shmoto smop

senior portraits at railroad square, gorgeous wedding i've only just started to edit, and engagement photos at maclay.

i usually hate shooting engagement photos at Maclay Gardens, but this shoot rekindled a new romance with this location. it helped that i just got a new sexy lens to play with. a 50 fixed f/1.4. yummy. also i'm working on not photoshopping my photos. i'll only use it to remove unwanted objects like my purse i left in the background in a couple shots... but other than that, i'm trying to shoot perfectly and just color and light balance in canon's raw processor. this makes me happy b/c i hate photoshop. mostly b/c it confuses the snot out of me. enjoy these juicy images!

new iphone, cool new photo app, scottish games, and brother visit

". . . in order that they [infants] might meditate on it [baptism] throughout life." —Calvin’s Institutes

O blessed streams! either ye do prevent

And stop our sins from growing thick and wide,

Or else give tears to drown them, as they grow.

In you Redemption measures all my time,

And spreads the plaster equal to the crime:

You taught the Book of Life my name, that so

Whatever future sins should me miscall,

Your first acquaintance might discredit all.
-Herbert


it was the fourth best day of my life. it goes, my wedding day first, birth of baby second, bringing my sister home from the hospital third, and this day of baptism fourth. thank you to my family, friends and pastor for making it beautiful. our amazing pastor mo, wrote tal a song. i'll post the video and ceremony soon. it was the most beautiful day.

we're still gonna, and we can't wait!

yup, we are most definitely still going to adopt. when, i don't know, but it IS going to happen. my heart longs to meet the rest of my children, varying DNAs, no matter. even though gestating a baby first was not 'my plan' i feel it's strengthened our desire to adopt. not that i didn't LOVE being pregnant, it's just that once you open the gates to children it's hard to stop the flow... you know what i'm talking about!
i saw this shirt on a blog and HAD to share. you will see me wearing this in the near future. I LOVE THIS SHIRT!

update on resolution/goals

1. talk to God at least once a day and read at least one scripture and meditate on it throughout the day. (i do usually talk to God more than once a day, it just usually sounds something like "Lord help me not ram into the car in front of me for driving 5 miles below the speed limit" i'd like to have a more conversational time with Him) Done, easy

2. work out for a full hour, 3 times a week. like a real hard workout where i sweat my bute off! I've been doing pilates twice a week religiously but this is not enough. Nope not at all, in fact, i've even skipped pilates, damn

3. take talitha on an hour walk outside at least twice a week. Yes, it's been lovely outside but the walks only last 45mins. An hour is just a smidge too long for tal.

4. have someone/a family over for dinner at least once a month. Yes, we had davids brother michael over this weekend. Although family really doesn't count... So maybe no.

5. work on my recipe collection. (this is a recent domestication project that i've started now that i'm a SAHM (stay at home mom) and it's mostly a compilation of dirty notes with scribbled down recipes from Giada's at home 3 min videos off the foodnetwork.com- this will not do. i want one like the one my grandma has (Grandma Gumport is the Goddess of all SAHMs) a collection of exquisitely hand written laminated index cards with the most amazing recipes ever know to man. I MUST HAVE THIS! Yes! I've been cooking baller dinners almost every night and i've emailed myself all of them. This is going to be money!

6. limit all refined sugars to the weekends (sat and sun). let me elaborate on this one. i'm talking about cakes, cookies, and icecream! not pancakes and fruits. ummm, yes! i really like this one. Although the weekends are now fri, sat, and sun, and i might have eaten an entire box of thin mints this last weekend- no biggie.

7. read 3 books this year. I JUST FINISHED MY FIRST BOOK! this is a big victory. i picked it up every time i nursed tal. which at 6 times a day is a lot of reading. and no it wasn't a pamphlet, it was 227pages with no pictures, thank you!

8. sew tal a dress. working on it. i'm sewing her baptism dress for the baptism this weekend. we shall see it doesn't look great so far...

9. run a mini anything. there was a 3 1/2 mile run for breast cancer last year that i couldn't do because i was very much with child. but i will do it this year. i'd love to push tal during it! nope, nothing

10. make friday laundry day. nope, not even close

11. put money away for a trip with david and tal to here: http://www.grandhotel.com/mackinac.html or anywhere else. this is just my recent obsession. nope, not close at all, in fact i think i took money out of savings...oops

i sew good.

blam, i was so pregnant! this time last year i was barfing my brains out and worried sick over mrs. baby. i was worried b/c i couldn't keep anything down and thought for sure she would suffer from it. thank God i had plenty of fat reserves for her to live off of. see ladies, love handles and badonkadonk do have purposes! now i am no longer barfing my brains out nor am i worried sick over mrs. baby getting enough nourishment. God is Good!




photo on the far left is tal at one month and the other two are her 4 month shots. one regular and one action. this is her new trick. she does this to get out of her swing, car seat, and also in the bathtub. she looks so different. i can't believe she was ever that small. this leads me to tell you about the few parental rights of passage david and i have recently obtained. one is the "oh my gosh, when did my newborn turn into a squiggly, tubby blob of smiles and laughs?" david and i had a fabulous weekend. last night we were looking at photos from when she was itty bitty, and laughing at how cross eyed and spacey she was. i really couldn't believe that it was only 4 months ago i had a baby and she was so tiny. she's a crazy baby now. seriously this child is wild. this was our first "where did the time go?" feeling and it's only been four months.
i can't imagine having this same feeling yrs from now. it's beautiful and sad all at the same time. i think the sadness part is the acknowledging that you will/can forget wonderful things. and time robs you of your memory. no matter how hard i stared at her when she was a month old and tried to burn the image into my brain it faded a little and that is sad. the other right of passage was when tal fell off the bed. i can only now talk about it because when i'd think about it i'd cry. she booked it off the edge of our bed by scooting north. not rolling, but scooting. david or i had never seen this. both of our hearts dropped when we heard the thud. thankfully she screamed immediately, but our hearts were broken. i cried the whole way to the clinic. by the time we got there she was all smiles of course, and the doctors were asking me if i was ok. the doctor also, in an attempt to make me feel better, said that babies bounce...when i told my friend and mother of 2 kids, she said "you took her to the clinic? you're so funny". funny? i can't wait to be that relaxed. i can't wait till i've recovered from the first-time-mom syndrome. i think i'm getting there.
my last right of passage recently earned was the ' preemptive declaring of oneself well again'. i got sick with a sore throat and ear thingy friday and as helpful and wonderful as david was this weekend he could not produce milk so i had to step up and feed the baby. and when he had to install an alternator in his truck i had to step up and take care of baby. now david is at work and i once again, am stepping it up (not like in the dance movie, i don't have that much energy). it's like in that one Cosby episode where both Claire and Cliff were sick and the kids were fighting and passing the chores onto the next weakest in line, and Claire was like "ahh hell no". well that's me. i'm trying to say 'hell no' to my throat and muster enough energy to change the diapers and give snuggles when needed.
oh that last picture if of the stuffed owl i made kelsi for her 18th birthday. I'm sew proud. i can't take credit for the design. i saw one for sale at a local handmade market here in town and loved it. but it was a little pricey so i said ahh hell no and made one myself. i'm going to make a mommy and baby one for tal! pictures of those to follow.
ciao loves!