Through the Eyes of a Photographer

Scene: Matt brings home picture of me that he turned in for an assignment for class. Tells me to look at picture which he has placed on the mantle.


Me: I'm starting to look older! Do you see the bags under my eyes?
Matt: Well we couldn't use photoshop for the assignment, but don't worry, I can punch those right out!
Me: Thanks honey, but they're still there!
Matt: *pause* Oh. Well...


Well at least I can take comfort in the fact that he isn't worried about that kind of stuff! In his world, if photoshop can "punch it out", then it no longer exists!

Sometimes a 1/2 is even better than a whole!

While I am recommending things like, Netflix and Perdido, I thought I should influence the dessert preferences of our readers...

Over Thanksgiving when we had the Beardsleys visiting, Matt's brother Rob introduced us to Dreyer's 1/2 (or light) ice creams. These taste JUST LIKE regular ice cream, except, (as you can read on their website) they have 1/2 the fat and 1/3 the calories. Mmmm. Our favorite is French Silk! It's so good!

Get LOST People!!

Several weeks ago, Matt and I rented a DVD from Blockbuster. It was like $4.99!! I thought that was insane, so, I came home and checked out Netflix. Why would anyone not do this??? If you rent 1 movie a month it's worth your money, and this way you can always have a movie or two for company, or a date at home or whatever! I really really like it! And you can keep the movie as long as you want, and you don't pay to mail it back and forth and everything is always available! It's amazing. I know I am on the later end of discovering Netflix but it's great!

So, last year in Chile, Matt and I started watching 24. One of the girls in the youth group lent Season 1 to us (later to be followed by Seasons 2 and 3) and we really liked it. I even got Season 5 for Christmas this year :-) We really like having the ability to pause, stop an episode or get up to get a bowl of ice cream (not something you can do in the middle of 24 - if you've seen it, you understand...that show moves fast!) Since the writer's strike, 24 has been on hold, and honestly, we probably won't watch the new season on T.V. I definitely don't want to be slave to a certain evening and really, the show moves to fast for me not to watch it on DVD.....

...So in lieu of something gripping to watch together Matt and I started watching Lost. I heard about it sooooo much in Santiago. My Spanish teacher actually, a very sweet 60's something woman kept asking me why I didn't watch Perdido. She couldn't believe we hadn't even heard of it. So we tried it out a little while ago and I love it! love love love it! Matt likes 24 better, but I definitely like Lost better. I think it's too late to jump into what is on T.V. (Season 4) (That's how my interest was sparked, I watched the last hour of a the Season 4 2-hr. premier.....kind of a crazy way to start, but at least I know who makes it through the first 4 seasons ;-)

Anyway if you are looking for something to occupy a little time in your evenings, I would highly recommend Lost!


If you are looking for a hook... I watched this before we started watching. Even though it's been a total spoiler...wow! (by the way....it's really long, and it really is a spoiler, so if I've got you interested....get netflix and rent it instead....maybe just watch a minute or two ;-)

Ahhh Craigslist...

Our SF bay Craigslist has a "free" section that occasionally we check out. Every once in a while, you can find something interesting on it.....but, every once in a while, you can also find something that just makes you wonder...

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/zip/583630429.html

(**Note, this link will only be available for a little while...no doubt someone will jump at this opportunity!)

First Wedding!!

Matt has been really busy but I'm hoping he has some time soon to update everyone on what he is doing. For now, here's a little update from me. :-)

Matt has been working hard to begin a wedding photography business, advertising on Craigslist everyday, passing out business cards and talking to everyone he can. Today he is shooting his first wedding, where he is the primary photographer (he's done a few others assisting, and he's also done an engagement shoot for a couple whose wedding is later this summer). He called a little while ago to say it is going really well. The wedding was over and they were in the midst of a cocktail reception, to be followed by sit-down-dinner reception. He is pleased with the shots he's gotten so far, and said that his assistant has gotten some good shots also! And he has an assistant!!

I'll leave all the rest of the updating for later, but I just wanted to share the good news today! He continues to juggle a post-graduate degree program, starting a new business, and being a husband and new father so well!! I'm so proud of him and so in love with him!!

Please take a minute, if you haven't yet to visit his website: www.mattbeardsleyphoto.com

A Baby on the Edge...

Right on the line between laughter and slight hysteria...you know that moment??? When your child is so tired and needs to sleep...but doesn't want to sleep because he is enjoying playing, or your company, or just not being asleep.

Here is that moment...

Lying, Cheating, and Stealing

Ok, well I'm not actually lying in this post, but I am definitely cheating (by not writing the blog) and stealing (by borrowing another blog ;-). Thanks Jamie and Lexie!!

2 Weekends ago, Matt and I were lucky enough to be able to spend a weekend with our friends Jamie and Lexie and Jamie's parents in Yosemite. It was a great time. Jamie enjoys photography alot and he and Matt have a great time comparing pictures and camera gear. After we returned Jamie put up such a good blog about the trip, complete with pictures. I thought....we could just "borrow" their blog. So if you want to read about/see our adventures, check out their blog. The also put up another one with even more pictures.

I'll put up just a few things here too ;-)


One cool thing was, we saw a bobcat, just walking around like he could care less that we were chasing after him to get a picture! You have to zoom way in to make it worthwhile, but...still very cool!

A Prayer Request

A few weeks ago I posted about Nate and Tricia, their newborn (preemie-Gwyneth), and Tricia's Cystic Fibrosis. I hope you all have been following their blog, but in case you haven't, they have asked for prayer for something important today. Right before they found out they were having their little girl, Tricia was on the transplant list for a double lung transplant. A while ago Nate shared in a blog some specifics of Tricia's Transplant vs. No-Transplant odds. In case you don't have time to check it out, here is some:

"I've mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again. Duke's survival rate for double lung transplant is higher than the national average. For CF patients at Duke, there is about a 95% survival rate through surgery and first year, a 65% survival rate through the first 5 years, and a 45% survival rate through 10 years. Compare that to a 50% survival rate 1 year from now for Tricia without a transplant, and a "0%" (doctors words) survival rate 5 years from now for Tricia, and those above numbers look really good."

So obviously the transplant it very necessary and important. For weeks they have been asking for prayer concerning Tricia being listed on the transplant list again. If she is listed, she will be at the top, and stands a very good chance of receiving this important surgery soon. If she is not listed for whatever reason, her stay in the hospital extends as they work to prepare her in whatever area she was not ready (i.e. infection, etc.). The sooner she is able to have surgery the sooner she will be ready to go home, visit Gwyneth steadily with her husband, and get back to her life and all the things that she loves and misses.

Nate has asked for prayer today that she be put on the transplant list tomorrow. Please join Matt and Josiah and I praying for their family and for Tricia to meet all the requirements she needs to, to be placed on the list. So far their blog has received over 1 million hits! 110,000 just since Valentine's Day. If they could have that many people praying for them, and all the people connected to those people (that's ya'll reading our blog ;-) just imagine...

Thanks Friends!

Excitement!!

We were just able to borrow an exersaucer from some friends at church!! I'm really excited to have it (there is one in the childcare at our gym and Joey loves it!) and hope to be able to put up lots of fun pictures later!!

We also found out at church that some more of our friends are having a baby!! We have 2 baby girls due a week apart at the end of May (good month! ;-) and another baby (??) due in August. We are very excited to share our baby equipment with friends and introduce Joey to lots of little girlfriends :-)

5 Months Old and Sitting

Yesterday Josiah was 5 months old!! We haven't seen the Dr. recently because we are doing some insurance switching, but we have an appointment for March 3 for more shots :-(.

Right now Joey is working hard on sitting. The following videos are a progression of the sitting attempts over the last week. (I remember reading on your blog, Johnny and Cristen, about sitting that it was like one day she couldn't, and then one day Kathryn just decided that she could - I can understand that now!)



So that was about 4 or 5 days ago.



This was from yesterday... (It's for Sarah ;-)

And Lastly, from today:

(The Boppy pillow we usually have around him was otherwise occupied and he does fall over at the end of the video..... but he isn't really that close to the table, it's just the angle :-) Disclaimer: no babies were harmed in the making of this film!! )



That was a long time Joey!! Looks like just a few more days until he is an old pro. I have to admit... I got a little teary during the filming. I mean, he's born and then you blink and he is sitting, and then you blink....and he's off to college.....sniff sniff.

For the Ladies...Long Overdue

I've been hoping to write this blog for a while after several discussions with friends about the pressure to lose weight after having a baby. It's hard enough to get away from the magazine covers, billboards, commercials, and ads that show the "ideal woman" but it's even harder to be that ideal after having a baby.

This link shows some before /after celeb shots - beginning with one that came out a few weeks ago (the actual magazine was at our gym, including how many calories the mom ate every day and how much she worked out with her personal trainer.)
http://www.usmagazine.com/stars_post_baby_bods_021208?slideshow_id=535&o=1

It's really amazing that not only is this stuff all over the media and television but that it is actually encouraged:

"Body After Baby by Tracy Pepey

The average pregnant woman prays she'll get her pre-baby body back sometime before her kid heads to college. But not these celebrity moms—they've defied the odds and whipped themselves into shape before their star kids were out of diapers. Check out our slideshow of Hollywood's hot mamas who lost their baby weight—and gained our admiration."

This isn't meant to knock the attempt to lose weight after baby (an attempt that all inevitably make). I hope that I am congratulated when I am there, because I will be thrilled, I'm just disappointed that the media can't talk about anything else. I'm disappointed that instead of the childbirth and child being celebrated (what a feat!!), it's more often how many weeks, the mom takes to be teeny-tiny again. With hours of exercise a day and sometimes as many as 2 personal trainers, not only is it an incredibly unreasonable standard, it's just impossible for most of us.



I threw this little video at the end because it just amazes me that these standards that women (with or without babies) face, sometimes aren't even real women.

Happy Valentine's Day

The Truth

When Josiah was born my Mother-in-Law gave me a devotional book called Prayers for Mothers of Newborns, by Angela Thomas. She wrote the book after the birth of her fourth child. It definitely touches on almost all of the issues you encounter (awe, first smiles, sleeplessness, weight, crying, naps, shots, etc.) and gives some heart-warming words and scriptural encouragement. I love it! (Thank you Kay!)

I wanted to share this devotion:

"Come Look at Her"

Dear God of Great Joy,
Even at 2:00 a.m., I don't really mind the cries and feeding. I truly delight in just one more look. I cannot get enough. I love to stand and stare at her. I love to see her sleep. I adore her yawn. I watch as her eyes follow the mobile, and I am happy. I work around the house for a few minutes, then give in to the urge to go peek at her again. With every glimpse of her perfect face, I breathe a prayer of thanksgiving. My soul rejoices over her.
Her half smile and inquisitive stare entrance me. I call everyone to come and look at her when she is wide awake and curious. thankfully, our whole family loves to marvel at this gift who breathes and sleeps and eats. I want my heart to memorize each one of these moments, things not captured by video or camera--her touch, her smell, the emotion that consumes me when I look at her.
Oh God, I continue to rejoice in the birth of our daughter. My days may be long and extremely tiring, but just one more look can revive my joy. I feel so grateful to You for the wonder of her. I never imagined the breath-taking beauty of motherhood. What a fabulous view! The most spectacular place on earth must surely be our nursery with the priceless treasure sleeping there.
Thank You so much for the privilege of parenting. Thank You for each tender look that warms my heart. My greatest blessing is motherhood. I love You. In Your great name, amen.

May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice! Proverbs 23:25

(Laurie again) When I first found out that I was pregnant, I talked to my good friend Lisi. She and her husband had their first child, Sofi after they had been married for 14 months. She cautioned me by saying "the one thing I really regret is feeling like I had to apologize for being pregnant so soon into the marriage". She told me that she wished she had just enjoyed being pregnant and looking forward to the baby, rather than worrying about what others thought about it.

It was really hard to heed her advice!! Josiah was such a surprise and not in our plans for the first year of marriage that my instinct was to make excuses and to make jokes about having a baby so early, about the surprise and shrug it off like "well, it's happening and we are excited now!". And I did. Although inside I grew more and more excited and dreamed of our life and family, outside I think I tried to hide that excitement because I worried about what others thought.

I think that God really works in our lives to show us, not only His power, but that His plans and timing are infinitely better. I never would have had a baby 2 weeks after our first anniversary, but I can't imagine how the last year would have played out without that. It's been a little nuts, but I wouldn't change a thing! Having a child brings a whole new level of understanding into life of our relationship with our heavenly father and how much he loves us. With an unwaivering love, not a love that is exasperated at 4:00 in the morning!

Without sounding too cheesy, My greatest joys in this life are my husband and my son. With those 2 things God has truly given me more than I could ever have dreamed of! I am so proud to serve a God who knows and loves His children in that intimate a way.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

His ways are definitely perfect. Without question. I am thrilled that He is in charge of everything. I cannot wait for Him to give Matt and I more children! I love being a mother more and more everyday. I still feel like Angela Thomas in her devotion "Come look at her"... like I need to drag everyone in the world through Josiah's little bedroom to marvel at everything that he does. He's amazing! It's very freeing to finally feel comfortable enough to be proud and thrilled about Joey, and excited about more kids. (and for me, to admit that, is also very freeing)

For the Grandmas!

This is the video I took of Joey's "first" solid food (except for those sweet potatoes, that we fed him Jess, and the orange, and that fish food he got into--just kidding!!!)

I didn't put this up 3 weeks ago when we first started feeding him ;-) for fear of judgment for feeding him too early.... BUT in our defense.... he was over 4 months, and was showing lots of signs of being ready (like: suddenly waking at night where he had been sleeping for months and screaming, watching us eat, sucking on everything, good weight gain, eating everything available and still appearing hungry) SO, we started a little early(I had planned on starting after 6 months) but he only gets the solid stuff after he's eaten everything else available, and I am taking some supplements that are working well to increase milk production.

He seems to love eating any thing that is presented to him. He has no decreased interest in breastfeeding (wonderful!) and will eat whatever food is spooned into his little mouth. So far he's had, rice cereal, bananas, peas, pears and sweet potatoes. This week he'll try some carrots, and then that's it until he's 6 months. He LOVES it all though and cries every time we say "all done" and wipe off his mouth.




So Grandmas....this is especially for you (and Mom, now you can stop watching that video of Joey and Roxie). Hope you enjoy it!!

This next one is how eating has changed in the last 3 weeks. You can see that we have a high-chair now... (on loan from some friends at church, Nate and Rita), and we no longer have to surround him with blankets (he only sits on one to give him a little boost).

This was about 5 minutes before he was going to bed, should have been moving toward the crib earlier obviously. I know you can all sympathize with the need to keep those bites of food flowing quickly!! Poor Matt usually gets home after the baby has gone to bed, as 3 nights a week he is in the city for school and the other nights he is working. Matt was pretty surprised that we had gone from relaxed bites with lots of smiles in-between to rapid-fire-feeding. He (Josiah) was pretty frustrated this whole feeding, too late, too sleepy....and he doesn't seem too crazy about his rice cereal anymore. He likes it if it's early enough and he's feeling patient but he really just wants everything else. He'd eat a jar of peas over rice cereal any day. I'd like to think it's because it's all bland and boring BUT one of my dear friends and even my husband says that rice cereal is great so maybe it's just me....



P.s. Matt fed Joey again today while I was at the gym (much more optimal time in the day also) and it was a great experience for both. Matt referred to his amended style as "Direct Injection Feeding" (putting the bowl under his chin and shoving it in as fast as possible - his words again) He said that we should switch all together and just leave out the spoon and let Joey dip his head in and eat that way. (For those of you who know Matt - it's fun to watch him rush to do something!)

While I am ranting....

Sometimes you just need to rant a little. I know that's what my last blog was, but, in lieu of actually downloading any pictures.... that's what I've got!

Ahhh email. Do you remember the days when you had an inbox, and a trashcan and that was it? You write a message, you send the message. Someone replies and eventually you delete the old stuff and the cycle continues. I don't remember when spam appeared but now almost everything gets sent to the "Spam" folder. Where did the folder come from?? I don't make spam. I don't read spam. I don't want spam.

When I am getting an email from someone that I haven't emailed before, I don't want to have to search through the "spam" folder to find it. I also do not want to have to examine said folder every week or so, so that important things do not slip by (i.e. online purchases, updates from library, emails from old friends...).

For the record.:

1. I do not want to give you our bank information so you can deposit $14.6 million dollars. thanks anyway.
2. I don't want a Rolex.
3. I don't remember entering your lottery so I doubt I won.
4. I'm very happy with my health and don't need any of your medication.
5. How could I be in your will?? I don't even know you!
6. How can my email address enter your contest??
and lastly and most adamantly:
7. I do not want to enlarge ANYTHING!!

*Sigh* I want to be polite but........

Inevitably as soon as I put the baby to bed, the telemarketers start. *sigh* I want to be polite, really I do, but sometimes I just can't. So about 2 minutes ago, the phone rings, I run over, as the baby has just gone to bed, and grab it. I actually hear the little beep as he clicks over to the line after letting his little call-multiple-lines-and-find-the-poor-sucker-who-is-home-and-has-to-
answer-the-phone-so-the-baby-doesn't-wake-up machine do the hard part for him.

After the beep, and hearing the baby, I really didn't want to be nice.

Telemarketer: "Can I speak to Mr. or Mrs. Beesley??"

Laurie: "We're not interested. Thanks."

Telemarketer: "That's fine, I'll just call back."

click. (quickly hangs up before I can ask "call back???!!" What part of "we're not interested" indicates we would like to talk to you again??)









sigh.


Call-multiple-lines-and-find-the-poor-sucker-who-is-home-and-has-to-
answer-the-phone-so-the-baby-doesn't-wake-up Machine: 1

Beesley's: 0

A Good Time to Jump In!

Hey friends!! As some others out there in blogworld...I am especially guilty of exploring the blog links on friend's blogs....even if I don't know the family. Well there is one circling the blogsphere now that is truly amazing, so if you get a minute to check it out, or longer, it would be well worth it!

Confessions of a CF husband is the story of a couple, Tricia and Nate, and their (Tricia's specifically) battle with very serious cystic fibrosis. On January 8, Tricia gave birth to their baby girl, Gwyneth Rose, at 24 weeks gestation. The blog (updated an impressive several times a day!) chronicles their relationship, prayer requests and health of Tricia (as she now awaits a double lung transplant) and Gwyneth (as she struggles through the difficulties of being born so early). It is truly amazing to read. I hope you all are able to check it out, and that you enjoy.

Now is, as the title of this blog, a good time to jump in, because a few days ago Nate posted a "fast track" to their story. This is a great place to start! I've never seen a blog with such a huge following.... I mean, sometimes hundreds and hundreds of comments in one post. It's had almost 800,000 views. So please, join lots and lots of others as we pray for this family!