120/365: Tummy Tuesday

It's finally happened. Hannah's cord fell off!! She has a belly button!

Before dinner last night, I changed Hannah's diaper and saw how close her cord was to falling off. When I went to put her PJ's on a couple hours later, the cord was gone. I have no idea where it went! I looked through her clothes and in her diaper. I skimmed the house... no where! The only place I think it could be is in Riley's belly. He may have found it before I did. (ew!).

Oh well. Hannah has a belly button!

119/365: An Ode to Girlfriends

Hannah and I had a busy rainy Monday. We got a slower start to the day... I blame the weather, but then we were off to our Monday Morning Mommies group. Hannah was awake the entire time and was so alert. It obviously took a lot of energy! This was her shortly after we got home.

We then came home, ate lunch and baked a few treats for Daddy. Well, I did the hard part and Hannah continued to nap.

Even after taking these different pictures, I just have to use this picture as photo of the day:

It's a cell phone shot of Hannah and her new girlfriend, Caroline. Caroline is exactly 3 months older than Hannah, to the day. She reached out, grabbed Hannah's hand and smiled at her. It was such a sweet moment and melted my heart. It just shows that we need our girlfriends no matter how young or old. It's a part of our nature!

118/365: Playing with Photoshop

I found these little guys in our backyard and decided to experiment some more in Photoshop. Why not?

117/365: The Ivan Drago Burger

The dreaded question in the late afternoon... "What should we do for dinner?" I told Dustin I wanted a burger and he asked, "Get one somewhere?" Usually, we don't go out for burgers, but I immediately thought it'd be fun to go to Creamery on Main. So, we packed up and headed into town. Of course, when we got there, I no longer wanted a burger, but fortunately, they have a lot of great options on their menu. Dustin got the Ivan Drago. What a beast.

116/365: New Kicks

Got new sneaks today! Can't wait to break them in with post-pregnancy workouts :)

What a beautiful spring day!

115/365: Dandelions...

... a really cute name for a really annoying weed.

114/365: My Poor Baby!

Hannah had her 1 month well visit today. It went well, but she had to get a shot and blood work. Watching your baby get a shot is like having your heart ripped out of our chest and stomped on. Oh.my.goodness. My poor, poor baby!

By the way... a blue camo band-aid? Really? They had nothing cute and pink?

113/365: Happy One Month

Hannah turned one month today... already! Of course I spent the day doing one month pictures instead of laundry, vacuuming or anything else productive.

I got this shot and it just cracked me up, so I'm using it for the picture of the day. I'm pretty sure she's thinking "Mama, take this stupid flower off my head and feed me!"... so I did.

Riley joined us to make sure I wasn't torturing her.

112/365: The baby, Noah James

I'm cheating and using a picture from yesterday, but I can't not do a post on baby Noah.

My parents had a cat Holly, who passed away about 5 years ago. Since she died, they were very hesitant and even stand offish about getting another cat. Holly was a nut, and not very nice, but losing her was very hard. It's difficult to make the decision to open your heart to another pet after having such heartbreak.

After getting to know Grayson, they slowly became open to the idea of a Siamese. Finally, just over a year ago, they picked up their sweet baby Noah. I don't think they knew they could love a cat so much.

We brought my parents a bassinet for Hannah's visits... Noah made himself comfortable.

111/365: First Comes Love...

Today, we went to my parents' house to celebrate my "little" brother's 25th birthday. I asked if he and his girlfriend, Jill, would mind if I took some pictures of them for practice. I'd never taken pictures of a couple before, and they were happy to be my subjects. Thanks Paul & Jill!

Of the shoots I've done for family and a couple friends, I've typically let them be somewhat candid with minimal posing. Today I learned that you need posing for couples, and it probably wouldn't hurt if I posed more of the family shots too. Though I had looked through pictures for inspiration and had a lot of ideas, when it came down to it, it was really hard! We only had the backyard... the sun wasn't in the right spot and if we were facing a certain direction, all we had were houses in the background. Fortunately, Paul and Jill were patient with my thought process and my lens that refused to focus when facing the sun.

Since it's so late, I didn't go through all the images I took, but this is one of my favorites SOOTC, so I did a super quick edit for a photo of the day. Overall, I think I got some good shots. I can't wait to go through the rest! Thanks again, guys!!

Okay, here's one more. I couldn't help myself.

110/365: V is for Victory

When Hannah was born, we saw that she had an angel kiss birth mark on her forehead. It just so happened that it's shaped like a "V". Dustin immediately identified it as a "V" for Victory... Victory Brewing Company, that is!

Victory is one of our favorite Philadelphia breweries, and their food is delicious, too! To celebrate Hannah's almost 1 month birthday, we headed over to Victory. It's the first of many trips for Hannah. She has no idea what she's in for; she'll be a beer connoisseur by the age of 5.

And because the blooming trees were so pretty...

109/365: Handsome Fur Babies

I walked past the living room to see this today...

Not wanting to miss the moment, I grabbed my phone to take this picture. Hoping they.d stay put, I went and grabbed my DSLR, but got the images below.

Yes, Riley's licking the floor vent. What do you think G is thinking?

108/365: The Birds Feed

I put the bird feeder out yesterday. It usually takes the birds a few days to find the feeder, but they arrived almost immediately.

On another note... it appears Hannah no longer fits in newborn size clothes :(. Look at those long legs!

107/365: Sunny Spring Day

Hannah and I ran errands this morning after a good night's sleep and then we went outside for a bit to enjoy the sunshine! Hopefully we can go for walks next week if the doc gives me the go ahead.

106/365: Tummy Tuesday

Look who's getting a big round tummy!

For a Monday laugh...

No, these aren't action shots... our little girl sleeps with her hands straight up and straight out. Hey, whatever works!

105/365: Macro Monday

It's hard to believe that just over a year ago, I embarked on my first photo challenge. I attempted the month of pictures with a pre-determined prompt for each day. It amazes me that just one year ago, I took on this challenge knowing nothing about shooting in manual and nothing about editing. Regardless, I knew I had the passion for photography, and I think I had a pretty good untrained eye. On March 26th, the prompt was "up close." This is what I took with my Olympus PEN set to an "artistic" mode to get the high key look...

For Macro Monday, I decided to take a similar picture, but in manual and with editing.

I'm actually not sure which one I like better!

104/365: Hey Ma!

I really wanted to take a picture outside today near sunset. Of course, clouds rolled in, so I resorted to a picture I took earlier today. I think it works ;)

103/365: Trees are in Bloom

Since I was young, I always loved seeing the trees bloom. It always seems to happen overnight. Seeing the buds on the trees and bushes today made me happy!

102/365: My Baby Girl

It's a rainy day here which leaves little motivation to do anything but stare at my little girl and play with pictures!

Yesterday, Hannah was wide awake, so I put her in her new chair. I wanted her to have something that could grab her attention and give her something to look at. It's a hit! Since she's so stinking cute, I had to share these images, too :).

101/365: April Showers Bring.... April Flowers?

Daffodils randomly bloom all over our yard in the spring (along with a ton weeds!!). This year, they're blooming early because of the warm weather we had this week.

100/365: Don't Forget Your Fruits and Veggies

Before having Hannah, I was very nervous about breastfeeding... just the logistics of it. Turned out, Hannah and I are naturals, but the unexpected difficult part of it all is the food! Trying to rule out the things that upset her belly is so hard; in addition, I have to be sure I'm getting enough nutrients!

So, Hannah and I headed to Wegmans, I strapped her to my chest, and we were off. We spent most of our time in the produce department stocking up. For breakfast, I got lots of berries that I'll add to baked oatmeal that I just made with a dab of vanilla Greek yogurt (in hopes her belly can handle this part!). Lunch will be spinach, avocado, nuts... I'm hoping to get back on track to ease her belly and give her vitamins!

By the way, did you have any idea how much attention you can get carrying around a 2 week old at the grocery store?! I learned that it's great that I'm out and about, Hannah is adorable (oh wait, I already knew that), and to enjoy her being so small because they grow up fast! Oh, and that people are incredibly helpful and kind when you have an infant strapped to your chest. 

She was beat when we got home. I love when she lays like this. She was in this exact position in her 12 week ultrasound and 24 week ultrasound... and we found out that she stayed like this until the end!