Shoot and Edit - Good Night SOOC

This week the prompt was "Good Night".  I had a hard time deciding which photo to use but when I really thought about it nothing says good night like freshly bathed babies.  :)  To me there is nothing sweeter than the smell of Mason's sweet little head fresh out of the bath, and how his hair curls when it is wet makes my heart smile.

  Here is my SOOC shot.   I really hope to learn how to edit this so that the lighting looks much better.



Happy 1/2 Birthday Baby Boy!

To my sweet Mason,

So here we are again, another month milestone, a whole half-year has gone by since you were born.  Perhaps, the quickest 6 months of my life.  In these 6 short months you have doubled the love in our family.  Your sweet spirit is so obvious and was from the very beginning.  You are such a sweet baby and you make everyone you come in contact with feel like the most important person in the world.  With just a simple word spoken to you, you will flash that big, open-mouthed grin and you instantly have them wrapped around your finger.  Just this week I've had two strangers come up and tell me how incredibly lucky I am to have you and I couldn't agree more.

I can tell already that you are going to be passionate: about life, about love, about anything and everything you encounter.  You know what you want and when you want it, and watch out if you don't get it.  Usually this thing that you want is me, if I'm in the room I pretty much have to be holding you.  It makes it difficult to do much of anything because you always want me, but at the same time it makes my heart smile.  I know this time is so fleeting, your big brother taught me that lesson! 

 You literally came flying into this world and you are still a little whirlwind.  Your hands and arms go a mile a minute, trying to grab anything and everything within your reach.  I call you octopus arms because you are so fast and grabby there's no way you only have two.  I've tried to feed you a couple of times but I literally can't get the spoon to your mouth because you grab it before I can get anywhere close.  I think you're going to be a little spit-fire and your brother is going to have somebody to keep him on his toes. 

 Speaking of brother you still LOVE him.  If you're crying and you see him you stop and will usually start smiling.  Forget about it if he actually talks to you or touches you, you look at him like he hung the moon.  It really is the most precious thing.  Now, if only we could get him to reciprocate that adoration. ;)

You have brought so much love into our lives these last 6 months.  When I was pregnant with you I always wondered how it would be possible to love another child like I loved Caden, and quite honestly I was worried about it.  As soon as they put you in my arms all those worries were erased and I realized that my heart just doubled in size.  I can't imagine our lives without your little self and I know that you were placed in our family for a reason.  Your daddy, brother, and I are so lucky that God chose us for each other.

Here are some things that you are up to this month:

• You sit like a pro, I can actually leave you playing...you do fall occasionally but it's more like a roll.
• You push all the way up on your arms and are thisclose to getting on all fours.
• You grab anything and everything in sight.
• You really love your toys, you will just play and play until you drop.
• You love:  me to sing to you, looking in mirrors, tags, watching your mobile, jumping in your door jumper, watching Caden, nursing, bath time, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and so many other things I can't list them all.
• You babble DADA all the time, and GAGA sometimes...I really know you mean MAMA though. ;)
• You blow raspberries ALL the time and you are constantly soaked because of it.
• You have started cuddling with me a lot more and I LOVE it.
• You do this funny thing where you will attack our faces and give big ole' kisses.
• You're still not a fan of your carseat and I think we'll be moving to the convertible carseat soon.
• You are sleeping better, usually only getting up once at night.
• You still take naps in your swing, hopefully you'll be napping in your crib soon?!
• I'm not sure how much you weigh and your length...I'll update this next week.

I know before we know it, it will be your 1st birthday and you will be running around and eating cake.  I just want to remember to soak everything in with you and not to rush to the next stage.  I would be fine with you staying my baby forever. I love you baby boy.  :)

Here is a little look at how you've grown in these six months:

Project 365 - Week 3

January 15, 2011

I've mentioned before how much Mason loves looking in the mirror.  Jason was holding him up so he could smile and talk to himself and he was getting so excited.  And just take a look at that dimple, I could just eat him up. :)

January 16, 2011

We were on our way up to Hickory and Caden just looked too cute and too old in his little vest.  This may be one of my new favorite pictures of him.  :)

January 17, 2011

This is my awesome bib that I made.  You can read the story about my "squirrel bib" here.  :)

January 18, 2011

This picture cracks me up!  I was so excited because I actually got Caden to sit on the potty, usually he runs screaming "No, diaper on!" whenever I mention it.  For some reason this day he decided he would sit on it and watch Toy Story 3.  He didn't "produce" anything but it's progress.  Too bad he has refused to sit on it since.  :)

January 19, 2011

I was wearing Mason around in the sling trying to do some things since he refused to be put down this day.  I looked down and noticed how precious his little feet and hands are.  :)

January 20, 2011

We finally had some decent weather where we could actually get outside.  So we took full advantage and Caden was able to ride his new John Deere around the neighborhood.  :)

January 21, 2011

Friday, we took another trip down to Discovery Kids.  Caden of course had such a good time again.  Here he is in the grocery store, one of his favorite things to do.  I had to remind him right after this picture to share, because a little girl came and was taking his groceries and he told her, "No! Mines!"...which is something I hear daily when Mason is touching any of his toys.  :)

Shoot and Edit Part 2

So here is my edited picture from the "Shoot and Edit".  I tried to follow Ashley's edits the best I could.  I am still completely lost on Photoshop though so I pretty much fumbled around trying to find the different edits that she did on hers and this is what I came up with:

Here is my SOOC shot again:

Basically I cropped it, which I'm still not crazy about, if I cropped it too much it looked like something was just blurred in front of Mason and so then I cropped the ball completely out but wasn't sure if I liked that either.  So I  just cropped a small portion of it out.  I also adjusted the white balance, increased the brightness and contrast and sharpened it, just a bit.  I played a bit with the levels adjustment and increased the blacks slightly.

So here is my edited version:

It's not a drastic difference by any means but it's just a very basic edit.  Here they are side

by side:

I can't wait to learn more techniques and I LOVE looking at everyone's photos!

My New Love

I have always loved books, I love the smell of them, the feel of them (except when I have just washed my hands...something about the texture of the paper on my soft fingers...ehhh I'm getting chills thinking about it).  Ahem.  What was I saying?  Oh yes, I love books.  Pre-mommy me was always reading a book, or a magazine, or even a cereal box, anything that had words I would read.  Post-baby me doesn't have so much time for leisurely reading, but I still have a deep love for words (probably why I became an English teacher).   Along with books, libraries have always held a special place in my heart, I probably look like a lunatic in the library because I LOVE the smell and I'm constantly sniffing while I'm in there. 

The more I write the crazier I sound.  

Anyway, I love that anyone can walk into a library and have access to thousands of books, movies, magazines, etc.  I love that Caden can go in there and pick up any book he chooses off the shelf, although, I'm sure the librarian isn't crazy about that.  All this is leading me to the fact that I am cheating on my beloved books and libraries with one of those fancy schmancy E-readers.  The Kindle. 

I remember when they first came out I always swore that I would never have one because I loved books so much.  I got one for Christmas and I had no idea what I was missing!  Downloading books instantly, reading one-handed while nursing without trying to figure out how to turn the page, no having to touch paper after my hands have been wet...the list could go on. :)  Needless, to say I LOVE this thing!  I have already read two books since Christmas, which is a lot considering I don't have a whole lot of time. 

I read "Firefly Lane" by Kristin Hannah and "The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes" by Diane Chamberlain.  They were both awesome and I highly recommend them!

I can't wait to download some more and if you are a Kindle owner I found a cool website where you can actually borrow and lend books, free of charge! It's called the Kindle Lending Club.  I just requested "Water for Elephants" and I can't wait to read it before the movie comes out! 

While I love my Kindle with all my heart it doesn't mean I won't ever pick up a book again and it certainly doesn't mean I will be giving up my library sniffing habit anytime soon. :)

What Says Good Morning to Me?

I have really wanted to start learning how to edit my photos better.  I have Photoshop Elements and I use it but I honestly have no idea what I'm doing with it.  I am joining this link up to try and learn some tips and tricks.  The theme this week is "What says good morning to you?" 

When I read this I immediately thought of me and the boys and our early morning play time in front of the rising sun painted in their playroom.  How perfect! :)

Here is my SOOC (straight out of camera) shot.  I hate that the ball is in front of him.  Also, the playroom is actually the back half of our garage that Jason walled in, so therefore there is no natural light in the room.

 



Just Call Me Martha...or Not

So 2 Christmases ago, aka Christmas '09, aka just found out I was pregnant again, I decided I wanted a sewing machine.  Jason passed along the message to his mom and on Christmas I opened up my sewing machine along with a cute basket filled with all sorts of fun sewing accessories.  I was so excited and also SO tired at that point!  Too tired and too busy keeping up with a 14 month old and being in my 1st trimester to find the time to even open my sewing machine much less actually sew with it.  Anyway after sitting on our kitchen floor for a couple of months Jason put it in the closet, where it has sat ever since.

Since my addiction to Etsy and all things cute and homemade I have wanted to try to make some things myself, like cute burp cloths, bibs, shirts, etc.  Things I thought should be easy enough to start with.  So on a wild hair, one day last week I went and bought some fabric...I thought I would  get home, get the machine out and start sewing...

A couple of hours and a few choice words later I still didn't have the machine threaded.  Like seriously my head was getting hot I was so frustrated, I must have read that manual 10 times through trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.  Finally the next day, yes seriously it took me essentially two days to get the thread in the machine, I'm crafty like that, I got it threaded correctly and I was ready to go! 

Let me just say that I'm not the craftiest person in the world, I've always wanted to be but I'm just not.  Anyway that first day I "made" two burp cloths and they were actually pretty cute, I mean we're not talking rocket science here...you just take a cloth diaper and a cute piece of fabric and sew it in the middle.  I mean my line..or seam?...isn't exactly straight but no big deal it still works and I'm sure I can work on that.  At this point I was feeling pretty good about my new crafty self. 

So yesterday I decided to step it up a notch and sew a bib...Mason has reflux so burp cloths and bibs are things I use a lot.  I googled and found a pattern for a bib and quickly realized this was a little more complicated and involved than the burp cloths but still seemed doable.  I mean I did make a pair of boxer shorts in 9th grade Teen Living (Jason was in this class with me and we often reference the time when Mrs. Hass helped him with his crotch :).  Anyway I cut out my fabric and started sewing and looking at it I realized that the actual sewing was awful, I'm talking where there were supposed to be curves I was making sharp angles. 

I was still hopeful though that it would look ok, so I finished sewing and turned it inside out and I found myself looking at this:

Yes, it appears I made a bib for a squirrel.  I have no idea what happened but the bib is so small it fits around my wrist...needless to say I didn't even attempt to put the snap on it, which by the way seems really complicated too. 

For comparison, here is the bib beside another one of Mason's:

I'll just leave it at that. :)

Discovery Kids

Last Friday I was looking for something to do...somewhere to get out of the house and I remembered seeing some things about how great Discovery Kids in Huntersville is.  I can attest that it is awesome!  Caden had the best time and I had so much fun too! 

When I lived in Raleigh I was a nanny for a 3 year old little girl and downtown they had something very similar and I loved taking her there, but this was so much better!  When we walked in the first thing we saw was a huge firetruck and Caden's eyes go so big and he was so excited....it was precious!  Anyway the whole place is awesome and is a kid's dream and a mom's too. ;)  My mom went with us and she bought us season passes so we can go as we please all year long! Thanks Nini! :)

I took a couple of pictures but they don't really do the place justice, plus I was so busy playing that I didn't take a whole lot of time to get my camera out.

Driving the firetruck. 

Saving someone's life in the "amblance". :)

Driving a boat.

Learning to change a tire...also he just turned 2, why does he look 5?

Making Daddy jealous and driving a race car. :)

The huge water play, and how cute is that apron?

Caden the cashier. :)

He loved the cow, and he found a baby cow and kept running up to it and saying "Mommy cow, here's baby cow." So cute!

We can't wait to go back!

My Baby Has A Comb Over

I really hope this doesn't offend anyone but I find it amazing how much babies and elderly people are similar.  Honestly, think about it:  they both wear diapers, they need help eating, they sleep alot, someone has to bathe them, and most obviously they develop crazy hairstyles.  There are many more similarities, and clearly I realize that these behaviors don't apply to all elderly people...or all babies (elimination communication, anyone?...if you've never heard of this look it up...craziness) anyway, Mason is one who has developed what I like to call the baby comb over.

It all started innocently enough, he was born with tons of dark hair, oh and that thing about heartburn = lots of hair, so true!  Anyway, he started slowly losing some and then it was obvious that he slept more on one side because that hair started falling out.  Since then it has been a slow progression of all his hair on that side and on the back falling out and he has been left with a serious comb over.  Honestly it looks like he is wearing a miniture toupee, or if you were in middle school in the mid-90's and remember the "skaters" or "alternative" kids who shaved their heads all around, only leaving hair on top.   Bless his heart, luckily he is still as cute as can be. 

I decided that maybe he needed a little trim to help out his hair situation, so mom trimmed some of the extra long pieces off but seriously nothing is going to resolve this short of shaving it all off.  He could rock a serious mohawk...maybe that's what I will try next, although I'm not sure they make baby hair product.  So some pictures of Mason's first haircut:

I mean do you see what we're working with here?

Haircuts are hard work.

Sweet baby blues. 

Thanks Nini for the haircut!

Project 365 - Week 2

January 8, 2011

Veggie Tales on the little tv...couldn't wait long enough to take his hat or jacket off. :)

 January 9, 2011

 Showing Mason around Lowe's. :)

January 10, 2011

Snow again...longing for the days when we can play with the dump truck and water/sand table. :)

 January 11, 2011

Perhaps one of my favorite pictures of Mason....couldn't you just eat those cheeks? :)

January, 12, 2011

Lots of playing in the playroom while snowed/iced in. :)

January 13, 2011

The view from here. :)

January 14, 2011

Can you say excited?! :)