Baby Conor is 9 Months Old

My littlest guy is 9 months old now. How did that happen? He is almost one and I just cannot believe it. The past few months have been flying by.


-He is kind of crawling? He has been trying and Saturday he seemed to move a couple inches. Tonight was the first time I really saw him go for it though. He crawled right over to the Xbox. Great.

-He loves any and all food. Anything you put in front of him he will shove into his little mouth as fast as he can. It is kind of cute and kind of alarming.

-He is seriously one super happy baby. I mean really, I know he is my kid and I may be biased but he is so easy going. We drag him all around to track meets, football games, shopping, errands...and he is is all smiles 90% of the time. Except when the dog licks him. That seriously ticks him off. Tonight I brought the dog in the kitchen to eat the mess under his highchair after dinner (don't judge!) and the dog licked his face. Conor FREAKED OUT. Alrighty then.

-He generally sleeps pretty well. We put him down at 8pm and he is out until 5am. Then he nurses and is out again until 6:30-7am. Of course I probably just jinxed myself, he will be up all night this evening.

-He is super spoiled and super loved. He adores his siblings and they adore him.

Project 52-Week 17

Late again. I know.

Truthfully, I have taken literally hundreds of pictures the past couple of weeks. All my pictures stink lately. Part of the problem is that most of my practice is during my son's football games and sports photography is a whole other learning curve. It is tough. I am feeling extremely discouraged. I just deleted a couple hundred pictures. Ugh.

Week 17
This picture made me giggle though. If you look really closely you will notice the kid with the ball lost BOTH shoes during this particular play. Football is hardcore.

I received my beautiful new speedlite today. I cannot wait to try it out. I think I am going to try some portrait pictures of my daughter. Of course, first I need to read about it and learn how the heck to use it. Stay tuned for this week's Project 52. Hopefully it will be on time this week but I am not promising anything.

Selecting Focus Points

You can read about photography all you want. You can join every web forum and order every top rated book. But some ideas just do not click until you experiment with them yourself. Photography really comes down to practice and experimentation.

For me, selecting focus points was one of these things. Apparently, selecting your own focus points can help achieve nice tack sharp images. I read about it and learned how to do it on my own camera but had yet to execute it until tonight. I set up a little "photo shoot" with the baby's toys and started shooting.


The lightbulb went on! Ah- ha, I get it, it makes sense. It clicked in my brain (I said "clicked", get it? Camera, clicked? See how I did that? Ha ha ha!). Anyway, I am really loving this photography thing. It is so fun and there is so much to learn.

If you are interested too, here is a much better blog post and another good article here about selecting focus points.

I considered using this post as my Project 52 this week but I have a speedlite being delivered any day now so I am hoping to get that in time for this week. Stay tuned...

Gone too soon

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.

All is well.

by Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
My sweet nephew passed away this weekend. He was a sweet young man, the kind of kid anyone would be proud to call son. Very kind, very smart, very polite, very talented and much too young to leave this world. My heart breaks my entire family but especially for my sister and brother in law.

Jacob, we already miss you so very much.

Project 52-Week 16

A little late, my bad.

I call this "artsy shot gone wrong." I thought it would be a cute idea to take a picture of the boy's shoes during the football game. My idea seemed so perfect in my head. The execution, not so much. Live and learn, right?

Project 52-Week 16

Project 52- Week 14 and 15

I may be behind on blogging but I am still using my camera on a regular basis. I am really a shutterbug these days and I love every minute. I feel like I am improving and I have a better understanding of my camera but maybe I just want to believe that. ha ha

A shot if my 11 year old during his football game last week (April 6).


I really proud of my pictures from this past weekend. The conditions were not the best (bright sunlight around noon) and the baby was not content to sit in the stroller while I took pictures so I was holding him most of the time (while taking pictures). But I really think these are my best sports picture so far. There is minimum editing, cropping only because too dumb to figure out my editing software yet. During the football games I shoot in manual 90% of the time but I switch over to sports move or a couple plays because I do not trust myself. This week was the first time I kept it in manual the entire time. I am pretty damn proud of the outcome.

My 8 year old during his game this weekend (April 13).




I am getting a speedlite for my birthday (a mere month away) and I cannot WAIT!!

Project 52-Week 13

Week 13 is late. I know, I know. BUT in my defense, my son (12 year old) broke his arm during a football game. His FIRST football game of the spring season. He was crushed. Especially since he broke his other arm during Fall football season. Ugh. Poor kid. Appointments with Urgent Care clinics and Orthopedic surgeons have taken over our lives in my household. Good news is that it was a nice clean break (to both his radius and ulna) and should heal nicely. There is a good chance his cast will be removed in a 4 weeks. :D

Anyway, I am working on taking decent picture of the kids during football games and track meets. It is challenging but lots of fun!

I want to be one those moms...

You know...

The ones with the clean organized homes. The ones that are always caught up on laundry. The ones who are always on time to their children's events. The ones that are always beautiful and put together. The ones who are up to date on their children's scrapbooks and baby books. The ones who keep up with their blogs.

All while working full time.

My husband says I am too hard on myself. My husband says we have five kids and I work full time and that I am too hard on myself. I wish I could see it that way. Right now, I just feel like I suck.

That is my life lately. A big disorganized mess.