Rock the Vote

It turns out that YOU can vote for your favorite designs in the Fabulous Baby Announcement Design Challenge! Go here to place your vote: http://www.minted.com/vote. Voting ends Feb 3. Of course, I won't tell you WHO to vote for, but if you like my designs, I could use all the help I can get :).

8 months

Again, how did this happen? When I say Henry will be 8 months old tomorrow, that sounds so old to me.  But then I look at him, and he still seems so tiny.  He's done a lot of growing in the last month and is definitely more aware of what's happening around him.  We are on a pretty good 2 nap schedule, most days. He could use a third nap sometimes but just can't settle down to take it most of the time.  He's in bed and asleep no later than 6:30pm and sleeps until 6:30 or 7pm, so I thin he's getting what he needs..  He is still a pretty easy going baby and is quick to smile.  He LOVES to be on his belly, at least I think he does since the minute you set him down on his back, he flips over lick-ity split.  Diaper changing is a real challenge. He gets pretty honry if you try to keep him from flipping over. Of course, once he's there, he just kicks out both legs over and over like he's a mermaid.  I get the feeling he would really like to crawl.  He just started sitting up alone in the last 2 weeks, after some work on my part.  It's nice to be able to put some toys down and let him play if I need to attend to the other kiddo.

His eczema is SOOO much better. He still has flare ups, but it's nothing like it was. He still is constantly trying to inch his legs and arms, so I just keep him in long sleeve footie pjs most of the time.  The minute you take his jammies off, he reaches for those legs and starts to scratch.  He is spitting up a little less, although it's still quite a bit,especially since he's wiggling around so much.  

He is reaching for anything and everything and is pretty sure it will taste good if he can just get it in his mouth.  He loves his jumper and going for walks.  He can scoot himself around in a circle while on his belly to reach for toys, and LOVES watching Aubrey.  She has been very sweet with him lately (unless he tries to take a toy from her).  If I leave the room and he starts fussing, she tells him "It's OK Henry, I'm right here, I'm right here." So sweet it almost makes me forget she only slept 4 hours last night (not kidding). Almost, but not quite. (sigh)

Henry still has a bit of a comb-over, but his hair is growing back in on the sides and back, so we're making progress.  I'm still not ready to cut it.  His eyes are still blue and I'm thinking they may stay that way.  He is working his way through baby food and pretty much loves any fruit. I think apples are his favorite.  Still not digging the meats, and seems to spit up more with them, so I'm going slow.  He loves most veggies too, so hopefully he will be a good eater later on like his sister.  

Well, thanks for bearing with me as I share the ever so exciting details of the last few weeks. If I don't write it here, I'm certain to forget when I finally get around to doing his baby book. Gues I should get one of those. 

He really is such a joy!

The Baum Designs and the Fabulous Baby Announcement Design Challenge...

OK.  So some of you know I have been playing around with designing announcements, cards, invitations, and even a logo.  I was calling myself "Jilly Bean Designs," but when I finally sat down to start a website and maybe even get a business license, I found the name was a little too common.  I wanted a way to include part of my name, but couldn't come up with something unique.  I enlisted the help of some friends (thanks Lisa, you were the lucky winner), and viola... The Baum Designs (pronounced The Bomb, of course, for those of you who still have trouble with the German speak). Ok., so it's a little corny.  Not sure I really feel like I live up to the imagine the name might conjure.  But I can be hip, cool, with it.  I just might be those things will some bags under my eyes and spit-up on my shirt. 

Anyway, I have really enjoyed designing for my friends, but I thought it might be time to push the envelope.  I ran across a great design site called Minted that hosts contests for freelance designers. Winners end up with their designs for sale on their site, a cash prize, and a portion of any sales. So, I decided to enter a few designs in the Fabulous Baby Announcement Design Challenge .  Now, since my week was a bit nuts in the kid department, I ended up throwing these together.  I'm not thrilled about them because they place a lot of restrictions (which is not part of my design philosophy, thank you very much).  Only one-sided (doing two sides has kind of been my thing), you have to use their photos and only one photo per design. Bah humbug.  Anyway, all excuses to say that the other designs I just browsed were amazing and I fear mine are a bit too simple!  But it's a start.  So... if you want to check them out, head on over to:
http://www.minted.com/design-rating&id=3111

http://www.minted.com/design-rating&id=3114

http://www.minted.com/design-rating&id=3126

You can critique my designs there until voting begins (not sure when it starts, but my submission deadline is midnight tonight... nothing like waiting until the last minute).

I'd love to hear what you think.  

Hmmm. Crying child. Must go.  Will it ever end????

The sleep fairy...

So, after some reading and encouragement from my mom to be creative, we have been working VERY hard at helping Aubrey fall asleep and stay asleep. Not only have I been keeping my cool during the day, which I know has made a HUGE difference, but I came up with the idea of a sleep fairy. I told her that she has to be very quiet when we leave the room because the sleep fairy only comes when your eyes are closed. She sprinkles dust to help keep you asleep and give you good dreams. And, if you stay asleep all night, she might leave something for you.

On Friday night, it worked great in getting her to go to sleep, but she was still up from midnight-1am. However, she was pretty calm and didn't try to bolt out of her room like the previous few nights. I stayed very calm and tried not to worry about what time it was, etc. The next morning she asked what the fairy had left, and I told her nothing. I told her I was very proud of how she went to sleep and that I knew she could make it all night. Last night she did great again at bedtime and made it all night!!! Of course, the "sleep fairy" hadn't prepared the expected gift, so I was scrambling at 7 am to come up with something. Leftover cupcake pop stick, check. Curly ribbon, check. Fairy wand, check. When I walked in her room, the first thing she said was "I made it all night mommy!"  Let's hope tonight goes well too. Of course, as I was typing this, she woke up coughing and needed a little reassuring, but she was back down within 5 mins. Not sure I can fault her for not feeling great :).

Nap time is starting to fade, which can make things better or worse. I can't make her fall asleep, I guess. She didn't take one today, but she was down at 7pm, and without a fight! Ahhhh.

I tried...

As you can tell from the last few posts, I haven't been taking any new photos, and at this point, I don't even have the time to pick out old ones to work with.  It's 9:15pm.  We've been battling bedtime with Aubrey since 7:45pm.  It's getting worse every night, and frankly, I'm tired.  And on top of not wanting to go to sleep, she's waking up at night and taking over an hour to get back to sleep.  We have had the same bedtime routine for years, she has just always fought it in some way.  She is smart now.  And I am out of patience.  She knows how to push my buttons.  Come 8pm, I'm done (especially since Henry has decided he wants to start his day at 6am... yet another problem I have to solve).  

So you see, there isn't much point in posting a photo of the day if I'm not actually doing what I set out to do.  So for now, I'm done.  I have learned a lot, and I'll keep doing it when time and desire permits.  

A photo a day... day 16

Cheating again.  I did this storyboard a while ago and had it mounted for the grandparents for Christmas. I just love these photos of the kids.

A photo a day... day 15

Another couple from the archives...

Cherry Blossoms, Ebina-shi, Japan

Kite Festival, Japan

A photo a day... day 14

Dogfighting 101 with Daddy.

"So there I was..."

A photo a day... day 13

Ok, so I new the day would come, and here it is.  No photo.  I'm calling on the extra credit I did on day two.  I'm sure I could have pulled something together tonight since I have time to write this.  But, I just don't want to.  My 3 year old is making me act like a 3 year old.  "No!  I don't want to."  AGGGGHHH.  Kicking, screaming.  I've had enough.  Goodnight. :)

A photo a day... day 12

So, it wasn't a very picture friendly atmosphere around here today, so I pulled one out of the archives.  

Oui, Oui, Paris!  Ahhh.  I took this from the top of Notre Dame when I was in France with some girlfriends in 2007.  This was my first big trip away from Aubrey, and it was a good one! I sure hope I can take another fabulous trip when Henry is weaned. Who's with me?

A photo a day... day 11

This girl has some serious energy.

Who dat?

A photo a day... day 10

LOVE

A photo a day... day 9

S-T-I-N-K-E-R

This was Henry in his crib today.  All smiles and no sleep.  Well, not all smiles, some crying too.  He took two 30 min naps today. For those of you with kids, you know the norm is about two 2 hour naps and maybe even a third 30 min nap. He was sooooo tired, but couldn't give in to the sleep.  Not sure what's happening.  But this is becoming more frequent.  Teeth?  New found enjoyment in playing?  Knowing his mommy wanted to rest and read a book while sis was at school?  Yep, I'm convinced it was the latter.  How do they know?  You could clean right through a 2 hour nap, but the minute your head hits the pillow or you indulge in some self indulgence... bam.  Awake.  

(P.S. I do realize the photo of the day posts have been a little Henry heavy.  I do still love those little pink glasses and the girl behind them.  She's just a lot harder to catch these days.  She was also gone with her daddy for a while.  I promise to catch her on camera again soon.)

A photo a day... day 8

Hungry?

Just playing around...

with the blog design.  You will probably see it change numerous times as I try to settle on something I like.  Then again, this one may stick for a while since Brian and Aubrey are on the way back from visiting his parents in South Texas and I won't have time to play around anymore :).

A photo a day... day 7

I need to give a plug here for my friend Jeny.  She made this adorable shirt for Henry, the lion!  See what other great things she creates...  http://mylittlelambie.wordpress.com/. Thanks Jeny!

Roar!

A photo a day... day 6

Doesn't he make your heart melt?  Ahhhh.  I wasn't thinking that at 12:30am or 6:00am, but who's keeping track ;).  

a photo a day... day 5

Happy Birthday Alivia

A photo a day... day 4

So, today's challenge was to take a not so interesting picture, taken in poor lighting, and try to turn it into something interesting...

While most of our holiday decorations have been taken down, I can't seem to part with these yet.  Christmas cards. I love getting them, and this year we decked our walls with them.

A photo a day... day 3

Handy Aubrey.  Ok, so this might be cheating because I didn't actually take this picture today, but that's what you get when you have a trying day with the little toots.

A photo a day... day 2

I can rarely photograph Aubrey sitting still, so I thought I would make it even more of a challenge and photograph her in real motion.  Again, a little frustrated that these photos lose some depth and color on here, but I'm still happy with them. So you'll have to trust me that they are better in another format.

Extra credit.  Amazing... tonight I had time to edit and post 3 photos!  Amazing how much easier it is when you start with a good photo taken in manuel mode. 

A photo a day... an experiment.

I have pretty nice equipment

I have some decent knowledge

I have great editing software

I have the desire

I think I have a good eye for composition

What I do not have is a lot of time to devote to perfecting all of these.  

Hmmm. So, what ends up happening?  I take A LOT of photographs in RAW, they sit on my hardrive, I upload jpeg "snapshots" to the blog just so family and friends can keep updated on every minute detail of A and H's life, and I never really achieve what I set out to do by investing in my equipment.  Like most things around here lately (and by most things, I mean cleaning and organizing), if I don't have time to do it "right," I just don't do it.  

For as long as I can remember, I have loved taking photographs. And not just pictures to capture a moment, but real photographs. I remember having one of those Kodak cameras that had a flip top of sorts that you would open up and hold to take photos. I remember wanting to tie a string or ribbon to it so that it would hang around my neck. Because, of course, to be a real photographer, you had to have a strap around your neck. Well, I have one of those fancy cameras now (well, not that fancy anymore. I keep telling my husband I need a better one to keep up). I have an Art degree (Art History really), and a couple of black and white photography classes under my belt (darkroom, not this fancy digital stuff). I have begun playing around with graphic design and illustration with no formal training and really LOVE designing unique announcements/invitations/logos, etc.  What I really enjoy is combining my own photographs with those designs. I have spent a lot time lately on the design part and still have a LONG way to go.  What I haven't spent much time on is the photography side of things.  Again, there just isn't enough time to do it all (and of course, I want to do it all).

So, in an effort to fulfill a long neglected interest, I will take some baby steps and forget having the whole enchilada.  

I am committing to posting a photo a day for the rest of the month.  And not just any straight out of the camera shot.  I want to make myself use ALL my skills and equipment to make this happen.  This will make me start to polish those rusty camera skills, learn more about my software and you all can hold me to it!  Plus, there is something about enjoyment in there too (not to mention one more excuse not to clean up around here).  I'm sure many of them won't be very good (I am teaching myself after all and don't have time {have I said that yet?} to read silly manuals).  I'm just going to go with what looks "good" to me.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?  I'm sure some days I will struggle just to get something up, but that's the point.  I just have to DO it, good or bad. But I feel sure by the end of this little experiment, I will be able to look back and "see" what I have learned and have a better eye with which to see.  

So, here is photo number one. (The other thing you have to keep in mind is that blogger won't let me upload photos in .psd or .tif, so they lose a lot of the quality (looked washed out or overexposed to me) I work hard to achieve when you save them as jpegs.  Maybe someone can help me with that (hint, hint... Paula).

Movie star

Just a few clips of Henry for your entertainment.

Henry "danced" for the first time today.  Pretty funny to see him move to the music.  Of course, it might just be he's trying to jump since he's crazy about his new doorway jumper.  One day he'll figure out not everything jumps.  

I took this a few weeks back when Henry first tried peaches.  Guess he doesn't take after his momma when it comes to enjoying sour things. Still makes me laugh.

Ringing in the New Year

After Christmas, we packed up the car and made the long trek to Santa Fe to see my parents, better known as GiGi and Grandad. I wasn't so sure about such a long trip with two kids, but we were longing for some snow and to spend some time with my folks. I felt sure Aubrey would do fine (she did great last year), and she did, but Henry was another story. Having to stop and nurse and change and feed and stop and change and nurse and on and on sure made the trip even longer. 14 hours of fun. Actually, it wasn't too bad on the way there, but the ride home was painful. Henry wanted out of the seat more than anything and didn't nap well, and Aubrey didn't want to hear his screaming. Hopefully it won't be too long until we get back on track.

One thing is for sure, we had a great time while we were there, so it was worth two long days in the car. The weather was simply perfect. The sun was out, the air was cool (ok, cold) and the snow was everywhere. Aubrey loved playing in the snow around the house and even made two trips up the mountain for some sledding.

My mom was nice enough to watch the kids so I could go cross country skiing one day with my dad and Brian. Wow, what a challenge that was! I have been downhill skiing since I was a wee one, but I had never tired cross country. I was on the ground far more than I would like to admit. I felt sure I wouldn't be able to move the next day. It didn't help that we were up at 10,000 plus ft and not on flat or open terrain (thanks for the challenge dad)! It warmed up to 40 something and was absolutely beautiful. Thankfully, I could move the next day. I look forward to trying it again next year.

On New Year's Eve/afternoon , my dad took Aubrey to a party at the bookstore and my mom watched Henry. Brian and I took advantange of some free time and went snow shoeing, another first for me. Well, I thought cross country was a good work out. We were gasping for air after about 30 mins. We had a great time though and managed to last about 2 hours, and I managed to stay upright the whole time, which is always preferred. We had a nice dinner that night at home with my parents and didn't feel one bit ashamed of going to bed before midnight. Ok, so we didn't even last until 10pm.

We had a great visit and can't wait to go back, although I think we will wait to make the drive again until Henry kicks the mommy's milk habit. 

Thanks for living in such a great vacation spot mom and dad!

Roasting marshmallows with Grandad

I think she thought we would take it away from her at any second. She shoved the whole thing in at once.

Spending quality time with GiGi. Check out the leg warmers on Henry.  What will they think of next?

Henry's first look at the snow just outside the house.  I was testing out the skis before the big adventure. I was down on the ground and had to be rescued within minutes.  It took me forever to figure out how to get up.  It sure helps when you have a mountain slope to lean on.  Maybe I should stick to downhill.

Tummy time on the toasty floors.

Brian was very proud of his snow tunnel.  Aubrey was very proud of destroying it.

Taking a break on the Norski Trail.  Isn't it beautiful?  Not to be outdone by nature's beauty, Brian is rocking some cool shades courtesy of my dad.  "But they were all the rage..." he says.  Well, maybe in 1982 dad.  :)

Dad, Scout, Brian and me.

Sledding fun.

Notice the duct taped gloves.  A true Baumhover.

Christmas with the Baumhovers

Brian's parents, better known as Grandma and Grandpa, were able to drive up from their winter retreat in South Texas to spend Christmas with us this year. It was so nice to stay at home for Christmas AND have family here. Aubrey really "got" it this year and is fully onboard with baby Jesus and Santa. She has been known to pitch a fit or two at bedtime lately, but oh the power of Santa. The night before Christmas, all was quiet indeed when I said goodnight and closed the door. The next morning, she went running to the living room and was excited to see that Santa ate the cookie she left. Then she yelled "Mommy, Santa forgot his milk!!!" I assure you he did drink it, so I was confused. I guess she thought he would take the cup too.

Anyway, she was very patient and played with her toys one by one. We did not overwhelm her, and I'm so glad we didn't. She was so content with her first present (a t-ball stand) that we could have stopped there. She just loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa, and Buster the dog too. We had a great brunch that consisted of nothing green, or healthy for that matter. Sticky buns, sausage egg and cheese casserole. hmmm. Yep, the no dairy thing pretty much went out the window over the holidays. Henry didn't seem to mind one bit.

Speaking of the little man. He had a great first Christmas and enjoyed watching big sis rip paper. He got in on the act too. He tried hard to be a sweet boy, but was fussy the night prior and didn't nap well that day. Then, Christmas night, he really had a tough time. He woke up screaming the next day with a fever. I took him to the Dr. and it turns out he had an ear infection in one ear and was heading towards another in the other ear. I'm sure glad I took him in when I did since we were leaving the next day for Santa Fe. More details on that trip in the next post.

Spending time with Daddy.  We're sooo glad Brian has a nice long holiday break.

I love my Grandma

but I'm not so sure about avocado.

Christmas morning. 

Henry couldn't get enough of sitting on Grandpa's lap.

Brian picked out this present for Aubrey.  Hmmm. Sure looks like Brian's old slot car track that has been sitting in a box in our garage since Brian's parents unloaded it on us.  Who do you think looks more interested in it???

"Fancy" Aubrey!  Thanks for the tiara Avery, Jeny and Bob.

Blog backlog

I am WAY behind on my posts since we had Brian's parents in town for Christmas and then were gone for a week to Santa Fe to see my parents. I will try to get up to date in the next few days.  For now, I'm just happy to be out of the car.  14 hours with 2 kids did me in!  

HAPPY NEW YEAR!