Just a quick photo update.  I made myself a watermark.  Here's my handsome husband, with our cat Klyde in the background. :)

Wow, I can't believe that Christmas has come and gone.  This was Connor's first Christmas and it's impossible to think that it's over.  He had about as much fun as a four-month-old could on this holiday; he tore at the wrapping paper thinking it was something to put into his ever-ready, drool-filled mouth.  We tried our best to keep it from him, but I'm almost one-hundred percent positive that he saturated a bit of wrapping paper. 

The specifics of our holiday aren't worth getting into.  I did, however, get a new lens from my husband (posted about previously).  It seems to be working pretty well!  My father-in-law also gave me his old external flash to use for now until I can afford a Speedlight.  It'll be good to learn the ins and outs of external flashes, but I can't wait to get myself the SB-700 someday.

The holidays are typically a time for families to come together and share in their joy.  For me, that joy was shared with such a limited amount of people.  Drama is found within any family, but this year's goings-on had me questioning the true definition of the word family.  From childhood, I've thought family was anyone with whom a common bloodline was shared.  Now, I'm not so certain.

At the moment, there are many people with whom I'm related, yet do not define as family members.  I think that family should be defined not by common genetics, but by a close examination of who can be counted and leaned on.  Perhaps dictionaries should reconsider their published definitions.

I'll leave you, yet again, with some photos.  I hope all reading this are well and enjoyed your holiday!

I can't believe it's Friday and that I haven't updated this blog since Monday; I'm officially a blog slacker.  I was going to come on this page and whine about various aspects of my life; work, some family issues, etc.  Then I realized that I spend too much time focusing on the negatives in my life and truly need to learn to appreciate the positives.  I, of course, didn't realize this on my own.  Various sources of inspiration helped me to realize that I need to take a step back and truly examine the entire picture.

If you're looking for such inspiration, I encourage you to visit this blog:  "EB"ing a Mommy; this story is so heart-wrenching and inspiring.  It makes me cry, smile and makes me want to take Connor and hug him until it's physically impossible to continue hugging.  It's definitely worth a read if you feel you need to truly understand that your life, while it may have it's less-than-perfect moments, is truly not all that terrible.

Now to completely change directions, I'm going to be opening an Etsy shop.  Not for me, I'm completely void of any kind of talent.  My Mom makes some amazing crafts; quilts, purses, crotchet ornaments, embroidered pieces etc. and she truly needs to start offering her products to the public.  She's designated me as her site manager and she'll handle the crafty duties.  I envision this weekend being consumed with coming up with an Etsy shop name and graphics for her shop page.  Thank goodness school is done for the semester so I can focus on something else such as Etsy.

I'll leave you with a picture of Connor, because who doesn't love to see this face?  Biased?  I sure am!

Well, it's Monday already.  It's hard to believe how quickly the weekend passed and even harder to believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away.  Thankfully, I've already purchased everyone's gift aside from the gift cards I'm going to pick up for my sisters. 

We attended church yesterday for the first time in probably a year or so.  I've never been much of a church-goer, but my husband really wants to have our son grow up with church being an aspect of his life.  We went to my mother-in-law's church and the service was quite nice--much more contemporary than the services I was used to attending a Catholic church as a child.

For Christmas, we want to give our parents each a photo of Connor in a frame.  I attempted to take a photo for said gift this weekend.  I put him in a dashing red sweater from Gap and snapped away.  Of course, he wasn't in the mood for such a photo shoot and the second I sat him down he spit up all over the front of his sweater.  Figures.  I did manage to get this shot and while he's not smiling, I think it's going to work just fine for what I wanted to use it for.

Happy Saturday!

Lightscoop!

I got my Lightscoop, well both of them (standard and warming) in the mail today and I'm a fan!  It's an attachment that goes on over the in-camera flash and bounces the light off of the ceiling.  I think this will work well for indoor photos with the lack of light this winter! :)








Here's a comparison shot I took of Connor with Joe.  The difference between just the in-camera flash and the Lightscoop is pretty stunning!

Merry Christmas to me!  My gift from Joe just came in the mail, but he's making me wait until Christmas to use it.  I'm going to stare at the box daily, I'm sure.  Maybe I should make him wrap it as soon as possible to prevent me from sneaking it out of the box to test it out.

My Christmas gift to myself came today, too.  Behold, Adobe Lightroom 3 (Student and Teacher version though to save me some money)!  This I can use whenever I want ;)

Hooray!

I figure I should start blogging with an introduction post.  As dull as that is, I'm far too tired to come up with something witty for my first post.  Wit to follow, I hope.  My exhaustion is marked by my son's, Connor, new sleeping patterns.  He enjoys waking up multiple times throughout the night.  I think he knows that my husband, Joe, won't be waking up to tend to him and he likes to see me suffer.  Yes, I think my almost-four-month-old son thinks this way.  Okay, not really. 

Anyway, onto the introduction.  My name is Laura (we'll pretend the photo to the left is current and I am not thirty or so pounds heavier than that [also taken with my point and shoot; the image quality is crazy different!]) and I live in the ever-exciting state of New Hampshire.  "Where" you might be asking?  That state just above Massachusetts.  Yes, that's New Hampshire.  We're the granite state, the live free or die state, the nothing to do except shop tax-free state. 

Enough about New Hampshire.  I have the "pleasure" of working from home doing data verification of medical bills while simultaneously taking care of my four-month-old son.  Before Connor was born, I had intended on being a stay-at-home Mom.  Plans changed and I wish they hadn't.  I also go to school part-time, so there's that.

You'll obviously learn more about me as I blog.  Fingers crossed I don't decide to stop blogging again.  I do that often.

Next on my list of introductions is my husband, Joe.  We were married October 16, 2010 and got pregnant about a month later.  He's the main bread-winner in our family which is good because I like my bread (did I mention I'm thirty or so pounds above pre-pregnancy weight?  Yup, bread.).  He's pretty handsome, I think.







And now onto Connor, my munchkin.  He was born August 13, 2011 at 2:09AM.  He was 9lbs. 3oz. of pure cuteness.  He's almost four-months-old now which is bittersweet.  My baby's growing up, which is sad in a way, but I'm so excited to watch him continue to reach his milestones.