Saturday

First things first.... I'd like to note that Maria is doing a pretty darn good job at sitting up all by herself!!

Ok, now on to buisness....

Today a few of the couples and their babies from the Birthing Class that Marco and I took came by today. We had a little cookie party. It was so much fun seeing them again!! They are all such beautiful babies!!

Charlotte, Logan, Olivia, & Maria

Here's Charlotte. She has a big beautiful smile (here she's making a cute face... it's not her big smile, we didn't catch that on film)...

...and she is the only one out of the bunch with any teeth.

Logan is such a handsome devil...

..he's got such beautiful eyes!!

Here is Olivia. She is so fun, and quite the mover...

..she smiles for the camera, and is interested in the other babies (at one point she had her hand in Logan's mouth.... it was the cutest thing ever!!)

I'm looking forward to many more visits with these wonderful people and their babies!!

Inspector Gadget

Sometimes I wish I had go go gadget arms. Mostly when I'm giving Maria her bottle and she's almsot asleep and I want the lights off, but I don't want to get up and disturb her, or her bottle is going to run out so I can make another one just in the nick of time. This morning I wanted gadget arms so that I could get the camera. Maria was reaching out to touch Marcos face while he was sleeping and it was so cute, she had that look on her face like she wanted to reach out, grab his face, and then bring it to her mouth to suck on. funny little girl!

Photography

I'm so excited. I just created my first action in photoshop!! I'm really diggin' this whole photography thing. I've been toying around with the idea of doing it on a more professional level. As in taking pictures of people other than my daughter and eventually getting paid for it, but I need practice, and an opportunity to build my portfolio. So to all of you blog readers out there, if you want some pictures taken (or know of anyone who does) shoot me an email (simplymer@yahoo.com) and let's work something out.

just in case you're interested...

i posted Maria's 5 month update on her blog here!

gotta heart that pioneer woman

The Pioneer Woman is GREAT!! She gives great tips on photography, and has some pretty mean recipe's on her website (Marco and I had some of these today!!) I haven't gotten into the other areas of her expertise.... I'll leave those for a rainy day. I was perusing her Photography section this evening and I came across this cool little tutorial. Basically taking your colored photos, making them sepia, yet keeping a little in color. (Like that picture of the little kids dressed up as an old man and old woman and the little boy is giving the girl a flower.) Remember the pictures i took of maria in the swing, I used the close up as a demonstration:

then on this one i ran her "seventies" action, i kinda like it.

Thank you Pioneer Woman!!

Baby Pictures

Ok. this blog isn't about Maria... it is about taking baby pictures. A few years ago my mom and i were in B&N and we found this cute little book called "naked babies". i think it is absolutely darling. pictures of naked babies and all their little parts. eyes, ears, hands, feet, bums, etc. (i know this is a bad picture.... long story of why, but i'm sorry, we'll try for better pictures next time)

For Christmas this year I got the book "How to Photograph your Baby" by the same autor (nick kelsh) as naked babies. He goes through basically step by step of how to take great pictures of your baby. I think that this is a GREAT little book. It gives lots of how to advice without going into all the technical camera-speak. And all you need is your a point-and-shoot to do it.

So in the end... if you are looking to learn more about taking pictures of your baby, i would definitely recommend this book.

Fingers.... and now toes.

before I could finish getting her diaper strapped on...

she had her foot in her mouth. something new!

Maria's Bear Hug Onsie

This one's for you Nana & Ranpa Toyk!!

Cornwall Park

Yesterday Maria, Marco and I took off for a walk in the park. It's been years since I've been to Cornwall, and I don't think that even then I explored the whole park. We didn't do the whole park yesterday, but we did do quite a bit. It's quite a big park... I think we will be going back many more times. Maria fell asleep in the car on the way, and slept over half of our walk around the park, but woke up in time to go on the swings before we left. It was so exciting. Her first time in the big-ish girl swing!! I played around a little in Photoshop with these pictures... I think we'll have to order some prints!!

Happy Birthday...

... to one of the cutest little girls ever!! Happy First Birthday Lily!!! We miss you!! Hope to see you sooner, rather than later.