Fifteen Years Young

Yesterday was the boy's fifteenth birthday. Oh, how fast the years pass!

From this little tyke (at seven days old!):


To this big guy:


The ideal birthday? Sleep in until noon, head over to your friends' house and play Minecraft for an hour, then head home for a round of golf with your Dad. After golf, play football with more friends, then go to dinner with friends.


It's a tough life, isn't it?

My personal highlight of the day - unabashedly singing duets with him in the car after dropping off the last of his friends. It's one of our "mother - son" activities - we cue up the Glee Version of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and belt it out. He doesn't quite sing on key, and he doesn't care.

And neither do I.

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Horse Wednesday - Playing In The Snow

Taken last week, when we still had snow (and now it's all gone!!)



Cody tried to make a Snow Angel, I think...


My daughter is at her happiest when she's around the horses.


And finally, some late breaking events at the barn - a new foal was born on Monday. This photo was snapped by my daughter's friend, who owns Cody the Quarter Horse.

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Auntie Again

I just received word from my sister, Michele, who lives in London, that she gave birth to a baby girl at 11:30am today.

At 7lbs, 3oz, baby Winifred is only the second granddaughter on my side of the family. My daughter was the first grand baby, and was then followed by four boy grand babies. My mother, having three daughters, was starting to wonder what happened.

But here she is:

Welcome to the world!

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Mosaic Monday - Baby David

I quick mosaic of some of my favorite shots of baby David, taken way back at the end of May.



Linked to Mary and Mosaic Monday.

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Sunday in Deep Thought

Not really, but it sounded like a good description for my third day of self portraits.

I'm working on my computer - this time editing photos I took back in May - a batch of baby pictures I took and then set aside. The mom is a co-worker and friend, and I feel so bad that I've made her wait. The truth is, after I took all the pictures, my cat died and I just didn't want to deal with it all. So the pictures sat. Until today.

This one is my favorite of the bunch. It was the third picture I shot out of 100.


Now that baby David is almost four months old, I hope these pictures bring his mom and dad back to those early days and they forgive me for being so late.

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Texture Tuesday - Baby David

I took over 80 pictures of baby David, the 3 week old newborn son of one of my friends and co-worker, Nancy.

The bad thing? That was over 3 weeks ago, and I've barely started editing his pictures. Surely he's changed so much in that time - they grow up so fast.

I'm not all that experienced when it comes to shooting people, especially babies, so when I have access to one, I can't resist (And who can't resist holding a squishy newborn in their arms).

Since I'm posting this for Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, I thought I'd post the SOOC version:


And then the lightly textured version:

I'm not quite sure about the color of his skin (maybe looks a little gray), although I removed the texture from his face. I used a very simple texture, Kim's Love Texture, in the soft light blending mode.

So I have lots of work to do with all these pictures. I'm hoping to get them completed this weekend, so wish me luck!

And be sure to head over to Kim's for Texture Tuesday.

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166/365 - Gotta Love Technology

Since visiting Michele, Andrew and little Felix, I've been missing my little baby fix. It's one thing to view still pictures (which I do enjoy), or talk on the phone, but video conferencing takes things to a new level!

I had installed Skype on my laptop a few weeks back because I knew Michele had it installed on hers. I had no idea how to "call" anyone, but I managed to link up with Michele this afternoon. I saw her online and pushed that "call" button.

Voila! She and Felix were there! It was like something out of the Jetsons or Star Trek. Of course, I had to take a picture.



I'm looking forward to more frequent contact with Michele, and hope the kids will enjoy this new mode of communication. Michele plans to get Mom and Dad set up, too. Then we can hold virtual get togethers! Who knows what we'll be able to do in a couple more years. "Beam Me Up Scotty" anyone?

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I ♥ Faces - All Things Babies

This week's I ♥ Faces Photography Challenge is "All Things Babies" - not just limited to little babies, either - baby animals, baby accessories, anything baby!

Since I just visited my sister and her cute little newborn, I have lots of pictures of little Felix to choose from. I chose a B&W version of me holding Felix by the window. My sister, Michele had tagged the photo as a "Favorite" in flickr, so she must like it.



If you have any photos that are baby related, be sure to enter!

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Hands and Feet

Because I never captured my own children's little feet and toes on film, I made sure I took pictures of little Felix's tootsies. This was actually a challenge, because he was always wearing an outfit with those footsie things, and his feet were exposed only during diaper changes. And believe me, the last thing on my mind when changing his diaper was taking pictures of his feet!

On our last full day, he wore socks and we were able to fit in some bare feet time:





Also a shot of his hands next to mine. My sister, Teresa, took this picture:


I miss those days of itty-bitty hands and feet.

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Day 151 - Saying Goodbye

I guess all visits must come to an end. I am glad I was able to take this trip with my sister to visit Michele, Andrew and Felix. We don't get to see each other all that often, and, as you know, those babies are only wee-little like this once and in a flash, they grow up.

The most beautiful, clear morning beckoned us up and we said our goodbyes before heading out to the airport. I still managed to take several dozen pictures! (Not that I'm going to post them all here. Heck, I'm it will take me another week to process them!)







Our transatlantic flight back to the states was very uneventful and far more comfortable than the flight over. You would be surprised how a mere 6" of additional legroom can make a difference - it absolutely does (and I'm a small person).

Teresa and I parted at the Philly Airport, and I arrived back in Chicago in time for my shuttle bus back home. I walked into the house around 1am and found Brian fast asleep on the couch, as he had been waiting up for me. It's nice to be home.
[But I still miss my sisters and new nephew!]

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149/365 - Faces of Felix

He is looking like our various kids more every day:


Like Zachary (but with much less hair)


Like Erica and Brian


Like Matty

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147/365 - Scenes from The Mall

It feels like I'm back in the US.
Abercrombie and Fitch.
Hollister.
The Gap.
The Apple Store.
The Food Court.

Oh, wait, we don't have sushi going around on a carousel in the US.


Nor do we have falafel available at our food court.


The falafel platter was yummy. And despite the crowds (wow, was it ever crowded!), we had a good time.

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86/365 - Introducing....

My new baby nephew (and as of the publication of this post, yet to bear an official name):


Picture courtesy of my sister's iPhone and flickr stream.

Born a little after midnight this morning (March 28). The picture was taken on the 29th. And that's proud daddy, Andrew holding the little guy.

I think he's beautiful, of course - makes this new Auntie very proud.

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181/365 - Baby L

Our neighbors Kellie and Ian brought their new addition into the world two weeks ago. [We all noted what great timing they had - Baby L was born the day of Bob and Jeanne's big shin-dig, so he and mommy were in the quiet hospital and not disturbed by the loud music that night]

I love babies and offered to take some pictures of the little guy. These are some of my favorites:




Baby L joined big sissy, Maddie and doggie Lola. Maddie is 28 months old, so I can draw some parallels to Erica and Brian (they are 27 months apart in age) and show Kellie and Ian what the future might look like - because it all passes by all too quickly.

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POTD - Erica as a Baby

My "babies" are now 11 and 9. Digital imaging wasn't an affordable option when the kiddos were little, so I took numerous pictures with my film camera. I can't imagine how differently I would account their early years now, with all of the digital options out there (I would probably be swimming in all sorts of images).

For today's POTD, under the theme of Oh, Baby, I took a picture of Erica as a baby, from a published Enfamil Pamphlet. You know, one of many baby formula marketing brochures the hospitals shower you with upon the birth of a little one.


The story behind the brochure? Erica was "sighted" by a commercial photographer responsible for Mead Johnson (maker of Enfamil) marketing materials and brought in for a photo shoot - her first modeling job at the age of 6 months. We never heard back from Mead Johnson, but when Brian was born two years later, this pamphlet was in one of the giveaway diaper bags. I immediately recognized Erica on the cover. The nurses thought this was the coolest, serendipitous thing to happen, so they gave us 20 copies of the pamphlet.

Today's funny - I took out the pamphlet and Erica inquired - "Why are you taking a picture of that?". I asked her if she knew who was on the cover, she simply shrugged her shoulders with a "I dunno". Then she laughed incredulously when I informed her of the little baby's identity. She thinks I am lying to her!

Anyways, the little picture brings back nice memories - a time when my little baby would cuddle and coo with me. OK, she screamed a lot,too, but heck, that's what being a baby is about.

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65/365: David and Alice

My violin teacher's twins turned 6 months old today and she was so gracious to let me snap some pictures after tonight's lesson.

David (left, looking away) and Alice (completely loves the camera).


Last week, David attended my lesson - in his little bouncy seat, he watched and listened intently as I played. So cute!

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