Visualizing

I shouldn't stay home so much.

Because I sit and stare at my bare walls and ponder what to do with them.  That's as far as I get.  Ideas.  

Yesterday I actually pulled out my box of pictures and wall hangings, and decided what should be hung in the living room.  I laid them on the floor trying to work them into an arrangement for my wall.  I realized that I have a lot of green in my portraits and frame mats. Then I went to bed.  Then I propped them against the wall behind the chair.  

Help!

Today I decided to think about wall colors instead. 

Have you ever used Sherwin-Williams Paint Visualizer?

This is way too fun.

Color ideas for my living room:

Blue/gray, red, or brown?  Help!!?

Perhaps I just need to get a rug in there first. 

I like these.

    

The problem is that I'm too cheap to go and buy one new. I keep checking clearance racks and craigslist, meaning it might take a while to find the rug I want.

No rug, no paint, nothing hung on my walls.

See my problem?  

Actually I will blame my indecision and procrastination on the fact that I have a two month old baby which equates to very little free time for projects. 

Its okay, I'm moving on to my kitchen!  I will share my renovation ideas for that room next. Oh, I have a lot of ideas!

Will anything ever get done around here? 

Oh, and feel free to shout out your favorite color scheme for my living room, sans a rug anyway.

Authentic

I just realized that I never shared this...

This little girl is growing fast.  Way too fast.  I look forward to next weeks check-up just so I can marvel with the pediatrician at how much weight she has gained in two months.  We are very thankful for a healthy, happy baby.

Today I should have been baking for Thanksgiving dinner so that I don't have to spend my entire birthday tomorrow in the kitchen.  I also should have been doing laundry. 

I should have, but I didn't.  

Instead I guess I was celebrating early - I sat in the sunniest chair in the living room and ate cinnamon rolls. Then the kids and I headed outside for a nature walk and pine cone hunt. We are going to glitter the cones and make garlands. Fun!!

Christmas cards have been on the back of my mind for two weeks now.  Having lined up all our clothes twice and never getting the chance to take pictures, I've started to wonder if I will get a picture for cards this year.

On an impulse, I sat the kids down in the middle of the trail and snapped 5 pictures on our walk today.

Let me paint a picture for you - one child is wearing a huge puffer jacket. Another has very faded knees in his jeans.  Yet another has blue paint on the side of his forehead. Elaina is barely visible, all wrapped up in a blanket. Nothing matches or is coordinated.

But lo and behold, I love the pictures!  Every imperfect, authentic, candid detail about them.

Perhaps one (or three) will make it onto my Christmas card.

Considering the typical family Christmas photo shoot and last year's in particular, all I can say is...

That was way too easy!

Happy Kitchen

A messy kitchen is a happy kitchen, right?
Right??

With the kids home from school on Friday, I decided to let them make my kitchen happy.
And they did.
Because this time I tried really hard to let them make the cookies.

In the past, I've been too much of a control/neat freak to really let them participate.  They dumped in my pre-measured ingredients, turned the mixer on and off, and watched me scoop onto the pans.
This time, once we got past the shortening and eggs, I think I did a pretty good job of stepping back and letting them do the work.

I can handle this kind of mess in my kitchen.  I can handle happy.
They kids were very pleased with themselves, and I was very amused, especially by my two year old (see above photo).

And Elaina-dorable was lulled to sleep in the busyness of it all.  Yes, I'd have to say that our messy kitchen was humming with happiness.

My heart is full

Yes, sometimes I feel like the work of a mother never ends.  

But then at other times, I can't help but be amazed. 

There is nothing quite like it.  

I can't even begin to explain the amount of wonder.  Or the amount of heartache.  Or the amount of love.

Motherhood is a fantastic journey.

reprogram this machine!

It has been six weeks since I'm  given birth to my little girl. 

I should be completely "recovered", no?

Ummm, no.

My body is not my own.  I am a machine.  A milking machine.  

I can produce milk for my growing baby. I can produce milk on demand.  I can produce milk not on demand.  I can produce ounces and ounces of milk around the clock.  

Success!  Perhaps you could even say, Recovered!

I think I need this t-shirt

Except when do I get to feel like myself? I guess that has nothing to do with it.  My Doctor reassured me yesterday that my body was made for sustaining the life of my baby. 

Basically, I am a milk machine.

Aren't I lucky?  I have five external devices, not just one.  As a result, I have been programmed to perform multiple other algorithms.  Besides making milk, I can cook, clean, and do laundry.

I think I go into autopilot mode in the evenings.

Start preparing supper.

Feed baby.

Continue to prepare supper while holding baby.

Bounce baby.

Put supper on the table.

Feed baby.

Start school children on their homework.

Change baby.

Remind school children to work on their homework.

Bounce baby.

Corral the two littles into a pen, stuff socks in their mouths.

Feed baby, stare at pile of dishes in the sink.

Turn off the blasted CD player.  Ban anyone from banging on the piano.

Burp baby.

Push the school children in the shower.

Free the two littles and dress them in pajamas.

Feed baby, stare at pile of laundry on the floor.

Remind the children that they are supposed to be brushing their teeth.

You get the point.  

By the time all the kids are sleeping, I have no energy to face the pile in the sink.

Hey, I didn't know that machines got tired!  There must be some bad code.  I've been gypped!

Someone re-program this machine please!!!

 

Monday Morning

Fitting Right In

While I don't have every baby gadget out there (who uses a wipes warmer and gyro bowl anyway), I do have to say that this one is well worth the $40.  I LOVE my moby wrap, especially for the newborns.  It is soft and comfortable, for both of us.  I have used this at the the grocery store, cooking dinner at home, and just about anywhere that I want to be hands free and still have my baby close.  If baby wearing is hippie, I'm happy to be hippie (and so is my baby).

photo courtesy of Aubrey's teacher  (Dean and Donovan were at Connor's classroom)

At Aubrey's school program, Elaina was tired and fussy and wanted nothing to do with her carseat.  Once snuggled into the moby wrap, she slept soundly.

I just realized that it looks like I'm nursing.

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have nursed a six month old baby while hiking out of Grand Falls with the aid of the moby wrap.  And I don't think anybody had a clue.

Flagstaff has a lot of hippies.
Man, I really fit in!

freezing time to inhale. and eat.

Once you have kids, there seems to only be one speed to life: fast.

Like hello? its already November!  And every once in a while, I forget that I have three kids home during the days now, so I just might want to reconsider taking along all the littles when I run my errands. 

One trip to the store usually cures me of that.

Ummm, how is it that time goes by so quickly that I haven't gotten used to having a newborn yet? 

Maybe I haven't woken up yet and realized she's here.

Speaking of which, I woke up yesterday. Well at least for just long enough to realize that this little precious isn't going to stay little for too much longer.

somebody's got munchable cheeks

Yikes, she's five weeks old already, and I've hardly pulled out my camera.  How else am I going to remember that she really did have a newborn phase, and I wasn't just dreaming it up?

In my moment of clarity and alertness yesterday, I remembered that I had some adorable baby gifts sitting in their gift bags.  Good thing I woke up in time, she might have outgrown them.

This little knit dress is too adorable! (Thanks Maria!)

And would you believe that my friend made these cute shoes?!  

(Check out all of Sharon's baby shoes at her etsy shop.)

If I could freeze time, if I could make any stage of my children's lives last a little longer, I just might choose to hang on to the newborn phase.  (okay, maybe I take that back.  I kind of like feeling 'normal' and awake)

The quiet moments are the best.  

After feeding Elaina, I prop her up on my chest and she falls asleep.  The warmth of her tiny body nestled against mine, the downy softness of the hair on the back of her head, the sweet, sweet newborn smell... It is then that I think I could sit and rock her for forever.

Have you ever wondered why we say "you are so cute I could just eat you!"?

Here is your answer.

Or is it just me?