Revisiting Gideon's Birthday Party

Lydia came over last week and (unbeknownst to me) had pictures and a video of G's party!!!

Here's the up-dated slide show with pics of G in his car I made him:


And there's the video from the race that I'll try to get up some time next week.

I'm off to DC tomorrow! (just me)
-Daisha

My Best Daddy Ever

Gideon is going through a phase where everything he is enjoying in the moment is the "best ___ ever". But JR is always his best Daddy ever.

*****
I am so blessed to share my life with a man who is committed to loving me the way Christ loves His church and loving our children using God's own love as his model.

Our children adore him. Gideon wants every day to be Saturday so that JR doesn't have to go to work. And Naomi is a "Daddy's Girl" through and through.

JR is the kind of father who lovingly allows Gideon to "help" him with yard work and running errands. The kind of father who Naomi runs to when showing off whatever I've dressed her in that day just to hear him say how pretty she is. A father who stays a few minutes longer in the pool to play with his son after being told that he is loved and won't he please stay a "couple four more minutes". JR is the father who looks forward to getting up before the rest of the house to cuddle with Naomi and watch "Sunrise Earth".

JR, I love and respect you so much. Your commitment to Christ is shaping you into a godly, loving man who Gideon, Naomi, and I find it a blessing to follow.

Happy Father's Day, JR!

Playing

This week we've had a lot more playing-with-friends time than we usually do. It's been really fun. Wed. Hudson and Madison came over (like normal), but I didn't take any pictures.

But Friday, the Hughes came over and Lydia brought all 3 boys to play instead of just bringing Dexter. We braved the heat and played in Debby's shady backyard.

3 years ago the Sheets and the Hughes descended on Tallahassee at the same time. And Gideon and Dexter were the only babies around. And this coming week, the Hughes will move to the Nashville area for Brennan to begin his schooling for his law degree. Crazy how life moves us around and puts different people in our paths.

Tonight (Saturday) we had the Landes Family over to view the photos from their photo shoot, and Brian and Hudson joined us since they are having a boy's weekend.

The house was full of kids and people, and fun, and family.

Here's the slide-show from the last few days.

New Developments

Gideon: After hearing me talk about how he refuses to stand up to pee at church on Sunday, he has decided that big boys pee standing up "like Daddy". And he's doing great!

Naomi: Yesterday she DID NOT want to take a nap. I know this (not only because she didn't nap) but more importantly, because she said, and I quote, "Momma, no nigh-nigh." A full sentence and a full day without a nap.

It's the little things, people. It's the little things.

Also, every person who has e-mailed me or facebooked (real word now?) me about getting access has been added to a list. Even if I have not directly responded to you, you have been added (have no fear). :)

-Daisha

Going Private

Ok, peeps, I guess it's time. I hate to do it... but if I'm going to have a business presence on line... then I don't want every aspect of my children's lives to be public too.

So, you have one week from today to get me your e-mail addresses. If you've been reading and I don't know you, e-mail and introduce yourself. If you seem like a normal human being (you know... not a stalker or anything) I'll more than likely grant you access. :)

Thanks for understanding.

Daisha

Some Photo-Love

After seeing the pictures of Naomi the other night, Gideon decided that he wanted another photo-shoot.

So Debby and I took both kids to Southwood last night. I'm still working on getting all the settings right when photographing more than one, so the post-production is taking more time on the shots of both kids.

But I got some great individual shots of each kid.

Enjoy.
(Family, as always, just let me know if you want any of them printed out for you. I'll send you the image without the watermark.)

Naomi #1:


Gideon #1:


Gideon #2:

More Photos of Naomi

Here's the link to my flicker page with more pics from last night. Enjoy!

A Post from my Photography Blog

Tonight N and I went out to Southwood to catch some great evening lighting. In 30 min. I snapped 288 pics with over 100 that I'm going to be considering for post-production work.

To whet your appetite, I'll leave you with 3.

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Also, I'm lining up several photo shoots for friends that I'm really excited about. So, keep coming back to see all the lovely people who are willing to help me get together a portfolio.

-Daisha

16 Things about Naomi

1. Her language skills have exploded so much that I have stopped counting the words she says. She even has a few phrases that she uses these days.

2. When she is having a hard time communicating verbally, her non-verbal skills take over. And she's really good about letting you know her mind.

3. She LOVES animals and animals noises. Naomi is even getting the hang of giving commands to Izzie.

4. Playing on her own is the newest play development this past month. She will frequently go off somewhere and get out some toys and play. I've found her playing cars by herself. I've found her putting a stuffed rabbit to bed. She wrapped it in a little rug and was patting it while saying, "Night night."

5. Naomi (and G for that matter) outgrew all of her shoes this past week. Yesterday she wore pink flip-flops (which were also too small, but at least went on her feet). So, she's at least in a size 7 right now.

6. As she gets more independent, she gets more strong willed. (This is something we are working through.)

7. Never have I seen a girl more attached to her daddy. She is ALL DADDY'S GIRL.

8. Gideon and Naomi, for the most part play really well together.

9. That being said, Naomi has started to become the typical second child and wants to play with whatever G is playing with RIGHT THEN. And if he poses any resistance, she melts into a sobbing heap of tears. My language may sound melodramatic, but it's nothing compared to the drama of my youngest child (which only occasionally gets overshadowed by my oldest).

10. She climbs on EV-ER-Y-THING!

11. Whenever we get Naomi out at the parking lot at church, she starts saying, "no" and crying. She knows she's headed for Bible class. However, lately she's been doing better about staying in there once she gets calmed down.

12. I'm trying not to repeat what I said last month...
Oh, N LOVES to brush her teeth. Whenever the bathroom door is left open, she's up on her stool to brush her "eeth". And if I remind her that she just did, then she switches to wanting her ears cleaned or her hair brushed.

13. Naomi cut/is cutting 4 molars since last month. The ones on the top are through and I think the ones on the bottom have cut through... but she doesn't let me look much. So my glimpses have been what I can see while she's covering her gums with a toothbrush.

14. She will bring us a diaper if she wants to be changed and say, "diaper".

15. If any beverage is left lying around, Naomi will take it and run. (usually spilling it as she runs)

16. Naomi is still obsessed with shoes. She likes to pick out shoes for me to wear and bring them to me in matched sets while I'm getting ready. Her favorites for me to wear, apparently, are my red ballet flats with a ribbon bow. (I like them too.)

Well... that's our girl at 16 months. She's amazing and we love her.

What a Distracted Momma I Am...

June 2nd was Naomi's 16 monthabirthday and I missed marking it on the blog. Actually, I missed marking it altogether. (I guess that's what I get for letting my self get in the way and lead to a fairly bad-tempered day on my part.)

Sorry, baby.

When I get back from Advance '09 (which JR has blogged about) I'll present "16 Things about Naomi".

-Daisha

Place Your Orders Now

I down-loaded a free trial of Photoshop CS4. I have no idea how many things I can do with this and I know that I won't discover all of them by the end of the trial period. However, I have finished Gideon's 3 year Portraits.

What do you think?

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FAMILY-- If you'd like to have one of these pictures, let me know which one, and I'll get it to you.

Daisha

Photos from my Flickr Photostream

You can also check out the working-on-being-a-photographer shots on my photography blog (see right), but I thought I'd share a slide show on this blog. Enjoy.

If you have any constructive criticism, the other blog is better set up to handle those comments.

Thanks.

Also, G's t-shirt was made by Ms. Janay. It's PERFECT!

Going with the Pictures I Have

Hopefully today when I do G's official photo shoot, he will let me take a picture of him in his race car.

The party was great. Everyone had a blast. None of the kids fought over which kid got to be which car. All the babies got a turn in at least one car...

G chose Cookies and Cream cupcakes which we made with Oreos with blue filling. Those were a hit too.

And, after losing even more photos, I don't think it's my new memory card at all. I think it is my photo editor, Picasa. I recently downloaded the newest version. But, man, do I need to get this problem fixed.

Also, on a non-related note: I'm thinking about making my blog "go private". Yes, I usually am the one leaving the comments about how inconvenient that is... but if I'm going to have an on-line presence on the web for photography, I'm not sure I want people to be able to read all about my family when they originally just wanted to see my photos. We'll see. I'm just toying with the idea.

Pictures from 2005!!!

Mike James, the photographer from our wedding, has gone back through our photos (which we never got around to ordering in the shock of finding ourselves pregnant and in uber-savings mode) and re-edited some using the newer technologies. He has reposted our photos and they can be seen here.

Click on the "Ordering" tab at the top. Near the top of the next page is a hyperlink that says "Login to your password protected gallery" -- click this. On the next page, you insert the password -- daisha -- (all lowercase) in the blank. Note that they are in categories. You can look at them as a continuous slide show, or individually. You can also see what each image looks like as monochrome (black and white) by clicking on one of the "sizes" in b&w -- e.g. "4x6b&w". The pictures have the word "proof" across each, but if your cursor is "on" the picture, the word disappears. Note that these images are NOT high resolution images that would be good to use for anything other than viewing on a computer screen as small images.

Here's what Mike says about the photos:

In looking back at these 4-year-old images, I'm really amazed at how much WE have changed! We've now migrated to quite a bit more "relaxed" journalistic style (when the wedding party displays such!) but still use many traditional techniques, too. And better digital cameras and lighting allows for more available light and directionally-diffused artificial light -- all of this was impossible in 2005. But now, the tools are so much better! (And we look for different things, too!)

Enjoy walking down memory lane. I did.