I'm so proud...

It was Brad's big night last night at the conference. His video went off with a MINOR hitch (rather than not being able to be played at all, like last conference), and everything that he did looked great. I'm very glad I came along to this conference, because I know in theory that Brad does stuff all day every day at work, but to come out here and to see the logos he designed all over the walls, and nametags, and the powerpoint, and then to see other banners he's done for different areas of the EFCC, and to see shirts he's designed (or ones with his logo on them), and people from all over wearing this stuff, and then last night to see his video, and all that. PLUS he's walking around this weekend with an "official photographer" shirt on (thanks to Lisa), so he just looks terribly important.

I'm also glad I came because there's so many people who have wanted to meet me and Aria. The impact Brad has is shown just in the number of people who know me because they know Brad (it's also cool to know he talks about me at work). They really appreciate him and what he does, and I think it's a good thing to hear that from people.

And we both love showing off Aria, even though already at three 1/2 months she lost the title of "youngest baby" to a little 4-week old boy. She does, however, continue to hold the "cutest baby" title.

Sweet, But Far From Perfect

I'm on a journey with photography. I'm trying to get better all the time, but I'm trying to steer clear of 'good'. I'm trying to develop bypass something that is merely good and step into the realm of the unique and expressive. That means that there are 'flaws' in these -- one of the quickest ways to break mental blocks is to arrive at a place where the shots couldn't be achieved any other way. After all, the classic sense of good is just one arrow in the quiver, and not every picture needs to have that as its goal. So I present these latest pics of Aria.

We're at Conference, and she's of course not in the setting she's used to. So we tried a couple of different things to try to settle her (you may infer that she was, uh, unsettled). One attempted technique was to show her a slideshow of pictures I have stored on my media player. It very nearly worked.


But at this particular junction she decided to throw a fit. None of those pictures worked at all. And out of respect for all the sleeping conference attendees, Deb finally relented and picked her up to settle her. That worked in a snap. And while she was being held, I saw the one last shot in the forgotten soother.


Each one of these exposures is maximum ISO (1600 for my camera) and shutter speed is about 1 second. The only light source for these shots is that little media player, and my camera is right on the carpet for all but the second one.

It's Brad's Birthday.

It's been an insane year for Brad over the past year - and he has taken life as it comes through it all - that is a gift - and the fact that I'm learning the same from watching him is also a gift.

He's got conference coming up starting tomorrow - so we're not doing a whole lot to celebrate right now - but I just wanted to put it out there that I'm amazed by how blessed I am to have a husband who is so great - so passionate about so many things, so in love with his daughter, so ready to laugh, and encourage and support me whenever and however he can.

He is a gift from God - and I'm thankful there's days like birthdays when you can make sure to let people know just how much you appreciate them!

I love you, Brad.
Deb

Missed comments...

A few random things I've missed mentioning.
When Aria was last measured - the doctor said she was in the 70th percentile for weight for her age (that being her adjusted age for her due date) - so since she's only SUPPOSED to be 2 months old right now - she's doing VERY well. When I asked him where she fits on the scale for a 3 1/2 month old he told me not to even think about that until after her first birthday - and wouldn't tell me.

As well - from a VERY long time ago - here's an article about me that appeared in our local paper accompanied by a great picture taken by Brad - the picture doesn't appear anymore -and it was credited to Brian J -which is funny since that's Brad's dad's name, but what ever - he got a colour picture published, and I had an article written about me - how fun!

12 lbs 9 oz

And still growing...

What a Weekend We Had!

Well, Aria went on her first two plane trips this weekend, and met her Uncle Dan and Aunt Caryn and cousin Silas, and Caryn's entire side of the family and attended her first wedding, sucked on her first straw (not well enough to get anything out...so sorry, Brad) and was a super star the whole time!!

She slept most of the plane rides, which was wonderful, and got held by some wonderful people at the wedding while Brad & I were taking pictures. We've got some video of her and Silas hanging out that we'll have to get on here soon.

It's funny how different Silas & Aria are for being cousins and so similar in age - they just feel different - Silas is a lot more solid, Aria sort of cuddles in, even their skin and their smell are different - and Silas is certainly much more smiley and giggly than Aria is (we'll just wait) a while, and more blond too, but just as adorable!

A couple funny stories from the weekend - one was during the wedding. Caryn & Dan were taking care of both Aria and Silas - to me that means, ensuring they're both well cared for. So, at one point, one of Caryn's aunts was holding Aria and Caryn assured me that there was no one who would take better care of her. Later another aunt had her and Caryn said the same "No one would take better care of her". Well, I just had to call her on this - they can't BOTH be the best care givers in the world - one has to be slightly less good, right??

The next funny story was at night. Brad & I and one of the Ouwehands was up chatting, Silas and the other were fast asleep in their bedroom. Aria started to really cry (at around 10:30 or 11 or so), and a couple minutes later the sleeping O comes out of the bedroom laughing. Evidently this O had gotten up from a dead sleep - grabbed Silas and tried comforting him, was super impressed that he'd fallen back asleep so quickly and THEN remembered that there was another baby in the house, and realized Silas had been sleeping the whole time. Very funny for all of us!

All in all - it was a GREAT weekend, probably the best we've had with Dan & Caryn - full of love & cuddles for the new babies, and enjoying their beautiful home.

PS Aria just sneezed and farted at the same time while sitting on my lap as I type this.

Aria's First Babysitters...

Well - this Sunday Brad & I did a photography gig - and I'd been avoiding thinking about it (since it meant leaving Aria), and so I left getting a babysitter until the last minute - and then the people I called weren't available because they were (in order): On Vancouver Island, in Mexico, in Australia, in New Brunswick, in Indonesia, in the States, gone camping, gone hiking and had to work. FINALLY, I called a girl from our church who I don't know well, but I just figured she'd be good with kids. Turns out she'd just finished a first aid course the day before (check) and wants to go into child physiotherapy (check) and has TONS of experience (yay) - all of this I found out AFTER asking, but that's beside the point. The point is, we went to the PNE - took pictures at a corporate party, and left Aria wandering with Sarah and her friend for four hours - and she was AWESOME!! I fed her right before the gig started (at the PNE at 10:45), then left her with them, did my thing (expecting she'd need to feed at some point DURING the gig - she didn't) and then when they came back (at 3:30), I fed her again and we packed up and all of us went home. It was lots of fun to be working again, and doing something other than taking care of Aria - and knowing she was close enough that if I was needed I could be there, but still knowing someone else was taking care of her was a great transition into the life of babysitters. I'm glad Aria was so good, and I'm glad I handled it well (I was very proud of myself, as only a mom who's had babysitters can understand). This is where not having a mom around was tough - it would be a whole lot easier to leave Aria with a grandparent, BUT in the end we all survived!.

Something New for Deb...

A GREY HAIR!! Brad found it on Saturday...It's definitely grey - all the way down to the fact that it's a different texture than my other hair (curlier) - so, Aria's given me my first grey hair - how about that!!

**Maybe that's what sleep does - prevents grey hair??

I'm Such a Goof!

I forgot that my other favourite lens is my 50mm prime. I mean all my lenses are my favourites -- they all serve a unique purpose, or there's no reason to own them. But my 'desert island' lens would have to be this one. When I attached this gorgeous, woefully neglected piece of glass to the camera, Aria and I got some really special results.
The problem is, she's so cute even when she's telling me "We're done!" (She was sitting on my lap watching the pictures come up on the screen as I was selecting the ones for this post. When this one showed up, she started crying and fussing all over again!)

Wild New Development

It's strange to me to see how fast Aria is progressing. Every day brings something new or special. Some things are subtle -- this one's not!

But she didn't quite share our enthusiasm at this success...

Mimicking Mom...

At Brad's work today one of his colleagues who has nephews about a month ahead of Aria asked whether she was starting to mimic us yet - we stick out our tongue, and she does the same etc... Aria's not doing that yet, but today, when I zerberted her belly (made a farting noise with my mouth on her belly), she followed instantly with a fart of her own - I guess that's as close as we're going to get for now!

Progress

Aria is making a lot of progress - Dad J said that kids don't just gradually change - they seem to make big leaps all at once, and it feels like that's happening this week. I just measured her yesterday (with masking tape on a blanket she was lying on) and she was 2 feet! 24 inches (and out of almost all of her 0-3 month clothes) and when I weighed her she's 12lbs 10oz!! WOW! As well, just recently she's really started smiling and being more responsive intentionally - what fun to know that you're the one who got her to smile! Today (and yesterday a bit), she was also cooing and really sounding like she was talking, rather than just crying to communicate. She likes to talk to me, and to the ceiling fan (so I don't get TOO excited). Then today I held her up (her legs are getting quite strong), and thought I'd give it a try - so I held her only by her hands and she held up her own weight! She stood! WOW! She's just doing SO well right now - it's really exciting. She's also much better at finding her actual thumb - and for sure putting her hand up to her mouth - she's going to be a thumb sucker, just like her Auntie Beth and her Grandma (not that they do it anymore...right guys?? Right???)

We also have plane tickets now to Red Deer and Ontario for the summer, so we're super excited about those trips! Who knows what she'll be able to do by then!

Have a good night!

Something Aria's BAD at...

Being an alarm clock!

She slept until almost 9 today - so much for getting up on time to get Brad to work for 8!! Oops! Of course, Aria sleeping from 10:30pm-9am is CERTAINLY something to be proud of for a newly three month old girl!

Aria's Namesake

Aria, Wade and Julie

This is Aria meeting her middle-namesake for the first time. I don't know if I've told the story yet on this blog - but Julie & Dan and I have had this special club for many years - the first club. I was born January first, Julie on April first and Dan on September first - so instantly we think people are cooler when they're born on a first (that's right Mom J [May 1] and Caryn [August 1] - I'm talking to you). SO, last year when Wade was due at the end of December the three of us discussed the fact that he was going to ACTUALLY be born on January first (which he was!!). It's fun to have a good friend's baby born on your birthday - and his middle name is Steven - which is Brad's middle name (although spelled differently). SO, when I got pregnant and told them she was due May 9 - well, I was aiming for my mom-in-law's birthday of May 1, but when things started going sideways, I started to aim for April 1st instead. And it WORKED!! Thank goodness inductions can take three days, eh??

So, Aria was named after Julia April - and both were named after the month they were born in. Since Julie lives in Ontario, we had to wait until now for the two of them to meet - but it looks like it was worth the wait. AND I would like to say that Wade was the bestest most gentlest kid I have ever seen touch Aria (who hasn't got a younger sibling)! WOW was he ever good. He'd stare at her, and just softly put his hand on her hand or cheek - I never worried when he was close to her like I have when other kids get too close!

Such fun to see all of them - life is sure different for the four of us than it was when we first started spending a lot of time hanging out six years ago or so, but it's still so good! I'm glad to have a friend like Julie!

Aria's First Fireworks!

Aria saw her first fireworks last night. She LOVES lights so the fireworks were a real hit. She watched the street lights most of the way there, watched the fireworks for as long as they were going (what an attention span) and slept against her dad's chest on the way home.







Nice pictures, Brad!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!