Thursday, March 31, 2011

quick update

Hi there! Sorry for my lack of posts, but worry no more because I think I'm going to be back for more regular posting here soon! I haven't found a job yet (boo) but I'm working on it, and I'm feeling a little more optimistic these days. The weather here in Prescott has suddenly become gorgeous so Kaetana and I have been out and about a lot more and I think I have that to thank for my cleared head. There's something so depressing about being inside all winter, isn't there?
Oh, also, remember that Touch Up Tuesday thing I started a little while ago? Well, I think you'll find me doing them a little better now because John got me a copy of Lightroom 3 because he's amazing. I was playing around with it last night and it's pretty fantastic. I love it. So that, mixed in with the amazing weather we're having will most likely lead to some more interesting photos!
I'll leave you with this blurry cell phone photo of Kaetana finding her feet for the first time! She's obsessed with them now!!

 
 
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Friday, March 25, 2011

Scared!

 
 
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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Hiatus.

Just wanted to stop by and say that I'm skipping my usual "Touch Up Tuesday" post today. Kaetana's been sick and I haven't had the time or energy to go out and take any pretty pictures to edit, and I didn't want to just use an old one again. I'll be back with it next week I think, but I will probably be lacking in posts for a while in general. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed with life right now with trying to balance trying to find a job (a nearly impossible task in this tiny town I live in) and spending as much time as I can with my sweet baby girl before I actually do find one and have to start leaving her. The thought makes me so sad, I can't even stand it. I wish John and I could win the lottery so I could be a stay at home mama and never miss a single milestone or moment of Kaetana's life. She's growing so fast! Sometimes I feel like if I blink I'll miss something huge. I don't know. I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be around for a little while, but don't give up on me and my little blog here! I'll be back.

OH! WAIT!
Before I go, I just wanted to say I'm really excited because I hit 30 followers today (a tiny number to most of you, I'm sure, but I think it's awesome!) and when I hit 50 I'm going to do a giveaway. In the meantime, here is a photo of Kaetana I took at the doctor's office earlier this week.
See you all later. ♥


 
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Monday, March 21, 2011

DIY Paper Fan Banners

I found this project online quite a while ago, and wanted to do it for baby's room but couldn't find the original tutorial so I had to do it by memory. I think it turned out pretty cute, so I thought I'd post it on here for you all in case you think so, too! So here ya go:

First off you'll need some scrapbook paper, double sided tape, thread, ribbon and some scissors.

Take a piece of paper and cut it in half, length-wise.

Take each half and fold it accordion style, then using the tape stick them together.

Take some thread (that matches your paper) and tie the center to secure it.

Now tape up the other sides so it forms a circle.

Add some ribbon to the back so you can hang it (I just taped it on but I imagine punching a hold in the back and threading the ribbon would be better.) and then just tie it to another piece to hang! Super easy.

I added the owl stickers to tie them into the theme of Kaetana's room.
 Also, I suggest hanging your horizontal ribbon up before you tie the fan to it so you can make sure you hang them evenly.
What do you think? ♥

 
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Quick update and a video

Kaetana's sick. Again. Poor little dear is miserable so, as a result, I am too. It's definitely not a happy place in our home at the moment. I'll post most about all that later today once I've had a chance to upload some photos and such. In the meantime, here is a crappy cellphone video of her in her entertainer trying to figure out how to work one of the toys. Also, please ignore my awful little kid voice. I always forget I sound like that and get sad when I hear myself on video or whatever. Bleh. ♥



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Saturday, March 19, 2011

Summer Wishlist

Lately I find myself at a bit of a crossroads, style-wise. For one, none of my pre-pregnancy clothes fit me anymore. I still haven't lost all of the baby weight (though I'm not too discouraged. It took nearly 10 months to put on, so I don't expect to lose it all right away) and even if I had, my shape is different as my hips are considerably wider these days. Another reason is because I've always dressed quite young, and now that I'm a mom I feel like I shouldn't shopping in the teen sections anymore. I've been unsatisfied with my wardrobe for a while now and as soon as I'm at a weight I'm comfortable with I fully plan on buying an entirely new one! So, after reading this post by Little Chief Honeybee, I thought it would be fun to hop on Polyvore and make a little summertime wishlist of clothes and accessories I'd like to have. Click here to go to the set page, and find info on all the items. ♥ 

Thursday, March 17, 2011

photo update

Here are a few photos of Kaetana in her Entertainer. Sorry for the weird lighting, I took them tonight so it's our crappy yellow inside lights mixed with the flash. I can't wait to get the Lightscoop!
Oh, before I go, check out her sweet headband that I made this afternoon! I followed a tutorial from another blog, and will be posting about it later this week when I have a little more time and can take some decent photos. I'll be sure to link to the tutorial in that post, too. ♥



Crib sleeping, and a new toy!

New toy for Kaetana, that is. haha we no longer buy things for ourselves, it's all about making little boo happy. :)

Anyways! We've officially moved Kaetana in to her room, and couldn't be happier. She transitioned so much better than I expected, and we haven't really had any issues at all. Last night was a teeny bit hard because she decided to wake up at 4:30 and not go back to sleep so I ended up taking her back to bed with me for the first time since moving her (it's been about a week) and she slept fine. Hopefully that is a one time deal, though! I love having her in her crib finally. I know she's super safe in there, and she was nearing the weight limit for the bassinet part of her pack 'n play anyways. She's also become such a little wiggle worm it's not even funny. I put her to bed facing one direction and she wakes up in a completely different one. It's really funny actually, but I've hit the point where I can't leave her unattended for a second unless putting her on the floor. Oh well, I love watching her turn in funny little circles all over the place!

Now about the new toy!! She's been hanging out under her activity mat happily for quite some time, but she's starting to get restless. I rotate the toys every couple of days so she doesn't get too bored with them, but she doesn't want to be laying down - she loves to sit up! Sooo we went to Walmart last night and got her an Entertainer or whatever they're called. She's still a little too small for it, so I have to shove blankets around her and put a box under her haha but she loves it. We put her in there and it's the kind where when the baby bounces it lights up and plays music and she got super happy. She can't reach all the toys but she's already figured out which ones she can and how to use them. It's really cute. I'll take some photos with my camera later today and post them for you to see.

I hope everyone is having an amazing (and safe!) St. Patty's Day -- see you all later! ♥

Monday, March 14, 2011

Shutter Love - Emotions

I recently found this cute blog and love the weekly "Shutter Love" photo challenge, so I've decided as another incentive towards taking more photos (and even some that don't involve Kaetana, perhaps?) that I would begin participating. :) Tuesday is a photography filled day over here!

My emotion is Happiness, and of course it's Kaetana. Would you really expect anything different at this point? I didn't think so. Anyways - we were having a ball on the floor this afternoon when we got home and she was doing "naked baby time" which is exactly what it sounds like... we strip her down to her birthday suit and let her be free for a little while. She's always suuuuper happy when we do this! Sorry the photo is from my phone. Like I said in a previous post, the camera is dead and I need new batteries but I'm just too damn lazy to go to the store and get some. Enjoy, anyways!


ShutterLoveTuesdays

Touch Up Tuesday

Getting started pretty late today on this, because Kaetana and I have been out with a friend of ours all day. Also, my camera needs new batteries and I keep forgetting to go buy more so you will all just have to deal with one of the photos I took of her the other day. :)

SOOC:


EDIT:

Let me just start by saying the lighting in my apartment totally blows, so I always have to adjust the levels to even things out. I would like to use the manual settings on the camera, but to be honest I can't remember what all the settings mean and do (oops) so I am planning on taking another photography class next semester because I haven't taken one since high school. Aaanyways, back to the photo. First I straightened it up a bit and cropped it, then as I said before, I adjusted the levels to even out the shadows and highlights then I had to go play with the saturation and warm it up a bit. After that, I went a liiiitle crazy back in levels until I got the faded but not really look I liked.

Not too difficult, and I think it's pretty cute. But that might just be the subject matter. ;) I'll be back in just a few with another photo for a weekly challenge I'm going to start participating in on Tuesdays! Those are a wild and crazy day over here on the ol' blog, it would seem. ♥

Sunday, March 13, 2011

update and some photos


Today's been relatively quiet, as far as days go. Kaetana and I hung out at my Grandma's house for the majority of it. My Mom watched baby while I cleaned the bathroom over there -- that's how exciting it's been. Oh, but my dad did go buy me all the ingredients for what should be a pretty great dinner (although he seems to have more faith in my culinary skills than I do.) We'll see about that. Hopefully I am going to hang out with my friend Ashley tomorrow, and spend some time downtown in the sun with baby too. Just gotta remember to bring sunscreen because last time she got a wee sunburn on her cheeks!!! I felt super bad, so I won't be letting that happen again.

Anyways, that's about all I've got to say at the moment. I've got some potatoes with rosemary and olive oil in the oven now, and should probably go start on the rest of dinner. Here are some photos from yesterday afternoon! I loved her outfit so we had an impromptu photo shoot! ♥
Lovin' that little smirk
In the process of rolling over.
Right after she rolled over. Notice the red face? She FREAKED right after this.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Downtown Days

 Yesterday, Kaetana and I went downtown with our friend Anna and her son Riley. It was a gorgeous day out, warm and sunny, and we both wanted to take advantage of such good weather. It was Kaetana first time being outside, outside of her stroller and she seemed to like it a lot! I laid down a blanket for her and she hung out in the (still pretty much dead) grass. The sun was pretty bright, so I busted out her sunglasses and she was so cute.

OH! She also rolled over for the first time while we were down there! It was so, so cool. She had started the day before trying to roll over, but she couldn't quite figure out what to do with the arm underneath her and kept pushing herself back on to her back. But this time, she got it and then had a total spaz attack because she hates being on her tummy so much. It's really funny, though, because now she rolls over all the time now and then freaks out.

Anyways. It was a really great day, and I'm so happy that warm weather is finally here so that we can spend many, many more days hanging out downtown. I hope everyone had a really great day yesterday, and has a really great one today too. I'll leave you with a few of my favourite photos from the day. ♥
Riley!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Anonymous Followers

There's something about knowing that there is someone out there that is interested enough in my day to day life, via my blog, to follow me but isn't willing to admit it that really irks me. I'm really not okay with it, and I wish there was an option to not allow anonymous followers. Now, if there is and I'm just not seeing it, let me know. Because I don't appreciate the secret follower.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Touch Up Tuesday V.1

Hello! Welcome to my new weekly feature, Touch Up Tuesday! I do a lot of photo editing, whether it be for myself, or others. I'm not anything to be jealous of, that's for sure, but I don't think I do too bad a job. And it's fun. :) Also, I don't have photoshop. I want it eventually, but it's expensive and complicated and I don't have time to learn it at the moment. Sooo I use Picnik. It's a super easy, online editing website that you can use for free or, if you choose (like I do) you can pay and have access to some more advanced editing tools. Which is another reason I say don't be too impressed, haha, you could probably do a better job than I do at editing any of these photos.
This should be a good way for me to remember to TAKE PICTURES, though. ♥

Well, here goes.

SOOC:

EDIT:

Nothing too fancy here for the first installment. Basically, I adjusted the exposure and contrast levels then went and adjusted the curves until I got a look I liked. You could achieve a similar color effect by clicking on the "Cross Process" effect option. I try to do things more complicated, though. :)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

This blog needs a new look.

I suck at all things computer, and this blog is suffering cosmetically because of it. I use the blogger template designer thing, but I'm not a huge fan and I'm looking for something customized. Anyone know anyone that might do that? For free, or for cheeeaaaap?! I appreciate any, and all, suggestions!

3 months old!

Technically, Kaetana will be 3 months old tomorrow but as we have a ton of plans then, I decided to just do her little photo shoot this afternoon instead. Doesn't make any difference, really. She has gotten so, so big and it blows my mind. She's still small by comparison to other babies I've seen her age. Especially Henry, Danielle's son! He's so much bigger than her, and I only saw him in his carseat.

She's officially grown out of her newborn clothes, and that makes me a little sad because some of those were retarded cute. She fits comfortably in her 0-3 month stuff (except Walmart's Garanimals brand. They're so wide.) and is in some of her 3 month sized stuff. She also just got big enough to wear her first pair of shoes. Before now, her feet were waaay too small, even for the newborn ones. I'm pretty excited about it, but won't be putting her in them often because they seemed to piss her off a lot.

Developmentally, she's doing really well! She loves her activity gym, and can grab all the toys now. She has a few favourites, and goes for them first. It's so precious to watch her grab them, then pull them in to her mouth. She chews on everything!! It's insane. Every time I pick her up she starts gnawing on my shoulder. I feel like I'm always covered in drool. Oh, she still hates tummy time, though. :( I put her on her tummy for a few minutes several times a day and she just lays there face down and cries. I've tried everything I can think of to distract her - propping her up on her boppy, putting a hand mirror in front of her, having her look at her toys. She hates it all and throws a fit. She can't lift her head up while straight on her tummy yet, but I am just going to give it time. At her 2 month appointment the doctor told me she was in the 95% for head size, so that's probably why. It's heavy. :) She also talks all the time, gets distracted by the television waaay too much (I've been keeping it off for the most part now because of it) and loves to be carried facing out so she can see everything. She smiles at her favourite toys, is obsessed with a stuffed kittykat, and loves being read to. She's started hanging out her in her crib a couple times a day to try and get her used to it, but I suck and keep forgetting to put her down for her naps in there. Oops. Besides sucking at tummy time, she's doing great at everything else. She can sit in her Bumbo for a few minutes at a time, and is getting really good at sitting up in general. She has excellent balance, but always tends to lean to the right for some reason. haha.

I guess that's all that's going on with her at the moment. She's learning so much, and growing immensely each and every day. She is truly the light, and love, of my life. And now here for some photos from today, check out her adorable shorts and shoes!
Have a wonderful day, everyone!
See you later. ♥

P.S. Can you do me an teeny, tiny favour and go vote for my blog? I would really appreciate it!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Simple Beauty

Hi! I've decided to participate in this week's photo challenge from The Paper Mama and I'm excited about it because the theme is, Simple Beauty. So here's my entry! Hope you like it. ♥

This is Kaetana, asleep in our bed, a week before she turned 2 months old.
I love that she sleeps like this, because it's how her Daddy sleeps.
She's so much like him, it blows my mind.
In both looks and personality (so far.)
I love her so, so much.

The Paper Mama

Friday, March 4, 2011

I suck at blogging.

Lately I've really neglected this here blog. I am trying to find some inspiration, because it mostly seems like all I talk about is Kaetana which is probably boring for everyone after a little while. Things have ben stressful here again lately. Kaetana seems to always be sick with something or another, and my having to stay home/not having a job is hurting us. Hopefully I can find a job soon! And that, once Kaetana is a little older, I cause to make money on h the side.

But, anyways, it's waaayy past my bedtime so I bid thee goodnight. <3