Raya--on location

Raya  volunteered to be my first on location photo client this morning--we went  to the local  college and she posed for a good 45 minutes lol. She  had a blast actually, and was paid  in sprinkle donut for her  trouble ;-)

Here's a tiny sneak  peek of my beautiful model!

The  lighting wasn't great here, but  I love those cheeks!

No Paparazzi Please Photography

I'm officially addicted to photo editing! LOL.

Here are some more of  my "professional" photos hehe...I keep finding more I  want to edit! I really like how they're  turning out though

I added my "logo" on these just for fun, to make them seem more professional LOL

So anyways, who knows if anything will  come of my new "company" hehe...but  I think it'd be  fun if down the road I had the occassional person who wanted pics and they could pay me a small fee and then get all the pics to print  as they chose. B/c paying for each print is what gets ya with "real" professional photographers...they add up fast!

...don't miss Brielle's surgery update post below :-)

Brielle's First Surgery

Thanks to everyone for the well  wishes--Brielle is back  at home running and playing...surgery went  great! The surgery itself took  all  of about 5 minutes haha....recovery was definitely the hardest part because she woke up flailing and screaming and completely confused....nothing I did would help so I just had to (try to) hold her and keep her safe. Eventually they sent  us on our way and she fell asleep in the car. And now she's up playing with Raya and feeling great.

They said tons of fluid came out of her ears when they put the tubes in...so it's got to feel good finally  having all that out!

I took some pics of Brielle modeling the latest in hospital fashions for you all. Puppy paci  even matched her socks!

I had  to tuck  her  pants  into herr  socks because  the pants  were about 12  inches too long! lol

Getting bored and wanting to climb

Sleeping on the way home...she's even got a sad little pout :-(   I  had her wear  our luck hospital  pjs for the  occassion. The only other time I've had to take a kid to the hospital was when Raya had her febrile seizure, and that  day she just happens to be wearing these owl pjs! Since  they brought  us good luck  at the hospital that day I had Brielle wear them today too hehe

So  now we'll  just be taking it  easy here  the rest of the day. So glad that's done and over  with now!

I  thought I'd also  share some of  my new lightroom skills haha. I'm still just  figuring stuff  out and playing, but I did learn some cool new tricks.

For instance,  take this picture  of Brielle in the  hospital. She has that really splotchy  newborn skin, plus some scratches, etc. on her face....

 

Here is my first  attempt playing with different spot removal  tools and  skin smoothing, etc...definitely tones down  some of the imperfections---but  still  pretty natural looking I think

And  then this below was my go all  out baby glamour shot edit haha. The professional  photographer I use *always* does pretty signifcant skin smoothing things I  know, because  I  always  called  them my girls' glamour shots since they had porcelin skin in those  photos!

So  this compared to the original you can definitely see how I  got that magazine baby effect ;-)

I also  tried to  do  a more  "antique" color on it for extra effect

So yeah, definitely  not something to  do  on every photo I  take, but I do think these sorts of photos are at least on the right track to looking more "professional"...gotta keep practicing!

And then remember that favorite picture I took  when we visited  Lee's parents  last, of Brielle  looking into the barn? Well that's been a big hit with many people...including my sister-in-laws mom, who liked it so much she framed it and hung it up---how cool! :-)

My masterpiece is hanging  on the bottom hehe

I decided to play  with lightroom a little  to try editing that  photo a few different ways...here goes!

Which edit  is  your favorite?!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :-)

The "big" pool

So how  many of you have  been  going  through "sweet smile" withdrawal this summer since  I'm not watching Sawyer? Yeah, I figured you were. So do not fear, today I got a double sweet smile photo just for you all! :-)

LOL

So today with the heat index the temps are in the triple digits...so after  story hour Grandma got  Sawyer and met me and the girls at DQ for some lunch (and icecream!) and then we went to the "big" pool! The local town pool is about 5 minutes away....it's the same one I went to growing up actually, but it's been completely redone since then. It's really nice with the 0depth entry and little  slide for the babies and fountains, etc...and slides for the big kids. Anyways, I hadn't taken the girls yet just because it's easier to do the free wading pool I thought...but found out that Raya and Brielle are both young enough to be free so we may be going more often now!

You all remember how Raya did in the hotel pool though (screaming and crying) so I was worried...but she did awesome today! As long as she could touch she was fine...so she was walking and "swimming" all over  the  entire pool with water up to her neck....and she even jumped off the side so that Grandma and I could catch her. She still doesn't like  us to hold her in the really deep part, but I'm hoping she'll do ok for swimming lessons.

I didn't  take pics in the pool today because I spent most the time making sure my crazy daredevil (Brielle) wasn't  sprinting to the diving board lol....but I got some cute pics while we had our sucker snack at the pool. So enjoy!  (I just took  these with my mom's little camera  that fit in my purse)

Raya at Grandmas, excited to head to the pool!

Brielle was excited  too!! (She LOVES the water...she went  down the slide numerous times and fell completely  under  the water gagging etc each time...and then woudl giggle and go again! I'm  definitely going to need  to get her earplugs!)

Sorry Raya--I know  girls don't  like pictures in their swimsuits! ;-)

Cheese

My sweet girl

Lashes

This was her  swimsuit and hat from last  summer...still  fits my peanut!

His goofiness reminds me of my brother for sure!

Checking to see  if Brielle's  tongue is red

Raya's is blue!

He's getting freckles!

Raya was so THRILLED to get some cousin Sawyer time today :-)

And  lastly, be sure to think of my sweet girl tomorrow morning---she gets her ear tubes put in! We have to be at the hospital at 7am---her surgery is at 8am. Lee is staying home with Raya so that I can focus on Brielle. I'm sure she'll  do fine, but she's such a little peanut I still  worry!

We'll  have  to stay in recovery until is is  fully  awake and able to drink and such...they said usually within a hour we can leave. I'll be giving that cute face lots of kisses while we wait! :-)

Happy Thursday everyone!