Photography Snob

Oh how to start this post… let’s think… Monday my husband called me a photography snob. Should I give a bit of a back story to this? I promise, he isn’t mean or rude or whatever {insert your favorite word here}… I promise. Actually I could almost agree with him sadly! But it isn’t intentional. Let me explain.

Monday was Memorial Day. We were at the lake all weekend working on all kinds of different scuba certifications. Okay I wasn’t, I’m not allowed to dive right now… but I was like the gopher. Anything anyone needed on shore I ran and grabbed for them. And I use ran loosely because we all know my speed right now…

When we went to bed on Sunday night, I wasn’t sure if anyone had said if “we” were diving on Monday or not. All I knew is we were driving in to Garfield (AR) for a breakfast fundraiser for the local fire department. While we were at the Fire house we decided to go over to Pea Ridge where the Civil War battle was fought and tour. Prior to that decision, no one knew we were doing that that so none of us really brought a camera. My FIL had his point and shoot and another girl had hers, the rest of us were stuck with phone cameras. Those of us who like pictures kind of complained. I was one of the complainers, especially because I almost took my camera but at the last minute left it in the RV.

So we got to this site in the tour and I thought it was gorgeous. One advantage of iPhone photo… pano shots!

I’m sure if you’ve been around these parts any time at all you know that I create a collage of photos of hubby and me, one photo per month for the year. So I got to thinking that I wasn’t sure that I had taken a May photo of just us yet and the month is almost over. I’ve kind of been avoiding being in front of cameras lately because I feel like a huge whale.

But I wanted to keep up with the tradition of one photo a month so I made him smile for a photo. These are the 2 photos I got….

The first one as you can see is fairly dark on us and the background is blown out. The second photo we were illuminated better but again, the background is really blown out. It annoyed me. So then my FIL walked over wanted wanted to take a picture of us there too. I then became the uncooperative person. I threw my hands over my face 1) I look like a whale 2) no make up at all which makes it even worse 3) I knew it would either blow one or the other out (us or the background). Okay I didn’t know but I figured based off those previous photos.

Eventually everyone made me take my hands down and he took the photo. I didn’t see it, so I’m not sure how it turned out really.

So here comes the photography snob part….

On our way home, I debated on how to make the shot work. I went through the different settings on my dSLR and how I would have set them, etc. And if this didn’t work, this is how I would tweak it to make it work and I went through this out loud for quite a while. That’s when hubby called me a picture snob. He said that I sit there and study photos and photography and camera settings, etc and sometimes I come off as a photography snob. Especially when I start walking through things I would have done differently etc or why that wouldn’t work with that particular shot. He said I was really bad in the fall of 2009 when I was taking my photography class.  And I should mention at that time I shot in full auto mode. I’ve now learned how to shoot in manual mode.

Here’s the thing… I’m not trying to come off as that and usually I only say these things around him. But I think out loud with the knowledge I’ve acquired trying to decide if I think I know how to make the shot. I’ve even been known to try it if I have the opportunity. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And so I go back to the drawing board and re-think what I was thinking and try again. Sadly I don’t always get those “try” shots though… but that doesn’t keep me from trying to think about it. I see it as a way to grow my photography knowledge and be willing to try things. Trust me, I’ve taken a lot of really bad photos. I’m not trying to be a photography snob but trying to learn and teach myself as I go.

So maybe I am a photography snob, but I promise, that is not my intention. I’m just trying to learn. An art like this is one of those where you are constantly learning and growing as you go.

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Week 34

How far along? 34 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: I was quite surprised after a weekend at the lake, my weight didn’t go up that much, score, right? I feel like a walking beached whale right now. Especially trying to get off the stinking bed! Oh, and you should have seen me trying to get out of the bed in the RV this weekend…

How big is baby? Baby is the size of a Butternut Squash. She weighs in at about 4.2 pounds to 5.8 pounds and measures about 17.2 to 18.7 inches. {Holy cow, is there room for that in there??}

  • She’s recognizing and reacting to simple songs if you’re singing them. (If you’re not, start! She may find them soothing after birth.)
  • She’s also urinating about a pint a day. {Lovely thought…}

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the Bump

Shame on me, but I must admit…
A sad reality that I’ve dealt with for a while….
and aside from the fact I can’t wait to meet this baby girl…
I haven’t really enjoyed being pregnant.
I know there are a lot out there who can never experience this feeling,
And I try to make the best of it, I promise!
But with all the scares we’ve had, this has been quite overwhelming for me.
Thinking I miscarried twice, having extra testings done, and just plain worrying I’m doing it wrong,
Wanting to be one of the cute pregnant ladies, but feeling like a walking whale
Sadly my list could go on and on.

And just when I start to think I’m the only “un-pretty” pregnant person in the world,
someone tells me I’m pretty and I don’t look x-number months pregnant.
And I kind of smile.
I do love feeling her kick, punch or at times both.
It cracks me up to see my stomach do the “wave”.
The time she kicked daddy when we hugged.
I don’t ever want to forget all these feelings!!
But sadly I’ve put on a lot of weight,
My ankles have turned to cankles,
My hips hurt
And exercise is out of the picture.
Again, this list could go on and on but I won’t focus on the bad/sad.
One month from yesterday is my due date,
And I can’t wait to meet this baby girl. 
But baby girl, please be nice to me on delivery day!! 🙂

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10 Things to Smile About May

Holy Cow, how in the world did we get to the end of May sooooo fast? You know what that means don’t you? With this being the last Tuesday of the month, it’s time to share things that made me smile this month…. Are you ready?


Emmy Mom

1. We hit week 30, week 31, week 32, week 33, week 34 (this Thursday)

2. The Peanut got the best baby shower thrown for her by 2 really good friends, Deb & Earl.

3. School was out for the Spring Semester. I passed all my classes! Woot Woot! :). I get 3 weeks off and then school starts up for the summer. Get this, if you didn’t already know, my due date is the same week as finals week! Yikes! Wish me luck!!

4. I made Kentucky Derby Pie this month in honor of the Kentucky Derby. How cool is that?

5. I heard the Lee Brice song, I Don’t Dance and it just brought back great memories from first dating my husband and him actually dancing with me any time I want!

6. Mother’s Day. I was afraid I wouldn’t get to see Tbug for the first time since hubby and I have been married but it worked out where we got to see her for part of the day!

7. My kitchen cabinets got finished!!!!!!!!

8. This silly pup came to live with us!!!

9. I got to spend a lot of time with these 3 crazy kiddos!!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysrJq4wMJus]

10. We actually had plans for Memorial Day Weekend. We spent the entire weekend at the Lake. (Posts to come obviously.) I’m a little burnt but mainly my legs. The rest of me actually got some color…

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Memorial Day in one swoop (picture HEAVY)

Let me tell you, camping while being one month from your due date… oy! But we had fun this weekend. We spent the weekend down at Beaver Lake. Tbug was working on getting her Scuba Open Water Certification. So all weekend was eat, dive, eat, dive, repeat. Hubby helped with some other classes that went happened and I was the shore man… or woman. Basically I stood in the water waist deep and anything anyone forgot on shore I waddled up and grabbed for them. Yes, I waddled. I did get to ride the diveak and deliver flowers out to the flower garden, otherwise I stood on shore most of the weekend. On the last day there (Memorial Day) we went and toured Pea Ridge Battle Ground from the Civil War.

Tbug and I butted heads a few times. She was a bit nervous about diving and with her dad spending most of his time under the water I had to deal with her nervousness. But being pregnant I finally got tired of it all and grumbled at hubby for not being there for her. Yup, the wonderful life of pregnancy right? But we all got it accomplished and the following weekend she finally got certified!!

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Week 33

How far along? 33 weeks 6 days

Total weight gain/loss: Hi, we’re skipping this question 🙂

How big is baby? Your baby’s the size of a durian! She weighs about 4.2 to 5.8 pounds and measures about 17.2 to 18.7 inches. And she may grow up to a full inch this week — amazing. 

  • She’s keeping her eyes open while awake.
  • She’s also starting to coordinate breathing with sucking and swallowing.
  • Her bones are hardening.
  • And she going through (more) major brain development — that’s one smart baby!

Maternity Clothes? So we had our baby shower this last weekend and I actually used the comment, I think I’ll wear something that fits… lol

Stretch Marks? Oh geez. I can’t even begin to describe. It kind of makes me sad, but I keep remembering those quotes I found.

Best moment this week? Last Thursday we had an ultrasound and got to see little miss thing. Holy cow has she changed! Plus we got to hear her heart beat. We’re looking at about 130 beats per minute. Then all the love and joy that we felt through the baby shower!


Movement? Oh baby girl moves on her own terms. But when someone goes to feel her she immediately stops. It’s the funniest thing.

Food Cravings/Aversions? Um… I’m just hungry all the time.

What I miss: I read that carpel tunnel can come during this time. It should fix itself after she’s born. I don’t know if I’d term it carpel tunnel but my hands ache a lot. My feet swell, I miss my normal feet :). I miss being able to stand for long periods without my back hurting. I mean I can stand for long periods of times but my back aches. I miss getting up out of a chair and immediately being able to walk. I sometimes have to stable myself to make sure I don’t fall. Oh and putting on pants (underwear) putting weight on my left leg is extremely difficult. It’s weird but baby girl hangs out on my right hip so maybe that has something to do with it??

What I’m looking forward to: Meeting this little girl I’ve been growing for 9 months.

Nausea/Vomiting? I’ve been good here! Yey!

Labor signs? I still don’t know what I”m looking for here.

Gender? We have had them verify it’s a girl 4 different times. I’d say she’s a girl 🙂

Belly Button in or out? Still looks like a parking cone. I get laughs when I tell people this. Wes even threatened to put one outside my house….

Wedding rings on or off? I had my ring on Saturday when we worked on maternity photos. (Pregnancy brain kicked in and I typed engagement. Yup I’ve been married just shy of 4 years). I love my rings! I miss them so much!

Sleep? Oh I sleep hard but wake up often to turn over and I ache.

Weekly Wisdom: I don’t really know if this is where it falls but there really isn’t an area so it’s going here. I gave hubby a hug this week and little girl kicked him. It was hilarious. Also we got Hank the Cow Dog this week and for as many pictures as I’ve taken of this 6 week old puppy, I can only imagine how I’ll be when baby girl gets here!

Due Date: Thursday June 26, 2014 was what we originally thought. Now we’re told June 28 but she’s measuring about a week ahead of schedule… by golly I do believe she’ll come when she wants :).

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The Peanut's Baby Shower

Saturday afternoon Earl and Deb threw a baby shower for the little Peanut at our house. When we were trying to decide where to hold the shower, we finally decided, why not our house, then we don’t have as far to go with the presents… lol :). And that makes me sound very materialistic and I’m not.

Deb, Earl and AL showed up around 12:30 or so and we started moving the food and everything in the house. AL made the cupcakes. Earl and Deb worked on the rest of the food.

Deb and hubby posing for the camera. I kept going in and outside and I run my dSLR in manual mode so they were like hurry up and I forgot that I had just come from inside the house so I blew out one photo. Woops! I got a great one though!! The girls helped decorate. Then Liss and Earl carried our glasses outside for people to use.

The theme was a cowgirl baby shower.

The drink station. We had Sweet Tea, unsweet tea, water and juice.

Earl had Tbug make a special shirt for the day. This was a surprise to hubby and me. I loved it!! btw, isn’t she cute??

I just about broke down and cried a couple times throughout the day… I just felt the love for this little girl who hasn’t even made her presence into the world yet.

Typically I’m the “paparazzi” so as in normal fashion I was walking around taking photos… they teased me and said someone should be following me around. I just wanted to make sure I had the photos.

Lunch was pork sliders (on Hawaiian rolls), Coleslaw and baked beans.

Hubby finally took the camera away from me and said, we want proof you were here too… lol 🙂

Once it came time to open gifts, we gave Earl the camera and she became the paparazzi.

So the story on these particular onesies. About a month ago, Liss sent me a picture of one similar to the bottom one that said Sorry Ladies, My daddy’s taken. Well when I found it on line it was $25 which seemed a bit pricy to me so my mom and I thought I could make my own. I dropped Tbug off with Earl Friday evening so she could work on the shirt with Earl and I made the comment I was doing that. Deb has a screen printing machine so Earl said, it’ll be faster than you using an iron so we did it. Well there were 5 onesies in the package so she obviously had to have an Extreme Sports Scuba one. We thought it would be cute for the dive flag on the butt. Then the creative juices ran wild :). We made these just for Hubby for Peanut.

We learned I can’t read apparently… lol. I kept reading things incorrectly or missing words while opening presents. It was hilarious. Like head to baby wash instead of head to toe baby wash.

We had a little over 35 people present on Saturday. Like I said, I felt the love for this baby who hasn’t even made it here yet. Even thinking back I’m ready to tear up :).

Michelle & Cassie. Cassie is due in November!!

TB and Tbug… ornery kids! :). Like father like daughter. Deb and Moo

Dill Pickle, TB, CL & Mini Me (or Lee’s mini me really!). Just a few of the kiddos who were there Saturday!

And I can’t explain this picture… Maybe classic Lee?

The bear quilt from my Aunt Dorothy, Quilt from Cynthia, a burp cloth AC got us and the quilt from my grandma. One quilt missing was from Auntie Ellen.

Tbug was helping daddy with his “hat”

Aunt Liss got Tbug a shirt too.

The top photo are the 3 expectant mommas at the party. April is due in August, of course I’m due in June and Cassie is due in November. The bottom photo shows friends since high school.

I can’t say thank you enough to Deb and Earl for throwing this fabulous shower for the little Peanut. I can’t say thank you enough to all who showed up. This momma’s heart is so full of joy and love that if I’m not careful I’ll break down and cry again :). I swear, I think I can do without these hormonal emotions! But I am soooooooooo happy for this baby girl who hasn’t even come into the world yet. She’s one loved little girl already!

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This weekend… where to start?!?!

Oh goodness…. So much has happened this weekend I’m not even sure where to start. I could start with Friday night which I actually am not sure I remember… oh wait, it’s coming back to me. We went to see TB play baseball. Or I could start with Saturday and one of the best baby showers I’ve been to! or how about the maternity photos we worked on or the outtakes which are hilarious… Or the fact that we ate dinner with my parents Saturday night and I was soooooo tired I almost fell asleep while eating.

I say though, let’s look at Sunday, first :). Sunday Tbug, hubby and I woke up late (which was nice) went to the store and eventually lunch. Lunch is important! Then we came home and were told to meet my dad because it was time to go pick up our new puppy.

Say what? a new puppy? Yup, We got a new puppy. He’s a baby too. He’ll be 6 weeks on Wednesday! Puppy! to the max.

Meet Hank

Oh wait, you mean you can’t tell which one is Hank from this picture? No, probably not… lol. So Hank is a full blood brother (but younger litter of puppies) to Devil Dawggie and he’s a son of Mudflap!!

So let me try to help you distinguish which one is Hank.  The pink arrow is pointing at him. Does that help any? Maybe, maybe not. I’ll tell you, this is how we picked him out. Off this picture! The night that we got to choose him, my parents went to pick him out because hubby and I were with Tbug working on her scuba diving certification.

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