Capturing Babyhood

This weekend we hired our wedding photographer for the third time -- to take our family portrait again, now that we're a family of four.  The last time we had family portraits taken was when Nathan was five months old, so in keeping with tradition, we hired Robert again, since Thomas is already (!) five months.  Actually, he's five and a half months. 

In all honesty, I don't know why we don't hire him every year.  I've been taking Nathan for portraits at Walmart each year (I'm sure our photographer would wither up and die if he heard that), and paying an arm and a leg each time.  Some photos came out good and some just okay.  But Robert's photos come out amazing every time, and I love that he shows me what he's getting as he's taking them.  He is such a talented photographer.

It's so important to capture our babies' babyhoods.  They're over so regrettably fast.   In less than two weeks, Thomas will be 6 months old and his babyhood will be half over -- and I'm already feeling sorrowful for it.  Sure, he'll still be baby-ish for close to another year, but how I wish he could stay this little, sweet and innocent (and immobile!) forever.  My heart is already starting to break.

But my mom raised a good point the other day that gave me some perspective.  If babies always stayed babies, we wouldn't cherish this time the way we do.  This really is the best time of my life, even though some days all I feel is the exhaustion, hard work and the balancing act I play each workday. 

I must remember this feeling during those occassional night wakenings that last up to an hour (I know), poop explosions (they're not that bad, really) and the exhausted feeling I usually have these days when I wake up in the morning feeling like I haven't slept at all.  Thomas is such a happy, joyful baby.  I need to capture his babyhood and remember what I'm feeling now forever.  This is what life is all about.

 

Our Best Thanksgiving Yet / A Boy Turns Three

This was the third Thanksgiving we've hosted, and I must say, it was our best Thanksgiving yet.  Both of our families are getting to know each other better and things went more smoothly than ever.  And, other than crazy amounts of cleaning beforehand, I didn't have to do much more than nurse the baby all day.  I'm so grateful to have our families' help!

I'm also thankful for babywearing and my newfound wrapping skills, because we recently found out that Tommy doesn't want to be held by aaaaaanybody other than his mama.  So.  Babywearing helped me get things done before and during the holiday, and also helped me calm him down when others tried to hold him (yikes!).  We'll have to figure this one out fast, because I'll be heading back to my freelancing gig in January and, well, his dad wants to hold him, too.  So there's that.

We also celebrated Nathan's and T.J.'s birthdays with an ice cream cake and presents.  I can't believe Nathan is about to turn three!  I was amazed with his restraint when walking past the stack of presents and how he asked if he could open them (for each present!).  He even asked if he was allowed to rip the wrapping paper!  Too sweet.  He's really growing up!  *sniff sniff*

These incredible photos are by my talented brother:

 

 

 

 

I'm not setting foot in any kind of store this weekend, but happened upon some good deals online.  You might want to check out the deals at Kiwi Crate -- yesterday I ordered a monthly subscription for Nathan at 60 percent off the first month's bill.  What a great way to try it for the first time!  If you use this link to order, you'll get $10 off your subscription! (And I'll get a $10 credit to apply to a future month's bill.  Thanks!)

And if you're a fan of Stubby Pencil Studio on Facebook, you can grab their 20 percent off coupon that's good until Monday, I believe. (No kickbacks here, just a friendly FYI!)  I grabbed some Christmas presents for Nathan and his friends at good prices.

Happy belated Thanksgiving!  Until next time, my friends!

It's My Birfday

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was lucky enough to continue a lifelong tradition of never working or having gone to school on my birthday.  That's one of the greatest benefits to having a birthday so close to Christmas.  The other is getting to see all of my family on my birthday.

It was a good day, despite the furnace not cooperating and my husband having wait around for the repairman, missing my birthday dinner.  (Things like this always happen to me.  Always.  I should be used to it by now, but I'm just not.)  So that made me a little sad, but by the time we got home the heat was back on and I was able to tell T.J. how good Nathan was in our favorite seafood restaurant.

My brother took these pictures:

I don't know which one I like better – the one where Nathan's forcing a grin or the more natural one.  I'm so glad to have these photos – I have so few good ones of us together.  They're a nice birthday gift.  (FYI, I'm wearing my April socks and Multnomah shawl – I love when I can wear more than one knitted item at once!)

Another great gift from my brother is Knitting Stitches Visual Encyclopedia – I love it!  It's giving me some great design ideas, plus an idea for the palms of Nathan's owl mittens – pattern coming soon.  What?  I hadn't mentioned those yet?  Heehee!  I have so many great knitting plans in the works for 2012, and all of them from my stash!

I look forward to diminishing my stash in 2012, gearing up my 2012 stash-busting challenge (more info coming soon), coming up with some interesting patterns and ideas and recapping my knitting goal for 2011: knitting a pair of socks a month for the whole year.  I did one better than that and knitted 13 pairs in 13 months! (Starting in December 2010.)

Happy New Year to all – see you in 2012!

A Hayride

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Over the weekend T.J. and I took our orange-wearing boy on a hayride with a friend and some “big kids.” 

They hayride took us on a tour of our local farm, the one where we bought our pumpkins last week and picked our strawberries in June.

We got a nice view of the Delaware River, which gives the farm its silt-y, fertile soil and only sometimes devastates their crops when it floods badly enough.

We saw freshly ploughed fields, eyed the strawberry patch we drooled in in June and checked out the flowers and some unusual crops for this area, like broom corn, cotton and okra.

But really it was a great chance to photograph my two boys…

...and hold my precious boy close at a time when he was content to be held and didn’t try to wiggle away while he looked at the nature and wonder all around us.

It was such a sweet time.  And, no, I don’t remember what made me laugh.  But knowing I was laughing is good enough.

Pumpkin Madness

One afternoon after work this week, we headed to the local farm to pick out some pumpkins.  I don’t know about you, but I love pumpkins.  I mean, really love them.  They’re one of my favorite things about fall (along with gourds, crisp weather and colorful leaves), and I’ve been dreaming about becoming a pumpkin farmer since I first started gardening.  I love the way they look in my home and on my front porch, I love the way they taste in muffins, bread and cookies (recipe coming soon—you don’t want to miss it) and I just plain love the color orange.  What is there not to love about pumpkins?  (And don’t forget about roasting seeds.)  They’re even fun to chuck in the back yard when we’re done with them to see what seeds come up in the spring.

I had to laugh at myself when we pulled into the farm and saw all these pumpkins so gloriously lined up among mums, asters and bundles of dried corn stalks.

I actually exclaimed, “Whoa, lookit all those pumpkins!!!!”  lol.  Yeah.  I’m a pumpkin dork.

Nathan got to choose his own little pumpkin. 

Word.

But I left with the cutest little pumpkin of all.

 

Have a good and pumpkiny weekend!

Family Staycation Weekend

Two weekends ago our first family vacation (ever) was postponed, and then this past weekend it was canceled altogether at the very last minute due to bad beach weather and me waking up with a bad head cold.  Boo.  The first time it was postponed because of my husband’s job it was a major letdown.  But when it was flat out canceled a week later, it didn’t hurt as badly and could be ranked as merely disappointing.  By then, I wasn’t as excited about it—even though I’d packed almost everything we needed.  My cold knocked out everything I had in me, and the constant rain in the forecast made driving three hours to get to the shore and spend all day and night in our hotel seem….stupid.  So home is where we stayed.

And it wasn’t terrible.  T.J. was around to help with Nathan while I rested, and we spent so much time together that it seemed like a family staycation.

Even though I didn’t get my trip to the beach (sigh), or the feeling like we were truly away, at least we were together.  Right?

Today would have been our last day of our long weekend vacation.  I took these photos with my cell phone on our walk today.

{Family Time} is making old new again

I had wanted to call this post “Aprons and Apple Pies” – I had plans to bake an apple pie with the local apples I picked at last weekend’s apple festival, wearing the new, really cool Amish-made apron I bought at said festival.  But I’ve been too busy and too tired to bake something so involved, so instead I give you this: a snapshot of some recent family time.

After a long summer of my husband’s job majorly getting in the way of family time, I’m so glad it’s back.  Family time, I mean.  Thank God it’s fall!  T.J. is helping me sand this little desk chair and a matching student desk so we can refinish it for Nathan.  (This is what we call a togetherness activity -- even though he's "doing" and I'm watching!)  A friend had given me the chair, and the very same day I found a desk to match at a yard sale.

All three of us hung out on the deck while my husband sanded and Nathan brushed away the dust with a paintbrush, but I realized that the best views were from inside the house after I had come in to make dinner.

See the open container of bubbles?  He was taking breaks to blow Nathan some bubbles to chase around and I missed catching it with my camera.  I'm so grateful for family time and moments like these.

Something Old and Something New

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Today I was lucky enough to receive two gifts -- something old and something new. 

My mom visited today and brought us the little rocking chair that was mine when I was a child... the very same one that was hers as a child!  Nathan's eyes lit up when he saw the little chair, and I recalled fond memories sitting in that chair when I was young.  I think I even remember knitting in it.  (My mom will have to verify that.  She taught me the knit stitch when I was about seven or eight, I think.  It's too bad I had forgotten all about knitting until I was in my early 20s!)

The rocking chair is still in great condition, and I love the warm, honey maple finish. (Sorry for the lame photos and bad lighting -- it seemed darker than usual in my living room tonight.)  The little bear illustration on the back is so sweet -- my mom remembers loving it when she was a child, and I do, too. 

Is this meaningful rocking chair not one of the best gifts ever?!  I look forward to giving it to Nathan and his first child someday.

The "something new" is a set of pretty turquoise prints I received in the mail today from Amanda at KarMama. 

Aren't they lovely?  I had won her surprise giveaway a little while back, and had no idea what would arrive in my mailbox.  Amanda's note said, "Sometimes it's just nice to get mail."  She's so right!  I'm going to pick up some little frames for these guys and hang them in my studio, where they can inspire my creativity.  I wonder how she knew turquoise is my favorite color.