Little Moments

This past weekend was full of little moments.

Friday I captured Jameson’s recent discovery on how to really play peek-a-boo. He now covers his eyes with his hands, rather than around his ears like the home-alone kid.

Jameson will, when he is in a good mood, pose for the camera now.

He decided to climb over, and sit on, dad’s head on Saturday.

I got a little stir crazy and insisted we do something fun with Jameson, so we spent 15 minutes playing in the water. This is what Longaberger basket inserts are good for.

He was soaked through after that.

I introduced him to the pull along puppy. He doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet, he wants to pull the puppy in front of him.

Sunday we lazed around as well after we all (all!) made it to church together. Oh, I guess we did go to Target too and bought a ridiculous amount of stuff. Love that Target.

I even made it in a photo or two myself.

We would do most anything for this face:

And, a little moment from this morning. Brian will say that he is not responsible for things he says while still waking up, but here’s how this morning went:

Hilary: Oh look, there’s 100% chance of rain today (actual number on the tv, meanwhile it’s storming outside)
Brian: You have 100% chance of being beautiful today.
/End Cheesiness

Yep, they’re both mine, you can’t have them 🙂

Continue Reading

Never Jinx a Sleeping Baby

Last night, Brian and I along with his dad and family friend Craig went to see a Pink Floyd tribute band, Brit Floyd, while Aunt Melissa baby sat. (Brian’s mom was supposed to go, but she caught the most recent Jameson/Brian illness with an ear and sinus infection as well.)

Remember how I said I was tired? I sipped my rum and coke, and then… Yep, I fell asleep in the middle. The music was so mellow (loud, but mellow). Perfect for taking a little snooze.

I particularly enjoyed (from the songs that I heard all the way through) Comfortably Numb, Pigs, and High Hopes.

On the way home, Brian and I chatted about how well Jameson has been sleeping the past two weeks (completely through the night, no pacifier runs needed). We discussed taking him off the pacifier in the next couple weeks and just pulling off that band aid.

Irony of ironies, last night Jameson decided to wake up and scream (scream!) at 4:30 in the morning.

Recently, Jameson has decided that walking around is more fun that eating, so dinners have been small. We thought maybe he was hungry and so we went ahead and prepared a bottle. Which he didn’t want at all.

After falling asleep on dad and waking up when being laid back down, I got up for my turn and gave him some Advil. His teachers yesterday thought he might be teething again though we hadn’t seen any signs of it prior.

Advil and 15 minutes of rocking later, he went back into his crib without a peep.

A few days ago, I noticed a bottom molar in, but couldn’t tell if the other molar on bottom was broken through or not, so maybe that was the problem.

…Or more likely it was because we jinxed it by talking about it.

Continue Reading

Tired

I’ve been kind of on edge the past couple weeks: at turns happy, sad, annoyed, frustrated. And, mostly just tired.

It was a big couple weeks for Brian, he has taken a new job. Consequently, I took care of Jameson’s two days off from daycare for pink eye, and likewise I had to take off again this past Friday when he vomited at daycare twice (and when I also didn’t feel 100% myself).

Meanwhile, Brian has been dealing with an ear infection and sinus infection which are now getting better. Whatever bug Jameson and I had on Friday seemed to be a very mild 24 hour bug and nothing that nearly 12 hours of sleep (for myself) couldn’t cure.

So here we are, all feeling better (finally). Settling into a new routine where Brian gets home about 10 minutes later. Enjoying our new walking almost-toddler. But my mood is still uncertain.

I don’t talk about it a lot, but a majority of my time is spent at work, and at work, I’m feeling generally unhappy, lonely, frustrated and even a little bitter from past events that just won’t go away. And quite a bit of confusion because of the reorganization going on that no one seems to want to be completely transparent about.

At home, I’m feeling unproductive from all the unfinished projects and the dirty house (because we stopped having a house cleaner come over).

Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for and a lot of joy watching Jameson grow and develop. And in the evenings I try to put everything else aside (and most of the time I’m successful). But sometimes I think we don’t spend enough time talking about the other stuff. Because I spend most of my time away from all this:

Continue Reading

Capture A Day: One Month In (and a half)

Last night I finally pulled pictures from all month into my Flickr set for my 365 (366) capture a day project. I take photos on my phone too, so I had to pull some of those in.

Following my own rules, if I forget a day, I can take a picture the following day of something that was there. All in all, I forgot 2 times. 1 of them I made up for, and 1 of them I didn’t.

So far, I feel like I need to spend more time honing in on how I want to better my photography instead of haphazardly taking some photos to make the day. I just bought a better supplemental manual for my camera, and I’ve read a few articles on focus which I’ve already seen results with. Hopefully the photos from these next couple months will be better!

On the other hand, I do feel like I’m taking a good representation of my days: Jameson with a little non-Jameson.

Here’s the break down:

Day 1 – Sun, January 1: New Years Day at JP & Lisa’s house. Jonathan and Jameson are playing with Jonthan’s walking toy.

Day 2 – Mon, January 2: Jameson loves to play with the Styrofoam snowflakes hanging from the banister upstairs.

Day 3 – Tue, January 3: Christmastime Kisses

Day 4 – Wed, January 4: Jameson is just starting to stand with no hands by letting go of things!

Day 5 – Thu, January 6: Taken 1 day late. Jameson’s growth chart with his first entry.

Day 6 – Fri, January 6: Jameson is getting the hang of putting his cars on the ramp to let them roll down! Dad helped Jameson put this car all the way up top.

Day 7 – Sat, January 7: Put away the ornaments and taking down the tree today. I separated the soft and unbreakable ornaments for Jameson to hang next year!

Day 8 – Sun, January 8: Great-grandpa’s 91st birthday. Brian, Jameson and his great-grandfather.

Day 9 – Mon, January 9: Jameson was getting into trouble so we picked him up and flung him upside down. Not really. He loves it.

Day 10 – Tue, January 10: My gross keyboard at work. Tried out a new iphone camera app.

Day 11 – Wed, January 11: Jameson is playing with the tunnel Brian got him for his birthday.

Day 12 – Thu, January 12: Sasha loves the fireplace.

Day 13 – Fri, January 13: Jameson’s grandpa’s birthday was on the 11th, but we had them over today for pizza, chicken & jojos.

Day 14 – Sat, January 14: Jameson likes to be silly now and roll around on the ground.

Day 15 – Sun, January 15: My big boy, laying on a pillow, eating cheerios.

Day 16 – Mon, January 16: Jameson didn’t want to sit for his 13 months photos, he’d rather be on his knees.

Day 17 – Tue, January 17: Playing with dad’s sweatshirt pocket, Brian is hiding a toy of some sort.

Day 18 – Wed, January 18: Jameson’s been really sleepy recently, probably a growth spurt (or growing in some teeth)

Day 19 – Thu, January 19: Jameson is getting long hair in the back sides. I think he has his father’s hair.

Day 20 – Fri, January 20: Favorite part of the evenings after Jameson goes to bed is the fireplace.

Day 21 – Sat, January 21: Jameson still loves pulling his socks off. Here he is in hi buzz lightyear outfit from Uncle Tyler.

Day 22 – Sun, January 22: Sitting handsome!

Day 23 – Mon, January 23: A drooly Jameson, climbing on me.

Day 24 – Tue, January 24: A new favorite activity is climbing through the stools in the kitchen. He’s a bit stuck here.

Day 25 – Wed, January 25: Reading stories with grandma.

Day 26 – Thu, January 26: I wasn’t feeling great today, but it was nice to have this wonderful homemade wedding soup.

Day 27 – Fri, January 29: Taken a couple days late, this is a ornament from my grandma’s.

Day 28 – Sat, January 28: He was actually kind of crying here, but this is from our Valentine’s Day shoot.

Day 29 – Sun, January 29: Playing with books.

Day 30We missed this day 🙁

Day 31 – Tue, January 31: Reaching through the stairs. A good shot of some top teeth!

Day 32 – Wed, February 1: Jameson “riding” Surfin’ Elmo during Baby Night Wednesday with the neighbors.

Day 33 – Thu, February 2: Scary faced Jameson climbing up the stairs.

Day 34 – Fri, February 3: Jameson getting his nails cut. He’s actually pretty calm about this.

Day 35 – Sat, February 4: Jameson and I drove down to visit my parents. Here is Jameson and my dad (Jameson is reaching for me but he’s not fussing so that is great!).

Day 36 – Sun, February 5: All Jameson wanted to do was go up and down the stairs and grandma and grandpa’s house.

Day 37 – Mon, February 6: Jameson loved greek yogurt so much he ate some of mine. Here he is with my mom.

Day 38 – Tue, February 7: Pork and onions, a dinner that I actually made myself. So good!

Day 39 – Wed, February 8: It’s raquetball night. Brian and I play while his sister or mom watches Jameson.

Day 40 – Thu, February 9: Jameson is climbing the stairs again.

Day 41 – Fri, February 10: Playing peek-a-boo (but totally missing something to cover his face, unless the tomato sauce counts)

Day 42 – Sat, February 11: Learned how to put the “coins” in the bank.

Day 43 – Sun, February 12: Jameson’s new, real shoes.

Day 44 – Mon, February 13: New duck from grandma for Valentine’s Day. Jameson loves soft things.

Day 45 – Tue, February 14: The only photo I took on Valentine’s Day was a 30% off coupon for Kohls to send to my friend so we can schedule a shopping date. What does that mean!?

Day 46 – Wed, February 15: Jameson is sick with pink eye and I am home with him. We “accidentally” put both legs through one pant hole.

Continue Reading

Planning a Bachelorette Party… in VEGAS

At the end of April, we are going to Las Vegas for a Bachelorette Party for my dear friend Emma. I have been to Vegas two times prior, but already I knew it was a big undertaking, since I have very little knowledge on the types of things that you do a Bachelorette Parties: Like clubs (VIP tickets? Hosted entry, no wait times?), spa time (last time we went outside of Vegas and the driver didn’t know where he was going), revues (I snuck that in there), and other planned activities.

.

[EMMA: STOP HERE if you don’t want to spoil your invite. Invites go out next week so have a little patience]

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

How do you manage other people’s time and budgets when we are all living away from each other? We can’t just up and get together in a room to make decisions.

1) Narrow down your list of guests to realistic proportions

To start, in the late fall I sent out an email to everyone Emma had suggested and asked them for a tentative yes/maybe, or a straight up no. It was best that early in the game to weed out the people who already knew they wouldn’t be able to go. That narrowed our list from 14 to 8 (including myself and Emma)

2) Give timelines, deadlines, and whatever details you have to help people budget and plan

My first email to everyone (all 14) included the following:

  • A DEADLINE to respond by with the following information: Their tentative yes/maybe or no response, and if yes, the best weekend in April for them
  • Flight Information: I recommended visiting Kayak.com for flight details and suggested they check whether Thursday or Friday works better and what weekends might be cheaper for them
  • Hotel Details: We hadn’t selected a hotel yet, so I mapped out an example cost of a potential room with 4 people to a room to help people budget
  • Other: Do they have recommendations or preferences for things to do, places to stay, etc.
  • Next Steps: Reiterated the deadline

3) Get a few details from the Bride and Guests

We wanted the best weekend for them, if they thought they’d arrive Thursday or Friday (though that could change), if they wanted to share a bed or room. These things are important to help book the hotel for more nights or rooms.

4) Book your Hotel

As it turns out, Emma had a pretty definite idea of where she wanted to stay (which made selecting a hotel pretty easy). We also got some additional details from the yeses with who they might like to share a room with. We booked rooms pretty early, before discounts were starting for our time period, but if something good pops up and rooms are still available, you can just cancel these rooms and re-book.

I did actually find the rooms cheaper through a package deal with another company called LightGroup which we are doing other activities with and got us 15% off the regular room rate.

However, for anyone still trying to figure out which hotel they should book with, I have enjoyed Caesar’s Palace (and know they offer some package deals themselves) and MGM was nice–even though it’s not in the center it’s right on the monorail.

5) Research & Plan Activities

Before looking at costs, ask the bride what she wants to do. Then go look for those things as cheaply as possible.

6) Look for Package Deals

I found out that some of the clubs in Vegas are owned by one company which also offers other Bachelorette Package deals.

We are going with the LightGroup. (I also looked at AMG, and some options to get VIP tickets to nightclubs by themselves).

With this, we can pay for one dinner, ranging from $30 to $55 depending on the place and menu you select, and you can get into all their clubs for your entire stay for free with no waiting. This includes a couple pools and lounges too. And on top of that, they offer discounts to revue shows and spa time. BAM! Weekend planned!

7) Create an open/flexible itinerary with space for everyone to do the planned and unplanned activities

The itinerary I’ve created for Emma’s party includes planned activities in the evening, and leaves most of the days free.

But we don’t want to stand around and wonder what to do during the day, so I will be putting together a list of recommendations and things to do that I will bring with me, so that we can refer to it during our open times if we want to.

8) Finalize reservations

Not everyone may want to do every activity, so I’ve created a “checklist” of sorts for people to tell me what activities they want included in, with approximate costs to be transparent. Once I have final counts, I can make reservations and be confident that I won’t be out a lot of money with anyone backing out.

*Costs here are what we were quoted or are estimates and may be different depending on season, etc…

BONUS: All this planning and money talk may leave some people with a sour taste in their mouth. Even though you are doing this for the bride and what she wants to do, the guests matter too. A nice official invite on paper through good old snail mail might sweeten their outlook. Plus, something to hold on to and take with them with details about the reservation numbers is good too.

9) Buy plane tickets, and remind everyone else to as well

Tuesdays & Wednesdays, 2-3 months in advance is the sweet spot to purchase plane tickets. Remind everyone else to as well.

10) And GO, and have fun!

Continue Reading

Wednesday Night Babies

Yesterday I got my hair cut after work. It’s always a bit of an event, since I only get my hair cut 2-3 times a year. Maybe 4, if I’m really on top of it. It’s a small splurge of mine, though considering that I go very infrequently, maybe not as much as a splurge as I think. I go to the fancy salon, I get my hair cut by my favorite curly hair cutter, Melanie, and then she straightens my hair. And I tip her like crazy, because no one has ever cut my hair like this lady. Love.

Since I only have straight hair a couple times a year (because I am way too lazy busy to do it outside of haircutting days), that means I extend my straight hair for 2-3 extra bonus days.

Today, at work:

Meanwhile, yesterday, Brian and our neighbors came over for what they are calling Babies and Beer night Wednesdays. Which doesn’t sound all that positive or responsible, though I assure you it is. Two men, watching their kids play and have a drink.

I came home shortly before bedtime and immediately asked: Did you take any PHOTOS?!

Of course not, so I had to take a few.

This is Surfin’ Elmo (who has the most annoying voice EVER). Jameson isn’t sure how to rock on him yet, but he likes to get on and off and sit up and down on him. It’s pretty cute. (Lily wasn’t too sure, and I don’t blame her, though she did climb on for a moment by the end of the evening)

We say this nearly every time they get together, but Jameson and Lily really are interacting a lot more. Yesterday, Brian said they waved at each other from across the room for about 5 minutes straight. Too cute! I’m sorry I missed it.

Continue Reading

Spyder

For Christmas this year, Brian got me a monitor color calibrator. Honestly, these things always seemed like a luxury item to me, and while I wanted one more than I wanted a new lens for my camera (let’s face it, I barely switch between the two I have now), I didn’t think he’d actually get me one.

Not only that, he got me the professional version, like real photographers use.

I love it. I love that I can finally be confident in my color, so what I am seeing on screen is how it would be printed with professional services. I love that it adjusted my brightness for me based on the lighting around me in the room (I am sure I had it way too high).

The result is subtle — maybe you wouldn’t know that I had made color adjustments, though I haven’t posted many photos since the change. But I am certain that I notice it, and that my photos in particular won’t be way too dark, which seemed to happen when I got them printed.

Before you say that this seems like an extraneous purchase for an amateur photographer, I will take a moment to remind those of you who dealt with me while I was planning my wedding and my issues with color and matching. I have a little bit of a problem with this. It is why I will forever purchase furniture sets, rather than eclectic pieces put together like they do in HGTV homes. It’s just my thing.

But I do feel like I need to step up my photography as a result. I need to play more with manual mode. Would you believe me if I told you I use a program mode that is automatic with an ISO limit so my photos won’t be too grainy? All the work happens on editing front, and I am not sure that’s a good thing, even if I can still get reasonably good results.

So far, the picture a day project is continuing, though I haven’t uploaded in a while. Right now, the photography is taking a back seat to actually just dealing with the day to day, so I haven’t made any progress in taking better photos thus far. Right now, a huge part of my day is focused on not eating too much. Did you know that when you restrict your calories, you feel hungry all the time? It makes a food loving lady sad…

Have a happy weekend everyone. Winter has come back to Cleveland (finally) so we’re hoping to take pictures in the snow this weekend again. Also, Brian’s dad’s birthday was this week, so we’re celebrating with pizza tonight. One slice for me.

Continue Reading

91

Brian’s grandpa turned 91 yesterday, and we all went to visit him for a party!

I was also really excited for the chance to try again at taking photos of the 4 generations together, since last time we went I wasn’t thrilled with the photo.

You may not be able to tell, but the lighting in this room isn’t very friendly! (Not to mention, the wallpaper…) I had my old Nikon D40 and attempted to take photos without flash. That photo is slightly out of focus, but I tried to correct for that too.

But this time was much better. I am still a little grumpy at myself for not bringing proper batteries so my flash didn’t work, but this camera the D5100 did a much better job of focusing and taking crisp photos in low light.

And on the other side of the family, Brian’s Uncle Mike, cousin Gabrielle and her son Griffin posed for this photo (also, they got smart with the props there putting the cake in front)

That’s Finley, Gabrielle and Griffin’s new beagle puppy. She was really cute, and hard to capture without my flash. I got one out of about 15 photos of her in focus.

Great-grandpa sang Silent Night while we were there and was in good spirits.

Jameson was also happy, even though he is teething hard recently. I was excited to get a few photos of him with his grandpa too.

We had fruit, meatballs, pulled pork and pasta salad. Jameson enjoyed the pasta salad a lot, which was funny since he didn’t like my pasta salad last time we made it.

It was nice to all get together and celebrate, we had a great time. Except I did overeat. So worth it.

Continue Reading

Merry Christmas

I’m a little early, but if it’s December 24 & 25 when you read this, then I’ll be right on time.

I’m taking a short break. Today is my last day working for the year (that sounds so fun to say), and I’m going to take a break blogging at least through Christmas, maybe a little more. I’m going to spend some time watching Jameson without recording (though I’m sure I’ll do that later haha) and enjoy him a lot.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Christmas too.

P.S. Jameson had his one year check up yesterday. He is 18 pounds and change (10th percentile) and 30 inches long (50th percentile), following the same curve he has been this whole year. A healthy almost-toddler. He had to get 3 shots, and blood drawn to test for anemia and lead, as a precaution, though I am sure he is fine. He was a brave little boy through it all.

P.S.S. He gave me two (open mouth) kisses on Tuesday night. How cute and how gross! This morning he gave his daddy one too so he didn’t feel left out.

Continue Reading

Digging Holes: The Grand Finale

This weekend, I finally got around to digging up my gladiola bulbs. They’ve been done blooming for a while now, but per the directions I found online, I waited until the leaves started turning yellow.

So while Brian was sick and Jameson napping, I went outside and used some muscle. Just kidding, it was kind of wet out so it was really easy.

Okay guys, these bulbs are GROSS. Is this normal? They are covered in what looks like little white mushrooms! Perhaps I waited too long and they began to rot. This is disgusting.

I have mutant bulbs in there too because apparently I planted some too close together and they’ve become siamese bulbs. Ewwww

How could something so pretty be so revolting underneath? (I know that has to be a metaphor for something)

Ugh. Just ugh.

Continue Reading