shut up!

Yesterday, Choua and I were talking and Roan was in the room with us. Anyone who knows me, knows that I say "Shut up" a lot; and most times, it's not meant in the mean way.

So as we are heatedly talking, I hear a little voice say, "shu up." I look at Choua and we are both very aware that Roan has just said what we both thought he said. So to diffuse the situation, I quickly tell Roan that we shouldn't use that word. Thank God I haven't heard it since.

Usually we are dying to hear him say things. This is the first time that he's every sad anything that we both didn't want to hear.

Below, a picture I took on our walk that I am thinking of turning into a texture for a blend.

Over the weekend our friends gave us free passes to the Shedd Aquarium. It was tricky trying to get in an out before Roan's nap, especially since we'd both been up late the night before, celebrating my birthday.

Above: Roan loves bubbles.

On our way back to the car. I left it crooked on purpose because I didn't want to cut out anymore of his face. I didn't plan quickly enough when taking the picture.

recap

I had the best birthday ever! Choua and I took Friday off and took Roan to see Horton Hears a Who and then we all went for a walk. We took Roan to his favorite restaurant, Nordstrom Cafe, and then got a sitter to watch him so that we could go into the city for dinner. It was wonderful. Choua tried to get me drunk. It was funny.

I have no pictures from the day, but here are some of RoRo playing in the Sand & Sea box. It's pretty much sand with pools of melted snow now. Yeah, we never put it away for the winter. I was also trying out my wide open settings on the 85mm so if the pictures seem a little soft, that's why. I really love the color when I expose properly. I didn't do anything to enhance the color in the picture below. I just sharpened for web and resized after running a slight defog.

Thanks for all of the well wishes on my birthday. It truly was the best one ever! All of my wishes have or are coming true. I'm very happy and feel really blessed.

I didn't run on Saturday, but I started week 4 of Couch to 5K and am now running six minutes straight! It's hard, but wonderful! I remember the feel of runner's high and I love it! I'm really fat now though so it's taking me longer to get into it. The first time I started running, 8 years ago, I went from .5 miles to 2 miles in like two weeks. Now, I'll be lucky if I ever get there. I also love running outside. I love being able to set visual goals for myself and pushing myself to get to the goal. I feel really blessed!

50's

We got almost up to 60 degrees today! It was wonderful! I always say that Autumn is my favorite season, but deep down inside, I think Spring really is my favorite. Roan was so excited to go for a walk after daycare.

It's amazing to me how we haven't been out playing on a playground for about four or five months now and how his development had increased. He is such a little dare devil and wants to do everything on his own. He was so proud of himself.

When it was time for us to leave, he wanted to show us that he was not ready. I decided to try a fun action on this one. I'm not really sure I am digging it.

Then he turned to look to check if we had noticed. Another action, I think I like a little more. I wanted these to have a retro look to them--like the photo had been sitting out in the sun and the color had faded. I thought his haircut and outfit was fitting a retro photo.

On our way home, as usual, he found a stick.

Choua wanted to get some chips so we stopped at the gas station. We had no money and he didn't want to charge $1 on his Visa so we went home. I don't know why I've never noticed this wonderful signage before, but I love it! It's right across from where I dropped my D80. I couldn't step far enough away to get more of the sign because I'm shooting with the 85mm lens.

I think this is my current favorite shot. It's not technically great, but I love how silly his little grin is.

P.S. Tomorrow is my birthday. I am older than there are days in a calendar month.

pink

Our friends moved to Africa in October and they returned for a visit. While they were here, we were lucky to have spent some time with them. Ainsley turned one and started walking. We attended her party as guests, but I took out my camera to capture some snapshots of the party and birthday girl.

It was absolutely adorable! So wonderfullly girlie. Roan did not eat any of the dinner, except a few chips because he was saving himself for the cake...and why wouldn't he...look at this cake:

Once again, I forgot to change my ISO setting as I was shooting in major low light the time before so the pictures are very grainy. You can really tell in the last picture, when I converted it. I have to install my Noiseware on my new computer, but I really wanted to get some of these up. These are at ISO 2000! Can you believe it? This is better than what ISO 800 would have looked like on my old D80. To credit the D300, this is a major crop also so it probably appears more grainy than it really is because it's blow up a little.

checked off

I just submitted our taxes this year. It wasn't as difficult as I had thought it would be. I'm relatively pleased with our refund. I know you are supposed to minimize the refund, but we are not good savers so we like getting a little back during this time. I usually get our taxes done by the first couple weeks of February, but this year, I slacked. Oh well, it's done now and checked off of my "To Do" list.

I started week 3 of my Couch to 5k and I am feeling good about it also. During the week, I run on our treadmill and it is really hard. I thought I was just really out of shape. This last week, I was doing five cycles of 3 min walk/3 min run. I was dying on the treadmill and not looking forward to the increase in running interval to 4 minutes. However, I had this bright idea to run outside, even though it was barely 20 degrees this morning.

I have to say, running outside was much better for me. I also put my Redbox DVD in my jacket pocket and dropped it off at the grocery store on my run. Checked off also! BTW, there is this website where you can map your own run so that you know how far you have gone--mapmyruns.com . You can choose from an interactive map and it tells you how far your trip is no matter where you are.

I weighed myself on Monday and to my complete shock, I weighed more than I have ever in my life. I vowed to cut back on my food intake and to continue training. I am happy to report that this morning, I weighed myself and was 3-4 pounds lighter. I don't really know what to attribute it to--Couch to 5k, dieting, or just water weight--but whatever I did, I am going to continue doing it.

I've had the movie "Gone Baby Gone" for four days now and finally got around to watching it. My little sister mentioned what a good movie it was. I was hoping Choua and I could watch it together. To my dismay, he's already seen it, so I watched it alone. I have to say, it affected me more than had anticipated. There were so many layers to it. As a mother, I kept seeing how ugly this world can be and I felt so sad that one day, in the process of growing up, my innocent child would have to know it also. There is so much more, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Sorry, Choua, it was much better than Juno. Disclaimer: Not that they are even in the same genre and I enjoyed Juno, but this is one of those movies that stays with you.

Ok...gotta go help Choua fold our endless laundry and then it's off to a birthday party. We have one each weekend this month. Funny, huh?

up and running

The new computer is almost built and I'm almost back up and running. I was able to start editing photos again, but it's a pain to have to get all of my preferences back. Along with a new computer, we also got a new LCD flat screen monitor, which is really sweet! To my pleasant surprise, Choua bought it for me as an early birthday present. We never get each other presents anymore so this was really a wonderful surprise!

I've been learning my new camera and I've been so discouraged and frustrated. I can't seem to get a sharp photo and I can't seem to read the camera right. This new camera does not have an "auto" setting, which I never used anyways, but oftentimes it would give me a clue as to what the camera would suggest as the right exposure. I cannot, for the life of me, get this camera to achieve perfect exposure. I know it's user error though. I still lurve me my camera though.

I don't want to jinx it, but I think my little RoRo has finally outgrown "Terrible Twos". It seems like now that he can communicate more, he's not as frustrated. I think the therapy is helping also since we now know how to work with him more. Instead of throwing tantrums when he doesn't get his way, we actually talk through logically why we can't always do what he wants.

I love that he is finally talking to us. And we've also made a huge stride in the potty training realm also. He sits on the toilet and pretends to push out his urine and poo poo and then says, "All done."

He's really becoming a big boy now. He has been marking all of his schoolwork with a drawing of a spider that looks awfully like the sun, but it's just amazing to me that he is drawing real things now. He also has been insisting that we do not cut up the apple, but let him eat it whole. But he still loves his sticks that he pretends are swords and rifles the most...well almost as much as blanket.

frustration

I don't understand it. I've been walk/running now for 1.5 weeks and although I feel great about it, it seems that my appetite is uncontrollable! I can't seem to stop eating! So now, I'm wondering how I'm going to lose any weight if I continue to keep up the exercising? I need some major willpower. Oh...why do I love food so much?