Christmas Card Photography

Paul really likes messing around with the new camera. I showed him what macro was, and it turns out he has an awesome eye for it. Just call him Macro-Man.

Yeah, I Know....

It's been over a week.
I had a post about Bethlehem I was working on, but then Nathan pushed a button and published it before it was finished. And then had a screaming fit when I took him away from the computer. And when I tried to edit it I deleted it. And Nathan was still screaming.
So I gave up.
I've been busy! I made over 8 dozen cinnamon rolls yesterday for Paul to take to work this morning. Four different kinds, with four different frostings. Apple with caramel frosting, chocolate chip with powdered sugar frosting, pecan with maple pecan frosting, and regular with cream cheese frosting.
Paul called at 10:30 and said the plain ones were all gone before they even went out on the floor at 7 AM. I told him it's all in how you market them. Because I could have just put "Plain" on the label and they would have had some leftover like last time. But plain sounds boring. So you mention "Cream Cheese", and they're all over them.
:)
But he'd better not bring any home, because my ability to resist junk food is at an all-time low. I'm just munchy all the time.
Paul has worked every day since last Sunday. He worked Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights - got home at 8 Thursday (his "day off" which he slept the first half, and left for my cleaning job just as he got up, so we only got like 4 hours in the evening together), and then he had to leave for work again at 5:30 Friday morning, and works all weekend plus Monday. So working 8 out of 9 days, 12 hour shifts each day (but he's gone 14 hours or more with driving and getting there early/staying late to wrap things up)....... I'm ready to have him around again - looking forward to next weekend! The paycheck should be good.... He really wants a new TV, so I think that's why he's so willing. I told him we'd get it with a tax return, but this overtime will probably be as much as our tax return would be!
We still have to go Christmas shopping. The plan is to go Tuesday.... I hope.... Every other time we've talked about going, something has come up. We need to get on it, though - only a week and a half before the big day, and we've still got to buy presents for...... Oh, everyone.
So much for a quick post to tell you I'd post soon. Back to cleaning the living room then on to my walking video, wrapping the few presents we HAVE bought, and folding laundry, and trying to find the house under the mess!

New Camera!

Paul and I decided that this year, rather than get presents for each other, we'd buy a big present together for both of us.

I've been hacked at our digital camera for a while.... It takes forever from switching it on to being able to actually take the picture (very bad when trying to photo a little boy!), and goes through batteries like crazy. Plus there's no zoom.

So we decided to get us (and we all know it was really for me) a new camera.

It came yesterday, and I love it! We love it!!

I was helping decorate for a wedding reception last night, so Paul came and picked up Nathan on his way home from work while I finished up, and I sent the camera home with him. When I got home, the TV wasn't on. The computer wasn't on. Paul was sitting on the floor messing with the camera - still. He'd messed with it for a while at the church.

I think I'm going to love it.

Chowing down!

Blue color accent setting.

Messing around with the macro setting. I love macro photography!

Odd

I was sorting through my clothes closet last week, actually organizing everything into folded piles instead of a big heap (an endeavor that will last....oh... a week). As I was folding my pajamas, I noticed that 4 (out of 5) nightgowns that I have are the same color. Three of them were gifts. (And the fourth I bought because I had forgotten to pack pj's on vacation and it was on clearance.)
Is light turquoise a popular color for nightgowns or is this just a major coincidence?

My Look Good/Feel Good Campaign

After about a month of feeling fat and ugly, I finally decided to do something about it.
First I tried shopping for new clothes. I haven't bought any new clothes for quite a while, like since June. But this attempt at boosting my self-image failed miserably.... First it made me feel completely cheap for not wanting to spend $40 on a top. Then it made me feel dreadfully out of fashion, because even if I did spend the money, I'm not sure I'd know how to wear these cute sweaters that are popular this winter. Then it made me feel like a freak of nature, because once I decided to buck up and just spend the money, I couldn't find anything in my size. Well, at least not anything I'd be caught dead in. (And that's saying a lot!) (PS - why do they even make mini-dresses in size 17?)
Next I decided to try exercising. I do like exercising. Once I get to doing it regularly, I feel much more energized. So I found a Leslie Sansone walking video that I really liked - it's a 4 mile walk/jog, a 50 minute work out. I did it for 8 days in a row, and was feeling pretty good about it, so when we were out at my parents' house on Wednesday, I smugly stepped on the scale.
WHAT THE.....?!?!?!
I had gained 7 lbs from when I last weighed myself. ARGH!!!
But - a lovely side effect of exercising is these little things called endorphins. They make you feel good. So even though the scale hasn't shown that I've lost any weight (I'm blaming it on the "muscle weighs more than fat" theory), in my mind, I've lost a bit of flab around my "muffin" and my belly.
My next venture in self image is what I call my Look Good/Feel Good campaign: If I put a little effort into how I dress, even for every day around the house, I feel better about myself. So I went through my closet and took all of my regular t-shirts and put them in the back corner of the closet (you know, the kind you get free for volunteering/buying something/souveniers, and are usually two sizes too big). Same with my old jeans. They are designated for cleaning/painting/gardening only. I put my "good" jeans (and even a couple skirts) and my nicer fitted t-shirts right up front for every day. Because, honestly, I dress up so little that I have clothes I have had for at least 5 years that still look new because I never wear them. (I know I have a sweater that I still wear that I've had at least since the winter I was going to school in KC.... 8 years ago. But that's kind of normal for me - my theory is why get rid of them if they still fit??)
But with this Look Good/Feel Good thing, I'm not the only one that benefits. My husband likes it when I look nice. Not that he says anything when I'm lounging around in my holey pajama pants and stained t-shirts, but he does notice when I have something on that accentuates my figure. So I feel good on two levels: I feel like I look nice, and I feel warm and fuzzy because my hubby told me I look nice.
I'm still going to excercise. I would like to lose about 15 pounds before I get pregnant again. I'm not sure of the likelihood of that, because even though I've given it my darndest with diet and exercise, my weight hasn't budged (more than a 3 or 4 pounds in either direction) in 3 years. And it doesn't move even when I'm not dieting and exercising, so maybe this is my "natural" weight.
But I'm definitely not going so far as to putting on makeup every day. That is beyond trying to look nice, and gets into the "self-inflicted torture" range.

Nathan's One-Year Photos

I'm finally getting around to posting Nathan's one-year pics - almost 2 months later! I put all of them up on my other blog.
Some of them the color is messed up... I adjusted them so they looked better on my screen, but then once I uploaded them, the colors looked washed. You can view some of the originals, plus more of Lurenda's work on her page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lurendawalter/sets/.

FINALLY

I didn't want to brag about this too soon, lest I curse myself. But I think it's safe to announce now:
Nathan is FINALLY sleeping through the night.
Not "sleeping through the night" as defined by the baby advice columns, which is "sleeping at least 7 hours in a stretch." (Why they call that "through the night" is beyond me.... That's only like 2/3 of the night.)
I don't know what happened - it was like a switch was flipped from one night to the next. He went from waking up crying (and screaming if you tried to let him cry it out) between 2 and 4 every single night (no matter what time we put him to bed), to sleeping through 'til 7:30, and waking up happy and jabbering. And he's been doing it for two weeks.
A couple times, he's woken up and cried a bit, but fell back asleep before I could even get myself out of bed. And two more mornings, he's woken at 5 AM, but one of us took a sippy of milk up to him and covered him back up and he went back to sleep.
I had forgotten how great a full night's sleep felt. The first several mornings, I'd hear him, open my eyes - and it was light! Oh the bliss!
In other Nathan News:
He's got two molars fully in. He's working on more teeth - we can tell from all the chewing and slobbering, but I can't tell if they're his top molars or his bottom canines. They all look like there's something right under the surface.
He hates vegetables. (Any other Mommies have some tips for getting him to eat them?) He will occasionally eat our homegrown sweet corn that we froze (probably just because it's so sweet). Otherwise, I have to sneak them in under some garlic mashed potatoes or in some fried rice. I've tried serving them to him first when he's hungriest, and it's hit or miss (usually miss).
He's got quite a vocabulary! I didn't realize until I was writing our Christmas letter, but he's got about 10 words now... Let's see: hot, light, Daddy, kitty, hi, bye, out, tractor, Herc ("Ush"), dog ("arf"), cow ("MOOOooo"), and down. Not that he says them all all the time, but he definitely knows what they mean. (He also knows what "STOP" means, and will look at you and try it about three times more after you say it to see what you'll do.) This morning, I said, "Let's go change your diaper," and he headed for the bathroom! He knows what "close the door" means, and will do it when you ask him to. And he will go get his shoes when you tell him to, if they're not put away. And - Paul's so proud of this - if his little cowboy boots are out, he will go get them rather than his tennis shoes.
(I realize these may not be big accomplishments for a 14-month-old, but they fascinate me!)
And another thing Paul thinks is hillarious: If Nathan can see my belly or my back under my shirt when we're playing around, he will push my shirt up and blow on my belly (like we all do to babies' cheeks and bellies). Except he hasn't quite figured out the blowing, so he will just put his open mouth there, which kind of tickles (partly because I'm anticipating him biting me). I don't know where he learned that from - Paul does it to me occasionally, but I think Nathan just learned it from us doing it to him. I tried to get him to do it to Paul, but he wouldn't. Maybe it's just Mommy's deliciously squishy belly. (He thinks hitting it and watching it jiggle is fascinating. Lovely.)
Well, enough bragging. The baby video is almost over, so I'd better get back to entertaining.