Two Months

Elizabeth is two months old!

She is getting smilier everyday! I'm loving it and everyone just swoons when Elizabeth smiles at them. She's gurgling and smiling at Lee right now. So often I look at her and get U2's "The Sweetest Thing" stuck in my head.

Today we started wearing size 2 diapers. We wear cloth most of the time (see above) but use disposables when it's laundry time. (E's about to grow out of her prefolds and we need more covers anyway, but I'm toying with switching to pockets and being ridiculously indecisive about it. Feel free to advise.)

After trying to get some tummy time photos today -- she hates being on her stomach unless she's on me or Lee -- she started to cry and I rolled her back and kept snapping. I want to remember everything, even her wails and tears.

 

She calmed down quickly. She's a pretty happy baby most of the time, but we have our teary moments. And our moments where we fluctuate between happy and sad every few minutes.

Her head is getting pretty strong and sturdy. She's watching things move; she watches me. She's kicking and squirming more and more, becoming more resistant to being in her Moby wrap at times. Before too long we'll be able to keep her legs out of the wrap and I think she'll like that. She gets more beautiful and perfect everyday. I was always so afraid that I wouldn't handle her growing up well, and while I often want to just keep her in this tiny, snuggly state, I'm also so excited to see what the next month brings.

Vacation Sneak Peak

More coming soon...

Betting on the Ponies

This Saturday I went to Keeneland with several of my dearest friends. Needless to say, Saturdays don't get much better than that.

I even won! This was after I won $2.60 on my $2 bet on Deal Breaker, a decision that was 90% based on 30 Rock. Liz Lemon never disappoints. Fun Fact: I always drink gin and tonics at horse races.


In my opinion, Keeneland is so much prettier than Churchill Downs.



And the horses were lovely. This is uptowncharlybrown. He won me $4.20 back on a $6 bet. (Sadly, this is about the most successful day I've ever had at the track.)

Megan had worse luck than me, and advises, "Don't bet on the 4 horse!" (The 4 horse came in last in like every race.)

I this this picture is my favorite. Might have to frame it.

Snow Day

We got some snow today.

Which meant I got to leave work a little early.

Which makes it a good snow day.

Zoey's Holiday Photo Shoot

Yes, I like to dress my dog and no, I'm not ashamed nor do I feel bad about it. Zoey does get cold sometimes outside in the winter and it entertains me. I mean, I have to smell her breath and pick up her poop everyday! Don't get me started on the time she ripped up my carpet. So the least she can do is entertain me by sitting still for some photographs of her wearing holiday accessories. And it's just so cute!

I don't know if you can tell but those antlers have flashing lights!

This is actually Reagan's but we can't get her to wear it. (She might have poked her head out of the bedroom during the photo shoot, gave a bewildered look, and ran back under the bed.)

Jingle bells rock!

Camera Shy

I didn't take any pictures Thanksgiving. I didn't even take my camera with me to Grandma's, which is where we do the bulk of our holiday celebrating. Even though I have an awesome new camera that I love playing with and need to practice more with. I left it at home, because sometimes, taking pictures makes me feel socially awkward.

It's one thing to take pictures when you're traveling or at a big event. Duh. That's what you do on those occasions. But I feel very self-conscious taking pictures of the Thanksgiving spread. Or secretly snapping shots of my family members chatting. Or taking pictures of the area around my Grandma's yard, which is actually pretty photogenic (dinner bell, old barns, antique farm equipment, huge areas of farmland).

This seems totally irrational. I'm sure it's irrational. But do you ever feel this way? There's almost something pretentious in taking pictures at times. Taking photos makes me feel like I'm saying, "I'm an artist. I'm talented. I'm capturing things that will be awesome, artistic and beautiful." And while I would love for that to be true, I don't really feel like it is. Yet. Sometimes I feel that way about blogging too. And maybe that's why this blog is about the only thing I've written outside of work or school in several years.

On a humorous note, my sister snuck out her Veggie Tales nativity scene (Laura and I love Veggie Tales! Mom thinks we're nuts!) and put it on our entry table. Mom was not amused. I did take lots of pictures of this. It was awesome.

My New Toy!

Lately, I've been thinking about getting a DSLR. It's expensive and it would require some money that could perhaps better be used going toward a house or vacation (Lee and I haven't gone anywhere since our honeymoon and I'm determined that we shall take a legit vacation in 2010.), but I still kept thinking about it. I've analyzed some of my favorite bloggers' pictures and the cameras they used. I've tried to improve my point-and-shoot pictures in an attempt to convince myself that it's more a matter of skill than camera (This is probably true to an extent.). To help me decide, I asked my mom if I could borrow her DSLR for a couple weeks and see how I liked it.

After a few days of playing with it, I got an e-mail from my mom. There was another camera she wanted and she was going to get that for Christmas, so I could just keep her wonderful Nikon D60.

Much happy chair-bouncing ensued.

I replied to her with many thanks and said that I was relieved because I thought I might have to buy it from her, which I'm sure would've been a bargained but free is so much better. In this e-mail, which contained other topics, I had mentioned that I would be picking up some toys for a toy drive we were having at church. So mom suggested that in lieu of actual cash money to her, I go get a stuffed animal for the toy drive, since stuffed animals are her favorite. But not a cheap one, a quality Build-a-Bear. So I went and built a dog this weekend, in exchange for my fabulous new camera.


He also barks.

So without futher ado, meet my new bff!

Clearly he needs a name. Yes, I've decided he's a he. And no, I still haven't decided on a name for my sewing machine. Ideas for both are welcome in the comments. My sewing machine is a girl by the way.

I'm thinking about George for the camera. Mike? Niki the Nikon? That's more of a girl name. And a little lame. I really like George but would hate to need it some day for a child and have already spent it on my camera.

Also, feel free to direct me toward any useful DSLR-for-dummies resources on the Interwebs.

Expect to see lots more pictures coming! Like this one, in which Reagan does not support fitness.

Photographs

I've been trying to take more pictures lately AND suck less at taking them. It hasn't been easy. I've even been toying with getting one of those fancy DSLR cameras, but decided to try to make the most of my current camera before spending $600 on a new one with more buttons and modes that I can shake a stick at. Here are some decent photos I've taken lately.




While visiting the fancy new Target, I saw this empty liquor bottle in the parking lot. I like how the angle turned out, that angle being me trying to sneak a picture quickly without looking like the freak taking pictures of empty liquor bottles in the Target parking lot.





This is the inside of the hotel where that party was where I won the football. Go Cats. In other Katie Trivia, this was where Lee and I spent our wedding night before heading to Mexico.

Birthday Lazies

My birthday was on Monday. I am 26 which is a pretty boring age. I've decided it's the Year to Remember to Use Eye Cream Every Night (because I just remember a couple nights a week).

No good pictures were taken of me on this day, as evidenced here:



The only decent picture of me, is of me and Lee, except the way it's angled my tank top looks like a brightly colored bra under a see-through sweater. Words cannot begin to describe how much I am opposed to visible brightly colored bras (some exceptions regarding tank tops and summer).



Oh well.

I've had a difficult time shaking the birthday lazies. Have I always been this lazy around my birthday? I've been using the "It's my birthday" excuse since last Friday. I'm hoping to shake it off and start being a responsible, pro-active, non-smelly apartment 26-year-old today. *fingers crossed*

Carousel

I love carousels. We spent Saturday at Cedar Point and as we were exiting the park, exhausted at 10 p.m., I made one last request, "Please can we ride the carousel?" I have not outgrown my 8-year-old fascination with them. I didn't take any pictures on the Cedar Point carousel (I was tired.) -- although their horses had real tail hair! -- but here are some from our recent trip to the Louisville Zoo.




My trusty steed


Lee's ride

One Year

appropriate background music

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

Extra Crispy

Apparently, those rumors that you should replace your sunscreen every year are not ploys by Big Sunscreen to get you to buy more sunscreen. Fair-skinned me went to Lee's frisbee tournament yesterday with 30 spf that was probably a little over a year old. I was outside for two hours and this is what my thighs looked like when I got home:


Ignore the arm shadows and bad lighting.

At least it was fun watching my love rock the frisbee. These pictures were actually from the last week's tournament.



PS If you subscribe in a reader, be sure to check out the real thing because I've got a new header again, surprise!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

I celebrated this afternoon by eating Mexican for lunch. Later I might break out the tequila shots. For now, I will share pictures from my honeymoon in Cancun.


Isn't Mexico pretty?


This is how I spent several hours a day.

Self-portrait: Me and the Gulf of Mexico

My Furries

I took some cute pictures of the kids recently.
Reagan enjoys hanging out in the bathtub. Zoey prefers the bed.