school days, doctor days, crazy Frank & photography 101

ITY decided at 2:30am he didn’t want to sleep anymore last night…SO–after 2 hours trying to convince him it was a good idea…at 4:30 I gave up:). Now…if you had emailed me and I returned your email at 4:30am…now you know why;). We were on about day 10 of antiobiotics for a really bad double ear infection…one we’ve been trying to kick for awhile now. He had it in just one ear when we went in on July 5th–and at every 2 week check up there is something else…only it seems to get worse. I hoped the ears weren’t what was keeping us up…and he was happy after he dozed off from 6-9am…so I thought maybe it was a fluke. AND I’m ever so thankful for one of the mom’s at our children’s school whose family is SO DEAR to our family. She was one I emailed back during my 4:30am emails while ITY bounced in a bouncy seat (his nap spot of choice at Hannah’s Hope)–and she SO KINDLY came to pick up my kids for morning carpool as Rico Suave had to leave at 5ish for Houston. Thank goodness he’ll be back tonight!

Because P and L go to a private school, they don’t get the school bus experience so I invited them to go wait by the mailbox with me for Mrs. Christy! Had to snag some pictures of them on their way of course;)

THEN…it was off to prepare the drinks of choice for the babies inside and gear up for our day!

The 3 of us took off to Frank’s meet-and-greet at preschool (YES! He is going for TWO mornings a week…and I’m sad–BUT it will be time for us to do ITY’s therapies and the 3 siblings will never know or be effected by our craziness!)

Can you tell how Frank feels about having his picture made?

The meet-and-greet went GREAT…so thankful to have some SWEET FRIENDS in his class! Then we came home…and THEN Isaac Temesgen started his crying again. SO…we all loaded up AGAIN…minus Frank who went to play with his girlfriend Kylie…and off to the pediatrician we went to check on those ears. Bad news–ear infections STILL there…so the 2nd antiobiotics are not working. We are trying a 3rd and then going back on TUESDAY to see if there is any change. If not…off to the ENT we go!

Speaking of doctor days…will you keep us in your prayers tomorrow? At 2:30pm, Isaac and I will take off to the urologist to have another ultrasound on his kidneys to test the severity of his kidney reflux. It will not be fun or pretty–and although he has been home 7 weeks…it is still a very short time and I don’t want him to be afraid or upset or uncomfortable. Will you pray for peace during the procedure…so much peace that he maybe sleeps through it?! (My friend Becca says it’s possible and her son slept through his!) Will you pray that the reflux is gone and if it isn’t that we will have wisdom in how to proceed since the treatment some times involves long term antiobiotics (until he either goes away or at age 3 for surgery)…but since he doesn’t seem to respond to antiobiotics…pray for wisdom and guidance. We have a dear friend whose son has been through this same procedure so I feel so thankful to have a source if we have to go that route. My precious friend Kelly is coming over with her kids to keep my other 3 while we go. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without all my friends helping out while we run here and there…it takes a village indeed! SO THANKFUL! Thank you all for your prayers. So ready to be past this stuff so we can focus on our physical therapies and getting stronger…because ITY has to learn to run circles around his siblings!!!

Ok…so for comic relief–God gave us Frank. I have to share this…as you know our Frank loves to eat sweets. And when EVERYTHING gets quite…it usually means he has found some…

And of course he is wearing his favorite shirt. You know–the one your mom buys your kid at Walmart…and then they insist on wearing it every day! And here he is trying to get in ONE MORE CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZEL (Kelly…it’s YOUR fault for leaving these treats for us!)…Parker tries to help mommy by putting them up…”JUST ONNNNNEEE MORE!”

AND THEN…he snuck in the garage. I heard the drop of what sounded like a can. AND SURE ENOUGH–someone was in the recycled bin…

By the looks of his lips in that picture up there—he had found ONE LAST SIP…and half of it landed on his shirt! As SOON as he looked up and saw me, he threw it back in the bin! Good boy Frank!

So…there ya have it. The Young’s current action. As you can imagine–most days we all crash around here. Have to share this one I grabbed of Laney loo after school yesterday. She usually runs right up stairs and changes into something FANCY…no, not play clothes–but fancy…because that is the way Laney rolls:). AND THEN…she passes out! Of course usually in her bed—but yesterday it was in the living room…and with the natural light in there—I had to snap a few…

And I love up close…where you can count those beautiful eyelashes!
I’ve gotten a few emails with questions about my camera, settings and what I do to make my pictures appear sharp.

Here goes my best answers:

1. I shoot with a Canon 5D–but that has nothing to do with much…you can create BEAUTIFUL images with Nikon D40s. It’s more about lighting, settings and composure. BUT–to answer questions my current camera is the 5D. I’d love to upgrade–but I can’t justify it…and mine does what I want it to do.

2. My favorite lens right now is my “mommy lens”. It’s the 24-70L and I love it because it’s got versatility and can be taken down to 2.8 f.stop allowing more natural light in. If you are just starting out and just want to practice–whether you are a Canon or Nikon shooter–I’d recommend starting with the cheaper 50mm lens and just practicing lots around the house. Yes, I’m a former photographer–BUT I love JUST photography MY kids now:). I get contacted lots for sessions–but happily refer them to an amazing network of photographer friends here whose work I just love! If you need a referral and you are in my area…just ask:).

3. Sharpness. I love some sharp pictures—but as you can see in the candid images up top–most of those aren’t that sharp simply because I was capturing a quick moment and the lighting was all wrong. BUT give me Laney loo asleep in a room with beautiful natural light…and I can make an image sharp. It’s not about photoshop. It’s all done in camera. I NEVER like to have my shutter speed below 1/250 for sharpness reasons–and the HIGHER you can get it the FASTER your shutter is clicking so the SHARPER your picture can be. Sharpness will also be reflected in the amount of grain you let in an image–and this has to do with exposure–so you want your image also properly exposed. SO–in order to get the shutter speed up there for the eyelash image–I put the shutter on 1/320—I had to bring my ISO up to 800. To allow the most light in and to create the bokeh I wanted (blur in the background) I put my f.stop at my favorite 2.8 with this lens. AND all those things lined up together made for a perfectly exposed image. AND I really could have done the SAME thing with a Nikon D40. SO you really don’t need to run out and buy an expensive camera body–but I will say you might need a nice lens:). Better to have a nice lens than a nice camera body.

OK…so that’s my photography 2 cents for the night!

Hope you all have a GREAT night! Off to TRY and get some sleep!!!

XOXO

Andrea

P.S. JUST IN CASE you wanted to see HOW CUTE those bows turned out to be in Loo’s hair I made the other night…here is what she sported yesterday to school…AND YES…I’ll totally be happy to do a little bow-making tutorial! After I posted these…my precious Bible study girls scheduled us a bow-making girls night in for next Wednesday!!! SO excited to get OUT with the girls over PIZZA, bow making and girl talk. Much needed and can’t wait!

P.S.S. Come back later to see pictures of FRANK drawing the winner of the recent t-shirt give away (see post below!)