feeling better.

at least better enough to enjoy some playtime in the backyard today, before an arctic cold front hits us (again.. another chance of snow tomorrow). i love snow but i would be lying if i didn't say i am ready for spring to arrive!

that hair!! lol. he is SO close to walking. he has already taken his first steps. we were unable to get it on film. it happens so fast and unexpectedly i am never fully prepared for it. he just needs some confidence. sometimes he loses his balance while standing. he catches himself but it upsets him. :o/

as odd as it sounds, today was the first time playing in our backyard. he has been back there before but not since he has been mobile. for some reason, and it could be just me, but i swear he had bird poop vision and bee-lined for it. gross. i need to figure out what kind of things we can do in our backyard. it's not really "kid friendly" right now. it has a slide that we got from our neighbors and that's pretty much it. unless you count the bird poop and the electric box thing (whatever it is. it looks dangerous therefor the best toy in the world according to ashton).

oh and bricks.



he kept licking them (???). kid needs to get out more!

sick boy :o(

ashton has a double ear infection. that explains the constant fussiness, refusing to nap (he sleeps through the night just fine), and slight loss of appetite. i can't imagine how long he has been in pain but i hope he starts to feel better soon. real soon!

what's worse is that we are having great weather right now and it's supposed to get bad later this week when i'm sure ashton will be feeling better. :o/

good bye 20's, hello 30's!

the texas longhorns were a hit!

i'm another year older and not one bit wiser. ashton's been sick for the last few days. nothing serious (thank goodness!), but he's been a lot of work lately. my birthday was no different. with his fever gone he now has a runny nose and a small cough that you hear every once in awhile (i think it's drainage). he seems to be uncomfortable but eats/drinks okay and when something interests him enough he's a happy boy which makes me a happy mommy. which is why i HAD to get him out of the house yesterday. i had planned on the zoo but ashton refused to take a decent nap. on the way to the zoo i realized that i didn't have much time to really stay there for very long and i was right by the fort worth stockyards so we made other plans. i'm so glad we did!

and since it was my 30th birthday i felt entitled to get myself a new action (because a new camera just wasn't enough). i don't normally use actions anymore, i prefer my own thing in lightroom, but every once in awhile i come across one that i just have to have. i really want this girls golden light action but it's not on sale until spring (boo!). her current one for sale, velvet, was only $5 and felt justified to it have around. you know.. just in case i do want it (later) and she stops selling it. what do you think? personally, my own opinion, i think the color version of the action would look much better with outdoor shots like she demonstrated. the grass here in texas is dead (or sleeping.. whatever). so i will wait and see if i end up loving it later.

sooc:

velvet by jude action:

after ashton's (somewhat) nap. he was crying right before i took the picture, so he looks more sad than he really was.

or the black and white velvet conversion: which i like.

i also want to show off this book my mom got ashton for his birthday. books that grabs ashton's attention are the 'touch and feel' and 'pop-up' books. right now this ocean book is #1 with ashton. we used to have it on the shelf with his other books, since my mother said it was cheap enough for him to rip up, (she found it at costco for $7). however, after seeing ashton with it and how much loves it. it went up to the special book shelf that ashton will never be able to reach unless one of us adults are there with him :o)

you can purchase it here.

but this is my favorite part about the book. you see the (red) fish in the center? watch what happens to it:

it's magic! lol. they have a bug and wild animal collection that i plan on getting later for him.

so we went to the stockyards (as i said before). ashton reallly loved the longhorns. i have forgotten how much fun the stockyards are (and free!). we made it just in time for the cattle drive. ashton and i practiced walking around while waiting...

then the show started:

did you know the longhorns horns are 6 feet LONG!?

and is this not the funniest thing you have seen a horse do? the cowboy was going around before the cattle drive, telling the horse to smile at the tourists. i so badly wanted a picture of it but ashton was out of his stroller walking around (not by himself), so i figured i would just get it next time when we came to visit. thankfully after the drive and ashton back in his stroller, i saw him just sitting there and asked him if i could take a picture of the smiling horse. lol. i want to frame it. it's so FUNNY to me.

then i came home to the best birthday surprise!

david is the best husband! beautiful flowers, cute cat card (i love cats), and my favorite, a fruit tart. i wasn't expecting anything else than my camera (WHICH I LOVE!) but it really made my (hard) day with ashton so much better! thank you david!

it was soooooooooooooooo delicious! rather surprising since most of the fruit isn't even in season!

and the bottomless pit made sure i shared it!

soo that's how my 30th year started. it was a rough start and ended up being one of the best birthday's ever!

it's HERE!

my new camera arrived today. i purchased used from adorama and i must say i am really impressed with how NEW it looks!

bottom line: i am in love! i am SO glad i decided to go with this camera! i am still figuring out all the settings. i wasn't able to play with it much today because ashton came down with a fever this morning and wouldn't nap in his crib. he insisted that i hold him.. for three hours. bless his little heart. nothing feels worse than having your baby not feel well. then the second david came home i thought i would be able to really play with my new camera, but all i wanted to do was take a nap. now it's too dark and ashton's in bed. i hope tomorrow he feels better and maybe i can really play with it.

i did get a few shots in. just real quick.

ashton eating cheerios. i didn't know how to work all the controls since the layout is a little different than the rebel. i just used AV mode and shot wide open (not the sharpest) ISO 400. photographers with full frames always tell you it's a different world with full frame. and it is. it feels RIGHT. with my 50mm it was like a whole new thing. i am really impressed with the results. i also shot a few test shots at ISO 1600 (the highest it goes) and i am REALLY impressed with the noise. much much much better than the rebel!

eek i hope tomorrow is a good day!

comparison shots, shot with david's point and shoot. i didn't want to mess up his settings so i just shot with whatever it was on. talk about bad. lol.

::sigh:: i love it!. ps. someday i am going to sand and restain that table. it looks horrible!

camera peeps i need some help.

note: i know this post is long but i really NEED someone to read it and give me their honest thoughts.

don't ask me how, because i don't know what i did for david to agree to get me a new camera. but he did, (i think it means that my birthdays are covered for the next 10years or something to that affect. haha), and now i am stuck.

as most of you know i shoot with the rebel XTi and it's been a great little camera, it really has. i feel i have outgrown it. by a lot. i really want the 5D MarkII. but it's pretty much out of the price david is willing to spend on it. i could say, "okay i will save to get it" but that will mean it will NEVER happen and if it does it will be a LONG while before i will be able to get it, and BY then something better will probably have come out and knowing me i will want it and be posting how i wish i wasn't so poor blah blah blah. so now, i am left with two options. the impressive and new (but cropped sensor) canon 7D or the classic 5D (full frame!).

pros and cons to both.

7D-

pros:
it shoots VIDEO not just any video but 24p HD video. take a look for yourself what it can do ( it's the most amazing thing ever). i've been in the market for a video recorder as well but david always says we don't have money due to my expensive camera hobby. whatever.. deep down i know he loves that i have this hobby. now i get both with this camera.

i will be able to shoot at HIGH ISO with low noise. a super plus now that ashton is getting old enough for the museum and aquariums (low light situations).

wireless off camera flash. it has a built in flash transmitter for my speedlight. but not really needed. it's a plus.

faster AF control. i know i won't be shooting sports (not anytime soon at least) but my rebel has a hard time keeping up with ashton and he only crawls. (but i bet the classic 5D is better but not as good as the 7D).

cons:
cropped sensor.

classic 5D (not to be confused with the super awesome 5D MarkII)-

pros:
good camera. really good. it's been around for a while and used to be what everyone wanted not to long ago. i remember dreaming about it about a year ago but thanks to the 5D MkII the price has DROPPED considerably. it's a bit cheaper than the new 7D but it's used :o/

FULL FRAME!!!!!!!! this is really the part that is making it hard for me to make a choice. you see. full frame is awesome for my needs because it allows me to use my primes more often and the field of view is so much better than the cropped sensor view that the bokeh actually LOOKS better. and for bokeh freaks (such as myself) this is a huge deal for me.

cons:
other than not having any of the pros on the 7D's it's a great camera. i know high ISO will look better on the classic 5D because of the way the field of view is presented. the only way i think high ISO will be a problem is if i crop and i don't do that very often. i crop for square images and 8x10. but i keep it at the size it was at. i don't shrink the box to fit my image in it. if that makes any sense at all. and even then. again noise will only be a problem if i plan on printing the image at a super large size. which i don't think will ever happen.

for you newbies or non-camera savy people you are probably thinking, "it's a no brainer. go with the new camera that has a ton of neat features". i'm going to explain a little more why it's a difficult choice.

the crop factor:

image from digital photography school. read the entire article about crop sensors etc here.

the black (entire picture) is full frame. MY camera that i have now and the 7D is the green box. that's what the camera sees. BIG difference right? but it doesn't end there. though the bokeh (blurry background) DOF (depth of field) stays the same with cropped or full frame, the way it's viewed FOV (field of view) is different. full frame appears to have a shallower DOF thanks to the FOV.

images by gary gray. you can read the entire article about the above images on his blog here.

the image on the left was taken with a canon 30D (cropped sensor) and the right with a classic 5D (full frame). both had the same lens, set at the same settings, at the same distance. looks different right? well when you take portraits it makes the image look completely different. i have a few big favorite photographers that i look up too and until this moment when i am trying to decided to go full frame or stick with cropped sensor i realize the cameras they are using are full frames. i know the photographer has A LOT to do with an image. much more than anyone who doesn't own a DSLR realize. but i have been trying to get this bokeh look down like my favorites and was unable to do it, (some examples. 1, 2, 3 4, 5).now I KNOW why. i found a calculator online where you put in your info for a cropped sensor camera and it ends up telling you what you would need to get the same look as a full frame camera.

for example: i own the 50mm f/1.4 lens. if i used it on the full frame camera and got the most awesome bokeh you have ever seen! (TRUST ME) it would be next to impossible to recreate the same look on a cropped sensor. i would need to find a 30mm lens that had an f-stop of f/.9!! which doesn't exist. see the issue?

so i guess in summary. do i want the images I DESPERATELY want to achieve with a USED full frame camera, or do i want to settle for what i've mastered on a cropped sensor camera and have a pretty awesome video capability among other pluses with a brand new camera?! i need some guidance here people, so please let me know what you think. and now that i think about it. i have a hard time processing my images as it is. do i really want to have a ton of video that takes up a lot of space to process as well? hmm. please please please chime in.. even if you consider yourself a person who doesn't know a thing about cameras .thanks :o)

and for my mom, who just rolled her eyes at me (again) and sighed so loud i could hear it three states away, a picture of your munchkin: who by the way has learned to CLIMB before he could walk (pictures to come soon). i think you are going to be getting your little rock climber after all.

look at all the board books we will have to read! i love our library!

ashton LOVES maisy mouse. he pulled this book out himself. i don't know if he knew it was maisy mouse but it was the only book he ended up opening up and going through hahaha. could have just been coincidence.

the bankcard

christmas 2008 i accidentally left my FAVORITE and only wallet that held my life and two completed punched picomollo ice cream cards that i worked so hard to fill up and was saving for a rainy day in the williams-sonoma shopping bag. david then accidentally threw the bag in the dumpster thinking it was a bag of trash. 14 months later i still have not requested a new bankcard (or found a new wallet). i just take david's when i need it or go to the bank. but david is getting annoyed i take his bankcard and i am getting too lazy to go to the bank. so i guess it's time for me to get a new one. it sounds really pathetic but i haven't gotten one because our bankcards allow pictures. and well. i have SO MANY to chose from. i don't even know where to begin. i finally decided i will get one with newborn ashton on it. it will remind me how small he was and it goes way too fast.

david actually took the three shots above. he wasn't even a full 24hours old yet. so sweet.

this is the image i chose for my bankcard. now i just need to figure out black and white or color. what do you think?

the water table.

have toddlers? get one. now. right now. they are amazing. ashton has been having issues during bath time. after trying all sorts of things, lower temp water, more toys, less toys, no toys, bubbles, no bubbles, different soap, big tub, little tub, etc. we realized he doesn't like water being poured on his head. we can get him calm and he will play but the second you pour water on his head he flips out. so we have been washing his hair with a wash rag. i plan on signing ashton up for some swim classes soon so i hope it will help. however, it's okay if he splashes water on his own head. ::shrug::

today was the first time he got to play with his water activity table. and i must say it's going to be coming out often. it's too cold to use outside but i threw down some over-sized beach towels in the ktichen and let him have at it and he went bezerk. it's been sitting in our living room since his birthday and he sort of just looks at it with a confused look and passes by it. now he walks by it and expects water to be in it lol.

this last weekend we decided to check out the new and improved fort worth science & nature museum. it took over a year to finish and i am so happy they finished it in time for ashton to enjoy it. it's so much better than the one they had there before. we became members so we will be spending a lot of time there.

fun in the elevator!

and they have a children's museum. super cute. i can see ashton spending hours and hours playing in it when he gets a little older. right now everything ends up in his mouth. :o/

ashton is now taking applications for a bestfriend. lol. he can't keep his hands off other kids.

birthday party awesomeness

ashton turned a year old. i can't believe it. i still can't even believe i have a CHILD, a SON, a ONE YEAR OLD TODDLER! i can't even remember the year. wait. i remember nursing an ENTIRE year. i still can't believe that either. i didn't even think i would last 6 weeks nursing. nursing was quite the challenge for me but i am SO PROUD i stuck with it and still going strong. ashton shows no signs of wanting to wean anytime soon and i am looking forward to another year of nursing (my next goal). it's amazing how much a baby changes in a year. people with kids tell you that all the time but you don't even truly understand it until you have one yourself. anyway. happy birthday my sweet boy. LOVE YOU LOTS


camera details: canon rebel xti (how i wish i could get my hands on a 5D). tamron 17-50mm 2.8. shot on aperture priority (AV mode). only because parties are busy busy and i didn't want to fuss with manual. open wide at 2.8 (not the sharpest but i wanted LIGHT). ISO 200. no flash was used, all natural light.

party details..

it was a small get together. i wish i knew more people with kids. ashton LOVES kids.

the party hat i made for ashton and that he refused to wear :o(

took me forever to make the streamers but i think they came out cute i am proud of them we bought one of those DIY helium balloon kits. i highly recommend them.

ashton loved his streamers too :o)

no wise cracks on the inappropriate balloons ::side eye:: i wanted to use the small yellow balloons, but thanks to the crappy quality they kept popping, so i had to use the long yellow balloons. david insisted i take them down but i refused. they had TO MATCH (colors). LOL. and they do. they just. look.... like. uh.... never mind. i also made the banner. for a week i looked for birthday banners. i couldn't find one that i liked. so, i enlarged some font and printed it out on regular paper. cut it out and traced them onto colored card stock (cut out). then i punched holes on the top and threaded some string through the holes. VERY SIMPLE. anyone can do it. the hardest part is getting it centered but it worked out okay.

ashton LOVES balloons. which is why i decided to have a ton of them for his first birthday party. he ended up getting tangled while playing in them and crawled around the house attached to the balloons. quite comical.

the hand-dyed tissue balls. took me FOUR days.

ashton's smash cake. i baked/decorated. i did a lot myself to save money.

he was quite upset that we wouldn't let him touch the flame. oh the horror!

however he LOVED being sung to.

i was hoping he would smash his cake (hence the name. smash cake) but he picked at it instead.

ripping the cake apart and attempting to throw on the floor means "all done".

our neighbor (8 years old) tied ashton's pull toy to his jeans so when he crawled around it would follow (obviously she has a little brother lol). i just wish i had thought of it first!

the ice cream birthday cake david just had to get.

and my rainbow cupcakes i made but no one touched because the ice cream cake was a hit. :o(

i let the kids help ashton unwrap his gifts. he loved it all.. the attention from older kids and the new toys/books.

overall it was a success. ashton really enjoyed it which is all that matters.

my kid is ONE. ONEEEE! how did that happen?!?! so sad.