What Must She Think?

Sometimes I just wish I could get inside of a baby's head and know what they must be thinking.  All these big people moving around them at what must seem like warp speed. 

In sweet Emma Ann's case, she has some not so big, but bigger than her people, constantly moving around her.  Constantly in her face.  Constantly kissing her.  Constantly loving on her. 

Thankfully for me, EA is pretty expressive, so I like to think I get a peek into that sweet head and what she must be thinking.

For example.......

"Really, Mom?  I'm the baby here and she's climbing on my shoulders?  Are you just going to stand there with that thing attached to your face or are you going to help me out?"

"Girl, that bow!  Don't you think that's just a tad to big for your little head?  I'll talk to Mom for you about that one!"

And really, what I pray she thinks is that she loves to get to be a part of this sisterhood that is developing at our house. She sure smiles a lot when they are around!

Future Photog?

Hannah Cate has developed quite the fascination with my camera and I'm thinking that we might have a future photographer on our hands. 

I'm so thankful that she caputred this sweet moment with my baby girl.  I'll treasure it forever!

Littlest One

I could just eat this little one with a spoon! 

She's my little buddy.  I feel like we are connected at the hip sometimes. 

She continues to be such a joy and such a sweet baby. 

Laid back almost doesn't do her justice. 

I whisper in her ear all the time that she's the best one we have (for now). 

Her sisters are giving us a run for our money - but I know it won't be long before she joins in on their antics. 

For now, I'm just going to soak up her almost four month old easyness!

Staller

This little girl has become a master staller at bed time.  She'll pull out all the stops!  Her latest thing is to ask about a million questions when I'm trying to leave the room and turn out the lights.  The other night she was just peppering me with questions and I couldn't get a word in edge-wise.  Finally I was able to tell her that she could ask me one more question and that was it and we were going to bed.  I told her that she better make it good.  She must have sat there thinking for about a minute, coming up with one last question that she just had to ask before she closed her sweet eyes to go to sleep.  She looks over at the lamp on her bedside table and says "Uh, where did y'all get that lamp?".  STALLER!

Maddie Goes to School

My sweet Maddie girls started school this week. Just look how big and proud she is with that bag!

She has been wanting to go to school like "Sissy" for awhile now.  I took her with me one day to drop off HC and she cried when she realized she wasn't getting to stay!  Our problem was HC's school didn't offer a 3 day program for Maddie's age and we didn't want them going on totally different days.  So, we found Maddie a new school.  It's not ideal going to two different places, but hopefully we'll just do this for one year.  Maddie's school is so sweet and I've been really impressed with the staff and how kind they have been to my baby girl.

She's our spit-fire and I'll be honest and say that I was a little worried about how she would do. So far we've gotten nothing but glowing reports from her teacher!

On her first day she walked right in and never even looked back.  I couldn't believe it.  So proud of my girl! 

The Halloween that kept on giving....

I thought Halloween might never end at our house!  We went to a total of four different Halloween functions over a span of three days.  We definitely got our money out of these costumes!! 

Hannah Cate continued to ask where our costumes were, so maybe next year I can pull off a family theme of some kind.  Don't hold me to it!

On a side and slightly un-related note - I would like to talk to the person that came up with the idea of telling children to say "cheese" when taking a picture.  It's so, so bad!  Maybe it's just my children, but the end result is not good, not good at all!  I've got to figure out a way to wipe it from their memories! 

Find the Light

I still have a lot to learn when it comes to photography, but I'm reminded when I look back at pictures of Hannah Cate when she was a baby that I have come a long way!  We bought a DSLR camera before Hannah Cate was born - one of our best purchases.  But even better than the camera itself was a workshop I attended last summer in Birmingham (Click Workshops).  I really think it was as good, if not a better investment than the camera - because now I really know and understand how to use my camera outside of the Auto setting.

Probably the most important thing I've learned about shooting in Manual is that it's all about the light.

Today I was taking some pictures of Emma Ann - I put her in the bumbo seat for the first time and wanted to document.  I started off with her back to the window.  The pictures looked pretty good, but a little dark for my liking.   

Then I thought - it's probably better if I switch this around and put my back to the window - so much better!

Same settings on my camera (ISO 200, f/2.2, 1/200 shutter speed), same room, same time of day just a quick change of position and ultimately a much better use of the light.

Add a little editing to my "better light" pictures and we are good to go!