Three Months with Poppy

The little lavender dress above is the first thing I picked out for my little girl when I was pregnant. I was in a store shopping for Rhett's summer wardrobe right after my anatomy scan and I just had to buy a pretty little dress for my daughter. I can't believe that she's already three months old! Her newborn habits are slowly fading away and her baby personality is beginning to shine through! She does not appreciate being put down and won't tolerate not being able to see me or Rhett. Lately she hasn't had much love for her daddy, but I'm sure that will change. She loves her big brother. He calls her "Baby Sister" almost all the time, though when she's crying it's always. "POPPY. POPPY. QUIET!!".

For the past three weeks or so she's slept through the night about 80% of the time. She goes down around 9:30 and usually doesn't wake up until 6:00. Then she eats and goes back to sleep until Rhett inevitably wakes her up around 7:00. She eats about six times a day and she's really good at it. She eats fast and is ready to play and look around. She's outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes and I'm slowly rotating more 3-6 month stuff into her drawer and closet. Her baby acne and cradle cap are finally gone and her hair is starting to get a bit thicker (after initially losing a bunch of her fresh-from-the-womb hair)

She's a sweet, smily little thing. She loves to be talked to and played with. She'll be our last baby and we're really trying to soak in every minute. My house is usually a mess because I'd rather play with her and Rhett than clean it and I'm not letting myself feel guilty over it. I know that in five years, I'm not going to care that there was always more laundry to do. I feel so blessed to get to spend this year at home while my kids are still so little and sweet.

Saturday Morning with Rhett

Phew. Capturing moments on camera with this crazy toddler is challenging. We had such a nice morning playing in the backyard. He is such a little boy! He absolutely loves playing in the dirt, finding sticks and spinning wheels. I'm so glad we have a backyard this year that he can use to play and run!

The Golden Hour

My photography lesson this week focused on how and when to make backgrounds sharp, or leave them out of focus. I got to practice on this little cutie during the famous "golden hour of photography". I was pleased with the results!

One of my favorite things about this class is that I'm gaining more and more confidence in my photos straight out of camera. Editing isn't something I've ever loved. I always obsess over how much editing to do and whether my pictures look too photoshopped. Other than cropping, these photos are untouched and I'm very pleased with them.

Outtake from our Christmas Shoot

Josh looks creepy. Poppy looks dead.

Contemplative Poppy

Family Photo Op

Meanwhile, in Florida....

Isn't she Lovely?

Rhett 2.5

It's kind of shocking that I was able to get a photo of Rhett in such a quiet, peaceful moment. He's been a bit....challenging lately. I'm sure my patience is thin because I'm up with a newborn most of the night. But he's also been pushing boundaries a lot this week. Everything within his reach is getting destroyed. He dumps out any beverages, laundry baskets or cracker boxes within his reach. He's been coloring on the walls. He won't stop filling the toilet with toilet paper. He wakes up his sister all the time (albeit with kisses and an enthusiastic "I lub you Poppy!".  Discipling him has been difficult. He doesn't respond to very much. He's also fallen into a habit of closing his eyes and pretending to sleep whenever he's in trouble. We're working on it and instilled this whole time-out system yesterday. We're in the early stages, but it seems to have helped a bit already. Rhett is a very sweet boy and he makes it very clear how much he loves all of us. But he's still a two year old boy and we're learning how to navigate his naughty times. 

Typical Poppy

This is Poppy's spot. She's can almost always be found snoozing away in her little Rock n' Play. Doesn't she look peaceful.

Today was my first day of my online photography course through Clickin' Moms. Most of my practice shots aren't meant to be published and I spent most of my time practicing, so I didn't leave much time to snap pictures of this little cutie or her brother. I might have to slow down my "posting every day" kick while I take this course, because so much of it is just practice and not meant to be seen. But I promise I WILL go back to posting every day soon! And hopefully my photography will be vastly improved by the course!

Two Months Old

It's hard to believe our little girl has been with us for two whole months! Poppy is a great baby. She greets us in the morning with big, gummy smiles.  We're still swaddling her, and she's still in our room. She gets cold at night a prefers to sleep with me but I try to put her down as much as possible. I don't sleep well when she's in the bed. She is up 2-3 at night and is still up for the day around 5:00. She and Josh hang out in the morning while I get some extra sleep. She loves her brother. He's in her face pretty constantly but she doesn't mind. She smiles and coos at him. It's pretty important to Poppy that one of us be in her line of vision at all times. She gets very fussy when we're not. I believe she weighs about twelve pounds. Her 0-3 month clothes are getting just a tiny bit snug. I think they'll last another week or two. Poppy is getting a little more demanding whens he's hungry. She'll scream until she get what she wants. Unfortunately, she seems to always get hungry right when I'm in the middle of something with Rhett, so she has to wait. Such is the live of a second born.

More Light

Practicing with Light

Late Last Night

Pretty Little Things

Smothering with Love

Budha Baby

Studying

Getting a Haircut

Early Friday

Rhett in a Nutshell

Halloween

We had a pretty quiet Halloween. There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood and there weren't any trunk or treat options for us in town. But it was a nice day and Rhett really enjoyed getting free candy! We usually try to dress up as a family but with a newborn, I just did not have the energy to put anything together this year. I actually found Rhett's costume at a thrift store (brand new!) the week of Halloween. He love every animal under the sun, so I figured he'd have fun being a tiger. I threw Poppy's "costume" together in about two minutes and only left it on her long enough to snap a few pictures. As it turned out, Rhett doesn't love wearing costumes. He warmed up to it after he figured out what trick or treating is all about. What he really loved was his bucket. He picked it out himself and calls it "Blue Pumpkin" (we're still working on colors). He's been giving it kisses and just generally loving on it all week.

My camera was out of battery for Halloween! So I had to use my phone and old point and shoot to capture the memories. Bummer. Somehow though, I feel like this is actually a more accurate portrayal of what our day was like!

Photos

So the story here is that I would really like to improve my photography skills. I'm not very good and I have so much to learn. I feel like have learned a lot in the past year and a half or so but I want to keep improving. And I've read a lot of online tutorials. But I've come to the conclusion that the only way I'm going to get better is to practice. So I have decided to photograph something every day for the next year. I'll post my favorite photo of the day on here, to avoid Facebook overload. I'm guessing it will mostly be photos of the kids, but I may slip other things in there too. Here's hoping my pictures improve in the next year!

Snapshots

Morning in the Park

Today I and my first attempt (and success!) at getting the kids out of the house all on my own. We've done a few quick errands here and there, but nothing quite this ambitious. I was able to get the three of us out the door in an hour and we arrived at the park in time to enjoy the cool morning weather. I wore Poppy in the Moby wrap and Rhett got to run around and climb all over everything. It was nice to get out of the house and I'm looking forward to getting out more!

Two Pumpkins and a Baby

Lomo Poppy

Backyard Buddy