Let’s try this again shall we?

Guess what?  I’ll be having a guest blogger posting this Friday from Two Shades of Lovely and I’m so excited!  She’s going to be sharing some great links with you!  If you don’t already know Jeni, I’d recommend hopping over to her site!  Take a load off and have a look around!  Oh, and in case you have been following my The Missing Link posts (on Fridays), I’ll be posting Week 22 over at Two Shades of Lovely so I hope to see you there!

Free Financial Templates… Can I afford this & how much money will I have left over?

I’ve been thinking of doing a post on finances for a long time now but never had a spare minute to create the spreadsheet templates that I wanted to attach along with it!  I woke up early this morning to work on them and just finished typing my last number.  I feel confident enough to speak on the subject of finances since I’ve always been great with money!  It started when I was a little girl and would steal the coins from my dad’s end table in my parent’s bedroom.  Yeah, I was a little thief, but soon those coins would add up to $10, $40, and then to hundreds that I would stash under my mattress!  Even when I found something I really wanted to buy, I almost always found a way to talk myself out of it.  No doll, clothing, board game, etc. would satisfy me the way watching my money grow did!  Soon I would have enough to open my first bank account and so that’s what I did with the help of my mother of course!  I never felt more grown up than I did on the day we opened that bank account.

Truly wordless; imagine that!

Child Photography (Are you editing faces)?

I have a question?  How do you edit your photographs of children?  Do you touch up faces?  If so, how much?  Sometimes I edit without thinking.  In this case, I had edited a picture of a child where I removed all blemishes from their face.  To me, a blemish is equivalent to food crumbs, dirt, bruises or cuts/scrapes which I’d also remove assuming it didn’t fit into the picture.  In other words, if I caught a picture of a child eating birthday cake and then removed all evidence of food from their mouth, it wouldn’t be quite as interesting.  Another example would be if I caught a picture of child crying who fell down and was lifting their pant leg up to see their boo boo but then I removed all evidence of the cut/scrape, it wouldn’t really make any sense now would it?  It’s like I’m removing half the story.  In this particular case, however, this child was posing for me.  It was a close-up of their face with no real story behind it other than “I’m so freakin’ cute with my BIG brown eyes”!  Blemishes in this case were distracting.   It takes someone like my husband to say “do you think the parents would be offended” to make me stop, think, and realize, “I’m yeah, they might find it insulting”! Crap! What to do, what to do?

Intermittent Exotropia Update

First, if you unfamiliar with Alivia’s Intermittent Exotropia, you can find some previous posts I’ve published about it HERE.  

It’ll be about two months that we’ve been patching Livvy’s strong eye to treat her Intermittent Exotropia and she’s been tolerating it fabulously!  We started out with around 25 – 30 minutes and are currently patching for about an hour now!  When I first started patching I was noticing her eye deviate a lot less.  At around the month and a half mark, however, I started to see it deviating more frequently.  Not quite as frequent as when we weren’t patching at all but never the less, more frequent.  In the beginning I was hopeful that the patch was going to be a successful treatment but now I’m not so sure. 

Getting to know me…

I thought it might be fun to share a few things about myself.  Well, 10 things to be exact.  It also allows all of you to find out if we have similar interests or things in common which is always nice!  I don’t know about you but when I find I have something in common with someone, I instantly feel closer to that person.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!  Anyhow, here it goes:

Free Printable: New Baby Checklist

I’ve been reading an awful lot of bump updates lately and I remember when I was pregnant (especially with my first child) that a new baby checklist would have come in handy!  I found a few partial lists on various websites but never came across a complete and thorough one to really keep me organized.  The hospital is fantastic in that they usually provide all of your immediate essentials like formula, bottles, diapers, swaddling blankets, infant caps, pacifiers, washcloths etc. but when you go home, we all know, that you are on your own!  I guess it’s safe to say “you better be prepared”.  I don’t know about you, but my favorite part of pregnancy was the preparation.  I really relished in all of those moments from purchasing boring necessities like petroleum jelly to the fun and exciting things like a little onsie that read “I love my Mommy” on it!  I just about melted right there in the clothing isle!  The hubby could have dropped me off at any baby store and I would have been happy for hours!  Need infant brush & comb; CHECK.  Need nail clippers; CHECK.  Need bouncy seat; CHECK.  Need want that adorable little bunny with those super floppy ears for the shelf in the nursery; CHECK!  Anything I could think of, I bought! 

New Pics… Esterina’s Birthday!

Go Elena, it’s your birthday!  Go Elena, it’s your birthday!  Well, not really but yesterday was just as exciting!  I made it through my dentist appointment!  Apparently, the dentist thought it was just a fluke that my filling fell out and that it would probably not happen a second time if she refilled it.  So that’s what she did!  It took all of 10 minutes and I’m as good as new.  If it falls out again, however, apparently I will need a ceramic fill which is essentially a crown.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn’t fall out again!  It will cost around $600.00 out of pocket!  Yikes!  It’s amazing how little that dental insurance covers.  I still can’t believe that dental work (other than cleanings of course) is considered cosmetic!  Are they kiddin’ with this crap?  Seriously, it’s crap!

Is it true about Google Friend Connect?

Has anyone else heard that Google Friend Connect (GFC) may be extinct and VERY soon?  You can find a post on this topic HERE.  The reason I ask is because I follow a lot of blogs through GFC and am wondering what I will do now to keep all of my favorite blogs in one place.  I feel so organized with GFC to be updated every time a new post is published on one of the blogs I am following.  It really is nice.  In an effort to be proactive, I signed up with Bloglovin’.  I figured this would be the next best thing.  For all of the blogs I follow via GFC, I am now following through Bloglovin’.  Also I have to, apparently, copy and paste ‘Follow my blog with Bloglovin’ code in a post to be able to claim my blog on bloglovin’ so here it goes:

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I’ll eventually be adding a Bloglovin’ button to my sidebar along with my other contact buttons like Facebook, PInterest, Instagram, etc.

New Pics… In love with my Daddy!

My Alivia is so in love with her Daddy!  I’m pretty sure he is in love with her too! 

New Pics… Interested in being a guest poster?

So here is the scoop.  The family and I are taking a trip next week to Sarasota, FL where we will be staying in a very nice condo on the beach for a whopping 7 days!  We are looking forward to getting some much needed rest and relaxation.  Well as much rest and relaxation you can get with a toddler.  We are even more excited to take the little one to Disney World for the first time!  We can’t wait to see the expression on her face when she meets Mickey Mouse in person!  I hope to have some really great pictures to share with everyone next week! 

 

I do plan on posting next week and joining some photo challenges.  “Some” being the key word.  I usually join multiple photo challenges per day but next week I am limiting myself to one photo challenge per day.  And although I love reading everyone’s blog and usually visit on a daily basis, I am also limiting my blog reading while on vacation which means my comments may be few and far between.  I apologize now but I have to make time for the family on this vacation.  I have a secret though.  I really will miss reading your blogs while I am away.  Seriously, if it were up to me, I’d never take a bloggy break!   

 

In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone would like to be a guest poster on my blog?  If you are interested, please feel free to send me an email.  Just click on the Email Me button in my sidebar.  You would really be doing me a favor.  Since I don’t have many followers yet (my page view stats aren’t too shabby though), I can’t really say that posting on my blog would offer you much in return.  I would, however, be truly grateful! 

New Pics… A Pigtail or Two

Guess what?  I finally made a button for this little ol’ blog o’ mine!  If you are interested in buttoning up, feel free to steal it!  You will see it in my sidebar.  The reason it took me so long to create one is because I wasn’t sure how to do it.  I finally had some time to do some research online and found a tutorial.  I would have attached the link to the site, but the code provided was incorrect.  After many tweaks, I finally fixed it.  I’ll try to do a future post about creating buttons incase you do not know how to create one yourself. 

 

On a different note, I just tried the patch on Alivia’s eye yesterday.  It didn’t go as badly as I had pictured it in my mind.  I had this idea that if she saw mommy wearing it, she may want to wear it too!  I actually saw a hint of a smile when I first put it on.  She thought we were being pirates together.  I ran around the house saying “Ahoy mates!”  Yes, it was quite the sight!  She quickly realized it wasn’t that fun after all.  I struggled with her a bit to keep it on, but in the end she won.  She finally ripped it off.  I don’t want to force it too much.  I don’t want her relating the patch to fighting with mama.  I will introduce it slowly but persistently in hopes that she, at some point, will be a little more cooperative.  I’m supposed to be patching her eye for about 20 – 30 minutes a day.  Even if I can get it on for 5 minutes at a time, I will be happy.  In case you are a little lost, I wrote about Alivia’s Intermittent Exotropia in some previous posts which you can find HERE and HERE.

New Pics… Alivia’s 2012 Photo Book

I’ve been working like crazy on Alivia’s 2012 photo book.  My goal is to complete one for every year of her life.  I thought it would be something nice for her to have when she’s all grown up.  With the amount of pictures I’ve been taking, though, it’s going to be more like 2-3 photo books per year.  It’s only the beginning of May and I already have close to 75 pages in her photo book now.  I wanted to be able to share the link for everyone to check out my photo book, but I’m nowhere near done.  Instead, I thought I’d offer a sneak peek.  In case you are interested, I am using Mixbook.  I spoke about it in a previous Missing Link post which you can find HERE.  I love the software.  It is very easy to use.  They also have a large selection of backgrounds, clipart, and fonts to work with.

New Pics… A reason to celebrate the overcast day

Alivia and I actually got out of the house yesterday regardless of the overcast, almost rainy, damp and chilly day.  We didn’t go far, just across the street to my mother’s house.  It was nice to get some air though especially after being stuck in the house for the past two days.  I could tell that Alivia needed to get out too!  We were both going a bit stir crazy.  Here’s a reason to celebrate the oh so gloomy overcast day!  It’s fantastic for taking pictures!  You don’t have to worry about harsh light, shadows, squinty eyes, etc.  As long as it’s not raining, you are good to go!  So get out there!

Joshua's Photo Link Up

Here is my submission for Joshua's Photo Link Up over at Our Footprints On the World.  Be sure to head over there and link up your shots as well!

 

Rules & Info

- Must include your little one(s) somewhere in the picture.
- Only use photographs that you yourself have taken.
- You can use anything to take your photo's even your mobile phones.
- Link up this weeks post and not your main blog URL.
- Be sure to visit a few of the other entries
- We would appreciate a link back to us using the button above or just a link.
- Entries open on Wednesday and close on Monday night.
- You can help choose a winner by 'liking' your favourite shots.