Not as Easy

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I am gaining a new appreciation for photographers out there that capture such amazing newborn photos.
At first glance I thought, "How hard can it be? Once the baby is asleep you just pose them in all sorts of interesting ways and you get amazing shots. It's almost like taking pictures of a bowl of fruit." Those thoughts just prove that I have never tried to take newborn photos before now (not ones of any value at least).

My sister-in-law agreed to let me try my first trial photo shoot on her adorable new little girl. So with camera, boppy, white sheets, and my own 4 month old in tow I arrived on the scene, ready for action.
When it was all said and done I carried away several lessons:

1. The more props the better. I'm fighting the temptation to run out and buy many fuzzy blankets, hair accessories, furniture, some kind of portable white backdrop, and several more things that I see in professional newborn photos.

2. It takes a lot of time. I knew this but didn't really plan for it. There is a lot of soothing, nursing, comforting, more nursing, positioning, etc. that takes place before you're even able to get the shot.

3. I need more confidence. My desire is to know exactly what I'm looking for and then explain to the mom how to get there. As it was, I was doing a lot of asking, musing, sighing and trying to figure it out as I went along.

4. The best place to take photos is on your own turf. I really feel as though I know my environment better. I know the lighting and how it hits certain places during the day. I know how to set the stage and position things. It's much harder to do this in someone else's house when I haven't had time to evaluate positioning, lighting or anything else.

5. A space heater is a must. I was unprepared here. I should have brought my own, had it set up and gotten the room nice and toasty before even introducing the baby into the scene.

I definitely have a LONG way to go and am looking out for more new babies that I can "practice" on. I would love to give anyone a free photo session so I can learn more about what it all takes.  Here are the shots I ended up with. Like I said, I definitely have a long way to go and much to learn. The only thing that saved me with this one was that she is so adorable!

My other comfort...that professionals Tracy Raven and Kelly Ryden, who were interviewed on the Today show, said that little girls (espeically those around 6 or 7 lbs) are the hardest to photograph. So I'm blaming all of it on that (not the fact that I am a complete amateur at this point).

All in one week

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Our week at a glance:

The first snow of the winter. I think all told we got around 8 inches. The kids were frantic to play in it Monday and it's a good thing they did because by the afternoon almost all 8 inches had melted and yesterday and today we have had the windows open.  I love Virginia!

A new baby cousin entered the world on Wednesday. Baby Eleanor finally decided to join the rest of us out here. Eliza will finally have a playmate. 

A little less important on the list in the events of this week was the finalization of my new website. I have been working on this for a little while and it has been close to a thorn in my flesh although one of my own making. I am happy with it though and glad to walk away from the computer for a bit and get back to reading time with the kids and all the other things I missed as I was so focused on getting the website marked off my list.  

January Book: North and South

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My book for January was North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill. My plan is to document my thoughts on each of the books on my book list mostly to help me but hopefully to benefit those out there who are interested.

It is extremely rare to discover a movie that is better than the book it is based on.  I am still unsure whether this is the case with North and South. It probably doesn't help that I saw the movie first (and loved it) before I ever read the book. Needless to say as I was reading the descriptions of Margaret Hale and Mr. Thornton I could not escape the images already deeply rooted in my mind from the BBC drama. The book definitely offers a deeper look into the thoughts of each character. Most of the time that is what makes the book so much more gripping than the movie but in this case it almost served to eliminate the mysterious persona of Mr. Thornton that is captured so well in the movie.
The only weakness I saw in the book was the fact that Mr. Thornton seemed to have thoughts that did not seem necessarily male. I've never lived in a man's mind but it seems that no matter how much a man is in love with a woman he is usually able to focus on his work and not obsess about her lovely eyes or delicate mouth or things along those lines.  The strength of a man is his ability to compartmentalize and focus on one thing at a time (something not as easy for a woman). In this I felt the author was unable to really portray the differences between how a man handles love and a woman.
Margaret, on the other hand, was mostly clueless as to her effect on the opposite gender and often found herself in very awkward situations.  These situations were mostly believable but at times I found myself wondering if she really could be that unaware of what other people might be thinking.
However, the strengths of the book are many. It has some Charles Dickens elements which I enjoyed very much. The setting is fascinating and it is hard to put it down once you are gripped by the story.  There are intricacies that are so often lost in today's novel. As I was nearing the end I found myself wanting to story to continue indefinitely. I am eager to watch the BBC drama again now that I have read the book and would highly recommend both.

If you build it...

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I'm not sure what is worse-getting a root canal (I've never had one so it's hard to know) or trying to rebuild lego sets that have been absorbed into a huge container of lego pieces. Last Saturday we decided to humor the boys and torture ourselves by trying to reconstruct some of the sets that they have been given over the past few years. Needless to say after an entire afternoon of digging, sorting, straining, and all but running out the door screaming we were able to assemble one small pizza shop and part of the trailer that goes to Christopher's Mack truck.  Although we would NEVER do it I can sympathize with those who have decided to glue their lego sets together in order to prevent them from coming appart ever again. (As a side note I never knew people did this until my husband met a lady who was selling the lego castle on craigslist. We snatched it up only to discover upon closer investigation that almost the entire castle had been super-glued together. It went immediately in the trash and we learned our lesson.)

Finalizing

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I don't know why it is but ever since vacation ended (I guess technically that would have been this morning) I have found myself walking around in a fog. I have no motivation to get back into the routine of every day life and find myself grasping for the last few shreds of holiday relaxation. This is unusual because usually I am dying to get back into my normal routine.
One thing I have managed to accomplish is my book list for next year. As I mentioned before there will no longer be a book club to motivate me so I have taken it upon myself to motivate myself. In order to provide variety in what we were reading our book club followed the pattern of Fiction, Nonfiction, Biography. I have changed that a bit and am loosely following the pattern of Fiction, Spiritual/theological, and Biography or Nonfiction. So here is the list I have formulated so far although this might be subject to change. As I was searching for the final books to add to my list I came across several more I would like to read so we'll see.

January- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill  (F)

February-The Reason for God by Timothy Kellar (thanks to my friends jo's recommendation)  (S)

March- Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende  (B)

April- Precious Bane by Mary Webb  (F)

May- The Escondido Theology by Dr. John Frame  (S)

June- The Greater Journey by David Mccullough  (B)

July- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde  (F)

August- Bonhoffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas  (S and B)

September- Playstation Nation by Olivia and Kurt Bruner (breaking the cycle and going for NF here)

October- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (F)

November- Politics Reformed by Glenn A. Moots  (S)

December- The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James (I might change this to some of the Flannery O'Conners short stories and I would also like to add John Donne's poetry in the mix throughout the year)  (F)

The point of all this is that I haven't read any of these so please don't think that by putting them on the blog that I absolutely love these books. I am still striving to motivate myself to read things that I don't normally gravitate to (hence the books that have anything to do with politics :-) I would love to hear more recommendations from you readers out there on books you enjoy or think I should add to my list.

Christmas Morning

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Because of our travels down to Florida to celebrate Christmas with my family, we decided to wait and celebrate our Christmas this morning. Thankfully as excited as my children were to dive into the presents none of us are morning people so they didn't even appear until after 8:30 this morning. We were able to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before the mayhem began. And thus it begins....

Although this isn't the best photo I couldn't resist posting a picture of the look on my husband's face when I accidentally blurted out that the unopened presents he was holding for the boys were books...

Eliza's first and only gift...

She must not be a big fan of trains because this was her reaction the minute she saw it.

More vintage little people to add to our collection thanks to some very generous friends of ours who were downsizing....

We ended it all by giving the boys the amazing Craigslist find that my husband got this past June. He was able to purchase both the Playmobil Fire Station and Hospital for a song...

Happy Times...

On my Bedside Table

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I recently found out that after over 6 years of being part of a regular book club I will no longer enjoy that privilege. I wish I could say that I'm normally disciplined enough to read at least a book a month and finish it (if not more) but unfortunately my normal pattern is to pick up at least 5 or more books, get far enough in them to justify using a bookmark and then never finish them.  Needless to say I am continually out of book marks and my bookshelves are full of books where these lost bookmarks are hiding.  

The "leader" of our book club had to make the difficult decision to take a break for a while. Several of the ladies in our group are having babies or have just had them (me included) and it has become harder and harder to remain committed, so a little hiatus was required. As much as I didn't rejoice at this announcement I am slowly adjusting to it and realizing that I'm going to have to be a bit more proactive in order to commit to a book and finish it every month. I am in the process of formulating my "to read" list for the whole year but I was able to start a few over Christmas.
My plan is to include these on my blog in order to provide some accountability for myself and also hopefully to help those of you out there who are looking for good books to read or just want to learn a bit from what I have read. I would also love suggestions from anyone out there regarding what I should include on my book list. It can be in any genre--biography, fiction, non-fiction, self-help, etc. 

I am currently enjoying two books: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskill and The Core Program by Peggy W Brill. 

So far I am thoroughly enjoying North and South. I have seen the BBC movie and loved it and had others highly recommend the book so it has been on my list for a long time. I'll have more thoughts when I finally finish it but I would recommend it to anyone out there who enjoys books along the same style as Jane Austin.

My second choice came as a result of my midwife's suggestion. This book comes highly recommended especially for those of us who have had children and find that our core is not as strong as it once was. It is written by a physical therapist and I am very eager to start the workout. The nice thing about this book vs. a DVD is that it is so portable that you can take it along and do the workout on vacation or if you have small spaces like I do that don't provide enough room for a DVD player + workout.

Hopefully through all of this I will gain more knowledge, become more well rounded and overall a better person. If not at least I'll be able to check a few books off my list.