a little inspiration

My camera is back in action.  I'm going to try for another December Photo Project this year.  I am so happy to be done with relying on a phone for pictures. John and E are putting together our new bed frame.  I was kicked out since they don't want me in the way of the "hard work."  I have fantasies of a huge quilt by Christmas.  With hand stitching.  I know. I know. I was invited to a craft group for grownups with child care at a nearby church.  I practically ran to it.  Hello, brilliant!  E had a great time.  We will certainly be back next week.  And every week they hold it from now until eternity. :) He starts a short preschool type class next week.  Just one day for 45 minutes and I go too.  But it sounds like fun.  We have the week set up so far with easy activities almost every morning.  I'm happy with the rhythm.  Out each morning at about the same time and then free all afternoon.  Not too ...

As it turns out, I have a lot of thoughts this year about my birthday.  I feel like I am thinking about the year older more than ever as I approach this one.  I've begun to start combating the aging process of my skin recently because it is starting to show signs that I am not so young.  As a person who fought acne for so many years, this is new.  Working so hard to look like a grown up and now that I do (hello forehead- I'm talking to you!) not feeling all that great about it. With all the change and work of the last few months I am finally able to look past the move and onto the next big thing.  In just a couple months we'll have a new addition.  A tiny baby to fall in love with and throw off any rhythm we may have found.  A big brother created from an only child.  I have no idea what all this looks like and I am trying not to be too eager to find out.  I imagine "hard" and "amazing" will top the list of adjectives. Emerson's adjustm...

We have spent the last week without Papa.  Finally, yesterday he arrived and we are all together again.  E did so well, but he really is a Papa's boy.  Others have a place in his heart, but not THE place. When Papa got home E was glued to his side.  Even though we were getting back in the car to go to visit family for Thanksgiving and Papa had to get ready.  E helped Papa shave most of his week long beard off. They are so sweet.  I am so glad to see them back together again. I think he likes his Sissie, too. Hope your day was full of love!

We're here.  And still standing somehow.  I wish I had a camera that worked so I could share with you some images.  Brightly colored trees, golden sunlight, chipmunks and squirrels busy as can be.  We're finding everything we can that is offered in play dates and story times. It is so different to balance the work of relocating with the play so important to a little person.  The people are so, so great here.  The midwife has already been over.  I am hoping to set up some acupuncture after Thanksgiving.  Neighbors keep dropping by to say hello and offer help or a small gift. Life is so, so full and so good, too.

Emerson was in need of a new hat.  He loves all the pink and purple stuff coming in for Sissie.  And he loves berries.  Blue berries especially.  I thought these two colors looked like the outside and inside of a blueberry.    Mmmmm. Yum. And I wanted him to have an elf style hat.  Because they are dang cute.  And how many more years does he have to wear such a thing?  Or will he want to?  Right now he loves to put things on the moment I am done.  Before I have even really finished the final touches.  I adore that. We used the last couple days, as the storm came and went, as an excuse to get a lot more packing done.  The kitchen dishes are almost all packed away and the office continues to move along.  All the off season clothes are in boxes.  It was surreal to stand in the kitchen quietly wrapping dishes in newspaper while watching the rain and wind out the window.  Hoping beyond hop...

Moving is overwhelming.  Not always in a negative way, sometimes it feels just plain good to be stepping into this big change.  But always, it is sooo much, packing, cleaning, visiting, calling, scheduling, running... I look forward to spending the weeks after the move in some kind of suspended animation.  Getting all the important things unpacked and putting away the other tasks for the ever indefinite "later."  Renting for a little bit allows us to ignore things like painting or hanging pictures or any renovating we might have thought we could do (ha!) The internet will allow us to put in orders for things and watch them show up in a truck driven by someone else.  All the important things will be there already.  Us.  By Thanksgiving we should all be home together there and have a week before John starts his job where we can just be together and explore our new world. And life will turn into something so different as the year closes out.  Bef...

We found a house!  And a midwife!  Life is good.  I spent the last week driving around looking at houses and conducting interviews.  The town is so great and the community so open and friendly that I am sure we'll be settled and comfortable in no time.  I am sad to be leaving friends here, there are some really great people, but I am happy that this move finally feels firmly like a good thing.  I'm not very good at indecision.  I've always been the type to make snap judgments and stick by them.  Dithering makes me a little crazy. We will be moving in a just a few more weeks.  Action time is here and I'm ready.  Except for the fact that I'm about to enter the third trimester and can hardly help with anything during the actual move.  Ah, well, they say it is the thought that counts.  I am pretty sure they weren't talking about moving though! I love the feeling of purging you have when you move.  All that stuff ...