Thursday, May 7, 2009

New Lens, and big news for Elle Belle

... she's almost fully potty trained!! (well, except pull ups for night time, but that of course is a physical development and will take time!) A couple months ago we started putting her on the potty and she would randomly go but usually not. I didn't really want to deal with it until after we moved and I could stay in one spot to be able to take her to the potty every 30 mins or so. Since it's so nice out, last week we put her pullups away and told her they were only for night time and made a huge deal out of the fact that she gets to wear big girl underwear!! She is currently wearing the gerber kind with extra layers so it helps soak up any liquids if she has accidents. I highly recommend this, as I did not have these with Val and ohhh what a difference. At any rate the first 2 days I think she had like 18 accidents. No joke, the kid would pee, change her underwear, and pee again 20 mins later, after sitting on the potty. It was frustrating but I hit a point that I was done with pullups. After only a week she is now down to about one or two accidents a day, and today survived an outing of an hour and a half walk/park and came home dry! I was impressed (and had extra underwear in the wagon incase. thank goodness for sundresses) We're so proud of her (and relieved, we may only have one in diapers again! hooray)

We are going to use cloth again with this baby, so I don't need too much. I'm feeling pretty prepared, and quite honestly think I could get more done around here if I could actually bend over or climb a ladder so we're ready! I am 31 weeks, however she is measuring very large and there's some discrepency between me and the doctors on the due date. I know my body very well, so I'm sure that's when she's due but I think my babies just seem to be done cookin' a little sooner. Ellie came at 38 weeks, so I told D to just be prepared.

Lastly, my new portrait lens arrived today and it's wonderful! It's a canon 85mm f/1.8 and I highly recommend it. What is lovely about it, in comparison to my 50mm f/1.4 is that you don't have to get so close to the subject (aka a running toddler) to take a portrait. The clarity is wonderful (I've read comparable to an L-series in many reviews) and the background blur is beautiful. This might replace my 50mm for my fav. lens, but I'm happy to have something new to play with. I'll take lots of pics this weekend as we are meeting my parents downtown at Millenium Park on Sunday! Here's 2 we shot really quick when I got my lens to test it in our front yard:


7 comments:

Jennifer Aitchison said...

Beautfiul Pics!
Congrats on the potty training!!!!
Congrats on the new lens!!!

I am shooting my cousins wedding next weekend, all I have is the 50 mm so I am going to be in their faces the whole time. LOL :D I want to save up for a new lens so I really appreciated reading your feedback :)
I am torn half and half between a good portrait or a good macro.
Love Ya! Hope you are feeling good and getting sleep!

Lindsay said...

That's awesome (and I'd be incredibly intimidated!!! I don't think I could ever shoot a wedding!!!) I'm impressed! :)

I love it so far, will keep you posted. My 50mm.. the focus ring basically quit turning in certain spots. It would get stuck and the autofocus quit working, as if something snapped in that ring somehow. so annoying. It's 'in the shop' for awhile. .. ugh. :)

Deb Coe said...

Holy Cow - new lens! Yay! (sounds like I should do a root touch-up before Mother's Day, lol!)

Yay for potty training - and the first two pics with that new lens look great!

You crack me up with your seemingly endless energy - I've NEVER heard a pregnant woman talk the way you do - about wanting to get the baby out so you can work harder and climb ladders, etc, lol!!!!! (You are your mother's daughter, sigh........)

LOve YOU!

jinaz said...

Congrats on the potty training! We considered doing our "boot camp" this weekend, but Jen just finished 12 contractions in an hour-15 (settled down now though). So, I think at this point we're going to have to wait until after the baby comes. We're just running out of time!

Melissa Ann Rodgers said...

Great pics! So exciting to get a new lens...where did you order it from if you don't mind me asking. I'm looking into getting one myself.
Congrats on the potty training too! How exciting!

Aunt Kathy said...

Wow, congrats on the potty traing and lens!! That picture of Ellie is just beautiful!! She is a doll!!

Between you and Jen, I can't wait for new babies....:-)

Take care!! Hugs!!

Lindsay said...

Melissa, 99% of anything I've ordered comes from B&H Photo. Have you heard of them? THey almost always have the best prices, and their return policy is excellent. The packages are well wrapped/safely secure and I trust the company (Most pros seem to use them). This last time they were out of stock of what I wanted so I ordered from 47th St.Photo I think it was.. a big photo store in NYC but it was through amazon.com and it came a day earlier than expected. Also was just fine! If you don't have the 50mm yet, I'd def start with that for what you take pics of!!