Wannabe Photographer

It's true. I am a wannabe photographer. I have the passion, the ideas....but not so much the skill or equipment. I did just recently get a flash in the mail I have been waiting for. Yeah! I haven't used it yet so don't be judging me on these few pictures I'm posting...pre-flash. Maybe someday I will have the skill (experience) and the expensive equipment to match my passion and ideas. But for now, my family and blogs get the blunt of it.

I've always passed by the Glenn Jackson bridge and thought that the pillars make a great canvas. I finally went on a little outing with just Baelor since he was napping and it wasn't raining on this particular winter day.

The picture of Mount Hood was rather tricky. I didn't want to take Baelor all the way onto the bridge as the cars were on either side of us going 60mph. It feels a lot faster when you bring a baby up there than when you used to ride your bike to Portland and back pre-kids. So I kept him safely below on the ramp while I ran up and clicked towards Mount Hood. What made it so tricky was the fact that I was clicking pictures between the passing cars. Many of my shots have bits of car parts in them, but I did manage to get Mount Hood with my telephoto lens and no clouds covering her beauty.

 Sweet baby Baelor contrasted with the hard and dirty world

The rarety of the sun peaking through the moss and ivy trees

Who Rules?

Some days I find myself basking in the humor of my daughter, other days...not so much. Since turning 3 years old, Reina has learned that she can come out of her bedroom in the morning when she wakes up. In the past, she has always called for me or daddy and waited in bed until we arrive to give her the OK to get up. We have been really lucky that she has been very obedient with staying in bed til morning and when going down at night. Since Baelor has joined our family, I've told her that if she calls for me and I don't come, then to just go ahead and get up because I am nursing. She is always welcome to get up if she needs to go potty as well.We have really been trying to figure out why she is still waking up in the morning 4 out of 5 times wet. We have tried bribing her with 5 chocolate chips if she wakes up with a dry pull-up, but candy doesn't work on our kid....ideas? She has been potty-trained for a year, but still has to wear a pull-up at night. We've decreased her fluids at night, but I just can't NOT give a kid water when they ask for it. I would hate someone to limit MY water if I'm thirsty. I have a water by my bed AT ALL TIMES. So this is probably my fault since I allow her to have an inch of water in her sippy-cup by her bed.

The last couple of weeks we have noticed her bending the rules even more. She will wake up (now often before 7am), when it used to be between 7:30-8am. Reina will come into our room and say, "Mommy, it's time to wake up. I'm hungry." Wait a minute, before Baelor was born she would wait in bed until I gave the OK, then I could crawl back in bed until 8am while she was watching "Cat in the Hat" or whatever show was on PBS. Then at 8am when the show ended was my cue to get up and make her breakfast. I know things change when you bring in a new babe to the family, but I don't want confusion as to who rules the household....(we all know it's the mom, right?) :) So anyhow, I don't think myself, Paul, or even Reina realized this shift of "ruling" until this week! We have to nip this thing quickly because just this morning Reina woke up before 7am (probably due to a wet-through her jammies pull-up) and comes in our room. Paul gets up and changes her into new jammies and tells her it's not time to get up. (Thanks babe, I had fever and a headache all night.) About 40 minutes later she is back in our bedroom, this time completely naked telling us she wants to get up and get dressed. Ugh. I've already been up every 2-3 hours to nurse.

Okay, so the funny things she's said recently:
-"Do you like my bangs? They're so pretty."
-Instead of saying John the Baptist she calls him John the Breakfast.
-Reina also cracks us up with her dancing. She'll create a little routine complete with facial expressions, to any song or commercial...and do quite a decent job.
-She'll delay going to bed by making up excuses; "I want to give Baelor a hug goodnight." "I need to get lotion on my hands (for the 2nd time)."
-Just recently we were chatting in her bed (which I often lay next to her and do before bed), and I was teaching her how to say the letter "L" since she says "Y" sound like most toddlers do. It's not something I am working with her on as I do like the cuteness of saying things wrong like a toddler does. But just to be sure that she can say "L" I asked her to say "lake". Of course she said "yake". So I teach her how to thrust her tongue to make an "Llll" sound. She says, "lake". Okay, so now I have her say, "I put my leg in the lake." She says, "I put my yeg in the lake." We both start cracking up! SHE even realized how silly that sounded. I haven't had the "L" lesson again as I kind of smile every time I hear her say that she hurt her "yeg." It reminds me that she is still just my little baby.

As for Baelor, we had a BREAKTHROUGH today! He smiled at me on/off for 7 minutes! This was not a random 2-week old "tooting" smile, but rather an "I love you mommy and you take care of me and I know you" smile. Totally made the fussy times worth it. In between the smiles he was expelling breaths and really moving his arms and legs like he wanted to talk. I'll take it as us having a 7-minute conversation. He's 6 weeks old and has gained 3 pounds since he was born. I'd say he's packing it on pretty quick for a breastfed baby. I have been pumping once a day so that Baelor gets used to a bottle. He takes the bottle great, so we're set for when I go back to work part-time. Now if he could just sleep through the night I'd have quite the perfect baby!

The First Cut

We did it! We gave our girl BANGS! This is a big deal to me because I always envisioned my daughter having long, flowing hair that descended to her mid-back so I could create many "do's" and learn how to french braid. We gave our daughter bangs for one reason...NECESSITY. I don't think I have ever met another 3-year old with such thin, uneven, unmanageable hair. Really there are just a few scraps to call it hair...a bit like Homer Simpson's few strands that you can count on one hand. Hopefully by the time she reads this post her hair will have filled in nicely. As any good mom I remind myself that she is healthy, happy and smart.

Before

After

Multi-tasking

You know you're a busy mom when you have one child yelling, "mommy!" outside the bathroom door while you're "occupied", while holding your 6-week old who's crying, while hearing your tea kettle whistling...

1 month

Our bundle of boy is 1 month old!
To celebrate I took a few pictures in the gorgeous weather and gave him a nice bath. He has not liked baths, but today he did not cry once! He loved the warm water and was just eating me up (actually, I think I was eating him up because he was looking at me finally). It's taken some time for him to adjust to sight. He has had some major "goo eyes". He still gets the crusties daily, but they are getting better. I think it's the jaundice finally coming out of his system through his eyes. That sounds ridiculous but the white parts aren't so yellow anymore, nor is the goo. I tried to capture him rolling over on video but it was a no go. He has rolled from his stomach to his back at least 5 times! This is quite the feat for only a month old if I do say so myself. Here are a few stats:
-Weight: 9.4 lbs.
-Can roll from stomach to back
-Enjoys nursing, often
-Does not take the bottle of pumped milk (tried for the first time today). Will keep trying.
-Likes a binki
-Has started enjoying just "being" (looking around and not needing to eat or sleep)
-Spits up A LOT
-Likes to sleep up against mama
-Is getting flaky skin and some baby acne

wrinkly forehead

Neighbor cat decided to join in the fun!

We still aren't sure who he looks like. He seems to take a little from a lot of different family members. He seems to be a true mix, at least for now. One things for sure, he looks all boy.

Favorites

What I'm loving now:

These SUPER chubby cheeks

 

My two babies in their jammies

 

Green smoothie face...and the fact that she'll drink it!

 Reina's Yo Gabba Gabba Vans...LOVE

Jelly Bellies. I'm embarrassed to say how many I've inhaled.

 This photographic little chicka

 Matching Mummi with stripes and color! Really was a coincidence

 Checking on her before we go to bed and ALWAYS finding her facing the wrong way...

 Knowing how much fun she has with her friends...DRESS SILLY DAY.

 

My two sleepy guys

 

 

perfection

Projects on a Budget

I don't consider myself "crafty", yet I seem to set myself up for doing projects. Is it because I can envision what the final product should look like, or because it seems so much cheaper just to do it myself? In any case, here are some of my more recent projects. The pictures don't do justice. It's not as cluttered as it appears in the photos. Probably due to the writing. Reina's artwall is actually the door to the attic, so it is rather cluttered but an easy place to put all of my favorites!

With Reina's "big girl" bedroom, my inspiration piece was the picture above her bed. I found this at Goodwill. I I like how whimsical it is, simple, yet kid-like.You can't tell, but this cute little thing was a monster of a problem ....too heavy! It took 5 brains and two frame stores to hang this thing. We thought of all sorts of options, but none of them worked until we discovered an "EZ-bar". Apparently this is something you use to hang large/heavy items like mirrors when sheer weight is too much for just the studs and anchors. Can you believe it took 5 brains to discover this? And you would've thunk the first frame store knew about an EZ-bar! We don't plan on living here for too much longer so I chose not to repaint the walls and decided to just make it work. Surprisingly, the wall color fits in rather well. I have labeled the picture like HGTV to give you an idea of how much everything cost. I like to see what I can create on a very small budget. I do have grander ideas, but maybe for her next room and a little more to spend. The bed was mine growing up...kind of outdated brass so I am debating on painting it, but sometimes original is better. Haven't decided yet. Also I am still on the hunt for a cute comforter. I have seen a few that are cute, but are $100 as well. So we'll just have to wait...or make a duvet cover. The white dresser in Reina's room was probably the ugliest color brown you can imagine...oh, and it was a fake wood veneer. It had no hardware which made it even more ugly. I learned what kind of paint goes on "fake wood" and it turned out great! The dresser came with another matching larger 6-drawer dresser that is used in our bedroom. I painted it black and added hardware. It also serves as a dresser and for holding our T.V...sorry, no pic.

Baelor's room is actually inspired by what was supposed to be Reina's room as a baby. She never actually got this crib until she was close to 2 years old, then only months later got her "big girl" bed. I had originally decided on the red/black/white motif because when I was pregnant with Reina I learned that babies really gravitate towards these colors. It intrigues their eyes and strengthens their mind (supposedly). Instead, Reina had a pack-n-play and she slept in my "walk-in-closet". She never had a baby room. Everything in Baelor's room I made except for the two pillows and animal pictures. The Ikea chairs are mainly in Baelor's room because we currently have no other place to store them. I do not sit there and rock him, but the thought is nice. The curtains were from the chiropractic office in Tacoma, so we reused them...they are the exact same color as the walls in fact. I have just a few more finishing touches to put up (i.e. mobile on crib, an empty wall to decorate), but otherwise have 2 rooms done for 2 kids! Yeah!
Here is a chair I re-cushioned (cut the foam), and completely new material. Thanks to the verbal instructions of my mother-in-law, I was able to redo a once horrible ugly Goodwill find (so ugly I didn't take the cushions home...I don't like unknown bottoms sitting in my house). I even put zippers in so I can wash them. I'm kind of a germaphobe.

I have extra material for two matching pillows that I will make for whichever room this goes in. The wicker chair is definitely "retro" but I thought with the right modern touches it will do just fine.