10 Months

Last night went ok. Not great but not miserable. This morning however was another story we won't get into now. Luckily she felt good enough to appease the camera for a little bit even though it took her a few frames to wake up :)

What are you doing?

I asked you a question....

Seriously. (All three are different pictures and I will spare you the other
25 photos that look exactly like this.)

Finally there is a smile!

Loving her Pooh Bear.

Can you see those eye lashes?

Now she poses for the camera.

Look at her go!

I am taking the bear and the blanket with me.

What shall I destroy next??

Hmmmm...

Why would you pick me up and put me back down??
I don't want any more pictures!!

That's better mom.

Ahhh. The life.

Yes I know that my house has some daycare qualities but who cares right? I love it and it makes it super easier to play with her and know that she is safe and clean! She hasn't started walking everywhere but she tries often. Basically it depends on how fast she wants to get to where she is going. 

She loves putting things in buckets and then taking them out again. One day I am sure we can make a game out of cleaning up all the toys. 

Anytime she hears music she starts to move her little body around. Makes me laugh every time. I hope that she gets rhythm from somewhere! 

She loves throwing around toys and likes rolling a ball or bouncing it. I think she tries to say ball but just says ba every time she sees one around. 

She also says Bye-bye and waves (not all the time but most of the time). When she wants to go somewhere she points and coos or babas until she gets what she wants, and she has stopped saying mama and dada. I guess we know whats important to her right now :)

Her favorite book right now is Hop on Pop by Dr. Suess and it drives me crazy. Good thing we have the shortened version :) It's hard not to smile though when she laughs at the pages. Books happen to be right up there with balls on the toy scale. She will pull down her whole library and practice opening books and she will also sit in your lap still while you read..... unless she wants a different book. 

This morning on our walk she saw tons of dogs and cried when she couldn't get out of the stroller to chase them around. One day far in the future we will try to have another dog but this is not something we can do now even for Belle. One lady was nice enough to let Belle pet her golden retriever and she just giggled the whole time. Too cute.

Her eating and sleeping have been erratic because of the tonsillitis so I won't even go into detail on them. Trying to get her to eat anything has become the challenge and I just worry about her getting dehydrated with the fever so I always have juice near by for her. Sleep? What's that?? Back to the good ole days of not getting any because even when she does sleep I hear phantom crying and I wake up. Maybe I have psychosis? 

That seems to be it for now. Hope everyone is having a blessed week!

Tchau,

Sara

Fall Beauty

I miss the fall so much! These photos were taken in my parents front and back yard. Living in Brazil you see summer all the time even when it is winter. I miss the crisp cool air when the sun is shining. I miss being able to sit outside and not fear turning into a lobster. I miss the changing of the leaves.

I guess it's a good thing that I am home for so long! I bet by the end of winter I will be praying for the warmth and sun of Brazil!!!

I wanted to take a few test photos before I did an outside photo shoot of Belle. Of course the today there is an overcast and no good sun :( Maybe tomorrow!

Tchau,

Sara

Photoshop Elements Magic!

Lately I have been playing around with my camera and I think I have most of the settings down! I have my favorites for certain scenery and favorites for portraits. When I bought the camera I also bought a small version of Photoshop called Photoshop Elements. It ended up being about 1/10 of the price you pay for the full program. Since I have never worked with Photoshop or any other program similar, not only did I have to learn the new camera but also this program to edit and perfect my photos. 

I found a few neat tricks this week that I want to show you. Below you will see a series of photographs of a women. All the same photo but with different techniques used in PSE (photoshop elements). I didn't take the photo used in the example. 

Example of PSE techniques.

I thought that they all looked so different and unique that I wanted to experiment with some of the photos I have taken. Below is a series that I edited.... not all of the techniques but just a few to see what it possible. 

Original Photo

Using a color burst and clarity.

Using a vintage and color boost.

Using a 70's look.

Using the Heartland editing.

I had so much fun with these and I can't wait to take some creative photography of Belle when she gets here! If I have time in between everything else that I will be required to do :) I already have a few ideas of photos I want to take with her so I really do hope that I have the energy to do it all. 

Until she gets here I will just keep getting familiar with everything that way I don't have to learn too much when she is here. One thing I already learned is that when editing in PSE you have to save the photos as a JPG or you can't post it to blogger. One extra step in the saving process will get you there but if you don't pay attention then PSE won't do it for you and you have to save again.

Off to go clean and organize some random things in the house. I have already completed the spice drawer and the bag that holds all the little amenities we get from hotels..... what next? hhmmmm. 

Tchau,

Sara