I’m not talking about the way I dress or the way I talk (although current fashion does baffle and disturb me at times). I’m talking about the way I want to live. The way I raise my kids. The way I interact with folks. My opinions on people’s character and the sad reality that the importance of good character may just be a thing of the past. My view on drugs, alcohol, pornography, crime and punishment…or how about good old fashioned honesty!?

Anyway, the main thing on my mind tonight is parenting. I realize I’m about to sound REALLY judgey here and most of you are probably thinking “Man I hope someday this lady has a completely uncontrollable little hoodlum that embarrasses the snot out of her every chance he gets and puts her smart mouth in it’s place.” Sorry ya’ll. I understand that there are some extremely difficult children and tons of parents are doing the best they know how. This is my blog and my opinion. My criticism isn’t directed at those who are doing the best they can, it’s directed at those who are lazy/nonchalant/uncaring/irresponsible when it comes to teaching and raising children – and I know they’re out there!!

It irks me – yes, I said irks – when I’m witness to the way so many parents interact with their kids. Or should I say, don’t interact. I may catch heat for this but DANG.

Control. Your. Children.

If I see you in a restaurant with your 6 year old son who is throwing a screaming, sprawling fit about the fact that he got a glass of ice water instead of soda, so he grabs his cup and throws it on the floor, splashing all over the elderly couple in the next booth and stopping the waiter in his tracks, pausing every conversation and turning every head in the restaurant…and if I see you do anything other than grab your child and drag him out the doors to get him under control, I am definitely judging you as a parent. And not in a good way.
And let me be clear – I’m not irked because I think I’m so high and mighty that I shouldn’t have my meal interrupted so get your dang child out of here so I can have some peace. No. I’m irked because children should NOT be allowed to act this way and get away with it. In public or otherwise. It’s not okay, guys! Regardless of your religion or nationality, I’m pretty sure there’s no argument that a parent’s role in their child’s life is to guide them to be a responsible, respectable, worthwhile member of society. It’s not good for THEM to be allowed to get away with anything and everything.

Let me also be clear here – I’m not suggesting that any child will be able to be (or even SHOULD be) a perfectly behaved little robot. Parenting is a lot of work. It’s constant, guys! Every kid will push, and push, and stretch you to your limits and bring you to the edge of your sanity. What matters is that you actually stay consistent with punishing and directing your precious babies in the way they should go. It’s your job. It’s your responsibility. You can’t just let a kid get away with things. Every situation where they push to see what they can get away with is them learning about life. Call me old fashioned, but I want my children to know:
- You could have so much less than you do. So many people wish for the life you have. Be grateful. Say thank you when you’re given something, even if you don’t like it.
- You do not get everything you want. No, not even when you scream. Or cry. Or hit. Or pout.
- Accordingly, you’ll never ever get what you want as a result of throwing a fit.
- Rules and laws are there to protect you.
- If you disobey, there will be consequences, and you will not like them.
- Smoking, drugs and drinking are not how we take care of the bodies God made for us.
- Work before play.
- Nobody should sit in front of a screen of any kind all day. TV, Gameboy, Laptop…whatever.
- We are the stewards of animals.
- Life’s not fair. If it means you don’t get the same toy as your sister, or you don’t make the basketball team…well, that’s life.
- Tell the truth. Lying has consequences. Big ones. Sometimes lifelong ones. Just be honest!
- Sex and sexuality was designed for marriage. Save it!
- You shouldn’t marry a man or a woman that doesn’t worship the same God you do.
- Just because “everyone else is doing it” doesn’t make it right. Live by the Bible.

Some call them old fashioned – I call them good character.

Your friendly parenting expert (NOT),
Corrianna

4 months. We’re 4 months in with little Kylie June, and I can’t believe it. It’s amazing how one little girl can change so much about my life.

So pardon me while I’ve had few-and-far-between blog posts. I have a beautiful little girl and a spitfire little boy to look after!!

I just…don’t have time for blogging.

I just…don’t have time for photography.

I just…don’t have time to refinish any of the furniture that’s sitting in the garage waiting for me.

I just…don’t have time to work on any sewing projects.

I just…don’t have time to work on remodeling or decorating our house.

I just…don’t have time to waste, because these precious years with my family will be gone before I know it.

I miss it.

My new camera body is this, the Canon 7D.

My old camera, the Rebel XSi, was an “entry level” DSLR. It’s perfect to use to start learning about photography, without investing thousands of buckaroos in fancy equipment before you even knew if it was something you want to stick with. Once I figured out that I most definitely do want to stick with photography, upgrading made a lot more sense. I went back and forth between this 7D and the 60D, but ultimately chose this because of the memory card (it takes the much more reliable and desirable Compact Flash cards) and the improved Autofocus system as compared to the 60D.

I’ve gotta admit – I’m still coveting the much more pricey, full frame 5D Mark II, and I probably always will!

Anyway, I sold my old XSi on Craigslist and put the money toward the 7D. Best. Investment. Ever. My favorite lens is still my 50mm f/1.8 (it’s a prime lens, meaning no zoom):

But it has some serious competition in this 35mm f/2 (also a prime)!

This Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 got a ton of use during our big home remodel (which is not even close to done yet, by the way) because it’s a “wide angle” lens (meaning you can stand in the doorway of a room and capture almost you’re entire view in the frame from there). There’s a good amount of distortion, so you can pretty much always tell the photos were taken with a wide-angle, but I don’t mind at all. In fact, I think wide-angle lenses have great creative potential, even for fun portraits. Overall, this lens gets a lot of use!

I still have the 55-250mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens:

It’s a pretty decent zoom lense for the price (about $200)!  They were giving me a deal on it when I bought my first camera, the XSi, on Black Friday so I ended up with this in my bag from the get-go.  I haven’t used it much, but it’s nice to know that if I need a “telephoto” lens, I’ve got this in my bag.

I typically don’t like to use flash at all in my portraiture. I’m one of those oft-ridiculed “natural light photographers” (although I do know how to use the flash if I need it). When I do need it, I’m sure glad to have the Speedlight 580EX II in my bag! There’s no replacement for good lighting in photography…no amount of post processing can make up for poor lighting!

And then there’s the Lightscoop:

It’s an awesome tool to have in your camera bag.  It works by slipping in the hotshoe on the top of your DSLR, you pop up your built-in flash, and BAM!  The angled mirror bounces the flash off whatever you have the mirror pointed at (a ceiling under 12′ or a white wall works best) and evenly distributes the flash over whatever you’re shooting.  It’s a freakin’ miracle worker.  Seriously.  Take a look:

The reason, though, that the Light Scoop isn’t great for all situations is this: it is only as fast and powerful as your built-in flash is.  When you’re doing a photoshoot that requires an extra light source, it can be frustrating to rely solely on the Lightscoop because your camera’s re-cycle time won’t be able to keep up with the shoot!  But, at $25 apeice (there’s the regular version – shown above – and a warming version with a brown tinted mirror), they’re so affordable that it’s silly not to get one or two.  For the occasional pop-up flash use, it’s a lifesaver. Mine has saved many, many, many of my indoor photos.

That’s pretty much it for my DSLR stuff.

My point & shoot camera is a Canon Powershot SD960 IS ($179 on Amazon).  It’s totally awesome.  The best point & shoot I’ve ever had (my old Kodak V1253 is a close second), in pretty much every situation.

She’s already had her 1 week checkup and is back to birth weight (well, .5oz away from it). She’s eating great, sleeping wonderfully (knock on wood) and is as cute as a bug’s ear!

I’ll be posting her birth story soon and (hopefully) blogging more often now that life is slowing down a bit. She’s keeping us home more!

How Far Along: 37 weeks

Size of Baby: From head to heel, a bit over 19 inches!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I’m up about 23lbs!

Maternity Clothes: I’m mostly in soft shorts and full-panel maternity shorts since everything else seems to cut into the belly when i sit! Boo!

Gender: Hoping & praying the sonogram was right and she’s a girl, because we’ll have a lot of stuff to replace if she’s not!

Movement: Oh yes. Feet in the ribs, head in the bladder. Constantly.

Sleep: I’m not sleeping very well at all. Between sore back, hips and belly and getting up approximately 3409340234 times to pee every night, there’s not a whole lot of sleeping going on.

What I miss: Not swelling in the heat, being able to help my poor husband lift and carry big things (okay, so I feel guilty about that but I don’t really MISS it…Ha!), and wearing my regular clothes!

Cravings: Pumpkin pie, Twizzlers, banana pudding…

Symptoms: Fatigue and lots and LOTS of movement in the belly area (and many, many much less glamorous symptoms as well).

Best Moment this week: Spending a lot of time with James in his last days as an only child. I don’t know if he’s ready to share mommy and daddy, AND I’m not sure I’m ready to have more than one!!

or a step in reverse.

(and here’s what it looked like when we moved in and before it got quite this bad…)

Oy.

Size of Baby: From head to heel, 16.7 inches. (:

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I believe I’m up 15lbs total…trying to eat right so that number doesn’t go up much more!

Maternity Clothes: I’m lovin’ the soffee shorts and tank tops. It’s SO HOT and tightness around my belly area makes me ill.

Gender: As far as we know, she’s still a GIRL!!!

Movement: Lots of hiccups, LOTS of wiggles, kicks and punches…especially when I’m trying to sleep. But James and Daryl get a kick out of it (no pun intended, of course :)!

Sleep: Sleeping worse and worse every night. We got a new mattress and I think it’s helping, but not enough to make me not have to pee 234987 times every night. Plus I’m sick with some kind of sinus junk, so I also wake up 234987 times to blow my nose or prop my head up.

What I miss: Sleep. Eating what I want and exercising when I want. NOT having to go to the doctor all the time…

Cravings: Mexican food, cupcakes, candy and Wendy’s fries dipped in their ranch dip.

Symptoms: Kicks & wiggles, hiccups, fatigue, weight gain, swelling, nausea…

Best Moment this week: James telling me about what an awesome big brother he’s going to be. I think it went something like this:

“When the bad kids come into our house, I’m gonna tell them ‘NO! You go away and leave my sister alone!’ Right momma? And then when they try to sneak on her to scare her, I’ll sneak on them first and scare them away. And if anyone tries to punch her (*punches the air wildly*) I’ll punch them right in the head and they’ll run away. Then I’ll tell her (baby voice) ‘it’s okay Kylie, those mean kids won’t punch you or anything!’ because I’m her big brother.”