a bag of chips

WE HAVE A MATCH!

Yes, I'm shouting!!!  After almost 11 months of waiting, we've been matched with a very sweet, beautiful, smart, courageous and loving young woman who is carrying our next child.  Little Baby is due the end of August.  This brave woman, C., is the answer to our prayers and we hope we are the answer to hers. 

This is our third adoption, but our first open adoption where we know our child's birthmother.  This is a new and wonderful experience for us, and such a blessing for this baby and for our family. 

If you are the praying type, dear reader, please say a prayer for us all.

Which came first?

Yes, it's a chicken-or-egg topic but without chickens or eggs.

When I first started scrapping over three years ago while awaiting the arrival of our son from Haiti, I was already a huge fan of photography.  I went to the Del Mar Fair just to view the photography exhibits.  I frequented the photography museum in Balboa Park.  I considered myself a Life Tourist.  Perhaps it was my years as a real estate appraiser during which I constantly had a camera around my neck or wrist that I continued to do so long after my appraising days.  But when I started scrapping, I began to realize the importance of photography in scrapbooking and, by becoming a Pea, I discovered that there were many great photographers who did scrapbooking.  So for me, my chicken (or would it be my egg?) is scrapbooking.  My scrapbooking fueled my passion for photography past the point-and-shoot and into the SLR realm, and then to digital point-and-shoot and then digital SLR, and finally into a promising photography career.  I also found that as my photography improved, so did my scrapbooking.

So, which was your chicken (or egg)?  Did photography start your scrapbooking or did scrapbooking start your photography?

A movie, a potty, and a boy.

My mother and I *love* the movie "You've Got Mail."  And I don't just mean the cute way some people say they love a movie.  I mean bordering-on-needing-professional-help love that movie.  We drive our husbands crazy with quotes from the movie, and there are so many things that happen during the day where I think, "Hey! That's like "You've Got Mail!"  I see a butterfly or a hat and I think about the part where Meg's character is on the subway and see's a butterfly on the subway and she says, "Then he got off at 49th Street where he was going to buy a hat, which will turn out to be a mistake as almost all hats are."  And I always say, "Zip, zip" like Joe Fox (Tom's character) did in Zabar's when the clerk wouldn't take Kathleen's credit card in the cash-only line.  See?  It's horrible.

Well, I'm talking about this because my mother, movie-crazed woman that she is, is in New York city right now taking a self-guided "You've Got Mail" walking tour.  She actually asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to go with her and, very, very, VERY sadly I had to decline her invitation. So, she's had a mochaccino at Cafe Lalo (sans a copy of "Pride and Prejudice" and a red rose), a latte at the Starbucks, and a stroll through the park where Joe and Kathleen have their final movie moment.  I'm so jealous I could spit. So, she and I have agreed that, barring national or natural disasters, she and I are going together next year. I've never been to New York city and I'd love nothing more to go with her, portable DVD player and "You've Got Mail" in hand.

Now for the potty portion of this post.  My 2.5-year-old daughter has now sat on the potty and peed five times in the past few days, and has had two potty poops in the last week.  MAJOR accomplishments.  In fact, she'll likely be potty trained before her 3.5-year-old brother is.  Yes, you've read this correctly - I'm potty training two kids at the same time.  Aidan has mastered #1 but #2 has been a struggle to end all struggles which segues me into the third and final portion of this post.

Our son, who will be four on Halloween, went to see his doctor today about our potty training problems.  And you know what?  He weighs 45 lbs and is 43 inches tall.  He's gotten a half inch taller in a month.  He is almost busting out of his size 12 sneakers, and is just about out of toddler sizes altogether.  I know some folks with seven-year-olds who don't weigh as much as Aidan does.  He's a half-head taller than the rest of his preschool class.  The kid is off the charts, man.  And I've got the biceps to prove it.  Oy.  And we've been given some medicine to make him more regular and make it easier to him to go.  Hopefully the end of potty training is in sight. At least until we adopt again.

Peace out.

One cute kid.

This boy, my cousin, is one of the most photogenic kids I know.  And he humors me and my big ol' camera.  Gotta love that in a photogenic child.  I came across this photo today and simply had to share it.

Teeny tiny.

And oh so perfect.  Meet baby Ian and his happy mommy and daddy.  What an awesomely beautiful and blessed family. 

Click here to see a few more from their album.

My girlie girl. *Edited*

Makena got a new "do" today.  I found a sash from a pair of her pants and decided to try it in her hair.  Oh.  My.  Gosh.  I can't believe how adorable she looked today - part Baby Gap and part Hendrix groupie.  Went great with the gypsie tank she had on.  And the Spiderman pull-ups.  And she loved the headband look, too, and insisted on looking at herself in the mirror this morning.  Repeatedly.

She got a new toy yesterday.  A Dora the Explorer shopping cart which came with some faux groceries and a little wallet with faux plastic.  She played with that thing all day long.  Then today, for going poop on the potty, she got a Disney Princess tea set.  She fed my mom Princess tea from her Dora the Explorer shopping cart.  I love it when toys are a hit, even if only for a day.

So, my pets, I leave you with photos of my sweet girl in her new do.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm trying new black-and-white conversion techniques.  Care to give me your feedback on which you like better?  I'd appreciate it!

ETA:  Some folks have asked for camera stats - Photo 1: ISO 800, 1/200, f2.5; Photo 2: ISO800, 1/60, f4.0.  85mm 1.8 lens, Canon 20D, natural light.

For the soft, sepia-like conversion, I used Brenda's conversion method which she posted on 2Peas.  I love that girl and her spectacular photography and adorable girlies.  I have noticed, though, that if I use my regular black-and-white conversion method (I have a few, actually) and I just use the colorize portion of her method, I come up with the same effect.  I've also done a true sepia tone using Filter/Adjustments/Photo Filter and then selecting the Sepia option and changing the density to taste.   Because my children are Black, I tend to prefer my own conversion methods for their skin tones.

And, for the record, I use PSE3.  Many of the conversion methods I've read about for Photoshop can be done in PSE3, and I'm sure PSE4.  The only thing that I can't do is run certain actions.

It's a miracle.

They're sitting still.  They're looking at my camera.  They're touching each other without screaming.  Now I have proof that such moments really do happen and that sibling rivalry hell is not 24 hours a day, but more like 23 hours, 58 minutes.  Two minutes.  I'll take what I can get.

These kids are so beautiful - inside and out.  Gets me all choked up.  God is great.

New camera love.

I love my new camera. 

I love my girl. 

My new camera loves my girl. 

I love my girl in photos taken with my new camera. 

My girl does not love my new camera.

I also love this awesome new conversion technique I'm playing around with. 

What do you think of it?

Do something.

As I was walking through blogland this afternoon, I came across a post on Nisa Fiin's blog about Art for Alex.  I remember when Gabby, Alex's sister, told the world about her sister's death through posts on her blog like this.  It broke my heart.  It made and still makes me cry to read her gut-wrenching posts.  It made me remember my high school friend, Julie, who struggled with this disease.  And it makes me think about a very beautiful, very loving and smart young lady I know right now who is struggling with this and bulemia as well. 

Click on the above links and read what I read, and do something.  Buy a t-shirt - honor Alex and every young woman you know - inform the world about what a killer of young women anorexia is - help raise money for anorexia research.  You can do all of this just by buying a t-shirt and wearing it.  Do SOMETHING.

Do something.

Things I Love.

Below are some of the things I love - things that make me happy or at least make life a little easier.

My car.  My Honda Odyssey is a dream car.  Easy on the eyes and powerful, carries all my crap and lots of handy features.  I like my men this way, too.  (Hi, honey.)

My new camera.  I just got a Canon 20D digital SLR camera.  I'm giddy with how awesome this thing is.  It's so totally different than my older Canon Digital Rebel (considered an antique now).  I've been chasing my kids around with my new camera and, funny, but they seem to want to run away from this camera, too.  Hmmm.

Organic milk.  I buy organic milk in bulk at Costco.  Not because I'm into organic but because it doesn't expire for six or eight weeks.  The milk I bought last night won't expire until mid-August.  Gotta love that.

I love Costco.  Costco makes me happy.  I can buy fresh blueberries, a case of motor oil, enough Q-tips to clean the ears of the entire population of my kids' preschool for five years, and the third and fourth seasons of "Friends" and not break a sweat.  I'm also in love with Costco online at the moment.  The aforementioned new camera was ordered Tuesday night (late) and it arrived on my doorstep this afternoon, a whole seven to ten days before the estimated seven to ten day delivery.

I love the Carol's Daughter hair care products I use on my daughter's hair.  It smells great, it feels great, and it's really helped in managing the health and appearance of her hair.  I mean, if I gotta do her do twice a day, it better be good stuff.  It's kinda pricey but it's worth it.  And the fact that Mary J. Blige and Jada Pinkett Smith are this company's spokeswomen doesn't hurt a bit.

Fresh blueberries.  One of the few perishable fruits or vegetables I guy at Costco that are eaten well before the blue fuzzies take over.  They're more-ish.  I put a huge handful on my cereal every morning.

My Crock Pot.  A miracle worker. Turns a crappy cook into a happy cook.

I love IKEA.  'Nuff said.

Anyone out there care to share a few of your favorite things?  I'd love to hear from you!