Emskyrooney

The random.org winner of my firmoo.com giveaway was entry #9- Jen!  Congrats and thanks to all who entered!

  It’s hard to believe but Eliza is 6 months old today!  The past 6 months have flown by and she’s had so  many milestones just in the last few weeks. At 6 months, Eliza is pretty good at sitting up.  She topples over when she gets too excited or when she’s tired but she’ll  happily sit and play for quite a while- either on her own or with her big brother. We just started giving Eliza solid foods.  We skipped the whole “pureed” plan and went with “ Baby Led Weaning ” this time around.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, you wait until your baby can sit up well on their own and can pick up toys and things- then you start them right off on solid foods- cut into sizes that they can pick up.  Veggies are lightly steamed or roasted to make them a bit softer.  Eliza LOVES it and I have to say that Paul and I love it too.  It’s so much easier and more fun than sitting down at every meal to spoon feed her- She eats the same things we’re eating, just sometimes prepared a bit diff

  (Welcome if you’re coming from Suzanne O'Brien Studio in Northern California!) This month’s group photography theme was “shadow.”  I’ll admit, I had a bit of a hard time with this one.  We’re in the middle of the February doldrums around these parts, and while the sun does shine from time to time it’s cold and blustery and damp most days.  It was tough to get motivated and creative about this, but that’s the whole point of the challenge! The kids and I were in the living room one afternoon and LP was lining his toys up on the windowsill.  The (frigid) afternoon sun was pouring in and I realized that there was a sort of lightbox effect.   I enlisted LP’s help in photographing some of his favorite toys (and one of Eliza’s) so he was the “stylist” for this little photo shoot.  I think if we ever have a dedicated play room I might frame some of these photos for the walls! Sophie the Giraffe: Army Guys: Captain America (I never noticed how realistic this toy looks until I too

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Firmoo about whether I’d like a free pair of glasses to review on my blog.  I’d seen some other blog reviews of Firmoo and they were all positive so I thought I’d give it a shot. If you’re not familiar with it, Firmoo is an online optical store which sells prescription and nonprescription glasses.  Their website is very easy to navigate and the price of the frames is great.  They have a ton of different styles for men and women. I only wear glasses at the computer as I have 20/20 vision but “weak eye muscles.”  The glare from the screen fatigues my eyes and gives me headaches. I considered ordering a pair of computer glasses however I already have two pairs and only one computer so I decided to choose non-prescription sunglasses instead.  One of the great things about the website is that it’s super easy to upload your own picture to try glasses on virtually.  I placed my order and my glasses arrived in about two weeks. Instead of typin

My dad has a nickname he’s used for many of our family pets over the years (all dachshunds):  Sick Lick.  We have our very own “Sick Lick” here at our house- and a baby girl who isn’t quite sure how to defend herself against the sick lick quite yet…   This is part of PAIL’s Monday Snapshot! Check out more entries here!  

10 on 10: Ten photos taken during one day or event, documenting that day or event, and posted on the tenth of the month . This month, with predictions of an impending historic snow storm, I decided to do my 10 on 10 during Blizzard Nemo.  We survived the event with our power intact, a giant pine tree horizontal in our backyard instead of vertical, and 20 inches of snow.  Unfortunately, yesterday, our power went out for just over 24 hours which meant that I couldn’t get my post up in time to join in this month’s blog circle.   Here are my photos- better late than never! The beginning: A snowy dog: Digging out: Gabby’s favorite spot: Brrr…. Eliza’s first time in the snow (yes, she was thrilled): Friends came to stay as they had no power (and still don’t).  LP and his best buddy had a blast playing in the snow together (when they weren’t crying about getting snow in their faces!) LP’s first “real” sledding experience– we have a very flat yard normally. And some sled

I had other posts planned for today- month two of my 10 on 10 photography project but the Blizzard of 2013 decided to mess with us instead so all I can do is post a few photos I took on my phone of Blizzard Nemo. The driveway. The tree on the left is hanging onto the driveway due to the weight of the snow. We came through the storm relatively unscathed other than close to 2 feet of snow in our yard and a giant pine tree that crashed down around midnight, taking out part of our fence but sparing the house and shed.   Our power went out 5 or 6 times but came back on within 10 minutes each time. Friends of ours weren't so lucky, their power didn't come back and so they crashed with us Saturday night. The kids were having a blast playing in the snow on Sunday when our power suddenly went out. Nice. Our friends packed up to drive 2 hours to stay with family and we hightailed it to Paul's parents' house. Power for all is expected to maybe be back on

This month at I ♥ Faces   the theme is   love. Of course, I had to share one of LP and Eliza.  I took this one at the end of a little photo shoot I was doing with them.  I’d mostly been taking photos of Eliza while LP bounced all over, not listening and generally behaving like a 4 year old.  She’d finally had enough and was dozing off, sucking her thumb when LP laid down beside her and just watched her napping for a while. That’s love. Be sure to go to I ♥ Faces to check out the other entries!

I'm a bit behind with Eliza's monthly "Things to Remember" so I thought I'd tie it into this week's Monday snapshot. Be prepared to be inundated with photos!   At five months Eliza's personality is really starting to shine through!  We had a feeling from the start that she'd be intense and so far, we're absolutely right.  She's either very quiet, or very LOUD.  Fast asleep, or WIDE awake.  Satisfied, or STARVING.  There's very little in between with her. At five months Eliza smiles and giggles all the time.  If you really want to get some giggles out of her just tickle her tummy.  Or, if you're LP, you can tell a completely nonsensical knock-knock joke.  Works every time. The hair on the top of her head is slowly filling in, but she's getting a bald spot on the back of her head now.  She turns her head back and forth all night long while she sleeps which seems to be creating a perfect little round bald spot. Eliza is starting to sho