Photography, Spring and Other Useless Randomness

I am enjoying a quiet morning here sitting at my kitchen island with my computer, a host of photography websites and a really cute little baby watching me as he sits in his BebePod playing with his noisy, rattly little ball. Today I am looking forward to doing a photoshoot with a cute little one year-old girl and her pregnant mommy. It will be fun. My favorite thing in the world to photograph has got to be kids. Heaven knows I've had a lot of experience considering my fascination with photography began when I nannied a houseful of adorable nephews and a niece.

Spring is working on springing here in the snowy hole we live in. If you have any idea of how tired I am of snow you would wonder why I even live in Wisconsin. I wonder that too. Who in their right minds would think to settle here back in the day? All I know is it had to have been Summer, because Summer in this place is gorgeous.

As you can probably quite clearly see, I'm trying to get back into the groove of regular blogging. I used to be so good at it. Thanks to facebook and the simplicity of status messages, I have become accustomed to communicating with the world in a simple sentence or two. I guess it's time to read some good books by some good authors and become reacquainted with the usage of words and get back into the sync of journaling.

And for a final piece of randomness this sunshiney morning, my husband just had a realization. "Hey Babe?" He calls from the bedroom. "We have not had any family pictures taken of the three of us!" And he's right. Kind of makes this photographer feel like a hypocrite. ha.

Grateful 34/365

Grateful that he can try so hard to be happy even when he's teething.

...not to mention that he's super cute.

Grateful 33/365

Today I'm grateful to be redecorating.

...on the cheap.

Grateful 32/365

Grateful for a happy daddy! Ha!

Do You Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a search engine much like Google, but you are rewarded in points --er, Swagbucks, that are redeemable for a huge number of things. Gift cards are among the most popular and there's a huge assortment available for restaurants, hotels, Starbucks, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Target, Overstock, cash in PayPal, or my personal favorite: Amazon.com.

It is simple to use. Everything you would normally "Google", "Swagbucks" it. I now have the habit of taking an extra second to just type in my swagbucks toolbar the site I want to go to in their search engine (i.e., "blogger", "gmail", "facebook", etc.). Swagbucks are randomly awarded. Sometimes just a few (like, 4 or so), sometimes a lot (the other day I got 53). There are also numerous optional offers you can participate in that will award you oodles (I signed up for a free trial of Netflix and got 1,000 SB).

Last night I realized just how advantageous my Swagbuck involvement has been. I was adding the gift cards to my Amazon account, and there sits $40 just waiting to go towards my next purchase (I'm thinking a lens, or maybe lighting equipment?). And then I decided to count up my used gift cards to see how much "money" I have actually made with Swagbucks. To date -- including the ones I have yet to use -- it came to $270.

Two-hundred and SEVENTY dollars!

Granted, I can't feed my family off of it... But it's sweet to think there's an extra $270 in my checking account at the bank because I got to use Swagbucks. What could YOU do with $270 at Amazon? (Or Paypal, or Target, or Starbucks, or...?)

So folks, I am here to tell you that Swagbucks is not a scam. It requires patience, and the habit of Swagbucks searching. But it does eventually pay off. And really, who would complain about $270?

Click on the link to sign up today. 

And Thus Commences the Virtual Journal

This mommy has been somewhat frustrated with herself lately as she realizes all the little things that are slipping away from memory as that little Jimmy boy of hers keeps growing up.

Because really, how does life go so quickly from this...

To this...

To this...

To this...

In basically a week's time?

The other day she went as far back into her facebook profile as her computer would allow before all the information just froze up her internet, jotting down all those milestone-of-Jimsters remarks that were not archived in any other way but a facebook status.

So while her little man sits in his BebePod next to her kicking his thunder thighs and squealing happily at her, she determines that the blog would be updated before the facebook. To further inspire herself, she has (as you may have noticed) completely revamped the look around here. Even the font is cute-sy and inspiring. And don't you just love the new title?

So welcome to the journal that depicts the love affair with her handsome studly husband and their wee bouncing baby boy who has determined to defy the pace of time and grow by leaps and bounds without waiting for each moment to thoroughly soak into this mama's heart.

Grateful 31/365

Grateful for toy baskets!

Grateful 30/365

Grateful  for a tough little cookie.

Poor little guy has been having quite the rough week. Teething is no fun. As if running a fever and having sore gums and feeling miserable weren't enough, he also picked up the yucky little cold Andy and I have been fighting. This is the first time he's ever been sick, but look at that grin! He's such a trooper.

Milestone: Rollover!

This little monkey has been capable of rolling from his tummy to back ever since the first time I laid him on his tummy. Last week he successfully utilized every ounce of fiber in his diaper and then some, creating quite the little mess. Once I got him cleaned up, I had to take care of his messy things before I had a chance to put a new diaper on him. I was away from him for all of about 30 seconds. I came back to this ::

Grow, Discover, Learn, My Little Man

The things mommies get excited about... I'm so thrilled for my little man now that he has discovered his hands. He reaches, grasps, clings to and bats at everything he can reach. It is so darn cute. I love watching his enthusiasm. Looking into his eyes I just know he's learning and soaking in everything he possibly can. Constantly. I pray that I, as his mommy, will always encourage that desire to know and understand and learn. As he grows older, I hope I never dampen that enthusiastic longing to explore and discover more. I want him to be all that God has created him to be.

Grateful 29/365

Grateful for my brother Zack and the way he keeps the world around him smiling...

Zack was recently visiting my sister who has a baby girl (Korynne) 8 weeks younger than James. She says, 

"Zack claims that James is his kid. When I try to tell him otherwise, he argues with me. So then I asked if he wanted to hold Korynne (since I assumed he was just on a baby kick) but he adamantly refused, saying he'd probably hurt her." 

Zack has, on many occasions, begged to come over, promising that I wouldn't have to do anything. He would babysit Jimmy and I could go take a nap. (yeah, I probably wouldn't sleep so good, but the thought is sweeter than sweet!)

Before James was born, I was never fond of the name "Jimmy" (it has since grown on me). But no matter what I said, Zack always insisted throughout my pregnancy that he couldn't wait for me to have Baby James and that he was going to call him "Jimmy-my-boy". 

I think part of his utter infatuation with Jimmy is due largely in part to his prayers during my pregnancy. Zack was devastated when I miscarried in March 2009 and still talks about it. He was always concerned about the baby while I was pregnant this time around and I know, cute little prayer warrior that he is, he was sure to let God know that he loved Jimmy-his-boy and desperately wanted to hold him.