Monday, November 30, 2009

So much fun

I really had a good holiday break. Of course it wasn't long enough. Here I am back at work. Boo is growing up so much. He's so wild and crazy and curious and I and wild and crazy about him. He is doing some new things these days. He balances standing up! I almost had a heart attack the first time he did it. But he is trying to stand up on his own. He shakes his head no. All the time. Just for fun. And he says "NAH NAH NAH" when he tell him no and shakes his head. He points at things. He is always too busy for a nap. He did not take a nap yesterday till 4 pm. Too much excitement with church and then Mya being at the house. He slept till almost 7 pm.

I am really enjoying my new lens! I got a 50mm fixed lens for my Olympus E-500. The pics of Boo "reading" the circuits book were taken with it. It gives a nice effect to the picture with the background being out of focus. It also allows pictures to have enough light without using the flash. I am getting much better with the camera. I've figured out that shooting in RAW and then processing in the Olympus software is the way to go. I get more control over the exposure and white balance rather than shooting in JPEG and editing in Photoshop. Of course the lens arrived while I was at mom's house taking pics of Omar, Mya, and Seth, but I think they turned out nice. I need to edit them just a little bit more and then I can give about 20 nice pics to Paulina. Seth lives in San Antonio with his dad, so the kids dont' get to be together a lot.

Notes on breastfeeding. We are still nursing, but Boo is usually too busy during the day to nurse unless it's nap time. And we have to be at home for nap time. It's hard on me when he won't nurse till 2 pm like yesterday. So I'm tempted to wean. But he does nurse a lot at night. I seriously doubt he drinks all that I pump. Maybe I can just pump less at work and nurse mainly at night. I do want to continue nursing.

Notes on spending the night away. Boo has not spent a night awaw from me. I really don't feel ready. He likes to nurse all night. I think he would be sad. And I would be sad. I would rather wait for him to spend the night until I think he will enjoy it. So sorry everybody. Not yet. I am under a lot of pressure to let him spend the night away. Not yet!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

My little turkey


Following in the footsteps

Most of you know Nathan and I are engineers. Well I like to think I am more than just engineer. But I did go to school and learn about thermodynamics and calculus and electric circuits...

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Photo Shoot



Some pics of Omar, Seth, and Mya. More details later.
Posted by Picasa

Friday, November 27, 2009

I love MPIX

I have a new love... MPIX and professional quality photo paper. It really is better. You just have to see for yourself. The metallic paper is really awesome. It gives a very slight pearl/metallic glow to your picture. It makes Boo's blue eyes really come alive on the paper. And skin tones look golden and warm and very beautiful. Green grass looks very pretty too. I used www.mpix.com for mine. I also ordered some key chains that are super cute too. And the monitor calibration kit should help my pics turn out truer to what I see on my monitor. My monitor is tricky to calibrate. I can't get it to really be just right. But MPIX tunes your pics a little bit (if you want them to) and I found that all of my prints look great. I'm excited to share with my friends and family. So sorry walgreens... I may not be printing with you anymore.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

I'm thankful

For my family, my precious son, our health, our jobs. I have learned a lot this year. One of the biggest lessons is to appreciate all I have and never take one second for granted. I wish I could stay and linger here in thankfulness, but my little precious one is crying upstairs. He is playing with daddy while I have been cutting veggies and preparing my food for tomorrow. So Happy Thanksgiving!! Mom on the run...

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Just saw Twilight. So good!

Just saw Twilight. So good! 1st movie I've seen in a long time. Teenage girls giggling n talking the whole time.. not good.

Fun with Mya and Boo





Mya spent the night Thursday night. I love the girl but she really gave me a run for my money. Peed in the bed, drove me crazy. But I do love her. Then Friday morning the electricity went out. So the pics in front of the window were taken with near darkness inside the house and rainy weather outside. I finally figured out how to take decent pics without a flash! Slower shutter speed, low aperture number! I really like these. All of these are with no flash. I was very proud of myself...
Then we went to the mall and rode all the little kid rides and the train. And the bungee trampoline jumper. She loves it. And Boo was so good. He loves gettting out and seeing people. He didn't give me any trouble. Mya had a couple of little meltdowns. She wanted me to buy everything. I did go to the mall to buy her some shoes and a jacket and got some cute ones. The jackets were all 50% off at Gap, so I got her a really nice warm one for $34. And of course they have the cutest baby boy stuff in the world. So I HAD to buy Boo a bunch of stuff. SOO cute. Christmas colors and warm clothes.

At the mall







Some edited pics of the Christmas train at the mall.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Practice practice practice

If only I had more time to practice taking pictures. If you are not photography inclined, feel free to skip today's post. I am trying to really figure out how to use my camera. I have an Olympus E-500 DSLR that does a lot of fancy stuff. I read the manual (genious I know) and have been researching how to use the camera as it was intended to be used besides shooting on auto all the time. I played with it yesterday in aperture priority and tried manual mode. I didn't really see a lot of difference when changing aperture. (Gasp.) I was hoping to get more blurry backgrounds. The shutter speed was acting funny in manual mode. Got to work on that.

I really hate the saying, "You have to have a degree in engineering to..." Just because I have a degree in engineering does not mean I know how to do everything, like use a camera or put toys together.

I'm already convinced I need a fancier lens for my camera. I'm thinking I need a 50mm prime lens. I also discovered I can order my prints online and get professional quality prints. I would like to take some more pics and then make an order. My goal is to try and make my own birthday card invitations. Yes, I'm currently thinking yes for the birthday party. I got some super cute shots of Mya Sunday and a few great ones of Boo. But now I want some shots with hopefully blurry backgrounds SOOC (straight out of camera) instead of having to do so much editing to get blurriness. Ok so the editing is not so hard, but it should look more natural SOOC.

Wish me luck.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Special Announcement

I am going to have a new niece/nephew next summer!! Paulina (my brother Micah's wife) gave me the go-ahead to announce that she is pregnant. We are very excited. She is trying to get in to see a dr and figure out how far along she is. She is feeling pretty crappy. This will be her 4th! Her other children are Omar 15, Seth 10, and Mya 3.

Boo will have a little baby cousin to terrorize. I am nervous about him hurting the baby. He's a wild man right now, and he's not walking yet. And I am not sure what I will do about childcare when Paulina can't babysit. She is my everyday babysitter. Maybe I'll find someone who can take care of Boo for a little while or do daycare... yikes. So yes, I am thinking about how this will affect me. But first and foremost I am excited to welcome a little one into our crazy wild family.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Offer to my readers

Since I am having so much fun editing pictures, I am offering to edit a photo for you. Email me a pic or two that you would like edited, and I will edit and email it back to you as soon as possible, depending on how many I get. Let me know if you have a certain look you are going for. I'm not really great with black and white or sepia, but I will try. Or let me know if you want it to be a certain size or orientation or borders or whatever. I will do my best. My email address is in my profile.

Silly Boy

Boo is feeling much better. Antibiotics do a number on his tummy, so that will make this a fun week. But it doesn't seem to bother him too much. I am still a little sickly, but getting better.

Boo's new thing is clapping. It's so fun to see him get excited and clap. He wildly flails his arms and his hands happen to hit each other some of the time. So cute. It wasn't so cute two nights ago at 1 am when he woke up, sat up, and started clapping and laughing... in the dark... for about an hour. I guess that's better than crying. Funny boy.
Nathan has spent a lot of time with us this weekend. That's been really good.
I spent some time editing pics and taking pics. I got some really magical ones. It's funny how some pics look great on the computer screen but not so great on paper. Some look crappy on the screen and great on paper. Some look great wherever. Here are some of my favorite ones.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Sickly

We are still sickly in this house. I am feeling much worse and will probably go to the dr later. Boo went yesterday and is going to take antibiotics for his sinus infection. He seems much better today, but his throat and ears were mucus-y so we will try to clear that up. I went home early yesterday after Paulina called me and said he had been screaming all morning. I could hear it. Heart break. I was feeling crappy anyways. So we are home. Boo woke up at 6 am like normal. But he's my little love and we will try to have fun today even though we are sickly.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Health Care

Today we will take a break from the everyday baby talk and talk about health care. I've written before of my views of capitalism vs. socialism and my views on welfare and hand-outs. Lack of affordable, good quality healthcare is a major problem in this country. What is the solution? Well, I don't know. There is no possible way to have a perfect solution that will please everyone. We could have "free" universal healthcare. But most of us realize that nothing in this world is free. This would come at a much higher income tax/business tax rate. MUCH higher. You like your paycheck? I sure do like mine. At least the part of it that actually goes into my bank account. After taxes, medicare, social security, health insurance, etc. about 30% of my check is gone. I wouldn't be able to pay my bills if another 10% was taken for this "free" health insurance. What then? Check out this table from Wikipedia to see some comparison. Countries with "free" healthcare have much higher tax rates. I think I would rather keep my own money and be responsible for my own healthcare. Check out Belgium and Germany! Yikes! I realize that they probably don't have to pay extra for their own healthcare. It's included in their income tax. But the plans Congress is coming up with will cost us money, plus we still have to pay for our own healthcare plan! Then when our companies decide that they can't afford the extra taxes that they face, they will cut out healthcare benefits, and we will all be on the govt. plan! And we will be considered "RICH" and will have to pay more money for less quality of care!!


Of course something really does need to change. Many companies don't offer health insurance. And many people make too much money for Medicaid, but not enough to afford to pay $500 a month to buy their own policy. So people with good jobs are penalized and have to pay outrageous amounts for healthcare while non-working people or low income people get healthcare for free.

I like the idea to require companies to either provide healthcare plans for employees or to pay a fine, but some companies are not doing well right now. So money spent to healthcare WILL equal lost jobs.

Some of my ideas:
  1. Govt. or private insurance pays for birth control for anyone who wants it. Less babies that are not wanted, less welfare, less Medicaid, less spending.
  2. Govt. or private insurance pays for stop-smoking aids!! Get people to quit smoking/decrease healthcare spending!
  3. Make people pay at least a LITTLE bit for Medicaid and for Medicaire. Maybe they would be more selective about unnecessary dr visits, tests, and emergency room visits. $5, $10, something that makes people think, "Do I really need to go?" I don't want people not being cared for when they need it, but I do think twice before going to the dr, and I think long and hard before going to the ER.
  4. Work harder to prevent and expose Medicare/Medicaid fraud. It's out there. It's eating up our money.
  5. Expand programs like CHIP to cover more children. Make people pay a reasonable amount.
  6. SPEND LESS ON OTHER COUNTRIES!! How can we justify giving money away and going to war when people here are dying?? Our infant mortality rates is much higher than other developed countries.
  7. If people are on any type of welfare, all of their personal spending should be tracked. They should have to meet with a financial advisor. They SHOULD NOT be able to spend money on drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and then take MY money to buy food or pay rent.

You don't like my ideas? Think I'm mean? Think Obama should save us all?

Would I like to add - Govt to provide free healthcare to everyone.?? Yes, I would. But at what expense? A soaringly high deficit? That would put our country in grave danger. Soaringly high income taxes? Business taxes? Job losses, home foreclosures, major economy pitfall. So I don't have all the answers. But I do have ideas. I should be a lobbyist.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Dang cold

I'm still dealing with a nasty cold and feeling crappy and tired. I was --this--- close to staying home today. But I went. Now day is almost over and I'm trying to make plans to get home. We usually meet at moms. Some days I just want to get home. Mom likes to see Boo. And sometimes Pawpaw comes over too. It's just too much to visit for long after I've worked all day and I have a million things to do at home. Yesterday I left work at 3:45 and got home at 5:45. I am not in the best of moods sometimes at the end of the day. Paulina isn't feeling the visiting today either. We are meeting at Walmart. I HAVE to get a few things. And by the time we would visit at moms and I head home at 5:30 and Boo is cranky, I will not want to go to the store. Crazy how I have to justify all this. Mom just assumes we will come over every day. Once or twice a week, ok, everyday, not ok. I love everybody, and I enjoy visiting, but I have a lot to do at home. So mom texted that she would see me in a little while. I said that we are meeting at Walmart. She wants to see her babies. Sorry mom. I'm feeling crappy and tired and I need some stuff at Walmart. That's about all I can handle for today.

Monday, November 9, 2009

10 months ago

10 months ago I met my sweet little boy. Every day since then has been full of adventure and love. I cannot imagine life without him. He is crawling a little bit, but the preferred method of transportation is still scooting. He is doing much better with eating lumpy foods and really likes trying what we are eating. I have been letting him sit on the bathroom floor and play/dig while I am in the bathroom. That's been fun. He always goes straight for my purse and straight to my makeup bag. And we've decided that he really just does not like toys. He knows that they are not real adult items, and he would much rather have some trash to play with. We had fun together this weekend even though we have had nasty colds.

I still haven't decided whether or not to do the whole big 1st birthday party. Maybe I'm lazy or just selfish. Maybe I don't want to share him. Maybe it's too close to Christmas to have to do a big party. Maybe I'll change my m ind.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Finally!!

Boo is officially crawling!! I saw him take some crawling strides last night. I was so excited. Almost 10 months and crawling!! He still alternates to scooting and seems to really like scooting better, but it's good that he is crawling. He is feeling much better now. I am starting to feel worse, getting his nasty cold. And now he's got big bumpy mosquito bites all over his head. So we will try to keep him inside this weekend.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Baby signs

Ok, so you all know I'm a little cuckoo! I like doing things even if they are not quite mainstream. Like extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, co-sleeping, and my next adventure will be sign language. I've heard and read different ideas on how it affects children's development. But I like the idea that Boo could let me know what he wants before the time where he learns to talk. Talking is hard and takes a long time to learn. Maybe signing will be easier for him. And it will be fun. I ordered a few things to help us learn the basics and for some techniques. I'm just wondering why I didn't think of this sooner. I taught myself mom, dad, more, again, milk, and eat from www.lifeprint.com to get started. I will just try to use these while feeding Boo and playing with Boo until I get the books and DVD. I know it will take a while before he starts signing back to us, so I hope I can remember to keep doing it. Boo says "mama" and "dada" and that's about it. He tried to imitate words sometimes. Like if we say "kitty", he says "tuh". He does not try to wave or shake his head yet. So I don't know that he is actually ready to sign, but if we do it, eventually he should do it.

Any thoughts? You tried it?

Sick Boo

Poor Boo has a nasty cold. At least I hope that's all it is. I ended up staying home with him yesterday, but today I am working. As a mom, I just want to be the one to take care of my child when he is sick. He wasn't completely miserable all day, but he was more cranky than normal and wanted me to hold him, which I did, of course. He really hates the booger sucker. And having his nose wiped. It hurts me to do it to him, but I know he must feel better when he can actually breathe. I would like to avoid taking him to the dr's office because he might really catch something there. He seemed slightly better this morning.

Yesterday afternoon when he was feeling a little better, I seriously wanted a Dr. Pepper, and we didn't have any. Plus I was feeling the need to get out of the house. A walk around the block would have been nice, but Boo already has a couple of nasty mosquito bites, and I didn't want him to get any more. So... we went to Walmart. We looked at toys. We got a little cute car. I was too overwhelmed with choices to get anything else. Boo would rather have a remote control or real cell phone anyway. Boo thinks everybody should talk to him. He says, "Huh!! HUH!! HUH!!!!" to everybody. Even the weird people. He does really well shopping and has fun.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

I love Picnik!


I am certainly not a professional photographer or editor. But I am really enjoying using Picnik at http://www.picnik.com/. I think I've mentioned it before, but I did some more edits and finally made a screensaver of Boo on my computer at work. And I've somehow discovered some pics from when he was newborn that I don't remember. And I love them. Some of them were too dark or he looked too red. But with a few clicks, it's all perfect. Seriously, what is sweeter than this pic of Boo in his sling when he was super new. If this doesn't make everybody in the world want another baby, I don't know what will. The little hands, the sleepy eyes... I could spend all day editing pictures. A tool like this really makes it hard for me to spend money on a professional photographer.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Dang it!


One of the kids in the nursery yesterday at church was sick. His parents brought him to church anyway. Grrrr…. I went back there a few minutes before church was out, and the kid was cranky. I mentioned that to his dad, and the dad said, yeah, he was puking and sick last night. Great!! Why did they bring him to church? They will not go to hell for staying at home with their sick pukey kid!! I am ready to quit going to church altogether. Boo spit up last night, so I was thinking maybe he was getting sick. Then he was ok last night and this morning. He puked at Paulina’a and has diarrhea. I will probably stay at work today unless he gets worse or super cranky. What is wrong with people??

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