Wedding photography is very important part of your special day. It is very important that you pick the right photographer for your needs. This article regarding b&w wedding photography is a good read for anyone looking to get married anytime soon.

I have my own horror wedding photography story. Yes, my photographer was cheap, and he was family. However, the first several roles of film did not turn out. This means that I have very few church and group pictures from my wedding. All of the poses that you normally get when you are a bride were lost. I have made due with what I have, but it is still disappointing.

Some things you definately need to keep in mind is the venue you are having your ceremony and reception at. Some churches will only allow the photographer to be in certain locations to take pictures. You need to make sure that you check out the photographers work. Someone who takes pictures on the side will have a different look and feel to his/her shots than someone who does this as their living. You need to make sure that you have a contract and that you have read all of the fine print. I know someone who did not have a contract and the photographer never showed up for the wedding even though she had paid him. Also, you need to tell your photographer what photos you want taken. If there are some special shots you want, you need to make sure he/she knows.

Your wedding photographs may be the only keepsake of your wedding. You just need to make sure that you make the right decisions regarding vendors, so you have no regrets.

Bill just got done reading this book. He actually went and saw the movie first. He then decided that he wanted to read the book. He said it was a good read and it followed the movie pretty well. It did remind him of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, it had its own characters and mythology to surround the story.

I now have to decide if I want to read the book. Bill did say it was good. However, I may cheat and just watch the movie.

UPDATE: He just informed me that he wants the next book in the series called Eldest.

Are you needing a cool new avatar? I know I am always wanting to change my avatars on the different forums I am on. A site that works great for this is Dress Up Games from the Doll Palace. You can create whatever you want on there. If you want celebrity, you got it. If you want goth, you got it. You can also pick guys, hippies, angels, pirates, mermaids, and I can just keep on going with all the catagories they have.

You can do whatever you want with the avatar. You can pick a background and props. You pick what body type. You pick the hair. You pick if you want a hat and what kind on hat. You get to choose pants, shirts, shorts, socks, shoes, skirts, etc. If you pick angels or fairies, you get to choose their wings. They have special holiday choices too. They even give you the HTML code for My Space or if you want to use your avatar on your Instant Messenger program.

Here is what I look like in real life (maybe):

You can also make avatars that look like these:

You really can do whatever you want (within reason) to these. I suggest going to check it out when you have a couple of hours to spend. It is that addicting.

Taken from Babycenter.com:

Your baby is more than 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. He may be able to feel your movements now, so put on some fun tunes and dance around the house. No matter what race your baby is, his skin is red and wrinkled at this stage and will likely look pink or reddish at birth. Blood vessels that show through your baby’s transparent skin cause this coloration. His true skin tone will develop over the course of his first year.Blood vessels in your baby’s lungs are developing to prepare him for breathing, but complete lung development will take many more months. The lungs are the last organ to fully develop in babies. That’s why premature babies (those born before 37 weeks) often have such a hard time breathing. Babies born this week have a chance of surviving with the help of intensive medical care, but their risk of serious complications is very high.

When I had Madison, the date we were shooting for (with all of my preterm labor issues) was 26 weeks. A baby could survive (with or without problems) at 26 weeks. Madison is now 3 years old. I ended up making it to term with no problems.

I was reading today and they have changed the viable date. Infants born on the cusp of the 23 week period are now considered viable. At 23 weeks, the skin, lungs, eyes, digestive system, and circulatory system are not ready for the outside world. Survivors face blindness, deafness, brain damage and possible neurological, physical, and developmental problems. Statistics show that infants born at 23 or 24 weeks have a 1 in 3 chance of being blind, deaf, or living with cerebal palsy. A quarter are mentally retarded. More than half have significant developmental problems.

Why is this important to me? I am 23 weeks pregnant this week. The ethical question to be asked here is when is to early? What criteria should be used to determine whether or not you continue care for these premature infants?

Let me know your thoughts.