New Skills and Being Positive

I think it is important to gain new skills and try to learn more to better myself. I've been trying a few new things lately.

Baking bread - I'm on my 5th try. We'll see if we eat this whole loaf before it goes bad. (It was delicious and I actually made another one that was good too, so I think I have figured it out.)

Gardening - We have one little spot of sun in our yard, where I am trying to grow upside-down tomatoes. The plant is growing, so that's a good sign. We also have strawberries coming in and basil.

Canning - We got a great deal on some produce at a local grocery chain that was bought out. I made applesauce and froze some green beans. The applesauce was fun to make. I made 8 quarts. The girls enjoyed helping until hot applesauce splattered onto Leland's legs.

Photoshop - Taking pictures is hard, especially with kids. We are the "set-the-point-and-shoot-on-a-tripod" kind of family picture takers. So the pictures usually need some tweeking. After I posted my family's before and after on our cousins' digital scrapbooking blog, I got some requests to fix others' pictures.

In this first example, I moved Leland closer to me a bit and then added in the grass and bushes. (before on the left, after on the right.)


In this next one, check out Cole's face, who is in the center of this picture of the Johnson family. (before on the left, after right.) I pulled his face in from another picture.


In this picture of the Morrises, I removed the sunspot.


I know I'm not great at any of these things yet, but the key is yet.

On to my goal on being positive -

I took Charly to a weigh-in this week. She gained almost a full pound in the last 2 weeks, so she is at 15 lbs. 10 oz now, but still not hitting the growth curve at all. I was very excited. In talking to the doctor I decided that I am going to request an evaluation for her gross motor skills. Now that she is 10 1/2 months old, she should really be trying to crawl and stand/cruise right now. So in combination of her size and not doing those things yet, I think she could benefit from those services. I'm not as stressed about her being so little anymore, but I will be glad to meet with a pediatric GI doctor next week just to be sure. So here are some things I'm grateful for that she is so little:

1. I can still carry her in my baby wrap because she's such a light weight.


2. She still stays in the same place that I put her down.


3. My 3-6 month clothes that my other girls grew out of so quickly, Charly is getting lots of wear out of.

I often find Leland and Lucy in Charly's crib playing with her when she wakes up from a nap. Oh how I love these girls so much. On days that I'm feeling flustered, I need to remember moments like this.