Photography Class - Day 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28

This was the last week of my online photography class. I learned quite a bit from the online lessons. I'm thankful that Willette offered such a wonderful opportunity for people to learn how to use their own cameras. I look forward to other classes they have online and encourage you all to get out and use the camera you own.

I feel like this was the push I needed to really utilize the camera I own and to also pursue getting involved with photography. In the future I plan on taking some courses, and eventually looking into an upgraded camera... SLR perhaps? ;)

Hope you all enjoyed my photos, and stories that go along with them. I surely enjoyed taking them, and sharing with all of you. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm so excited for what the future holds with photography.

Day 21

Hands

I decided to take my little ones hand. His hands are so darn adorable. I took his hand in mine and made the shot. It's hard to believe how fast he is growing. Tomorrow he will be 6 months old. Wow. Anyhow, this class has offered me the knowledge to utilize the camera and I fully intended on taking cool pictures of my lil man. One day I'll look back on these photos and never believe they were ever this small. I'm getting emotional. :)

I used 2.8/ 1/160th SS/ 3200 ISO - Natural light, and no flash.

Day 22

Face

As if I wouldn't have used Jake's face. Duh! He is so darn cute! I could eat him up. I took his picture in the front room after his breakfast. I think if you look close you can see the rice cereal. He is such a happy baby. He makes my heart smile. I thank God for this beautiful boy! 

(I took the hands, face, and what they say all today... hence the same outfit)

I used 2.8/ 1/500th SS/ 3200 ISO - Natural light, and no flash.

Day 23

Facebook

 We were supposed to look at our facebook photos and choose one to post. I chose this photo because this was such a fun day. This was in January of 2008. Grant and I our first trip wine tasting. We went to a winery I had belonged to for years to meet family. I remember when he took this picture. We were on a golf cart heading down to the barrel tasting room that is for members only. So elite... I know. :)

I had such a good time with him. A few months after this photo we got engaged. I love that man... isn't he handsome?

I pretty sure this was on auto with flash on. It was a sunny day out. This photo was taken with my old canon camera.

Day 24

Where

The photo in Day 23 leads perfectly with the photo below. Where we met. Grant and I met in 2004 at a local bar. A bar I would never go into during college. I was out with a girlfriend having dinner and we decided to have a drink after dinner in a bar down the street from our house. It was a random Wednesday night. This VERY tall man came up and talked to me. When I say tall... I mean tall! Grant is 6'8. 

They say you will met "the one" when your not looking... I believe this statement to be true. 

Day 25

When you love them the most

I love him more everyday. It's really hard to pick a time when I love him the most. I decided to pick a time I love to watch him. That time is before his bath at night. I put him in his crib on his newborn lounger while I get his bath ready. He lays on that and watches his mobile. I also turn on Baby Calm dvd for him to watch while I'm preparing him for bed. Tonight he was laughing really hard! He's just so happy. 

I took the first photo with auto and flash on. His room is actually pretty dark, so I thought I had to use auto. To my amaze this is untrue. The last picture is on 2.8 / 3200 ISO, lamp on behind me.

Day 26

Bromance 

 When I got the assignment for Day 26 I laughed. Find a picture of your significant other with his friends. His "Bromance". I looked through a few pictures and I thought the one below was funny! It is Grant with his 2 buddies. Grant is the tall guy in red, Matt (middle) is his best friend from high school, and Josh (right) is Grant's old roommate.

We were at a Lobster festival in Long Beach, CA in 2009. It was a fun day with friends. The guys were being goofy, so I told them to pose for a shot. This is what I got.

Pretty sure this photo was taken on auto with my old canon camera. 

Day 27

What they say

 Jake is talking all the time. Just non stop. He's forming words and figuring out sounds and his voice. It's the cutest thing. I took the pictures below while I was taking his hand shots. He was talking so much... I decided to use the photos below. Mouth open, eyes smiling!

I used 2.8/ 1/500th SS/ 3200 ISO - Natural light, and no flash.

Day 28

Future

For this assignment we are supposed to take a shot of our future. I took so many shots and then I came upon this picture that Grant took last weekend. He held the camera up and shot us drinking wine, and hanging out with friends. I see my future just exactly as this. Family, friends, wine, and laughter. This is exactly what I'm looking forward to continuing to do for years to come.

I'm lucky. I'm happy. I'm thankful. Cheers to the future.

Stone Chic Sunday Obsessions

I love the weekends. The house is quite, husband is home, baby is sleeping in his arms. It's just peaceful. I'm able to make coffee, and sit in front of my computer or read in quite. I even wake up early so I have this time alone. Don't get me wrong, I love the interaction with the family. But, sometimes it's nice to have quite time. I have always loved this time. Single, married, expecting, and now married with family. I will always enjoy this time. Whether I'm organizing, cleaning, working, working out, watching TV, reading, blogging, etc. It's my alone time. I get so much accomplished. Mentally it's nice to recharge my over worked batteries. Time I'm not talking or doing for someone else. With that said, today I shopped online. My accomplishment was buying things for Jake (necessities...) and a little something for me. ;)

I get so many emails about what my favorite things are for Jake so I decided every Sunday I would blog about them. Hoping this helps my pregnant friends and new mommies. I wish I had someone to ask when I was expecting. With the majority of my friends still single I didn't have anyone to turn to... but, my mom that has a 7 year old. Yes, folks... My parents had a surprise baby late in life. He's an amazing little boy. But, even 7 years things have changed so much in the baby buying game. I think this will be helpful! I search other mommy blogs looking for their favorites... So, I'm hoping fellow mommies will find my postings helpful too!

I went to Amazon and bought a bunch of things. One of the purchases was Jake's "big boy" car seat. My Lil man has grown out of his infant car seat. True story. So, I went with the Britax Boulevard 70 CS. They are the leader in car safety. And the price means nothing when it's the safety of my precious little guy. I found that Amazon had them the cheapest, with free shipping. Done and done. I also bought him ANOTHER Sophie the giraffe, Cloud B twilight constellation night light turtle, a book on making baby food, and baby food freezable containers. Also, I bought little Velcro straps for Jake's stroller. You wrap them around the teethers or sippy cups so they don't get thrown on the ground. How often are you picking these they've thrown overboard? I have one I bought at Babies R US for $5.99 . On MiniBarginz I found 2 for that price. 

Check out a few of my favorite websites:

Minibargainz

Babysteals

Mamabargains

amazon mom (better than regular Amazon... This amazon gives Prime benefits)

Diapers.com (use code winegirl15 to get 15% off your first purchase)

Now, on to what my obsessions are for this week:

My 2011 BOB Revolution SE

2011 REVOLUTION SE - BLACK

I got mine for Valentines Day. For all you runners or walkers... GET IT! I use it everywhere though. We live at the beach so I walk a lot. I also like it for all around use though. It is light and it folds VERY easily. I know umbrella strollers are lighter, but if your an active person you should go and push one around. Jake likes being in it as well. 

Teething soothers

MAM BABY

For awhile Jake would spit them out or get fussy when I put one in his mouth... but, we're back in business over here. Perhaps because he's teething? Not sure. I don't care though. It seems to give him and I peace. These look cute and are easy to clean. 

Now that Jake is eating food, he needs a good bib. I LOVE the aden + anais bibs... and blankets. Bibs are great for the drooling due to the teething as well. I also use the bibs are burp cloths.

Toys:

Play time at our house is ground time. I put my little monkey on the floor and let him discover his toys, sitting up, as well as... gulp... crawling. He is attempting to do the crawl. It's all over after that... BABY PROOFING IS NEXT!

Here are a few of Jake's favorite things:

 

Favorite baby wash:

Mustela products

Mustela products on Diapers.com

OK, I think that's enough for this week. Every Sunday I will post more of Jake's favorites! Let me know what you think. Are they are child's favorites as well? What are your child's favorites?

Happy Sunday shopping!

Road trip #2

We just got back from Jake's second road trip. We went to Ripon to visit Grant's best friend Scott, his wife Erin, and their daughter Taylor (7 months). It's about an hour south of Sacramento.

We arrived Friday night and just relaxed. Saturday we planned to take a trip to Lodi to do a little wine tasting. Lodi is about 20 minutes from their house so it was a perfect day trip. Sunday after breakfast, Erin and I  went shopping while the boys went to the park with the kids. That evening we ordered sushi and played cards games. It was a fun weekend. We ate, drank, and laughed. Exactly what Grant and I needed. Jake just adored Taylor. They are exactly one month apart. They ate together, played together, and even took baths with each other. It's fun having the kids so close in age. We can really identify with each other.

I wish they lived closer so we could do more together! Guess this means more trips planned!

Here are some pictures of our trip:

I actually LOVE driving.  So, I drove the whole way.

G's turn... He drove to the wineries. ;)

Jake slept the majority of the car ride. 

Mommy and daddy drinking wine.

Scott and Erin

The guys with the babies

The girls with the babies

The Lucus Family Winery

His arm was around Taylor. Too funny!

Kinda blurry... but,  it shows how much fun they were having! 

Bath time (Jake was sitting in Taylor's bath seat)

Jakey poo :)

Cheers,

Potty training at 4 months old?

Um... am I already behind? I was watching Good Morning America this morning and saw a clip of mother's going to Potty training workshops. Actually, at first I thought... What a good idea, get your children used to the idea of the toilet and then I saw something that really disturbed me. A mother holding her 4 month old over the toilet. The mother holding his "item" (we all know what I'm taking about) over the toilet as her baby pees. What are your thoughts on this? Does a 4 month old really know what's going on? There was another mother holding what looked like a newborn as well! Then it shows mothers giving their children excessive amounts of liquid so their children pee more so they can be trained. YIKES.

To each their own. I just saw that and actually got upset. Can't we just leave our children grow on their own time? I thought children start getting potty trained when they can walk to the toilet on their own. Or at least by the time they are 2 1/2 or 3? What is that age marker now?

I guess I'm still learning. My baby is still 5 months old. We are concentrating on sleeping in his crib and eating new veggies. :)

Hope everyone has a good Wednesday!

Click here for the GMA potty training link

Photography Class - Day 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20

I was out of town over the weekend, so I didn't get chance to post my photography lessons. But, I promised myself I wouldn't give up. Here are last weeks assignments.

Day 14

Wedding band/Jewelry

Last week I used my wedding band/ring for a lesson, so I decided that this week I would use my "something blue" from my wedding. My mom gave me this beautiful ring. My mom always has the best jewelry and great taste. This is one of my favorite pieces of jewelry she has given me!

I absolutely love this ring. It has so much sentimental value to me as well. Coming from my mom for my wedding day. I decided to use this for my photo.

I took a few pictures of the ring. I put the ring on 3 different surfaces and tried to blur the background. The setting was on Auto with Macro setting on. 

Day 15

Kiss

Last night Grant and I went to a going away party at Javier's to say good bye to some friends. I thought this would be a good opportunity to get that kiss shot. Of course this shot is PG people...It's on my blog! ;)

I used Auto, and the flash was on. We were at a red light so we had to take this quick!

Day 16

Together (Self-portrait)

For this assignment we were supposed to use auto. Just turn the camera around and take the photo of your love one. I decided to use 2 photos. Keep the car theme rolling, and then a picture of my family at sunset (no makeup on the shot... don't judge). 

I love the photo on the bottom the most. Taken at sunset down the street from our home. I love to take walks at the end of the night. It's the family time that I look forward to the most. 

Day 17

Staying in

Grant and I used to go to dinner quite often. I love to cook, but Grant and I also like to dine out. This gets a little tricky when your little one starts the bedtime process around 6:30pm. I guess that's why we go to "linner" more often. Linner is late lunch, and an early dinner combined. Usually when our friends come into town or we go out of town on vacation we like to dine out. However, this time we went out of town things were a little different. Not only does Jake have a bath time... so does Taylor. We all decided instead of going out to eat we would order sushi and bring it back home, so we could do this:

They have the same bath time, so we put them in the bath together! I put Jake in Taylor's bath chair so he wouldn't slip. Taylor is 1 month older than Jake. 

I used Auto setting and flash. This was at night, inside, absolutely no natural light.

Day 18

Going out

Over the weekend Grant and I went to Northern California to visit Grant's best friend and his wife. Since we had Jakey poo we don't go out as much as we used to. Scott and Erin have a beautiful little girl named Taylor (picture in Day 17), so we decided to take the entire families wine tasting!

Grant and I had so much fun. We went to 3 wineries in the Lodi region. I have never been there before so, I was excited to try something different. Yummy Zins for sure!

This picture was supposed to be taken on Auto. It was also supposed to be taken by another person. So, don't judge this photo. It's all about my significant other and I. :)

Day 19

When they're gone

I'm pretty sure this photo is going to get me in trouble. Last weekend we bought Brady a new dog bed and placed it on my side of the bed for Brady to use. Well, after Grant leaves, the dog jumps back in bed with me. It's terrible, I know. How can you resist this face? My cuddly little puppy dog. If you look in the background you will see something else... ha ha.

For this photo I used F2.8, 1/320, ISO 800. I had lots of natural light coming through 2 windows in my bedroom.

Day 20

When they're home

Even when Grant is home, he's working. When grant walks in the door he grabs our bundle of love and holds on to him. No matter what is going on he grabs Jake. Jake's face lights up waiting for him. Even if Grant has a phone call to make or is in the middle of something, he has our son in his lap.

I took this photo on Auto because I took it around sunset and I didn't have enough natural light in the house. Flash was on. 

Enjoy!