New Pics (Week 4) Cape Cod

Long time, no write.  I know.  I've been on vacation with my family in Cape Cod!  We lucked out and had great weather every day for the week of July 4th!  Of course I got some great pics.  I had to process the hell out of some as they didn't come out as expected.  I borrowed a zoom lens from my sister and switched my camera settings from TV to AV mode per my sister's recommendation depending on where I was taking the picture.  She is a fantastic photographer so I know that my camera settings were set appropriately for some great shots!  When I downloaded all 388 pictures, I was surprised to see them looking a bit hazy, over exposed (lacking contrast), and mostly blurry.  I reviewed the camera settings of various pictures and they seemed to have been fine so I can only assume that the lens was the reason for my less than satisfactory images.  I wanted to talk to my sister about it in hopes to trouble shoot but haven't had the chance yet.  I cleaned the lens with a dry cloth as I noticed it seemed to have been foggy.  Out of respect for my sister I did not use a lens liquid cleaner on it as I would have liked to and felt it so desperately needed.  In her experiences with them they have left a residue/film behind.  With a little, okay a lot of, time, effort, and dedication I was able to salvage my favorites.  I'm excited to share them!  You know, as I'm reading this post back to check it for spelling and grammatical errors, I realized that the culprit for the foggy lens just may have been caused by the humidity.  I wonder if I had wiped my lens in between each picture if they would have come out sharper? 

This was Alivia's first time sleeping away from her crib so I had been anxious to see how she would adjust.  The first night we laid her down in the Pac 'n Play and without a fuss she was off to sleep.  I could not believe how easy it was and was excited to share the news with my sister who was sleeping in a different room.  Apparently I spoke too soon because each day after that first night, it became a project to put her to bed.  We'd try to put her in the Pac 'n Play and to my horror, my baby would let out these God awful screams!  Screams that were very unfamiliar and heart wrenching!  From then on she slept with me and daddy in bed.  Let's just say her daddy and I didn't get much sleep during these nights.  We were constantly afraid of rolling over on her!  When one of us had to go to the bathroom we had to wake the other one up to make sure she didn't roll off the bed.  Since her mommy has a small bladder, I was up at least three times during the night to pee which means that so wasn't her daddy.  I felt so bad having to wake him each time. 

Alivia's first time at the beach was exciting though I think a bit overwhelming for her.  She didn't care for the ocean too much and when her daddy tried to put her piggies in the water she started to fuss.  He tried a few times but she was not having it!  When I put her in the sand she gave me a look of uncertainty, quickly started to cry and put her hands out to be rescued.  I had her sitting on the beach towel for a bit but she became bored very quickly.  Throughout our vacation we decided to give the beach another chance but, as we expected, she did not like it any better than the day before.  She is still young and I'm sure as she gets older she will come to appreciate it more.  Most of our remaining days were spent swimming in the pool, laying out, eating great food, walking around shops, but most importantly spending time with family!  When you have a 10 and 1/2 month old they sort of run the show.  We scheduled everything around Livvy's naps, bottles and solid foods.  We had such a great time that we already booked for next year!  Just when I thought the vacation couldn't get any better, on our last day, Alivia said Mama for the first time!  She crawled over to me and said it while poking at my feet so I'm pretty sure she knew exactly what she was saying.  Yes my heart melted and I bent down to scoop her up in my arms.  The perfect ending to the perfect vacation!

Now on to my pictures.  My black & whites first...

This next one is so sweet.  Livvy just loves her daddy so much!  They got to spend so much quality time together this past week it was wonderful! 

And another huge milestone!  Alivia cut her second front upper tooth!  This picture captures all 4 teeth perfectly!  I can't believe I have an almost 1 year old!  Where did the time go?  Really, where did it go?

This is my nephew, Alex.  He's all eyes!  This was in Hyannis right after we had a great meal at Columbo's.

And again, Alex being Alex!

And finally a picture with me in it!  My sister took the pictures with me in it and they were blurry also.  I used PSE to sharpen them.  I think they turned out nicely!

I liked the shape of this bench.  It was outside the Chatham resort.

Now my colored photos...

My niece, Anna.  I used the Color Dream Glow action on this one from Paint the Moon.

My Family

Another picture of me and my baby.  The dress she has on is one of my favorites from Baby Gap.  It was the first time she wore it.  I wish I could have gotten a full length of her. 

Random pictures from a resort in Chatham where we had a fantastic dinner!

And back to Livvy...

The teeth shot, only in color which I think I like better!

I thought I liked this next one in color 'cause my husband's eyes are a gorgeous color, but surprisingly I love it in black & white also as his eyes stand out just as nicely!

These next few pictures are from my house that I must have forgotten to download.  A nice surprise I think.

I had no pictures of her tiny hands.

In this next shot you can see me taking her picture in her eyes.  Pretty cool I thought.