February General Chit-Chat - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[MaerynPearl]

even just for a few moments, hear his voice makes a world of difference in my life. I'm a lot less lonely now.

[MaerynPearl]

Hubby comes home today! We *think* in about 3 hours but we don't know yet, nothing has been confirmed. Still waiting to hear if he will be off work tomorrow, too.

[lbkw]

My kids are being incredibly cute right now. We keep trying to get rid of stuff to make room for all the bday presents DS got. Also, he is a collector of things...anything. we are going to try to purge more when they are staying at my parents' next weekend. We have to clear space so we can accommodate an au pair. Going to hopefully get an estimate for some built in storage off our living toom that may allow us to actually live in the room! No idea what to expect.

[MaerynPearl]

Hubby totally made up for being gone for a month and never being home for Valentines Day before. I mean, I planned the meal, but he grilled the steak while I made the baked potatoes and steamed the broccolli. He also made hamburgers for the kids and sent them into the livingroom to eat (a huge treat to them, they NEVER eat in the livingroom) and broke out a couple candles and we ate dinner in the dining room by candle light.

He had been upset he didn't get me anything... but turning our "yay steaks!" that I planned into a candle lit dinner for just us? Totally better than anything he could have gotten.

[sjdragonfly]

Aw! Yay! I'm so happy to hear that. It's especially nice since you guys don't really get to see each other all that often lately. 

[lbkw]

So DH was a total jerk on Sunday but somehow got over it by Monday night when I was feeling completely crappy. I have a cold and compounded with re-adjustment to extra weight on top I had a terrible headache. Sometimes he just gets this bug...I wish I could exterminate it. At least I get to go to chiropractor today. Yay!

Separately, to all of you photographers and artists: I'm looking at a living social deal for a One-Hour On-Location Photo Shoot with Flashdrive or CD of Prints for $65. That is a really good deal for my area since most start at $250 and no access to pictures. I'm thinking that since you get the digital pictures within 24 hours, they probably aren't edited. Although, now that I look at it, it doesn't say if you get all the pictures or just selected ones. So, I'm looking at the guy's web-site and FB page and he has NO family portraits. I'm thinking he's doing this to build his portfolio. Does that mean it's a bad idea? Or for $65 you can't go wrong?

[sjdragonfly]

He might just not post family portraits on his website. It might be worth contacting him and asking if he's done that kind of thing before. Sometimes photographers will do that kind of thing on the side to make money so they can do more artsy and fun photographs for themselves and for specialty clients. That's most likely what ends up on the portfolio and website because it's more impressive than just pictures of families. 

But, really, if his other photographs are nice, for $65, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

[lbkw]

Originally Posted by sjdragonfly 

But, really, if his other photographs are nice, for $65, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

I checked out the engagement photos he posted and they are nice. My kids aren't babies so while there's definitely a knack to photographing kids, I'm not looking for the cover of "Parenting" magazine. I had been planning to do a pregnancy/family portrait session. There are almost no pictures of me pregnant with either of my other two kids. I am not friends with the camera.
 

[MaerynPearl]

For $20 bucks (keeping in mind I don't own a business, this is a hobby and the money is to cover gas and babysitter) I do about the same. Only my photos aren't done by a professional. 

However, to actually answer your question, yes they probably are edited by the next day. Photos are SUPER easy to edit when you have practice doing it. Even easier when they don't require much more than some switches in lightroom, though it takes a little longer if there are blemishes to fix, it's still not horribly long.

As for how many you get... no you likely will not get all the shots, just the best ones. Generally, they will take a ton, pick out the ones that look best, edit them and send you them. This way you don't have shots where one child has their eyes closed and the other is in the middle of turning their head to look away. You get that a lot with photographing children.

[lbkw]

We decided not to go with mystery photog since we have used another woman who charges about the same. We just have to go to her.

In other chit-chat, I am already fed up with the enormity of my breasts! I feel like a monster. Why do I conveniently forget these parts of pregnancy?

[Shinyredstar]

Originally Posted by MaerynPearl 

oh oh oh and, i bought hubby a valentines day present today! two onesies... the Marines wear two different colored cammies during the year, I got a onesie in each pattern. He's going to LOVE it. And the best part is, cammies are totally gender neutral. All I gotta do to "girlify" it is match it with a headband or something.

I saw a REALLY cute dress on etsy today. It was a little pillowcase dress in camo with a yellow ribbon strap and it was called the "welcome home daddy/mommy dress"- I'm assuming intended to wear when picking up daddy/mommy after deployment. Melted my heart a little!

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by Shinyredstar 


I saw a REALLY cute dress on etsy today. It was a little pillowcase dress in camo with a yellow ribbon strap and it was called the "welcome home daddy/mommy dress"- I'm assuming intended to wear when picking up daddy/mommy after deployment. Melted my heart a little!

awww!

Last deployment my two girls and I all wore matching black and white polka-dot dresses. It was so cute! My little man got to pick out whatever he wanted (well, my 6 year old got to pick out whatever she wanted, too, but she wanted to match mom)

[triple07]

Well, in the 6 years that DH and I have been together I have never had to deal with this, but DH just got out of active duty almost a year ago and joined the reserves. He hasn't received orders to report to his unit yet (we live about 8 hours from the base he is assigned to) but apparently last week they sent him an email asking if he would "be willing" to deploy July 12th. I am so scared and have never had to deal with deployment (I am prior Air Force myself, but was honorably discharged when I became pregnant with DS1) and even though this war is supposed to be coming to an end, I am terrified. DH sent an email back stating that he would like to get everything done in San Antonio before deploying. Hopefully he will be able to change his job to medical while he is down there, too.

[fruitfulmomma]

For the military mommas... http://hyenacart.com/ArcticRose/mt/3479/24893/Custom-Military-Diaper-Cover

[MaerynPearl]

triple07 - if you need anything, even just to whine about it, if this does happen... feel free to PM me anytime. If you have facebook, you can PM me your contact info and I can add you on there. I've been through 2, one with 2 kids and one with 3... last one, our youngest was still just a tiny baby when daddy left and he came back to her walking... so I know just what you're going to go through. It's not easy, but it can be done and there's a ton you can do to prepare so that it's not quite as tough.

fruitfulmomma - omg too cute!

[triple07]

Thank you so much MaerynPearl. That must have been so hard to go through. We won't know anything for sure until he gets an email back but we are hoping that, at least at this time, it can be avoided.

[MaerynPearl]

Certainly wasn't easy! But it wasn't the hardest thing I've ever gone through either, it's manageable. The worst of it is always the two weeks leading up to it, the first two weeks of the deployment and the last two weeks of the deployment... because of the anticipation, the adjustment and then the excitement. The rest? You just sort of get in a groove and go with it. 

[lbkw]

Where is everybody today? I look forward to this Discussion Group to keep the day interesting.

[XanaduMama]

Where is everyone in general? I feel like our DDC is dying . I've been stalking the other DDCs for name ideas, and they're *way* more active than we are. What's up, mamas?

[lbkw]

Originally Posted by XanaduMama 

Where is everyone in general?

I know...I've begun to worry about everyone. But I assume they are probably just all busy? This is more fun with more voices, though.