Photogenicity

A photogenic subject (generally a person) is a subject that usually appears physically attractive or striking in photographs.


Sometimes I look terrible in pictures. I don't know why. I friend once said to me that a good thing about not being photogenic is that people will be pleasantly surprised when the meet me in real life (after just seeing pictures beforehand). I like to think I'm pretty normal looking, but then I take another bad picture and I start to wonder. Here is the latest. This photo was taken at a recent Royals game. Unfortunately for Melanie, I am not the only victim in this pic. It looks like she has a huge gap between buck teeth. (She normally has a beautiful smile.) Oh Sluggerrrrrr, you bring out the worst in us.


So yeah, I was looking at this picture this morning and I got to thinking, What is it about me and baseball games and terrible pictures. This picture was taken at a Cardinals game last August when I was 5 months pregnant. I freaked out when I saw it and spent the rest of the game, I am ashamed to admit, snapping random pictures of myself from different angles trying to see if my nose really had grown in the past hour.


Why am I not photogenic? What makes a person photogenic? Why does Lady Gaga look better in pictures than me?

So, naturally I turned to the source of all knowledge, Wikipedia. I am glad I did. Thank you Wikipedia for doing what Anthony has not been able to do for almost 5 years. You convinced me that just because I take an ugly picture or two, I'm not completely unfortunate looking.

Allow me to quote part of the entry:
*I have made bold the most important parts of the article.

The state of being photogenic may or may not necessarily be related to one's physical attractiveness in real life. Models are usually described as photogenic. The bone structure of their faces may represent something that is not generally pretty or may be even unattractive or frail looking, but when photographed, their features can turn into something that is physically attractive.

There are a few different possible causes for this. First, it is important to understand the difference between looking at someone with two eyes and through a single camera lens. With two eyes, the human brain is able to see the three dimensional aspects of someone's face, even when viewed directly from the front, and it gives much more information than most cameras. With a camera, the subject is viewed through a single lens, and thus much of the three dimensional qualities of the face are lost. . . .

Another explanation for the fact that attractive people are not always photogenic is that part of their attractiveness may be due to the charisma they bear in real life due to the way they move, express, and carry themselves. While this will positively influence the subjective appearance of that person in real life, a still photograph usually fails to reproduce these attributes, possibly rendering a picture of the person less attractive than the real-life perception and contributing to classify that person as less photogenic.

The lighting when the shot is taken can also have a large effect on a person's perceived attractiveness. Also a person's face may look different depending on the angle and intensity of the light being reflected off the face. This effect is magnified when a flash camera is used and may cause undesirable features, such as ridges or bumps to appear more pronounced then they otherwise would. Also lighter skin tones and features may appear washed out when taken from a flash camera.

So who knows. Maybe it's the bad lighting. Maybe I just have a lot of charisma. Maybe I have bad luck. But at least I don't have to let my lack of photogenicity get me down.


Here is a cute picture of Will, to comfort you, after viewing the pictures of me. He is adorable from every angle.

Clean Slate

I've been meaning to update this blog for so long, but I keep putting it off because there is so much I could blog about, or at least, there are so many cute pictures of Will I could post. I get overwhelmed by how behind I am and instead of just updating, I continue to put things off. This has been a problem for me throughout my life. It is something I would really like to overcome, so if any of you have any tips of how to overcome chronic avoidance and/or extreme procrastination, I'd love to hear them. Yes, I am soliciting advice.

On to bigger and better things....

Items of note since we last blogged:

• I finished a class (so much harder with a baby than I ever would have imagined). I am 6/7 finished with school! And now I am taking the summer off.
• For Mother's Day my whole family got together and my sisters and I worked to clean out the stuff we have stored at my parent's house. I found some great treasures--like my first Troll, my middle school yearbook (where I edited out all the swears) and my first (and only) softball uniform (can you consider a t-shirt a uniform?). It was great hanging out with my sisters. Will got non-stop attention. We ate lots of good food. I was sad to say goodbye.
• We spent a fun-filled weekend in Springfield visiting friends and introducing them to Will. When we moved we left in kind of a whirlwind fashion and didn't get to say goodbye to most of our friends. We had such a great time. It felt like we were back home. The only frustrating thing about the trip was Will. We wanted to show him off, but he was soooo fussy all weekend. Which leads us to the next item of note.
• Will has cut not 1, but 2 teeth. The day after we got back from Springfield I felt like I wouldn't be able to handle Will any more. He was fussy, irritable, and hard to soothe. I told Tony I was at my wits end. I prayed that tomorrow would be a better day. And it was. Will slept 6 hours straight (great for him) and was so much happier the next day. At one point I notice Will put something in his mouth and I swipe my finger to make sure he didn't have anything small in there and I feel something hard. A tooth? Isn't he too young to cut a tooth? A few weeks before at Will's 4 month appointment his pediatrician told us that he was pre-teething, and it would most likely be months before he cut his first tooth. I guess he's an early bloomer? Only time will tell. And just so you know, I sacrificed a finger for this shot.
• Baseball games. And lots of them. Since Will's first baseball game TJ has been to a game in Atlanta, we have gone to another game as a family, and Anthony and I went with his coworkers last Friday. That's a lot of baseball. Plus the countless hours of baseball at home via MLB.tv.

• Out and about! With the nicer weather we have been having lately Will and I have been pounding the pavement and I love it. There is a walking trail near our home and we are getting to know it well. Sometimes I sing to Will. But only if no one is there. My voice is the type of voice only a baby can appreciate. Sometimes we take a break and Will swings.

• Will is five months! He is turing into such a little kid. Sometimes I think I miss the crazy days when he would just fall asleep in my arms and snuggle into me (which is obviously my memory being selective, but at least I am selectively remembering the good times). He doesn't really like to snuggle these days. It's like he always thinks I am trying to get him to sleep. He's probably right. He has the cutest smile. It takes over his whole face. I can't imagine my life without my little buddy. He makes me happy.

There are probably more things I could say, but my memory struggles when I am tired. Here's to better blogging in the future.

Pictoral Travelogue

Last week Will and I spent some time in the Beehive State. We went to introduce Will to our Utah family and friends and to be a part of Jill's graduation festivities.

Congratulations Jill!!


So upset that the festivities were drawing to a close.

It is hard to sum up all we fit in to 4 1/2 days. I am still tired. So the pictures will have to do a lot of the talking for me.

Will's first flight! The trip out was great--we won't talk about the trip home.


He was so happy when we finally got to Hurricane and he could get out of his car seat.


Will loved my grandparents.


Especially Grandmamere. They connected instantly.

He felt content in her arms. We are already trying to figure out a time to visit again.


Will also got to meet his cousin Sadie and Aunt Carly and Uncle Daniel.


Unfortunately, Will was a bit grumpy when we hung out with them. Sadie was as even cuter than I pictured. It was fun to see the cousins together and their similarities. We observed that they have very similar head shapes and that Will's voice is deeper than Sadie's. It was also funny that if Will got fussy, Sadie would start to make some noise, and when Sadie was loud, Will had to get loud too. Already trying to one-up each other or trying to make sure the other didn't get all the attention.


I am mad I didn't get better pictures and that Will wasn't more cooperative, but I guess you can only ask so much of a 4 month old.

It was so fun to hang out with family. I wish we all lived closer and could hang out all the time.


I guess you could say we missed Anthony a bit. So while we were in Provo we took Will to a few places his dad might head if he were in town.

Will pounding it with his Dad's BFF, Darren.

Seeing how far his Dad has come since he met Mom. (I will admit that the Caddyshack looked better back in 2005).

Will loves family history already.

This is what we came home to:

Yikes! Christmas of '08 Anthony grew out his facial hair and then cut a goatee. Right after he shaved it off we watched Anger Management with his family and saw Luis Guzman's sweet facial hair. He's been dying to do it ever since. I'm pleased to say it didn't last long.

We couldn't have survived without the help of my parents--thank you!!

Bite Me.

Come over here and I will.


Or at least Will will.


Lately he has taken to biting. Everything. Part of me is glad he doesn't have teeth yet because the gums alone are pretty strong. But if he had teeth he might not be so fussy. all. day. long.

Chatterbox

I've been reading books to Will for awhile. He used to just kind of sit there and look at the pictures for a few minutes and when he started to fuss I would stop reading. Well, these days he likes to talk, so I just keep reading. Here we are reading before bed tonight.




We are pretty sure he thinks "reading" consists of intermittently yelling at pictures. Note how he gets quiet as I turn the page.

More than anything else, this video shows off his voice for any aunts/uncles/grandparents that are wondering what he sounds like.

Four month check-up stats:

15 lbs. 4 oz. (50th percentile)
24 1/2 inches (45th percentile)

Still hates shots. A lot.

This post is dedicated to Will's Aunt Jill

Congratulations on finishing school forever! Come play with me. I do fun things.

Uncle Jesse

Will was born with a great head of strawberry blond hair. The nurses were complementing it before he was born.

Less than 24 hours old.

Whenever I see great hair I think of Uncle Jesse (Full House just may be one of my favorite shows).


So occasionally when Will's hair is doing something fantastic I say he is channeling his inner Uncle J.

Is it curly? Is it straight?


Anthony calls this his poindexter hair, when I brush it to the side.

Rockin' the faux hawk.

They even have both gone through a mullet stage:

Thank goodness Stephanie forces him to play beauty parlor and "accidentally" cuts his hair. At least she claims it was an accident. I think we all know better.


The mullet looks so good when the sun hits it just right.

Let's be honest. Will is still in his mullet stage. Or at least he is in a state of transition. It's Uncle Jesse's worst nightmare. His hair is falling out, leaving some random bald spots, while other patches of hair just keep on growing. Check out that tuft of hair over his left ear. Something needs to be done. I'm just not sure when and how I should cut it.

Any thoughts?

I like to think that Will and Uncle Jesse have more than just their fabulous manes in common. Here's to hoping he will find someone as great as Aunt Becky someday.


Have Mercy!

Royals v. Red Sox Take 1

We took Will to his first baseball game last night. As luck would have it, the Red Sox were in town.


There were some down moments, but overall it was a success. We decided he is the perfect age for this sort of thing because he is young enough that he can easily sleep on our laps and he can't wander off. When we first arrived at the stadium he was incredibly alert, looking around and just soaking in all the madness. I don't think he's ever been around so many people before.

I had Will wear his Royals gear. As Anthony and I were taking a pre-game walk around the stadium with Will, a Red Sox fan shouted at Anthony, "Ah man, why did you do that to your kid." I think Will looked cute and the Royal's blue looked good with his eyes.



Will liked the non-stop attention from mom* and the visual stimuli. He really disliked the noise. In fact, the first time he cried at the game was when his father was celebrating Jeremy Hermida's homerun with the other Sox fans in attendance.


Anthony had to temper his enthusiasm after that.



*I was going to say non-stop attention from Mom and Dad, but that's not entirely true. Although his dad did pay him a lot of a attention, we were at a baseball game.Tired family.

Hoppy Easter!

I think I have sunk to new levels of lameness with that blog title, but I am too tired to care. We had a busy Easter weekend involving track meets, egg hunts, General Conference and a few naps.

We started Saturday off early heading over to South to watch Laura throw the javelin.


It was a gorgeous morning. I didn't even think about putting sunscreen on Will since it was so early and we weren't going to be there that long. So....Will got his first sunburn. I made an offhand comment to Anthony that I thought he looked cute with his pink little nose, which alarmed him because we had recently discussed how pale my own skin is and how I would like to get a good burn before Alicia's wedding so I wouldn't look so sickly. Just because I have been careless with my own skin in the past does not mean I will do the same with my son. I promised Anthony that Will can get a spray tan. :)

Will's not really a fan of the close close-up. He hates the mommarazzi.

It's crazy to think that last Easter Will was just a tiny ball made up of several hundred rapidly multiplying cells we didn't know even existed. He wins the award for most changed since last Easter.


In case you didn't know, Tony occasionally moonlights as the Easter Bunny. Yes, it is true. If you live in the KC metro area and feel your party needs an appearance from the Easter Bunny to make it more legit, you know who to call.