Art for babies

Years ago, a friend of mine did this pop art print based on a photo self-portrait of mine:

It hangs on our living room wall, next to another print she did in the same style from one of her own photo self-portraits.  Every time I carry AJ into the living room, she stares at it.

At first I thought it was just the contrast in the image, but when I turn her toward the other print (which is black and yellow and white), she actually turns her head to continue looking at the one of me.

It's pretty gratifying, I admit.

Photo dump

Lately I've been very into Instagram, the app for filtering camera phone photos.  Of course, it was recently acquired by Facebook and rumor has it that they plan to shut it down, but that seems excessively stupid even for Facebook.  We'll see.

Many whiny elitists complain about Instagram filters "ruining" photos, but in my opinion, they generally improve on camera phone pictures, at least those taken without a flash, by letting you mess with color and contrast in predictable ways.  Since I only have an iPhone 3GS, I don't have a flash, and I also like the borders that accompany some of the filters.

My most common Instagram subject is actually probably other people's yards; since I spend so much time walking AJ in her stroller outside to get her to sleep, I need something to alleviate the monotony.  But I also take a lot of pictures of AJ, so this week I made a 5x7 collage of some of my favorites to put in one of the frames I picked up at Hobby Lobby last month:

Larger versions of some of them:

AJ making her dead mouse face after gorging herself (May 31, 2012)

AJ in her cradle swing with the star light mobile & Ginger, her WisCon monster (June 8, 2012)

Sleepy baby (May 11, 2012)

What my friend Travis refers to as her "President Baby" pose.

I also framed two photos of AJ with us:

 

AJ & Daddy (June 10, 2012)--I love how he's reaching out of the frame beseechingly.  AJ gets the lip-grabbing tendencies from my side, specifically Auntie Niz.

AJ & me (June 2, 2012)--AJ is in one of the outfits that Gramma B gave her, which is in heavy rotation because a) it is very stylish and b) in the last couple of weeks, AJ has gotten very short-tempered about having things pulled down over her head, and it snaps up the front.

Back! With interesting photos of the Forevertron.

Deb reminds me that it's been over three weeks since our last post.  AJ has not been sleeping for more than about 40 minutes at a time during the day, which has really cut into my ability to do pretty much anything.  We're hopeful that this will turn around soon--at least, we have amassed a small library of used books about baby sleep, including the ambitiously titled The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems.  Probably the author meant "baby-related problems," but still.

The nursing strike seems to be mostly over (knock on wood).  It lasted, all told, almost exactly a month.  I made no progress whatsoever on ending it until last week, when I decided to ignore the people at the Lactation Clinic, and then it was basically finished overnight.  Lesson learned.

We haven't been out much because of the nursing strike*, but right before Memorial Day/WisCon**, we did have a nice visit to the Forevertron a couple of weeks ago with some friends from near and far.  AJ enjoyed being out and about in the front carrier, although I'm not sure she really appreciates art yet. (Forevertron is a big steampunk sculpture garden near Baraboo, WI.)



The central group of sculptures.

Don & AJ command the troops.

Don, AJ, and Chris

Don & AJ pilot the death ray.



Giant metal spider!

Froggy band.

Sun hat from Gramma B.


*Let me just say that I hate this practice of referring to babies refusing to do things (eat, nap, etc.) as "strikes."  A strike is a negotiating tool, and babies do not negotiate.  They can barely express their demands.

**The world's first and largest feminist science fiction convention, which convenes in Madison every year over Memorial Day weekend.