An after without the before

Go me. I saved over the original so unfortunately you can't see the difference in this one. Thought I'd share it anyways because is this kid cute or what? He came out looking like a little boy, not a baby.

Another Before and After

Maybe this will become a daily thing. I give you another Before and After.

Photography 101

One of the biggest items on my to-buy list when we had a kid was a DSLR camera. I've long hated my crappy Olympus point and shoot. Now I've entered the big kids realm of photography. Well, sort of. We purchased a Canon Rebel XS. The price was right, and for the photography I had in mind, it would work. I'm not a pro. In fact, far from it. Just getting behind the camera to take pictures of my loved ones let alone anyone else has always made feel self-conscious. Like I'm about to paint a brilliant masterpiece in the time it takes for the shutter to snap open and close.

I told my sister the other day how I'm full of ideas and ambition. I just can't find it in myself to finish projects. And I know why: I'm just not able to execute that brilliant picture that I have in my head. Any project. Any craft. Ending in a big fail, and I'm sure a few shakes of my sister's head. She's the Queen Project Finisher.

And that's how I feel about photography. When I snap a picture, it always feels unfinished and poorly composed. So then I want to hide my camera away for fear of not really know how to operate it, quit blogging (because who wants to read a blog with endless words—like this post), and go back to bed. Classic Project Unfinisher.

I was hoping my fancy little camera would get me out of my creative rut, but I've been too sleep deprived for that (more on that some other time). I even leave it in my office to stare and taunt me daily. It seems to have worked because last night, I broke out the manual and read up on my little friend. I don't really get things like composition, foreground, background, rule of thirds, aperture. They all want to make me scream (into a pillow so I don't wake the baby).

So I took a step back, and thought, maybe I don't need to take the perfect picture. I just need to fake it until I make it. Or practice, but I don't see that coming first. And I get design. I like to monkey around in Photoshop. So I read online how to create actions and make bad photos look good and good photos even better.

Here's my first stab. One pic of my cuter than bunny-snuggled-up-to-a-dog niece and my darling boy.





Maybe my blogging strike will officially end. Or else I won't hear the end of it from a certain someone.

Did you know?

I'm the youngest of 8 children. I have 4 sisters and 3 brothers. It went girl boy girl boy until I was born. I should have been a boy.

My mom was 17 when she had her first child. I was 28 and 11 and a half months when I had my first child.

There are 14 children between us 8 siblings and 4 great children. 10 boys and 8 girls. There's another child (no, I'm not pregnant) and great child on the way. V has lots of cousins.

I thought I knew a lot about babies from having so many nieces and nephews. Then I had V. I still don't know what I'm doing.

I love sleep. V doesn't. He fights his swaddle and sleep. When he succumbs, he cat naps. Another reason I don't like cats (I'm also really allergic to them).

I used to not get stay-at-home moms. Now I want to be one, despite the above.

I want to decorate my house. I have lots of ideas.

V takes up all my time, so my house is bare and boring. Even V's nursery isn't completely finished.

I want to own my own company designing inspirational posters, stationary, and other things. Again, I have lots of ideas. I also have a baby.

How do people do this?!

To sum up: From a big family, don't know what I'm doing with my own kid but loving it enough to do it full time, don't know where to find the time to do anything else. But I have lots of ideas.

Getting the hang of motherhood

My house is a wreck. Or maybe it just feels that way to me because the time on the weekends that I usually devote to cleaning, are being eaten up by my two week old (tomorrow! not sure how he grew up so fast!). The dishes I wanted to do today? They had to wait yet again as he wanted to be held and fed all day long. All day! Except for the hour I took to go buy some lounge pants and T-shirts at Old Navy, he has preoccupied my time. I tried reading, but it's hard to turn pages with a baby in your arms. I watched countless episodes of Income Property. I'm trying to tell myself that I should enjoy not having to have everything done and just enjoy holding my bundle. He's sure to grow up fast. Gotta embrace it while I can.

Warranty time

We're taking stock of any and all repairs our house needs for its one-year warranty. Yes, you heard me right—one year! Our house is quickly approaching its one year birthday and I honestly can't believe it. The year has gone by so fast, and honestly, we haven't made many changes or dressed it up, but that's fine with me, the less we change, the more is covered under our warranty.

While Jonathan surveyed every nook and cranny, I looked up anything we found in our warranty book to see if it was covered and recorded it on our warranty form that's due at the end of the week to the builders. It's a tedious and time-consuming job, but it's really showed us how to take stock of our home on an annual basis. I hope that we'll continue this every year on our own now that the builders will no longer be responsible for repairs.

I do daydream about painting and decorating, but I'm trying to keep those daydreams at bay until the little one is here. He'll be my life until I get a hang of having a little monkey in my life, and then it'll be time to live really live in this house. I'm not sure which project we should save for first: fencing the backyard, furniture pieces, finishing the basement, getting our foyer professionally painted.

Book page wreath

Image: Jones Design Company

A friend of mine told me about All Things Thrifty. It's a great blog right up my alley in wanting to decorate (eventually) on the cheap. And as always happens, one blog leads to another blog and then inspiration (!) and self-discovery.. I stumbled upon Jones Design Company, and she's crisp, clean, and a little whimsical just like me. In her tutorial section, I found a wreath that I just need to make (at some point; all projects are pretty much on hold until my little man arrives, unless some serious decorating and crafting nesting hits). I'm a huge wreath judger. I like clean lines and a lot of wreaths scream "I just exited my grandmother's 1970s house." You know what I'm talking about! All fake flowered out and wishing to be put to death or dismantled and upcycled.

But not the book page wreath. It speaks to me on so many levels. From using old books as the craft source to all those beautiful magical letters in a serif font. Mmmm. Now I need me a hot glue gun.

I also discovered the lima bean wreath too that I think would be a great holiday wreath for next year. I love the fact that it's simply white and the fact that it's made with beans. Beans? Come on!