MamaBlogga

Sigh. Every so often, I gather up a bunch of pictures of Hayden and post them. Let’s face it: this can be like being caught in an elevator with an overeager parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other relative, armed with the seven hundred most recent pictures of their beloved child. Mom bloggers do this probably more than most other bloggers.

Maybe the best photo posts are “real” posts with photos that go with them. I always feel like no one will be that interested in my pictures, unless they’re really funny.

So today I’m going to your collaboration in creating a “blogging tutorial.” As a reader, what do you think makes a photo post good? What makes it less like the caught-in-the-elevator scenario I imagined above? As a blogger, what makes them easier for you to do?

Here are some of my thoughts, please add yours!

Put it in context
We’ve all heard it: a picture is worth a thousand words. In high school, I was reading a book about the Vietnam War and was struck by the commentary on a very famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. The text read something to the effect that photographs can’t stand alone. You need words to tell you what happened before and after, to put the photo into context. Because out of context, pictures (like words) don’t mean anything.

Your context doesn’t have to detail how everything happened to get to that point—though if the picture isn’t fairly obvious, some explanation of what’s going on (and what we’re supposed to see) could help. Otherwise, your context can be as short as a silly comment about the photo (but try to let us see why you’ve chosen that photo in particular).

Make it funny, cute, or both
We’re moms. We can appreciate cute pictures of cute kids. We can appreciate funny pictures of funny kids. Funny comments can help, too.

Make it unexpected
The pictures I can’t wait to post are the ones of Hayden doing surprising things: wearing his shirt around his waist, wearing Mr. Potato Head’s glasses, etc.

Make it not too long
I’m very guilty of this one: I wait so long to post pictures (because I figure no one’s interested) that I stuff 8 or 10 or more pictures into a photo post. As if forcing more pictures on you would make you happier to look at them all. I still envision most of my readers as the victims in my elevator, backed into a corner, nodding politely and mentally vowing to take the stairs for the rest of forever.

Resize your pictures before uploading them
Figure out how wide your post column is and in a photo editor, resize the image to fit. It looks a lot better than making your browser resize them. And if you make your pictures too wide (post them exactly as they come off your camera, for example), they can break your blog or your readers’ feed readers. We’re probably not going to scroll side-to-side to see pictures of your kids. Sorry.

(Exceptions: if you upload photos to Flickr or Photobucket and they make some good looking, smaller versions, or if you use Blogger. They resize them to look good pretty consistently.)

Maybe the best photo posts are still “real” posts with photos that go with them. What do you think? What makes you enjoy photo posts more? What tips do you have for making them easier to do?

My son makes the most interesting sartorial choices. This doesn’t include earlier this week when he unzipped his pajamas and pulled his legs out of them—quite a sight to see the boy jumping in his crib, pajamas flying, when I walked in his room that day!

Hayden is convinced that this is a hat:

They could double as swim trunks. No comment on which is their intended purpose. But Hayden’s expression there reminds me of this guy:

And today, when he woke up from his nap, Ryan called out for me to see him like this:

That would be his shirt around his waist.

Hayden saw me with the camera and demanded it. I told him I just wanted to take a picture of his shoes first. So he obliged me thusly:

The shoes were also Ryan’s and/or his younger brother’s.

Last night I (finally) cut his hair. The shaggy boy before:

(Can you tell we let him have a red drink with his dinner?)

And after:

Okay, you caught me. That’s Paul Simon 40 years ago. You can’t tell in this picture, but Hayden’s hair is almost that short in the front:

I’m not sure why Hayden’s making his Blue’s Clues sign, but okay.

I got him up this morning and was a little surprised to find a little boy in the crib instead of my shaggy toddler of yesterday!

My sister tagged me, and today is a great day to talk about my “DH.” (See #3 for the reason why.)

1. What is his name?
Ryan.

2. How long have you been married?
Going on four years.

3. How long did you date?
Well, let’s see. . . . from the day we met to the day we married was 325 days. Our first date was 256 days before our wedding. We were engaged (with ring) for 94 days.

And today is the first anniversary of our first kiss! It’s true. Our first kiss was 144 days before our wedding.

4. How old his he?
29. Seriously.

5. Who eats more?
Usually Ryan. Sometimes Hayden, if it’s macaroni and tuna, especially .

6. Who said I love you first?
I did. Grumble. I contend, however, that he felt it first but was afraid to say it. We had only been dating for a few days, so he has an excuse.

7. Who is smarter?
I’m smart enough not to answer that question. He would say me, but I think we have the same college GPA. Good enough?

8. Who does the laundry?
In fits and starts. Lately it’s been me, but at times it’s been mostly him.

9. Who does the dishes?
Ryan washes the dishes, I unload the dishwasher. But we’ve just arrived at this arrangement. Here’s hoping it lasts.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of bed?
We both do. The “right” side of the bed? Sitting at the head of the bed, facing the foot of the bed, I’m on the right. Standing at the foot of the bed, facing the bed, he’s on the right.

11. Who pays the bills?
Autopay, mostly.

12. Who cooks dinner?
Usually me unless I’m feeling lazy or not so good.

13. Who is more stubborn?
Dunno. Maybe me?

14. Who proposed?
Ryan, of course.

16. Who has more siblings?
Ryan—he’s fourth of five, I’m first of four.

17. Who drives when you are together?
Usually Ryan, though I’ll do it if I feel like it, if he’s too tired, or if I know the way and don’t feel like navigating.

18. Who has more friends?
Real people: I would say he does. “Imaginary” Internet people (no, not you, you’re real): probably me.

19. Who wears the pants?
Most days, we both wear pants. But neither of us wore pants for our wedding:

He did this to himself

Yeah, those are Mr. Potato Head’s.

He added the hat himself.

His Mickey backpack (and the reason why he says “ba’ pa’” when he sees Mickey on TV)

His hands in his pockets and his pockets in his pants

No pictures, please

Nai nai! And Tee! Hayden loves to mug for the camera, even while pretending to sleep.

Peek.

It’s a glove monster!

My little boy is twenty-two months old now! As we approach the two-year mark, I often find myself surprised by my little boy, how much I’m finally beginning to accommodate to being a mother—and how much further I have to go in that regard. I sure did think I’d have a lot more figured out about motherhood at this point—I supposed that just goes to show you how much we all “know” about raising children until they come along.

Hayden has had some fun firsts lately, so let’s share!

First “catch”
No idea how this one happened, but the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Hayden caught a ball that was thrown to him! Don’t worry; he’s not an athletic prodigy. He just got lucky. I don’t think, however, that he was nearly as impressed with himself as I was.

First trampoline ride
Every once in a while, Hayden got up the courage to attempt to jump while holding my hands (or Daddy’s). But mostly he was content to sit on the trampoline at my sister-in-law’s house and be bounced, giggling all the while.

First “jump”
A few days after we arrived home from our trip, Hayden was ready to attempt to jump on his own. Now, it’s notoriously difficult to learn to coordinate your feet to leave the ground simultaneously. Again, Hayden’s not an athletic prodigy (yet, I guess I should say), but he did get both feet off the ground, if just barely. Even better was his landing. Almost-two-year-old + first jump + footie jammies + tile kitchen floor < happy ending (but he was fine!).

First canines
Hayden has gotten his first (and second, third and fourth) canines in the last month or so. As always, we’re hoping that this means an end of grumpiness.

First day without naps
Hayden went an entire day without a nap at my sister-in-law’s house. Too much excitement with all of my husband’s family there, I guess. As long as we kept him eating, he was pretty happy. Though his stomach was tight as a drum when we finally put him to bed (at about eight, which is later than his usual bedtime. He cried a high-pitch cry for about 90 seconds). This has not set a precedent, however.

First time blowing bubbles in the tub
But he seemed to enjoy watching me lean into the tub and blow bubbles just as much.

First time opening a doorknob
This one I didn’t discover at first. Hayden had been out of the room for an awfully long time, so I went looking for him. I got about ten feet and I could hear running water. (You can bet the water wasn’t the only thing running at that point!) Hayden had opened the door to my bedroom—and turned on my bath. The tub was half full of water! We were just happy he didn’t try to climb in (although we weren’t very happy that he apparently stuck Ryan’s phone under the faucet).

That’s my boy!