A Different Kind of News

I said we were doing a patriotic theme this week, so here is Annistyn in today's July 4th outfit:







And while I'm on the patriotic subject, please keep my Uncle Ritchie in your prayers. He was deployed to Honduras and has been there for quite some time. He is scheduled to leave to come back home on Thursday. If you've been watching the news, then you've probably heard about what all is going on down there right now. Please just pray that all the troops down there stay safe and that the ones scheduled to leave are able to leave safely and on time.

Okay here's the different kind of news. Yesterday it was "new" things that Annistyn had done. Today she has some news to share. As most of you know her Uncle Chad and Aunt Kelly are expecting a baby in November. We found out this morning that IT'S A GIRL!!!! We actually all expected a boy- but are excited about it being a girl. Annistyn will have a little cousin to play dolls and dress up with. They will be 8 months apart, so I'm really excited that she will have someone to play with. Here's Uncle Chad with Annistyn:




We celebrated at Nana's tonight with a yummy dinner. I wish I had taken pictures of the gift basket we gave them. Today we made an Auburn burp cloth and bib set and monogrammed "War Eagle" on a diaper cover. We bought an Auburn onesie from Ansley Place and Mom sewed orange polka dot ruffles on the fanny. Of course, we included a big orange bow. At Nana's, Annistyn sat in the high chair by herself. What a big girl!! And just so you know, she slept GREAT last night in her crib and is sleeping there now.

One last thing before I go- here is what I made in Photoshop today:


Here is just the picture before and after I edited it:
Before:


After:


The main thing I touched up is the eyes. I seriously spent over an hour doing it. I don't know if anyone else feels the same way, but Photoshop is NOT user-friendly. I think I do pretty good with computers, but I have spent so much time trying to figure out Photoshop and I still only can do a few things. I was pretty excited about the eyes though. I didn't change her natural eye color either- just brought it out.
Okay- going to bed early tonight. I'm sure Finley Dog is already warming my spot up!

A Monday of Many "News"

Wow! So much to share! First, here is Annistyn in her NEW green and brown outfit. It's really not new- I bought it for her one-month birthday. She just wore it yesterday for the first time though. It was still a little big, but what an ADORABLE outfit.






As you can tell, she was in a great mood! There were several more cute pictures. I think I'm going to make a panel for my bathroom out of these.

Today is the week before July 4th, so I thought I would have a patriotic picture each day. Here is Annistyn in one of her July 4th outfits, which is also new.




She was smiling a lot for me, but also bouncing around, so even with a really fast camera, I still didn't get a whole bunch of smiley ones.

Later, Finley got a NEW haircut. We had him cut a little shorter than normal because it is so hot. Here he is with his new 'do:




We tried to get some of him and Annistyn since they were both patriotic...but that didn't really turn out so great. She wanted to eat her dress and look at Finley and he just wanted to hang out:




And FYI- Yes, Annistyn had a matching diaper cover on earlier, but I took it off for her nap and while we were AT HOME. Just wanted to clear that up.
Then we had a little family fun. We've done this before, but never gotten pictures of it. Michael holds Annistyn over Finley like she is riding him. We don't actually let go, but both of them think it's really funny.






Annistyn has been really interested in table food lately. She seems to know what we are doing and wants to participate too. I have been really reluctant to feed her anything but milk, even though they told me at her 2-month appt. that I could give her rice cereal. I just feel like the later she could wait, the better. I had also read some stuff about allergies and obseity and stuff. Well, she's getting close to 4months old and developmentally is even beyond that. She's mimicing our sounds and pulling up and sitting up wonderfully with just a little support. She is even sitting up some by herself. She wants to be a big girl so badly. I figured it was probably about time for us to give her a little something else. We bought some rice cereal last night and gave it to her tonight for the first time. She actually ate several bites- but she was getting ill and really just wanted to drink her bottle and go to bed. I think it went pretty well for the first time:




And finally, the last "NEW" of the day. Tonight, Annistyn is sleeping in her crib for the very first time at night. She has been napping in there, but I have never let her sleep in there at night. Right now, she is snoozing. I'm sure it's a lot harder on me than it is on her. No pictures to share- I'm afraid the flash might wake her up.

Just a quick note- my website isn't fully up and running yet, but I am officially in business! I have started "Artography by Shae". I am available for custom invitations (with photo or without), custom cards for holidays, weddings, etc..., graphic design, and several other things. I have made several "memory boards" lately with pictures. These are just fancy collages, but I can design ANYTHING you want and I promise you'll be impressed with the prices. I have also done several "gift prints" where I edit your pictures and add effects, text, etc... I did a beautiful one for my grandparents lately and have placed it below as an example. And YES, I can do rush-order invitations! Anyway, if you think you are interested in anything- let me know. I will get you a price.



Okay- today has been busy and I have several things I need to accomplish before bed. Hope everyone has a great week! :)

Tutu Cute

This morning I was thinking that I haven't made "glamour shots" in a while, so I dug out Annistyn's pink tutu and decided we would do some since she can sit up in the chair. So I dressed her up and she looked so stinking cute. But do you think she would sit there and let me take pictures? Of course not. She wanted to eat the tutu. I didn't get a huge amount of pictures without her tutu in her mouth, but here are a few I somehow captured:









Of course, I have to play in Photoshop when I get through. Here is my favorite picture w/ some adjusted tinting and then again in full color with text:




That child has definitely got a mind of her own!!! Tonight, she sat up by herself for 5 seconds (I counted one-mississippi, etc...) Of course, my hands were right there to catch her when she started to tip over. She was propped on the couch and she pulled herself up to sitting and just balanced there.

We went to eat at CJ's and she wore her cupcake dress. When I got home, I took her bow out and she had a big piece of hair standing strait up! It was like that until I washed it before putting her to bed. She has definitely got some wild hair. It's gotten so much longer on top that it's kind of doing its own thing.




When I was taking her picture, someone else was there waiting to get his picture taken. Here is my cute Finley dog:



He is scheduled to get his wild hair cut on Monday. It's too hot for long-haired doggies.

Random information: My Sister's Keeper came out today. I hope to go see it soon. I finished the book a couple weeks ago. I've never read a book and felt so torn between characters. I didn't know who's side to be on. Of course, as with everything, one of the last chapters changed everything. EVERYTHING I had thought about it all changed with a new piece of information. Then I CRIED MY EYES OUT at the ending- but NOT because it ended the way I thought. Afterwards, I kind of felt like I had been smacked in the face. It was a powerful story though. I am interested to know if the movie can portray it the way the book does. Even if it doesn't, take tissues. You'll need them...probably more than once during the story.

Well, I've got some things to take care of. Have a festive weekend! :)

Who Does She Favor?

I've been meaning to do this forever, but I haven't been able to remember to get the pictures. Mom finally brought me a few. Everyone keeps asking, "Who does Annistyn look like?" Well, she has Michael's nose (which is good- I was hoping she would) and she definitely has some facial expressions that look like his. But my family keeps saying that she looks like my baby pictures so... I'll let everyone make their own decision.




(The one with the blue background and the one in the red dress are me as a baby, of course)
I wanted to throw this one in of Michael as a baby, because I see some similarities in the eyes.


Well, on another note, I wanted to share some pictures of my 3 1/2 month old who thinks she is a year old.
When you hold her hands, she will pull up. You don't have to pull on her or anything. She just pulls on you until she gets all the way to standing. When she gets up, she just smiles a huge smile.






On a crafty note- here is the diaper cake I did for a shower that is on Sunday:

Also, here is the dress I am working on for Annistyn. I LOVE this applique design:


One last thing- I couldn't share these pictures until after Father's Day because I did a gift print for my Dad. He is a Harley Man, so we did a "Biker Babe" photo session with a Harley fabric backdrop. Here is the one I did for my Dad with the text and logo and one more of my favorites:




I thought her "pouty face" was pretty cute. It really showed off her eyes- I didn't even re-touch them in Photoshop.
Okay- off to bed. My family has already gone without me.