Halloween quickie

That title sounds dirty, but it's not.  My house is, though.  I have been without my husband since Sunday morning, so not much has been going on but baby-pacifying and staying-alive stuff.  Our Maytag Bravos washing machine (4 years old and $800 when we bought it) is completely broken and I'm about as irritated as it gets.  Also, swimming in dirty laundry.  Because I don't have to time to do Meryl and Chris' trip to our house justice in the form of a proper post right now, I thought I'd share a few pics of my Halloween instead.  Sunday was our trick or treat.  

My bro dressed as Captain America, Ashford was a Sea Turtle!  

He didn't much like the headpiece, but he loved to 'flap his wings,' which I believe were supposed to be the turtle feet.  They didn't much look like feet.  It was cute. 

When you spend $40 on a Pottery Barn baby costume (thanks, mom!) you kind of want them to wear it for a while, right?  

We kept it on him as long as we could, but it ultimately got all uh, moist from his drool and so that was that.  

Captain America....the kids LOVED this!  They could see him all the way down the street and were so excited to get to our house.  He was hiding a beer behind his shield.  I didn't actually hide mine, now that I think about it.  Oh well, I'll be known as the heavy drinker of Russet Street.

This is the only halfway decent picture of me and baby, this kid did not smile for a picture all day!  

Maybe I will dress him in the costume for Thanksgiving and try the photos again.  Wasn't there a story about a Thanksgiving turtle?  If not, there should be.  

PS - have you guys tried picmonkey?  I'm obsessed with the 'Dusk' effect!  

Renovation Roadtrip! (AKA: We love Meryl and Chris)

Shaun and I got a real treat yesterday at 6pm when the amazing, handy, and incredibly likeable Meryl and Chris from Picardy Project brought their Renovation Roadtrip to our door.  Meryl instantly hugged me and then carried Ashford all over the house, and I didn't even get a picture of it.  I also didn't make her change his diaper like I promised, but he didn't poop while they were here, so what was the point?  People, these two are so cool.  They have all these fabulous tools and are really good at life.  Do you need a drill bit?  Covered. 

How about an extra long bit that fits in weird places?  They have that. 

Do you need someone to...um, read directions?  Got it.  

Do you want someone to lay on your kitchen floor and use fancy tools on your cabinet toe-kick?  Done.  

Do you have outlets and switches that have needed switch plate covers for say, 9 months?  They are on it!

I cannot express how much fun we had and what a delight it was to have these two in our home for almost 24 hours.  I will be sharing our projects soon, but in the meantime, here is a group shot where it's apparent I am glowing from having my baby at grandma's for the day getting lots of annoying projects done.  I even stuck my foot in the air with glee!

Stay tuned for all the details!

4 months and life's better

I swear my baby reads my blog.  Last week I was about to run screaming into Lake Michigan, and this week he is doing better.  I can't tell you how much I loved reading all your awesome comments, and the advice is appreciated.  Of course I know the main reason I'm doing so well this week...my gorgeous, capable husband was here with me to help in the mornings.  

It is night and day when he's here.  Ashford spent most of his 4 month photo shoot eating the bear, sucking his hands, and drooling all over, but I somehow got the best pictures yet - the light from the window was perfect that day!  Here he is, with some commentary on how he's doing.

At his 4 month check up, he measured 14.6 pounds (pretty average) and a whopping 26.25 inches long - almost 90% percentile for length!  His head is a little peanut, 10th percentile.  I hope that doesn't mean his brain is tiny.  He also dazzled the nurses and his pediatrician with his baby situp, pushup, and standing skills. 

He's now sticking his feet in his mouth, and trying to grab items he never noticed before.  He's been sleeping about 7-8 hours a night when we first put him down, and usually goes back to sleep after a feeding.  Once 5am rolls around, though, there isn't much hope for more sleep.  

We are still struggling with naps, but he is starting to sleep longer for us during the day.  About 45 min - 1 hr is average, twice a day.  Still no scheduled times, though.  And getting him down is a fully orchestrated production involving boobies, swaddlers, pacis, lullaby cds, white noise machines, and prayers.  Especially that my old knees won't crack.  They seriously sound like a gunshot when I try to tiptoe out.  

For everyone that commented on the pumping fiascos - I can't leave my pump at work, or even ready my bag the night before, because I use the pump in the morning before I leave.  Even after nursing, I usually get out a good-sized bottle before work.  I also have the bottle ice pack in the freezer - which I have never forgotten for some reason.  I did start stashing extra bottles and lids at work, though.   

Even though some issues are better, we still have a very needy baby on our hands, which is seriously exhausting.  And we can't party anymore.  We went out last night for the first time in months and the price for coming home at 2am was a 3am baby wakeup followed by insane fussiness...what a nightmare.  I think he feels bad, though.  I won't make that mistake again.    

We're all just trying to keep our cool.  You know?

Have a great week, friends!  I hope we do.  

Survival mode

That is what I’m in right now. At least, I think you could classify my day-to-day as surviving. I’m alive in the technical sense, but not so much in the ‘I feel so ALIVE!’ sense.

(Since this post is kind of a bitchfest, I’m peppering in some cute pictures of my baby to prove that no matter what I say, I love him and am so happy he is in my life. Yes, I prove my love with the amount of pictures I take.) 

About 4 hours after I returned to work from maternity leave, my baby decided to go from being a loving, sweet, smiley, sleepy bundle of goodness to a raging, screaming, clinging, no-sleeping, angry fussball. And he has pretty much been that way for the last 5 weeks. 

Ever since he was born, I’ve been very chill about crying fits, fussiness, messes, whatever Ash could throw at me. Until I went back to work and didn’t have the ability to just hang at home during the day anymore. Now, sleep matters. Now, I have to do all the same amounts of crap in a couple hours after work while trying to breastfeed a fussy baby. Now, I have to prepare my pumping bag, pick out a business-casual outfit that actually fits on my (still 10 pounds heavier) bod, shower, do my hair, etc etc.  Holy heck, PUMPING. I cannot tell you how many days I got to work and realized I forgot my bottles. Or the stupid LIDS. I’ve pumped into a red solo cup in the mother’s room. I’ve taped paper over the bottle top to hold me over until I could run home at lunch to grab the lids. It’s been a complete nightmare, regardless of whether I prepare the night before or the morning of. I’m constantly late to work, even on days that Ash wakes up at 4am with no hope of going back to sleep. Yes, I am up since 4am and I am STILL late to work. Does someone want to explain that to me? 

I feel like I need a time-management coach to follow me around all day and tell me what I’m doing wrong. Maybe it’s the fact that I wander from room to room, never quite remembering why I am there...what was I doing, again? What am I supposed to grab in here?  Do I have pants on?  Do I have boobie pads in my bra?  Did I almost brush my teeth with Neosporin? {YES, this happened} This is my morning, and half the time all these thoughts are going through my head while I’m listening to Ash cry.  Many mornings I have longed for my childless days and have tried to stop myself from yelling in his little red face.  All that translates into a terrible day that I'm just trying to get through.  This is not living, in my opinion.  

Shaun is traveling a lot, so there are many mornings that I am doing everything myself. Sometimes everything is cake and I’m able to get baby changed, dressed, and in his Baby Bjorn seat by 7:30.  If nothing goes wrong, I’m able to get out the door to daycare by 7:40, through the Dunkin drive-thru for a treat of iced coffee, and triumphantly arrive at work on time - which for me, means 8:03 or earlier.  But most of the time, I'm so exhausted in the morning that I'm late getting up, I can’t find my keys (they are in my purse or the door, usually), and I can't find my purse.  Sometimes I put my keys in my purse and then wander around the house for 5 minutes looking for my purse.  I'm TIRED.  Again, this is not living. 

Ash has become a bad sleeper.  We’ve tried a dark room, fan (it’s pretty loud and I’ve noticed he does sleep longer with it on), humidifier, swaddling, not swaddling, half-swaddling, pacifier, holding his hands down, rocking, shushing, all of it. All of them have helped to put him to sleep, but he doesn't stay asleep consistently. He doesn’t like being on his tummy, I always find him on one side or the other.  Up until last week, he was waking up every couple hours.  Right now he's going down between 8-9pm, waking up anywhere between 2-4, and then sleeping again until 5:30-6:30.  He takes two long naps at daycare.  We really can't get him to nap for long periods here.  The kid is exhausting....but I am happy to see that his sleeping patterns are getting better.  When he sleeps from 8-4, that's great.  I can't really complain about one night feeding per night, he is only 4 months old.  I do wish he was less fussy while awake, but I guess this will pass.  So now, the good stuff...

Ashford holds teethers, toys, my hair, blankets, and everything else tightly - and brings them all into his mouth.  He even grabs his paci and pops it back into his mouth when he knocks it out.  Yeah!  He can now roll over back to front, and front to back...which I think is just awesome.  He can push his whole chest off the ground while on his belly, even though he is fussing because he doesn't like being in that position.  He can support so much of his weight on his legs.  When we help him stand, we are barely holding his little hands.  He is making wet raspberry noises and trying to stick his tongue out, spitting everywhere.  It is the cutest thing.  He will mimic you if you make a noise, which is also THE CUTEST THING.  His 4 month appt is Monday, I'm looking forward to seeing how much he weighs, because LOOK AT THOSE CANKLES, PEOPLE!  Now if you will excuse me, I have to go to bed because this dude will be up in no time.  

Thanks for listening to my rambling, I appreciate any stories you want to share with me about your own baby woes!   

Function over form

You might not know this, but I don’t like useless things that are pretty.  My throw pillows are used (great to prop up the boppy!), my books are read, my candles are burned, my bud vases and ball jars hold flowers from my garden in the summer.  You will never see me do a post on styling a bookshelf because I don’t give a flying fart about styling bookcases.  I once put all my books in rainbow order and then realized that was dumb because they should be by author.  That is practical.

I think styled spaces look great in magazines, but I don’t live in a magazine, so I will not bother with it.  I do have a small collection of wooden cat statues because they make me smile, but for the most part I don’t have many things that only have the purpose of sitting somewhere looking nice.  Of course an exception is wall art and picture frames, it’s not like they are making me breakfast or telling me the time, but they make a home nicer to live in, which is something.  Anyramblingblogger, when I realized that I was logging lots of hours sitting in this here glider in the nursery...

I decided I was tired of looking at a blank wall.  I did want a little flat screen there, but I know it wouldn't get much use after his night feeding is dropped.

I bought a cute bicycle print from art.com, and realized a clock to log the minutes would be a welcome addition.  Specifically, I wanted to know how many minutes of precious sleep I was losing at night because I like to torture myself. I found a cute yellow clock at Target, and thought it would look sharp with my art and wall color. Then I hung it up and was pleased. 

So cute!  (Placement looks a little weird here, usually the buggy is against that wall and the closet door is open, so that is why I picked those spots.)  

I was happy until night time, then I was not pleased because this was what I saw:

Well, duh. How the hell am I supposed to see this thing at night?  I like to nurse in an almost totally dark room so Ash goes right back to sleep without a fuss, which he does.  A normal person would’ve invested in a digital clock for the nightstand, but I’m not normal. I decided to try something to make my clock work. I got out my teeny screwdrivers...

pulled out 5 wee screws...

and separated the clock from the glass enclosure.

Then I painted the hands of the clock with this glow in the dark paint I got at Hobby Lobby for $2.20 with a coupon.

I started off using a craft brush, but figured out by the 5th coat that a finger works best.  

I was glad that the paint dries pretty clear.  I charged this bad boy up with some light...

and was completely disappointed.  It is not visible in the dark, and barely glows even after laying under a lamp all night.  

This is the best pic I could get in the dark room.  This makes it look glowy, but that is more a trick of the camera.  Cry.  Guess I'm just not going to worry about what time it is at night.  Hey, at least this pretty clock is functional during the daytime.    

Photo shoot deconstructed

As I was getting ready to take Ashford's 3 month photos, I thought it would be fun to do a post about my tips for taking great amateur photos of your kids.  Or at least 'better than average' photos.  I am not a professional photographer, so I think that means my quality of pictures is attainable by anyone with a camera like mine.  I have the Canon Rebel xsi DSLR, and it has been a dream to work with!  Here are the rules I follow:
Use natural light
I have a very small handful of photos that were taken at night or indoors with a flash.  They just don't look as good, even with a good external flash like mine.  If you are indoors, pull your subject to a window and go from there.  Ash turned 3 months on the 5th, but I waited until the 8th to do his pictures because I needed to do them during the day when I wasn't at work.  Work, who has time for it??  Seriously!

Add studio lighting when needed
This is the setup I use for Ashford's monthly pics:

The buggy is positioned with the window light on the right, and an umbrella light on the left to avoid shadows on the other side of his face.  The overall effect is not like a flash, but a well-lit room.  

With that said, there are plenty of photos that look awesome with shadow on one side of baby's face.  I love this contemplative pose from his 1st month shoot, without the umbrella light on the other side.  

Find a good backdrop

Nobody wants to see your dirty laundry or a bunch of random stuff/people in the background, so find a pretty background and make sure you can't see any clutter in your frame.  I have been known to use a blanket in the park and zoom in tight....

or a white sheet thrown over pillows in the living room. 

Manually select your focus point

As good as auto focus can be, it doesn't always know what is most important to you in your shot.  Whenever you are taking photos of a tiny human, the eyes are the important part.  The selection button is here on my camera:

I always make sure to select the point closest to his eyes when I set up the picture.  This changes depending on whether I'm doing a tight face-only shot, or a full body one.   

Once you have it set, if you aren't changing positions, you can leave it the same.  It makes a big difference in the clarity of your picture when the eyes are sharp.  

Adjust white balance

You might think auto white balance is coolio, and usually it is, but there are some times that it doesn't cut it for me.  Take these two shots for example...the first one was taken using auto white balance.

I thought it was looking a little too 'blue,' so I changed the white balance to 'daylight' so the camera would warm up the cool lighting.  I thought the second photo looked more realistic to his skin tone.  Of course, temperature can also be changed with editing later.   

I also find when I'm taking photos outside under a tree, the 'shade' option is a must to warm up the photo.  It looks very cold and blueish without that change.  It's as simple as selecting the type of lighting you are in from the easy-to-understand icons.  

Get in close

The closer you are to the subject, the easier it is to focus and eliminate distractions in the background.  I love this photo because his eyes are the star.  Speaking of, I will miss those baby blues when they change!  (Shaun and I both have brown eyes, so I'm not holding out hope for a blue-eyed child)      

Use continuous shooting

If you have continuous shooting on your camera, it can be the difference between a blurry shot and a clear one.  Babies move quickly, so continuous shooting allows me to capture a great shot in the middle of all the flailing legs and blurred arms.  It is also great for catching your baby looking at you for a split second before looking away again.  I took this photo of my dad and Ash last weekend, and was upset that he had looked down at the last minute...

...but continuous shooting saved the day because he looked up a second later and the camera caught it.

That function has saved me more times than I can count.  Of course the downside is after a 15 minute shoot you have 150 bad blurry photos to go through and delete, but that is a price I'm willing to pay....most of the time!  

Choose your photo time wisely

Only you know when your baby is happiest and most photogenic.  For me, the best time is when he wakes up and has eaten.  He is usually smiley and happy before his morning nap, so I hit him up at that time.  I made the mistake of trying to take pics one evening because he was wearing a cute outfit, and this is what happened:

Use your manual settings

I have learned a lot about shutter speed and aperture since I got my camera, and I now exclusively use the 'creative' settings on my camera instead of auto.  Using shutter priority and aperture priority settings allow me to get the most amount of light into my lens without sacrificing sharpness.  Av (aperture priority) is my favorite for this shoot because it makes Ashford sharp, and the background fuzzy.  It's worth learning about!

If they won't look at you

I've found that calling his name and making clicking noises usually doesn't work with my babe, what works is holding a toy with flashing lights directly above the camera, then starting to shoot while you pull the toy away.  I use the Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes, works great!  Of course, you can also take a cute shot with them not looking...

Be sure to check out Darby's post on photography here, and Katie's posts here.  I also love this book: 

Of course all of the tips I mentioned here can be used for taking pictures of anyone, not just babies.  Well, except the 'toy with flashing lights' bit, unless your family and friends are into that sort of thing.  Happy shooting!