Friday, April 30, 2010

abbie

I wonder if Abbie will like being in front of the camera or not. At this point, she doesn't have a choice. Well, unless she starts to cry. I don't want a ton of photos of her crying. Just not my style, really. So, I take pictures when she is happy and play with the lighting and have started playing with posing. I don't have any hats or head bands yet for a baby so I made do with the only piece of ribbon I had around that was thick enough. My first thought was that she looked like Carmen Miranda wearing the fruit hat. Not exactly the look I was going for but it's kind of funny. Yes, much better without the bow.
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I kind of liked this shot but not sure how to edit it. I still don't like this edit very well but I'll come back to it later and see how I feel about it then and maybe I'll have a better solution for it.
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Hooray! Abbie finally was able to keep her balance long enough for me to snap a photo of her sitting all by herself. She's still wobbly and can't do it for long on her own but she makes progress every day and it is so strange to see her sitting by herself. Such a drastic difference from when she was first born. She was so tiny and now at almost 3 times her weight she is just wanting to DO things. She gets bored if I let her lay there with a toy for too long. She lets me know she is ready to move on and do something else. It'll be interesting when she is able to crawl and eventually walk. How will I ever keep up with her?
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my nephew

I had the opportunity to do a photoshoot with my nephew (very informal photo shoot) and it was so much fun! I hadn't taken pictures of him like that since he was just a few days old so I enjoyed it. I'm trying to improve my photography skills and realize the only way to get better is to practice. I used to think if I couldn't get it right on the first time then I shouldn't do it, but finally I decided I couldn't get better unless I first made mistakes. So, here are my "mistakes"....


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Monday, April 26, 2010

rain boots

I love rain boots on little kids!



And I can't thank Megan enough for these cute little boots for Abbie! And it even rained! I just wish she could walk (ok, maybe not quite yet...) Just wait until Abbie is walking and it's just rained outside. We'll be out the door as fast as the sun can peek out and we'll take pictures of her standing in puddles and splashing through puddles. Who cares how much dirty laundry it causes, it'll be so much fun!


The new rocker. It's great. And surprisingly, it has really grown on me. I wasn't crazy about it the first time I saw in it, but then I tested it for a day and mom took back the one of hers that I was borrowing (since the one I used to have was really squeaky and not great for rocking a baby to sleep in) and this rocker really rocks it. It rocks, it reclines, it swivels and it even has a footrest. So at 5am, when Abbie wakes for her morning feeding, I sink down in and get comfy while I nurse her back to sleep, thinking, every once in awhile, that it would just be easier to fall asleep with her in the chair rather than go back to bed. But I always go back to bed anyway.





After having a couple of rough weeks with Abbie, things are finally getting back to normal and she's sleeping in her crib and able to play by herself on the floor or in the 360ยบ gym-thingy. Hooray for normalcy! I still love the Moby wrap and I get so much done while wearing her in it, but it does get warm and I do need a little down time on occasion. We've been working on her sitting and she's getting there but still not able to sit by herself long enough for me to get a picture of it.... she tips over. So we'll just have tummy-time pictures for now!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

helping daddy work cattle



I've been out to the farm before but mainly just as a tourist. That all changed this past weekend, when on Saturday Derrick had some guys coming to help him preg-check the cows and sort them off. I had wanted to go out and see how they did it and just in general get a "picture" of what all goes on, since I'm so much more visual and while Derrick explains some things, it just "clicks" when I get to see it. But I figured I would just be in the way and didn't want to be a bother and I've never been gone outdoors all day so I didn't mention that I wanted to watch that day. But then an opportunity presented itself and I took it. Derrick wanted some food and drinks brought out so I put together some sandwiches and rice crispie treats and some bottled water and took that out there and then I was able to just casually ask if I could stay and watch for a little while. Guess that makes me a city-girl, if I ask to stay and watch them work cattle. But he agreed to it so I tried to stay out of the way and was leaning against a haybale when Abbie grabbed a fistful of hay. I thought it was so cute so I grabbed the camera quick and took a picture. I looked away for a second and that's when her first official accident occurred. Next thing I know she is crying and I couldn't understand the reason for it until I looked down and saw a thick piece of hay, about 3-4" long, sticking out of her eye. 



Yes, I admit, I freaked out and immediately started walking back towards the car and instinct was to pull the piece of hay out, which I later realized wasn't the right thing to do. It's not that I haven't heard before that pulling something out isn't always the right thing to do, it was just simply that instinct took over and I pulled it out without even thinking first. She was crying so it took a minute to get a look at her eye but I couldn't see anything too terribly wrong and where the hay had been was in the far corner nowhere near her pupil and having been to the eye doctor before with a scratched eye, I know how quickly the eye heals itself and that the only thing they would probably do would be to prescribe some antibiotic drops or anti-inflammatory drops, I decided to see if she would be alright without them. We were going to the Doctor on Monday and if it was getting worse then I'd have taken her in but it continued to get better and when the Doctor did look at it on Monday, she confirmed that I did ok in making that choice. Phew! Abbie quit crying after a few minutes and seemed to be looking at things and her eye was dilating so we went back to watching daddy and the guys work.


When the guys went back up into the pen to herd the cattle back down, I went for a short walk around the farm and took a couple of pictures. The day was beautiful - sunny with a slight breeze but not too warm. Just nice working weather. Even if I was just a spectator. 


After they were done preg-checking the cows, they ate and then Derrick took Abbie and I (who had been in the Moby wrap all day) out for a drive on the four-wheeler. Fun! (Derrick went slow and we didn't go on any hills or anything dangerous) Then Abbie and I headed home.


Fast-forward to a couple days later and we were back on the farm, this time to just block the road while they moved some cows to a different field/pasture. The cows weren't cooperating so I had time to take a few pictures. 


There is an old dilapidated house nearby and a really cool old chair lying inside which made for a great photo op.


And of course, little Miss Abbie and her cute little bonnet. As Derrick said "little house on the prairie girl". But she does so well when she's in the wrap with me and if we're out with Derrick it's so handy to just have her in that and it's like having two extra arms. Then if she gets hungry, I've discovered I can actually feed her while either walking or standing or even riding the four-wheeler behind Derrick. (I've only driven an ATV once and that was up the driveway and back down it... so I don't really know how to drive one myself. I prefer to ride behind.)


On the way home, we saw some wildlife and I stopped to take their pictures.


Today, Derrick called and said there were three new calves and asked if I wanted to come out today to see them. I had mentioned before that I would like to do that so when he called, I quickly got ready and went out to the farm. Again, we went on the four-wheeler and I didn't take the camera on the four-wheeler with us so I don't have any pictures of the new calves, but they were so cute. Still wobbly on their legs but it's still amazing to me how quickly they are able to get up and walk around after just being born. I thoroughly enjoy being out there with Derrick and wish I could do it every day. I wish I could be of more help but not yet knowing how to run the equipment, or even an ATV, and not being around farming enough.... I still have lots to learn before I can really be of use. But I'll get there. I mainly just enjoy being outdoors. I hate being cooped up in the house all day long. So any chance I get to go out there, I'm going to take it! (And Derrick says I use too many exclamation points so I'm trying to cut back on them. But I'm using at least one in this post! Ok - two. lol)