Best of 2012: Your Iconic Photo

I am currently going through the process of deleting photos (agad!) from my hard-drive.  That's right. My computer is starting to get too full which happens a) when you take 300 photos in a sitting, and b) when you have a baby.  On top of consuming all your camera space, cleaning up a hard-drive is the last thing you want to do with precious nap-time.  But alas, it's either do that or buy a plethora of hard-drives that will gather dust, eventually fall of a shelf, breaking and destroy all 100,000 of your photos (1000 of which were ones worth saving anyway!)

But I digress.  The monumental task of deleting thousands of not-so-great photos has led me stumble back upon some really terrific "iconic" photos, ones that sort of represent something bigger that happened this year.  I'd like to share some of them again with you.  But before I do that, I would like to encourage and invite YOU to submit a photo or two of your own!  I would be delighted to see a photo from 2012 that represents you or someone you love or somewhere you've been, either metaphorically or geographically.  Remember, this is your "icon" photo.  It doesn't have to be the best quality, just uniquely you.

I would LOVE to see your photos.  And if I have your permission, I will post them up here on my blog on Feb 5th.  Can't wait to see your "Best of 2012: Iconic Photo!"

Please submit all photos to: stephanie.potterdavey@yahoo.ca

Information to include:

Your name

Where you are from (country, province/state, not your street address)

One to two sentences about the photo (Who, what, where) and what makes it "iconic"

**What I like about this is that it forces you to sit down and distill all the photos into one moment, one photo that says it all.

Deadline: Monday, February 4th. 

Photos will come out Feb 5th.  Do it now!

This time last year....

This time last year, Jordan and I were anxiously awaiting Gabriel's arrival.  This time in my life was so beautiful to me, so I am glad we captured it on camera.  I felt so full of hope and promise of new life, I could barely contain myself.  Carrying Gabriel changed everything for me and brought my life into perspective.  There is something about the slow growing of a little body, the mystery of his little personality and reality of what new life means that makes you slow down, breathe, and give pause for thought at the enormity of it all.

Thank you Mike Barry for taking these amazing photos.  He's the best photographer in Squamish, BC.  March Seven Photography

The Surprise of Snow

Since being in Virginia, we have been fortunate to avoid any real cold weather, you know, Canadian cold.  It's been a balmy 10 degrees Celsius (I know, you have the right to call me names now) mostly around here with the odd day reaching single digits. But with the "cold snap" it's been particularly chilly.  And this morning, we woke to the delight of snow and sunshine! Gotta say that I'm kicking myself now for not getting that snowsuit for Gabriel... but winters here are usually just too warm and not snowy.

We hit the trails for our early morning walk along the river to discover we had this stunning pristine white world almost completely to ourselves (and another lover of photography who snapped a few photos of us too!)  Not to be selfish, we had to share the beauty of this quiet walk. 

It's Politics, Baby!

While we live within reasonable driving distance of DC, the thought of heading in heavy traffic, finding parking, walking through throngs of people with a baby is less than idyllic.  Not to mention a husband who works night-shift and who needs to sleep during the day.  So, we opted for our own "private seating" to witness the inauguration.  Our living room.  And yet somehow, the fact that we are so close (even if we weren't really there to witness it in person) makes it seem all the more real to us.

Here are a few shots of Gabriel soaking it all in.  We think he likes Obama and he especially liked the music.  He even danced to Beyonce singing the National Anthem.

 

Sundays in this house

The weekends are our most favorite days--extra time with Jordan, no work, etc.  But Sunday is becoming the personal favorite.  In this house, Sundays mean afternoon naps for everyone, family walks with the dog and big breakfasts dates together listening to the "Sunday Edition" on CBC before church (while Gabriel sleeps).  It's become something we do.  And it only happens on Sundays.  

First Steps

Finally caught Gabriel on video taking some first steps.  Oh boy!  This is going to be fun!

A boy who can stand on his own two feet

 

Day 1 of standing, it was hard to get a picture of him actually standing all by himself.

He got so excited that he was clapping for himself.

 

After two whole days of trying to get a picture of Gabriel standing BY HIMSELF, here it is.  He stood a ton today and even took a small step or two....  We are days away!

What are you having for dinner?

Because last night at this house we had "Key Soup."  Apparently, mama must do too much cooking.  Gabriel's picked up a few tricks.  Number one rule to a fabulous meal--only the best ingredients. 

Pirates don't wear bibs

They wear capes.  And rescue monkeys from polar bears.  Then push them around in their Tonka Trucks.  Only babies wear bibs.

Stroller pushing at the MNH

If you are going to crawl around for a few hours, I'd recommend the Museum of Natural History. Big wide open spaces and virtually everything glassed in for instant kid-proof protection.  (Change table is on the basement floor.  FYI).  One thing that we are absolutely loving about DC is that there are soooo many Smithsonians and they are all free!  It's sort of like mama-heaven if you are looking for indoor places to go during the winter with a wee-one. 

After stopping downtown for lunch with Jordan, we trekked it down to the National Mall to the Museum for the afternoon. Having just been to the zoo not too long ago, I am really sure that Gabriel is starting to make connections between the real live animals he's seen, the taxodermied animals at the museum and the animals we read about in his story books.  Gabriel literally vibrated with excitement when we say the gorillas and I made the gorilla sound. 

 

Highlights from our trip:

1) The elephant in the main lobby--REAL!  I mean, I should have known... but somehow it was so much cooler to see in real person. 
2) The giraffe with sprawled out legs bending down to drink water. 
3) The surprisingly small size of the polar bear and black bear
4) The surprisingly large size of the grizzly bear and the bison.  That bison is GINORMOUS!
5) The model of the right whale which is, of course, also colossal in size.
6) The dinosaur bones, my favorite of course the Triceratops, mostly because of the Land Before Time.  Which reminds me.... Note to self to show this to Gabriel some day. 
7) Watching Gabriel push his stroller around the Museum for an hour.  After looking at the host of incredible dead things.... All he really wants to do is play with wheels.  Oh boy.  He was zonked afterwards and slept in the stroller all the way back to the car.