F 2.0, 1/2000, ISO 125 (for both pics)

My very own BOB stroller is coming today!  So excited!  Happy, happy Friday!

Yesterday Brayden and I made St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes together.  It was the first time he has helped me bake.  He had fun.  Especially when he helped me crack the eggs!

We tried adding in green food coloring to the batter.  Either I didn’t add enough food coloring or it just didn’t work.

I think he liked eating them more though!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Hello!  Just because you have a Canon or Nikon camera that does not mean you have to buy that manufacturers lenses.  There are third party lenses that you can buy.  Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina are the three major third party lens manufacturers.  While first party lenses are not interchangeable between different manufacturers (Canon lenses must be used with Canon camera bodies), third party lenses can be used with different manufacturers (as long as the lens mount is the same).

If you are a professional photographer I would not suggest buying a third party lens.  You get what you pay for and I guarantee overtime you will be disappointed in the performance of a third party lens.  Guarantee it.  I use to second shoot for a photographer who only used third party lenses and even with my Canon 30D my images were better with my Canon L Series lenses.

For the average Mom*tog a third party lens may not be a bad idea.  They will be cheaper and the quality of some third party lenses has improved.  If you’ve never shot with a pro lens you will probably not even know the difference and most likely the lens will be better than the stock lens your camera came with.  The good thing about buying a third party lens for a Mom*tog is that if something happens to it (juice gets spilled on it, baby decides to use it as a toy, etc.) it will be a lot cheaper to replace.  Moms put a lot of wear and tear on their equipment.

One lens that I recommend for Moms is the Canon 24 – 70 2.8.  That lens runs $1249.  While the Sigma version runs $569.  That’s a huge savings!

If you’ve read Mom*tog enough you know what I’m going to say, right?  Try renting the lens and see which one shoots your shooting style best.  Borrow Lenses has all three third party lenses that I mentioned for rent.  Rent one for a week and see if you like it before you invest!

This month we went on a BIG adventure!  All the way to Florida.  Where Mickey vacations when not in California.  You were so excited to go on a big airplane.  So excited, in fact, that you threw up everywhere when we pulled into the parking garage at the airport.  The most throw up I have every seen in my whole life.  I got you all changed, but didn’t realize I had throw up all over me as well before we checked our bags.  I got to fly in smelly clothes all day.  That was fun!  Luckily you weren’t sick.  Just nerves.  So, you got to enjoy your flight and did SO well!  You loved the turbulence on the plane (Mommy didn’t) and napped at the perfect time.  The trip was so much fun.  I doubt you will remember it, but I always will!

You are getting funnier and funnier by the day.  This month I asked you what my name was and you said, “Drew!”.  What?  We hadn’t even been working on that!  You are so observant!  I asked you what Daddy’s name was and you said, “Tuck!”.  We laughed so hard at you when you said that!  You are talking so much!  In fact, you don’t shut up most of the time!  It’s like your mind is working overtime and you don’t know how to turn it off.  You know all the Disney characters by name now.  You are also calling animals by their names rather than by the sounds they make.  You started calling Hauggy, “Haug” instead of “Woof Woof”.  You learned how to say elephant, giraffe, and rhino at Animal Kingdom.  You are speaking in three, four, and even five word sentences.  You can count to five (sometimes), but know your numbers up to 16.  You also started calling your Grandpa, “Papa G”, which I know makes him very happy!

You are finally eating!  You will tell us what you want and will usually eat most of it.  This is such a relief as you’ve been a really bad eater up until lately!

The terrible two’s have most definitely begun.  There’s a lot of, “No, no, NO!”’s at our house.  And, subsequently, a lot of time outs.  And the whining!  Oh holy whining!  I can handle a lot of things, but the whining drives me insane!  Once I can get you to use your words and communicate with me what you want we’re good.  But, sometimes that takes a while.  For the most part you are a very good boy.  You are very caring towards your friends and are very non confrontational with them.  It seems like you get that from your Daddy!

Daddy and I had so much fun with you on our big adventure this month!  It makes us very excited for Maui in July!  I know you will enjoy it so much more than last year and we get to go on another fun plane ride!

I love you always and forever my B,

Mama

I am not a runner.  I grew up playing soccer.  Midfield to be exact.  Anyone how knows soccer knows that midfielders run the most.  I always begged to play forward instead.  I could run the short sprints needed to play soccer, but I’ve never had the endurance to run a few miles. Or even a mile.  Maybe at my peak shape I could run a mile, but not much more than that.  I don’t think I know the proper way to breathe.  Or maybe I get bored, I don’t know.  In junior high we a run in PE called the Coyote Run.  I always dreaded the Coyote Run and came in last.  I even went to a cross country meet in junior high.  I think I went because we got to leave school early.  I came in last for our school.  Seriously.

I’m no runner, but the last few weeks I’ve actually started running.  With a 2 year old.  In a jogging stroller.  Going up hills.  It’s hard, but I’m actually really enjoying it.  It’s so nice to be outside in the fresh air.  Brayden gets out of the house (and he gets rewarded by going to the park after) and I get a work out.  It feels so good to do something for myself.  Besides taking a shower in the morning this is the only time I ask Brayden to do something I want to do.  I had been wanting to go back to the gym, but the thought of getting both of us in the car and out of the house and then putting B in childcare freaked me out.  This is so much easier.

I’m using the Couch to 5K app on my iphone.  It’s really easy to follow and even I am able to keep up with it.  I downloaded a couple of other apps (iMap My Run and Run Keeper), but apparently we don’t live in a very good GPS zone because they don’t work.  I may have to break down and get the Nike+.  I like tracking my progress and actually being able to see my improvement.  Who knows?  Maybe I’ll even run a 5K.

Oh, and that beautiful BOB Revolution jogging stroller in the picture is not mine.  A wonderful friend let me borrow hers this week so I could see if I think it’s worth the investement.  Um, it’s amazing.  Compared to my janky Jeep jogging stroller it’s so light weight and so much easier to steer.  And I think Brayden likes it better because he complains less.  I’m in love!  But, with a $400 price tag I’ll be saving my pennies.  Or at least I need to prove to myself that I’m really committed before I invest in it.  So, if anyone would like to donate a navy blue BOB (heck, I’d even make B ride in the brown and pink version!) that would be awesome.  Thanks

When shooting in full sun I’m always looking at the shadows on my subjects face.  Typically I want the sun to be to their back (this will create less shadows).  And I always expose for the person rather than the background.  I don’t care if the background is totally blown out as long as the subject looks good.

These pictures I took of Brayden and Chuck at the beach were taken around 11:30am on a totally bright and sunny day.  I positioned myself so the sun was behind them and paid close attention to shadows on their faces.

Canon 5D, 50 1.2

f 2.8, 1/2500 ISO 125

f 2.8, 1/4000, ISO 125

And then you read Layla’s story.  And suddenly those small things seem like nothing and getting to be a mom is such a gift.  Brayden is healthy.  I am healthy.  Chuck is healthy.  We’ve got a roof over our heads and food on our table.  We are together and that’s all that matters.  I read this on Layla’s blog a couple of weeks ago and every time I get tired or frustrated or annoyed I think of what her mom wrote:

Layla now spends most of her days sleeping. 30-45 minutes after she wakes up, she is ready to lay down and sleep again. Is this God’s way of preparing me for all the quiet time that is coming soon? The house is quiet. I am able to go through the motions of laundry, dishes, cooking and picking up without interruptions. But I WANT interruptions. I WANT Layla to be under my feet asking for cookies. I WANT to hear her playing with her toys. I WANT to take 45 minutes to unload the dishwasher because she keeps trying to help. For every time I uttered the words “I just can’t get anything done with these kids under my feet all day” I am eternally regretful. The days that I looked forward to naptime so I could get a grocery list made, or finally fold all the piles of laundry…I regret those days too. If I could do it all again, I’d enjoy EVERY SINGLE WAKING MOMENT I had with her. I would never wish for her to sit still or take a nap or go to bed early. I would never look forward to the days when she could sit through an entire episode of Dora silently. I would treasure every second with her.

I know I’m not perfect and there will still be plenty of times when I get frustrated and tired.  But, after reading this I have done my absolute best to treasure every single waking moment with my baby.  Life is just so short.

This picture makes my heart happy.  It’s also a good explanation of why they don’t let 2 year olds drive real cars.  He was a maniac!

*  Taken with the Canon G10.

That is the number of hours that we spent at Disney World.  We weren’t there for very long, but we fit a lot in!  I have been to Disney World twice.  Once in fourth grade and once for cheerleading nationals in 1998 (go PACE All-Stars!).  But, this was Chuck’s first trip (first trip to Florida even!) and obviously Brayden’s first trip.  We’ll be making a big Disney World trip for Brayden’s 5th birthday so we kept this one short just because a 2 year old can only handle so much excitement.  Here are a few of my observations about Disney World:

*** Pics in this post are taken with Canon 5D and the 24 – 70 2.8 and my Canon G10 point and shoot.

-  While the Magic Kingdom has a better castle, Disneyland is a much better park.  Everything seems more updated there.  I’m probably totally bias.

-  Disney World resort is a much nicer resort than Anaheim.  Much prettier and spread out (which is kind of a good thing and a bad thing).

-  The Tea Cups are much better at Disneyland, but to a 2 year old a pink tea cup is a pink tea cup!

-  People are much friendlier at Disney World.  I think it’s the Southern hospitality.  And I love hearing all the Southern accents!

-  Animal Kingdom is awesome.  Brayden loved the jeep safari and Dino Land.  I won a teddy bear and a lizard for him there.  That’s how we roll in this family.  Mom has to win the prizes.

-  Animal Kingdom resort is a nice hotel.  It was Disney without being too busy.  The savanna view rooms are kind of a rip off.  We saw an ostrich, two giraffes, and some other animal that I don’t know the name of .  Maybe we would have seen more if we would have stayed longer.  B was pretty darn impressed by those giraffes.

-  Florida ducks are not nice.  If your kids are eating popcorn beware.  They will get bit.  Poor Brayden is scared for life!  But, like any good parents would do, we tortured him and made him take a picture with Donald Duck later in the day.

-  For a two year old the bus ride to the parks may  just be the best ride in the park!

And we had a great time in the JAX.  Brayden and I visited St. Augustine while Chuck was at his conference.  We rode the train around town for an hour (it was freezing!).  B loved the train and I loved learning about the history of the city.  Total win-win!  We then visited an Alligator farm.  It was a bit smelly, but B enjoyed it very much.  He especially loved feeding the gators.  We also visited St. Johns Town Center (twice) and I got a new pair of jeans and a sweatshirt from GAP (if you follow me on twitter you know why!) and a super cute shirt and purse from Anthro.  I also got to visit Ballard Designs.  I get the catalog and was SO, SO, SO excited to see everything in person.  Love that place!  Thanks for all of the suggestions, friends!

Thanks for all of your awesome suggestions about what to do in Jax.  I now know that the cool kids call Jacksonville Jax so now I don’t look like a dork.  Because we are going to Animal Kingdom on Saturday I think we are going to go St. Augustine instead of the Jax (not Jacksonville) zoo.  Or maybe we’ll go to both.  It’s going to be a LONG day and I don’t want to be in the hotel so we shall see!

I know we’ll be riding a pink cup at some point though

What’s your normal attire when shooting a wedding?

I always wear all black (or at least dark colors) to weddings.  I want to blend into the background and not stand out like a sore thumb in their wedding video or their guests pictures.  I try to make it fun by wearing cute shoes that are a bright color.  I always try to look cute at weddings, but at the end of the day I’m a sweaty, frizzy haired mess.  But, it’s not about me anyways, right?  I don’t try to wear heels or skirts.  For me it’s about comfort and practicality.  I’m climbing on chairs, laying on the ground, and running all over the place.  I want to be comfortable while looking professional.

I don’t really have too many pictures of me shooting.  I usually delete all the ones my second shooters take because I look like a dork ball.  I do have one that’s my absolute fav.  Taken at 36 weeks pregnant.

Photo by:  Jasmine Star