Five Favorites (Vol 10)

Special thanks to Jenny for hosting this week's link up!

- 1 -

Leo's Professional Portraits

The Teething / Goofy Face

The Guilty Smile

The two photos above are a result of us finally getting around to Leo's "6 Month" photos. Of course by the time we did them he was a few days shy of being 8 months old, but hey you do the best you can, right? While the session was an adorable success I made a semi-catastrophic error and long story short, we ended up with a CD and rights to all of the images instead of a handful of prints... MAJOR OOPS! On the bright side, we now have a bunch of super cute photos of Leo that I have had a blast tinkering with on Photoshop Elements. The photos I posted are not the best ones from the shoot but I love them for how they capture his little personality. 

- 2 -
Adobe Photoshop Elements

Yes, I'm stuck with the 10th edition

While Photoshop Elements is not as great as plain old Adobe Photoshop, I still love using it for editing photos. I very much hope that one day I will learn to be a good photographer and/or become much more skilled at using Photoshop. Obviously the best photographers do not depend upon Photoshop for great photos but I would settle for just being good :) 

- 3 -

The Blacklist

I really enjoy watching TV. I'll admit that I don't have the best taste but every now and then I stumble across a show that I think is truly great. NBC's "The Blacklist" is definitely that! James Spader is so much fun to watch and the female lead has surprised me with striking a good balance between being tough but vulnerable. It's the first show I have watched in awhile that keeps my complete attention and makes me want to punch the screen when the credits start rolling and I realize I have to wait an entire week for the next episode. Will you love it? I don't know but for my husband and me it is definitely a favorite!

- 4 -
Here with Me - Susie Suh & Robot Koch

Speaking of The Blacklist, this song was featured in one of the episodes and I really enjoyed it. I am sure that part of that is simply context but still. I used to obsess over music for hours every day, looking for new artists and songs. I don't have time for that now so TV shows/movies/commercials (yes, I actually do that) are my main source of new material. Feel free to add your suggestions in the com boxes because seriously I need new music! I once managed to pull three all-nighters in a row and it was thanks to music, not coffee (seriously after the 30th cup you just shake more, you don't get more awake)

- 5 -

Say Mmm

This website has been an absolute godsend for me!!! I use the free version and that allows me to upload recipes, make meal plans for the week (or more), create a shopping list, etc. Perhaps it is simply due to major laziness but the fact that it compiles your grocery list for you is a huge perk for me. Not only that, but it even breaks down the grocery list by areas of the store (e.g. Dairy, Frozen, etc.). It has saved me countless hour and headaches and I just love love LOVE it!

~ Happy Wednesday ~

Back to Blogging

Well I'm blogging again. I've been putting it off for awhile now but today I figured what the heck, why not? Why the absence? In a word, Life. I am not entirely sure how you other moms do it but amidst the chaos of baby, cleaning, cooking, exercise, grocery shopping, etc. when I do happen to get a free moment I just want to collapse on the couch and watch something mindless or read something good (or vice versa, as the case may be). At least that is how it has been over the past several weeks.

Leo had a cold for a few weeks and then somewhere in the midst of that he started cutting four new teeth. Yeah, you read that right - FOUR NEW TEETH ALL AT ONCE! So life around here has been looking a lot like this --

Leo and me

The main difference between Mama K over there and me is that I wear glasses. Our insurance finally kicked in, however, so I am hoping and praying that I will be able to get myself to an optometrist in the near future and finally get the OK to start wearing contact lenses again! Which reminds me, if you wear disposable contact lenses make sure that you follow the instructions to the letter. Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that you are a little bit of a cheap person and plan on wearing those 2 week disposables for, oh I dunno, 6 months.... Don't. Do. It! Turns out there is a reason you need to ditch 'em. Who knew. 

So yeah, despite my lack of writing Leo has continued to grow and develop. In addition to cutting four new teeth (still in process) he is getting close to crawling. Between not having a good soft surface for him to move around on (so much for all those beautiful hardwood floors) and general clingy-ness he hasn't been too interested to get down and move about on his own. Or perhaps I should say it's just been a much slower process than it could have been. At any rate he has been trying out the tripod position for a few weeks and scooting himself about pretty well but it seems that that is no longer as satisfying as it was in the beginning. So now he gets in the tripod position and tries to move forward. It hasn't worked out yet but I imagine it won't be long now. 

Kiddo also has developed an adorable/quirky new habit of fake-laughing in order to get others to laugh (or just get their attention). It's somewhere between a fake laugh and a fake cough and it absolutely cracks me up. He also tries to sing along with us (provided there is no camera trying to capture it, of course). He thinks that sputtering noises are hilarious and if you pretend to be disgusted by his food (or just in general) that gets him giggling pretty hard too.

There is plenty more I could write but then I wouldn't have anything left to share when I do the link up on Wednesday :) 

~ Happy Monday ~