Emily: 9 Months

"Oh mama, not the camera again!

Here we go again: where is the time going!? My little baby is 9 months old today. She's not very little anymore but she's still such a joy! I don't have stats for her because some how her 9 month appointment was scheduled for mid October. Our home scale says she hasn't gained anything but I know that can't be right. She has really taken off on eating solids. Still no teeth but that's not stopping her! She's had some foods that I hadn't planned on giving her yet thanks to her big siblings. She really likes those cheesy scrambled eggs! She crawls a very unique crawl. She crawls with one leg in front and one behind her. She's also working really hard to pull up. She can get onto one foot and one knee and then doesn't know what to do next. I don't think it'll be long!

Daddy has become her favorite person, unless she wants to nurse and well, only one person will do then. When hubby gets home he has to pick her up and hold and talk to her for a little while or she will throw a fit. That's another new thing this month. She's learned to throw fits. Oh what fun are they! Her favorite time to do it, other than when she wants daddy, is when she doesn't want her diaper changed. She arches her back, screams swats her arms and legs. Being carried still calms her down very nicely. I've finally master the back carry with my Mai Tei and Em loves it!

This week's Project 52 theme is collections. Well, I couldn't think of what to photograph so I've included a collection of outtakes from today's photo shoot.
It isn't easy photograph a squirmy baby in a rocky chair:

Linking up to:

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Thankful Thursday: Family

A day late, I know. But I was waiting to get a picture. This week I'm thankful for family. About 4 weeks ago our van died. It was our only vehicle so it put us in a bind. Thankfully we have family close by: my family across the street and hubby's not 5 minutes away. I don't know what we would have done without them (and hubby's friend from the ship yard). Without them, hubby would not have been up to get to work (both jobs). I wouldn't have been able to get to my newest job running the church nursery. We would not have been able to make our weekly chiro appointments. And we wouldn't have been able to go grocery shopping. I'm extremely thankful for their help.

I'm also very thankful for my brother. He's a mechanic. He helped hubby find out what was wrong with the van and that we couldn't fix it at home. He then helped me sell the van. Hubby was working last weekend and I would not have been able to explain what was wrong with the van like my brother. My brother was a key part in buying a new vehicle too. We ended up looking at Jeeps. My brother knows Jeeps inside and out; his Jeep is his baby. He went with us while looking at potential Jeeps. He is why I know we made a good choice on the one we bought. It does need a little work but not much. That's why I had to wait till this morning to get a picture of our Jeep. We borrowed a trailer from dad's work last night and my brother used his truck to tow the Jeep home. All it needs is a water pump and it'll be on the road. Hubby will do that tonight!

So, good bye van. Hello Jeep!

Linking up to:

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Best Shots: Sept 24

This week's best shots feature Maddy and our little hotdog, Annabelle. These were taken the same day I took the pictures for Project 52's birds/flying theme. While I love posed photo shoots, I love letting the kids loose to play and just snapping pictures too. I'm really happy with the way these pictures came out. But like last week, I'm looking to improve my photography. How could I improve these?

Linking up to:

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Project 52: Birds/Flying

I did Project 52 last year but this time is different. This time, I'm using the themes listed at kentweakley.com. This week's theme is birds/flying. I went with flying...as in wishing to fly.

What little boy hasn't wished he could fly like a super hero!?

Join in too:

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for Autumn and the cool weather it's bringing. We've had the windows open for a couple weeks now. The days are beautiful but most mornings are chilly. Sean has started crawling into my lap each morning for snuggles. I'm eating it up. At almost 5 years old, he doesn't snuggle as much as he use to. Then he made it even better. He told me "Mama, you're so comfy!" as he snuggled in a little more. *swoon*

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Best Shots: Sept. 18

I love photography. My love of photography started in high school where I took a photography class and learned the basics of using a SLR camera and developing in a dark room. I loved it so much that I wanted to take another class. You can imagine my surprise and excitement when I found out that the other photography class was listed under art where as the one I just took was under technology. That seemingly small detail allowed me to take a second photography class. I still remember getting my first own SLR: a Minolta SRT 201. I loved that thing. But then I was introduced to digital photography. The instant gratification took over and my digital point and shoot got more use than my film SLR. ...what a shame. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it. I finally picked it back up recently only to find that the light meter isn't working correctly. I could still get good pictures if I used the flash but that took the fun out of manual SLR photography. It was going to cost $173 to get it fixed. If I was going to spend that much, I was going to save up for a DSLR. And that I did! I already had some birthday money I had been saving. I added to that some money I made selling some things we didn't need.

Three weeks ago I bought my first DSLR: a Sony a200. I found it on craigslist and couldn't beat the price. I'm having a lot of fun learning the camera but now I need to work more on improving my photography. My biggest motivator is wanting good pictures of the kids growing up. I would love to have them professionally photographed several times a year. But let's be honest. We do not have the financial means for that! If you've been following me on pinterest you've seen all my photography pins. I've been doing a lot of reading. Now it's time to put it into practice. On Tuesdays, I will post my best shots of the week. On Saturdays, I will be participating in Project 52 over at kentweakley.com. 

This week, I would like to share with you some pictures from a photo shoot I did with little Emily this weekend. I'm looking forward to feedback on my pictures, especially criticism on how to improve. I should also mention that this was the first shoot I did with the manual settings on my DSLR.

What do you like about them? How could I make them better?

I'll leave you with this final picture. It's not focused well but I love it. 

Little Miss Emily showing a little of her personality:

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings