lightscoop

UPDATE: I have a Nikon D40 that I bought while Jonah was still in the NICU. Wasn't sure how many photos of him I'd get to take. Little did I know it would be LOTS (with LOTS more to come!).

For those of you curious about the Lightscoop, here are the first few photos I took of before and after. These are straight out of the camera.

Flash set at zero, no Lightscoop.

Flash set at +1 (the recommended setting for using it), but still no Lightscoop.

Flash at +1 with Lightscoop.... ahhhh, much better.

I HATE the flash. It makes Jonah look super pale and makes his boo boo's MUCH redder than they are in real life. An external flash isn't really an option because of cost and the fact that I don't want to invest too much into this camera, hoping to replace it down the road. So for $30.00 I got this, which I love, and between it and some post-editing, I'm content... for now. Some might say I have a contentment issue. It's my only vice.

back to the beginning

I think there are several things factoring into my funk. Jonah not sleeping much during the day is one (in addition to the crap that is EB and this poo poo weather that's keeping us inside). Because he won't nap more than thirty minutes when not in my arms, I feel like I don't really have time to do any of the million projects I have in my head that I want to do. (I am a terrible Sit-Around-the-Houser... always have been. It puts me in a very foul mood.)

Anyway, one of the "me" things I've been wanting to do is go back and edit and upload to Shutterfly the pictures we've taken (well, the decent ones at least) since Jonah's been born. I'm wanting to make photo books (really super easy through Shutterfly) of all the photos from this past year. The problem with digital is that you don't get your pictures printed, and the problem with paper photos in general is that they end up in a box in the closet. So I hope the photo books will be a nice way to have them printed but still easy to view. Once I get done with that I'd like to go back and scrapbook (Thanks a lot, Katherine, for making me want to scrapbook again... like I even have time for that) at least his first year. Yes, this is all going to take forever. No, it will probably never happen.

So last night, instead of blogging, I edited the photos of Jonah's birth day. Lauren took these, but I edited them, so if you don't like the editing job, blame it on me (or Pioneer Woman... they're mostly her actions.) Lauren put a lot of these on her blog last February, but I don't think I've posted many of them here. I'll try to post a few here and there as I go back and edit all of these older photos. It's pretty amazing to see just how far Jonah has come and how much he's grown!

(And just to clarify the Target incident - the "girl" was at least in her twenties. It would not have made me as mad had she been a child or even a teenager. And I know I shouldn't get mad and should use the opportunity to educate, but if you had seen how she was staring at him and making a scene, you wouldn't have wanted to educate either. She was completely out of line. I'll maybe get to that place with time, but honestly I just wanted to kick her in the teeth... inspirational, huh?)

jonah photos

Some photos from the last couple days.


I tried giving Jonah a paci today in attempts to stop his (really-going-to-send-me-over-the-edge) teeth grinding. I don't know how he's grinding his teeth. He has two on the bottom and a tiny little itsy bitsy sliver of a tooth on top. Apparently that sliver can do a lot of damage. Seriously though, besides it making me completely mental, I am a little concerned that it is going to wear down his already weak teeth.


I played around with my new Photoshop actions (thanks, Katie!) on these, but don't ask me what's what. I have no idea. I was just clicking stuff.

i heart faces: excited

This week's photo challenge is "excited" over at I Heart Faces.

Now I certainly don't consider myself a photographer but couldn't resist entering when I saw this week's theme.

Because honestly, people, nothing says "excited" more than some Jonah crazy eyes.

Make sure you go by I Heart Faces to check out the other entries.

the daily grind

I must confess, I'm feeling a lot of pressure to blog something interesting lately, and have very little new to say. I wouldn't trade Jonah's stability right now for anything in the world, but when things are so calm, and I'm in the house all day every day, there's just not a whole lot to talk about. I'm pretty sure you guys really don't care what I had for lunch nor are you interested in the plot of today's episode of Wonder Pets or Backyardigans.

I do have a couple good ideas and the book really helps, but I just feel like I have ZERO time to formulate a post. Even ones with JUST pictures take forever, because now I want to edit all my pictures... as if I needed one more thing to make this posting process take even longer... but man, Picnik is pretty fun. That reminds me... do any of you know anything about gimp.org? It was in O Magazine, and says it is a free download similar to Photoshop, but when I go there, it all looks pretty technical, so I haven't downloaded it yet. Thoughts? I would love a good editing program but don't want to have to pay for Photoshop. Does anything free actually compare?

Jonah's started really experimenting with the sounds he can make to the point that he's almost given me a heart attack a couple times. When respiratory distress is your biggest fear, and your son just thinks it's HILARIOUS to suck in air a couple times in a row and then bust out a big grin, it's really quite evil and manipulative. (But still really stinkin' cute... you know, after you get over your almost infarction, that is.)

Jonah's kind of had a rough go of it today. Bath and dressing change were much more painful for him than usual as he has some pretty bad spots on both feet, his right shoulder blade, and a really painful one on his bottom. Except when he was in the NICU, I haven't seen one as bad as what's on his shoulder right now, and I've not heard him scream in pain like he did today when water hit the one on his hiney. If you could just say an extra little prayer for him tonight, we would appreciate it so much. It helps to know everyone is praying so hard when you feel so helpless as a parent.

And last thing. Do you have any "getting your kid to bed" ideas that don't involve letting him cry it out? This not putting him to bed until 11 thing is killer... especially because he's still getting up at least once a night, not including all the requisite wake-up butt pattings. I'm all about some cryin' it out, but it's not an option for him, because he will be rubbing his face and hurting himself in the process. Anyway, I'd love to hear if there was something that worked for you when your kid was his age.

Alright, I'm off to bed (but not really because Jonah is still awake, but I'm going to pretend.)

So, goodnight (but not really).