photography

Had a challenge on a blog I regularly visit to create a LO that tells the story of my relationship with photos and/or my camera. And I don't think I'll be scrapping about this anytime soon [my spare bits of time are eaten up by meal prep, overseeing kids, and brief checks of email]. But it sparked some thoughts I wanted to record.

I love having a digital camera- w/the film one I had previously, I went through rolls and ROLLS of film, because somebody told me [and I found it to be true] that the best way to take a good picture was to take LOTS of pictures. So having a digital camera makes this much less wasteful overall. Plus I don't have to stop and change film! And although I seldom keep all the pics I take, and never print them all, I can see that I'm improving as I get used to how my camera works. I'm much better at shooting stills than action. I have an action setting on my camera, but seldom remember to change to that when I'm in the middle of snapping pictures. And I wish I had a camera that would take a zoom lens; mine cannot zoom in close enough to get decent shots when I go to soccer games, or other events where I'm sitting far away.

I think my favorite photos are of my kids. Especially the candid ones, although they're harder to capture. I posted one of Myles with a new 'do ;) aren't I mean LOL?!? Poor kid was screaming because he was hungry, and I'm snapping photos... But I love the array of expressions I can capture when my subject is not aware of me.

and it's off to bed again- gotta sleep when the little munchkin sleeps

j

Wow- pictures!

Okay, so the first pic is Myles on the day he was born, under an oxygen hood, with lots of little sensors to tell us about his heart rate, breathing, and oxygen saturation level in his bloodstream. Second pic is Myles in the transport bed they took him up to LDS Hospital in. I thought it rather looked like a display case...

Third pic is up at LDS Hospital in the NICU- pod 2- under an oxy hood again; more monitors, plus the chest tube. That's in his left side, so you can't see it.

Fourth pic is still LDS Hospital NICU- pod 8 now- they discontinued the IV feed, but left in the shunt so they could give him his antibiotics w/out poking him again. When we sat him up to burp him, he'd go after the blue part of the IV like a fish after a lure ;).

And fifth pic is Myles at home, sleeping, after a good feed and a diaper change. He still curls up like this when we hold him :) SO glad he's home and healthy. God is good.

j

random bits

A totally random thing happened Sunday. Jared's cousin's husband went to sleep and never woke up. Still don't know what the cause of death was- waiting for further autopsy results, but wow. At 37, to be gone without any warning, or any explanation, leaving a widow and 4 kids behind- it's crazy. The funeral was today. My heart aches for them.

Okay, so on to happier subjects: the baby is coming ;). Tomorrow, that is! We're all getting excited, but I'm torn- I haven't been sleeping well because of the squirming of this little one. But it won't be better when he comes because he'll be wanting food [the nerve, LOL] at all hours of the day and night. And a friend of mine was complaining about the difficulties of her 1-year-old yesterday, and I had to remind myself that they don't come out crawling and grabbing and getting into things all over the house. They work up to it slowly! And I really am excited for this little one. I'm even packed for the hospital already LOL. Plus Jared's taking me out tonight for dinner, which will be great :). I can eat WAY too much, in anticipation for tomorrow. Can't eat breakfast because I might throw up during surgery. Will be IN surgery for lunch, so will miss that, too. Then I'll be on liquids for at least a day after the surgery. Which means, all in all, that this meal tonight has to last me until SUNDAY!!!!!!!!! oh, but they'll let me suck ice chips after the surgery. Like that's gonna fill me up!
j

A LOL moment

We've been running around this morning with errands- working out, grocery store, dr's office [everything is fine baby-wise], visited a friend- and got home in time to eat lunch. I sat H down at the table with his pb&j sandwich, glass of milk, and some fruit snacks. Gotta love his choices- classic and easy to make! Anyway, I headed into the computer to balance my checkbook quickly, and got a phone call. Took a few minutes, but not too long, then I finished w/the computer. I went out to the kitchen and found H's dishes cleaned off, but no H. Okay.... And there weren't any odd or startling noises coming from anywhere either. I walked downstairs, thinking he'd turned on a movie, but the TV was off, and his bedroom door was shut. So I peeked in, and he was in his bed, w/the blankets up around him, fast asleep!!! He always makes such a fuss [for him] about taking a nap, yet here he is all tucked in, without me ever saying anything!
I would have taken a picture, but the sheet was over his head...

j

busy busy!

Jared made salsa last night, and applesauce, and finished up the grapes we got from Uncle Ken. One big box of them, and we got about 13 quarts' worth of grape juice! I was supervising (because that's about all I'm good for at this point), and managed to make 14 cards. Haven't tried out the grape juice yet, but the salsa he made is excellent! Even if it does give me heartburn right now...

And there is a rather nasty item in my downstairs freezer, just as a warning to anybody that might visit in the near future. I've never had mice in my garden before, but this year they've been attacking our tomatoes. So Jared set some traps and caught a bunch of them. And now there are little dead furry bodies (in a ziplock bag, thankfully) in the freezer. Jared's saving them for work. He can use the dead mice as props for a practice exercise, and it will be more realistic for his team. LOL, gotta love his job!

10 more days until we see our new baby! I'm trying to be patient, but I am so ready to be DONE with the pregnancy part! Not that I'm ready for the constantly interrupted sleep that will come once he's here. I'm just trying to find things I can do besides watch TV- make cards, get some LOs for my scrapbook done, anything I can sit down to do. Which, by the way, does NOT include cooking or cleaning. Gee, I sure feel bad about that LOL!

j

football and hunting

Jared's been hunting or fishing at least once every week this month. I guess he figured he better fit this in before the baby comes [13 days now], since there won't be much time for it after. But it's all good! And I've been following football lately- not that I'm a huge fan, since most of the NFL games are Sunday, and I don't have time to watch football [or anything else] that day! But I keep track of who wins, and watch the college football games when I can. Have to watch BYU, because I graduated from there. But I also follow the U of U, and Notre Dame, just because.

Got a good amount of scrapping done last Saturday, and lots more visiting. I love going to crops! I'm torn, though: I can't sit for too long while I'm pregnant, but once the baby's here, I won't be able to sit because I'll be caring for him!

Oh, and the kids struck again. H was climbing on the entertainment center [no this is not an approved activity], and knocked the TV onto the floor. Gee, it broke. And while I'd love to go without a TV forever, I have a hard time holding onto my sanity without it. Sad, yes. I wasn't in a huge hurry to replace it; I wanted the kids to notice it was gone. But we now have a TV again, and I'm getting a bit of breathing time *big sigh*.

And the political candidates are beginning to show up- we had one drop a flyer off at our house today. I always feel obligated to *know* who I'm voting for and what they believe in. But it's a bit of work to find any information about who's running, etc. I had to download a 997-page document from the State of Utah just to figure out which district(s) I get to vote in. There's one district for the US Senate, another for US House, a third for Utah Senate, one for Utah House, the school district, the district representative for the State board of education, and it goes on. The newspapers list all the candidates who are currently running for a seat anywhere in the state, but they don't tell you which districts represent you either. Argh! And then there's some candidates who don't bother to put anything up on a website, which means I don't know what they believe in and how they would vote if elected. It is HARD work to be a responsible citizen LOL.

I'm still working on scrapbooking. I cannot sit on my chair for more than about 30 minutes, so I'll get up and walk around, or sit on the couch and read for a break. It's actually helped me design better pages. I guess all those breaks recharge my brain ;).

j

visits

Thursday we left right after M and W went to school, and drove down to see Emily and her kids, who are staying w/Mom and Dad. I got to sit and visit, and H got to play with L, and it was good.

Friday Jared canned a bunch of peaches [his dad brought a huge box of them over to our house- thanks!]. I wasn't any help with them, since standing is bad and sitting on a hard bench is almost as bad. So I went down to see Joy's soccer game. Sadly, her team lost, but Joy played well! She had some awesome saves, and one cool block on a goal attempt- Go Joy!!

And I got a bit of excitement on the way home- one of the tires on the mazda shredded! It was making a weird bumping sound, so I slowed down, luckily, and was able to stop when small tire pieces began to fly up from the front of the car LOL. And a Highway Patrol car pulled up behind me when I stopped, and the officer changed the tire for me [hooray for HP ;)]. Of course, the spare tire was low on air [recommended 60psi and had 15psi], but after I stopped and filled it up, I made it home with no other incidents. Now I'm just hoping that I'll be able to stop in at the crop that was planned today!

j

emotional day

So today was Grandmother's funeral. It wasn't a surprise, because we've been expecting her passing since we found out she had terminal leukemia. But it was difficult to say goodbye. She would have been pleased with the service, I think, although quite embarrassed by all the wonderful [and true] things people said about her. My mom cannot remember her mother ever losing her temper. Ever. I wish my children could say that about me.

I loved hearing my Aunt Joyce talk about her parents' courtship, and their marriage. My grandpa is 2 years older than my grandmother, and they dated all her senior year. But she was determined to be a nurse, and had been accepted into the program at the Salt Lake General Hospital. At the time, if you were training to be a nurse, they would kick you out if you got married. So grandpa waited for her for almost 4 years while she finished her training and qualified as an RN. And then they married. I remember as a young child thinking how *nice* they were to each other- it was obvious that they loved and respected each other. I think of them whenever I hear the word "cherish."

And now I'm teary again.

j

school

School started yesterday! Aaaah. H and I spent some time together, just the two of us, and it was nice! Peaceful, and quiet, and relaxed. M and W are in school all day, which gives me a lot of one-on-one time with H. And countdown until the newest baby gets here: 4 weeeks 3 days. Oh my, time goes quickly! But we're mostly ready- have all the baby stuff unpacked and in his room, except for a bed (which will be upstairs once I ask Jared to get it out). I have given away or donated all baby things that are for girls, all the wrong season clothes (newborn summer stuff, since it will be fall here), and I have a few boxes for maternity clothes I'm anxious to pass on to other pregnant people ;). Slowly I am seeing less "stuff" around, which I like.

And grandma died early Sunday morning. She was diagnosed w/terminal leukemia at the beginning of spring, and we were told she had 4-6 weeks to live. Well, we had her almost 3 times that long, and it's still a bit of a wrench. But there was plenty of time to plan her funeral, and finish anything she'd left unfinished. I sat the kids down, and told them after church. W cried. He knew she was dying (we talked about it when we first found out), but it is still difficult for him to deal with death. M and H were sad, but not as deeply affected as was W. Funeral is planned for Saturday. I worry a bit about my grandpa- I wonder how he'll do, without grandma there. After all these years together, to lose her, I don't know how that feels. But health-wise he is doing much better, and he'll be staying with my parents, so they can care for him. At least he won't be alone.

*sigh* j

thumb smashing 101

So Friday last week I finally took W to see the dr about that smashed thumb. Why did I wait? Well, it didn't seem all that serious, and Jared was sure he'd be fine soon, and I haven't had to deal w/a smashed digit before. However, some things I have learned:

• too much pressure for too long under the nail, and you'll lose that nail
• you can prevent or postpone the loss of a nail by going to the dr's office and letting them melt a tiny hole in the nail, releasing the blood (and the pressure)
• releasing said pressure removes pain
• NOT releasing pressure causes nerves to be pinched, loss of feeling in that digit, possible tissue damage; infection and/or gangrene (in extreme cases) can set in
• when digit has been swollen for a week, not healing, there's a good chance of a fracture in that digit.

Luckily, W's thumb was not fractured or broken, which fact amazed both the nurse and dr who saw him. There was a lot of blood pooled under his nail, though. When the dr melted that tiny hole, the blood was under such pressure that it squirted out- about 2 teaspoons' worth of blood! Yechy. And he's on an antibiotic for 5 days to prevent any infection from occurring.

I have a new nephew- Nate & Caitlin had a baby boy on Sunday, named him Saxon Nathan after his daddy. Haven't seen him yet, but will probably go up this week or next to get acquainted.

And there are 6 days until school starts. 5 1/2 weeks until baby comes. Whew!

j