Photo Practice

Last week my friend and I attended a 5 hour intro to digital photography class. It was pretty long for two pregnant ladies but we both learned so much on how to use our cameras. It was well worth the price of the groupon! We learned tons on lenses and exposure and basic functions of my camera that I had no idea how to use. I walked away feeling like I could start taking better pictures. Now each time I practice with my camera I've been learning something new and it has been very gratifying. I'm trying to get all the knowledge I can before baby brother comes so we can get some decent newborn and sibling pictures, especially since our amazing personal photographer lives SO far away! It's made me pretty excited to see major improvements in the pictures I've been taking and I've been so excited that I've had multiple photography dreams...weird! I still have tons to learn...and eventually I will start learning about photo editing which I know nothing about.

Yesterday, Charlie and I set up a practice photo shoot to get ready for baby brother. Since Charlie is an extremely wiggly toddler and will not look at the camera very often, we needed to use stuffed animals.

We started with cow... 

It didn't take long for Charlie to realize that I was playing with his animals so he jumped in and pretended to sleep .

He thought he was so funny when he revealed that he wasn't really sleeping...only pretending! 

So then the photos ended up being of Charlie playing with his cow.

Apparently Charlie thought that all that posing must be making cow thirsty so they took a snack break.  

I gave Charlie some fruit snacks to share with his cow but he was very content eating them all by himself.

So then we went outside to get some practice with the direct sunlight, cloudy, and shady lighting.  

I was finally figuring out how to focus on what I wanted...

Later in the day I had a doctor's appointment. (I was able to get an ultrasound to see that baby is head down...and doing great...very exciting but also not the point of this post)

When my appointment was finished I enjoyed a couple moments to myself looking over Portland. There is a great view from up on the hill where my doctor's office is, and it was a beautiful day.


I was able to zoom in to see OMSI!

The clouds looked unreal 

And there was the muddy Willamette River.

And life-flight flew right over my head which was pretty exciting.

So the point is, my camera was an awesome birthday present and I feel like it is the gift that keeps on giving. I get so excited about learning and practicing more!

Swim class

Charlie and I are doing a 5 week parent/child swim class. We did a 5 week tumbling class before swimming started. We have a local community center that does these classes for a pretty good price. They have been a lot of fun and I'd like to think that Charlie is getting better at listening and following directions from them. We were able to take both classes with our friends Kerri and Madeleine. Charlie is also becoming much more comfortable in the water and doesn't get as mad at me when I dunk him! On one of our class days, Madeleine's dad was able to come watch so he took some pictures. I've been enjoying the class even though it's only a half hour class and nearly an hour of getting ready before and after.  

We love swimming!

In the meantime...

Here is the place where I do a photo dump of some things we have been doing. As I'm in the last month of my pregnancy I feel that I am playing the waiting game so we try to make that waiting as enjoyable as possible. When we were waiting for Charlie to arrive (he came 9 days late) Max and I made an extra effort to do something special each night together. Oftentimes it ended up being us watching a movie on the couch because that's all my tired body could handle but we did go out on lots of dates and tried to cherish each moment together. We feel that this is an important goal for us now especially with Charlie. I know it will be a fun new dynamic with two little boys but we just want to make sure we make the most of our time whilst a family of three.  So here are some of those events....

I have mentioned before that Max has been very patient and involved Charlie in many projects. Charlie has really loved this daddy time...especially when he gets to use tools. My boys washed the car together. They were both soaked in the end but I know for sure that Charlie loved it!

  

On Monday, the sister missionaries asked if we could take them to their transfer meeting. We, of course, were super excited. I love helping out the sisters because I can definitely feel for them. They are doing some hard work! After we dropped them of for the meeting Charlie and I went to walk around he LDS temple grounds in the rain. The rain didn't seem to bother him at all. 

Most of the pictures I took were of him running away from me.

When we are at home Charlie likes to spend his time working on house projects even if daddy isn't there. So helpful! Our stairs and bathtub have been the current projects.

I love catching this boy sleeping! 

I got to go to a baby shower of an old friend at this awesome house 

Our Old Navy trip was a blast for this goofy kid! 

And just so it is documented...Charlie bit into this spinach leaf...after swallowing the first bite he took a second bite that did not stay in his mouth. 

He does not like spinach leaves although he will chug down smoothies made with spinach.  

 We took a trip to the Children's museum with Kim and Chloe...we got to explore their new cycling exhibit. (PS I think James needs to take his girls here...you can even build a bike...of sorts)

I love Charlie's tough face as he rides a pink bike. 

 He certainly loves painting his own face for the theater.

He made toast for me. 

This is how Charlie plays with "baby brother" or maybe he just likes my belly button. 

On Thursday night I was able to go see the musical Aida with my mom. Shortly before Christmas I found out that this play was being done in Portland, my mom had never seen it but has loved the music for a long time so we decided tickets to finally see it would be the perfect Christmas gift for her. I was excited to go with her. We had no idea that our tickets were in the front row and we were practically on the stage!

The beautiful theater. 

On Friday I got to go out on a wonderful date with Max. 

Before our date Charlie got ready for an outing at Grandma's by taking a bath then cuddling with his mama!

Charlie was thrilled to play with Grandma and Max and I were excited to go out to eat. We went to Gustav's mostly because I've been craving fondue for a couple months now. Also, when we got there we laughed because ever since we found out we were pregnant Max has been calling the baby Gustav or Gus, and we hadn't made that connection until we arrived at the restaurant. (That won't be his real name in case you were wondering)

After dinner we went to Toys R Us...sometimes you just need to go to a toy store without your 2-year-old right?  

We actually went for a couple reasons, partly because we knew we would have fun at a toy store as part of our date. We also needed to get a gift for a birthday party Charlie is going to. And, we wanted to pick out a gift for baby brother to give to Charlie when they first meet. Yes we know this is somewhat of a bribe but we haven't purchased many toys for Charlie in the past so we thought this would be fun. 

I don't think we will ever grow up...and I'm kinda okay with that!

And this is the second time Max has hula hooped in public this month :)  

We ended up picking out an official Buzz Lightyear toy for Charlie which we are pretty sure he will love. (But don't tell Charlie...he wont get the gift for another month) He loves Toy Story! Anyway, after our toy store adventures we decided to call it a night and go pick up our baby boy. Charlie was not excited to leave grandma's house and he tried to push us back out the door when we got there, I'm sure glad he loves playing at Grandma's house. It will make it easier to spend the time in the hospital with baby brother. 

So those are some things that we have done... but here are a couple more things we are looking forward to

• My first photography class tomorrow. 
• A baby shower thanks to Lisa and Annette next week!
• A temple date with Max
• Swimming classes with Charlie
• More OMSI and Children museum outings. 
• Spring!
• More in-home dates with Max
• BABY BROTHER!