Photo Challenge Day 9

I missed Day 8 (and Day 6), unfortunately. The challenges were "rule of thirds" and "bokeh." I suppose I could have submitted older photos, but I wanted to take a new one each day. The ones I took for today's challenge weren't the best, sadly. I have a really hard time with exposure inside my house, and today was even worse because it was rainy and dark outside. But I will post them here anyway. The first one is the one I actually used.

All Grown Up

...And in a big boy bed! Yes, that's right. We made the transition to toddler bed last night. I admit it, I was emotional. Taking the baby animal decals off of the wall and replacing them with Mickey Mouse made me cry. My little baby is growing up.

We decided to go with a Mickey Mouse room because E loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse so much. My parents were kind enough to spend the day helping us set everything up yesterday. He got a new bed, a new toy bin, and a new ceiling fan (which he loves).

He really took to the bed, and, much to my surprise, I didn't even have to fight him to get him to stay in bed last night. He ran around for a few minutes, climbed into bed, and went to sleep. Even better, he stayed in bed all night long! He slept until 8 this morning. It was awesome. Nap time this afternoon went just as well. I am so happy he likes the new bed. I was a bit intimidated by the thought of making the switch.

Photo Challenge Day 7 - Dessert

Yum

Photography Challenge Day 5

Eyes

I will admit that I had a difficult time with this subject, and in the process fell victim to frustration and had a non-so-great parenting moment. Let's face it. Toddlers don't want to sit still and look at the camera. And, quite frankly, neither do dogs. So after chasing my toddler and my dogs around with my camera for an hour, trying to get just one of them to look at me for what... 1/160th of a second or however fast my shutter speed was set to at the moment.

In the end I did get these two cute ones, though unfortunately the closeup is pretty badly underexposed. Otherwise I really love it!

I think that these two capture the light in his eyes pretty well. And can I say that I am in love with this kiddo's eyelashes?

Now, let's talk about that bad parenting moment, shall we? Nothing is worse than mom guilt. Nothing. It is hands down one of the worst feelings in the world. We were having a perfectly good morning, and I had to get snappy because I was getting frustrated over getting a stupid picture. Yes, I love pictures, and I'm loving photography. But is it worth getting snappy over?

The truth is, I just wanted to get the darn picture and get it over with. There's no joy in taking a picture if you can't get the subject to cooperate, and there's no joy in playing outside with your child if you are trying to get a specific picture. So let me say this. While I think this photo challenge is really fun and I did get these two cute pictures out of the deal, I'm starting to think that when it comes to my son, I'd prefer the candid shots, the ones where he is just acting natural, so that I don't have to feel so frustrated over not being able to get the one element that I want.

Of course I apologized for being snappy with him. Moms aren't perfect, right? I think it's important to let them know that we make mistakes too, and to take responsibility for our mistakes so that they can learn by example to do the same. So I said it to him, but I'll say it again. E, I am sorry that your mother is cranky. I am sorry that I got caught up in trying to get the right picture and snapped at you when you wouldn't cooperate. Trust me. I am so very sorry. I will have mommy guilt for the rest of the morning. (Forgiving myself and moving on is something I'm still working on.)

Now, let's go to the park and get some ice cream together. Camera free. The way the dog's stomach is gurgling over there, I don't think we want to hang out around here anyway...

Photo Challenge Day 4

A Fruit or a Vegetable:

This was the first time I have given E a whole apple. I think he had fun playing with it, but he wasn't really sure how to eat it. He got a bite or two off of it...after I took a bite. Poor guy. He's such a patient model while I practice my photography. OK not really. He's usually running around like a crazy kid. That's why I confined him in the high chair for this particular exercise....

Wordless Wednesday

Photography Challenge

As I said, this is becoming an everything blog, and since E is upstairs snoozing peacefully, I wanted to take a moment to post about the 30 Day Photography Challenge my mom photography group is doing. We are on day 3, and it has been so much fun! I am really glad for the chance to try new things and maybe look at things a bit differently, as well as receive feedback on my photos. Many of the ladies in the group are extremely talented! I am really enjoying photography so far, though I still have a lot to learn. I hope you will be patient with me as I veer away from motherhood and E for a little bit here, to share with you the pictures I take throughout this challenge.

I am not going to share the photo I took for day one with you, but here are days two and three.

Photography Challenge Day 2 - Something Green

Photography Challenge Day 3 - Flower

The top picture here is the one I submitted for the challenge. I included the bottom picture because I am really quite proud of my composition in the photo, though the sun crept through and the top petals were blown out a bit. :( Oh well. Live and learn.

Magical Mommy Moment, The Zoo, and other Musings

I have to start with the magical mommy moment. It happened on Saturday. We had just returned from a trip to the zoo, and E ran up to me, his green ball in his hands. He tugged on my finger and said...wait for it..."mama! Mama!" That's right, my non-speaker finally called me mama! It was wonderful! I hope he keeps it up.

Second, I'm having a bad morning and wondering if I even deserved the moment I just described above. E still fights sleep until 9:30 or later and he has been waking up at 6:00. Yesterday he woke up at 5:45, and this morning he woke up at 5:30. With only an hour and a half nap (on average), this makes for an INCREDIBLY long day for me. And it leaves me with one grouchy kiddo. I have a goal not to yell. But when he refused to go back to sleep, what do you think I did? Of course I yelled. I feel like a complete jerk. Why does is it so impossible to just not yell?

Long story short he did eventually fall back to sleep sometime between 6:30 and 7:00, and wonder of wonders is still out cold at almost 9 am. How do I convince this child that he needs to sleep?!? I don't need him to sleep this late, but he is a bear all day if he wakes up at 6:00 (or earlier). Just sleep until 7:00, son, and then we won't have to go through all of this. Sigh...

In other news, we went to the zoo and had a blast. E loves the animals, especially the polar bear. Is it any wonder? His favorite stuffy is a polar bear. We got lucky and the bear at the zoo actually put on quite a show for E - playing with him for several minutes. It was so cute! E was so sad when she left and started doing something else though. Poor boy. Here are some photo highlights from the trip:

Friday Fun

Well, our trip to the park today was a little less than stellar, but we did manage to have some fun in between the other kids stealing our sand toys and a meltdown over a dog I wouldn't let him stay and play with.

Let me tell you. He LOVES that big slide at that park. It's his favorite so far, I think. It's very tall, and the little daredevil won't let me get to the bottom before he goes. I still have to catch him at the bottom here, unlike on the smaller ones at the other park. He'd go flying right off. He also enjoys the sand here, which is great because he usually hates to get his hands dirty. (I can't imagine where he got that from.)

I'm not sure I have anything else to write about in this "Friday Fun" post, since we had a pretty busy but boring week. Oh well. We are hoping to get to the zoo tomorrow, which will be fantastic! I can't wait!

Wordless Wednesday