Random ramblings...

40 minutes left of work.

Chad is late...AGAIN. Why does he say he will be home at 4 when he actually means 6.

He has my baby girl with him which makes me wanna drop kick him when he is late.

Still havent packed.

Tonight is Brynns first preschool performance. Cant wait!

My sisters and I have a bet going how long it will take everyone to get in a family arguement starting from when they pick us up at the airport. I am thinking a good 3 hours before someone does something that pisses someone else off.

Yes, thats how we roll!

I will try to post pics while on the trip...I havent decided if we are bringing the lap top. I might need it when I need to escape my family :-)

Seriously, I wanna drop kick my husband right now...what a lame-o

Vacation-itis and my inner 15 year old.

Do you remember senioritis when you were in the last months of your senior year and you were just over it?

Well, I am 5 days and counting away from 2 weeks of vacation....and Vacationitis has set in. I am just done.

Unfortunately...I have to finish my 1st quarter close and start and finish my April close in the next 4 days of work, so somehow I am going to have to pull myself together and get everything done for the trip (because lets face it, I think we all know Chad wont be doing it*)

and what makes it more difficult, is I recently got bit by the Twilight bug --no pun intended.

I never understood what all the fuss was about, and to be honest, I never really got the appeal of Robert Pattison...until: I watched the movie.

That's right, I have gotten in touch with my inner-15-year old self....

In the last 48 hours I went from not knowing anything about twilight to becoming COMPLETELY obsessed with it. I am already halfway through the book (which for me is fast)

My friend Aimee warned me I would forget I have a husband, children, dog, job...and she was right. I read all.day.long. completely oblivious to the world around me.

I read while I nursed,
I read while I scolded Brynn,
I read while my kids slept,
I read while my kids played and I pretended to eat the imaginary cookies Brynn prepared for me,
I read up until the last moment I could before we had to get ready to go to a friends birthday party...

I also now see the Robert Pattison/Edward Cullen appeal...not only to I get it...Iam considering picking up a Tiger Beat Magazine to get a poster for my wall. I am even considering switching my one free cheat** from Jason Stathom to Edward Cullen...and that's BIG because Jason Stathom has been on my list for years....


*See Laundry Snafu Post
**you know, that deal you make with your husband that you can each pick one celebrity that it would be okay to cheat on your spouse with?

my first tutorial

So, I want to share some of my photoshop knowledge.
Photoshop is a GREAT program. But, its only as good as the person trying to use it. Meaning, its a great program if you know how to use it.
I have Elements7, and its perfect for someone who just wants to make their pictures look a little bit more professional looking as far as edits go. There is CS3 and I think 4 but I am not sure what it does that PSE7 doesn't but I can tell you that I havent come across something I have wanted to do with a picture and not been able to do it with PSE...maybe its one of those "what I dont know wont hurt" kind of things.

One question I always get is about my black backgrounds. How do I get it so black, what is it.
Beleive it or not, its just a $10 queen size black sheet from W-Mart. I lay it over my couch, or my counter and shoot away. I prefer natural light if possible.

The trick is in the magic of photoshop...I think you will not be so impressed with my Black and white pics once you see how dang easy this really is. But I know alot of newbie photo mommies, and I would have liked to stumble upon this tutorial when I was trying to learn photoshop.

These directions should be the same for CS3/4 and PSE.

Here is the SOOC. I know, blurry pic, but its just for example purposes.


See how the black isnt really BLACK? It really has alot of blue in it due to the light hitting it...this is natural light BTW.

open it in Photoshop editor.

go to : Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels

just keep it names Levels 1 or whatever you want.


This box should pop up. Take the black ink dropper thingy and select it and then go to your picture and click on your black background. I usually shoot for the lightest area on my black background to make the whole thing black.


I dont have a pic of this...but it will usually make your subject really dark and underexposed looking. So now you go to your Layer and "remove" that dark cast on your subject.

Make sure that the White Layer Mask Thumbnail on this layer has a white outline around it. (see the white box?)

With black as your Forground, use a soft, round brush whatever size will work for your subject, and paint over your subject to remove that dark layer, and your subject is back to its original coloring (does that make sense?)

So, your white box will look like this:

***be careful around the edges...you don't want a Halo around your subject.

Then I either keep it the way it is, or convert it to black and white, depending on what I am going for.

Flatten the image once you are done before doing anything else to the pic (like running an action or something)

Yup thats it! Pretty non-special huh?

Here is my finished product:

Audrey 6 Months - Cause once a year just isnt enough.

My Baby is 6 months old...well, in a couple days...but close enough right?

For her half birthday, I made her a "half-birthday" cake! Cuz, you know, theres always a reason for cake!



So, I am having a mid-baby-crisis. Because they really are only babies for one year, and my year with Audrey as a sweet baby is already halfway up! Makes me a little sad. With each inch she grows, I know she will never be that small again. Nor will I have another teeny tiny baby to cuddle and call my own. *ho-hum*



Anywho. What can I say about Audrey....she is the most determined little one. She sees something and wants it, and want it NOW and in her mouth NOW!

Seriously, when she sees something she wants, she wont stop trying to get to it. She will roll, scoot, spin until she gets to it and gets what ever it is in her mouth for a taste. Its pretty neat to watch.


She had her 6 month appointment today. She is 17lbs 10oz. 75% for weight, height and head. I have started to put her in 12 month clothes..and once Chad dressed her in 18 months, and I couldn't even tell! So funny! But at this age, these is little difference in the sizes anyway.



Its funny, because Chad and I don't just hand her what she wants because we want to encourage her to learn to get it herself, but Brynn doesn't understand this concept and will just go up and pick up what Audrey wants and hand it to her and say "Here Audrey: Play!"



Speaking of Brynn and Audrey, these two are becoming the best of buddies. Audrey and Brynn have their own language and they will sit there and baby talk to each other. Audrey LOVE LOVE LOVES Brynn she brightens up when Brynn is in the room...if Brynn is throwing a tantrum, Audrey finds it totally hilarious...which kinda makes Tantrums easier to handle for myself.



Audrey is still working on the sitting without support. She will sit there for awhile, maybe a minute, but ultimately she will try to eat her hand or some toy and will lose all balance. Shes getting there!

Here is a picture of Audrey Mid-scoot. Its amazing how quickly Audrey has mastered scooting. She is all over the place...if I leave the room, there is no telling where Audrey will be when I get back. And I am afraid her days in the co-sleeper are numbered because of her nighttime travels...she has started to try to scoot-climb out of it to get to me.



So there is month 6 in a nutshell. Happy Healthily and right on track....just the way I like em!

I forgot.

I forgot how much teething:


SUCKS!!!!!!!!!

My normally easy sleepy baby is now a total nightmare at night. We are talking hours of a fussy, overly uncomfortable Audrey and leaves little time for Mommy to do her thang since Audrey is most happy with mommy.

Poor baby...

Its come full circle.

I went a little out of order in the circle of life, but I have hit all major points on my photography journey:
1) New baby - Check
2) Family - Check
3) Pregnancy - CHECK!

This weekend I did my first Maternity shoot for one of my best girlfriends.
I did it in more of a "studio" enviornment...meaning inside with a backdrop and everything. I was *supposed* to do another one on Sunday for A friend/coworker...but both kids got sick on Sunday so we had to keep the public out.

My friend Amanda has the most beautiful pregnacy body. she is seriously ALL belly. Not a stretchmark in sight....I never really got stretchmarks with Brynn but with my almost 10lb baby Audrey...I look like a pink zebra...*sigh*

I really feel like I have learned so much these pasted few weeks. Learning my camera better, learning about composition, lighting, catchlights, photoshop...that balance of "too much" and "Just right"...but I still need to work on my own self confidence in my work...I am NOT very good at directing people, and I think it looks like I dont know what I am doing when I hesitate. I think that will just come with experience.

Here are a couple...

Tada!

I have......








A WATERMARK!!!

I couldnt for the life of me come up with something super catchy...so I just opted for my inspirations! Brynn and Audrey!
You like? Which one do you like best?

 

 

 

Brynnism #243: The "Bigger"

So tonight, as I lay in bed with Brynn reading her bedtime stories...she whipes her nose with the back of her hand and happens to notice that a booger is on her hand:

Brynn: "EEEEWWWWWWW!!!! Bigger Mommy"

(ps: incase you didnt catch that Bigger means "booger"

she takes her other hand and picks up the booger with her two tiny fingers and gesters toward me

Brynn: "Here"

as in "Here mommy, take my booger for me."

thanks.

The funny thing is that I took it without even blinking...it is my kid afterall...now, if Chad handed me his booger, I think that would just be it for us, but my own kid: no problem. puke/pee/spit/booger eh, I dont care :-)

Laundry Snafu 2009

Laundry is a sore subject in our house.

I think I can count on my right hand the number of times in my life I have been completely caught up on laundry...and even then by evening I have four individuals that have created a whole new basket full of dirty laundry.

So needless to say Laundry is a huge pile (no pun intended) of stress for me because ultimatly, it has become my responsiblity to ensure everyone has clean clothes to place on their body and it is something I seem to never.get.done.

as a side note...I think thats why I like math/accounting...there is always a clear end. A+B=C so simple...well, not quite that simple but once you get to C vioala! your done. I digress...

Last weekend my darling husband decided to do me a HUGE favor. He told me (and I quote) "BABE! Have no fear, for I will do ALL the laundry for you this weekend."

Really? Really? Awesome! I kicked back, poured myself a rum and coke and started chillaxin.

Want to know what happened? Are you just dieing to know how it all came out? Well, here is what Chads definition of "Doing the Laundry"

Step one: Throw all the clothes in a big pile in the living room so everyone has to step over it for a day...

Step two: wait for Kristin to say "Hey BUDDY! you said you would do the laundry...WTF!?"

Step three: Wash and dry.

DONE! Crack open that Tall boy and wait for the praise from the wifey.

um yeah...thanks for the *Help* because its so freakin difficult to put the clothes in the washer, press start and then later, transfer it to the dryer...what-a-life-saver.

Gosh Chad, I have got a special reward for you for all that help...yeah, you know *wink*wink*

YEAH RIGHT!

Its now Friday and the clothes are STILL sitting there unfolded. I actually broke down and folded one basket so I could sit in my rocking chair.

Oh, and also, I discovered another load still sitting in the drier this morning. And I almost lost it when I discovered he didnt put my delicates in this special bag so my brand new tanktop got the straps ripped off. he is claiming ignorance on that one even though I stood there and showed him the bag and how to use it.

So now as I approach the weekend. I have 3 baskets of clean laundry sitting waiting to be folded, and another 2 or so baskets waiting to be cleaned...and thats ontop of all the other stuff needing to be done........

What have I learned? If you want something done right (or done at all, for that matter) just do it myself.

Yeah I know...what a bitchy post...but seriously. I cant stand laundry and I have it piled up to my eyeballs at the moment. I can't wait for the weekend......

Raspberry in Action

um....tired

MAN! Audrey threw an all nighter last night.

Not only would she not sleep in her own bed, but she would not even sleep in OUR bed. In her bed she was tossing and turning and scooting and crying. In our bed, she kept scooting to be next to be. Poor thing...I think its teeth.

She was pretty much at boob all.night.long.

And of course this morning she didnt wake up until I had to wake her to get in the car. She looked so peaceful sleeping so soundly it took everything in me to not hop into bed, turn off all the lights and snuggle up with her to catch up on a few ZZZ's

in other news, I got great video of her scooting/armycrawling...and as soon as I find the damn camera cord for the computer, you will beable to see it...

My Social Butterfly.

Brynn is blosoming into a little social butterfly.

At her school, everyone knows her name. When I pick her up from school, as we are walking out to the car, she stops at every person, teachers and students, no matter if they are 2 or 5 and she will stop and say "Bye Bye!" and they all know her name and say "Bye Brynn!"

This morning, Chad was dropping brynn off at school and he said this 3 year old girl told her mother "Thats Brynn!" when Brynn showed up.

I just find this so neat. She is really making "friends" that she plays with and has started developing bigger friendships with certain kids. The directer told me that she really plays with a girl names Kailey (Kayla?) alot...as you see I am not so good at names :P

My hope for both of my girls is that they grow up to be "nice" kids and eventually adults. God knows how girls can be mean to each other, and I hope I can raise my girls to not get involved in any crap like that....ugh, sad to say I know that day will come where one of my girls will come home in tears because so-and-so is being mean at school, and that TERRIFIES me. I dont ever want to see my girls in pain at the hands of another, nor do I want them to be the cause of pain to another. What a daunting task that is...where is my trusty hand book "how to raise your kids" when I need it?

Next stop on my photograhpy voyage! THE GROUP!

Today I had my first Group photo shoot! My old college roommate-slash-drinking buddy volunteered her family so I can get more practice in, and I have to say, the group session made me most nervous. But all in all I am pleased with the results, and it really was great practice!

Here is her little girl natalie! SO easy to photograph and SO photo genic! That tutu is from my MIL, but my girls wont wear it...Brynn wont touch it, and Audrey is too small.





This chick is rediculously gorgeous...like she would have to try so hard to NOT look good, and whats worse is she is the nicest girl too...... b*tch. J/K



I really am feeling better and better at my skills! I am so pleased! And I totally love it too! SO MUCH FUN! I really need to get better at directing though, I think that will just come with time as I feel more confident in myself.





Next on my journey: MATERNITY!!!

The Great Duck Race 2009!

We started a new tradition this year and it was a BLAST!

I got this idea from my Sister in law. I have to tell you, our house may not be big, and our yard may be non-existant, but the location of our house is just price less! We have the best little creek behind our house and a beautiful walking trail. Its just awesome to live where we do...I digress...

We gathered up the ducks we have in our house and had our first annual duck race from one side of the creek to the bottom bridge. It was perfect because we each had our own individual little ducks. Audreys was a duck with bunny ears, mine was the party duck, Brynns was a princess duck, and Chads was the swimmer duck.



We started underneith the top bridge and threw em in!

And then we walked down as we watched them "race" it was actually alot of fun because they really would pass eachother and one would slow down and one would get caught and need to get rescued. Brynn didnt totally get the idea of the race, but she had fun following the ducks down.

The funny thing is is that these ducks were not meant really for floating up right, so they spent the whole race either on their side or upside down in the water.

I am proud to say, that My little party animal duck won by a landslide, Audreys duck was second place, and Chad and Brynns ducks....well, they just gave up about 3 feet from the finish line. Maybe next year...

Pass the Mush...

So, I have put it off long enough and today we caved and offered Audrey her first bowl of solids. I was hoping to put it off until 6 months, but we will be on vacation in Maui so I decided to do it a couple weeks early. She has been watching us eagerly when we eat and also has been reaching out to grab out food.

So I mixed some Breastmilk up with some whole grain rice cereal and gave her a few bites. She was pretty frustrated we wouldnt let her spoon it in her own mouth and all in all I think she was impartial to the mushy goodness.

So I will go for the rice cereal for a few more days and then offer some other things mixed with breastmilk. Like sweetpotato mixed with Breastmilk, peas mixed with breastmilk, avocado mixed with breastmilk (a favorite of Brynn)....see how I keep that breastmilk in the mix?

Chad had the camera during the feeding, and once again, I was totally irritated with his pictures...I find the more I get into photography the more frustrated I get with the way chad takes pics...just like he can't stand my driving...LOL!




more posts to come...in the meantime, gotta pack some lunches!

quick note...

before I forget...

Audrey is now in the raspberry stage...she is in bed right now going to sleep (well, headed that way) and I am downstairs and all I hear is wet raspberry noises from upstairs...its really ridiculously cute! She will be like "BA ba ba ba *raspberry noise*"

How would you spell a raspberry noise? Bffffffffff? BSPPPPPPPPPP? And why is it a "raspberry?"


We had a great weekend, lots to post about...but for now I have a HUGE pile of laundry to fold, will be back later :-)

Earthquake...

Some really freaky sh** is going on in my head right now.

I have been having dreams about earthquakes for about a month now and just recently it has turned into a nightly event...I actaully cant think of a dream I have had in the past month that I remember that DIDNT involve an earth quake...and I AM TOTALLY FREAKED OUT BY THIS!!!!!

Seriously...Its scaring the sh** out of me and I made the mistake of googling it:

"In the case of dreams of earthquakes, the symbolic reference is fairly clear - something is causing one to feel as if the earth is trembling, as if that upon which one has always relied is no longer reliable. This type of dream may reflect an emotional state, or a situation that has become untenable. Is there someone or something upon which you have always depended who you feel isn't there for you anymore?"


"Dreams of earthquakes may be warning dreams. These warning can be one of the times that dreams are speaking literally. Some people are sensitive to changes that precipitate earthquakes and their dreams may actually indicate that a literal, physical, waking life earthquake is on the way."

"The warning of an earthquake dream may also be of the symbolic variety. An earthquake dream could be symbolic of something that will feel like an earthquake in waking life - something that comes out of the blue, wreaks havoc, and makes one feel as if the ground has fallen away from one's feet"


um yeah, non of the above is positive, and the part about possibly feeling changes in the earth meaning an Earthquake IS coming is really effed up considering i live within 15 minutes of two SEPERATE ACTIVE FAULTS. Freaky...thats all I have to say about that.

But I think its prob just because of my life right now. All of these earthquake dreams involve my children and me wanting to protect them and make sure I get to them. Life...life is just so hectic right now. Work is nuts, home life is nuts...and I am finding it hard to just feel like I have a grip on everything. I very rarely feel "caught up" in the demands that life has for me.

But man, isnt it freaky????

on that note....Happy Easter!!

Discipline

Chad and I have recently started disciplining Brynn.

If she hits/punches/pinches/throws/performsextradramatictantrums we have been putting her in the corner for the last couple of months, and so far its pretty effective.

Luckily, it doesnt happen much. But when she does get bad we stop the situation immidiatly...we pick her up and get eye to eye and say "Brynn NO, we do not ____ in this house" and we sit her in the corner. Suprisingly she sits there and Chad and I walk away and let her sit there until she gets up and says "Hug! Sorry"

I am sure it wont work forever, but for now, its doing the trick.

My Little Star

So, Brynns preschool has a spring show they are putting on at the end of the month (I am SO EXCITED!)

Its really neat they have a big spaghetti dinner for all the families and entertainment ala tiny children!

and I *think* the "Yellow Ducks" (thats what they call Brynns preschool class 2-3 year olds) are going to be performing Twinkle Twinkle little star because everyday on the way home from work I get a sneak preview from Brynn...it goes a little something like this:

Tinkle Tinkle i-u stah
howa you ah
apa baa high
yi a dai i-u sky
tinkle tinkle Leeu stah
howa-a-a you ah

VERY VERY Cute! I have tried on numerous occasions to get it on camera, but all I get is ME sining trying to get HER to sing...not so cute.

Can't wait for the show!

Perfect Saturday and Sweet Baby L

I am SO happy to announce that I had my FIRST "photo session" with a baby that did not come out of my Who-ha! Yeah, that's a prob inappropriate way of saying that I got to take lots of pictures of a baby other than my own kid!

Yesterday we met up with friends of ours for a community sponsored egg hunt. We showed up and there were thousands of people...and I don't think I am exaggerating. Seriously everyone and their cousins were there.

It was at a HUGE park but for some reason they squeezed the event into just one tiny area of the park. And when we found our friends (which was just pure luck) we found the egg hunt area for 1-2 year old and it was seriously the size of my living room.

when the egg hunt started, it was a stampede of parents and kids, total insanity:


We didn't even try to get our kids in there. Good thing they didn't realize what they were missing out on.

So we decided to head back to our friends house and throw our own egg hunt in their back yard complete with Margaritas and burgers....PERFECT!



Our friends just had a baby one week ago, and they let me practice my photography on their baby girl! It was so exciting. But it felt kinda weird directing it, but since I had a margarita, it was a little easier than completely sober *wink*

Anyways, I came home and only did minor editing (to make the black sheet I used as a background completely black and other minor changes) and I am SO SO SO pleased with they way it all came out. I so wish I could post the pics, but most of the pictures had a naked baby so I don't want to post them on the Internet. But I am telling you they came out fabulous!!!

Here are a couple that don't include a naked baby booty:

Cute Story

Chad just called me with this story and I had to write it down.

So, Chad was dropping Brynn off at school and Audrey off at the babysitter this morning, and while they were all in the car Chad was driving along and it went like this:

Brynn: "TALK!.....TALK!"
Chad: Whats that?
Brynn: TALK! *brynn jibberish* TALK!
Chad: Follows directions and starts talking to Brynn
Brynn: TALK! *more jibberish* .....TALK! AUDREY, TALK!

Chad looks back at the girls and Brynn is talking to Audrey and holding a white bear in front of Audrey and telling Audrey to "Talk" and then speaking baby talk to her. Chad said Audrey was CRACKING up at this.

Oh I wish I could have seen that. So cute. Good Times.

I am HUNGRY!

and I want to eat these TOES!!!

This afternoon my poor husband got off early...and he thought he was going to come home to a relaxing afternoon and drink a cold one and hang out with his 3 favorite girls...HA! I had other plans. I decided the other night that I wanted a picture of Audrey's Teeny Tiny Yummy Toes in my hands before they get bigger. I have seen pictures like this other places and I wanted to recreate it.

So, Chad came home and I asked him to be my photographer....well, he frickin SUCKS and was not following my vision and was getting pictures like this:



um yeah, not what I had in mind M'kay? Give me the damn camera...so I shot it like this:

oh, I love it! I wish we did it when her feet were smaller so we could do a heart around the feet. But this will do, here is the Black and white conversion.



And just so 'ya know....My husband works with wine, so that isnt dirt on his hand, its stained like that with red wine. I think its add *texture*

What do you think? Do you like the color better or the B&W?

and here is my most patient model...I feel bad that I dont have very many pictures of Brynn, but she refuses to have her picture taken, although she demands to see pictures of herself on the computer...doesnt she get it? you have to have your picture TAKEN before you can see it silly goose!