Favorite Photo Friday

Is it crazy that I just want to bite her rolls of chub?

My brother took this adorable shot last summer. I can't believe how much she's changed in such a short amount of time.

Favorite Photo Friday

I love this photo. I'm just sad that I tipped my camera and raised my focus point to the doll's foot right behind Mia's head as I took it. And because my aperture was set low, her face got blurry when I lost focus. But I love the photo anyway.

I love her little face. I love her chubby little toes. I love that she's in the beautiful room that I worked so hard to create for her. I love that she's sitting in the chair I refinished and painted. I love that her favorite thing right now is reading books. I love that's she's happy.

So even with it's flaws... it's still a perfect photo.

Favorite Photo Friday

About a year or so ago I bought a fancy DSLR camera with the best of intentions. I had big dreams to photograph not only my trip to China but the beautiful subject I was bringing home.

But my inner procrastinator got the best of me and I never figured out how to use the camera beyond turning it to Auto. Until recently.

I have long admired the photos taken by Lisa at The Long Road to China blog. So I decided to take one of her online classes. Which is another reason February was so busy for me.

I'm a work in progress. I invested in a new lens to help give me better shots. But I need a lot of practice. It's a lot harder than it looks to shoot in Manual.

Just trying to get my fingers used to changing the settings is enough. But then working the formula of the proper shutter speed, ISO and F-Stop while chasing a 17 mth old.... like I said, need a lot of practice.

I also took Lisa's Photoshop class and am just starting to dabble in the fine art of post processing. This is my first attempt.

I wanted to blur the dirty garage door more but got a little lost. I kind of like the patina of it up against the bright white of the door though.

Maybe some day I'll be half as good as Lisa. Hoping anyway...

Chatty Girl

Mia babbles all day long. She holds long conversations with herself, me, the dog, the table, the blanket. She just talks non-stop. And hums and sings. It's adorable. I wonder if I'll always think so.

Her current vocabulary (that sometimes only I can translate) consists of:
momma
bye bye
hi
milk (still pronounced "mi" without the lk)
more (muh muh muh)
nana (for banana)
nigh-nigh (for bedtime)
bubbles
ball
dog
arf arf
thank you (pronounced "an too")
bath (pronounced "ba" without the th)
no (and shakes her head)
yes (and nods her head)

And when she's especially whiny she calls me Mum-may pronounced like Stewie in the Family Guy cartoon. Now that is funny. I wish I could get it on tape but it's totally random when she chooses to say it.

Still Around

The last month has been rough... working late at least one night a week, being knocked flat on my back for a week with the nastiest stomach flu I've ever experienced, and a faulty wireless router that continuously kicked me off the internet making computer time minimal... but we're still around. I'll update soon.

In the meantime, I know the pic is a little blurry but remember all those teeth coming in I mentioned before? My baby is now a toddler. She changes more and more every day.

Hanging In

Work has been crazy busy the last couple of weeks. Mia has so many new teeth, including molars, coming in ....I've lost count.

Needless to say... I've got nothing left at the end of the day. So the blog is suffering. Hopefully, life will calm down here for us soon.

In the meantime, here are some videos of my big girl and all the walking she's been doing lately.

And unfortunately, a lot of stumbling and falling down, too.

And lots and lots of babbling. This girl is gonna be a non-stop talker some day.

Oh and if you notice there's a lack of furniture in our living room. We had to make room for the new stuff to be delivered. Mia is loving the wide open space. Momma, however, is tired of sitting on the floor for the last week.

New Signs

Mia surprised me several times tonight by whipping out signs I didn't even know she knew.

First, we'd stopped at a restaurant for dinner. She had an eye doctor appt this afternoon and by the time we got finished it was past dinnertime. Plus I didn't feel like cooking. LOL!

As we sat at the table eating mac and cheese, she was gazing out the window at traffic. I asked if she was watching the cars go by.

Out of the blue she signed "cars". That's something she totally picked up from her DVD's. It's not a sign I use consistently at all. I was quite surprised.

There's a big fish tank at the doctor's office that captivates Mia. So as we're looking at it, I start showing her the sign for "fish". I remembered it from the Baby Signing Times DVD.

But before I did, she'd been doing this thing with both of her hands together. I didn't get what it was cuz the sign for fish is just using one hand. Or so I thought.

Later during her bath, after we got the important washing stuff done I asked if she wanted to swim like a fish. She started doing the same two handed sign she'd done at the doctor's office when she saw the fish tank.

And I realized.......  I hadn't shown her the sign for fish. She already knew it and was showing me. Well, her two handed version anyway. My smart girl!

And speaking of bath time, once we got home I told her she was going to take a bath. So she started signing "bath". But that one she's known for awhile.

I casually said "we need to wash your hair" cuz I'm constantly just chattering away at her. She then whipped out "wash hands". That one she'd never done before unless she was repeating it back to me after I'd done it first. I didn't realize she'd remembered the sign and knew how to use it in the context of a conversation.

I'm so proud of her. Every day she amazes me with how much she absorbs. Such a little sponge thirsty for knowledge. LOL!

And obviously these photos have nothing to do with this post. I took her to the park on Tuesday because it was almost 60 degrees out and sunny. In Ohio on the last day of January! Unbelievable.

At least it was when the plan was hatched. But by the time we got to swinging the wind started whipping ferociously and the temp dropped so we didn't stay long. Mia didn't seem to care. That girl loves to swing!