Lily & Leo

Ever since the very first minutes of her life, we’ve pointed the camera in her face!  Our friends and family always told us that she should be a baby model, America’s Next Top Baby Model, hehe!  Even though they were maybe half joking, some more serious than others, I figured, why not give it a shot!  I didn’t know what modeling agency out there is legit, respectable, highly rated, etc., so I put the modeling idea away for awhile, until I found out that one of our friends do it for their daughter, Emmy, who happens to be 2 months older than Lily.  So I submitted Lily to the agency and next thing you know, she’s represented by Paloma Model & Talent Agency!  Yay!  I had to take outdoor pictures of Lily that the agent would then select and approve photos that’ll go onto the photosheet. It’s been about 1 month since Lily got her first gig at the end of February, and here’s what she’s been up to!

Lily’s photosheet!

Lily on set of her 2nd Infantino photoshoot! I had to be discreet since pictures weren’t allowed…

Lily got her first photoshoot with Infantino that following week her paperwork was completed!  When we arrived to the site, Lily got to play with a bunch of toys in the waiting room while the staff for her set ready for her shoot.  They provided a cute outfit for her to wear, and when they were ready for her, they sent someone into the waiting room to get her.  I got to go with her, and place her in the set where they want her, and then stand next to the photographer to help get Lily’s attention so she can laugh and smile at the camera!  She did so well, it’s like she was a natural!  She knew right away where the camera was, and was simply just being herself, having fun with the new toys!  She got to model a bunch of teething toys, which is perfect since she likes to put everything in her mouth!  She did really great, smiling, playing with the toy, and looking at the camera!  The staff kept saying how much they loved her, and how she’s so easy and how they would love to have her back!  It was such a great experience (for me at least) and everyone was so nice and welcoming!  The photos they took will be on packaging boxes of those toys that will be sold in various stores like Target, Babies R Us, Walmart, Costco, etc.!  It usually takes around 6 months for the products to be released, so I will keep my eyes peeled, I’m sure I’ll buy every toy there is with her cute face on it!!  Soon enough, we got called back for a 2nd photoshoot, and 3rd!!  It’s like she was doing a gig every week, so amazing how successful and busy our little baby model can be already!  I don’t know how long I can keep it up for though cause I have to take at least a half day off work to take Lily to these gigs, but we’re trying to enjoy the moment for now!  When it becomes too much work, took much for Lily to handle, and not fun anymore, then we will stop!  We still want Lily to be a baby, and enjoy playing and being silly and not have this affect her.

Look at the crowd at the studio!

Also, Lily had her first casting audition with Porkchops Casting for the Disney Family project in Hollywood as well!  Khoa and his mom came with us to her first audition and boy it was quite an experience.  The studio was packed with parents and kids in her age group (babies), there were at least over 200 babies there in her time range.  Even though we had a schedule time slot, we still had to wait about 45 minutes until Lily was called up.  We waited patiently and Lily got to play with her toys that I brought, got to meet some new friends, and relaxed on her daddy’s lap!  When she finally was called up, luckily she was still in great spirits, and was able to smile for the camera!  I held her while the photographer took her photos, it literally only took 3 seconds, and this was all in front of a panel of people.  On the way out one of the members on the panel asked me what brand bottle she uses and if she can crawl, other than that, that was it!  Khoa stood by the panel while Lily got her pictures taken, and he overheard them say “oh I really like this one!” so maybe that’s a good thing? Well, fast forward 5 days later, I got a call on the way home from work from Paloma, Lily’s agent (I know, fancy right?), called me and asked if Lily’s free for the photoshoot the following week, and to say CONGRATs, Lily got the Disney job!!!!!  I was so taken by surprise, I was so happy and excited and proud of Lily, I couldn’t stop saying “thank you” and smiling while I was on the phone!!  It’s so amazing and lucky and special that Lily nailed her first audition and got a job with Disney, with unlimited use too (meaning they’ll be able to use her for gigs unlimited)!!  Lily doesn’t understand or realize any of all this that is happening to her right now, that’s why I’m blogging this so she can read up on it later, but either way, I am SOOOO proud of you Lily!  I’m one proud mama and I do believe she is a something quite special and I’m glad we can share her with the world =).

The casting panel, and the photographer will take Lily’s photos to the right.

Lily patiently waiting on daddy’s lap for her turn to audition!

Lily and Emmy together at the audition!

Infantino is located in San Diego, either in Encinitas or in La Jolla.  Lily’s been to the Encinitas location twice, and those take place in a private residence where Infantino rents out to do their photoshoots, but other times they have it at the Photographer’s Studio (M Studio) in La Jolla.  Lily did a photoshoot at the M Studio where she got to be outdoors at a little park on a cliff overlooking the ocean!!  It was such an amazing view, I was able to snap a few photos of the view from my phone.

That scenery was the backdrop of her photoshoot.  They had her strapped in a car seat while playing with a couple car seat toys!  I was nervous at first because she started to rub her eyes when we were waiting for our turn, so I thought she might be getting sleepy and won’t be in a smiling mood.  Once she got in the car seat though with  the car seat toys, she was bright and happy and had a huge smile on her face the entire time!  I’m so impressed by her every time   We always meet new people on all her photoshoots, and this one she got to do with her friend Emmy, and we got to meet a new friend, Grayson, he’s the oldest of triplets, also 9 months old, and his mom Teresa!  Lily had a blast going through the toy basket, and she’s starting to get really good at pulling herself up to standing position now too!

Grayson, Emmy, and Lily at Infantino!

Lily getting her hair and makeup done! fancy fancy!

Lily excited for her turn at the Disney photoshoot!

Lily’s photoshoot for the Disney Family project with Porkchops Castings: The Disney photoshoot was really fun but it was the longest working day for Lily by far!  All her Infantino jobs were under 2 hours, she was at this Disney gig for almost 3 hours!  She was a champ though!  They started by having me take her to hair and makeup, where they used a wet wipe to brush her hair in place.  Then the makeup lady put a little bit of blush on her little cheeks, and a little bit of lip gloss on her lips.  Fancy right??  Then we changed her into her first outfit (1 of 3 wardrobes), a fuchsia onesie.  Her first setup was inside a crib where they displayed Minnie Mouse sheets, blankets, and doll.  They first had her laying down and surprisingly she did really well.  Normally should would want to crawl around and play but she just starred at the camera and smiled, everyone was in love with her!!  Then they had her sit up and play in the crib and she did super!!

Next we changed her outfit into her Snow White outfit, which is just too adorable for words!!  They shot her in a Disney playroom setup, where she played with a Minnie Mouse sippie cup and then a Disney rattle toy.  They then brought in her first “pretend mom” named Lindell (I’m pretty sure I spelled it wrong, but she’s a really nice Malaysian model that was a big fan of Lily!).  She played in the playroom with Lily, and then they cleared the table and she pretended to give Lily a bottle to advertise the Minnie Mouse bottle.  After that, Lily was getting tired and hungry, so we took a mini break to feed Lily.  We also changed Lily into a Tiffany’s teal color onesie for her last wardrobe change.  After her break, they brought in her second “pretend mom” named Kinoma (I’m pretty sure I butchered her name as well…), a really nice and pretty model from Japan!  She also took some shots of Lily with the Minnie Mouse bottle, and then ended the day with shots of Lily playing with Kinoma in a stationary activity center.  By this time she was getting restless so she didn’t smile as much anymore, but everyone said she did really great!  Lily is such a trooper and champ for getting through all those sets!!!  I’m so proud of her!!!  The day was long but I’m glad I was able to take photos to capture this adventure in Lily’s modeling career!

Behind the Scenes: Lily on set with her two pretend moms!!

my sweet little Snow White!

Lily waiting her turn at her Pampers audition!

Lily also got two auditions last week, one for Tiny Love and another for Pampers.  She unfortunately didn’t book the pampers one, but she did book Tiny Love, for 2 days in the beginning of April!!  When Lily and her friend Emmy arrived at the Tiny Love audition, the office manager was so excited to see us and already knew their names, and said  they were one of the favorites!!  The photographer snapped some photos of Lily and said she was really cute!  She wanted Lily to be in the crawling position, but it was hard to get her to do that without her belly getting off the ground on command, so I thought she wasn’t going to get the gig, but surprisingly she did!  I later heard the photographer was complaining about other baby’s uncontrollable hair, so it was a good thing Lily’s hair is a lot more manageable now!! haha.  At her Pampers audition, with Armstrong Casting, all babies had to come “diaper ready” meaning they’re only wearing their diapers!  She smiled and was great, but when the photographer asked me to hold her up so she can stand, she had trouble standing cause the floor she was standing on was quite slippery, it was foam board.  It’s ok though, you can’t win them all!  It was fun and awesome that she even got the audition!

So to sum things up in this past month, Lily did 4 Infantino photoshoots, went to 3 auditions (Disney, Tiny Love and Pampers) and she booked 2 out of 3 of those auditions.  She already did her Disney photoshoot and is scheduled to do two Tiny Love photoshoots early April!  It’s been so much more busy than I have expected, I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with our little super star!!  Our main goal and decision for us to get Lily into this was purely for fun.  So once it becomes too much work and not “fun” and disruptive to Lily’s baby life schedule, then we will pull her out.  So far it’s been very fun and exciting.  I can’t wait till all her products she modeled for are in stores so I can buy it all!!! =)  I’m so proud of our precious little baby model, I’m so glad we get to share her cute smiling face with the world!

Lily enjoying her 1st paycheck, yummy!!