So THIS is why Eli can't talk!

Elijah fell and hurt himself on the basement floor yesterday. He was bleeding from the mouth and I wasn't too worried since mouth cuts usually bleed a lot. He fought me to check him so I left him alone. Just for curiosity tonight when we were playing outside...I checked his mouth. And noticed THIS.





See how the lip is connected to his gums...through his two front teeth and to the back of them?! I looked it up and found that it is a problem just like being tongue tied. It can cause problems with breastfeeding (hmm. well that answers that.) and can cause delay in speech since they can't move their mouth properly to pronounce many sounds. So now I need to get in contact with a speech therapist and a pediatric dentist. Find out if he should get a frenectomy (the surgery to snip it). I guess it can eventually recede but if it doesn't it can cause problems with teeth as well as continue to make it difficult to talk...even with therapy.

Can you have your cake...

and eat it too?

Just a little Sunday morning thinking. James is unsure what he plans on doing for a job. He needs to figure something out that he is interested in that he can do instead of electrical and make a plan to get there. It makes me start thinking about the original plan and our roles. For a while I thought I could handle switching roles and once the baby is born, for me to work. But I don't think I could really. I'd end up being a grouchy poop. Because of my personality, I'd want things still to be done the way I'd do them. If something isn't done, I take it on myself to get it done...which would make me exhausted to take on that supermom role. I already get exhausted but at least now I'm not resentful. Which I think I would end up being. Anyway, I still like photography and honestly have been a little lazy on the making money side of things. I've kind of waited for money to come to me...not tried to go out and get it. Or implemented any of the plans to make money. So my goal for the week is to come up with a business plan. Time to stop being willy nilly! (i love that term!) Figure out what I want and then plan for it...and hopefully get there by the end of 2010. That has been the year that I've had in my head for a couple years now. So if I can get things rolling in the way I want by next summer, I think that'd be fantastic! I've kept myself down a little bit by keep saying that I need to be better first. Obviously, I think I should keep learning. But I have a few friends that are less consistant, with less quality and make 90k+ a year. So that gives me motivation. How could this solve James needing to figure out what he is doing? I don't know really...but this is my jumble of thoughts. How do I start making more money while keeping the family as a priority and not burn myself out? Business plan is necessary.

Father's Day.

I'm still catching up on photos from the past few weeks. Seems like I'm taking a ton of pictures everyday! We had spent Father's day with my parents this year...which is a first since James and I have been married. So it was nice to see Steve and spend time with James, relaxing outside. We had steaks on the grill and watched Eli play in the little pool. He played in the big pool too but the water was too cold for James and I so he had to wait until someone braver took him in. Eli is SUCH a fish. He just jumps right in. Water fights are pretty typical summer fun at the Schneider house...always a blast. Steve's dad was up from Florida and so he was able to meet the kids and there was a spontaneous visit from Uncle John, Uncle Denny, and cousins Grace and Cameron. Berlin just ADORES both of them. Grace especially because she is such a sweetheart. Cameron, Berlin just thinks is the coolest kid on the block. She was talking about how cool kids are supposed to wear their hats backwards. Funny. (she also met some of his friends that weekend and had a little crushy on a 9 year old boy. man, it starts so young!)

And for something totally random and not related to this post... I'm so drooling over this computer! A photographer just got the 8-core and loaded 1800 files in less than 90 seconds! Yes, I'm jealous!! It wouldn't take me all day to edit a wedding if my computer wasn't so slow!


Berlin & Cam

She dishes it out...

But she can take it!

Cam

Eli attempting the watergun.

James! And my belly :)

Happy Father's Day!

Grace

Uncle Denny, Grandpa Schneider, Steve, Uncle John

Someone gave him sugar in drink form!

And he is happy about it!

Ha, and Ryan won't be happy about this! He fell asleep and they were going to squirt him with water but he woke up when I took this picture. :)

Steve planted zebra tomatoes. half animal-half veg...hmmm... interesting.

Sarah & Ryan.

Roger.

no words necessary.

Denny and Steve.

Yum...watermelon!

Cole trying to steal his watermelon. NOT having that. :)

I just liked this one.

Will Eli be a skater too? Or like his mom who falls on her butt? Really, it hurt!





Uncle Denny and Eli

New Lens! 24-70mm yay!

My new lens arrived tonight! Canon 24-70mm 2.8L USM lens! I had to sell 2 lenses to afford it but it was worth it. This should be a better all around lens for weddings. I'm excited! I did a little testing tonight to check it out...plus to check out my 5d which seems to have a backfocusing problem...that or I am crazy and all of a sudden don't know how to use autofocus (which is doubtful). So I'm sending it in to be checked out. I'm going to miss it for the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, here are a couple of my test shots with my new lens! Also, I'm feeling teachery and decided that I'd post my straight out of the camera (SOOC) files as well as the finished. I get emails sometimes about what I do to the pictures...so thought I'd share. None are really super touched up or anything...just basic.


SOOC


Skin softened and sharpened


SOOC


Slight skin smoothing (for guys i do less than girls), sharpened, curves, a little contrast and saturation boost.


SOOC


Cleaned up face, skin smoothing, sharpened, slight contrast boost


SOOC


Skin smooth, sharpened, ran an action called Pool Party at 20%, burned bushes a little to darken and make more focus on berlin's pale skin.


This picture isn't perfectly in focus, but i like it...so i'm keeping it. :) I just skin smoothed, ran an action called Winter Fade at 30%, then increased the contrast.

Okay, well just felt like sharing my excitement! Now I'm off to enjoy my ice cream bar and watch a movie while James is hanging out with Joel. :)

July already!

Wow, this summer is flying by! I can't believe that June is gone! Just started going through pictures from the last week. I liked this one of Berlin. She is now found walking around in her dress up heels daily. I love it!

Off to Nana Camp! Have a wonderful day!

Weekend Plans.

We were hoping to be able to rent a pontoon this year on Lake Orion...but things fell through. So I've been looking up where to go for the 4th of July fireworks this year. Last year, we went to the Lake Orion fireworks and the spot was great at the St. Joseph's Catholic church....big and roomy and the kids played at the park until the fireworks started. BUT we missed the finale! The whole thing was displayed below the treeline. I came across this website that lists the michigan fireworks displays.

We aren't for sure as to where we are going for the 4th yet because Holly and Joel will be joining us. But I did see that Clawson is having a carnival, parade, and fireworks. I'm planning on taking Berlin to the carnival on Friday night anywhere from 3-9pm if anyone wants to join me!

Cuties!

I posted the last little session with the kids on my business blog. Go to Amanda Mattila Photography Blog to view the pictures and slideshow.