I wanted to touch on some things that I would “like” for my photography hobby (which seems to have taken over quite a bit).

I use a Fuji FinePix S5700, also known as S700 in the US (because Nikon has a S5700 in the US).

You could also consider this a list for you, if you want to start photography, as you will probably need or want this at some point when you’re starting out.

1. Flickr Pro account - Mass high resolution storage on the web, share, comment and also videos make this a total must. Also, unrelated to being pro or not, you can join groups with subject matters that are either photography styles, or a group for the camera itself.

2. New Tripod - Absolute must! If you want to take anything that is low light, you will need a tripod, as you have to lower the shutter speed (allow the light to enter the camera for a longer time) and thus, if the camera is in your hands, you will get camera shake or blurred images.

3. Book: The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby - I normally don’t like Kelby’s writing style, but I have seen a lot of reviews that have been good about this book. So I am open to it now and hopefully I can see past the style, like so many people have.

4. Cokin A Photo Filter System - This will give me an interchangeable system of polarizer, UV and gradient filters. My buddy Rob tested these out and they are super for the S5700.

5. Wide Angle Fisheye lens - This lens is curved and lets you take a wider image.

So I FINALLY fixed the avatars and the author crap in the post header bar…Look above to the title and you might see what I mean. I have honestly no idea why I forgot to set that up!

Anyway, a small update *breathing in*

Still not going to the gym. I have a no time issue, better known as ‘I’ll do it tomorrow syndrome’. Honestly, I am needing to get my arse in gear for that, as it’s been super hot here and I have taken to running around the house in my shorts with no shirt and…it’s not a pretty sight. Especially when your sweat and your belly can make your baby girl stick to you. Yes, I said stick to me!

While talking about arses, I had a super smart arse comment today that made me feel warm inside and I wanted to share. I was recovering data from The Lassie’s laptop (I forget its pet name…I’ts a laptop!) and the process takes very close to an ice age to complete. Cue dialogue:

Lassie : How long is it now?

Laddie : It’s hitting 1/3 now.

Lassie : You said it was 1/4 20 minutes ago?

Laddie : Yeah angel, 1/3 is more than 1/4!

I said I was sorry afterwards.

On that note: The laptop. If you have ever owned a Mac you might be wondering what devil’s work is going on here, as Macs “normally” never fail. Well The Lassie’s iBook did…sorta. She was deleting some photos that were blurry from the iPhoto album. Things you just don’t keep! Then she put the iBook on standby (closing the screen) and we had dinner. Later, I get a raised “get in here” command from the Lassie and she informs me that all the data in iPhoto is lost…ALL OF IT! Sure enough all the images in iPhoto had gone. To let you know how important it was to us, it was the first two months and a little more worth of photos and videos of our little Munchkin - all gone! So I have been trying to ‘undelete’ the data by using Data Recovery 2 software. So far, I got the images back, and although they are all messed up in some strange order, we have them. Only the movies are still unaccounted for. Hoping I will find them soon.

I think I will leave it like that for now.

I am hoping that soon I will be able to fix the rest of the site!

She’ll only sleep on her belly! I am so unsure how to deal with that. Our little girl has not been properly sleeping in her cot for a very long time now. Because a friend of mine suggested it, I tried putting her in her bed on her tummy after she’d fallen asleep. What can I say? She’s been happily sleeping in there for the last two hours!! Every two minutes I poke her to see if she’s still breathing - that’s how afraid I am of the SIDS. I really don’t know what to do about this…the poor Laddie has been taking care of housework and cooking as well as working his butt off for SO long now - because Munchkin refuses to be left alone or to sleep in her own bed (when lying on her back). Nothing gets done here otherwise. It can’t continue like this, there are things that need done. But at the same time, how can I allow my baby to sleep on her tummy if that’s a contributing factor to cot death? We have a doctor’s appointment coming up soon, I’ll need to ask about that…

At the risk of getting all doom and gloom at this, I would like to say: I am working on it.

After joining McFit I was totally into it and went there every possible day that was scheduled. When the baby came, all that changed. Of course my priorities changed and I stopped going.

Now that I have started a new job and thus am on new working hours, it seems almost impossible to get the time to go to the gym. The gym that I am paying for, regardless of whether I am going or not.

One thing I keep reminding myself of is that if something is important and worth doing, you have to make the time for it. So somehow I will try and get back into the gym and back on track with losing.

Also, another issue that has cropped up is that the cost of living is a little too big for us right now and we are having to pull in the belts a little, or what was the saying…”cut the cloth to suit your means”. I digress, we need to start saving on food stuffs and not have anything expensive, which quite a lot of the time are the healthier things in our diet. We often feel like you need a credit rating just to go to the local supermarket.

Are any of you guys feeling a similar “crunch”?

Hey there!

For the first time in a looooong while, our baby fella has decided to actually fall asleep in her cot, so I decided to hurry up and write an ickle post while I have the chance.

Nursing issues have been resolved - hooray!! For the last eight weeks, my little one and I have been struggling. A few days ago then, my baby girl decided she wanted to nurse like there is no tomorrow - no ‘tools’ needed anymore! This development makes me very, very happy. And it’s all so handy, too. When she wants food, I can just sit down and nurse my baby. No more fussing with bottles and all that jazz.

Other than that, Sophie is growing and developing very nicely. We just had the U3 this Monday - the required checkups for children are ‘Us’ over here. U stands for ‘Untersuchung’, which means examination. So anyway, we’ve had the hip screening and everything and our Munchkin is totally healthy. She is now about 56,5 cm /22.4 in tall and weighs 5440 grams/ 12 lbs.

Finally, the biggest news for today: We got our very first conscious smile from our baby fella yesterday! She’s 8 weeks old now and we were soooo waiting for it. Today, she smiles quite often when I talk to her - my heart just melts every time.

Here are some more pics of our little one and also a little video - ignore my German babbling, I took the video for my sister.

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Weighing myself this morning (more out of curiosity than anything else), I realized I am now roughly 20  kg/ 44 lbs lighter than before the pregnancy! I have absolutely no idea how that’s possible and it scares me - I now weigh 116 kg/ 255 lbs. I am confident my weight will go back up quickly after I stop nursing my little girl, but for now that’s what it is. I don’t want to lose weight this fast and unexpectedly, as I know it just won’t last.

Anyway, must work on healthier eating and exercise - unfortunately both of these things are almost impossible for me to do these days, as I am still getting used to dealing with my baby all day. Also, Munchkin will only sleep on my belly at the moment, which effectively leaves me no room or time to do anything, really.

Sorry to be so short, but once more, I gotta run. :)

Hee hee, we were missing for a month and now we are posting like mad!

So, I wanna talk about what has happened to me recently, but it’s sorta private, so I will have to ask you to log in.

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Phew, that was not so hard, was it?

When I got pregnant, I was aware that breastfeeding had been an issue for the women in my family for generations. Unfortunately, in most cases there is no way for me to find out why most of the babies in my family have been bottle-fed. Only my aunt was able to enlighten me as far as her own story goes - her first child was very ill, so he was taken away straight after the birth and fed formula while apart from his mother. My aunt tried to feed both of her daughters when they were born, but to no avail - no milk would come. I was told that my mother also was unable to breastfeed my sister and me, but I never really found out any details about that. So during this first pregnancy, I was aware that I might not be able to nurse my child at all - I wanted to, mind you, but I told myself I would not beat myself up overly much if it did not work out for some reason.

So, up until the birth of my little girl, I felt quite confident that I would be able to arrange myself with formula feeding, if that’s what it had to be. Well, what can I say? I seem to have underestimated my subconscious grossly.

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In any case, after a long period of intense emotional struggle, my little baby and I now seem to have come to an agreement of sorts. I get to nurse her as long as she will tolerate it. When she is too tired to continue trying, she gets the bottle.

Phew…now that I am coming to terms with this chapter of raising my baby, I am focusing on having her close to me - I recently acquired a Sling and am now getting an advisor in for that as well, as I seem to struggle with the concept of binding it properly. Since I know it’s really good for my fella, though, I will keep trying. Pictures to follow, if success sets in

Hey there!

I am terribly sorry for the long silence - things have been incredibly strange and hectic around here lately, not only because of our little baby girl, but also certain other developments, which I will hopefully be able to elaborate on soon. Right now, I can never really be sure of how much longer our fella will be asleep, so I need to be quick. Also, long overdue, here are some pictures of our firstborn for you.

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Her birth was quite an experience for us both, I daresay. Our Munchkin was remarkably unimpressed by the induced labor and refused to scoot down properly - so, after almost an entire (very warm) day filled with contractions, power walking, pill taking and devoid of either water of food (since they thought they might to potentially have to put me under general anesthesia later on, they did not want to take the risk a full belly might pose), it was decided at 4 pm that Munchkin would have to be brought into this world via c-section.

I was incredibly scared of the operation itself, the PDA and the time after, so I indulged in a good cry for a little while after I got the news. After that, everything moved extremely quickly. Putting the PDA into place actually hurt more than I thought. The resulting numbness of my lower half was scary, to say the least - I felt utterly out of control and was mortified, as the team of nurses had to lift me off the birthing bed that I was lying on and onto the contraption which you apparently need to be on to get a c-section done.

I started shaking uncontrollably and felt sick to my stomach very soon - I threw up about 8 times between this point and the end of the surgery. I was told that both the shaking and the sickness were common side effects of the stuff running through the nice little tube sticking in my back. The Laddie was with me all the way - I can’t express what it means to me that he was just there, calmly talking to me about the things we’d already prepared for our fella and what it’d be like once she’d be with us, all the while discreetly wiping away at my mouth to keep me comfortable when I’d thrown up yet again.

My doctor then proved my midwife right - she had said to me before that he takes only one minute to get to the baby after the initial cutting at a c-section. Amazingly, so he did. I’d barely ‘felt’ the cutting when I heard a loud cry and my baby girl was held up for me to see. My wrinkly little baby…she looked thoroughly displeased. Our Munchkin was born on 13th of May, 2008 at 5:30 pm.

I managed to convince the Laddie to leave my side and go be with Munchkin while she was getting her initial check up - just a minute later she was brought back in and I could give her a kiss. Cute blue eyes were looking at me slightly confusedly before my baby was taken away again to get dressed.

After I had gotten stitched up, I was monitored close to the operating theatre for quite a while, but was able to hold my child for the very first time. The situation itself was a little bit awkward, as I had to try not to pull any of my cables or tubes out while holding her, but the Laddie and I were so fascinated with our baby that this was not much of an issue for long.

Later I was eventually moved to my room, where things would develop not so very perfectly over the next few days - but that’s a story for yet another entry.

There is a load of things I want to tell you all about, but for the time being, I will have to go and try to get some rest while I can. I hope you’re all doing wonderful out there!

Our baby girl is here now with us. Born on the 13th of May at 5:30pm. Sophie is 3210grams and 51cm.

We will get more information as soon as possible!