Finally Week of Class

I found this lesson actually really really interesting. The discussion about the different ISO settings and the higher the number the more pixels you would see if you blew it up was interesting. Let me start by saying that I am currently in Florida on vacation, so I had to use my father-in-laws Nikon D90 and he doesn't have the camera set up the same way we learned in week one. He is interested in taking the class for sure so I sent him the link. I had to change as much as I could in the manual mode, but I struggled with getting the spot metering, since I didn't pay attention to the Nikon portion of the settings video. Regardless... here they are.

I started outside, they a retaining pond in their backyard, to get some pictures of the fowl that hang out in there. So I found a quite ugly bird sitting on top of a house, I think I spooked it. I set my ISO to 100 since it was so bright and then went to work metering. Here is the series of me getting closer to the bird.

I did change the Fstop a few times to show the difference in what would happen with the sky. I then went inside and my wife was giving my daughter a bath so I figured what a perfect chance to take some indoor pictures with the highest ISO in the camera, 3200!

The lighting and tiles have a yellow tint but I did struggle with getting it metered just right in that light. Off her check, it was perfect so I am wondering if it was just the reflection of the tub, tile, and paint.

The most interesting part was when I went to look at them on the computer and I would zoom in on the ISO 100 and it was VERY CLEAR. I could zoom in and crop whatever I wanted and it seemed crystal clear. But with the higher ISO, as seen in the one picture I cropped, I was very limited in the amount of cropping I could do because it was suddenly get grainy.

I am VERY happy to have that knowledge about the higher ISO so I can know from now on if an indoor picture gets blurry when cropped thats why. It would have driven me NUTS!

Thanks Amber!

Snow in Rochester?

We finally got some snow in Rochester, well under our average, and my almost two year old has a favorite set of pajamas that have snowmen on them. So we built a snowman, her first time ever seeing a real snowman, together!

Snowman finished and now time to see her reaction!

She scratched her nose and face up today at day care but I think the expression is still really good!

If I had more time, I would have put these in PhotoShop to make one image out of the three but as we all know, time flies!

Week 2 of Photography Class

So when Liz and I were blessed with Blakely, we decided to get a new camera and had a great photographer come over take 6 months pictures of Blakely. Our photographer, Amber, was a high school friend of Liz's and was very open the numerous questions I was asking about photography. In the midst of our discussion, Amber mentioned that she was planning on starting an online class to answer the exact questions I was asking. A year later, here I am in week 2 of this very informative class. Visit www.fifephotography.com is you need a good photographer and are in the Oklahoma area!I would have liked to blur the background a bit more in this photo so it would be less distracting. It was on f5.6 so this is what I got! This week I would crank it down to 2.8 cause I like the bokeh effect.

This weeks class was focused the composition principle of Breaking a Pattern. It seemed like a lot of the patterns shown where of brick so I struggled to find another pattern to break. When I finally settled on my daughters crib, it was dark out and there was no natural light. I decided to bring up my fish tank light for the first attempt but the images all had a blue tint to them because one of the lights is blue. I waited until the second day to try to take the images when it was a bit more natural light and I am pretty happy with the image.

Blakely's Latest Update 4-26

Blakely is growing, eating, sleeping and being a joy. Liz and I are truly enjoying the new adventure that Blakely is presenting us. Our family has already been to the driving range and played 2 rounds of 9 holes of golf. My beautiful wife has been strapping Blakely in the Baby Bjorn (a carrying system) and walking with me at night while I slap the golf ball around. She even joined Nana, PopPop (my mom and dad), and I while we played this Saturday as a big family. It was quite special for both me and my parents. Ok, enough about golf!
So Blakely had her one month doctor appointment on Thursday of last week. Dr. Harris was very happy with her growth and progress. We are super excited about Genesis Pediatrics, their faculty, and staff. At that appointment Blakely weighed 7 lbs and 14 ozs. The doctor has no concerns and is looking forward to seeing our lovely daughter again in a month. On another note, Blakely has made a few friends in the past week.
Our friend, Harding had a BBQ that some of our friends attended. One of our friends had a baby 3 weeks previous to Liz and I, and their little boy was at the party. He is slightly larger than Blakely so it was a pretty cute photo opportunity for both sets of parents.
Blakely and her new friend are having a play date tomorrow.
It was a stressful week off. Not because of Blakely but due to the realization that Blakely is 5 weeks old and technically Liz would have to go back to work on this coming Monday. This Sunday is 6 weeks and according to NYS Liz should be returning to work. I can't tell everyone how thankful my family is that Liz will not be returning to work until September and that we are capable to have her stay out of work for an extended leave. I am thankful, Liz is thankful, and I am sure even thought Blakely doesn't know it, she is thankful too.
On a lighter note, I was blessed with giving my gorgeous daughter her first bottle a few days ago. I not get the opportunity to spend some time feeding her every evening which I value and hold dear. As a matter of fact, it is getting to be that time so I better go heat up the bottle.
I apologize for the lack posts but life is slightly busy right now. I am encouraging Liz to post more often and hopefully with Blakely getting closer to a schedule she will be able to do that more often.

Happy 2 week birthday Blakely (Mommy's 1st post)

Who would have thought it would have taken me two weeks to find the time and energy to write a post. It is amazing how quickly the hours and days fly by with a baby at home. We have all  had a busy week with visitors and few trips out.

I'd love to say that we are getting into a routine, but that wouldn't really be true. We keep trying, but Blakely is definitely running the show around here, and until she figures out the difference between day and night we are just happily going with her flow. Even though she doesn't sleep much at night she is wonderful during the day and we couldn't ask for a better baby. 

This past Wednesday we went for our third doctors visit. Blakely has been eating like a champ and was up to 6 lbs 5 ozs. I'm sure by now she is back to her birth weight. Dr Harris said that we don't really need to keep waking her during the night to eat if she isn't getting up. I was thrilled that she could go 4-5 hours without eating, and I could potentially sleep for that long. I don't think Blakely heard that conversation, as we haven't even come close to 4 hour mark yet. The weather in Rochester has been beautiful and Blakely has loved going for her first few walks around the neighborhood. 

She really enjoys the fresh air and sunshine, so hopefully we have a nice spring and summer. Unfortunately, Kevin has a bit of a cold and is trying his best to keep his germs away from Blakely. He slept at Steve and Jenna's last night and seems to be feeling better this morning. I think now that we have hit the two week mark, we might try giving Blakely her first real bath today. I've been saying that for that last few days and haven't actually built up the courage to do it yet, but I think today might be the day. Hopefully she likes it even slightly more than having her diaper changed, which she hates. I think we should be fine as long as we remember the warning from the hospital discharge paper..."Babies are slippery when wet." Stay tuned for pictures!

One Week Old

Happy One Week Birthday Blakely Jayne! Well 7 days ago at this point Liz and I were sitting in the hospital waiting for the new love of our lives to arrive. She's here now and we couldn't have asked for a more precious gift. The end of the week was really encouraging. The last few nights she has slept for three hours at a time with very little if any fussing between. Liz and I, well more me because Liz still has to feed her, have gotten to catch up on some sleep. It has been a blessing that Liz's sister, Nicole, has been in town for the weekend to visit and saved me from changing about 15 poopy diapers. Blakely went to the doctor again on Friday, it's been a while since I posted, and gained 3 ozs to raise her weight to just under 6 lbs. Hopefully by today, Sunday, she will be well over the 6 lb mark and headed toward hitting her birth weight. Yesterday we had a little photo shoot with Blakely with a card that someone from Liz's work made for Blakely's arrival.

Blakely's next big weight in is Wednesday, so Liz and I are hopeful to see some more positive weight gain so we can move towards the 3 hour end of the feeding cycle, rather than staying in the 2 hour end. Roxy and Mae have continued to adapt to our new addition and are doing really well. With the upcoming school week right around the corner, I am looking forward to getting back to business as usual with an additional incentive to get home from school right away. Our family continues to grow and strengthen together and get used to our new life style. Thank you again for all the support and out pouring of love that you all have given to our family.

Back to Work For Kevin

Blakely had another great day today. She slept pretty good last night allowing Liz and I about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep between each feeding. It is interesting to see how such a little thing can change your sleep cycle so much. Every little noise walks me up with a start. Liz said last night, "You are really jumpy recently." My response was just to roll over and fall back asleep. I am hoping to get some good sleep tonight because I am going back to work tomorrow and leaving Blakely, Liz, and Margot (Liz's mom) by themselves for a while. It is amazing how thoughtful all of our friends and family have been. Between gifts when visiting and dinners Blakely, has been brought into this world and surrounded by love and support. My family couldn't thank you all enough. I was able to sneak out today to get some errands done and eat lunch with my dad. I got some beautiful photos printed to share with the people at school. We definitely have been blessed with a beautiful child. One of our favorite pictures has to be this one.

There are many more beautiful pictures. Liz and I were talking about how thankful we are for our new camera. A few of our friends were instrumental in recommending a DSL-R to capture our new addition. The pictures are truly beautiful and priceless for us as a family. Funny, it's the same couple that recommended this blog as an idea to keep in touch with out of town family. So a special thank you to them. I am working on trying to get Liz to post but as many of your mothers might imagine, she is kind of busy. Looking forward to seeing Aunt Nicole (Liz's sister) tomorrow because she is flying in from NYC. I hope to post just as often with the new schedule of school and baby, but we will just have to wait and see.

Another favorite of ours!