Saturday, July 25, 2009

Wingaersheek Beach

One of my mom's favorite places to go on her vacation has always been Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. To me as a kid, a beach was just a beach, but now, going back as an adult, I can totally appreciate why she loves this beach so much. Other than the beaches in the Caribbean, I think Wingaersheek may be the nicest beach that I have visited.

We decided to head up to the beach late this afternoon (it's free parking after 5!) and just relax and enjoy the beautiful day. It really was the perfect beach day! It was warm with a nice, soft breeze coming off the ocean to keep us from getting too warm-- it was really just perfect!

Mom (well, my mom) made meatloaf sandwiches (and PB&J for me!) and we had ourselves a little beach picnic!

Eliot had a great time playing in the sand and splashing in the shallow waves with Grandma! She always knows just how to make him giggle!

Here are some photos from the day. I wish I could share some of Grandma and Eliot, but I think I'd get in some pretty big trouble for putting up beach photos of Grandma!











Before we left, I switched the camera to auto and handed it over to my mom so that she could snap a quick Baker family portrait :)



Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Cape, Take II

Eliot had such a wonderful time with his cousins and family down on the Cape that we decided we should try to head back there for a couple more nights. Ted was going to be commuting to Rhode Island again this week anyway so we drove back down to the Cape on Monday night. When we got there, it was just beautiful outside so we took a little walk down to the beach (camera in tow, of course) and had a really nice time just walking and letting Eliot play in the sand and water a little bit. I think he really had fun!












Sadly, our return trip was cut short due to a very nasty bug that I caught from somewhere. All day Tuesday, I just felt horrible so Tuesday night, after Ted arrived back at the cottage, we packed up the car (yet again) and headed for home. Although it was sad not to have that final day, I am so glad we made the decision to go home early because my nasty (whatever-this-is) definitely got worse today. I woke up with a 101 temperature and have been very sore, dizzy and weak all day. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Cape Cod 2009

We just got back from "The Cape" last night after spending three nights there. My in-laws rent a house down there for two weeks every July. Ted had to work in Rhode Island on Thursday so he just commuted from The Cape while Eliot and I got to hang around with Eliot's three cousins. Eliot loved playing with his cousins! My mother-in-law even swears that Eliot said "Lilla," his youngest cousin's name.

This was Eliot's first trip to the beach. He didn't love the cold water, but he didn't mind getting just his feet wet as long as Ted or I was holding him. He had fun trying to figure out what all the sand was about. It was so cute to see him studying his sandy fingers while rubbing them together. He also licked a few rocks and shells. Unfortunately for us, we are pretty sure he liked the salty taste.

Eliot took many more steps while we were away. Every time he was about to move, I would yell out to the nearest person to make sure someone other than me was witnessing it! He is also pointing at things now which is exciting. I like to know what he notices on his own without me pointing things out to him. As it turns out, he notices A LOT of things which is just awesome!

We had such a nice time that we are planning to head back down for another couple of nights this week while Ted has to be back in Rhode Island.

Here are some photos from our trip! Enjoy!



Maddie wearing her baby


Audrey & Maddie playing with the flag on the mailbox all the while Maddie has her baby wrapped safely to her :)


Eliot playing peekaboo with the stroller's sun shield


The four grandkids- Eliot, Audrey, Maddie & Lilla


Ted & Eliot at the beach


Ted & Eliot, Maddie & Grampa







Tuesday, July 14, 2009

A Wild Bunny!

We spent a couple of hours yesterday over my in-law's house in Reading. Eliot loved playing with his big cousins, Audrey and Maddie! While I didn't get too many good photos of the kids, I did happen to get a great shot of our friend, the wild bunny!

I am also debuting my new watermark :)

Sunday, July 12, 2009

A Couple Portraits

This week's photography assignment is portraits. I had sort of a hard time with this one actually. For one thing, Eliot is anything, but cooperative and the sun and shadows were NOT my friend on this assignment. Here are two of Eliot that I thought came out at least somewhat decent (edited in photoshop).





Here are two of my beautiful cousin, Amanda (also edited in photoshop).



Saturday, July 11, 2009

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and what a great one it was! Ted let me sleep in so I slept until about 9:00. When I woke up, Ted and Eliot told me to sit on the couch and they brought me out a cake; a double chocolate cake at 9:00 in the morning! Haha! Ted wanted to dig in, but here we are a day later and it still remains in tact. It had Winnie the Pooh candles and Eliot even wrote a special happy birthday message on the top for me with white frosting!



Then came the presents! Ted handed me two to open right away. The first had me a bit confused. It was a package of diapers. I thought for a moment maybe Ted had forgotten just whose birthday this was, but by the time I opened the second package (the wipes), I was pretty sure that I had had things figured out. Ted went on to explain that for the entire weekend, I wouldn't have to change ONE diaper! Points for Ted :)


My birthday card from (and signed by) Eliot

Ted saved the best gift for last, though; my brand spankin' new tripod! Woohoo!! Now I can shoot in the dark without the super high ISO that causes noisy, grainy photos! Double points for Ted :)



Then we dropped Eliot off at my folks house for the day (and night!!) while Ted took me to Foxwoods. We had a blast! It was just like old times. I love Eliot so dearly and could never imagine my life without him, but boy, was it really nice to just let loose and be back to old Kara and Ted for a day (and night!). We stayed at Foxwoods for about 4 hours, stopped at Friendly's for dinner on the way home, came home and went to bed! You would think that sleep would come easy to me after 10 months without sleep, but I didn't sleep to well at all. I kept looking at Eliot's empty bed and wondering if he was asleep right then or not, or if he was crying or missing us :( I did end up getting plenty of sleep though and Ted and I both crawled out of bed around 9:30. It really was a fabulous birthday!

A TRIPLE HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PARENTS (AND MY MOM FOR SACRIFICING SLEEP) FOR TAKING ELIOT FOR A WHOLE DAY!
I LOVE YOU!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Some Basic (Much Belated) Wedding Edits

If only I had known then what I know now... Sadly, Ted and I don't have the best photos from our wedding. We went with someone my dad knew who had a fancy camera, but not a whole lot of experience. And it showed. On the plus side, we got to keep all the photos that she shot and now that I am getting to know photoshop, I can spruce them up a bit. Here are a few basic edits I just did tonight.
BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Our 4th of July Weekend & Eliot's Belated 9 Month Apt.

Ted received an extra day off from work for the 4th of July weekend due to a job well done on a recent business trip so we decided to travel up to New Hampshire to visit my grandparents for a couple of days. Despite not getting much sleep, we had a very nice time and Eliot surprised us all by taking his first step! All four of us were in the den, just watching our big boy stand all on his own when all of a sudden, he lifted up his foot and took a full step! I really wasn't expecting it so soon! Although, since then, we've been waiting for step #2 to take place and... nada. So we'll see what happens.


Eliot on the day of his first step!


Nana and Eliot

On the actual 4th itself, we went to the Wakefield parade. I think they said that it was the 8th biggest parade in the country last year so that was pretty cool. Eliot LOVED it!! He loves looking at cars and trucks anyway and I've never seen a baby who gets so much joy out of people watching so we knew he would just love the parade! The fire engine horns made him jump a little, but he didn't cry or anything. We will have to do this again next year!


Ted and Eliot at the 4th of July Parade in Wakefield


Ted and Eliot at the 4th of July Parade in Wakefield

We also had Eliot's belated 9 month appointment yesterday (the 6th). I was very happy and relieved to learn that Eliot had gained FOUR pounds since his last appointment in March. He jumped from the 5th percentile for weight into the 15th! Now we're getting somewhere! The kid never stops eating so I'm glad that the scale was our friend this time around. Everything else looked good too. He's a very healthy boy who happens to be a little ahead on all of his milestones which is just fine by us.

We also brought to the Dr.s attention, the raspy-like noise that comes from behind Eliot's nose when he breathes. He explained that there is some passage way back there that is most likely narrower than it should be (which also explains the loud snoring). He told us we could go see an ear, nose and throat specialist if we wanted to, but the only option would be surgery (removing the tonsils and adenoids) and not to call them if surgery wasn't an option for us. So, I talked it over with Ted and we decided it's best just to wait for now. If it gets worse as he gets older, we will revisit the idea of surgery then. Right now, it's just a noise and it's not harming or bothering him one bit.

So I was very pleased with our visit this time which is a relief. I had been so used to leaving that office upset or in tears so this was certainly a nice change of pace!

Getting my feet wet

I've been thinking of starting a blog for a while now. It seems to be the thing to do these days. Also, I wanted a place to keep track of all of Eliot's milestones and accomplishments other than in his baby book. Maybe someone other than me will get some enjoyment out of reading about his newest victories.

Once I decided to take up digital photography, the decision to start a blog was really just that much easier to make. Over the past couple of weeks, I have searched through several different blogs and websites and found a ton of inspiration. I love photography blogs! From looking at awesome photographs of varied subjects, to learning tips and tricks with both the camera and with photoshop (and boy, have I learned A LOT!), there's really just so much about it to love!

So, here we go! I started a digital photography class 5 short weeks ago just after my (insert adjective of choice here) husband went out and bought me a b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l camera that we absolutely cannot afford. He came home with a Canon Rebel T1i. I couldn't decide between being pissed or just really excited. He wouldn't allow me to return it so I settled on excited.

I have really learned quite a bit already. I shoot mostly in manual which is a skill I thought I would never master! First we did macro photography, then landscapes, abstract, and then events. Here are some photos from the assignments that I have completed so far.

(forgive me if the photos are too small or of poor quality- I am still trying to figure things out!)













Thanks for looking!