Pam Biasotti Photography Blog

I love Piedmont!  The S family I shot a few weeks back really turned me on to this location.  I can find all sorts of nooks and crannies.  I am very partial to stairs–give me a family or a dog on stairs and I am in heaven.  I have been shooting this family for several years now and it amazes me how much young B is growing up.  We had a good afternoon.

Last weekend I met the S family and spent some time at Piedmont Park in the Oakland Hills.  I  must say, it’s a really nice location!  There were several photographers out and about that afternoon and I can see why.  Showing just a few of the two adorable children.

Before you get confused and say, “Um, Pam WHAT DAUGHTER?” let me explain.  There was a good reason I was a mom to a daughter today.  My niece Hailey is up for awhile from Mazatlan.  Her mother is my husband’s sister and she lives there with her family and runs a successful coffee cafe business.  My sis in law went back home last week and I promised Hailey a belated girls day out to celebrate her birthday from last month.

I don’t have any daughters as you know.  I really don’t know how to raise a daughter day in and day out.  I do know that I love to do the girly girl things and Hailey loves to do them too.  She wanted to get her ears pierced.  Mom gave me her full blessing so I realized this was going to be quite the special day.  Where do you go to do this?  The last time I had any holes put in my ear I was around nineteen I think.  It was the 80′s and it was cool to have an extra earring in ONE ear but not both.  Before that, I was 13 when I had my ears pierced for the first time.  I recall my mother telling me it was my body and she couldn’t stop me from doing what I wanted to do with it.  (Are you kidding me?  If  I used that logic on my 13 year old son right now he’d be coming home with body piercings and tatts and lord knows what else!)  Anyway, I called my friend Kim to ask advice for where to take her.  “Oh girl, you MUST take her to Libby Lu!!!”  Supposedly it’s THE place for girls to get their ears pierced and soak in the ambiance of fun while having it done.  My local mall has a Libby Lu, so off we went to accomplish the deed.

We walk into Libby Lu and I approach a teenage girl who most likely is the general district manager of the entire Northen California region because she sure had a high and mighty superiority thing going on when I approached her.  I said “Hi, I would like to get my niece’s ears pierced.”  BIG FAT HUGE MISTAKE!!!!  She immediately said “Um, like ya know, sorry, but her parent is the only one that can authorize that” in her superior managerial authorative way and I said “Her parents are in Mexico.  I am her legal guardian.”  Okay, so I am not her LEGAL guardian, but I was responsible for her that very moment.  The boss lady said “Well, you need papers and documents showing you as her legal guardian.  Sorry.  If you came back later and someone else took care of you that would be fine, but I KNOW you aren’t her mother.  You might want to go to Claire’s and not mention to them you are her aunt.”

Stunned at her impersonal comments, I thought “You are not getting my business, $%$#%$#%, and removed Hailey from the chaos.  There was a birthday party of some sort going on there and I could hear way too much noise.  Just think, if we sat her down there and did it and all that distraction–no thanks.

We made it down to Claires and it wasn’t busy.  A nice lady who worked there set it up.  Here begins the most up and down 30 minutes of my career as an aunt.  I couldn’t let her mother down and ruin her child’s ears.  I had a mission and I was going to make sure it would be done correctly and painlessly.

Hailey is silly.  She is very much like my sister-in-law.  When she is near my thirteen year old son, it’s like watching my husband and his sister brawl and fight and knock heads.  Kyle spent 3 weeks this summer in Mazatlan living at his cousin’s home and I heard many a story.  Here is Hailey pre-piercing.

So, we had a big choice of earrings to choose from for Hailey.  What to pick?  She settled on the crystal sapphire daisy.

Here we show the lady cleaning her ears with the antiseptic wipe.  At this point Hailey is rethinking her choice to get her ears pierced.  I am beginning to sense she is not into it.

The lady marks her ears with the dots.  Hailey claims they are stinging and pinching…uh oh, I am smelling some big drama coming up.  I tell Hailey if she wants out then lets do it and go and not waste any time here.  She says she WANTS to get her ears pierced.  Okay….

Watch the expressions change here.  Curiosity goes to amusement and then goes immediately to OUCH.

My poor kiddo.  Her eyes are telling me she doesn’t like it.

We then spend the next 15 minutes battling over what to do.  Hailey does not want to do the other ear.  I am terrified her mother is going to kill me.  She’s going to be a hipster kid–one hole in one ear.  How different is that.  I cajoled, coaxed and assured Hailey it was only a sting for a moment and that it really goes away fast.  I reminded her that the lady had other customers and we needed to not play games.  Finally I asked her what if I showed her how easy this was to do?  Hailey said “Okay!!!!”  What the?  So, for the first time in 25 years, I sat in a chair and had a third hole added to my left ear.  Ouch.  She wasn’t kidding.  Look at how red that puppy is.

After much relaxing and settling down after seeing brave Aunt Pammy get her ear pierced again, Hailey agreed to finish up the deed.  I squatted down and told her to squeeze my hand as hard as she could.  I proceeded to take photos with the other hand.

YEA!!! Mission accomplished.  Instantly she was proud and happy.  Oh of course, because lollipops were shoved in her direction and all of a sudden she forgot about the stinging pinch from a few moments earlier.

What’s that I see?  A SMILE?  Happy smile?  A girl with newly pierced ears?

Then came the task of choosing from all the earrings.  She picked about 9 pairs of earrings.

Looking good, Miss Hailey.  Let’s go celebrate your success.

Yummmmmmm.  I promised this if she finished up the deed and completed her ear piercing mission.  It was accomplished so I had to deliver.

Yup, she’s pleased with herself now.  And Aunt Pammy is a middle aged hipster with three earrings in her left ear.  Such a rebel I am.

We had some yummy lunch and headed back to my house.  Hailey told me it was the best day ever.  That meant a lot to me.  So this is what it is like to have a daughter. 

Apparently I am getting more and more of the combination together which I enjoy. We just returned from Southern California for a little downtime after the “termination” of my IT career. Sara Evans was playing at the Ventura County fair and my husband is a huge fan. Me, not so much but I admit she’s a good singer. We also stopped off in Camarillo to grab a few shots of this little miracle girl and her siblings. I hope her parents don’t mind me sharing the story with you–well actually Dad gave me permission (but I was hoping Mom would speak up.)

I just want to say that it’s never too late to have the family you always dreamed of having. No matter how your child comes to you, the opportunity to parent a child is by far one of the most rewarding lifetime experiences. S and R tried for many years to conceive a child on their own and finally adopted their first child, a boy. M came along and guess what happened one month later? R found out she was pregnant! At the age of 40 she delivered a brother to 10 month old M.

It gets even better! We received a call a few months ago that a happy surprise was coming. R was expecting another child–a girl–at 45. Congrats to the family and to her big brothers M and M. Ha ha…sounds like a candy plug doesn’t it?

By the way, Maggie is the new family dog. Sweet addition to an already full house!

I love love love this mommy. She has known my children since my oldest was in her preschool class. He was in her first class–my youngest in her second to last class. Her gift that she has with children is beyond amazing. I am so happy both my boys experienced the time they had with Miss Michelle. Now that she has her second child she is taking a break from teaching preschool. I am selfishly glad that my youngest made it through her class. There are a lot of heartbroken parents this year that lost her and I am sure they miss her terribly.

Michelle has a wonderful sense of humor. That smile–she lights up a room with her smile. She smiles so much you can’t see her shining blue eyes because she is too busy grinning from ear to ear. She has a lot to be smiling about. Her son was born last week and their family is complete. Just 21 months earlier, her daughter came into the world. I remember how badly Michelle wanted these children and was thrilled when her daughter E was born.

See how funny Michelle is? All I have to do is tell her a naughty joke and she is laughing her head off. I recall her whispering to the baby that she would pay her $5 if she pooped on Daddy. Baby had a bank account start that day!

This is baby E today.

And this is her new brother D.

Michelle, thank you for teaching my children. Thank you for all those hours of hard work and love you gave to all the children that have been your students. It was such a joy to watch both my boys go through graduation and successfully move on to kindergarten. Thank you for loving my oldest and understanding him. You were his fan and never criticized him for being “energetic”. You applauded his unique thinking outside the box. You believed in him with more patience than most teachers would. Thank you for doing the same for my youngest. He’s 180 degrees different than my firstborn but challenging just the same. Thank you for those lovely presents my children made for me. Mother’s Day and Graduation Day made me cry watching those special DVD’s that you created for the parents. Thank you for loving children. You put your heart and soul into your work and the kids blossomed. Now that you have 2 of your own I wish you much love and happiness raising your children to be all that they can be. I know they are lucky to have you for their mom.