Photoshop

Here is a super simple tutorial to make your pictures "pop". Open your picture in photoshop, go to layer > duplicate layer and set it to "soft light" adjust opacity to your liking. I also like to adjust the saturation of this layer by going to image > adjustments > hue/saturation. I set the master saturation at +30 then the red saturation to -20.



Done!

Water Play

The heat lately has been unbelievable! So what do we do? We play outside with the water hose, of course.

Lightroom 3

I downloaded the trial version of Lightroom 3 and it's basically amazing. I used to edit my pictures 1 by 1 in photoshop which took way to long. I installed Lightroom and instantly imported all of the photos off my camera. Easy!


Straight out of camera


After editing, looks much better right? ;)

BG 4.0 pics

B is 30lbs and 36in. J is 16lbs and 26in. I could probably snap it down to the medium setting on B, fully unsnapped makes the rise VERY long which is nice. J is on the smallest setting.

Swagbucks

Anyone not signed up for Swagbucks yet? It's pretty much the coolest thing ever. So far I have gotten $30 in amazon gift cards. I figured I would post my referral link here just in case anyone wants to join ;) http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/jessicalev follow the link, sign up and start searching! It's really easy.

Bum genius! 4.0

I love our BG 3.0 but the velcro is terrible. We don't use it often because it's way to easy for B to take off on her own. I got excited when I found out they adjusted the rise on the new 4.0 and added snaps. I am definitely a snaps girl! At first I thought I'd hate them but my kids are pretty patient during diaper changes so taking a few extra seconds to snap them is no biggie for us. I got my 4.0 in the mail today and once I get some pictures of the fit on both kids, I'll post them. I tried it out on J and it fits wonderfully on the medium snap setting. He is roughly 16lbs and 26in. We have a hard time using cloth on him because every diaper cuts into his chubby thighs, it doesn't seem to bother him but I don't like it. The bum genius never leaves any marks and the elastic is really soft. I am really impressed by it, I ordered another one!

Pics will come shortly :)

Birth Story

Jax was born on April 22, 2010 at 1:12 PM weighing 7lbs 10oz and 21in long. I was 39 weeks exactly! Around 550am thursday morning I woke up and my water broke. I instantly starting having contractions but they werent very strong. Patrick had already headed to work for the day so I called and told him what was going on and that I'd call him when its time to go to the hospital. So I get up and decide to do some very last minute cleaning, did dishes and laundry until B woke up then I got her ready to go to my friends house. At 730am I called Patrick back and told him to come home since he was 2hrs away I wanted to make sure we made it to the hospital in time. The contractions were still really mild and not timeable at all so I figured we had plenty of time. He got home around 10 and we had some errands to run before heading to the hospital. We finally got to there at 1150am and the nurse started the jacuzzi tub for me. At this point my contractions were 2 min apart and painful but I was laughing and joking around in between them so they werent THAT bad. I was only able to sit in the tub for about 15 min before the contractions became unbearable. I called the nurse and requested the epidural, contractions at this point were 1 min apart. They checked me and I was dialated to a 7. Within minutes I started yelling at Patrick to call the nurse because I felt like I had to push and he was like "No, they just checked you and you were only a 7" I started freaking out and finally I hit the nurses button while trying so hard not to push him out without my midwife there. They checked me at 1pm and I was fully dialated, my midwife rushed in and 12 minutes later he was born. I wasnt able to get the epidural because it went so fast and holy crap that was some horrible pain. I was really wanting a natural med-free birth but I honestly didnt think I'd actually HAVE one lol. I am so glad I did it though. He is doing great and growing really fast. He was back up to his birth weight at 6 days old and now at 15 days old he weighs around 9lbs.