do big kid things. You're becoming quite the story teller and you make pretty funny jokes. That other day you and I were talking about dinosaurs and I told you they were extinct. You kept saying "why do they stink!?" HAHA. You apparently also really love the word "booty-butt." This morning, you said, "mama, I am sorry I hit your booty-butt." Where did you learn that word, my love?  Also, I love that you ask about what I do. You were thrilled when I showed you my "homework," which was a couple pages of tracked changes on a document. You said that I did a good job, thanks! We are so glad you are ours and we are learning to work with you.  The biggest development since the last month is your skill on the balance bike. YOU ARE SO GOOD, like better than mama on the bike good, which doesn't say much but still! You started showing an interest a few weeks ago and asking to practice every day. You went from falling down a bunch to riding like a pro and doing trips up and down the street. We are so proud of you and I think you love that. But we try to remind you that you need to do things for you, not only to please us or make us proud. I hope you remember that throughout your life.  That other day, a few kids took interest in your bike. We thought you were making friends but instead, you left your bike with them and walked towards us with a giant pouty face.  It worries me that you didn't want to ask for your bike back nicely and you didn't do anything about it..but I also reminded myself that you're little still! I hope that once you're older, you'll know that sharing is great but asking for what is yours or deserve (in a nice way) also isn't a bad thing.  You'll figure it out your way, I know. 

Alright kids, love you guys to the moon and back. 

Love,
Mama

 

Po Chi Fung is a Ventura County Newborn and Family and Newborn Photographer, also serving Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and other surrounding areas. She captures real-life moments with a documentary approach on film to tell your family's story. 

With Jenny and family! | Ventura and Santa Barbara Family Photographer

I knew it was going to be a good session with Jenny and her family when I walked in and caught them jumping off their couch and onto multiple mattresses in their basement. As a Ventura and Santa Barbara Family Photographer, I aim to capture real-life moments and to find the extraordinary in the everyday. Mattress jumping was accompanied by the most awesome monster, superhero, and alien dialog with the best voices I'd ever heard. It makes a lot of sense that they're actors! I just love love love it when parents fully embrace crazy fun, it's so good for everyone and it shows, especially through these adorable, funny, spunky kids :) Oh, on top of acting, Jenny is also a wonderful doula in Silver Spring! I have so much respect and admiration for those who advocate for the births mamas desire!

Here are some of my favorites from this session!

Jenny, thanks to you and the fam for having me in your home!

And for all the film nerds: HP5 and Portra400. Developed and scanned by the wonderful FIND Lab.

 

Ready for memories like this with your family? Contact me to book a session near Ventura, CA!

Po Chi Fung is a Ventura County Lifestyle Family and Newborn Photographer, also serving Ojai, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and other surrounding areas. She captures real-life moments with a documentary approach on film to tell your family's story. 

Letters to our Children | August

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Good job me not missing my deadline!

Dear Kids,

It's been an insanely busy summer! We've been out of town two weekends in a row in August and your baba and I are still trying to recover and get the house in order. It's all worth it though! We visited Addie and spent her 100th birthday with her and the rest of the gang. I wish so much that I could put in a time capsule all the feelings I felt when we visited Addie.  Addie lives in a really neat community for the elderly and when she walked you guys around in her rolling walker, everyone looked and had this glow on their faces. It was pure joy and happiness that I think they felt watching two energetic and hilarious young children running around...likely thinking about their own grandchildren and remembering what it was like to have babies and toddlers during their lifetimes. It made me so happy that you guys brought a smile to their faces and even laughter. I saw an elderly man belly laugh when Max was banging on the window and pulling on the curtain of the dining room that we were in. Addie loves you guys so much and I hope by writing this down that it'll help provide you with some memories of her even after you guys are old. She told everyone she walked by that you guys were her legacy, her inheritance. She's a marvelous lady, I've never met anyone like her. Evie - that is why your middle name is named after her. 

Then we were with your Nonnie, so that we could be there for the dedication of a High school stadium press box that has your grandpa's name across it! He dedicated his life to his community and his spirit lives on brightly in all those who knew him..especially in his jokes. You can ask baba which ones he stole from him!

My peepsy peeps..you've been crazy. Evie, you are getting better and better at negotiating and debating. You and Max have started fighting over toys and my lap space! It's mostly Max getting upset that you're in my lap at all and then tries to push you out of the way. Max, you are starting to say some words like no (while frantically shaking your head), cheers, baba, mama, and agua (your favorite and first real word). You guys stress me out sometimes (ok, a lot) but are also the brightest spots in my day. I wish all day that I had more time with the two of you. Evie, I also know that we need to have more time together. I know that it is unfair sometimes when I am short with you or don't spend enough time with you, especially when Max is ultra grumpy and requires all my time. The guilt eats me up...but I know it'll improve over time!! I love you both so much.  And speaking of love. Your baba and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!!!  We are all so lucky that he's in our lives. Can you imagine how boring it would be without him?? Who would be your mud monster and who would throw you guys in the lake?

It is hard to imagine how far we've come in just 4 years but I know how lucky we are and how lucky I am to have him support me, listen to me vent about ridiculously stupid things, and be there to make sure I didn't get in trouble. HA. We recently spent some time at the Confluence Resort where we got married and wanted to do some contrast photos to show you how much our family has grown! Alright, enjoy the photos. Love you!

-MAMA

*All wedding photos by Kristi Odom.

Evie stole my move!

Evie stole my move!

 

*Po Chi Fung is a Washington DC and MD lifestyle and documentary family photographer serving Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, and Potomac

World Breastfeeding Week!

Ever since I had my babies, I've become passionate (hmm, somewhat obsessed) in spreading and communicating the facts surrounding breastfeeding. I wish our society did not focus on this constant battle of breast vs. bottle but instead, focus on disseminating correct information on breastfeeding, so that parents everywhere and of every socio-economic status can make an informed decision for themselves. 

As always, to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week and to help mamas freeze some of the quietest, sweetest, and most precious moments of our time with our babes, I'm offering special Nursing Mama Mini sessions for a limited time only! Details below. It also makes a great gift for a nursing mama :) 

Nursing Mama Mini Session details

***30 discounted spots available. Book by Sunday, August 7th, 2016 for discounted rate***

$200 (w/ tax included)

20 minute session in your home

5 digital files of your choice + a small surprise print

Additional images and prints can be purchased from online gallery

TO RESERVE a spot:

(1) Pay in full here:  http://www.pochifung.com/wbwnursingmama

(2) Contact pochi.photography@gmail.com to set up date and time!

Fine print: (1) Rate only applies for location within 10 miles of 20901.  $50 additional travel fee for those 11-20 miles away from 20901.  (2) Payment must be received in full to lock in rate.  (3) Session must be completed by October 31, 2016. 

 

 

*Po Chi Fung is a Washington DC and MD lifestyle and documentary family photographer serving Silver Spring, Takoma Park, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rockville, and Potomac