Theme of the Week - Moving around, BACKWARDS!!! (updated)

I haven't managed to get this on video yet... she seems to stay still as long as I'm watching her, but the second I turn around, she's crossed the room and is halfway stuck under the couch or the playpen or the side table!!  This girl is getting around and is very eager to explore everything!  So this weekend, we'll be doing another childproof blitz... we've been doing this a bit at a time as needed, but I can see a lot more is going to be needed very very soon!  Yikes!!!

I actually had two other things to write down here but do you think I can remember them???  Well, I'll go ahead and post this and maybe update later...

*Dec 4*
...Ah yes!  I've remembered one of them...  Initiating games!!  I read that this would happen at this stage, but man did it ever tickle us pink when she actually started initiating silly games!!  Just simple things so far.  She'll do a funny heh heh heh noise to get my attention, and laugh her head off when I look.  So I say it back to her and it's just the best thing in the world!!  Or this morning, I was just waking up and took at look at her beside me in bed to find her already smiling at me with a twinkle in her eye.  I said hello and turned back on my side facing away from her for a few minutes to try to wake up... well I felt a little kick, and when I turned to see her again, she was on her tummy and burst out laughing at me!!!  She seems to know that I don't let her spend time on her tummy moving around in the bed, and I swear, she knew she was up to mischief and getting my goat!!!  She is definitely getting funner by the day!!

Video Collage - Learning to Sit

Turn up the volume!!

Okay so no squishy heads this time, but very bad quality video!  I'm having trouble with this site!!

For a better quality view, you can see it on youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N8xkZZn43

 

 

Studio Lights

We've been talking about getting some studio lights for quite a while now.  We even ordered some back in July, but alas there is such a demand on them that we're still waiting.  Well when I found out they were going to be at least mid december before chance of shipping, I decided I couldn't wait anymore.  Brenna is starting to sit and is at prime photo-taking stage, and I just don't want to miss it so we went down to the camera store on the weekend to try out some lights.  This set is not as good of a deal as what we'd ordered, but they're pretty close in price.  If we love them, we'll keep them and cancel the other order.

So here's what we've gotten out of them with a preliminary try...

Wow, how easy was that?!!!  All the effort we always put into getting crisp images, and this is far crisper than anything we've done yet!!  This will bode us well for stock photography too!

And don't you just love the catch lights in her eyes?  Beautiful!! :)








Hehe, the tongue is in place!!  At least with the tongue, she doesn't drool much anymore!

Cutie Pie!

Nice skin tones, no harsh shadowing.  Not even glare in Nathan's glasses!!

So that was yesterday.  Today we put up the white backdrop, and though I had some trouble with exposure which I had to fix with the RAW files, here are the results.

 

Not too sure what all this is about...

...but I got my ball and I'm sitting all by myself!!!

I need to look into different styled white backdrops.  Notice in the picture above, the cloth that Brenna is on is shifting and wrinkling... that was difficult to work with.  I'll need something more solid to put her on.

Wondering how we pulled this off in the condo?  Yes it was pretty tight!!!

Theme of the Week - Soother and Babywearing

Brenna has made huge improvements this past week in working with her soother!  Just last weekend, we watched as she would try very hard to put her soother in her mouth... she'd hold it out at arm's length and look intently at it.  Then, with keen concentration, she'd sway her arms slowly from one side to the other all the while fixating on the soother in her hands.  Then oh so slowly, she'd bring her hands to her mouth, and every time, she'd get the soother into her mouth sideways or backwards!!   Or, the other scenario, she'd have soother in one hand, bring it quickly to her mouth, but poke her eyes, her nose, her cheek, and finally into the mouth, backwards!

Well, today, Brenna is able to reach to where ever her soother is (nearby of course), pick it up and get it into her mouth the right way!!!  In fact it was the first thing she did upon waking up this morning, was to reach above her head to where the soother was laying, get it and into her mouth!!  It's been a big week of accomplishment in the soother department!!!

She was 8 weeks old here.

Babywearing - most of you have seen the sling that Freya made for me.  I just love this item and am very lucky she made it since you just can't buy one that looks this nice!  Well, I've used it plenty while going for walks, and originally had intended on wearing baby around the house too.  But with a late start to using it due to slow healing from the C-section, I just got used to carrying Brenna in my arms, and thought it was too late to start her on being in it in the house since she isn't tiny newborn anymore.  Well this week I was reading in an attachment parenting book (The Attachment Parenting Book by William Sears, M.D., and Martha Sears, R.N.) and found many more benefits to babywearing around the house, even starting at her age.  And since both Brenna and I have been fighting a cold, she's feeling extra clingy and I don't have the energy to multitask a whole bunch of things.  So I put her in the sling and proceeded to make some dough for bread.  Well she loved it!  I'd say she liked it more than when we go for walks, and it was so much easier since she's getting quite heavy to hold!!  So we made an apple crisp too! :)

After a walk in the woods with Grampa and cousins.

One of my favs!

One of the things the book said babywearing helps with is that it promotes baby spending more time in the quiet alert state, which is the state in which they learn the most and are very content.  Well it worked!  Brenna was so happy and sat quietly watching everything I was doing.  And she stayed happy later in the day too since she'd had so much holding time.  (She always does better with more holding time!)  I find that the days when I do things in the kitchen and leave her to play by herself, I usually end up feeling disconnected from her and also find she is a little more antsy and a bit harder to manage.  So we used the sling a lot this week and it was just the perfect thing for a Little Miss who is feeling a little under the weather!
(I'll have to get a more recent pic to post!)

Stock Photos

I've decided to try my hand at selling stock photography.  Basically, I submit photos (both mine and Nathan's) to companies that act as a middle person for others to buy the rights to publish the photos in whatever form they want.  Usually it's advertising, so the type of photo they are looking for is something that will appeal from a marketing standpoint.  Well, I don't really know anything about marketing, so it's definitely a different approach to photography than what I'm used to.  And not one that I'm particularly passionate about either, but, well I figure, if they will take some of the photos that I do have, and if it can create a bit of a passive income, then that's something I'm interested in!  I was reading in a book about how a guy posted a picture of a Christmas tree a few years ago, and it has since brought in $12,000!!  Oh if I could be so lucky!!

Well, it turns out that it's much harder to get photos accepted onto these sites than I thought.  I've applied to be accepted as a photography contributor to istockphoto - pretty much the largest company of its kind and most lucrative.  I haven't heard back from them yet, but in the meantime I've submitted photos to other sites.  Pretty much 80% of what I've submitted has been rejected, BUT, I'm happy to say, I have had 4 photos approved!!!  No sales yet, but hopefully that will come!  (fingers crossed!) 

And can you guess who's in those photos???  (Drumroll as I wait for you to guess....)

The Chievious of course!!!  (Who else!!) 

Here are the photos that are up for sale...

Theme of the Week - GIGGLES at 2AM!!!, sitting, and hugs

YES, 2AM!!!  After last week's crankiness, I'm happy to say she's been so much more pleasant this week!  Late last sunday, I realized I'd been forgetting to offer her soother to her recently, and also forgetting to have comfort blankets around.  So I focused on those and this week went so well that I can't help but wonder how much last week's crankiness was her asking for comfort items and poor baby having to deal with first time clumsy mommy!!! :P  Anyway, it was so nice to reconnect with my cheerful sweetheart, and, I have to confess I got a kick out of her 2AM giggle spurts she had FOUR times this week!!!  Actually, one of them was a 4am, and she was laughing so hard that I couldn't resist sneaking her in to where Daddy was sleeping and letting her giggle at him for a few minutes! (teehee)

Her other two themes for this week, sitting and hugging... oh boy.  The sitting, well I have mixed feelings about that.  On one hand, I can't wait for her to sit all by herself, because she's going to look so cute, and I'll be able to sit her in all kinds of cute places to take pictures!  But on the other hand, it kind of moves her from little baby category to bigger baby category, and since I love the little baby so much, I don't really want to her to get bigger just yet!!  But I know these things have to happen... I do wish the baby phase would last much longer though.  So yes, this week, the first time, while she was propped up on pillows on the bed, hanging out with me while I was sorting through some clothes, I handed her a toy and couldn't believe it when she leaned forward and straightened right up into a sitting position all by herself!  She didn't even know what she was doing, and a minutes later she just as casually leaned back onto the pillow again!  Later in the day, I decided I might as well encourage her where she's at, so I put her on the floor in a sitting position, and steadied her to see how she would handle it.  I expected her to take over sitting, but she really didn't have a concept of it at all as she proceeded to kick her feet in different directions which then sent her body in opposite angles, so I eventually let her down for some tummy time, which she really likes these days.  She has continued though over the week to have similar moments of sitting on her own when she's on our laps, but again doesn't seem to know she can and thus isn't trying.  That's okay by me! :)

And Hugs... oh it's cute!!  (really what else did you expect me to say?)  It's a melt your heart... she has been turning her body toward us and reaching up when she wants a hug, and then actively hugging us!!  And more kisses too!!  But even when there are no kisses, she's coming for lots of hugs these days.  So sweet!!!  Here's a pic of her hanging on to Daddy...

Oh yes, the tongue!  That's her new look now!  I'll get a better pic of it up soon, but yes the tongue is always sticking out these days... I think maybe her gums are feeling weird to her?  Well I just say she's just like Loco!! :)

Oh, and, she's 5 whole months old now!!!  The last month of technically being an 'infant'.

Theme of the Week - CRANKY PANTS, Chapters, & 360 turns

Oh it's been a cranky week!!  It all started when I woke her up a little early on Hallowe'en day because I was excited about getting her dressed up.  We messed with the schedule, and there has been no peace since.  The whole week was a mix of one thing or another:  Brenna and I both fighting a cold, Little Miss running a low grade fever, then vaccinations on Thursday!  Then Nathan getting the cold, and the whole while, Little Miss just beside herself with crankiness.
Probably the most cranky week of her entire life!!  I wonder if she might be starting the teething thing... today she pulled at her ears a couple of times and apparently that could be related to teething.  Of course it could be an ear infection too so I'll have to keep an eye on it.  Poor little girl.


So, how do we deal with cranky pants?  We get outa town (the condo) and go to Chapters!!  Yes, the three of us spent several evenings (her worst time of day) at Chapters this week, enjoying browsing and having our decaf lattes from Starbucks.  Brenna loves being held and wandering around the store.

Add caption

And as attentive as she is, her eyes light up that much more when we enter the kids section with its bright lights and bright colours everywhere!  So yes, we've come home with a few new baby books this week... a couple of Dr Seuss and a Curious George counting book.

Other than all this, her main developmental theme this week is moving around on her own, on her tummy!  She is doing full 360 degree turns on her tummy, and reaching around for the toys.  She inches her way to the toy container, tips it over and has a great time moving everything around.  I can't believe how fast she is increasing her mobility!!  Yes she's even doing multiple rollovers, and getting herself wedged into strange corners, so she definitely has to be watched!!

Despite all the crankiness, we got this sweet video that is too cute not to post...