That time I became a photo editor

Working with photoshop at work has given me lots of experience in editing.
So much so that I took on a challenge from my sister in law, Laurel, to edit some of her wedding photos. 

Below are the before and afters. Can you spot the differences?? :)

(The before's are on the right)

And I decided to throw in one that I did for work.

I really like working in Photoshop (and Photoshop Elements).
These sorts of projects present a challenge to me and it's fun to take them on and see what I can do!

I'm sharing this because I've added myself to The Usic and I will be offering these services on there soon!
Thought it would be a fun way to share a hobby with others!

Baby Praying Mantis

The other day, Alex found a Praying Mantis nest in the yard and took some pictures of the babies. He had to zoom in really close. It's crazy how small they start out!

Easter Pictures

Here are some pictures from Easter. Obviously super late but I finally got around to editing them! :)

Scarlett :: 3 Months!

Friday was Scarlett's 3 months of life anniversary! She is growing and changing daily and it's so exciting to watch!

Stats (approx)
Weight- 16 lbs (7 lbs 5 oz at birth)
Length- 25" (20.5" at birth)

Details 
Eating- She is still a little piglet in this category. She eats about 4oz give or take every 2 hours or so. It still feels like I'm nursing her all the time when I'm home but that's probably normal. She still spits up a decent amount, in fact this morning she projectiled 3 times in a row and basically emptied her tummy of everything she had just ate.. Tmi?

Sleeping- She takes her first nap about an hour after waking. How long this nap lasts is anyone's guess. As I type she has been sleeping for about 50 minutes and it's probably bc I have her sound sheep on. Her 2nd nap isn't as predictable but it's usually around noon. She takes a 3rd nap around 3 or 4 depending on the days activities and she takes a cat nap in the evening around 6 sometimes. We try to put her to bed at 8:30.. So we start the routine around 8. Sometimes she doesn't go down until 9.. It's not an exact science. She wakes twice to eat at night. This ranges from evening to evening. Her longest stretch ever is 5.5 hrs.

Activity/Skills- She constantly sucks on her hands. We just know she's going to be a 'taste everything' child. This will probably include dirt and maybe sand. I'll do my best to block it but no promises can be made. She loves laying on her activity mat in the morning watching the lights and listening to the music, that's usually when we have the radio on as well. On the mat is also where she does some talking and laughing. She'll lay there for a good 10 min by herself which lets me get things done around the house quick or make breakfast. She's in 3-6 month clothing now so there's lots of new fun outfits to wear. The changing table is her favorite place to be next to the bath, so changing her clothing is a good time! She really enjoys carrying on a conversation with cooing and it's the cutest thing to see. Her smiles and giggles melt my heart every time!

Enjoy her most recent pictures below! :)

Previous Posts:

1 Month

2 Months

Life after Baby :: Social Life

Quick nap at the Doutrich's

Now I know what it's like to have a dialed back social life. Admittedly though, prior to having Scarlett, I wasn't really the best at having a social life either but having a baby makes it far more difficult.

Sleeping at Iron Hill

I thought I would be the mom who didn't leave the house for 4 straight weeks. Granted, I still felt that way around week 2 when breastfeeding was still getting the best of me. Soon after that, we were invited to a super bowl party and wanted to go. By that point, being in the house was getting a little bit old. Watching the seasons of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and Revenge were getting boring. Sure we had been out to go to the Doctor's offices but that wasn't fulfilling enough. So off to the super bowl party we went. We had a great time! Scarlett behaved so well (she slept through most of it). I felt far less self conscious about nursing her in someone elses house. I used my hooter hider thingy and it went well. Soon enough we would be traveling to the grocery store, Alex's parents, my parents, my grandma's houses, friends houses and it worked out fine. We were finally mobile, albeit she was riding with two parents in the car, more on that in the next Life after Baby post.

Sleeping at the McHenry's

I also thought I would be the mom who was paranoid about germs. Of course, if someone is sick or thinks they are sick, we refrain from having them hold her.. that's common sense. But we don't have people constantly washing their hands when they're around her. It's not like people are putting their germy hands into her actual mouth and she just recently started putting her own hands in her mouth which I'm sure are also germy (and lint filled, wha whaat?). This is going a little off topic from our social life so I'll get back to it.

Needless to say, we do less than we used to. Our weekends are a little more open but we like that time to relax as a family. Especially since we hit the sack around 9pm every night. But Scarlett seems to do well in all environments but is definitely the most comfortable at home. I think she's going to be a pretty laid back little girl which will be nice.

With all that said, if you haven't met Scarlett yet and you want to.. call us! We're usually free!

iPhone Photo Adventures v2

Scarlett and Evander :: Scarlett and Da :: Scarlett and Makayla
Garden flowers :: Scalloped Potatoes :: Yummy Coconut Water
She loves sleeping with things on or close to her or with mommy!
And the red eyes begin!

Life after Baby :: Sleep

She fell asleep on her activity mat the other day. What a little doll baby!

 
Our lives have changed quite a bit since January 20th. I won't speak for Alex here so consider the following solely my opinion.

Before having Scarlett, I loved sleep. I didn't like to miss out on too much sleep. Sleeping in was what I looked forward to on the weekend. I would set my alarm for work with the precise amount of time I needed to get ready, no more, no less. I would snooze that same alarm because I wanted just a couple more minutes. Now, i'm up twice a night to nurse my little girl. Once around 2am and then again around 4 or 5am. My alarm goes off much earlier for work now and I sneak quietly out of bed so I don't wake her, so that I can get myself ready as much as possible before she wakes up and one of our parents arrive to watch her for the day (except Mondays). I make breakfast now where before I just took something small with me. I actually sit on the couch and check my email/facebook/blogs for a little bit, as long as she isn't awake. When she is awake, I nurse her and get her ready for the day. I need more time if she is awake but I don't mind one bit. It's time I get to spend with her then before I head off to work. Extra smiles for me before I leave since the morning is one of her best times of day.

We do go to sleep earlier though. The evenings fly by now when we start to get ready for bed around 8:30pm. Assuming that will get pushed back once she has a consistent bedtime routine and is sleeping in her own room. For now, it means we go to bed a little earlier and get some extra sleep. Sleep I need to make it through the night time feedings and not be tired during the day and sleep Alex needs to wake up at 5am for work. 8:30pm always comes too quickly and I imagine it will continue to do so as spring and summer approaches.

I cannot say I've been the stereotypical "exhausted" yet since Scarlett arrived. Maybe that first night in the hospital when I was up almost all night and the next day was tiring but we caught back up and exhaustion never hit. Maybe it's because I'm lazy? Maybe the mom's that get exhausted have a lot of other stuff going on where I had nothing else going on. The phrase "sleep when the baby sleeps" was taken advantage of from time to time. I think the key for me was the early bed time and the later wake time. Scarlett would often go back to sleep after her 7:30 or 8am feeding and sleep until 10 or 11.. I did the same. It helped. It also helped that Alex was there the first four weeks to take her out of the room so I could continue to sleep if I felt the need. Sure, she would end up having to eat an hour later but that hour of extra sleep was glorious and I think really made a difference.

I remember a quote that I heard a while back, "True love is not wanting to go to sleep, because reality is better than any dream" and that's how I feel. It's not that I don't want to go to sleep, but I don't mind not getting a lot of sleep. I'd much rather watch my baby girl sleep or hold her while she sleeps. Trying to soak up these bitty baby moments while they last since it won't be forever!

10 Things :: Volume 4

10 :: Back to work ain't so bad. It's kind of a best of both worlds scenario. At least I get to work part time, some mom's don't have that luxury and have to leave their baby every day of the week. Pluses include- talking to other adults, having a list of things that actually gets done, doing things with two hands. Minuses include- missing everything between smiling and crying while i'm away. Thank you iPhone for providing way too many photos and videos for me to look at/watch throughout the day!

9 :: Easter is coming up so fast, it's this weekend! I'm very excited for Scarlett's first official holiday. I have her Easter outfit ready to wear and the Easter buckets filled (for all 3 of us, score!). I even hid Easter eggs around the living room for Scarlett to find (with assistance, haha!). Alex see's a new one every day and says, "there's another egg!" .. maybe he'll forget where they are come Sunday? I also kind of opened the tin of chocolate covered pretzels yesterday when I could not find a suitable snack after work. They were tempting and I have zero willpower in my new-found love for chocolate covered pretzels. Salty and sweet, mmhmm! Plus, Plus! Easter = Ham. I don't even care about the other candy, I care about the HAM!

8 :: Scarlett has really been teasing her father recently saying that she only wants mommy to hold her in the fake boob position (it's like she's nursing but there's a pacifier in her mouth). I hope this is a phase because although I don't mind holding her 24/7, I don't want to have anything Alex can't have. I'm sure there will be another phase soon enough where all she wants is her mommy. Stay in the future, phase, okay?

7 :: Let's talk about body after baby, shall we? I am 10.5 weeks post partum. I feel like I look pretty good for someone who just had a baby 10.5 weeks ago but as always, not good enough. I lost most of my pre-pregnancy jeans somehow (maybe in the heat of pregnancy I thought I would never wear them again?) so I only have one pair of jeans currently (don't worry, I don't wear jeans daily, I wear sweatpants mostly, haha!) but I also refuse to buy more jeans until I can fit into a size that is acceptable to myself. What is that size? Honestly.. 6 but that's far away so I'd even settle for 8! To make matters worse, I think I am one of those BF moms that BF does not help in the weight loss department. Maybe it takes longer than 10.5 weeks for anything crazy noticeable to happen? Maybe I should get off my butt more. So many unanswered questions that actually do have answers but somehow I continue to ignore them!

6 :: Last night, Scarlett slept 5 hours straight for her first session. This was followed by a short 3 and then a long 3.. the long 3 I am speaking of never really happens anymore. She has absolutely no schedule what so ever! Oh well! Keep us guessing, little Scarlett!

5 :: Once Upon a Time.. the tv show on ABC is awesome. It's not as awesome as Revenge (c'mon new episode, it's been long enough!) but it's still pretty good. I really love starting a new series late and then watching 15 episodes in a row. Makes me want to start series late all the time. I also really enjoy Happy Endings and the New Girl. Honestly, at first I thought the New Girl was silly but they've really amped up the character of Schmidt and he is the reason to watch if nothing else. Hilarity!

4 :: Yeah, so you see the blog header hasn't changed, huh? I have a picture in my head of what I want but it's really difficult to find the time to take the pictures and then edit them and then edit the bloggy stuff that goes with it. I will get to it, okay? But I can't promise when.

3 :: Why are shower curtains so expensive? It's a piece of fabric!!! It's nothing that special. I don't get it. I refuse to spend too much money on something so silly. I'm actually thinking of getting just a clear plastic one for our bathroom so that when I'm showering and Scarlett refuses to sleep, I can at least see her instead of constantly opening the current shower curtain and getting her all wet, whoops!

2 :: What is with this weather? Just choose to be warm outside and then stay that way. I don't like this in between thing because I'd really rather not wear a coat if it's optional. I know it's only April 3rd but we were so spoiled before and I can't go back, I just can't!

1 :: It's sad to say that I didn't win that giant Mega Millions jackpot last week. Every time I play the lotto, I spend too much time thinking about what would happen if I won. I go through the motions of how I would find out, how I would tell Alex, what we would do with the money. It's almost the same every time. It's a little sad that I waste time thinking such silly things. At the same time, it's freakin' exciting because anything can happen!

Happy Tuesday!

This used to be a link up but alas, it is not anymore so I'm linking up with nobody!