January 2010
30 posts
2 tags
A is for Abortion
So next week Sean, Jasper, and I are going out of town for about two weeks. There are going to be guest bloggers, which is why other people’s names are showing up under the “about” section to the right of the entries. Wait. How many of you are reading through a Google reader/something similar? Because it just occured to me that you may never even SEE the about section. Which is...
3 tags
Sean and I have maintained this all along.
So, I actually had fun doing the Photoshop tutorial yesterday, and have no problem doing them in the future, especially because people appreciated it! So! If you have any questions about anything that I do photography-related and want to know how I did it, let me know! I’m probably not going to walk you step-by-step through any editing that I feel is specific to White Rabbit Studios or my...
2 tags
how to make multiple Jaspers (or you know, insert...
Ok! So I’m not very good at writing tutorials, but since people asked, I’m going to try. Cloning is one of my favorite Photoshop tricks, and it’s something Ashley and I are incorporating into our portrait/wedding photography, sooooo I’m happy to share it! You don’t have to have Photoshop to pull it off, but you do need something similar. I used to do this kind of...
1 tag
Month Ten.
Dear Jasper, Hey, sweet baby crazy monkey smoosh. This month? This month has been HUGE. But isn’t every month? You’re really growing into your monkey-ness, and by this I mean all of the sudden you discovered rolling is an acceptable means of getting to where you want to go. I think this trips you out more than anything, because rolling? Not just once or twice, but over and over...
4 tags
why you should never buy your baby any kind of...
THEY DON’T PLAY WITH THEM. I take that back. Jasper will, of course, play with the toys that we and other people have bought for him if we put them in front of him. However, if left to his own devices, he would much rather play with paint samples, pieces of paper, his diaper (the one he’s wearing and/or ones that have yet to be worn), his oatmeal canister, socks (oh my gosh, this kid...
2 tags
I loooooooooooove you
Will you pretty, pretty, pretty please go here and vote for White Rabbit Studios? If we win, I’ll…do…something…nice. I have no clue what. Like put up seventy-five photos of Jasper in a row. Except that would probably make some of your computers work very, very slowly. I’ll think of something better! But you have to register to vote, which is why I love you EXTRA,...
6 tags
a new friend?
Yesterday Jasper was introduced to his new BFF, Similac-in-a-sippy-cup. By introduced, I mean that I put about 3 ounces of formula and 5 ounces of water in a sippy cup and let him check it out. He took a few sips, spit some of it out, let the rest dribble down his face, my arm, and my back, and then played with the cup the rest of the time. I’ve never been morally opposed to formula, but...
5 tags
...may sunshine and happiness surround you
Yesterday Jasper brought a busful of people to tears. Granted, this is Alabama, and a busful is more like…four people, excluding myself and including the driver, but it was still…insane. I mean, it was sweet, but it was more than surprising and slightly overwhelming to me. It all started when we got on the bus to go have lunch with Sean. I was in a bad mood, grumbly and feeling rushed,...
1 tag
(Twenty-four) things I love about you.
1. The curl above your left ear, and the way you play with it when you’re thinking or distracted. The one above your right ear is nice, but the one above your left ear is my favorite. 2. The way you laugh when you really think something is funny. 3. Your fearlessness. 4. The quiet confidence and strength you exude. 5. I am always safe with you. 6. Your fierce devotion to both myself and...
5 tags
what will you tell your children?
I’ve mentioned it before, but Sean is a VISTA with Americorps. It’s basically national service, but not the military, and he works at a volunteer organization here. He’s been doing this since the beginning of September, and has so far had a pretty amazing time. The people he works for are, for the most part, very inspired and truly dedicated to helping out both their community...
2 tags
tiny parts
I started this project a few months ago, but haven’t uploaded very many of the photos yet. This is partly because most of them are on DVDs in a drawer, and our DVD drive isn’t running. I was going to wait to upload them when I was finished, but I just realized that I’ll probably be doing this as long as Jasper will let me, so I decided to upload as I go along. More here. ...
1 tag
yet another reason why it's cool to have a baby
3 tags
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!
I. Love. The. World. Cup. Love it. I know next to nothing about football/soccer. In fact, I just spelled soccer “soccOr” and realized it was incorrect after the little red dotted lines showed up underneath. I don’t even remember being aware of the World Cup until the summer 2006 one, when I was working at Ruby Tuesday and my friend Kim and I used to flirt with male customers by...
in a mood.
5 tags
this bird has flown
Something I’m still sometimes emotionally coping with is the fact that we, Sean and I, assuming that modern medicine and technology are ok and things don’t come undone, will not have anymore planned children. I was totally for the vasectomy as long as Sean was, and it was, and is, a good decision that we arrived at after much debate. But it’s still so..final. So…over. I...
caution: squirrels in love
This evening we were driving to the park, and Sean and I both saw a squirrel in the middle of the road. He slowed down, of course, and then we saw the body of another squirrel. The first squirrel was leaning over it, looking at the lifeless body, and it made us both so sad and sick feeling that I had to say something about it here. I don’t know if you know this, because I didn’t until...
I think I should turn this into a pop-up book or...
Where’s Jasper? Where did he go…? There he is! I think I’m going to start using a lot of British slang in my daily speak and blogging. The obvious downside to this is that the only British slang I know right now is kind of dirty, because I’ve been watching bits of Skins on Netflix, and man, those kids say some stuff! So I don’t know how appropriate it is for me...
4 tags
this is what I love (about being a parent)
I love that Jasper is simultaneously growing up incredibly quickly and still a small, small baby. The other night he woke me for some reason, probably a sound or a sudden movement, and we ended up in the rocking chair for 10 minutes or so. When I laid him back down in the bed, I laid him to my side, a little bit further away, and he immediately stretched out. He seemed so happy and content on his...
3 tags
this is what I love (about being a parent)
I love that Jasper is simultaneously growing up incredibly quickly and still a small, small baby. The other night he woke me for some reason, probably a sound or a sudden movement, and we ended up in the rocking chair for 10 minutes or so. When I laid him back down in the bed, I laid him to my side, a little bit further away, and he immediately stretched out. He seemed so happy and content on his...
3 tags
have you ever noticed that every person who...
I think my favorite Beatles song is, honestly, “You Know My Name (Look up the Number).” You know why? First, because it’s awesome. Second, because I have incredibly fond memories of dancing around with Sean at his place to this song while it played on repeat, in those first few months that we were dating, perhaps under the influence of a substance or two, and having the time of...
4 tags
the evolution of mama
At first, it really didn’t bother me. You know, because you were there, and you’ve read it, and however you know, you know—I was all “Jasper says dada, but it doesn’t mean Sean, because we’re not teaching him that” blah blah blah, and, then, it was true. Sometimes Jasper says “da-da” really sing-songy and sweet, and looks at Sean, and that...
5 tags
sha la la la (live for today)
Today we were out doing things that we do, and I was INCREDIBLY hungry, mostly because I ate breakfast around 9am and it was 2pm, so we went through a drive-thru. This in and of itself is kind of monumental, because I’m not even sure the last time we went through a drive-thru, but we did. And we asked for a veggie burger. From a place that is historically NOT known for its veggie burgers....
3 tags
meets AND exceeds expectations
The other day, the one commemorating when I was born, I asked Sean to write 25 things about me, since, you know, I turned 25. I’ve seen this on other blogs, and I thought it would be something fun for people to read, funny, and probably slightly dirty and therefore edited, because giving my husband a public platform in which I ask him to speak about me means he’s going to manipulate...
3 tags
I think my favorite thing about this is the...
slidewhoa from stephanie kaloi on Vimeo. Sean is home AGAIN (yay!) because the roads are frozen. We don’t have a tremendous amount of snow or anything, but they never salt the roads here. I have a wedding to shoot tonight, so I’m hoping everything is ok then, but for the mean time, we’re going to go play in what meager amounts we do have. As you can see, we had quite the time...
3 tags
today I am twenty-five.
Say it with me now: TWENTY-FIVE. It actually doesn’t bother me to be twenty-five, but saying the age out loud severely trips me out. It boggles my mind that I am now a quarter of a century old. Jasper woke me up this morning by whispering in his sleep and twirling my hair in his fingers. He was moving a lot, and when I opened my eyes, he was totally asleep, but whispering...
7 tags
in which I put no title. except for this one.
Where to begin? Today we went to Jasper’s 9 month check-up. Yes, I know, about two weeks after he turned 9 months, but hey. We try. Actually, I guess his doctor tries, because Sean and I rarely have agency in the decision making process for the dates, unless we’re busy or something. ANYWAY. Jasper is HUGE! At least, he’s right at 25th percentile for length (28 inches) and weight...
5 tags
the wonderful world of weaning
FIRST: Does anyone know if I can associate my blogger account with another gmail address? I want to delete the one that I signed up for the blog with, and replace my log in information with the casadekaloi@gmail.com. Possible? NOW. Jasper and I are in the process of weaning. I’m not going to cut him off before twelve months, because I know you’re not supposed to without switching to...
4 tags
I PROMISE I had something more meaningful to talk...
Jasper takes baths in the middle of the day, in the middle of the living room, in the middle of the sunshine. A rebel, that kid. OH GOSH. Last Thursday, he started blowing kisses. Let me go ahead and tell you that this has been in the works for two months, ever since I read that a friend’s baby could blow kisses, and I have been obsessed with the idea. So I would spend HOURS of each day,...
4 tags
sometimes, having a preemie is awkward
The other day we were out with some friends at a coffee shop for the birthday of their daughter. This was great and hilarious, because Jasper was besieged by females aged 2, 5, and 29, all of whom were quite taken by him. We only knew our friends, and not the other people they had invited, and at some point, a woman (who was really nice), said something along the lines of this: “It’s...
5 tags
2010: the year of girlfriends 20+ years older than...
We spent much of last night snuggled together in the living room, watching 40 Years of Sunny Days. I’m not going to tell you how many tries it took for me to type that and get it right (I had 40 Days of Sesame Street, 40 Years of Sesame Street, 40 Sunny Days, to name a few), but it was a lot. Anyway! Jazzo totally scored this and another Sesame Street DVD (Old School Vol. 2!) from each of...