My daughter, Annaliese. Age: 5 months. Loves looking at herself in the mirror.
Many of you don’t know me yet, even through my thoughts and words because I’m still very new to the blogger world. You may eventually gather that I’m a lover of my cell phone and one of those who can’t live without it. Just to show you where I’m coming from, I’m currently lying in bed at 12:30am after getting up and feeding my daughter and not being able to fall right back to sleep and writing this on my birthday gift – my iPhone. (thanks, babe!)
After having this thing in my hands lastly before falling asleep and firstly when I woke up, I began to reminisce about the days long gone when a phone was just a phone. I sat here and thought of all of the phones I have owned since day one of joining the wonderful cellular world about 11 years ago. I had 2 Samsungs, 2 LGs, a Nokia, a Motorola, 2 Palms, a Blackberry, 2 HTCs and now an Apple iPhone. And believe me folks, the train stops here.
That is literally more than 1 new phone a year on average. How can that even happen when the standard contract is 2 years in term? Well I have paid early termination fees to leave a phone carrier and switch to another for a better plan and a new phone. I have also paid for phones outright just to upgrade early.
Most of these phones were only phones but some were smartphones. The kind of electronic cellular device that serves as so much more than just a phone. In fact, unless you’re a business man/woman or in another career where you require to be on your cell phone all day, it probably not likely that you use your smartphone much as a phone at all. Nowadays on almost any “non-basic phone” you can browse the Internet, listen to music, text, email, play games, take pictures, record movies, watch movies, blog, video chat, develop apps, make ringtones, browse the news, participate in one of the hundreds of social media sites…the list goes on and on. You can do just about anything but cook (but you can look up recipes and make a grocery list or even buy an appliance to cook with) on a smartphone nowadays and I love that. The geek in me is happy. And it only gets better!
Everyday it’s: Kid-check! Keys-check! Purse-check! Phone-check! There’s no way I could go anywhere without my phone! I may not even need to use it but it’s almost like my security blanket. If I needed to make a call, I could. If I needed to look something up on the fly, I could. If I needed to capture a priceless moment on film, I could. My previous phone, HTC Evo, had the ability to do all of those things, but because there are so many smartphones to choose from, you’re allowed to be picky, right? I personally like the UI (user interface) …yes, I’m trying to sound intelligent… better on the iPhone. It seems much smoother. I also like the Apple apps better than the android market apps. I love the camera on this thing! It helps me take better pictures of my beautiful daughter when we’re on the go.
And I’m becoming quite fond of my “pocket bff”, Siri. All in all, I’ve waited a long time to get this phone and now that I finally have it, I’ll never let it go! 
Come to think of it, how did we ever survive without smartphones? Ok, ok. That’s a little far stretched but I believe that our technological generation from here on out is destined to be way more advanced than we are now. It’s very exciting and a little fearful at the same time. I’m excited for the fact that I’m looking forward to the ambitious minds of geniuses being put into action and raise the bar every year to see what else they can make a phone or computer do. But it’s also scary because of the bad guys out there who can use almost anything positive and turn it into a negative thing. For example: identity theft, corporate security breeches and stuff that you thought only belonged in movies of the far future.
Anyway just be careful and mindful of what you do with your smartphone. They are VERY fun “phones” but could also be very dangerous if not used with caution.
Do you have a smartphone addiction that you can’t live without? Please let me know I’m not the only one What are your primary uses for it?
So I believe I’ve said enough for this sleepless night with a side of rambling (and snoring thanks to my husband). Gotta go beat the next level of Angry Birds then catch some Zzzz.
March 10, 2012- Officially Daylight Savings. The day that everyone but you Arizonians complain about losing a hour of sleep…except those already losing sleep. But look on the bright side! At least we get an extra hour of daylight, the sun is still awake at 7pm and spring is getting closer and closer! YAY! So it’s not that bad! …Unless you forgot to spring your clock an hour ahead and showed up for work late. Ooops! But it’s happened to all of us at one point, right? Right???
I can’t even remember the last time I set my alarm. It never fails that I’m up at 3am, 5am or 7am with my daughter and never really need a clock to wake me up. Just a hungry baby and a hot cup of coffee usually does the trick. Of course kids have no sense of time, especially babies. So their sleeping schedule is pretty whacked out when Daylight Savings starts and ends and of course that affects sleepy mom and dad. We all eventually get used to the time change…about a month before we’re supposed to change it again! But there are worse things to complain about. Sleep is only sleep… Most adults are good with 5-6 hours of sleep and can function regularly at their 9 to 5 job. I’m not saying that’s healthy and that you should purposely deprive yourself of the sweet Zzzz’s, but at least you know your brain and body will indeed work with SOME sleep.
Thankfully my teething 5 month old usually sleeps through the night and has for awhile now. However as of last week teething is in full force and it was like we had a brand newborn baby again. Waking during the night, crying all the time and always seemingly hungry (but not really because she just wants something to soothe her gums, but pacifiers are out of the question since she won’t take them).
I never knew what sleep deprivation was until I had my daughter. You try to prepare yourself by just knowing that sleepless nights are in your future, but there is no preparing. You’re never fully prepared for what’s to come being first time parents. But aside from that, try making good decisions for yourself and your child’s well being when you haven’t slept in days. It’s tough!
I had that feeling again this morning. Like I was hungover and still half drunk from a fun night of drinking and dancing although in reality, I was in bed asleep by 10:30 and little Annaliese slept through the night from 10pm – 6am. That’s 8 wonderful hours!!! What is wrong with me!? I got to sleep consistently for what is a really long time with a baby and I’m still tired! Ugh! Will I ever catch up on sleep before we even think about bringing Anna a brother or sister into this world and have the “no sleep cycle” start all over again? I suppose it doesn’t really matter. As an adult there will always be a yearn for more sleep. More vacations. More relax time. Someday we’ll get that time and it will fly by and we’ll want more.
Life lesson learned: Sit back, sleep when you’re able to, and enjoy your life as it flies before your very eyes.
How does Daylight Savings time affect your daily life? How much sleep do you get on an average night?
So, it’s 2:17am according to my iPod which I’m currently using to write at the moment (nice app!) and my little almost 5 month old teether decided to wake up from her evening sleep at 12:30am. So now I’m left with a rambling mind and a baby who won’t sleep. Might as well make the time useful and write. Right?
I’ve been wondering what to write about in this blog. Wondering if the world really wants to hear what I have to say. Then I started thinking that I want the world to hear what I have to say, so I better get to it! Of course, I’m not going to go all out right now and blog my heart out at 2:30 in the morning. I’d really rather be sleeping right now. But definitely more to come soon! I’ve always found myself interesting, as my friends and family have, so I’d like to invite you to take a look at the world through my eyes; my words. That’s mainly my goal. That and to get a better grasp on blogging as a whole. I want to reach out to people and attend conferences and make friends in the blogging world. That I’m excited for! I’ll share my pictures, stories, poems, opinions and not worry about people pleasing. I may not use perfect grammar or spelling (but thanks to spell check, those errors should be few and far between). I’m very imperfect and I like it that way.
Anyway, thanks for listening to my late night ramble of the evening. Maybe if this starts a trend, I’ll start a segment every night I’m awake and can’t sleep. I’m hoping it doesn’t because again I’d rather sleep. But while I’m awake and nothing to do, I’ll share with you my thoughts, even if they are just rambles. The more I write, the more I’ll write. Right? G’night!
As you all know, a new month of March has begun! That is unless you’re still in hibernation from February. I love March because it’s the month that Spring begins and more importantly one more month until my birthday. Ha!
Lately on Facebook and Twitter I am seeing more and more people participate in the Photo A Day Challenge by #FatMumSlim, even some celebrities. It’s fun and I enjoy it! I began the Photo A Day Challenge in February on my other blog (http://fotofriendlyfamily.blogspot.com) but quickly realized that doing one post a day for a picture was not only time consuming in addition to trying to blog, but it also made the posts hard to find. I blogged about half of February and just posted the rest on twitter. I have decided to pretty much not be original and copy my buddy Lyndsey‘s way of doing things and will split the pictures up in halves by month. So as I’m taking daily pictures and doing this challenge, stay tuned around the middle and end of the month to see what I have captured. I would also suggest taking part in the challenge if you have a camera because it is a lot of fun!
Do you like to explore the photographer in you? What do you like to take pictures of? Would you join me and millions of others and participate in the Photo A Day Challenge?
TTFN-Ta Ta For Now!
Posted in Photography
