In order to help Dave learn a bit about photography, I have him using the camera on manual mode, switching between different focus points AND shooting wide open. Shooting wide open is no easy task for a beginner, nor is shooting in manual mode but he is doing a great job and really getting the hang of it. As for editing, I’m experimenting with a funky tone curve layer. I kinda like it.

Child endangerment or cute photo-op? You decide!

Ok so it’s not exactly fabric, but it IS a textile nonetheless. I had to get the nursery rug in there sooner or later. I used my flash this time and I have to say, it looks a lot better with flash than without. Plus, I took this photo at 9:30pm so there was absolutely no natural light available. Gotta make it work.

Finley is 3 weeks old and he’s going through another growth spurt to prove it. (He most definitely went through a 10 day spurt that wore all 3 of us out.) Today he was awake for about 10 hours and wanting to eat constantly. There’s really not much else I can do during the day other than feed him when he’s going through a growth spurt. Literally, I am parked on the couch either nursing him or hanging out with him. Awake. When he finally went down for a nap I started scurrying around the house to get a few things done. What I should have done was dropped everything and napped with him. I kept assuming he would wake up after 15-30 minutes but over 2 hours passed and he was still sleeping. I decided to wake him because I knew it was time for him to eat. He just now went down for another nap and I. Can. Hardly. Believe. It.

He is so alert these days! He is starting to make more and more baby noises. I suppose they are what you would call “coos”. It is very cute. I enjoy the times we have together when he is not feeding or sleeping but simply being. We cuddle, we read the bible and other books, and I chat with him about all kinds of things. He is very interested in his surroundings. The look on his faces seems to say that he is studying them intently. He is especially fixated with the large landscape photographs in the living room. Today I told him we would someday take him to all of the places in the photos. We are already thinking about if/when/where we might be able to go next summer for his first big adventure. (I vote San Fran.)

Here he is, in a pretty chill mood. Is it too soon to think that these smiles are real? I love this sweet boy.

This is a very expressive little baby.

This jogger stroller is rad! We took it for a long walk all around downtown, with breaks for feedings and diaper changes of course. We were away from the house for 8 hours and we survived to tell about it. I am breathing a sigh of relief as this whole thing is getting just a bit easier. My baby is 3 weeks old tomorrow. Whaaaaat?

It’s coming. I’ve been sticking my head out the door all day long in hopes that the air would be just a bit cooler. Not yet. It’s still just as humid and dank as ever. But the rain has picked up again and I’m pretty sure it is going to flush all that nastiness away. Were I to have the good fortune of going anywhere this weekend (and I just may), I would have a bit of a dilemma on my hands.

You see, as hot blooded as I am naturally, pregnant, post-partum, or not, a girl’s still gotta keep warm in 50 degree weather. By that logic, I ought not be ashamed that in the past 9 months I have purchased no fewer than 5 jackets. Five. Jackets. In Florida. Okay, I suppose that IS shameful. Why would I need to add 5 more jackets to the overstuffed collection of jackets I already own? I don’t know. It’s sick. A sickness, in fact. It is especially unfortunate that during all this jacket-buying frenzy I did not have the foresight to purchase at least one that would actually fit me now. No no no! Instead, I thought to myself “What?!?! I’ll only be pregnant for 9 (or 10) months, meaning that I, of course, should purchase the XS”. Ha. Ha ha. Ha ha ha. I didn’t know very much back then, did I?

So anyways (it’s my blog and I can say “So anyways….”), now we are facing the first legitimately cold weekend of the season and despite the fact that, realistically, I will probably be cozied up at home with the baby, I am still thinking “I have nothing to wear!”. (Not true, so very not true.) Wait a minute! Hark! What’s that I hear? My Groupon to the Gap is calling my name. I’m afraid I will have to be supervised on that shopping trip. My explicit instructions: No more from Baby Gap and absolutely NO. MORE. JACKETS.

I guess having a baby has made me no less interested in fashion just more aware of how low it ranks on the importance totem pole. In any case, how cute is this daily-wear-able from Orchid Grey???

I tried on a pair of fun shorts like these from my closet yesterday. The shorts? They mocked me and I couldn’t protest.