Sunday Stills Happy New Year!

Yes, it's been awhile. A long while. Things have been a little chaotic here over the last few months as I settle into a new chapter of life. So, the photography has been a tad neglected lately. But, to start the New Year off right, I thought I'd answer the Sunday Stills challenge this week: post your favourite photo from 2011 and your photographic hopes from 2012.

Here's my flickr set for Best of 2011. But, if I had to pick one picture, it would be this one, for what is probably obvious reasons. I took this in Fort Myers airport waiting to board the plane. The light through the windows was incredible and the kids were happy to pose at the end of our Florida vacation.



For my photographic hopes for 2012, perhaps a new camera body and making time to take more pictures of everyday moments.

Happy New Year!

Sunday Stills: Black and White or Sepia

The Sunday Stills this week - Black and White or Sepia - inspired me to pin down the 4 year old for some portraits. He is notoriously difficult to get to sit or stand still for a picture, so we tried some in the morning, and some after his bath at night. You can tell he got a little happier as the day went on. I was very happy with the results, although he made me promise not to tell his friends that he was "my model". Shhh!

Time flies

It's hard to believe, but I registered Blake for junior kindergarten today. How did that happen? Two minutes ago I was cradling him in my arms and smelling that sweet new baby smell on the top of his head. Now, he's registered to start kindergarten and providing daily entertainments with his story-telling abilities - a psychedelic cross between Ulysses and Dora the Explorer.

He tells everyone, very proudly, "I'm four!!", punctuated by four fingers. He talks up the cashiers everywhere we go. He says "Holy crap!" way too much. (And tells us that we should, "Oh darn!")

The kid is hilarious. Kindergarten should be interesting indeed.

Sunday Stills: Emotions

This week's challenge for Sunday Stills was Emotions -- as in evoking one in the person who views the picture.

First, I went for a sappy one...Logan and Blake are a year apart and they love playing together. Or, should I say getting in trouble together? We now have a set of rules when they take off upstairs at either of their houses, based on past "incidents". And if we can't hear them, we know there's trouble.



And, then I pulled one from the archive as I think this photo will definitely elicit a powerful emotion. My dad had surgery one year ago in January to fix problems with his elbow. And, then he decided last week to bang it all to hell loading cattle at his brother's farm. Based on what he went through before, you'd think he's be a little more careful. :) (My dad's reaction when he saw this photo last year? "I didn't think it was THAT bad!")

Blake's thoughts

A guest post from the hubby...he emailed this to me today with the subject line "Blake's thoughts".

This morning's conversation in the car while waiting a couple of minutes for Karen went something like this.

When are we going to Nana and Papa's?  Do Nana and Papa have dogs?  Cats?  Peanuts?  Crocodiles?

I explained no, particularly to the crocodiles as they're dangerous.

But Papa has a gun and would just shoot the crocodile.  Once it comes up close, Papa would just get it.

Can we go fishing?  By the sea.  Do sharks eat fish....If we caught a shark, we'd have to go get Papa so he could shoot the shark.  I can show him how.  I'd have to go get him and I can tell him what to do.  You just get real close and shoot him.  Then the shark would say, what just happened.

.... and so forth.

All the funny stuff in a day

After I picked the kids up today, we had to hit the bank where I could make a deposit using a real person.

When we walked up to the teller, another teller offered the kids a container filled with suckers they could pick from. Blake was very excited and grabbed a sucker right away.

I, of course, reflexively asked him, "What do you say?"

Blake's response? "Can I have two?"

Conversation overheard

This was a conversation my babysitter overheard between Blake and Z. (who is 5) about N. (my sitter's 5-yr-old daughter).

Blake: "I'm going to marry N."

Z: "No you're not!"

Blake: "Yes I am. And we're having doves at the wedding!"

Sunday Stills: Green

The Sunday Stills challenge this week, The Color Green, had me thinking for a bit until I looked a little more closely around the house.

The first one is the front of the rock'n'roll guitar Blake got for his birthday...he can actually play cords on it as her rocks out to "I'm gonna rock'n'roll all night..."



And, another mystery photo to figure out...


I'll give you a much better idea...



Thanks to my very willing model...he's suddenly become a poser.


His Aunt Kim made him a new dragon hat that covers his ears. It's fantastic!

Sunday Stills: Macro + Happy Birthday!

This week's Sunday Stills challenge, Macro, coincides with Blake's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe that this little guy came into the world 4 years ago, about 7 weeks early and raring to go. He's turned from a baby into a toddler into a boy in the time it took me to blink.

So, in the spirit of blinking, macros, and birthdays, here are few shots of my four-year-old. Up close and personal.

I can't really describe Blake's eye color, but this shot does a pretty good job. It's a mix of brown, blue and gray. He had a hard time standing still to get the shot, so it's a little fuzzy, but I couldn't resist it.




Here are the famous eyelashes, inherited from his Dad, that he gets so many complements on:



And, finally, the freckles that sprouted on his face, many of them this summer:

Another weekend, another horse show

You may be detecting a theme this summer, and that theme would be horse shows. We've done three! This last one was at my hometown fair, so it was a great chance to see our families and see Faith, my dad, and Sydney show off their horse skills. George's parents even came up from Florida for the event. So, it was a mini family reunion.

First up for Faith was the carriage driving class. She drove Indigo, Sydney's horse, and for those horse lovers out there, they drove bitless -- no  metal piece in the horse's mouth. For this class, it's mandatory to have an adult with the kid, so Sydney is sitting next to her, holding the whip. As Faith explained, "That thing's too heavy for me." Faith's hands aren't big enough to hold the reins and the whip at the same time. But this year, at least, her feet can touch the floor of the carriage. She ended up with a second in the class, partly because she wasn't holding her own whip! (I could insert some sort of stage mother comment here, but I'll let the exclamation point speak for itself.) She did a great job!



Next up was the costume class. Thanks to the dollar store, we had lots of skulls, pirate hats, etc. to decorate Faith and Indigo, who was a very good sport about the whole thing.



Then it was Blake's turn -- stick pony race time! Note the pirate look. He was devastated when Indigo took his pirate hat, so he spent the previous 15 minutes crying (note the runny makeup). He snapped out of it as soon as he got his hat back, and wouldn't change out of it for the pony race. Just him and all the ladies.



He didn't win the race, but he gave it a good try. He should have won for fashion statement, at the very least. The spiderman face and pirate hat were priceless.



After a quick break, Faith rode Indigo in the next class. I know...she's on the lead line, which Faith finds particularly galling. ("I don't need a lead line!") But that's the only class she can ride in on Fridays, so lead line it was. Sydney had the honours again. And Faith finished third. Why? The judge told her she needed to be paying more attention. She was busy looking around at the great grandparents, her great aunt, her Nana, and Papa, her grampa, her dad, her brother...you get the idea. Basically, she was way too relaxed, which is kind of a good thing in my book. But, she was sitting up much straighter than at her first riding competition, which even the judge remarked on.



For her next class, Faith took the judge's comments to heart and actually paid attention! It was showmanship, and she got first prize because "I was the only one who knew my squares." (To which I replied, "What are squares?") From my meagre knowledge of horse showmanship (my years of dairy showmanship with 4-H doesn't translate), the class involves trotting the horse, walking the horse, and then standing it properly. The class was huge--about 10 kids--so Faith was pretty excited to get first. I think the skull and cross-bones on her cheek helped her along too.



Sydney and Indigo are both very good for Faith. Faith loves both of them and would happily spend every waking moment with horses and Sydney, so we really appreciate the time Sydney takes with her.

But of course, it wasn't just a show for Faith. My Dad had his two-year-old, Stormy, out again for carriage and showmanship classes. She was mighty pretty...Dad didn't look too bad either. But he's always so serious when he's driving.



And, of course, Sydney got her horse back to do her driving and showmanship classes, in which she won multiple prizes.





Not enough pictures for you? You can see the entire horse show/fair set on flickr.

Eager subjects

I've been taking a picture a day for 335 (!) days now, so I like to torture the kids into photo sessions on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, I don't usually get as much cooperation as I did today. Either that, or I'm getting better at herding them in front of the lens. I didn't even have to bribe them with candy on this one.

I was very happy with the results, especially after applying some secrets that Curtis taught us at a recent photo gang get together. :) The only negative was that Faith found out the hard way she has some sort of allergy to the grass she's sitting under in the first photo. She was playing in the leaves, and ended up with a rash on her arms. Suffering for my art...sorry sweetheart!

A very hot horse show

A couple of weeks ago, the kids spent the week at Grampa and Gramma's house. Faith's been doing this since she was three, but it was Blake's first time. (Our house was eerily quiet while they were gone.) The week culminated in a horse show where we reunited.

It was a 40 degree day in the hot sun, but the we all survived -- with ribbons! Faith competed in the lead line class, walk, trot class, costume class and the grandparent driving class. She did miss her driving class due to scheduling changes, which she was not happy about. The kid  has a competitive streak. Anyway, here are a series of pictures from the day.

Lead line class with Indigo (Sydney's mare -- and Sydney's hat)...



This was my Dad's first show with Stormy, and she's already peaked. She won a grand prize for best something or other (my brain was melting, so I can't quite remember).



Blake even got to compete in the "stick pony" class. We didn't know you had to bring our own pony though, so we had to do a little improvising. When you've got a great-grandma, a gramma, and a mom together, you can do anything. Great-grandma donated her cane, my mom found Blake's stuffed dinosaur in the car, and I whipped off my pony tail elastic to strap it to the top of the cane. Presto! Stick pony.



It was ingenuity, and Blake's innate ability, that won him the class. First prize and $5. He bought us all timbits afterwards. :)



Faith rode Indigo again in the walk, trot, class, which she won. I'm not sure who was happier, Faith or Sydney, who was excited  to see Indigo so well-behaved for Faith. (Notice, no bit either!)



And, here's Sydney in one of her classes. Indigo and Sydney both got a big workout that day.



It was a great day seeing the family (great-grands, great-aunt, parents, etc., etc.) and watching everyone compete. More photos.

Ice cream in sweaters

It was an odd week with the hubby gone on a business trip. We were crazy busy, as per normal, but with one less person around to share in the craziness. The kids were actually really good and didn't torture me too much in the mornings. This is normally George's domain, so I really have no idea what goes on after I leave the house at 6:30. But, both of them got up and dressed and breakfasted with relative ease. Kids know when not to push their luck I guess.

As a treat on Thursday, we had supper and then walked down to the ice cream place. Believe it or not, we had to wear sweaters as it was a relatively chilly evening for August. It did help when eating ice cream--everyone could eat it before it melted all over our hands. Even Blake came through relatively clean!  And, I've also figured out that he's outgrown most of his warm clothes. The sweatshirt he's wearing is about 2 inches short in the arms. A cold snap in August has to be good for two things: non-melty ice cream and a pre-school size check.

Happy Father's Day!

This one goes out to Papa, Grampa, and Great-Grampa. The kids colored the card and then we did an early morning photoshoot (this explains Blake's hair).

Sunday Stills: Eyes

This week, they eyes have it. Sunday Stills was "Eyes", so here's an attempt at the theme.

Although not strictly an eye, I love Blake's eyelashes because they're so darn long:



I'm never sure how to describe Blake's eye color. It started out blue and has gradually been overlaid with brown, which results in an distinct hazel combination:



Faith's eyes are definitely blue, but in this case I liked how the catchlights looked in black and white:

a


At the stable I tried to get some horse eyes - low light, at 1800 ISO, and very low f-stop. It didn't work out perfectly, but I got a couple of decent shots:



Another one at the stable:

Sunday Stills: Black and White

The Sunday Stills challenge this week was Black and White, so I took it quite literally and took pictures of black and white things. Faith was all too happy to help as my model. The dress and tights are hers (tights courtesy of her Aunt Kim).



Here's another one, this time she's in my rubber boots:



I didn't realize these boots were quite so shiny. I wear them out to the farm for Faith's horseback riding, or walking across the field of rainy days to pick up the kids. They are well used:



And, the whole look together...who knew her legs were this long?



And, to change it up a bit, my Mom and I got these crocs for Blake on the May long weekend. I figured they were black and he could wear them to church if need be. Obviously they have been well loved so I don't think they'll make it to church.



And, finally, not strictly a picture of black and white, but I like how the light brings out the tiny dimples in the wrought iron:

Mother's Day starts at midnight

As is normally the case when you have a three-year-old and a nine-year-old in the house, you're always going through a transition of some sort. In our case, Blake is transitioning from a daily afternoon nap to no nap at all. Mention this to any parent of a kid who's no longer napping, and you automatically get a look of sympathy. It's also a short-form excuse of sorts when we're out in the afternoons now and he has some sort of meltdown in a store. I just have to look slightly apologetic as I throw him under my arm and say, "He's not napping anymore."

So, this transition means that my normal afternoon nap on the weekends has been severely curtailed. Yesterday, I told George that all I wanted for Mother's Day was a nap. I should have kept my big mouth shut. Add to this the message I left on our friends' answering machine telling them we'd have Faith's birthday party on Monday night so we could have a peaceful day of doing nothing on Sunday. How could I have cursed myself so?

Yes, this year Mother's Day began at midnight when Blake woke up crying and struggling with his breathing. Croup. A fairly bad attack of it for him actually. George took him right out to the porch wrapped in a blanket and the cold night air helped straighten out his breathing almost immediately. (Thank you cold snap!) I'm not sure why it works, but I'm glad it does. Then, it was a call to TeleHealth (thank you Mike Harris...did I just type that?) to get a second opinion. Yes, we were doing the right things, and were to visit a doctor within 24 hours.

Blake spent the night in our room, in case of another attack, so I spent the night listening to his wheezing and George's snoring - a symphony to be sure. And, when 7:00 rolled around, who jumped out of bed completely refreshed and declared, "I'm all better now!" I can tell you it wasn't George and I.

But, as it was Mother's Day, the kids and George headed downstairs, and Faith brought me a bagel and juice in bed. I even got to read a little bit. Quite heavenly actually. The kids had made me cards and Faith created a paper-mache bowl, while Blake gave me a sparkly-painted tulip. George got me a card and my favourite chocolates, which promptly went into the new bowl to be shared.

Then we got back to real life. I took Blake to the on-call doctor, who told me he was fine now, and gave him a puffer for his next croup attack. Then, on to the grocery store/pharmacy to pick up said puffer, where all the other mom's were also out doing their shopping today.

Finally, back at the ranch, I headed up to bed for my now completely non-optional, I'm-going-to-fall-flat-on-my-face-I'm-so-tired nap. Blake crawled into bed with me and we both blacked out for an hour until Faith nudged me awake to make her birthday cake for tomorrow.

Yes, just another day of motherhood.

Now, here's to my two best mother's day presents....

New two-wheeler

Blake graduated from a trike to a two-wheeler at Easter. He has so far mastered forward and steering, but braking...not so much. He's fine with this though. It just means he can go faster. When he goes down a hill, I'm usually running after him yelling "BRAKE!" and he's taking his feet off the pedals so he can go faster.

Kids give you gray hair

March 9, 2010
Originally uploaded by Robin's Nest3

Since Thursday night, Blake's had one of those low-grade fever at night, croupy cough virus thingies that tend to plague us during the winter. This translates to little sleep at night, followed by a strangely energetic kid during the day chasing not-so-energetic parents.

After this went on for a few days, I called up the doctor on Monday to ask if we should bring him in. No high fever, and not all the time, but still. They said to bring him in right away so he could be checked out. (My doctor's office is usually great about seeing kids quickly.) When Blake got home from our sitter's he was not his normal self (i.e. bouncing off the walls). He laid down on the couch so I took his temp and yes, yet another low-grade fever. So I poured some Tylenol into him and we piled into the van for the doctor's office.

I was mostly worried about his coughing as he's had pneumonia twice -- once a winter until now, and he was due. But the doctor, wearing a huge set of eye goggles and face mask...presumably to not catch Blake germs) checked his lungs and couldn't hear any of the "crackling" that pneumonia exhibits. His ears were OK...one was a touch red but no need for antibiotics. But, we did get a prescription for a puffer to help him with the coughing. I opted for a chest xray though, so we whirled out of the office and over to the Xray place to make it before they closed at 6:00.

Blake was feeling pretty bad by this time, and he still had a low-grade fever, even with the Tylenol. So, we got the xray, complete with this cute little bib to protect his manly bits. I called up George and he met us at the xray place so he could get the prescription and I could take the kids home.

I swung into Wendys for some takeout fries as it was after 6:00 at this point, and we headed home. That's when things got a little crazy.

We were about 5 minutes from home when I heard Blake make this strange breathing sound. I looked back, figuring he was choking, but instead found him in a seizure. FREAK. I pulled over and ran around to his side of the van. His seizure had stopped by this point but he was as ghost white and semi-conscious - no resonse, just some eye flutters, Shallow-breathing. Small puke. FREAK. Faith grabbed my cell phone for me and I dialed 911. I knew it was likely a febrile seizure as he'd had one when he was a year old, but FREAK.

I calmly (!) talked to the dispatcher and told her where we were, what was happening, etc. and about 5 minutes later, thankfully, a paramedic was with us. Then, the ambulance showed up. At this point I called George, and all my calmness distintegrated. Do you know how hard it is to give directions when you're balling?

Anyway, we all loaded up into the ambulance, and George actually found us in time to follow us to the hospital. Blake was very groggy and kind of "drunken". Faith got to ride in the back with us too, strapped into an extra seat, and "helped" the very nice attendant named Laura. She was worried about her brother, but soaking in the new experience at the same time.

They whooshed us into the back of the ER and we sat next to a couple of police officers with a parole violator on crutches. Everybody looked fairly relaxed so I decided not to get too worried about the possible convict next to my 2 kids. The cop even took the convict dude's chair and gave it to Faith!

We got a room quickly, and they sent us for another (!) chest xray. The irony of working for a company that provides the technology that would have made it possible for the hospital to see the xray we'd taken about 3 hours before was not lost on me. Kind of ticked me off actually. The very nice ER doc (a stretched out version of the red-haired doc on Grey's Anatomy) told us no pneumonia but he took a look at Blake's ears again and decided they were red enough that he could give an antibiotic. He was looking for an excuse and I was happy he found it. I mean, if your kid has a seizure and they only send you home with advice that you're underdosing him on Tylenol, would have been a little scary. I've never been happier to get a scrip for antibiotics. (BTW, I was following the bottle directions...they are deliberately underdosed, so you may want to look up the proper dosage by weight on the internet.)

The night went OK given that we stuck Blake in between us to keep an eye on him. At one point, he sat up and asked if he could sleep on the floor instead. OK. As I got him out of bed, he looked at me and said, "Where'd my pants go?" It's like he had a little blackout or something. Even stranger, the next day at lunch, we reminded him that he went in the ambulance and he said, "I did? I had a dream about that." OK. So, he was *really* out of it then.

Faith, who is very into patterns right now, wanted to know if we had to worry Blake having a seizure again in 2 years. (He had one 2 and 1 month ago.) God, I hope not.

He's doing fine now, BTW, and other than having what he called "a frog and a dog in my throat" and coughing like a 2-pack a day smoker when he wakes up, it's like nothing happened. But, George and I have the gray hairs to prove it did.

An update...turned out better than I thought

Just an update on my brush with Blake's head on Friday. Despite my worst fears, and throbbing face/nose on Friday night as I was laying in bed trying to sleep, I did not turn into a raccoon overnight, or swell up like a balloon. Just sore on Saturday (the kind where you're constantly wary of anyone getting too close to your injury). By today, I can still feel it, but nothing bad at all.

Blake spent the weekend telling people I "hurt his head", and that he "went to the bathroom" (to hide). I don't think he's too traumatized though. He was trying to jump off the coffee table onto the couch yesterday afternoon. He sometimes rationalizes this behaviour by telling me "I'm not jumping mommy, I'm flying." At least he's cute when he's driving me crazy.