Life in Motion Photography by Lyndsay Stradtner, Austin Texas Child Photographer

deep down, y'all knew it was coming....

it was inevitable...

here it is...

the time has come...

the oh so predictable...

baby in a basket

HA!  What I love about this is that his sweet little face is looking up at Ty who was "spotting" for basket tippage.  You can see the love in his eyes can't ya?  I feel the same way about Ty, so I know just how Teagan feels.  Gosh I love them both.

ps - When I was done proofing this photo, I ran the VIBE "Glow" action on it and really like the effect.  Check out Ren's stuff, it rocks!

We're Home.

After a wonderful 8 day vacation in Louisiana and Orange Beach, Alabama, we're home.  It was so wonderful to see our family and spend some quality time with everyone.  It was a blast showing off Teagan too.  I took so many photos, and it still doesn't feel like enough.  One thing I learned, it is A LOT harder to travel with 3 kids than it is with 2.  Well, maybe it's my kids, but man, does Teagan hate the car.  Makes it really, really difficult.  But we did it.  And it was still tons of fun.  Now we're home and in our standard "let's all be depressed and start counting the days until the next gee-gee visit" moods.

So that this post isn't a downer, I'll leave you with this until I get to proofing some of the pics from our trip...(including all those fun Slidell mini-sessions, Steph's trash the dress and I even managed to twist the arms of my step-brother and sister-in-law enough to get them in front of the camera together for the first time in years!  go me!).  Thought this might make you smile......

HANDS UP, OR I'LL SHOOT!

Super T is vicious, and I mean, vicious, with the water hose.  No mercy.  Especially not for her older brother.

ahhhh, I'm off to sleep in my own bed, sweet joy!

that's just wrong

LOL!  We've been using AIM to chat with Ty at night while he's gone and this just totally cracked me up.  My A and B student....sigh....I guess its true what they say about summer and knowledge retention huh?

Gosh I miss him.  I didn't realize just how many times a day he brightens my world.  He has this energy about him, its infectious, and I love having it in my day.   Can't wait to get him back, even though I know he and the Gee are having a great time.

Rounded Corners

I love rounded corners and I finally got around to creating a little photoshop action....

A couple of things to note:

• Full versions of PS only, sorry elements users.
• Your image must be sized at 8x12 (or 12x8) before you run the action for it to work properly.
• Two actions are included, one for horizontal images and one for vertical.

You can download them for free HERE.

Enjoy!

Oh, and that dude up there, he did great on his first solo flight to New Orleans last night.  Even if his momma did have a slight panic attack after he walked away (tight chest, difficulty breathing, you know the drill).  Being a momma is tough, especially when you have to let go just a little.

the dude

Love his sweet little face. 

We had our nest baby photo shoot this morning and during the session I figured out why the dude loves eye contact with the camera so much.  I noticed while bing photographed, that I could see our reflection in the lens.  He's just gazing at the cute little mug looking back at him LOL!  I can't blame him one bit, I could gaze at this sweet little face all day long. 

Ty leaves on a plane by himself tonight.  I'm sad.  He's excited.  What in the world am I going to do without him for two entire weeks??

crazy. busy.

This week has been.  Haven't picked up my camera much at all.  This weekend though, it'll get a workout.  Trash the dress.  I don't do weddings.  Ok, so I could totally be talked into doing a destination wedding.  But trash the dress sounded like fun to me!!  5 models, 3 assistants and lots of fun, I can't wait!!!  I'm about to load up the kids and head out the door to scout a location I got permission to use.  Really excited about the location, it's different for me.

Ty heads out tomorrow to visit my Mom.  Excited but this momma is a little sad.  I won't see him for 2 weeks :(  He'll be flying on his own for the first time.  Pretty nervous about that.  Him and me both.

eleven

Last night Ty and I scarfed down our dinner and then ran out the door to catch the last little bit of sunlight.  We decided to go down to the river run, I've wanted to see how difficult this was to get to since we moved, and it was amazingly easy.  I could easily get Taryn down there too.  She'd love the little waterfalls and watching the fish swim.  But it was nice for it to be just the two of us and he had a blast splashing around in the water, exploring and just being an 11 year old kid...

I am so glad we have these photos, as I think they are very reflective of his age and this time.  Eleven is awkward.  A time of change, going from self importance to friends being important.  Right on the cusp of girls (other than mom, sigh) being important.  Those hormones start to kick in....the moodiness, the growing, the eating non-stop (already?!).  But these photos are him.  Funny, kind, moody, reflective.  In between.  Him.

See the moody?  Jase looked at this one and said "Yup, that's about right"

This is the look I got when I started talking to him about girls.  I'm in trouble with this one.  Big, big, trouble.

Ty's Day

He's 11.  Wow, it's funny how the older we both get, his birthdays are making me feel older than my own.  Of course, we'll tell Ty's birth story in our house today, it's a favorite.  Big party today, we're all ready for it.  I've talked with Taryn every day for the last week and think we've come to an understanding about birthday cake candles.  Guess we'll find out huh?  I thought it would be fun to post a few of my favorite images of Ty from the past year.  He's grown sooooooo much, probably more than any other year height wise.

Turning 10, a full year ago, seeing his new drums (and he still plays them too!)

 

Happy Birthday Ty!  We are so proud of you, we love you buddy =)
   

Typical morning...

So far I've.....

snuggled, coo'd and played with Teagan, he's so happy first thing
changed more diapers than I want to remember
nursed Teagan 4 times (uhm, hello 4 month growth spurt!)
ate waffles and grapes with Taryn
put Teagan down for his nap
punished a certain little girl for drawing ALL over our couch with crayon
researched stain removal remedies for said crayon incident (these were helpful)
almost kissed the UPS guy as he delivered my great big collage for the silent auction and a bunch of other stuff I had printed BIG for the house
emailed a few clients
checked a few blogs, THIS ONE totally made me smile =)
baked cookies with Taryn and I only burned one batch
got out all of Ty's gifts to wrap
started to look at the goodie bags to be put together for his party but decided that was a better project for naptime
fussed at Taryn for diving off the laundry basket full force in the middle of the living room
looked around at my dirty house and finally made some phone calls to hire a new maid
did one load of dishes
and one load of laundry
watched Dora The Explorer
took Taryn potty 3 times
dished out 3 sets of potty treats
partook in a potty treat myself, hey, I'm a good girl too!
said "shhhhhhhhhh...lower your voice please" 132 times
scheduled our photo shoot that we won with the Bump Contest
considered picking up my camera and taking the kids out today since it's cloudy but decided not too, plus my batteries are in need of being recharged, and I'm tired
read two books
and did one animal puzzle
.....aaaaand it's only 10:30.

Tomorrow, a new normal starts, with Ty home for the summer.

Oh, and I considered redoing all the photos I took of Teagan's Blurb book.  But, honestly, I can't justify it.  The ones I already took look like crud, and don't do the book justice at all.  Sigh.  Full of color casts, grainy, I should have gotten out the backdrop to do real product photography, but, I don't offer Blurb books to clients, they aren't high enough quality, but they are good for personal stuff, sooooooo, I can't justify putting more time into it.  But if you guys want to check them out anyway, you can see them by going to MY WEBSITE.  Click on "online proofing" and the password is "blurb".   There are way more pages than shown, lots and lots of pics, maybe 40 pages, I'm not sure.  I had these printed for my mom, Jason's mom and his Grandma.  And us of course.  I'll do volumes every 3 months

Someday I'm going to do a Blurb blog book.  I tried once, but when it tried to go in and grab my blog posts, it said "My, that's some blog you've got there"...too many posts.  Funny though.  I thought "Why thank you, thank you very much"!  I'll have to do 6 months at a time and have it printed or something.  A project for another day.

10 on Tuesday

and it's actually Tuesday, how about that?!

1.  Our lives feel like total chaos right now.  Maybe it's the fact that summer is here and that means more time outside, more go, go, go.  Maybe its the fact that our business just opened up this week, officially, and  its been a lot of work getting things ready to go.  Ty's birthday party coming up, Jase is busy with work, Taryn's taken a liking to using her outside voice 24/7, which Teagan is not liking.  And Teagan is teetering on that 4 month growth spurt, it's coming, and the thought of it makes me tired.  He'll want to nurse non-stop.  He's been really fussy the last few days, thankfully, I ordered a new sling last night so I can wear him more comfortably.  Thanks Nancy for the recommendation!  I love the way she wears her daughter so that she can see out, Teagan is going to dig that.

2. This is their thing.  Never let's Mommy do it, just Daddy.  I secretly love that though.  Makes me go awwwwwww....

3.  We hit the pool this morning with some friends.  Our neighborhood pool is awesome, it slopes down so the little ones can play safely, has a lot of sprinklers and buckets of water that splashes down from a big pole, pretty cool.  Well, at the end of the slope are a couple of stairs that lead to the deep end.  Taryn never goes out that far.  Today I was at the edge of the pool with Teagan and Taryn stepped right off the stairs and down into the water.  I jumped towards her and started to grab her and yelled out to Alli who was close to her as well.  She grabbed her and I pulled her up by the arms.  Scary.  We now have a new rule not to go past the blue line that marks the start of the stairs.  It wasn't that deep, less than 3 feet with the other step right there, but enough for her to loose her bearings and go under.  She did not like the water up her nose and the look of fear in her eyes as she went under sticks in my mind....ugh.  Thankfully we were both right there to grab her, and that Ms. Alli is good at being quick on her toes, Lily was a swimming fish with no fear this morning!

4.  We decided at the last minute this week to participate in a silent auction through Jason's work to benefit the ASPCA.  We will be donating a session and I had to pull some display materials together really quick last night.  In addition to some large prints, a canvas, an album, business cards and some other frilly stuff, I printed this as a mounted 20x20 for the display table.  Me likey....

5.   Only two more days of school left.  Ty can't wait.  I have mixed emotions about it, probably like every other mom out there right?  I can't wait to have him home and spend more time with him, watch him have a fun summer being a kid.  He's earned that, the right to play in our neighborhood, be safe and just be a kid, ride his bike, go to the pool, get dirty and just be a boy.  We had a hard time letting him do those things in our old neighborhood with all the rebuilding, so this is a whole new thing for him.  On the other hand, he and Taryn have been in a bickering rut lately, and I'm not sure I'm ready for full, all day banter and rough housing back and forth.  Oh, and I'm not ready for the grocery bill.  Yikes can that kid eat!! 

6.  I know I promised pics of Teagan's Blurb book, sorry, I took them and just haven't had a chance to proof them yet.  I will, soon, promise!

7.  I'm considering a new blog.  For a bunch of reasons.  Some business reasons, some personal reasons.  Just can't decide.  I want to upgrade, but I'm having a hard time deciding whether to separate the business from the personal.  Part of me feels that all my work is intertwined with who I am and what I do, and then the other part of me thinks it would be better having two distinct blogs, one for each.  Hmmmm, decisions, decisions.  What do you guys think?

8.  This makes me go awwwwwww too.  Meredith and her Mommy.

9.  Must get working on Father's Day pics.  Soon, maybe one night this week.  Can't wait to work out the ideas in my head. 

10.  Ok, it's the end of 10 on Tuesday and I'm at my wits end with Taryn's 24/7 outside voice.  We've tried everything, the quiet game, jumping over the threshold of our house going from inside to outside voice (yeah, my neighbors think I'm nuts), spending quiet time in her room, reminders, nothing is working.  The loud, screeching, constant yelling at toddler volume, is making me nuts.  Help?  Advice?  Anyone?  Anyone??