Mom Myth #2 Photogenic Children

People post pictures of their kids on-line all the time, everyday and on all social media sites.  You are bombarded with adorable shots of babies getting into trouble, being sweet, sleeping, eating and shots of them doing all the things cute kids do.  The trouble comes when you try to get that perfect shot of your kiddo and you come to realize that very rarely does the perfect shot come as a result of snapping just one picture.  Yes, there are those times when all things in the universe smile down on you and your first shot is a keeper, but in reality, it takes patience and several attempts to get a frame worthy shot.

Olive is pretty photogenic but now that she's moving and more mobile many pictures are blurs of hands waving, heads jerking, eyes closed and it takes a lot of pictures to get that perfect shot.  I'm pretty stubborn determined so I am usually up for the challenge of getting a good shot.  I just hope that no one is peeking in my windows to see the goofy, slightly crazy woman uttering all kind of noises, songs and laughs that are  required to get my baby to smile/look at the camera.

Let me show you what I mean:

 The outtakes:

 The outtakes:

All pictures of my baby make me smile and sometimes the outtakes are just as much fun as your favorite shot.  So just remember that when you see an adorable kid pic on-line, there were probably ten times that many outtake shots to get the perfect postable shot.

I think my cat is depressed...

My little orange kitty just hasn't been himself lately.  He's sleeping more than usual, hiding out in our bedroom, only coming out for attention once a day and just keeping to himself.  I'd noticed it but hadn't been too concerned until my psychologist of a husband said something about it.  He commented that he should get Topher some kitty prozac because he seemed to be depressed.  Poor Toph Toph!  He's been through a lot of changes in the past few months - new baby, moving across the country, new house and new surroundings.  So in lieu of medicating our kitty, which we would never do, I started making efforts to give him attention, play with him and make him feel loved.  We always joke that his love language is TOUCH so I started trying to hold him more, pet him and invite him to sit on my lap.  

 We've also told his big brother to give him some extra LOVE.

 I'm not exactly sure what Topher's caption of this would be...

Mom loves me more than you

I'm her favorite

Thank you for entertaining yourself so that Mom's lap is finally free

I wish I was still the baby of the family

I love you little sis

???

Topher seems to be responding really well and loving the extra LOVE.  He's out and about more during the day, meowing more like he used to and being curious about what's going on at our house.  I'm hoping the early signs that I'm seeing are indicative of a turn around in his kitty depression!  I still need to find his box of toys and get them out for him and I have been giving him some extra kitty treats.

Taking Our Lil' Pumpkin to the Pumpkin Patch

Kevin got home from work a little early yesterday so we loaded up the car and headed to the pumpkin patch.  Olive fell asleep on the drive there but woke up when we got her out of the car.  It was a little chilly but the sun kept us warm enough.  Olive loved staring at the pumpkins and was bummed we didn't let her chew on any.  We loved the different pumpkins and had a great time picking out three pumpkins.

 We went for an unusual pumpkin :)

 Our first visit to the pumpkin patch was a success!!

 Topher wondered where his pumpkin was...