Expanding My Photography Skills

Brandon and I have been the proud owner's of three different Nikon DSLRs.  The pictures they take are truly phenomenal.  Our latest model is the Nikon D3100, and the extra money spent on it is well worth it.  I love it!!  And I love taking pictures (if you are friends with me on Facebook this is pretty obvious as I post picture after picture of Gwyneth...yes I am obsessed with our baby girl).  I am however ashamed to say that after all of these years of owning a DSLR I have not used it to it's full potential.  I turn the camera on "auto" and treat it like a standard point and shoot when really it can do so much more.

I have attempted to learn more about our DSLR on several occasions, whether it was looking for a class at our local community center or getting one on one instruction from our beloved Sacramento photographer. Unfortunately, life seems to find a way to interfere and as always photography lessons seem unimportant and get pushed aside.  This time around I have decided to take matters into my own hands and teach myself!  I don't expect to be able to produce professional quality photos, at least not anytime soon, but I do hope that learning more about our camera will help me capture those precious moments with Gwyneth to the best of my ability.

I found several blogs online detailing how to take better pictures with your DSLR.  Here are links to some of the blogs I found helpful.

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/photography-tutorial-a-quick-guide-to-understanding-your-digital-slr-camera.html

http://thomashawk.com/2006/04/10-tips-for-new-digital-slr.html

I also decided to purchase the book The Betterphoto Guide to Digital Photography by Jim Miotke.

Just by reading the blogs and skimming the book I feel like I already know so much.  I was completely oblivious to all of the settings and now I finally know what aperture, ISO, and exposure really mean.

I decided the best way to learn is to strictly take photos in manual mode.  This means I have to change my settings as I go from inside to outside or sitting baby to baby on the go.  I have only done it for one day, but I feel like I am starting to get the hang of it.  Here are a few pictures I took of my loyal subject today.

Hello mini-Brandon.

It may look like she's about to cry, but I assure you this is a laugh.  Daddy was so funny it made her spit her food out onto her chin. :)

Food is good!!

They aren't the best pictures, and I am still learning placement of my subject and lighting, but I am proud of myself for shooting them all in manual mode.  I will keep you updated as I apply what I learn to my photography.  If you have any tips or know of any blogs/books that you like, please feel free to share them with me!

Think Like a One Year Old

While at Gwyneth's one year check up we received a handout from her new pediatrician.  I have always enjoyed the handouts Kaiser Permanente gives at each visit.  They document your baby's current stats and there is a wealth of information applicable to your babies age.  It's basically the cliff note version of the What to Expect series of books, listing milestones, healthy habits, feeding advice, etc.  One of the bullets under "Healthy habits" says children under age 2 should not watch TV or videos.  WHAT?!  I knew infants shouldn't sit and watch TV all day, but none?  Surely I am not the only mother that has failed at this by letting their one year old enjoy an episode of Sesame Street?  Have I stunted my baby's development by introducing her to Elmo?  In all seriousness, I don't think I have done permanent damage to my baby, but I do think I will attempt to limit her TV time a bit more now.

So in light of this breaking news, I decided it was time for me to find some new activities for Gwyneth during the day.  We do the usual playing but you can only do so much block stacking, pots and pans banging, and chasing each other around the house.  I searched the internet for ideas and it looks like I am not the only one running out of things to do with a one year old.  A one year old's attention span is VERY short so finding activities that will keep him or her engaged for hours on end is not an easy feat.

Here are just a few of the activities I came across that I plan to do with Gwyneth over the next couple of weeks:

• Paint with water - get a paintbrush and a cup of water and head outside to the sidewalk or back patio.  Let your child "paint" the sidewalk or patio.  Best part about this is that it is pretty much mess free.
• Paint with pudding - put your child in his or her highchair and put a blob of pudding in front of them.  Let them "paint" the highchair table.  This may require a bath or dip in the baby pool afterwards. :)
• Fingerpainting - cover your table or patio with paper, give your child non-toxic finger paints, and let them go to town.  Warning: this one is messy!
• PVC Pipe Phone - take two PVC pipe "elbows" and a small connector piece of PVC pipe.  Put them together to make a phone.  This is often called a "whisper phone" or "phonics phone" and is used by young children as they learn to read so they can hear themselves as they pronounce words.  Gwyneth has recently learned to "answer" the phone and puts everything she finds up to her ear like she is answering it.  I think she would love this!
• Paper bag puppets - decorate small paper bag lunch bags with your child then put on a puppet show for them.
• Make a Cheerios bracelet - sitting in their highchair help your child put cheerios on a short string.  It's great for their fine motor skills plus they can snack while they play.

Anyone else have any ideas?  What do you do or have you done with your one year old?  

My Office

I LOVE working from home...especially with an office like mine. :)  It's still a work in progress as I want to put up a few items on the wall but as far as functionality goes, it's done!

I feel so fortunate to be able to continue to work for my Sacramento employer here in Riverside.  I can access everything on my computer just like I was there in the office.  And my phone runs through the internet so my co-workers can "buzz" me like I never left.  Technology is so amazing!

My office is in what used to be the maid's quarters.  It's a small room with a bathroom off the kitchen.  It's the perfect size for an office and it's away from all the other bedrooms so it's less distracting.

I got new furniture, but there are definite reminders of my office in Sacramento.  Several of my decorations were passed on to me from my former co-worker and friend Sarah.  Thanks Sarah! 

My curtains in my office make me so happy. :)  As I mentioned in a previous blog, the walls are made of super thick plaster.  This makes it very difficult to hang any sort of hooks or rods.  In fact when we signed our lease there was an addendum that stated we couldn't hang curtain rods.  At first I was upset because I had all these grand ideas to decorate, but then I remembered a blog I read months ago that illustrated how to make faux roman shades.  My mom and I decided to give it a shot and they turned out fabulous!  The fabric is actually a tablecloth I found at Target.  All it took was a little cutting, hemming, and some tension rods and bam...beautiful curtains that look like expensive roman shades!

One Room at a Time....the Living Room

As promised, I am sharing pictures of the inside of our house.  The first room I'll share is the living room.  Hands down this is my favorite room!

I love the french doors leading out to the lanai (a.k.a. - sunroom) and the built in bookcases by the fireplace.  The room is huge yet it still has a warm and cozy feel to it.

We didn't change much of the decor from what we had in Rocklin.  As some of you may know these green couches are the bain of my existence.  Brandon is holding on to them for dear life and they have definitely seen better days. We did however purchase a rug, TV stand, and lamps which I think look great.

The room is pretty much complete with the exception of decorating the bookcases, excuse the junk. :( 

Gwyneth gives this room a big thumbs up!

Gwyneth Turns 1!

This post is a week late, but better late than never....

It is hard to believe my baby is already one years old!  It seems like she was born just yesterday.  Brandon and I have been looking back at pictures from the hospital and it's unbelievable how much difference one year can make in a child.  She is developing into a beautiful little girl and we fall in love with her more each and every day!

Gwyneth Harper Stepp was born May 7, 2011 weighing 8 lb 2 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

One day old.

Gwyneth one year old.  She just gets cuter with age!!

My parents have been here in CA with us since the end of February.  It has been such a blessing to have their help during the move.  I honestly don't know what we would have done without them!  Gwyneth really enjoyed having them too!  They left yesterday on their drive back to AL.  We will miss them dearly!

Gwyneth with Granddaddy and Grandmama Raymond (Erin Noel Photography).

My sister, Heather, came out this past weekend to help celebrate our mom's and Gwyneth's birthdays.  We decided to do a joint birthday since Gwyneth's birthday was the 7th and my mom's was the 9th.  The celebration was a bit belated, but I think they both enjoyed it.

Heather and Gwyneth.

The Hello Kitty Cake.

Heather really wanted Gwyneth's birthday to involve swimming and I thought it was a great idea too.  We don't have a pool but that was a positive since I had no intentions of getting into a bathing suit.  So we made a trip to Toys R Us and got a baby pool.  It was perfect and Gwyneth absolutely loved it!!  I have a feeling we will be using the pool a lot this Summer.

I have an amazing family and I am so very lucky to have them in my life!  Happy Birthday Dunebuggy!!  Mommy and Daddy love you so much!  XOXO

Southern California

It's been way too long since I last blogged...almost a year!  The Stepps have been on the move. We just made a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move and are now in sunny Southern California.  Brandon is working as the Executive Officer for the Commander of  4th Air Force at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, CA, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles.  In 1994 March AFB was converted to March Air Reserve Base (ARB), a stand-alone reserve base.  The base itself originated back in 1918 and is one of the oldest airfields operated by the United States Military.  They have kept most of the buildings in their historical condition, with minor updates, and they are absolutely beautiful.  I love driving around and imagining what it would have been like on base back in the 1920's and 30's.

We live in Green Acres, a neighborhood comprised of what used to be base housing.  When the active duty base closed in 1994 the city of Riverside acquired a portion of the housing and they lease the houses through March Joint Powers Authority.  The houses date back to the early 1930s and they are amazing!  Just down the street from us there is a house called "The Doolittle House."  Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, who led Doolittle's Raid during World War II, once lived there.  There is also the "Hap Arnold House" which still resides on base.  General Henry Arnold, the General of the Air Force, once lived there when he was the base commander back in the 1930s.  The inside of the houses are a bit dated but I LOVE all of the historic details.  There is just something about an old home that make you feel cozy.  So many memories were made in the same spot that you are now making memories and I love that!

 Entrance to Green Acres. 

The house we rent used to be designated for high ranking officers.  It is a 4 bedroom 3 bath home and is so much bigger than our home in Rocklin.  The floors are beautiful hardwood and the rooms are huge!  Gwyneth loves playing in her room and is going to be so spoiled with all the space in which she has to play.  The walls are super thick plaster so decorating has been a little bit of a challenge since you can't hang pictures or curtain rods.  When we first looked at the house I noticed the crown molding was not flush against the ceiling.  I thought it was just poor workmanship when I saw a 1 inch gap but later learned the molding is used to hang pictures.  Little details like that are what I love!! :)

Adams Avenue, our street.

The house is slowly coming together.  We have come to realize that we have accumulated a bunch of "junk" over the years.  The move has helped us declutter a bit, but we still have a long way to go.  I will be posting pictures of the inside of the house over the next week.

Our house.

State Fair

It's been a month since I lasted posted a blog and oh my how Gwyneth has changed!  At 10 weeks, she is getting to be such a big girl.  Her awareness of her surroundings is increasing everyday.  There must be so much going on in that little brain of hers, Brandon and I joke about the new synapses firing as we speak.

Today was a big day for her.  Brandon and I took her to the California State Fair at Cal Expo down in Sacramento.  Having lived in the Sacramento area for sis years, you would think that we had been to the fair before.  We actually lived about a mile from the fairgrounds for two years, but for some reason or other we have never made it.  This year we made it a point to go since we had Dunebuggy.  Fortunately this year, the weather was perfect!  Every year the fair is held at the end of July, the hottest time of the year here in Sacramento.  The idea of going to the fair in 100+ degree weather just does not sound like a good time.  Fortunately, we've had a two-week span of unusually cool weather and the high was a very reasonable 80 degrees with the standard NorCal 100% sunshine. There was a nice breeze as well.  We really couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.

My favorite part of the fair was by far the farm animal exhibits and the petting zoo.  The farm animal exhibits had hundreds of pens set up with goats, pigs, sheep, and cows.  Many of these animals were pregnant or had recently given birth.  We saw a pig that had given birth to 10 babies that were just five-days old.  They were super cute but not as cute as the baby sheep that were one day old!  They were still learning how to walk and were smaller than Baylee.  They were absolutely adorable!!

The petting zoo was a lot of fun too.  I have always enjoyed petting farm animals and today was no different. :)  They had sheep, goats, llamas, pigs, donkeys, deer, and even a kangaroo!  I bought a small cone of food to feed the animals and it didn't last long.  Those guys were hungry!  I am realized surprised those animals aren't severely overweight from all that food the kids feed them.  They are constantly eating!  Dunebuggy was a little too young for the petting zoo this year but I am looking forward to next year when she can join me in the fun.

After visiting the animals we perused the fair for yummy junk food.  We shared a funnel cake, fried cheese curds, fried peanut butter cups, and chocolate bacon.  I think we had enough fried food for the week.  They were all delicious but my favorite was the funnel cake.  Gwyneth got hungry somewhere along our fried food journey.  We found a shaded park bench to sit and feed her a bottle.  She did so well, not crying a single time.  As Brandon burped her, he felt her poop in her diaper.  We decided to change her right there on the park bench (the bathrooms at the fair are not the cleanest or the most family friendly for changing babies).  I opened her diaper and.....oh my!!  She had an explosion up in that diaper!  Good thing we changed her quick, otherwise we would have had a code blue (a term for an outfit ruining blowout that we learned from Cindy Teel) on our hands.  After many many wipes we were able to get her cleaned up and diapered without knowingly offending anyone because we were out in the public.  Overall, I would say we had a successful day at the fair.  It was a lot of fun to experience the fair for the first time and to share that experience with my wonderful little family.

After we returned home, I fed Dunebuggy and got her ready for bed.  We are still working on a bedtime routine.  I have come to realize that she is never ready to go to bed right after she eats.  Tonight I decided to read her some books.  She loved it!  I read her a book about puppies and she was smiling as I turned each page and she got to see a new picture of a puppy.  It was amazing to see her so engaged.  I read her the book several times (it was a short 5 pages long) and each time it was like she had heard it for the first time.  Since she was so enthralled with that book, I decided to read her another book.  I read her a book that her Yaney gave her on numbers.  It is a super cute book that is shaped like a purse and teaches the numbers one through ten.  She loved the book however I think it is going to take many more reads until she is able to count to ten. :)  I think reading a book will definitely be a part of our nightly routine from here on out!