The Tiny Footprints Project

I was recently accepted as a photographer for The Tiny Footprints Project.  

The Tiny Footprints Project is a group of photographers who are  matched with local families to offer their services free of charge to parents of premature babies living in the NICU. 

The photographers capture the newborns earliest moments and are a part of the families precious beginnings.

Please share this information with friends and family to help spread the word so that we can make sure all babies that stay in the NICU (premie or not) have a chance to get professional photos taken.  

See the flier below for information on how to request your TTFP session.  

September ended, I can wake up now.

I love September.  In theory.  The beginning of fall - which I do love - and all that goes with it.

In reality though, we are not the greatest of friends.  I always feel overwhelmed and flustered and stressed and depressed and ANXIOUS about all of the things. Always.  It probably has a lot to do with the autumnal equinox and the rapidly changing amount of light that brings out those feelings with me as it does with many others.

But it's October now, and I'm feeling better.

I know I have a hard time with September so I planned ahead and took a day off for me.  A day where I could do what I wanted or needed to do while the kids were in school and have not have to worry about work.  I took it on a Friday - and after I ran some errands in the morning I convinced a friend to bring her newborn over so I could take a couple pictures of him.



Walter was more interested in eating than sleeping for photos so I didn't get too many, and it hasn't worked out to get anymore newborn photos.



Adam had some friends over to play games to celebrate his birthday and he agreed to let Carus throw him a Minecraft themed party.  We had red vines as "TNT", carrots and watermelon as themselves, chips and dip, cucumbers and dip, pizza (of course) and a Creeper decorated cake.  Carus planned, and helped make and put together everything for the party - even drawing the signs.

While spending some gift cards we've had laying around far too long I found this crate - which is a new prop for putting babies - or pug dogs (or cats, etc) in for photos.  Yoda was very cooperative and would jump in and sit down for me.


Providence (the hospital/health care group I work for) has forums for it's employees to keep us informed of progress and plans, etc.  At the end of each forum they do a drawing to give away a little prize.  I won this time - a gift basket with coffee and chocolate.  The chocolate was good - I haven't tried the coffee yet.


We were able to line up schedules one last time for me to run over to do this shot of my friends kids with baby Walter.  She saw this idea on Pinterest and loved it and so did I.  I'm glad we got it, I love it. (Of course Walter wanted to sleep that day!)


Dogs begging for treats from Robert - who got into the closet for paper towels or something.  They did get a treat too.


A good portion of September was stormy and wet.  We had 8-10 inches of rain in September.  Lots of gray skies and wet.



But fall does have lovely sunsets.

Carus and I go to a farm.

My friend G has a friend whose horse recently had a baby and G took Carus and I out to see the little filly Thursday.



Mama J-Lo and baby Pixel



Trying to keep up with mama.  Baby was about a week old.



Carus petting them and saying hello.



They also had some miniature donkeys - Tessa, Fiona, Bailey, Goldie, and *shoot, I forgot*.  Grrr. This is why I shouldn't procrastinate on my blog posts.  I didn't get a picture of all of the donkeys as I had my long lens with me as we weren't sure how close we'd be able to get to baby (we were the first strangers to meet her) and then got distracted with petting the donkeys that I didn't step back to get a picture.



After spending a very good amount of time visiting while petting the donkeys - they love the attention - we went over to say hi to the alpacas.  They had 4 (only two pictured; three white and one black).



They weren't friendly and never came over.



We still stood around visiting some more and Carus ran off to play with their great dane, Hannah.



They explored the field of tall grass.

Last week

A shot from my cake smash session last Sunday.  These babies are so stinking adorable!  They loved their cupcakes - and we enjoyed the leftover cupcakes.



My hosta is blooming.  The leaves aren't looking that great though.  I have a few plant munching bugs this year and I don't use pesticides (because of my plant eating dog) so I just have to deal.  It's not too bad though.



My dahlias in the front are blooming after taking so long to come up that I thought they didn't survive the winter.



And my lavender bush is doing AMAZING! I don't think it has a lot of bugs that snack on it though so...



My neighbor has a garden bed just over the fence full of wildflowers and these ones are tall enough that I can enjoy them over the fence.



Friday we had a game night and played Blokus, a pretty fun and fairly easy game.  I was red, Adam green, Carus yellow and Robert blue, and because I usually win the game I got ganged up on and lost that round.



Saturday I canned some spaghetti sauce since we've been out for about 2 months now.

Pre photo shoot

I have a photo shoot tomorrow with a friend and her twin 1-year-old babies.  We are doing a cake smash for their first birthday.

Carus and I made and decorated cupcakes today, as well as making dinner.  She was very helpful.  We made carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, recipe below.  Photo of the cupcakes is here, on Instagram.

And we put up the backdrop and decorated it.  Those streamers were not that cooperative and wanted to over twist or under twist and generally be a pain in the rear.  The stuffed puppy dog was the stand in for this test shot today, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I cannot wait to get those two cuties in front of it and give them a cupcake.

I also got bubble soap thinking we can try some shots with bubbles too. Wanna take bets on whether working with babies will give me baby fever, or be a cure to baby fever?



CARROT CUPCAKES (Adapted from The Doctor's Dishes, Desserts, and Decor) 
Makes 20-22 cupcakes 

3 large eggs
1c dark brown sugar 
3/4c canola oil 
2c all purpose flour 
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Approx 1/2 tsp ground dry ginger 
3-1/2c grated carrots, packed

Preheat oven to 375F. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Beats eggs & sugar until thick and foamy, about 2 mins. Beat in oil gradually, beating after all oil is added for another minute. Sift in dry ingredients and mix until mixture is uniform. Fold in carrots. Spoon into cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full. 

For domed top cupcakes:   Bake in the center of your oven at 375F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 325F and bake until cake springs back when touched in the center, or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

SPICED CREAM CHEESE FROSTING (Adapted From The Doctor's Dishes, Desserts, and Decor)
Frosts 24-30 cupcakes

8 oz cream cheese, set out from fridge for about 15 minutes (Not quite room temp, but not cold either.)
1 stick butter, room temperature
4-6 cups powdered sugar 
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine cream cheese and butter in a mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar gradually, alternating with vanilla extract. Add spices. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Beat frosting again and then frost cupcakes as desired.


The recipe says 4-5 cups of powdered sugar, but we ended up using about 6-1/2 cups.  Probably because we're in Oregon and the humidity in the air.  I also wanted to be sure to have a frosting stiff enough to pipe onto the cupcakes.  I'd start with the 4 cups and increase by 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup until reaching desired consistency.

Also, I like pecans in my carrot cake and recommend adding them (about 3/4 cup of preferred chopped nut; pecan, walnut, almond).  However, I live with a bunch of buttheads that do not like nuts in their cake so I have to go without.

Playing with little babies

27:365

So, sometimes I want more kids. Sometimes I really miss the little itty bitty babies and all the fun baby stuff. I do not miss the un-fun baby stuff, but sometimes the un-fun stuff is worth dealing with.  And there are times when I'm glad we're done and our kids are older and can do chores. I'm especially happy that they can wipe their own butts.

But...

The teeny cuddles - Aack.

The itty bitty socks - I die.

And the gurgling and cooing - it's just too much.

It's good to have friends with little babies who will come visit you and let you get your baby fix and then take the little monsters angels home.  (Seriously though, they were adorable and cute and fun to play with. But yeah, also a bit exhausting.)

My friend with little babies who came to visit has twins - double the fun and double the trouble, right?  And of course I had to bring out my camera and take pictures.

This is little baby girl R and Carus is hanging out with little baby boy T.  Carus was very excited about getting to play with the babies, but was not comfortable if they got a little fussy and we were playing musical babies trading off for the one that was the least fussy and most happy.

Carus also wasn't too enthused about being drooled on or spit up on, which was quite hilarious considering how much her and Adam covered us with bodily fluids as infants. (Ugh, that sounded gross...well it was.)

We had a nice relaxing visit and I got my baby fix. I hope we were able to give momma a bit of a break for a few hours (though we didn't do too much).

Did you know it was already JULY?!

No seriously, it's July already.

This year is going by incredibly fast.  Okay, I'll get on with the catch up.

* * * * * * * * * * *
194:366
Wednesday

Sisters and a cousin.

I went to high school with two of these girls, the twins.  One lives in Idaho and was in town visiting so the other threw a little party so everyone could visit with her while she was here. They were already posing for a family shot so I grabbed one for my 366.




* * * * * * * * * * *
195:366
Thursday
Gramma picked up the kids Thursday afternoon and kept them until Sunday.


Green bean heavy harvest.  With this batch I actually have enough green beans collected for a meal. YUM!


LONG green bean - 7 inches!





* * * * * * * * * * *
196:366
Friday
Bed time snack - peaches.  They were very good too; worth the itchy mouth. (I have an allergy to most fruits and occasionally vegetables.  Usually only raw fruits, and some worse than others. And it never keeps me from eating them.)

(Instagram photo)


* * * * * * * * * * *
197:366
Saturday
Last minute camp out at a friends place.  We packed up some sleeping bags, the dogs, and had some fun hanging around the campfire.  Unfortunatey the air mattress had a slow leak and we didn't sleep well.

(Instagram photo)

* * * * * * * * * * *
198:366
Sunday
I passed on my glider rocking chair from when Carus was a baby to a friend who just had twins.  They were born premature and are still in the NICU. They are doing good, though still have the problems preemie babies face.  There is a lot of promise that baby girl will get to come home soon, and hopefully her brother won't be far behind her.  I took the chair out to her Sunday and sat and visited for awhile; then I made her pose with the recently acquired hand prints of the babies in her new rocking chair.  If you can't tell, those hand prints are TEENY!



* * * * * * * * * * *
199:366

I had Monday off and took the kids to the zoo.

Every time we go to the zoo the kids pose with this bronze goat statue.  They used to both fit on that statue, but now...

The zoo trip plan worked out well coinciding with a Facebook photography group I'm a member of doing a zoo meetup too. I actually got to meet a few of these photographers I've been chatting with for months, which was nice. The day was a perfect day for the zoo.



I got many more photos of this trip, and I'm uploading them to a Facebook album.  I made it public so you should have no problems looking at it.  (Photos will be added to it as I get around to it.)

* * * * * * * * * * *
200:366
Tuesday

Robert helping me water my garden.

In-laws

Last week when visiting the in-laws I raided their picture folder.  And by visiting I mean dropping the kids off for a weekend with the grandparents and date night for Robert and I.
 That date night was going shooting.  I like shooting.  It is such a great stress reliever.
 Unfortunately I didn't get to shoot the fun gun (MAC-90 aka AK-47). But I got to shoot Robert's new pistol for the first time.  And David's pistol. 

Anyhoo, back to the story.

I was raiding their picture folder stash and I found some great pictures that I don't have.  And I don't have them because I don't make it a regular habit to raid their picture stash.

That is going to change because it was a nice little trip down memory lane.

There was this one from not that long ago - Beginning of September in fact.


Gramma and Grampa came to watch Adam's practice.

Oh and this one from Easter this year . . .

Then a few years ago.

June 2007

I think that is the Columbia River - might be Willamette...

But the bestest that I found was this one.

Adam in a tux as ring bearer in Gramma Barbara and Grandpa Alan's wedding.  September 2002.

Just barely 4 years old.

Isn't he FREAKING ADORABLE!!!

And this one.

This guy is cute too.

And look at the little baby he is holding, isn't she a cute little chunky butt?!

Carus and daddy at Gramma and Grandpa's wedding.  Carus was about 8 months old and daddy's little princess.

She still is daddy's little princess.

If you want to see more pictures from Gramma and Grampa's stash, click HERE.

Faith Autumn

This is the first pic I have of baby Faith. She arrived 12/09/2008 around 9:30 a.m.

I haven't been able to get any stats on her, but I will update when I do.

Congratulations Uncle Cody and Aunt Karen!

EDIT: I got her stats. 19-1/2 inches and 6 pounds 15 ounces (which is exactly what Adam's stats were and I find that funny).

Baby Faith

My aunt and uncle have been hoping for a baby for several years with no luck. About a month ago, they recieved a call about adopting a baby girl that was due December 15, 2008. They said yes and have been working out the legal issues, and shopping, and planning, and getting ready to bring her home, and waiting and waiting for the call. They have named her Faith, because faith brought her to them.

This morning, I got the call that baby Faith is on her way. Aunt Karen flew out of Phoenix, AZ around 9:30 a.m. heading for Fort Worth, TX, and gramma left Roswell, NM early and was almost to Fort Worth around 8 a.m.

Now I'm just waiting for the call saying she is here and is ours...and eventually will get a picture of her.

Stay tuned!

I'm a cousin again.....again

My cousin Emma and her husband Cody welcomed Reese Mae into the world early morning of October 12, 2008. She weighed in at a very tiny 5 lb 8 oz and 18 inches. And then they gave her a tinier bow.


Congratulations Emma and Cody!!!

I'm a cousin again...

I think that is how it works?


My cousin April, her husband Jason, and their son Clark welcomed their second little boy Harrison William into the world in Hawaii, 09/28/08 at 7:09 a.m. He weighed in at 8 lb 12 oz.


Harrison's big brother, Clark, has a new partner in crime!



Congratulations April, Jason, Clark, and Gary!