A love letter to Tristan, Age 9

My dear, sweet Tristan,

Today you are nine years old – the last year of single digits! You, my eldest son, have had quite the year. I feel like I’ve gotten to know you much better as a person this year. I have seen bits of you that foreshadow the teenager you will soon be, and the man not far behind that. You already stand as tall as my chin, and you still laugh when every now and then I push down on the top of your head in an always-unsuccessful attempt to cram you back into the toddler that you were just yesterday.

Tristan at Shiverfest

You are still my adventuring son, the one with endless energy who will leave no snow-mound unscaled, no tree unclimbed, no ledge unwalked. You love to go places, to see new things, to explore new places. And yet you are also the most resistant to change — possibly even moreso than me, and I didn’t think that was possible. Our recent move was hardest on you of all the boys, but I think that six months later, you’re finally okay with it. Thank goodness for that treehouse, that’s all I can say!

428:1000 Tristan at the Farm

Tristan, in your ninth year you like Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros, Pokemon, Beyblades, Smurfs, and playing Wii and DS games. You still love Lego, and you will spend endless amounts of time at the table with nothing but paper and pencil to entertain you. You’ve drawn your own comic books, and on an average day you create at least three or more works of art. You are a scavenger for art projects, and make fascinating compositions out of kleenex boxes, paper rolls and whatever other trush ephemera you can lay your hands on. You’re also reading way above your grade level, consuming book series like Geronimo Stilton and Percy Jackson.

438:1000 Book club

You are doing well in school, solidly in the B to B+ range. You joined the school choir this year, which you seem to enjoy. Math seems to come easily to you, but getting you to do journal entries is like herding angry cats. How can the son of a hard core blogger hate writing journal entries so much?!

27:365 Homework TtV

This year you had a fun party for friends old and new at the movie theatre, and it was another smashing success. Your cake was decorated with Sonic the Hedgehog action figures, and we all laughed our way through Gnomeo and Juliet. Tonight, Granny is fulfilling your special birthday dinner request: roast beef, mashed potatoes … and stuffing! (You sure have come a long way from the finicky eater you once were!)

Birthday party madness

You are an amazing older brother. Lately, you’ve taken to teaching Simon the math and cursive handwriting that you’re learning in school, and you have endless patience for Lucas. When Lucas and I took a quick trip to Toronto this past weekend, my heart nearly burst with pride when you drew a special colouring page full of Lucas’s favourite characters to keep him busy on the plane.

551:1000 Christmas card outtake

You have a big and sensitive heart, Tristan. You’re thoughtful and creative and very aware of the feelings of people around you. You’re not particularly good at putting your clothes in the hamper or keeping your room tidy, and the way you bicker with Simon may yet make my head explode. But you make me proud every single day, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to feel like we’re friends as well as mom and son.

449:1000 Yoshiback ride

Happy birthday, my darling Tristan. I hope this year is your best year ever. We love you very much!

Exciting new bloggy news

As you know, I am very selective about advertising, product reviews and giveaways. Any service or brand that gets featured here comes with my personal endorsement, which I won’t give lightly.

Not too long ago, I had a great offer for a year-long blogging affiliation that would have come with an all-expenses-paid trip to BlogHer 11 in San Diego, and I turned it down because I simply couldn’t see myself investing emotionally in the company in the way I’d need to blog about it authentically. It was a huge multinational and I’m sure you’d recognize the name, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me, and for the blog. Turning down that free trip to BlogHer was painful, but in retrospect it was 100% the right choice.

And today, I’m dancing on my toes with excitement to tell you about the offer that I *did* accept! Yep, this is the thing that I’ve been not-quite-able to talk about for weeks. *squee*

Starting this weekend, I’ll be one of 10 Canadian moms chosen to be the official bloggers for: Fisher-Price Canada! Is that not awesome? I can’t think of too many brands I love and trust as much as Fisher-Price. Our closets and toy bins overflow with Fisher-Price products, from the Rainforest cradle swing to the Healthy Care highchair (that endured all three boys and was still good enough to give away for more use) and the Healthy Care booster seat that we’re still using to the Little People sets of every shape and size to the GeoTrax that Lucas just inherited from Tristan — and that’s just off the top of my head! I’m sure there’s oodles more if I looked around. I can tell you free of any endorsement or affiliation, we love Fisher-Price toys and gear.

Lucas

So when the opportunity came up, it was easy for me to say yes to Fisher-Price. This weekend, they’re bringing all of the bloggers together in Toronto for a meet-and-greet and a (eep!) photo shoot. Lucas and I will be flying out to Toronto on Friday afternoon, and rushing back on Saturday to make it home in time for Tristan’s birthday party on Sunday. I’d hoped the whole family could go, but they were focusing on kids under five years old for this particular photo shoot.

DSC_2228

As you can see, I didn’t even have to look too hard into my Flickr archives to demonstrate our ongoing affection for the Fisher-Price brand!!

Batman!

(Although, I have to tell you, it pains me to feature some of these old pictures from a photographic perspective. Even though I’ve always loved taking pictures, I’ve sure come a long way in the last few years!!)

DSC_0569

And how cute is this? All three boys eating their first birthday cake in the same Healthy Care high chair! That’s Tristan in 2003, Simon in 2005 and Lucas in 2009, from left to right.

Tristan age 1 (eight long years ago!)SimonLucas is one

I’m so pleased to be working with Fisher-Price and Mom Central Canada for the next year on this project, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. Our whole family is excited, including Beloved who still waxes nostalgic about his Fisher-Price Sesame Street Little People set from the 1970s. Do you have a favourite Fisher-Price toy or product?

Liveblogging the move to a big-boy bed

So I had this idea that I would live-blog Lucas’s move to a big-boy bed. I mean, this is the last time I get to do this, right? After nine years of faithful and nearly constant service (save for a quick break from 2006 through 2008) this crib has logged near-constant use.

I even sat Lucas down in his room on the weekend so I could take a few pictures of him to memorialize the occasion.

66c:365 Getting ready for the big boy bed (3 of 3)

He’s been ready for the big-boy bed for a lot longer than I’ve been ready. Beloved even proposed that we leave the crib behind when we moved in October. There was no way, though, that I was freeing Lucas from baby-jail any sooner than I absolutely had to!

66b:365 Getting ready for the big boy bed (2 of 3)

It was Tristan who traumatized me for life on the idea of transitioning to big-boy beds. He was 20 months old when we turfed him from the crib to make room for Simon and I was 100 months pregnant, and he absolutely refused to stay in his bed. We put up a baby gate to keep him upstairs, and we’d find him at the top of the stairs at the end of the evening in a little camp he’d created for himself with his blanket, pillow and soother. And I won’t even get into the midnight rambles and the shock of waking up to a toddler staring at me at all hours of the night. *shudder*

And so, here we are. I’ve read Lucas his three nightly books, secured his soother, and carefully tucked him into his big-boy bed. I’m waiting for the shenanigans to begin.

And waiting.

And waiting.

…

*nothing*

So I creep back down the hallway 30 minutes later, and he’s fast asleep, curled into a perfect little ball and looking more like a newborn in that giant bed than the oversized preschooler he is.

The next sound I hear from him is nine hours later, just a few minutes after I open my own eyes and before I’ve broken the seal on my flanneliciously warm bed. “Mo-ommy!” comes his sing-song voice from the next room. “Come and get me!” Just like he has called me after every nap and sleep for months.

Not much in the way of riveting blog fodder, I’ll grant you that — but it sure was a sweet way to wake up!

Goodbye, lovely crib. I still remember agonizing over spending what seemed like an exorbitant amount of money on it (I think it was $300 or so) but had I had even an inkling of the years of faithful service and happy memories it would bring, I would have happily paid triple that. (And now, due to changing Health Canada regulations on drop-sided cribs, it’s consigned to the scrap heap. Sigh.)

66:365 Getting ready for the big boy bed (1 of 3)

Project 365: Vintage week

The good thing is: I’m really not stressing over the 365 project this time around. The bad things is: I’m “settling” for a picture of the day a lot more.

Like this shot of the boys. It was 6:25 am when I shot it, and I was just on my way out the door to go to work when I noticed they were cuddled up together on the love seat watching TV. Lucas and Simon are like oil and water more often than not, so I grabbed my camera and clicked off one shot. It was adorable when I looked in the LED, and I didn’t take another picture all day, safe in the knowledge that I had a worthy picture of the day.

Then at the very end of the day I pulled the memory card out of my camera and got a good look at the picture in Lightroom and realized it’s horribly noisy because I was shooting at 1600 ISO to compensate for the fact that the sun hadn’t come up yet, and Lucas is just in front of the plane of focus, and the highlights on his hair are completely blown out. Oh well. It still makes me happy when I look at it.

63:365 Brothers

From a technical standpoint, this is a much better picture. It also makes me happy! This is Family Day, in the driveway.

60:365 Family Day winter fun

More Family Day fun – Lucas thinks he’s a zamboni on his tricycle!

60b:365 Zamboni trike rider

And Simon the future NHL star:

60d:365 He shoots, he -- covers the photographer in a spray of snow!

I kept hearing people rave about the iPhone camera app Hipstamatic, so I ponied up $1.99 to try it out. The lenses and effects are alright, similar to what I have in my other apps, but for this one you have to set your lens and film before you take the shot rather than in post-processing. And the viewfinder makes me a little crazy because it’s not like an SLR where you get an accurate picture, it’s like a point and shoot and they really exaggerate the effect. Meh, I’m not sure about this one. I tested it out on my old favourite, the Underwood typewriter.

61:365 Hipstamatic Underwood

Speaking of vintage and cameras, Lara and Angela have inspired me to take a few more self-portraits. Here’s vintage me with my Duaflex:

62:365 Duaflex selfie

This was a TtV self-portrait, but I almost deleted it. I really didn’t like the original composition, but with TtV you’re very much bound by what’s inside the viewfinder frame (unless you’re much better with photoshop than I am!) I cropped out the viewfinder and the right half of the frame and ended up loving how this one came out with a bit of a vintage vibe and those crazy roses that are now two weeks old and holding! (Note to self: time to clean the dust off the viewfinder. I know some people like their TtV gritty, but I prefer it clean.)

59:365 Roses and me TtV

And more vintage: this is one of the beauties from my camera collection. It’s a Kodak Brownie Starflex, and was manufactured some time between 1957 and 1964. I’d bought it for $20, hoping to use it for TtV, but I’m more partial to the Duaflex viewfinder. It’s still a lovely little camera, though! I ended up using this shot in the banner for my new photography site on a whim, and I think it works well with the typewriter font.

58:365 Brownie Starflex

See, even my photography is fixated on photography this week. I am truly an obsessive creature.

Oh really? She can blog about something other than pictures??

Each time I even think about writing a new blog post, a voice in my head says, “You’ve really got to blog about something other than photography. You may be obsessed, but you’re going to bore them to tears. For the love of all things holy, is there nothing else in your head except photo apps and web galleries and f-stops?”

*crickets*

Okay, so that’s not entirely true. There’s this really wicked cool thing happening next weekend — but I can’t talk to you about that yet. And there’s all sorts of another kind of crazy with my work, but I can never really blog about that. And — that’s about it. That’s all my brain has room for these days.

No wait, there is one other thing: we’re getting a new dishwasher today! That’s kind of exciting, in a mundanely domestic sort of way. You may remember that when we took possession of the house, the very first time we tried to use the dishwasher it stuttered to a stop about three minutes in to the first cycle. $150 and three days later, we had a switch replaced, but the thing has been dying a slow death ever since. It doesn’t clean very well, the door gets stuck on the countertop when you close it, and it sounds like a jumbo jet is taking off every time we run the damn thing.

So, a new dishwasher. We comparison-shopped for a while, waffling over name brands and features like a stainless steel interior (apparently not worth the money, even though it helps speed the drying when you refuse to use heat dry like I do) and water use (a huge issue with an aging septic system) and noise (an even bigger issue.) Everybody we spoke to recommended Bosch, but their tubs are smaller than industry standard and with a busy family of five, size matters.

We got a good deal on this one from GE and it seems to get above-average reviews. (Side note: I spent hours one Saturday trying to cross-reference model numbers from Corbeil and Sears to the last two Consumer Reports Buying Guides, and ended up with nothing but crossed eyes for my efforts. Once again, living in the shadow of the US adds a layer of complexity to life!)

The model we choise was on sale at both Sears and Corbeil but Corbeil has free delivery, so I went in and asked them to match the price. They started to argue that their price matching includes the delivery free so really was a better deal, but when I shrugged and said, “Well, if you want to lose the sale over $25, okay, I’ll go next door to Sears” they dropped the price to match. I’m getting good at this haggling thing!!

So we can now add to the ever-growing list of household investments and upgrades a new dishwasher. Let’s hope we can cross this one off the list of things to worry about for another five to ten years!

Some random thoughts on going “pro”

I‘ve been really shy about unveiling my Motherhip Photography site, and even more shy about taking on the label of “pro” photographer. I’ve got a huge insecurity complex and am so grateful that if any of you snorted with surprise and derision at the idea of me going pro then at least you had the decency to keep it to yourself. (Yeesh, needy much?)

Some of the things that make me hesitate to assume the mantle of “pro” photographer (see, I can’t even discuss it without the air quotes around the word “pro”) include the fact that I don’t have a huge amount of expensive gear, have very little interest in doing studio work, and don’t have any real plans to drop my day job for a career as a photographer. For those reasons, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to lose the self-conscious shrug and apologetic quotes every time I call myself a “pro”.

Technically, though, since I’ve received commissions and compensation for my work, I suppose I should just get over myself and own the word “pro”. It’s just a word!

The main reason I decided to put up a website and make things more official is simply because I love — really and truly love — photography and the idea of finding reasons to do it more often simply makes my heart soar with excitement. I love the idea of meeting new people and having the honour of capturing the things they value in life, preserving moments in imagery that they will hopefully treasure for years to come. It’s a very romantic notion, I know. It’s a damn good thing I’m not in this for the money!

And so when some casual conversations turned into queries about rates and packages, it seemed like a good idea to get it all out there in the open. But the more I looked into it, the more I realized that there is so much more to a photography business than I ever imagined. Contracts, packages, insurance, overhead, marketing, accounting… yikes! On the weekend I read a really excellent article that talks about the money side of professional wedding and portrait photography. My jaw dropped when I realized that on a $200 session fee, a photographer is really only pocketing $60 after taxes, equipment, overhead and other costs. When you figure there’s an hour or two for a shoot, not to mention travel time, another four to six obsessive hours to select, edit and process images, and who knows how long in meeting with clients, prepping and processing print orders and other tasks, it all breaks down to less than $10 an hour. It was a real eye-opener, and confirmed for me that I really am doing this for love and not money!

I’m lucky enough that I don’t need to do this, I want to do this, and that’s making a huge difference in how I’m valuing myself and my work. I don’t want to be popular, I want to be good. I don’t want to be rich, I want to be happy. And so I’ve decided that if I am going to do this, I will do it right: professional printing and packages, professional rates, professional contracts, professional behaviour, professional expectations, professional results. And I’ll consider the whole thing a huge success if I can book five or ten sessions this year.

In a roundabout way, this venture has reminded me how lucky I am. I’ve always been selective and particular about how I market and monetize the blog, and I’m choosing to approach the photography business in the same way. I’m just so incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to have so many things in my life that make me happy AND give me a few extra dollars for the boys’ future bail college funds on the side.

😉

Project 365: Week of the Roses

This has been a really challenging week for my 365 project, mostly because I was embroiled with two sick kids, a sick caregiver, and a secret project that sucked up ALL my spare time (and more than a bit of my not-so-spare time as well!). More about the secret project later.

So here’s what caught my fancy this week!

Here’s your weekly dose of cuteness. He’s reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, one of our new favourite books.

56:365 If you give a mouse a cookie...

We’ve spent a lot of time haunting the Manotick branch of the public library lately. Conveniently, we moved into a house just around the corner from the library just about the same time as my mother, otherwise known as my main paperback supplier, bought herself a Kindle — and my stream of free paperbacks dried up overnight. This is the centre of the kids’ section of the Manotick library, where Lucas is “reading” a book about potty training to Tristan. The funky frame is courtesy of the Camera+ app on my iPhone. (I don’t know what I love more, the giant colourful sunburst, Lucas reading to Tristan, or the fact that the page he is reading is covered in underwear!)

51:365 At the library

From warm and fuzzy to cold and wet — I took this one from the narrow bridge on Jockvale near Stonebridge, but no matter how much I played with it, I couldn’t quite make it what I wanted of it. It’s one of those “good enough, and I’ve got nothing else for today” shots, I suppose.

50:365 Frozen Jock River

Speaking of good enough, this one is really a bit of a mulligan. I spent hours glued to my computer on Sunday working on that secret project I mentioned, and by the end of the day had nothing really to show for it — and no picture for the day, either. So I took this with my iPhone and called it “Time Sink” because that’s what the computer can be sometimes. Um, often.

52:365 Time sink

On Valentine’s Day, although Beloved and I had agreed not to get each other any gifts, I came home from work to a dozen of the most beautiful fresh red roses I’ve ever seen. (Good thing I’d picked some chocolates up for him, too!) And I’ve been loving those roses all week!

First, Valentine TtV roses:

53:365 Valentine rose TtV

Then, roses with a hint of cross-processing:

54:365 Rose again

Roses desaturated in black and white:

55:365 Rose revisited

And finally (for this week, at least, as they’re still going strong!!) roses with a hint of sunshine:

57:365 I am really digging these roses

I think they got better as the week progressed — that last one is definitely my favourite. 🙂

Oh, and did I mention my secret project? Yeah, it’s really not so secret since I outed myself last night on Twitter, and I’ve actually been screwing up my courage to tell you about it here all week.

A couple of weeks ago, I was at the schoolyard fence waiting for the boys and got to talking with some of the moms and dads, and one mentioned going to Sears to get portraits done and how she wasn’t really thrilled with the results. I mentioned that I really like to take family pictures, and we got to chatting. She asked me for my website, and I gave her this URL. A couple of days later, she came back and asked me where the information about my photography business was, and I hemmed and hawed a bit and said, “Well, that’s pretty much it.”

It got me thinking, though. I’ve been toying with the idea of putting up a separate photography blog ever since I started my first 365 back in January of 2009, and even toyed with a few themes and galleries, but nothing ever worked for me. I tried building a gallery with Lightroom, but the results were underwhelming.

Last week, with the help of a few friends on Twitter, I finally found a workable (and free!) WordPress theme and installed it. I spent WAY too much time sorting through some of my favourite pictures, and came up with a result that is not quite perfect, but at least worth sharing at this point.

With butterflies in my tummy, and wondering what the hell I am thinking, I am thrilled and terrified to pull back the curtain and show you my latest cockamamie scheme, Mothership Photography.

Eek!

Hooray for Ottawa!

Here’s three great links for people who love Ottawa as much as I love Ottawa. (And for the record? I love Ottawa A LOT!)

First, mad props to the Ottawa Public Library. I love the library and I really love their website and new interactive features. I love the ease of popping over whenever the mood strikes me or a bit of information catches my attention and requesting a book online. If there’s no other requests, the book gets shipped to my local branch in Manotick within a couple of days, and I get an e-mail notification when it’s ready for pick-up. Even better, I get another e-mail two days before it’s due. This is a smashing good system.

You know what just made it even better? I can now do all this on my iPhone, thanks to a new Ottawa Public Library iPhone App. How awesome is that? And best of all? Totally free. I love this!!

Second, mad props to Ottawa Start and two excellent new resources they’ve published in the last couple of weeks. First, check out their wicked-cool Ultimate Guide to Tobogganing in Ottawa and Gatineau. Not only is it a map of all the best sledding hills in the city, but if you click on one it gives you information about the kind of hill, special features and any potential perils. Really, this is outstanding.

Shiverfest mascot sledding

Last but not least, also from Ottawa Start, here’s an update to their 2009 list of essential blogs in Ottawa. This year, they’ve listed 26 essential Ottawa blogs, and I’m very proud to see I’ve been included. (Thanks Glen!) Some of my favourite blogs are here, and a few I must now check out, but I really like this list because of its diversity — it has a little bit of blog for everyone who lives in or loves Ottawa.

Ottawa rocks! 🙂

Adventures in hiring a contractor and other housey updates

I dashed off this post on the weekend, and then I thought it was rather pointless and whiny and took it back down again, but apparently feedburner launched it into your feed-readers because a few of you took the time to e-mail me and commiserate and offer basement renovation advice and support — so I’ve reworked it to mitigate the whininess. A bit. Here’s the revised version!

I tell you, I’ve learned more about houses, structural issues, home repair and contractors in the last six months than I learned in the previous forty-one years! And this post has gotten so ridiculously long that I’ve tucked it beneath the fold. Settle in and grab a coffee if you want to stick around for the whole saga to date! Continue reading “Adventures in hiring a contractor and other housey updates”