different post, same day. And a Mr. Mcklinky

first order of business: Just wanted to document this:


My baby has a tooth!!!


It caught me by surprise. Only a little. I actually feel kinda silly for not noticing that it was coming. I was NOT expecting a tooth for a very, very long time. I thought he was going to take after me- I was about a year old when I got my first tooth (I think). But, no. He has a little pin of a pearly white pushing through his pink, swollen, little gums, and he's just over 6 months old.

I'll see if I can get a picture of it, but it's on the bottom right side, and his tongue pretty much covers it completely when I open his mouth. But it's there, no doubt!

Oh, boy... I know I'm emotional about this... my baby's growing up!!!

*ahem*


Now, one last thing before the night is over..... (Diana, I thought maybe we could use this for our photo challenge blog, too!!!)

There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called MckLinky – www.mcklinky.com. After realizing the need for a new, reliable linky capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.

MckLinky is a free link list feature that allows you to do include lists of other blog links like MckMama does on Not Me! Monday. You can use MckLinky any time you want your blog readers to leave a list of links on your blog. It’s simple, reliable, free...and loads of MckFun!

(yes, I did copy and paste from McMama's post, but really, it's the best way to describe it.) Just click on the "you are next" and fill in the appropriate info....


NOW it's time for bed.

~em

Adam, Abby, and Thomas

Have I ever told you how much I hate to clean?
Don't get me wrong, I love a clean house, but I loathe (for some reason) the get down on your hands and knees type of cleaning- cleaning.
So, what to do?

Well, I do love to take pictures, and my good friend, Melissa, loves (and I mean loves) to clean. She happens to have 3 energetic kids, who she does *not* want to take to a department store for their photos. They would probably give the poor picture-taker a real challenge even getting the standard picture done.
So she calls me.




Now she has photographs of her kids, and my house will be clean.
Gotta love me a clean house. Woo-hoo!

Thanks, Melissa!!

~em

HIghlights from Phil and Rachel's Wedding

I had the awesome privilege of meeting Phil and Rachel Yesterday (yes, I just met them at their wedding) They are extremely warm, inviting, and genuinely nice people. My friend, Tom- who lives in AZ, called me a few months back to tell me he would be shooting a wedding in my area, and asked if I would like to help out.
Of course, I said yes :)
Despite a little mixup on the actual date of the wedding (I thought it was Friday, and I *just* found out Wednesday that it was actually a Sunday wedding), we got together smoothly, and were able to enjoy the day taking pictures of this wonderful group of people!
These are just a few of my favorite (I have SUCH a hard time narrowing them down!!!)
Enjoy~

Em

Photo Challenge #21

The challenge this week was to enter 5 photos of water.
This actually was more of a challenge than I first anticipated it to be- yes, it was beastly hot here, so you would think that I would LOVE to be out in the water, but that just meant that I would have another really big, heavy, black object to haul with me along with my baby.
Well, I cheated a little..... but, tweaking was allowed, so I took the artistic license to create a series with the same picture. Can you say.... Andy Warhol?!?
Let me know your thoughts, any comments are appreciated!
~Em
(you can click on the picture to see it bigger :)

Goin' Hybrid

A momentous thing has occurred!
(momentous to me, anyways...)

After a lot of research and discussion,
hubby and I have decided to start cloth-diapering our little J-man.

~with a twist~

We will only be cloth diapering at home, so when we're on the go, we'll just grab the disposables. It actually will save us quite a bit of money in the long run (especially since we are planning on having more kids, too), and has much less impact on the environment than disposables.
I also found (through my extensive blog-drifting) a wonderful, awesome, down-to-earth mom who makes her own cloth diapers and sells them- for EXTREMELY affordable prices. Check out Jen's blog , Serwa Chic, especially if you've considered cloth diapers, but don't know where to start. She gives great tips and helps you out through the cloth-diapering jargon that's floating around out there on the web. Oh, and she makes them to order- so you can pick and choose your own colors and patterns. super-cool!!!
So what did I decide to order?
you guessed it- -STRIPEY DIAPERS.
I love them.
Only a little.




well, ok, a LOT.

The diapers I ordered from her are called fitted diapers, and they are much like disposables- with elastic around the legs and back, and they have velcro tabs to make the diaper custom fit. They do require a cover to block moisture from going straight to the clothes- and I have a wool cover that I used today that is, of course, stripey. Why wool, you ask? A number of reasons : it can absorb a LOT of moisture without transferring it to outer clothing, it has natural antibacterial properties- so it really only needs to get washed when it gets pooed on or if it starts to smell, and it is breathable- keeps baby dry and cooler in summer, and dry and warmer in winter.
Now, I still have a ton to learn about all this, but it has been a fun transition so far!

here, for your enjoyment, is the little guy featuring the stripey wool cover, in his official 6 month photo:




and, no, this is not photoshopped. His eyes are that awesome. :) (i'm not a biased mommy at all)

~em

Gotta love this weather

Mix Family together

with a dash of one little rosy-cheeked boy;

add two dare-devil nephews,

and sprinkle in some gorgeous clouds.

Simmer everything together in hot and humid weather.

Now you have a true summer day in Wisconsin.

~Em

The past 6 months

Josiah, every day I thank our good God for blessing me with you. You are the sweetest little baby, and I tell everyone that you spoil me and daddy- you sleep so well, and are ever-ready with a big smile that just lights up your entire face.
I will always remember how long daddy and I prayed to have you- and for that, you will always hold a special place in our hearts.
I pray that you will continue to grow in the grace of God and become a great, thoughtful, caring, man. In fact, I hope you become like your daddy, and maybe even more. But for now, I enjoy you one day at a time. I love your babbling and blowing bubbles, and I marvel at how strong you have become already- rolling around wherever you want to go. You never were a snuggly baby, but the past couple of days you have taken the time to nestle your little face into my neck, and suck your thumb, and are content to be like that for a short while. What a wonderful thing to cherish!
Tonight I sang to you, nursed you, and brought your cute little head up to my face, and I smelled your amazing little baby smell, just before I gently placed you into your crib, where, as I said goodnight, you flashed your shining smile. I hope to always remember every moment like that one.
Happy 6 month birthday, baby!

With love, always, from your mommy.

To: Jonathan

10 things about you.....

10. A hard worker
9. Playful
8. Patient Leader
7. Funny and Lighthearted
6. Dedicated
5. Loving
4. Protective
3.Gentle
2.Caring
1. God-fearing man

....that make you a great father.

We Love You!

Em and Josiah

This one's about Food

mmmm.

~em

Not Me! Monday

MckMama at mycharmingkids.net hosts "not me!" Mondays as a way to confess all of our shortcomings in a fun, lighthearted, and humorous way...
So welcome to my first edition of:


This past weekend I certainly did not spend hours online looking at fabric patterns for my son's cloth diapers...which I know will just get pooped in. Not me.
I also did not put my son to bed early and then stay up well past midnight after the wedding I shot on Friday just so I could edit and post stuff on facebook. Not me.
I did not get into a snacky mood while editing my photos and open a can of root beer (I really don't drink soda). I did not only just drink half of it and dump the rest, because I couldn't finish it. Oh, no. Not me!
I did not go out into my garden to weed, and did not get distracted by my flowers, and then did not ask my little brother to close his eyes and open his mouth, just so I could see if my pansy flowers really were edible- just to satisfy my curiosity. He did not eat said flower.
I did not leave the church service to bf J man, and then proceed to play for 20 extra minutes with him just because he was in a good mood. Not me!

If you have a "not me" confession, just go to mycharmingkids.net to see the rules- and see everyone else's not me! Mondays!

Happy Monday, and God bless!
~Em

Mary and Scott Tie the Knot

I had the pleasure to take even more pictures of Scott and Mary (you may recognize them from THIS post), but this time it was at their wedding!
We had been having some cool, rainy weather here in WI, and yesterday was the first day in a LONG TIME that we had a nice, pleasant spring day. That combined with a fantastic, lovely bunch of people made for a great day to shoot pictures!
Diana assisted me, as well- I love working with her! I am so glad we have stayed such good friends beyond our college years. She and I just click and know when and where each other is- and I trust that she will get the right shots to fill in the gaps where I can't be. You can look at her photos from the wedding day here.

Enjoy some of my favorite shots from the day!

Hush, Little Baby

I realized today that I never took photos of my little J man in his room- and he presented the perfect opportunity by taking a nap in his crib. So, What did I do? I took pictures.
Isn't he just so cute?!? I can't get enough...... ;)



Just wanted to give a shout out to my older sister who provided the beautiful photos of animals that she and her hubby took at various zoos around the country. Thanks a ton- they look beautiful in there!

and an added bonus- I know you've been waiting for more amazing video of this little cutie: the reason he's SO tuckered out in the previous pictures~

my river-dancin' babe.

~Em

This weeks Photo Challenge

This week's challenge was a great exercise in the use of light- the details of the challenge are a little confusing, but basically we had to take pictures of the same object in a window at different times of day- one picture at the same angle each time, and another picture at what we felt was the best angle for that time of day.
These three are the "same angle" --yeah, I know- the nighttime one is a little off- but my hubby was busy working on rebuilding a computer in the same room, and things were moved all around, so I couldn't quite get at the same angle. The little glass jar was never moved, though- it stayed in the exact same spot all day.

7:30 am

2:30 pm

10:30 pm

and here is the set of different angles of the same jar- how I felt it worked the best with the light I had :

I chose this setup because I wanted to capture the dappled morning sunshine and the light passing through the jar onto the windowsill. 7:30 am

I decided to do a more detail shot for the afternoon, since the light isn't as dramatic as the morning- and I took the picture from below, so that the background included the blurry leaves- I like the painterly look of this one :) 2:30 pm

For the nighttime shot I did something a little more "outside the box"- so I physically went outside the box...er, house. This is taken from the outside looking in. 10:30 pm

I would love to hear your ideas/critiques on this- even if you weren't part of the challenge- good or bad, I enjoy hearing other's ideas on what I've done. Thanks a lot, everyone!
~Em

My little friends

I have this wonderful little garden that wraps around a lot of my house that I absolutely LOVE. In the springtime everything seems to be in bloom- bushes, trees, and bulbs.
Numerous animals are frequent visitors to said garden (it helps that we have a bird feeder, too) But this year we seems to have attracted a FLOCK of mourning doves and the neighborhood Mallard duck, who quacks at me from the garage roof while I work in the garden.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love the fact that these little animals call my yard their home, but now I feel like I have to be careful walking out my back door so as not to disturb their roosts. Silly, I know, but there it is. I like them in my garden, and I don't really want them to leave (like my little chipmunk friend from last year who disappeared shortly after I saw a red-tail hawk in our front tree....poor, poor little chipmunk.)

Photo features of my fine-feathered friends: (yeah, I am a nerd;)