Nayanna Arts

It was a joy to photograph this beautiful family yesterday morning, if only the weather had cooperated a bit more, it had my mind racing all weekend! Hopefully it didn’t make me come across too green, although I still am I guess. They we’re great sports and we’re quite willing to just be themselves while I made due with the variable lighting the very somber dark skies we had that day.

Just a sneak peek for them and you all, sort of anonymous really

Sweet Naya & belly baby!

Edit: Can’t help myself, a couple more Enjoy!

I’m hopefully going to be able to start keeping up here. It’s been a rough last month with seemingly non-stop random “stuff”. Being worried about Gabrielle’s weight gain and growth or lack thereof, although it’s still too early to tell. Having the ENT NOT call back was a high point of the month. Trying to keep up with a rambunctious toddler and a VERY active preschooler 9at least she seems to be phasing out her “why” stage! good grief! :P) And today, to mark the start of another month (ok, so we’re the 2nd, close enough, right?) Gabrielle, my little15 month old Gaby, climbed, ALL by herself onto our “old” dining chairs! OMG! These are the chairs we we’re keeping for “Évelyne’s table” where she could keep all her toys and things that are either too small for Gaby or that she simply didn’t want to share. That and the fact that Gaby,s a little monkey that can reach SO far into tables to start! I’m SO in for it this summer

BUT! Although I’m not marketing or putting myself out there, I’ll hopefully start getting a few bites here and there Photography is something I’m VERY serious about and if all I need is to keep at it and keep having fun doing it, then, I’m in! I’m soaking all the wisdom I can find from different areas, I’m honing my eye and my technical skills and the best way to do all this is to get right out there and practice! practice! practice! Who wants to be next?

Candids from Gabrielle’s swim lessons! Let me tell you, this place is in the basement of a private home (although there’s a salon on the first floor), the ceiling is painted black! half the walls are yellow and the top half is white. Yikes! But the subjects we’re just the cutest! See for yourself:

Let me tell you, this first little guy is SO smiley you wouldn’t believe!

This little dude can make bubbles already!

And LOVES to splash:

This darling little girl is just so sweet!

swimming with mommy:

Grabbing at the watering cans

Lastly some of Gaby and daddy:
She loves to tell us where her head is or where is her hat:

Smiling is she’s getting dunked!

Silly daddy

A few images from a maternity session I had at the end of April. My great friend is due mid-July and is having a little boy! She’s still so relaxed about it all, ah, if I had half her calm demeanor

Just a quick blurb about a FANTASTIC trip I made to San Antonio in April. (Yeah I know, catching up :P) The best kind of trip too, a MOR trip… now, what the heck is a MOR trip you ask? A Mom’s ONLY Reunion It was JUST the thing we all needed, a bunch of us friends that have been chatting together for over 4 years now. We’ve had 2 past reunions, which included our less than 2 year olds (they fly free :P) but this one was KID FREE! Gosh, it felt AWESOME! Every mom should be able to have some time away from her family to reconnect, re-energize and feel like she can tackle her home and kids or go back to her work/home lingo a lot of us know so well!

Here are a few Travel pics I took while there I added a special gallery for trips (not that I’m going to be having a LOT of them, but hopefully a couple more are in my future! :P)

Sunset on Plane

San Antonio Riverwalk

You cannot visit San Antonio without seeing the Alamo

Flags

I’m fairly sure this was “the” market square, although I’ll have to check for it’s actual name. This picture doesn’t truly give justice to the sheer amount of people that we’re there, I kid you not!

And with that, two little girls need some snacks and a trip to the park, I promised them “if it was dry”.. it hasn’t rained since this morning, so…

Apparently this little tid-bit was a bit lost in my site. I had it under another section altogether.

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For a limited time only, Nayanna Arts offers you their Fresh Faces Campaign 2008. As part of this limited edition offer we will waive the regular session fee in exchange for a signed model release form. To thank you for your participation, you will receive a complimentary 8×10 gift print at the time of your portrait viewing session.

Additional prints/portraits and specialty products may be ordered with our current reduced rates at your viewing session, however we remind you that there is no obligation or minimum purchase required to take part in the Fresh Faces Campaign 2008.

The Fresh Faces Campaign 2008 is designed specially for expecting parents/families and families with young children.

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What is this about… This is about building experience through hands on work. This is an actual session with all the bell and whistles as described in my Investment section.

~The deal is this, as mentioned, “we will waive the regular session fee in exchange for a signed model release form” Plain and simple, I am looking for fresh new faces to add to my portfolio. This is a complimentary session for me to “learn” and “add” to my experience repertoire. This is a Limited Edition opportunity, it will be running until I’ve compiled a pleasing variety of people and expressions to update said portfolio. Also note, I’ve been  selectively choosing people I meet/know to feature in my portfolio, hopefully why you are viewing this site now, or have been directed here by such a lucky friend

~”To thank you for your participation, you will receive a complimentary 8×10 gift print at the time of your portrait viewing session.” Yes, that means a free 8×10 just for sitting down with me and viewing your images

~”we remind you that there is no obligation or minimum purchase required to take part in the Fresh Faces Campaign 2008.” is just that, it’s all up to you

Hope to see you soon

So I was just sending along another email to know if a certain product contains gluten. As Easter is fast approaching, I can say that Évelyne has yet to have a chocolate bunny for Easter. In my quest to find things that are normally GF without being labeled as such, I’ve composited a “template” email that I keep as a draft in my email drafts section. I’ve made mine with snippets of various other people that DID share willingly. You may use it in full or in part to suit your particular need. Hopefully it’ll help get you the information you want. Enjoy!~~~~~~
Subject: Gluten in your product?

Product: **************** (UPC Code)

Dear Consumer Affairs Representative,
I would like to know if **************** are gluten free and safe for Celiacs.

Although it’s more of a food related concern, many facial or hand cosmetics as well as arts supplies that can be used by children could possibly be ingested if/when they eat with their hands or if they are likely to lick their hands/lips or the product they used/played with.

Celiac disease is an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in the wheat, rye, triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye) barley, and contaminated oats. When a Celiac consumes even minute amounts of these grains they damage
the villi, the absorptive surface of the small intestine. This leads to impaired absorption of essential nutrients.

Treatment of Celiac Disease is the strict exclusion of gluten for life. This diet is simple in principle, but difficult in practice. Food, cosmetics and art supply labels must be read carefully to identify the presence of wheat, rye, barley, oats and their derivatives. The source of non-specific ingredients must be known, such as natural flavorings, caramel color, hydrolyzed vegetable or plant proteins, etc. Celiacs also must know if gluten is found in any listed ingredients such as spice, seasoning mixtures or herbal remedies. Another concern is gluten contamination during processing and packaging of this product ( i.e. flour on the conveyor belt). Although by law it is not necessary to list these contaminants on the ingredient label, these small amounts of gluten can make a Celiac very ill.

Any information about the gluten content of this product would be appreciated. If you have a listing of other gluten free products I would also really appreciate receiving a copy.

Thank you for providing this information.

–
Name
Phone Number
Email address
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Version francaise du email generique pour envoyer a differente compagnie pour connaitre leur contenu en gluten:

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Sujet: Gluten dans vos produit

Produit: **************** (code UPC)

Bonjour,
Je voudrais savoir si **************** contient du gluten, un allergènes grave pour les gens atteint de coeliaque.

Malgré qu’ils s’agit d’un plus grands problème au niveau de l’alimentation, certains cosmétiques à utiliser sur le visage ou les mains, ainsi que des produits artistique pouvant être manipuler par les enfants pourait être ingérer lorsqu’ils mange avec leurs mains ou s’ils seraient porté à léché le produit ou leur mains/lèvres après avoir utilisé/joué avec le produit.

La maladie du coeliaque est une intolerence au gluten, une protéine que l’on retrouve dans le blé, le seigle, le triticale (un hybride de blé et de seigle), l’orge et l’avoine contaminé. Quand une personne atteinte du coeliaque ingeste même une quantité minime de ses grains, cela endommage les villosités de l’intestin grêle, soit la surface qui absorbe normalement les nutrients essentiels à la croissance et la bonne santé.

Le seul traitement existant à la maladie de Coeliaque est le suivi d’un régime excluant tout gluten et ce pour la vie. La diète est simple en soi, mais difficile à suivre. Les étiquettes de tout produits culinaire et bon nombre de produits cosmétiques et artistiques doivent être lues avec grandes attention pour pouvoir identifier toute source possible de blé, seigle, orge, avoine et leurs dérivés. La source de plusieurs ingrédients non-spécifié doivent ête connues, tel les “essences”, “couleur caramel”, “protéines végétale hydrolizé”, “protéines de plante hydrolisé”, etc. Les gens atteint de cette maladie doivent également savoir si du gluten pourrait être à l’intérieur des autres ingrédients, tel “épices”, “épices mélangées” ou “remèdes naturels”. Une autre facette à considérer est la présence de gluten lors des procédés de transformation des produits et de l’embalage (c-à-d: de la farine sur la ligne de défilement des produits). Bien qu’il ne soit pas nécessaire selon certaine loi (notament en amérique du nord) d’énumérer la liste de ces contaminants, même une infime quantité peut tout de même rendre une personne atteinte très malade. Égalment, tel qu’en europe, la présence de gluten est toléré jusqu’à une quantité prédéternier par la loi, ce qui pourrait avoir des conséquence grave chez les gens plus sensibles.

Toutes informations concernant l’apport en gluten de ce produit serait grandement apprécier. Si vous avez une liste des autres produits considéré sans gluten (avec l’apport en gluten indiqué pour les produits européens) il serait également très apprécier d’en recevoir une copie.

Merci de nous faire part de cette information.

Sincèrement,
Nom
Telephone
Email
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is permeating the air of my house right now. It’s a special sort of smell and carries much more meaning than any ordinary loaf. You see, it’s Evelyne’s “special” bread. It’s hers alone. She gets to eat the whole thing all to herself and it usually doesn’t last 2 weeks. EVERY morning, either I or my husband, ask her “what do you want for breakfast honey” and 98% of the time, she replies “dé toas au beuue d’pinote avec da confituye” (yes, it’s phonetically typed in french) basically, toast with peanut butter and jam please!!! Every…. single…. morning… If for any reason, I fail to bake some bread in time and she HAS to miss a day of her favorite breakfast, she usually doesn’t eat that much, unless she can eat just about every fruit in the house The other 2%?? sometimes it’s cereal (which she lets soak too long in her milk and generally ends up eating only the bananas she’s asked enthusiastically to have added in them :P) and a very few times, some eggs. But still, this doesn’t explain why it’s HER special bread?? Well, that’s because she has Celiacs. For those of you just joining us, Evelyne was diagnosed at the end of summer 2006 with Celiacs Disease. It’s a form of wheat (and other grains) intolerance that somehow destroys her intestines and prevents her from absorbing various essential nutrients. Well, all of them in fact. She stopped growing when she was 15 months, just about, and at 22 months, when she finally underwent an upper GI endoscopy and then switched to a Gluten Free diet, she was 23 lbs at 22 months. At the end of that summer, she was just about 31-32 inches in height, which is the same height she was the previous spring. Her percentile (which normally doesn’t mean much as long as they follow their curve pretty steadily) fell from the 50-75%tile at birth and through her first 6 months of life, to UNDER the 25%tile for both height and weight between 18-20 months. At 3 and a half years, she is now a HEALTHY 6 inches above table height (I haven’t measured her since her birthday and she’s had a growth spurt in the last 3 months! YAY!!!) and is now hovering around 40 lbs!

Now, why rehash the past like this… yep, there’s more. That little voice of mine, the one that kept nagging me that maybe something is just not right with my little 13-15 month old back in 2006 is back… my littlest girl, Gabrielle, is showing VERY familiar signs. As DIFFERENT as both girls truly are and really, I think the only way they could be more different is if Gaby was a boy, seriously, their similarities end at their baby looks…. the similarities between their health at the same age is unsettling. Gabrielle has started spitting up again, which is something that had stopped entirely in the past 2 months. Her little belly is getting more and more prevalent, but it wasn’t always so. She’s loosing her baby fat faster than she should, even though she’s a walking fool. Her appetite for yummy things (hey! pizza!! Pasta??) is just not there. She’ll eat and eat and eat and stay seated for an hour if all I give her is fruit and bread, but nothing else?? I know these things can be considered normal for any average toddler “they aren’t interested in eating as much” “they walk so much it’s normal that they don’t put on much weight” “yada yada yada” Well, in 4 months, she’s put on 800g… that’s just 1.75 pounds. In FOUR months?? And dare I say it, she weighed in at 22 pounds just a month ago, and is now under 22 lbs…

In any event. All these thoughts from one little baked loaf of yummy smelling gluten free bread. I will be going through various information I have with me about the disease and various foods/brands I’ve check out and are gluten free for us. Why do I specify “for us”, because it largely depends on where your particular UPC coded product has been manufactured and packaged. It also depends how restrictive you are being with your diet. Since Evelyne is still too young to know the difference when she gets glutened, and who knows, as careful as we are, there’s still gluten in our home because we DO have to give Gabrielle some to see if she’ll develop the disease as well, she might still be getting glutened and we can’t really know. I’ll mostly share brand names with their numbers/websites you can check for yourself and maybe make a better yummier food-life for yourself. As it is, I’m using a “normal” cookbook for ALL our recipes! Believe it or not, I’m using one of Rachael Ray’s cookbooks and just substituting which ever ingredient is listed for an approved GF version. How does “Balsamic Chicken with Pesto gravy and arugula” sound to you? Well, I nixed the store bought pesto (and added more time to my recipe since this was originally a 15 minute meal) and just added basil to the girl’s portion of gravy, used verified balsamic vinegar (I’m WAY more careful than most, I call in EVERY product Evelyne eats if it’s not labeled as GF), substituted the AP flour with some AP brown rice flour and that’s it. Of course, kids being kids, I made them green cauliflower instead of the bitter green

I hope you follow this journey with us and if these snippets help even one person live their life better with this disease, then I’ll have done my part.

Y aurait-il des intéressés à suivre mon blog en français? Quelqu’un? Je le demande parce que ce n’est pas une chose toute simple à faire. Ça prends pas mal de temps et d’acharnement pour tout traduire dans les deux langues mais également pour rendre chaque page du site bilingue. Si quiconque est réellement intéressé que l’information contenu sur ce site ainsi que mes entrées de blog soit aussi en français, SVP me laisser un commentaire! Même si seulement une personne y est intéressé, il me fera un plaisir de travailler la dessus le plus vite possible. Je ne suis pas certaine qu’il y ai vraiment une demande pour ceci, alors SVP, ne soyez pas gêné, laissé un “EN FRANÇAISE SVP!” dans la section commentaire

Would anyone like to follow my blog entries in french? Anyone? I ask because it’s not a simple thing to do. It takes quite a bit of digging or typing to translate every post in both languages and also to make every other page on this website bilingual. If anyone’s truly interested in having this information be available in french, please leave a comment. If even one person is interested, I’ll go ahead and work on that. I wasn’t sure if there was really a demand for this, so please, don’t be shy, leave your “EN FRANCAIS SVP!”

Yep, I’ve finaly found the time…

well to be honest, I’m freezing in the basement, while the renovators are hard at work. I’ve cleaned up most of a horrible mess left behind by some of the work yesterday… Let’s just say, ALWAYS put up a barrier tarp over and entrances to other rooms when doing any kind of major renovations! Oy! Finally came to my senses as well and had my parents come over in a panick last night to pick both girls up. After Gabrielle had a 5minute coughing and crying fit, scratching at her face in her high chair, I realized I had made a HUGE mistake keepign them at home while they redid both bathrooms. Poor baby is already VERY sensitive to dust and such, she has n air purifier that is working non-stop in her room since she was 6 months and her mysterious runny nose stopped after I put it in her room!! Her cold cough was getting worse today, which is what really made me see clearly. SO, they are happily playing with my mom and hopefully my dad and brother are chipping in as they are a handful for sure I called up my mother a while ago and she was just laughing at seeing Gabrielle go. She is NON-stop. Said she’d probably be digging a trail into the floors she’s walking so much! lol

So, with the “time” I have not having to change a diaper, wipe a nose, prep meals (I never really understood how much TIME goes into feeding them almost every 2 hours! a meal, a snack, another meal, another snack, then supper then bedtime routines…) Having kids is NOT for the time challenged That said, I’m time challeneged myself, but I think that’s because I try to get too much done WITH kids around. Aha! Epiphany Anyways, so I just took an hour to get some galleries up. I haven’t got much to show for with that 1 session under my belt, but apparently everyone is gaga over the little guy’s portraits Check him out in the Time to Start gallery, I don’t know if the names will stay, it’ll all depend on your feedback! What do you all think so far, yay or nay?