January 25

Oh my goodness, I can't WAIT for this molar to come through. I am just in awe at the amount of screaming this child can produce, he's so persistent with it. My nerves are fried. But even beyond that is the knowledge that something is making him so unhappy, miserable, angry, I don't know. It may not be his teeth. Not knowing means not really being able to help, which is frustrating and heartbreaking. As well as ear piercing. I do give him Motrin, but beyond that all I can do is try to comfort him, distract him, play with him and try to keep from banging my head against the wall until I pass out. I know I complain a lot about the painful screaming but it is easier to talk about that than my hopelessness when all I do fails to ease whatever is bothering him. It pierces my heart as well as my ears.

Anyway, as you may guess, today was rough in the screaming department. But we had some good moments :) Dh and Zach went out in the kayak, which was good for them both except that Zach didn't exactly enjoy the frigid water. Owen and I did a lot of ball bouncing/chasing, playing with light switches, dancing to music on the tv, etc while they were gone.

And I finally broke out the camera when Dh left to find something easy for dinner, taking Owen with him. Zach is getting a lot more cooperative when it comes to asking for a quick pose, for that I am eternally thankful. If only I were better at setting the camera PRE-photo, instead of waiting to see what needs adjusting, I'd get a lot of better shots. Sadly, most of the best moments are lost to blurriness, too dark, too light, etc. But I shall prevail! I am improving! And gosh darnit, I'm not giving up.

I bought a book about seeing through the 'photographer's eye' and wow, the things you think about for a good photo. I have only skimmed through the first chapter but today I thought I'd play a little with lines/angles. This first picture, which I have named "Gardening = Fail" I was focusing on keeping the vertical fence post parallel to the edge of the frame, which put the shelf and pots at an angle. I never looked at photos that way, I just tried to line them up the way I saw them LOL.













Then I moved on to this swing. For this one, I was aligning the top of the swing with the top of the frame. Not an angle I would have ever shot before. Interesting.













Then I moved on to a live subject LOL. Not working on lines with this one, but I obviously need to learn how to adjust coloring for skin tones. I tried, but it's not quite right. However, I love how his eyes sparkle. The sun was just right, and I guess the redness of his upside down, blood rushed face help to really pull out the blue. I did not touch his eyes, this is just how they looked.













And last but not least, this photo was initially a mistake. I obviously had the shutter set too slow for the other settings I was using and waaayyy much light came through. But when I looked at it on the computer, I loved it. I could see streaks of sunlight coming through and his eyes are so blue. I applied an 'unsharp mask' filter and POP, even better. I like artsy photos, and I guess this one sort of falls into that category.













So that's it. Owen's taking a bath and will soon go to bed, and hopefully peace and quiet will reign once again. Briefly.

Buenas noches.