Photography

I had the pleasure of experiencing my first photo shoot as a totally beginner photographer today.  My sister-in-law let me practice on her oh-so-sweet newborn baby boy.  Gage Thomas is 2 weeks old and is sweet as can be.  Here are some of my favorite shots of the day.  I had so much fun shooting and editing these photos.... 

Kory is a fire-fighter in Moline, IL...hence all the fireman gear in the shots.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Hopefully Lisa and Kory think so too.  :)

Later that day I got to see my other favorite nephew, Mr. O.  Here are a couple shots from that...

Ok, let the critiquing begin...how'd I do?

Big and Chunky

I heard this song around Halloween time on a commercial for a tv show called Punkin Chunkin.  And I've been singing it to Brody ever since.  It reminds me of his chunky thighs and I just love it!  He loves it too. Always gets a smile and giggle out of him.  :)




What about you guys?  Anyone have any weird songs they like to sing to their child?   Pet?  Spouse?   Come on...admit it.  It's like when Ross and Rachel sang Baby Got Back to Emma to get her to smile!  I know I'm not the only one...right??

Playin' Around

We had a great weekend and I'm sad it's almost over.  I spent a lot of time playing around with our new camera and I have to say...I LOVE IT!  I've only explored the camera's auto functions (which there are a TON of different things to do), and haven't even touched on anything in manual mode yet.  There is so much to learn!  I'm a little bit overwhelmed honestly, but I'm determined to figure it all out.  I signed up for a couple of classes that Camera Corner offers (where we purchased the camera) and am really looking forward to those.  I'm hoping they are worth my time and I get a lot out of them, but we'll see.  They aren't for a few more weeks still, but until then I will keep exploring on my own.  Here are some fun ones I took over the weekend.  Brody (and daddy) were champs at letting me snap pictures of them...and even Gus got his picture taken a few times.  He's really gross and needs a bath right now, so I'll spare you his nasty face this time.  :)



I increased the saturation in this one to really make the colors pop.





I actually love the way this picture turned out, but I had the focus
 adjusted on the strap of his overalls, so his face got a little blurry.
Oh and don't mind the drool!  ha ha.

 


I totally heart this picture!




Baby feet!




Brody smiling at his daddy.





Babies in overalls look so cute from behind!




Love these two guys SO MUCH!

 Saturday night Jeff and I had a date after Brody went to bed.  Probably doesn't sound very romantic to many of you, but we thought it was a perfect night!  We poured ourselves a drink (wine for me, vodka tonic for Jeff), grabbed the baby monitor, and headed out to the garage to work on some DIY projects for the house together.  Stay tuned for updates on those later!

I'm SO excited...and I just can't hide it!

Ok ok...you can stop singing the Pointer Sisters now.  :) 
Let me tell you WHY I'm so excited....WE GOT A NEW CAMERA!!  Seriously, I am giddy right now.  I feel like a little kid on Christmas morning who just got a brand new hot pink Barbie convertible!  Jeff just went to pick it up from Camera Corner this morning (the camera, not the Barbie car!).  And I'm stuck at work.  Boooo!  So, I'll try to sit here and fill my brain with work related information, but really all I'll be dreaming of is going home to meet my shiny new toy!  Poor Brody...doesn't know what he's in for.  I'm certain I'll be snapping photos of him like a crazy woman this weekend.  Oh well...it'll be good practice for him for when he's famous someday.  The paparazzi will be all over his mug and he'll be able to say..."Ahh well, I'm used to it"!  :)

In case you were wondering...we purchased the Nikon D3100 camera body and two Nikkor lenses -- the stock 18-55mm VR lens and the 55-200mm VR lens. 

"Dear Nikon D3100,  I can't wait to get home and get my hands on you, push all of your buttons, and explore every inch of your 'body'!  Love, Your Eager New Owner". 

HAHAHA.  Told ya I was giddy!

4 Months

Stats:

Height - 25 1/4"  ~ 48%

Weight - 16.1 ~ 61%

Head Circ - 43  ~ 73%

Here is what Brody is up to at 4 months...

• Still quite the little sleeper for us at night.  He typically goes to bed between 8:00 and 8:30 and gets up about 7:00 AM.  Every once in a while he wakes in the night and we have to go in and soothe him back to sleep.  It's pretty rare that this even happens, but if it does, it is not hard to get him back to sleep. Whew!
• He rolled over again!  I am trying to be better about practicing tummy-time and he will occasionally roll over from tummy to back if he feels like it.  Success!  And he even sorta kinda tried to roll over from back to tummy the other night.  Didn't make it, but the attempt was there. 
• He's a screamer!  Even Pammy (his daycare lady) says this.  :)  One night while visiting with some friends, Brody was enjoying watching three little girls play together and he all of a sudden started screeching and squealing so LOUD!  I thought he was upset at first (he was in my lap, but facing out so I couldn't see his face) but nope, he was screaming in delight.  Pure glee at watching flirting with the girls.  Pam says he loves to do this with the daycare kids too...she says it's like they are his own live television show that he just loves to watch everyone play!
• We're still swaddling...  I'm afraid we've created a bad habit.  I don't even think he technically needs the swaddle, but he's grown so accustom to the routine of it, that he expects it when going to sleep.  We're even swaddling for naps now too, I'm sad to say.  On the bright side, he generally breaks his arms out of it an hour or so after falling asleep though, so I'm not too concerned about it anymore.  We are no longer using the fleece velcro Halo swaddles though, because to my horror one morning, I went in to find the darn thing covering his face - clear up to his eyebrows!  YIKES!  So, instead we wrap a very very thin little blanket around him just tight enough to keep his arms down while he drifts asleep.  It's so thin that if it did happen to go up over his face, I know he'd be able to breathe through it.  Anyway, enough about that.
• He still eats 5 times a day at 6 oz. bottles each.  Usually somewhere around 7:00, 10:30, 2:00, 5:00 & 8:00.  On days that I work (Mon, Tues, Thurs, & Friday), I pump 4 times a day and only nurse once (at the 5:00 PM feeding).  Although, unfortunately, my supply is decreasing quite a bit, so I think this is going to change soon.  Not sure yet on exactly what I'll do, but I know I want to continue to pump at least 3 times a day and we'll supplement with formula (once we've finished the stock-pile of frozen milk I have too) for the bottles I can't produce for him. 
• Since I work so early in the morning now (start at 6:00 AM...yes folks, that means my alarm goes off at 4:15 AM four days a week...ugh!), Jeff gets Brody up for daycare in the mornings.  He either wakes him up at 7:00 AM or Brody will wake up on his own around this time.  Jeff says he simply LOVES this time with his little buddy in the morning.  And I have to admit...I'm a little jealous.  Brody is SUCH a good happy boy all day long, but mornings really are the best.  I'm sad I have to miss out on it four days a week, but I think it's awesome that Brody and Daddy get some bonding time together!
• Brody still sucks on his fists, and you saw from a previous post, he has found his thumb.  Generally, pretty much every he gets his hands on goes in his mouth. And he still drools, A LOT!  I keep thinking he's got to have a tooth coming in any day now, but none yet.
• He outgrew his swing!  Ha ha.  Granted, the swing we had at home is considered a "travel" swing, I think, so it's smaller than other swings I've seen.  But, he's such a big boy now that the thing wouldn't swing anymore when we put him in it!  Good thing he doesn't need this for naps anymore. :)
• Brody can hold his head up on his own now (and has been able to for quite some time, actually).  He is also getting really good at sitting (not on his own, of course) with the Bumbo or supported by pillows.  And he LOVES to stand!

So handsome in my sweater!







Sittin' on daddy.





First time hangin' out in my exersaucer!






Such a big boy!





Say waaaaaht?!

Under Construction

I'm giving the blog a makeover during the next few weeks, so if you see anything new or weird, just ignore for now.  :)

Birthday Photo shoot

I will post Brody's stats and monthly update after his doctor visit on Wednesday.  But since today is his actual 4 month birthday, I thought I'd post some of the pics from our photo shoot today.  Enjoy!



Can you believe I edited out most of the drool in this one...he's like a leaky faucet!



So, I'm dabbling a bit in photo editing and I would love to hear any comments, criticism, or suggestions you have.  I know very little and am just teaching myself as I go(on some not very impressive programs, no less).  Would love to get Photoshop someday but can't get over how expensive it is (around $650+)!  So for now I'll use the freebie sites, to get a little taste.  Good thing I have a good subject to look at while I practice!