Memorial Day

For the holiday, my family came to our house for BBQ. It was so much fun to have everyone over. (Besides, I'm happy we didn't have to drive anywhere....)

I have to say, I just love having all of my family nearby. I don't know what I would do if I had to live somewhere far away from everyone. It's so great to have everyone to rely on!

Rob the grillin' cook.

Of course ,since we're all Corey's, we gravitate towards the TV....

Logan getting passed around....

After food, most of us went for a walk to the farm nearby.

Dad and two of my brothers.

Super baby!

Jai is such a cutie, I love this picture of him!

Logan is becoming the drool king these days.

I seriously love this hat he has. So cute!

Its hard to tell but that animal pile contains two baby sheep and a baby pig! Ha!

Llama. Or alpaca. ?

Yeay!

Cutie

I'm so proud of Josh. He's such a good dad!

Josh and Jai

Logan started getting tired.....

Mmmm, nom, nom, nom, mommy shoulder!

Lastly, this was our contribution to the meal:

S'more Dip, SO GOOD!

I think I ate like half of what I made. Stocking up on the chocolate since I've sworn off sugar and desserts until the 4th of July.... Chocolate has been my weakness and I hope to see some changes by then!

Wiggle Worm

Logan doesn't like to stay in one place for too long.

Evidence one:

Evidence two:

Silly guy. And this is why we don't have bumpers in his crib. We never know where he'll end up when he wakes each time!

Good morning baby blue eyes!

Breastfeeding, It's A Beautiful Thing

I didn't used to think so.

I've been stuck in the world view of boobs = sex. I told myself and my hubby that when we had kids I would do it for maybe up to two months and that was it. Then we're on to formula. The whole idea of doing it much just made me uncomfortable.

Oh how things change.

Now that I have my own little guy, I've finally been able to change my mindset on it. I love it. I really do. I love the bonding, I love being able to just watch Logan as he eats. My goal now is to get to six months with him and reevaluate at that point. (I'm still pretty sure I don't want to continue once teeth show up. I don't relish the thought of him chewing on me....)

But it's not sex. I know we're all taught that that's the only purpose for them. The problem lies with the media in that respect. It portrays boobs as only useful for that alone and nursing is an awkward and embarrassing thing to hide.

(My nieces and nephews have now had an in-depth visual lesson on how babies eat.... haha!)

Sure it has it's pros and cons. But so does using formula. You just have to decide which one you can accept and make your own decision. I'm not one to judge which you choose. I know some cannot do it and more power to them for finding the solution that's healthiest for them and their baby.

And I'm not so squeamish anymore about seeing others nursing in public or doing it myself in front of people. It feels natural to me. I don't know, maybe the whole pushing out a baby with a bunch of people watching thing has made me a little more comfortable with myself. I haven't become an exhibitionist about the whole thing, no whipping out a boob just anywhere. I'm still as discreet as I feel I should be. But I'm also not afraid to do it with around people I'm comfortable with.

Yeay for boobies!

(I know this was a really random post, and putting it up on Memorial Day. I just wanted to get it out there. Hope everyone has a great holiday!)

Haircut

Logan's first, courtesy of his daddy....

Bye bye baby mullet!

Baby Balance

We're getting better and better at holding the head up with that little chicken neck!

And just another sleeping picture.... I love watching his sweet face while he sleeps. :)

The Setup

I thought I'd share how I have set up my photos that we've done since Logan was born.

Over a year ago, I bought this cheap studio package that I figured I would start using a lot. I didn't. Used it for one event, packed it away, and have barely looked at it since. 

But with the way we rearranged our rooms for baby, I realized how we had organized our guestroom would make it perfect to use for pictures. So two months ago, I pulled it all back out. And it's stayed out. One, because we have a guest use that room maybe once a year, and two, I've been using it at least once a week to take pictures of our little guy. So why put it away?

And now I love it! I've been getting a lot of practice with it, and have found that room to be perfect for pictures, with the really nice light we get through the window.

Here's how I've done it:

This first picture is as you walk into the room. The backdrop is to the right, and the bed is to the left, with the umbrella lighting on extension cords so they can be placed anywhere in the room.

On the bed I actually have this perfect white blanket my mom gave me that I use as the base for the pictures. Some of the other blankets I use for backdrops are thin so they need this behind to smooth out the coloring. The umbrellas are typically placed on either side of the bed. I've done all of Logan's photos here. It's great because I have all the lighting and window surrounding it to make it bright, and it's soft so he's comfortable there.

The backdrop can be made bigger or smaller but this is the size that's worked for most pictures so far. When I use it, I move the left umbrella to behind me and leave the other umbrella where it is. The backdrop faces the window so I get very nice catchlights there.

That's pretty much it. I know it's a cheap studio set to start with but I've really loved it and found it to be useful for these small shoots. (And someday, we'll have bookshelves in there so all of my picture books aren't sitting on the floor in boxes....)

As seen in:

Rob & Logan

Logan, One Week Old

More Logan & Family

The Bucket Test

Logan - Two Weeks

Logan, Three Weeks Old

Logan's Blessing

Mother's Day Fun

Hi Mommies!

Logan - Two Months

Carpet Rug

So, we've had this rug for about 5 years.

(Before)

I've always loved it, the color, size, and all. But the time has come for a change. Mostly for this little guy:

(His first time in the Bumbo this morning and he LOVED it!)

(After)

See, we got our wood floors just after we moved in, to replace the nasty, torn-up, original flooring. And I still love my bamboo, BUT it's not exactly baby-friendly material. I needed something large that I could get down on the ground with Logan on. 

So we got a carpet rug made! I know a few people who have done this and decided that was probably the best, cheapest option for us too. We ended up going to Contractor Resource for the carpet remnant and then took it to Shepherd's Carpets to get the edges bound.

All in all, only $170 for a large 10'x12' rug with a nice, thick carpet pad under it. Definitely worth it and I love playing with Logan on the floor now!

(By the way, notice the difference in angle on the before and after shots? One thing I so looked forward to with a full-frame camera is how much better it utilizes my wide-angle lens than the crop-frame! AND I really love the in-camera HDR function for room shots.)

Two Months

Here I am, being a cheesy mom again....

Logan is two months old today! We had his checkup and shots and everything looks great! He's up to 10 pounds, 2 ounces and 22 inches long. He's about 20th percentile, long and skinny. Just like his daddy.

He's holding his head up more and longer all the time. His smiles and coos grow every day too! I love the little personality he's developing, it's getting to be so much fun to play with the little guy.

(Flashing gang signs at me....)

More pictures on Pink Lemonade!

{LOVE}

Him.

(And taking pictures of him with the new camera! The clarity is so mind-bogglingly amazing, it kinda freaks me out!)

Also, photos of the solar eclipse are up on Pink Lemonade!

Recent Cookery

So, since I'm home all the time now, I've finally started making dinner more often. Always, Rob has been the cook in the family since he's a lot more creative than I am, with a lot more common sense of what can be combined and what can't. But, with the use of Pinterest, now I have actually started contributing to food around here!

Here's a few recipes I've made in the last two weeks. I wanted to share them because they are seriously yummy, and I found that they matched pretty well for getting ingredients at the store. (All pictures are from Pinterest, since I didn't feel like taking my own.) I'm also including a couple little notes with each one on things I may do differently. Every single one of them tasted GREAT though, and I'm definitely adding them to my recipes!

Sloppy Joe Biscuits

(I would maybe use two tins of biscuits next time and stretch the ingredients between them, cuz it was a lot of meat to stuff in the ten biscuits we had!)

Chicken Alfredo Rollups

(This one was perfect in every way! I also had toasted french bread with it.)

Doritos Taco Bake

(Rob didn't like the sour cream in the middle with this and would rather I left it off next time, and dollop it on the top after cooking.)

Sour Cream And Bacon Crockpot Chicken

(I love bacon. But I hate the smell of it cooking in my house. If you do too, maybe plan on spending the day elsewhere after you start this cooking.)