Two Page layout

Ok, I need your opinions again. I did a two, 2-page layouts and can't decide what I like best. The one problem with digital pictures is that sometimes you have too many pictures and you want to use them all, or can't decide which ones to use and which ones to discard. So hence the reason I did two different layouts! I couldn't part with any of the photos.

First 2-page Spread

Second 2-page Spread

Need Sleep

Oh I am in desperate need of sleep and should be sleeping right now.......but I thought I would post a link to this blog that my friend Heather had shared on her blog about a week ago. It is now a favourite and the "Carrots and Obedience" post was a pretty encouraging post. In fact this was an amazing post. It made me really reflect on my obedience to God and how much I whine, complain and am just too stubborn sometimes to listen and do what He is speaking, guiding and leading me to do. I needed to read this and do some serious reflecting! And now I need to get some sleep and will hopefully post some more pictures here soon!

Before and After

I know two posts in one day.......this is a record for me!!!! Just wanted to share another reason why I love Photoshop and the course that I am doing at my own pace.

This is the Before (pretty horrible picture taking on my part):

And after doing a bit of editting, using some "brushes" and some photo frames (all from Jessica Sprague's course) this is the after! I salvaged a photo that was pretty bad and made it look decent! YAY!!

Your opinions---please?

So right before Genesis was born I signed up for a free class from Jessica Sprague. I read that I could sign up and then when I had time, I could go back and work on the course at my own pace! I kind of forgot about it until recently. I am learning so much and I have always loved her free tutorials on her website. One day when I have more time and money I would love to take more of her courses.

For now, the free ones that I can do at my own pace will have to do. This was the first assignment, but I couldn't decide which picture I liked best, so I need your opinions, please. Which picture do you like best??

Zechariah at 3 Years

I can't believe my little boy is three years old. This was the first birthday that he was SOOO excited for and was anxiously waiting for. It is hard to explain the concept of time at this age. He picked out the cake that he wanted and I actually found a fairly easy recipe for it online (Betty Crocker). It had a video that I showed Zech one day and for the next week he asked to watch it over and over and over every day. I think I had it memorized by the time I actually had to make it!

So my little man at three:

- weighs 30 lbs. He just can't seem to get past the 30 lb. mark.

- Is about 3 feet, 2 inches tall.

- Wears size 3T and has the same problem with his pants--too short or too big around the waste!

- Wears size 8 shoes (in reality he is probably a size 7, but he now has orthotics)

- Wears orthotics---yes they make them small enough and they are expensive, but unfortunately he has his Daddy's and his Grandpa H's feet. Wide and flat---very flat that is why we had to get him orthotics. His knees go in badly and he has zero arch!

- Still wears diapers (size 5) and I am hoping and praying that we can get him potty trained SOON!

- Stopped napping! :o(

- Goes to bed at 7:30 pm and is up at 7:00 am (sometimes sooner, if he hears daddy going to school)

- Is such a picky eater now, but still loves his fruit and will eat his veggies.

- Has some pretty weird tastebuds......loves raw onions and garlic (eats them plain), likes salad (lettuce), eats butter and would sit and eat it by the spoonful if I let him, loves seaweed paper and thinks that it is a cookie. That is the healthiest cookie I have ever heard of.

- Still loves Thomas the Train.

- Loves trucks, cars and anything with wheels!

- Is obsessed with Fire Trucks, Ambulances, Police Cars.

- Is really into figurines and action figures (i.e. Batman, Hulk, Spider Man, Superman, Sesame street figurines, little people, etc.)

- Loves treats. Everything is a treat to him (pretend) and he will stuff his dump truck and garbage truck as full as he possibly can and they are his treats!

- Loves to cook. Always wants to help me in the kitchen and loves to help me bake too.

- Loves to wrestle with Daddy, play soccer outside and play pretend swords.

- Is no longer mommy's little boy. He thinks kisses are yucky and will only give me a kiss when I hurt myself and when it is time for bed.

- Absolutely adores his Daddy and asks me everyday where he is. He went through a phase of crying everytime Daddy left. He is such a Daddy's boy right now.

- Is starting to count--it's pretty cute!

- Loves music and anything to do with music. He loves to play Daddy's guitar and invent his own songs. The other night he was jamming and his song was "Jesus died on the cross, he died on the cross" and then John would pipe in " and he's alive and he's alive". So they had quite the jam session---I wish I had video, it was sooo funny!!

- His favourite song right now is "Belly of the Whale".

- Loves (or loved) his trampoline.

- Is a social butterfly. Loves to talk and loves to talk to ANYBODY! He is such an extrovert!

- Loves to go to Church School and asks almost everyday if we are going to Church.

- Is a great big brother and really adores his little sister. Although he can get a little rough with her and is not too fond of her now that she is showing interest in grabbing his toys!

- Loves his books again and will sit in his room for a while just looking and pretending to read.

- Is obsessive compulsive---if things don't go a certain way he gets quite upset.

- Would spend his whole day outside if he could.

- Loves to explore and see new things.

- Has an infectious laugh.

- Has such a caring, soft little heart.

- Is still as active as can be!

- Has a lot of temper tantrums, especially lately! He talks back a lot and sometimes I feel like i am dealing with a teenager---ahhhh!

- Has a lot of nightmares.

- Falls a lot and is constantly hurting himself because he doesn't pay attention to what he is doing. I can't count the amount of times he has fell down the stairs because he wasn't paying attention!

I think that is it for now. This is an interesting age as you never know what he is going to say or do and you take for granted how much they understand and know. I LOVE my little fire chief and am so blessed to have him in our lives.

Genesis at 4 months

As you can see, monthly pictures are getting a little more difficult. First she insists on eating everything these days and the basket looked mighty tasty. Then we have a little man who has seemed a lot more jealous than usual these days, so he hopped in the basket too! :o)

Another month just flew by!! So what is new in our little girls world, well at 4 months Genesis:

- Weighs 16 lbs. 13 oz.

- Length - 26 inches long!

- Wears size three disposable diapers.

- Wears 6 month clothing and some 9 month and some 6-12 month.

- Has the same problem that her brother did with pants....the waist is too big and the pants are too short!

- Still a super smiley little girl and we get lots of people telling us so!

- Laughs a lot, especially now that we know her ticklish spots. She also loves to laugh at her big brother.

- Rolls EVERYWHERE!! I will put her down and will come back and find her in a completely different area. Thank goodness she knows how to roll back and doesn't get "stuck" as often as she first did! I think she will be crawling before I know it!

- Loves her toys and is grabbing everything and anything. Has even started going for her brothers toys and that isn't sitting too well with him. We do have our moments though, sometimes he thinks it is funny and loads her up with toys, other times he gets pretty upset and tells her to "share". (guess what we are working on with him)!

- Loves to stand up and jump (time to get the jolly jumper out).

- LOVES her exersaucer!

- Likes to be read too and likes when I sing!

- Blows raspberries and has found her feet!

- Is going through some serious teething issues, but still no teeth!! We finally found some medicine that works (natural medicine) and have been feeding it to her like crazy! She has been drooling like crazy, attacking her hands and anything she can get her hands on, and screams (I am not sure if it is her finding her voice or if she is in pain, but nonetheless it is quite bothersome and even Zech tells her to stop and that she is hurting his ears!)

- Due to the teething issues, her sleep has been HORRIBLE!! Worse than when she was a newborn. I am up almost every two hours with her and not because she wants to feed, she just wants to be held and comforted or sleeping right next to me. So I am a walking Zombie lately!

- Has her first cold---which is probably due to the teething.

- Has curly hair. I kind of thought she did when she was born, but now that her hair is getting longer, I am surprised at how curly it gets when wet.

- Has really bad Cradle Cap. I have been trying to get rid of it using Coconut Oil and Olive oil. It works, but I need to keep up with it. Zech had it until he was two and once we buzzed his hair we got rid of it (I don't plan on buzzing her hair, so I need to stay on top of it)!

- Experienced her first snow! I didn't take her out, I just opened the door and let it blow on her face (she didn't seem to like it too much)! :o)