Have you ever wanted to tear your hear out in frustration because your kids will not sit still or pose properly for pictures? While I do know that a lot of children like the flash of the camera, I have also had my fair share of frustrating moments when the pictures just don’t come out right. I am pretty sure you know what I mean…you think you’ve got the perfect shot and then the toddler suddenly looks away, distracted by some shiny thing.
Of course, we can’t always have a “set up” shot all the time – after all, sometimes, the best photos are those that are candidly taken. Then again, sometimes, you just want really good photos wherein the kids’ faces are recognizable and not some indistinguishable blur. Over the years, I have learned – through trial and error – some tricks that help me get decent, sometimes perfect, pictures. With only a few days left before Christmas, you might find these tips very useful – I know I will!
1. Get as close as you can. One of my mistakes before was to try and use a “wide angle approach.” The rationale behind this is to get as much of the scenery into the picture. After all, we all work hard to get the decorations in place – they should be in the picture! Then again, what do you really want? At the end of the day, it’s the expression on your child’s face that you want to capture. Once I had realized this, I learned to get as close as I can and take the shot with the kids’ face as the primary subject. You’ll be surprised at just how beautiful close up pictures can be!
2. Get down on your knees. It’s actually a direct corollary of the first tip. In trying to get as close as you can, you would almost always have to drop to your knees to be at the same level as your child. More than the actual shot itself, getting down on your knees seems to have this effect on children – they will focus more on you and you’ll end up with the children looking directly at the camera.
3. Be trigger happy! Digital cameras are a blessing – I don’t know what I would do without mine. Just keep your finger on the trigger and always be ready to take a shot when the opportunity arises. When children are having fun, running around, and interacting with each other, you will certainly get a lot of chances to take photos that will capture the memories of the day.
4. Smile yourself. If you are too uptight about getting nice pictures to preserve memories, then you’ll probably end up with unsatisfying shots. Don’t sweat it – let the kids enjoy themselves and let yourself loosen up as well. Before you know it, you will be snapping picture perfect moments left and right!
Oh, and before I forget, make sure your batteries are fully charged and you have enough memory space all the time!
Photo via nehavish
“He has PNEUMONIA”. It’s a very very scary thing to hear from your pediatrician, and it is just what she told me last Friday when I took baby Wills for a check-up. The thing with being a mother-of-three is that you fancy yourself a pro, even when it comes to health matters. So when little Wills started coughing on Monday and developed a fever which continued throughout the week, I didn’t even call or text Dr. J. Yes, I gave the normal meds and used the puffer for the cough, but only when his fever still spiked after the 72 hour grace period, did I rush him to get checked.
Luckily, she’s also a pediatric pulmonary specialist, and when she listened to his chest, she immediately said “Momma! it’s not good“. I put on her stethoscope and heard some crackling noises, which apparently meant that the infection had gone to his lungs, which meant pneumonia.
Pneumonia is a frightening word to us parents, but it simply means an inflammation in the lungs and can be treated easily, at home. While it certainly isn’t a disease to take lightly, babies, toddlers and the elderly are the most susceptible to the disease, and it is particularly bad in developing countries where antibiotics and treatments aren’t readily available.
How did he get such a nasty bug? Who knows? Nat probably brought it back from big school and did have a mild cough for a few days. But what was important was that Dr.J said that it wasn’t too bad a case (no need for an x-ray or worse, confinement at the hospital), and she was sure he’s be fine in a week if he started taking antibiotics today.
Now, just three days since taking his first dose of clarithromycin, he’s almost back to his useful sunny self. The bad news? I think Mom’s caught it.
Photo via cproppe
Hold your horses, not too fast and no violence involved. Many people are pissed at the way things are handled in court, much so that convicted killers, scammers and everybody in between go unpunished because of the legalities involved. Now let me ask you this, do you want to take them on with the backing of the law that so protects them, and gain the same protection for your and your family? Have you ever considered taking online law degrees with the many colleges offering them today, it’s easy as pie and you can do it while keeping your job during the day. many major colleges are now offering online law courses for those who want career advancement. For us, it would be the pure pleasure of learning hoe these criminals get away with the things they do.
Many of us are just plain tired and say that let them do the job for you, but most of the times, you’re not contented with the way they handle things. The law is a very tedious and tender matter that anybody without insight can easily get swallowed by the many such technicalities that are part of these laws. They are however the foundation of our society so whatever is within these laws makes modern life possible. Get down and dirty and get involved by getting yourself knowledgeable in the law that has failed you so much. Get involved and turn the law onto your side and keep the guilty ones out of the streets making them safer for our families, friends and everybody else.
On Friday morning my 13-month old baby boy Wills had his Prevnar booster vaccine. That afternoon he fussed, and by late evening had a fever of 38.5. On Saturday he stayed pretty much the same, miserable and with a low-grade fever that went up to around 38.7 a little past Midnight. I gave him his last dose of Calpol by then, and by the next day the fever was gone.
I’m always wary after my children have a vaccine. I suppose its because of all the news one hears on television and in the papers, that vaccines like MMR particularly, have been linked to Autism. Its something that parents dread hearing the most, especially after pediatricians (like mine) are staunch defenders of vaccines. It was actually reported in the Huffington Post a few weeks ago that in spite of a federal ruling in the “vaccine court” which showed NO link between MMR and autism, a little boy named Bailey Banks was also awarded nearly a million dollars because the courts found that his brain damage leading to autism was indeed caused by the MMR vaccine. You read horror stories on blogs like this one, called Vaccines Exposed, or even by celebs like Jenny McCarthy:
We believe autism is an environmental illness. Vaccines are not the only environmental trigger, but we do think they play a major role. If we are going to solve this problem and finally start to reverse the rate of autism, we need to consider changing the vaccine schedule, reducing the number of shots given and removing certain ingredients that could be toxic to some children.
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Many people are faced with the same predicament, they’re earning enough yet are not satisfied with their current jobs. What to do? What to do? Why not try getting another career? Sounds crazy huh, well statistics show that more and more people need this for personal improvement. They also show that even if they wanted to go back to school, they didn’t have the time. Now here’s an idea, online degrees, they’re convenient and you don’t have to go to leave your current job.
Education advances along with the internet and what started out as a way to educate children who lived in far away places that made it impractical to go to school has gone mainstream. Most colleges have such programs and offer them to parents who like most of us have to keep our jobs. You get a second degree to advance your career and can finally get to that career change you’ve always wanted for a change.
Now I’m not a political person, but I must say that I think it’s great that there’s a young family in the White House. My eldest is pretty close in age to the younger Obama daughter Sasha, so it will be interesting to see how the new President and First Lady fare, not just with the monumental task of running the country, but as parents.
I like how the President wrote a letter to his girls (printed in Parade Magazine), telling them the reasons why he decided to run for President, and what he wanted for them. Here’s my favourite bit:
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I don’t know if it’s because of the Christmas excitement – with all the shopping, wrapping, baking and school activities, but my children have become increasingly naughty, and that even includes little Wills, who has been waking up every 1 a.m and refusing to sleep for a full hour.
So in my battle weary Christmas frustration, I was thrilled when my best friend cleverly sent me an email about Krampus, Saint Nick’s devilish companion in Europe, who gets very very naughty children by beating them with sticks, filling their stockings with coal and throwing them in his sack (to be brought where, heavens knows). That night the screaming, wrestling, whining and fighting stopped, so you can guess who was introduced to the family Christmas tradition….
A bit severe? Well, the tradition of Krampus hails from Bavaria, where my Father-in-Law was born and raised, so I can argue that it is part in my children’s family heritage. Now, with the mention of one simple “K” word, my home is no longer a screaming pit of holiday nerves, but a harmonious Chipmunk-Christmas-playing-in-the background abode, that would make Martha Stewart proud. If only Krampus was around all year round…..
The word Krampus originates from the Old High German word for claw (Krampen). In the Alpine regions the Krampus is represented by an incubus in company of Saint Nicholas. Traditionally, young men dress up as the Krampus in the first two weeks of December, particularly in the evening of December 5, and roam the streets frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells. In some rural areas the tradition also includes slight birching by the Krampus, especially of young females.
The present day Krampus costume consists of wooden masks or Larve, sheep’s skin and horns. Considerable effort goes into the manufacture of the hand-crafted masks, as many younger adults in rural communities engage competitively in the Krampus events.
In Oberstdorf, in the southwestern alpine part of Bavaria, the tradition of the “Wilde Mann” (wild man) is kept alive. He is described exactly like Krampus (except the horns), dressed in fur and frightening children (and adults) with rusty chains and bells.
Photo via xmaswithkrampus
Green Mommy Green Baby
I’m a review-nut. Well, I don’t know if that’s the right term, but what I mean to say is that before I go on a trip, buy a product, eat in a restaurant or see a film or show, I almost ALWAYS read the reviews FIRST. That little extra time spent on Trip Advisor for example, has made our recent family trips hugely successful – gone are the days where my husband and I would end up in places which were nothing like the “brochure” promised!
When it comes to things for my family, I tend to be even more careful, especially with the kids and baby Wills. Obviously, I’ve jumped on the “Green Bandwagon” so to speak, and support anything green for the family. So it was great finding a community like the Green Home Huddle, a place where you can read and give reviews for loads of eco-friendly products.
Right now, they have a great contest going, sweetly entitled Green Mommy Loves Green Baby where you can win some fantastic baby and Mommy care products – all of which are natural and organic of course! All you have to do is review products that you already use (or want to use), which I consider the fun part (is it obvious that I like giving my opinion?), and hey presto, you’re in the running.
Good luck!
Flu Shot
After the excitement of the Halloween festivities, we’ve all come down with colds in the past week or so. And I say “colds” in the plural because there have been more than one, when we seem to have gotten over one, another arrives.
I still can’t get over the fact that my two elder kids, who both had the flu shot this summer, seem to get over it incredibly quickly or don’t get it at all. For example last week, Ollie simply had a runny nose for a day or two, and Nat was fine. This week Nat had a cough for a couple of days, and Ollie a runny nose for a day. Today, both kids are fine. What matters was that nothing really came of it, no prolonged symptoms or worse, fever. Poor baby Wills, who obviously couldn’t get the shot, has had it pretty bad. Coupled with heavy teething (his top two came out this week, and one more is breaking too), he’s had a tough time. And so has Mommy, with a bad cold last week and again this week for round two.
But back to the flu vaccine. The Moms at my son’s preschool are divided on this. And until last year, I agreed that it made sense to go “au naturel”, of the let-them-get-sick-it-builds-their-immunity kind of thinking. But last year was a particularly bad flu season for us, with my son missing A LOT of school days which did him no good at all. So when a Mom raved that her son got through the season virtually unscathed because of the vaccine, I thought I’d try it out this year. Now I’m a convert. Even my husband, who’s had a miserable week coughing and sneezing, has grumbled,”why didn’t you make me get the shot??!” Well, next year one thing is for sure, we’re ALL getting flu shots.
Here are some key facts about the vaccine:
The single best way to protect against the flu is to get vaccinated each year.
There are two types of vaccines:
* The “flu shot”— an inactivated vaccine (containing killed virus) that is given with a needle, usually in the arm. The flu shot is approved for use in people older than 6 months, including healthy people and people with chronic medical conditions.
* The nasal-spray flu vaccine — a vaccine made with live, weakened flu viruses that do not cause the flu (sometimes called LAIV for “live attenuated influenza vaccine” or FluMist®). LAIV (FluMist®) is approved for use in healthy* people 2-49 years of age who are not pregnant.
Each vaccine contains three influenza viruses-one A (H3N2) virus, one A (H1N1) virus, and one B virus. The viruses in the vaccine change each year based on international surveillance and scientists’ estimations about which types and strains of viruses will circulate in a given year.
About 2 weeks after vaccination, antibodies that provide protection against influenza virus infection develop in the body.
Photo via P. Swansen
I recently received a review copy of Fiona Neill’s latest novel The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy, and I’m looking forward to some light reading!
For Lucy Sweeney, motherhood isn’t all astanga yoga and Cath Kidston prints. It has been years since the dirty washing pile was less than a metre high, months since Lucy remembered to have sex with her husband, and a week since she last did the school run wearing pyjamas. When Husband on a Short Fuse is no contest for the distractions of Sexy Domesticated Dad; Yummy Mummy No 1 has more cash flow than parenting advice; and Alpha Mum is putting a slur on your questionable domestic habits, it’s hard to remember exactly why anyone would give up a career and their sanity for three raucous sons and less than blissful domesticity. Lucy is living in a state of permanent emergency and the white lies to cover up the trail of chaos and illicit desire are about to be exposed …This is an irresistible first novel about the dilemmas of motherhood and modern marriage for those who never discovered their domestic goddess within.
I haven’t started to read the book yet, since I asked my wife to check it out for me first. But I’ve scanned through the pages, and went to the Slummy Mummy site over at Random House, and I feel I can relate–perhaps more with Sexy Domesticated Dad (minus “Sexy”) given that I hold office at home, and every morning I bring the kids to school and fetch them in the afternoon. I’m not exactly a homebody, but running a SOHO, I can say I’m probably more domesticated than most dads out there (and now I feel like a cat for being labeled such).
What exactly is a Slummy Mummy? Perhaps you can answer the Slummy Mummy quiz to see if you are one. Oh, and I took the quiz myself. And guess what! I’m a slummy mummy! LOL!
Fiona Neill is a features writer for The Times magazine and creator of author the Times’ Slummy Mummy column. Previously a foreign correspondent in Latin America, then assistant editor at Marie Claire and then The Times magazine, the author was brought up in Norfolk, she now lives in London with her husband and three children.
The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy is published by Random House in the UK and Penguin in the US.
