Sneak Peek

As I was window shopping yesterday, I noticed the candy is displayed, ghost and goblin decorations are everywhere and costumes are plenty. It reminded me of the costume we bought Riley last year on super clearance ($3... seriously, you can't make something, even via thrift store for that!) and I just had to put it on him. Here's just a sneak peek of the costume.. Can you tell what it is??


BTW: There is this really cool Image Mosaic Generator- try it out on your pictures!!

I am ONE!

Today is a Joyous day!! It was one short year ago when the accelerated string of events lead to birthing a child in the front seat of our car. And everyday since then has been an adventure! Today marks the first of many landmarks that symbolizes growth and development.

But the mood today isn't of joy. On his First Birthday, Riley came down with his first sickness- strep throat. And his first dose of Amoxicillin. He's very whiny and is running a temperature. Last night I got to practice the "Mom Skill" of determining the temperature of a child by kissing their forehead. I always wondered how they knew because I just couldn't tell.. But when you kiss foreheads as much as a mom (it's instinctive, I started laying at least 50 kisses on Riley's forehead starting the day he came out and every day since), you start to recognize what feels normal. And he is NOT normal now. He's like a furnace. Last night he woke up as many times as when he was a week old. When I would go in to comfort him, he'd be burning up and shivering in tandem. Guess we'll be laying low for a little bit.

Luckily, before the bug caught him we celebrated his birthday over the weekend. Here are the obligatory cake pictures!! Enjoy!

Just getting started...

Look at the focus and determination!!!
The baby wash

Opening his first gift! (thanks Aunt Ali)

Thanks to everyone who came and for the gifts he recieved.. They were unnecessary but appreciated none-the-less. Riley has all kinds of new toys and cute clothes to try out!

Eye of the Beholder

I love my camera. Have you figured that out yet? But in conjunction with the camera, I love PSP. Well, any photo editing software really. I'd say Photoshop because everyone would know what I am talking about, but I use Corel Paint Shop Pro.
Anywho- I love messing with the different tweaks you can give a photo to make it pop that much more. I've been using some of our Ranch pictures (hope you're not sick of them cuz I have one more post on the ranch to go) and trying to get the perfect picture. I understand, however that one person's perfect exposure is not the others so what looks perfect to me might look over processed to you. Anyway, I want to know what you think. It's funny. When I inspected the pictures on the viewfinder, while they were still in the camera I loved them. They were perfect in my mind. Didn't stop me from trying a little *brighten* here and *sharpen* there.

On the left is the SOOC (Straight out of camera) shot and the right is my PSP alteration.

This one I colored the drab and cloudy sky blue.. I desperately need to work on my technique but color wise, I like it.


This one is my favorite, I think. I just love how it turned out.When I look at the two, side-by-side I see (Left) drab and boring next to (Right) POW! Crisp and vibrant! Just look at the foliage... I looks like you can reach out and touch it!!!

Do you like brighter pictures with a higher exposure or more contrasty pictures with lower exposure?

Tramden

Travis + Pam= Tram + Baby Brenden... Well, you get the idea.
While at the Ranch, we took advantage of the wide open country and got some family pics. I got the good lighting of the morning and unfortunately for Tram's shoot, the sun was bright and shining and directly overhead- which is great most of the time, except for taking pictures. They still turned out pretty cute, despite the harsh light. So here are some of my favorite shots of my BFF brother, his lovely and 5 months pregnant wife and of course my adorable nephew!

Hey Cuz

It's so fun having Riley's cousin, Brenden so close in age (1 day apart). Last time we got them together was when they were around 5 months and there wasn't too much interaction. But a little over a week ago, we got back from our Texas trip and we saw a sneak peak of future playtime between the boys.

They got along well and actually didn't have a problem (yet) with sharing. I'm sure that possessive behavior comes later.

They splashed around in the bath. At first, Brenden seemed a little unsure about bath time with another baby in there with him. He sat there watching as Riley splashed around like crazy. Then he warmed up to it and we had two little monkeys splashing around.


There weren't too many toys for babies at the ranch. Don't get me wrong- my mom did a great job borrowing what she could and they had everything they needed. But as far as entertainment, they had to improvise a little (that's what growing up in the country is all about!). They loved the basket of cucumbers and were spotted waving them around on numerous occasions. We brought out the baby pool for some outdoor fun.
I can't wait till next time! They'll be probably 18 months and we'll have a little baby girl (my niece to-be) to shower with attention too!

Walker

After the last post, or actually 2 posts ago where I showed video on Riley's accomplishments and trouble-making, he's improved his walking quite a bit. I now am comfortable saying that "he's walking!"

I was amazed at how quickly the progression actually was. That first day he took 3 or 4 consecutive steps then fell. The next day I counted 6 steps and the following day 15! Now he is walking all over the place. He still has his bouts of the drunken stupor but on a good run, he can go from one end of the house to the other without a spill!



You can tell he loves to dig through is book box to throw the books around the room.
I am infinitely entertained by this new infatuation and don't tire of watching him. It puts a permanent smile on my face as he stumbles around and in the air port as we were in transit coming home, I noticed other onlookers with the same smile as they oohed and aaawed at his obviously new skill!

Summer Splashin

Arizona summers are HOT. It's been above around 110-115 degrees the last week or so! The heat really zaps any desire to go outside that I thought I might have had. It's actually a hard adjustment... Ya see, 3 seasons here are wonderful! Winter is so mild that outside play is very natural. But I can't get over my mentality of summertime being the time for outdoor fun. So to keep me sane and give Riley some fun, we head to different splash pads. Just in case "splash pad" needs defining, it's a little play area where water spouts out of the ground and kids run around in it and get wet! Pretty much all the outdoor shopping malls have one and then our City Park just put one in this year too! It's really the only bearable way to play outside in the AZ summer.. well, that and swimming, of course.
My cousin, CJ with my Aunt stopped for a day to visit on their way through. I thought the splash pad would be a fun thing to do and I was trying to get pictures of Riley with her, but I think she had the same intent (to get pix of Riley and me) since she was standing back, camera in hand mostly. Well, I'll get to see them more in Texas next week... Watch out Chrys.. You're gonna get sick of seeing my camera!