We've featured wedding photographer Marina Miller's work on Offbeat Bride several times, and now she's on the verge of having her fourth child — in fact, she's being induced TODAY! To celebrate, I wanted to share her thoughts on pursuing your passions through pregnancy and raising children…

While trying to stay in shape (yeah, right!), keep working, and let out some creative energy while pregnant with baby #4, I decided it was time to move my work into the ocean. I bought an SPL water housing and have been shooting every week while my three boys are in school.

Being in the ocean is second nature to me. In fact, with all this extra water weight, it hardly takes any effort to stay afloat. As long as my subjects understand my level of confidence in the water and are patient with my slow waddle on dry land, it's a win win for both parties! I have 2 more sessions planned before my due date and I am so excited to play more after I have this little guy.

My advice to other mommys-to-be is to keep doing what you love and find a way to make it work even after the baby. Taking care of your passions and creative outlet is just as important as what you put in your mouth. Feed your soul!

My son loves animals. Since he was three he has wanted to be one of three things: A dolphin trainer, a shark trainer, or a zoo keeper.

At one point he even wanted to marry a T-Rex.

Me: So when you get older what do you think your wife will be like?
Him: She will be huge with little arms and sharp teeth.
Me: Wow! She sounds pretty scary.
Him: Oh she is! She's a T-Rex, mom. She could eat you.
Me: Well, I hope not!

Anyway a few months ago I wanted to change up his room — do something fun, but not too expensive. So I decided to paint an underwater scene, something from one of our favorite books "Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea."

I penciled in the characters and then started to paint…

Continue reading "How I turned my kid's room into an undersea dream for less than $100" →

Last month I shared our process of transforming our walk-in closet into a baby nook. Well, we finally (almost) finished the process, and I figured I'd share pictures.

The only thing missing is this poster, which is on its way from London.

Now, I'm not delusional here: despite the wide-angle lens, this is a small space. But I'm already envisioning how, once our baby is walking, we can unhinge the door, add a baby gate, and basically turn the little room into a padded toddler asylum filled with foam mattress flooring with pillows and blankets everywhere. And once he's a little bigger, a tiny bunk bed with a cubby space underneath. We'll see if we can milk this room 'til pre-school!

But for now, it's a perfect place to change a diaper, do a quick feeding (this isn't my nursing station, to be sure!), and store our impending son's clothing and supplies.

This is one of those heart-melters that make the prospect of parenting a toddler seem not so scary:

Ben, on piano, is the son of Berkeley-based artsy awesomes Andrea (jewelrymaker and inspiration-disher-outer of Superhero Designs) and Matthew (musician, artist, and founder of Parking Day). This video makes me wonder if they're interested in adopting a second child.

…As in me.

It's not every day I post something on Offbeat Bride that Offbeat Mamas would love … but this shot of a breastfeeding bride from Whitney Lee is too good to pass up:

For more shots of how baby Ada was a part of this gorgeous wedding, head on over to Whitney's blog.

Say what you want, some talents are just innate. Like the ability to rock. Hard. Check out these shots from the Offbeat Mama photo pool of kids rockin' what their parents gave them:

Check out that low-slung guitar, whammy bar poised and at the ready.

Continue reading "Kids rocking out" →