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Children’s Casual Portraits: How to Get and Use the Best Lighting

Girl at dusk photoMarin Mommies presents a guest article from photographer Norm Levin, who gives us some terrific tips on how to get the most out of our casual family portraits. Norm is a Marin photographer who own Natural Portraits & Parties. For more information, visit naturalportraits.smugmug.com or call him at (415) 499-1403.

Click on any photo to enlarge it.

Children light up our lives. The question for photographers, i.e. Parents With Camera, is how to best light our children when we want to capture that special memorable moment.

First, understand that there are only two kinds of light: natural and artificial. Natural light is almost always from the sun (unless you have access to a starlight scope) and will be your light source for most of your photos. It can be a friend or foe, depending on how you choose to use it.

Book Review: Free San Francisco

Free San FranciscoIn today's economy, families are always looking for ways to maximize their budgets without skimping on the fun. That's why a resource like Free San Francisco: The Ultimate Free Fun Guide to the Bay Area (Corley Publications, 326 pages, $15.95) is a great thing to have around. While it's small enough to fit into a coat pocket, purse, or backpack, this pocket guide is filled with over 400 things for families to do all over the Bay Area without breaking the bank.

The book's sections cover the city of San Francisco itself, Bay Area venues ranging from art museums and galleries to nature centers and zoos to parks and historic sites, free activities like art walks, hikes, bike rides, concerts, and film screenings, and a roster of free or almost-free Bay Area events for every month of the year. It's a lot of fun to read to discover a new place to go or activity to do, and it's indespensible when out-of-town guests make an appearance.

Nurturing Prenatal Massage Therapy

pregnant womanMarin Mommies is pleased to present a guest article by massage therapist, doula, and yoga teacher Elizabeth Shelhart on the many benefits of prenatal massage.

When a woman becomes pregnant, her body begins to rapidly adjust to the new levels of hormones circulating throughout her system and her emotional balance is also affected. Throughout pregnancy, a woman’s body changes in ways she never imagined before. Muscles soften, ligaments lengthen, skin stretches, and organs shift around as the baby grows in its underwater home. Pregnancy is by far one of the most transformational experiences a woman will ever go through.

Tutu School Dances Across the Bridge to Larkspur!

Popular San Francisco-based ballet school Tutu School is now open in its second location in Larkspur! At Tutu School, children ages 18 months to 8 years have the unique opportunity to learn basic motor skills and build rhythmic awareness through creative movement, ballet, and storytelling, all set to the classical tunes of great composers like Bach and Tchaikovsky.
 
Tutu School's mission is to provide a magical space and nurturing environment for children to develop a positive relationship with both music and movement through the exploration of ballet. Each class concludes with "Ballet Story Time," where students' imaginations take them to places where fairies, princesses, and whirling dervishes take flight.
 
In addition to their "Exploring Ballet" program, Tutu School offers "Tutu Toddlers" classes for toddlers to take with a parent or nanny; custom birthday party packages; and "Tutu Camp" during the summer months. Tutu School Larkspur will continue to provide a safe haven for toddlers and kids to learn ballet, while allowing their parents to relax at the neighboring shops and restaurants of the Larkspur Landing Shopping Center.

Pony Party at Morning Star Farm

Riding a pony at a Morning Star Farm pony partyWhat child doesn't dream of being a cowgirl or cowboy, riding their pony across the range? When my daughter was invited to a Pony Party for a friend's birthday at Novato's Morning Star Farm, we were all pretty excited. In case you're not familiar with it, Morning Star Farm is the large equestrian facility that you'll see in west Novato at the corner of Novato Boulevard and Sutro Avenue, directly across the street from San Marin High School.

Morning Star's Pony Parties are for children ages 3 and up, and our suitable for children up to 9 years old, although older kids can be accomodated with larger mounts if needed. The Pony Parties include one hour of hand-led pony rides, a trip to the farm's petting zoo—which includes goats, lambs, pigs miniature horses, ducks, and bunnies, and play time on their large play structure. Each child's pony ride lasts five to seven minutes and takes them through Morning Star Farm's scenic grounds.

Tips from the Au Pair Trenches: Our Fifteenth Au Pair!

Today's post is by guest contributor Deb Schwarz, local coordinator for Cultural Care Au Pair and the mother of four. Learn more about Deb and Cultural Care Au Pair at d-schwarz.local.culturalcare.com.

As we begin a new year with our fifteenth au pair (oh my!), I took a moment to reflect on the fond memories, the twists and turns, and things I've learned over the years. Many of you may have heard about "au pairs" through friends, the news, or from the Internet—and are likely more educated than I was 9 years ago when, pregnant with triplets and with no relatives in sight, I stumbled upon the term "au pair" in the yellow pages. What a wild and wonderful ride it has been since then!

Uh-Oh: SIGG Bottles Contained BPA After All!

SIGG bottle with ironic claim printed on itBy know you've probably heard that SIGG, the Swiss manufacturer of expensive and stylish aluminum water bottles, hasn't exactly been honest with consumers. After years of claiming that their bottles were BPA-free (which is why so many of us bought them in the first place), SIGG last week revealed that the liners in all their bottles manufactured before August 2008 in fact contain—you guessed it—BPA. SIGG insists that tests show their liners to be non-leaching, but the damage is done. I'm not going to go over the whole sordid story here; there are plenty of places online that do that already, like Huffington Post blogger Simran Sethi.

If you're like many of us, you probably own one or more pre-August-2008 SIGG bottles (which you, ironically, bought to avoid having to use BPA-filled plastic ones). So what do you do with them? Fortunately, SIGG is attempting to make good in light of this PR disaster, and will exchange your old bottles for new versions with their BPA-free "EcoCare" liners.

Visit SIGG's website for instructions on how to return your bottles, and to download a shipping lable and return form. You'll have to pay to return the old bottles, and the program is good through October 31, 2009. Of course they remind us that the old bottles have been "proven not to leach," but at this point it's probably a good idea just to get the new ones.

If you don't feel like going through all that, then you may be in luck: apparently Whole Foods and REI stores will take exchange the old SIGG bottles for either a new model or store credit. That sounds a lot easier than packing the bottles up and shipping them back at your expense. In Marin and the North Bay Whole Foods stores can be found in Mill Valley (415-381-1200), San Rafael (415-451-6333), Petaluma (tel (707-762-9352), and Sonoma (707-938-8500), and REI has outlets in Corte Madera (415-927-1938) and Santa Rosa (tel (707-540-9025). Phone numbers are included because it's always best to call and confirm first, isn't it?

Celebrate Sendak at the Contemporary Jewish Museum!

Maurice Sendak: Final Drawing from Where the Wild Things AreThis fall, the work of legendary children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak will be on view at San Francisco's Contemporary Jewish Museum. The exhibition There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak is a major retrospective of over 100 works by Maurice Sendak, and features original watercolors and drawings from more than 40 of his books—including the groundbreaking Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen—as well as rare sketches, working materials, and interview footage.

There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak opens Tuesday, September 8, and runs through January 19, 2010.

The exhibition is organized by the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, the world's only repository of Maurice Sendak's work. The exhibition allows both children and adults to gain a deeper understanding not only of Sendak's beloved characters and books but of the author himself, as well as explore the real-life people, places, and events that inspired many of the elements in his stories.

Got Baby? Use Sign Language!

BabyMarin Mommies presents a guest post by Melissa Ayotte on the benefits of teaching your babies and toddlers to communicate in American Sign Language.

My name is Melissa Ayotte and 7 years ago, when my daughter was a baby, her three-year-old brother and I taught her to use American Sign Language. Like all signing parents, I had a magical experience! Signing is truly a gift beyond measure. Since then, I’ve helped hundreds of Marin County families learn to use sign language with their babies and toddlers. Signing is easy to learn and so much fun to teach your child. I strongly encourage you not miss this incredible opportunity to communicate at this unique stage of life.

Why Sign?

All Babies communicate non-verbally and learn to wave “bye-bye”. Teaching your child to use Sign Language is nothing more than an extension of this natural communication, and signing has profound benefits for both parents and children. 
 
Studies conducted by Dr. Susan Goodwyn and Dr. Linda Acredolo through the National Institute of Health have shown the following benefits of using sign language with infants:

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