Building my portfolio

So I got a new lens, I've been studying photography under a professional wedding photographer, and if I do say so myself (ahem!) I'm getting pretty good! Like almost good enough to start charging people for my services! Here are a few of my recent favorite shots. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Firefighter

Not sure anyone reads this poor little blog anymore - I probably depressed everyone away! But in case someone out there is still checking in, I wanted to share a photo of this beauty, a new rose in my garden called "Firefighter". One rose makes the entire house smell like heaven, what they describe as an "old rose scent." If you live near an Armstrong Garden Center and have a sunny patch that deserves a new beauty, I highly recommend this lovely rose. I chose this one just for my Zoe Rose.

 

Happy 2nd month, Zoe!

Guess who's 2 months old, weighs 11 1/2 pounds (up from 8 pounds at birth), and is the light of mom's life? Ms. Zoe Rose!

Etsy finds

I love etsy.com. I am glad that in this economy I can buy handmade items and support artists and moms and grandmas rather than big-box stores.

These are some of my favorite recent finds. Check out these two hats - can't wait to see how they look on Zoe! Can you say photo opp?

And these bows that another lady made just to match the Janie and Jack dress my sister bought for Zoe when she was born. The dress almost fits her now, and the bows are the exact shade of light aqua. I can't wait for that photo opp, either.

Photo of the Day

I love it when their eyes cross. Nick's crossed until he was 3 months old and cracked me up every time. (Might I add, as a post-script, how glad I am that both my kids have sparkling blue eyes and long eyelashes and didn't inherit my pukey brown eyes and short eyelashes?)

What are you doing in there?

He never fails to amuse me.

Three on Thursday

1. Zoe's birth announcements are finally in the mail. Thanks to Susie and Sandrine who made them possible. I am so pleased with how they turned out!
2. Both kids were sick last week but appear to be on the mend. In time for Mother's Day! How's that for a gift?
3. Zoe slept for 6 hours at night TWICE this week. And she's only 7 weeks old! Of course she only slept 2 hours in a row last night. I'm not taking this as a pattern or indication of future behavior just yet ...

Have a great Mother's Day weekend!

Starfish

I have always loved starfish. They symbolize for me a certain strength and resilience, but also peace and tranquility. If you cut off one of their legs, it grows back. But they are not aggressors. They don't seek conflict but if it comes to them, they persist and overcome even the harshest physical challenge.

I have had to be a starfish in my life. I have faced many challenges in my 35 years and had to find ways to overcome, persist, and survive. I really feel like the past few months wounded me physically and emotionally, but my legs are regrowing. I have seen glimmers of hope, glimpses of a life better lived. I have smiled every day. I have stopped crying. I have prayed for wisdom and courage. And for peace. And for the ability to do with grace what needs to be done in my life. Like a starfish.

I wouldn't say I am without fear, but I would say I feel better able to face the fears I have.

This week Dave was diagnosed with parasomnia, which is a sleep disorder where you act out your nightmares. Scientists really don't know what causes the base problem; but in essence if you have this, when you're in REM sleep you don't have the normal paralysis that keeps you from sleepwalking and sleeptalking. So if you dream that you're being attacked, you actually attack back. It can be very dangerous to those who sleep in the bed with the afflicted person. He had an attack of this two weeks ago and scared me (and Nick) half to death. He's having an MRI and EEG next week to make sure there aren't other neurological problems underlying this one (there tend to be, apparently) and then he'll have to be on medication. Or sleep in another room. Life just keeps on getting more ... interesting around here.

I'll continue updates every so often and thank you for checking in on me!