I can’t believe I am still doing this, even after falling behind, even on weeks that are super boring, even though when I started I had ONE KID and was pregnant with Caroline. The blogger friend who inspired it hasn’t blogged in years. And yet I refuse to give it up – it’s like the longest baby book in the world.

Sunday:

Feeding baby goats is fun even if you’re a cool 8-year-old

Baby snuggles, front and back

We are SO GLAD it’s spring

Monday:

This is a good look

Selling some of my favorite baby wraps

Unicorn helmet is life

Tuesday:

This is why I usually wear him

So far, the Caffeine eye cream and the Niacinamide are fantastic

I’m being attacked by balloons

Wednesday:

Eight today!

Sup, frog?

Linc has to ALWAYS be touching someone

Thursday:

Rainy day walking

Super excited to be at the doctor, I guess

I don’t know what’s happening here

Friday:

Skillz

Everyone loves Bumpa

Oreo cake was requested, Oreo cake was purchased

Saturday:

Still 8, and I still can’t believe he’s so old

They made hand puppets out of the silverware sleeves

Bubble bath + tub jets = LOTS OF SUDS

We turned off the heat in the house, which means I’m putting away the winter coats but also wearing a sweater all day because it’s actually still pretty cold. But the trees and flowers and blooming and that means winter is OVER. I had forgotten how dirty children get when they’re out in the garden. I should buy stock in a bubble bath company.

I had absolutely no idea I was three weeks behind until I tried to find photos from last week. I guess that means spring is making time go by faster, which is good, because this winter was approximately 746 months long.

Sunday:

I bought GIANT yarn because it would be fast, but I still haven’t finished

Gnocci with garlic bread from one of the boxes

Last minute book report finishing

 Monday:

Happy baby

Me: Evan, are you ok with Linc sleeping on you? Evan: Thumbs up.

Hurricane Lincoln

Tuesday:

Letting the toddler get his own food so I can watch Jill’s Tuesday playdate

Sweetheart

Too cool for my filters

Wednesday:

Home Depot Helpers

Doing homework in the sunbeams

Evan was not interested in me today

Thursday:

He was so excited to be “uppa”

Mid-afternoon toddler crash

I don’t know why they’re yelling

Friday:

Linc’s chores include letting the dog in and dumping all his food on the floor

Tired boy

In case she forgets her name

Saturday:

Chubby baby arms

These tiny beads are a pain but they keep the kids super busy

SEIZE THE DAY

I think I lost a week because of spring break. It was a black hole of time, between my parents visiting and E’s work schedule changing and having all four kids to watch full time. It has made it very clear that my goal for the summer should be to make sure at least one kid is signed up for an activity every week. So far we have two Seaport camps, town day camp and VBS. Maybe I should look into farm camp for my horse and chicken obsessed daughter.

I love baby goat season.

I think the only thing I love more than baby goat season is Linc feeding baby goats.

The place is Beltane Farm in Lebanon, they let you visit, tour, and taste cheese from 11-3 every Sunday in April and May.

I wanted to take some photos of Caroline in her new princess dress last week, but it was dinner time and Multicultural Night at school so my timeframe for this magical photo shoot was about 7 minutes. I live on a teeny tiny lot in a city neighborhood, so meadows and forests are in short supply. We do have an empty lot across the street, but most of it has been turned into a community garden (the vegetable kind) by a church.

But the weather was warm-ish and the sun was shining and my model was cooperative, so we popped across the street to borrow their grass, figuring we would just be making the most of a convenient location.

And we found a beautiful field of crocuses!

But it wasn’t actually that magical. It was just a little square of flowers between a driveway, a dead spot, and the church’s mulch pile. Here’s the cell phone pullback shot of Caroline in the same location:

There are several tricks you can use to maximize a less-than-ideal location if it’s all you have to work with. I knew when we went out to shoot I would be trying to disguise the background so I choose my 85mm f/1.8 lens, which is a medium length and is good at separating the subject from their surroundings. Once we found the flowers I decided to shoot at about f/2.2 or f/2.8 so I could include a good slice of the photo in focus – I wanted to be able to get Caroline’s whole profile in focus instead of just her eyelashes, or her whole body as opposed to just a sleeve.

Here are 5 more pieces of advice to help turn a bad spot into a good spot:

1. Light! The sun is starting to go down and partially blocked by some of those trees, which means a great glowy kind of backlight instead of harsh overhead shadows. If the sun had been coming from the opposite direction I would have shot the other way (which would have been unfortunate, because there’s pavement the other way).
2. Work your angles. I took a lot of these photos from overhead with Caroline crouching down, which includes a lot more grass/flowers and a lot less background. You can also get super low yourself, and shoot straight across the ground – you’ll end up with fewer distracting background elements.
3. Get close. Fill the frame with your subject instead of trying to get too much of the environment. Yes I wanted to capture the crocuses, but having her hold them or shooting the flowers on their own is a good option.
4. Horizontal vs vertical can be your friend. I shoot horizontally 90% of the time, but in this location I didn’t have a lot of space to work with. To create some variety in my shots, I took a series of photos vertically. Sure, she was standing almost next to a dirt pile, but because the photo is narrow you can’t see it.
5. Don’t say cheese. Almost none of these photos have Caroline looking at the camera. Instead, you’re looking at what she’s looking at – her hands, the flowers in front of her, etc. Let your subject guide the viewers eye into the foreground instead of the background. Then if you are looking for excellent photographers in Sydney then see those as they are top-notch and always deliver incredible photos.

If this was a client shoot instead of just a fun session for Caroline, I would have taken the extra step in  post-processing and fully removed the fence posts, dirt spots, and blue trash can from the background of a few of these. It’s not a hard fix in Photoshop, but I’ve gotten in the habit of using only Lightroom to edit my 365 photos or blog photos, just because it’s so easy.

Let me know if you have any questions!

No, but seriously, can it just stop being cold now? I’m tired of being cold. I don’t even care if it rains, I just want to wear flip-flips.

Sunday:

Have I mentioned we’re going to Disneyworld this summer? Don’t tell the kids, they don’t know.

At the fancy theater to see Beauty & The Beast

Lincoln attack

Monday:

Peek a boo

My tree is infested with monkeys

The face he makes when I tell him not to climb on the back of the couch

Tuesday:

Giving Everest a check-up at Toddler Tuesday

Matchy stripes

Coffee stealer

Wednesday:

SQUISH

No, you can’t come in, goodbye

Chicken pineapple party tacos were SO good

Thursday:

CHEERS

Showing off his chompers

New glasses

Friday:

Passed out

These were gross but delicious

Chatty baby

Saturday:

He’s asleep like this. Standing up.

Making her cooking video show

Finnegan did not care for being trapped in the dark

My weather app says it’s supposed to be 58 degrees and sunny tomorrow. If that’s the case I plan to spend the whole day somewhere that is NOT my couch. I’m so tired of my couch. No one likes their couch enough to spend this much time with it. It’s time to break up with my couch and start dating the stroller, the playground and the seaport.