What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Friday, May 28, 2010

Twin Session, Revealed


These are TECHNICALLY twins, but little Miss and little Mister really couldn't be any different. One is nearly TWICE the size as the other!

They are TECHNICALLY 5 week old babies, but at only a bit over 8lbs and nearly 5lbs, they seemed an awful lot like newborns to me. (I guess the fact that my babies come OUT at nearly 9 pounds has something to do with it.)


So here are a few of my favorites from my not quite TECHNICALLY newborn, TECHNICALLY twin photo session.








I love how little James is sporting such a contented smile in this one:


And a few of the Mama: because you know how I feel about Mama's getting in the pictures too.

This is the mother of nine children. Not only that, this is her SECOND set of twins.


TRY not to hate her. :-)





Finally~ this is probably my most favorite shot of the session but I just can't decide which I like better. In color, or in two-tone. Which is your favorite?



The Twins, Individually


I knew the session was going to be good when I plopped the freshly stripped baby James on the blanket and he flashed me a smile. Since I always do my settings manually, it was miraculous that the exposure was set well enough for a split second snapshot.. I snapped the on button, then the shutter and that quick his smile was gone-but I CAUGHT it! yay!

At eight pounds, nearly twice his sisters' size, he looks like a MONSTER. But really, he is still teeny tiny. (At least for me)


I just *LOVE* this expression....

His Mama was concerned because he is usually so alert and squirmy-but he slept most of the time for me which is awesome for 5 weeks old!




I did love to see his beautiful eyes though too.



To say little sister Jessica is a pipsqueak would be an understatement. She is the teeniest baby I have ever seen. Which was hard to capture.




She somehow managed to have plentiful hair though! Look at that 'do!






Her little body just curled so easily, she let me pose her however I wanted.

But when she woke up, her intent little gaze was what did me in.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My props were baskets and blankets gathered from around the house.

My camera was my trusty digital Canon Rebel XT, which is not so trusty these days. I think I am wearing her out, but she didn't give me any lip during the shoot so I was VERY grateful.

I edit and convert photos to black and white using the free program Picasa.

The most USEFUL item (next to the camera) for the shoot~ a beanbag.

And finally, a picture of my "natural light studio":

Foto Friday: Silhouettes


Last week's Foto theme was SILHOUETTE.

I was majorly excited about this challenge; I love silhouettes and it has been a good long while since I took any. A main goal for this week was to take a silhouette of my pregnant form.

And then I threw my back out and have been as laid-up-as-a-mother-of-three can be. So. No new silhouettes for me. *sniff*

I had fun searching through the archives though (Prepare to be bombarded) :















My favorite of all though:


Let's see the rest of the silhouettes!



In order to participate in Foto Friday: simply post a relevant photo (you have taken) pertaining to that weeks' challenge. Please link back to this blog {you may use the button if you like} when you post your blog post. Then simply link to your Foto Friday post with Mr. McLinky here so that we all can visit you and compare notes...

Next week's challenge is: Happy

Thursday, May 27, 2010

TWINS Sneak Peak


It is taking ALL my will power not to post the 197 photos I took at my twin session yesterday.

I finished weeding through them and editing them (with Picasa) last night so I *could* but I really ought to pace myself a bit. For my childrens' sanity. And yours....

And so my blog doesn't self-destruct with cuteness.

So I will only tease you a bit with this sneak peak. Until the "big" post. :-)


I will say this: These babies didn't wear a stitch of clothing and only an occasional diaper for three hours and nothing got pooed on. That alone means success!

I love me some naked babies.



And I love all of their (teensy) 2,000 parts.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Poppies 'n things

~ a few pictures of Mom's Mother's Day Poppies, before I gave them to her.~


Today I get the privilege of shooting a set of newborn twins. Well, not QUITE newborns, but close enough. I am super excited and my shutter finger is already beginning to twitch.


Plan on being inundated with photos in the near future!

(This Saturday I am prepping for a very spur-of-the moment yard sale at my sisters'. I have an attic FULL of stuff to price (ick) and boxes and boxes to unload (double ick) and then pack up, organize, yada yada. So. we'll see how fast I can get them up! If I know myself, though, I will be so excited to share them that I will postpone the drudgery or work for the cause! hehe)


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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

A 26 1/2 week pout


I have had an emotional few weeks.

Not so much with the baby, just with...life. There has been emotional trauma (er, I mean drama) in the world, here at home, and at church (the saddest of all).

The drama at home? I have nothing to wear. You laugh, you laugh. But trust me-a woman who has just hit a huge weight milestone, whose belly (and double chin) gets larger by the day needs to have SOMETHING to wear that makes her feel less like a whale trying to squeeze into a sardine can and more like... a woman.

I decided at the start of this pregnancy that I was going to get rid of all the frumpy things I never wear anyway, things usually handed down or bought at yard sales out of desperation (because why unpack, clutter up the closet and then repack clothes that you never wore?) so I did. Meanwhile, I had to pack all the clothes away that no longer fit. Since the maternity clothes I have, I have had for three children prior, let's just say ain't no way I have the body I had at #1.

The result of said purge is this:


Sadly, several of those shirts are not maternity (and I will not be able to squeeze into them for much longer). I will say, I have a handful (one) of skirts/dresses that are still wearable hanging on hangers. Three of which Matt loathes. (Can anyone say Mumu, or rather MooMoo?)

So-why not go out and buy myself a new wardrobe? Well.

First of all, money doesn't grow on trees. (Duh)

But primarily~ the maternity clothes that I DO find, do not fit properly. I have a very long torso and a very large bust, making all those cutesy maternity tops too short for my torso and the princess-line busts falling just above my neck (only a *slight* exaggeration.) My legs, too, are extremely long, making all those pretty feminine "dresses" into something much more like shirts.

So why not sew some? Well.

Though I have tried, countless times, to make myself flattering things-I have YET to succeed. I have a weird body (I hate it), and I am not skilled enough to modify patterns to suit my regular body, let alone my maternity body. I have to admit, it is with a tremendous amount of fear that I even consider sewing for myself. Thus far, it has only proven to be a waste of time, energy, fabric and money. blech. But, desperate times call for desperate measures. Wish me luck.

Though it seems a trivial, superficial concern~clothing oneself is still a rather necessary part of life. ;-)

The journey into whaledom with lack of whale coverage, coupled with the much more potent stresses surrounding me has pretty much turned me into a blubbering crybaby. Let's just say, Matt hasn't had to shower in several weeks. Worse yet, there are days when I can't even muster a tear, rather, I just go about life with dull eyes and a sullen face-and that is when I KNOW I am in trouble. That girl is not me. The fact that pregnancy hormones are likely affecting my abilities to cope, while likely true, is not very comforting.

It has been quite a ride for everyone and I am eternally grateful for the compassion Matt heaps on me and for the forgiveness he shows me when I unfairly "unload the truck" on him.

There. I have no clothes. I have mounds of stress. Now that I have adequately whined, let's talk about the good stuff, shall we?


The reason I have no clothes is because my belly grows rounder with life. A big belly is a great feat and a great gift, felt even moreso after the scare. Here is my last photo, at 20 weeks. I can see a big difference in belly size--

---and from this picture, it looks like Rebecca size might have dwindled a bit.

Then:


Now:Had to get a picture on my lover-ly patio, my favorite place to be, next to the beauteous hanging honey basket I told you all about. It's called Snow Princess, and I believe it is alyssum.


Here she is in all her glory...


Finally, at 26 weeks, I buckled down and made a prenatal appointment. None of the midwives believed I knew what I was talking about (as far as the due date) so they ordered an ultrasound.

I didn't complain. Ultrasounds are one of my favorite things in life. This one was the best one yet, sadly it was the first one Matt missed.

It is a miraculous, amazing thing to watch the foot that is kicking you while you feel it kicking and to watch the fingers as you feel their scrape. It is awe-inspiring to see your baby drinking it's own amniotic fluid~ as his/her mouth opens and closes, opens and closes. Nothing can describe the pure joy as you watch the child within shaking his/her head while playing with the umbilical cord. All these things I watched.

It took my breath away and gave me joy I haven't known or felt in weeks. I only mourned that Matt couldn't experience it too.

Something amazing happens when you hear the heartbeat of your child within. All of a sudden, the child you have loved since the beginning takes on a whole new dimension and your love multiplies exponentially, though you didn't think it could.

Here is Smooch's first picture, a great one if you know what you are looking it.



Matt couldn't figure out what he was looking at, so in desperation, I drew him this quick sketch to help him figure it out. He didn't.

But maybe it will help you.

For the record, I have never CLAIMED to be an artist, so don't judge my incompetence. ;-)



I say, this child sure is a cutie! (The real one, not the drawing!)

Oh, and by the way, I amazed all the midwives by getting the due date DOWN TO THE DAY.

HA!

August 27th it is.

(Maybe.)

;-)