i won't quit my day job

in the age of digital photography...there are many of us that aspire toward professional photography. we can snap picture after picture, don't have to adjust for varying iso or shutter speeds, and then can crop, adjust color, and fix red eye with the click of the mouse. simple as can be. but getting the perfect photo is still an effort to behold.

this weekend, chad is in germany and will and i have been having lots of good bonding time. we've been shopping, hiking, playing, and of course doing several photo shoots.

the most memorable one of the weekend was this afternoon.

after a cloud filled day, the sun came out and thus we headed out for a photo shoot with the black eyed susans. i plunked will down in the grass and sprawled out in front of him.

point and shoot. point and shoot.

adjust position.

point and shoot.

roll on the ground in front of him trying for the artistic shot.

point and shoot.

lay out on my back, again trying for another artistic shot.

point and shoot.

will was more interested in pulling up grass than in looking toward me as i made funny faces, preformed my infamous horse lip impersonation, and rolled around on the ground trying to get just the right angle.

...i noticed my back side was damp, and figured all that rain we got was still keeping the ground cover moist. i picked up will, expecting his backside to be moist as well, but it was dry as could be. as we walked inside the moistness carried a stink. i looked over one shoulder to see some mud...no wait...not mud...moist, sticky, smooshed poop....dog poop. all over the ground, and now all over me. we used to get mad at jed for rolling in poop...and now i'm the one who rolled in it. if only the neighbors were watching...me making horse sounds and rolling around the back yard in poop. all in the name of art.

out growing your cranky pants

those first few months were some cranky ones. there were days when we all wore our cranky pants. the days themselves were wonderful in many regards, but there were those damn cranky pants. some people call it 'reflux' some 'colic' some call it 'sleep deprivation' some say 'post partum blues'...but me--- damn those cranky pants.

thank heavens you've grown out of them...we've all grown out of them.

we are now all sleeping at nite---which is really actually what nite is made for. in college, i thought differently, and these past few months, you've thought differently, but sleep---beautiful, wonderful, glorious sleep. ahh. so nice. it is pretty strange to think that sleeping through the nite, sometimes means we're up at 4 or 5 am, but heck, the sun is on the horizon---and we've slept for several continuous hours.

there were some rough sleep spots along the way. i actually kept a sleep log (for all of 2 nites). nite 1 included 13!? night wakings. you should see the actual notes. i was not only tired the next morning, but unbelievably depressed to realized how bad it really was (that is the one good thing about sleep deprivation...not remembering how bad it was). night number 2 looked wonderful when you only woke up 5 times that nite. things become relative.

have i complained enough yet?

now for the good part. you are wonderful, and amazing, and so much fun. i find myself waving at you all day long...and you wave back. you wave to the cute baby that looks just like you in the mirror, and get so excited that he waves back. you drink from a straw, and then blow bubbles in the water, and at times shoot water out of the straw. you say mamamama all day long. you giggle, and i giggle. you are so present in the moment, and are reminding me to be the same.

you may have a sibling after all.

6 mos and counting

i once thought that i'd use this blog to supplement for the baby book i have yet to create...now i realize just how hard it is to get two hands free long enough to type an entry or two.
so, in lieu of blog entries...what have my two hands been doing all these mos you ask?!

they've been holding you and changing you and feeding you. they've been playing the role of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" and also the role of "Thumpkin" and any other hand song i can think of...as these truly are your favorite to date. they have been covering both sets of our eyes to the tune of "peek-a-boo" ...another big hit. they have also been tickling your giggle button (currently located in your sternum just above your xiphoid process...see my brain is still working on occasion). Right now, the are tapping the little bottle of lavender essential oil (that you are currently playing with and throwing on the ground...that is between typing). and now they have just switched to nursing you...leaving me here to practice, again, the art of one-hand typing.
so 6 mos have passed ...some of the longest days but the fastest mos. your personality continues to evolve...you're chill at times (taking after your mama :) or maybe your pops), especially when you're in a baby carrier (which we now have 7 of...jeeze)...you're very persistent and if we don't hear you one way, you'll say it louder and louder yet (i think maybe you get this from your dad...or maybe from jed). you are so curious about the world, and thus have given up on sleeping (both at day and at night) with your pursuits of kicking, pulling, babbling, and now sitting up. you have been on three trips out of co, and seemed to dig the plane rides (i have a feeling this is a direct correlate with being in the baby carrier...you sure do like to be held). you now have two teeth (which made their appearance at about 5 mos), and have started to eat food (rice cereal at 5 1/2 mos). your favorite so far seems to be sweet potatos or maybe cooked peaches. we've been trying to make all of your own food so far...to get you used to our cooking at a young age (maybe you won't complain this way :)). we just recently got back from a trip to nc. you got to meet your aunt sue and uncle tim and your cousins savannah and ben, see your grammy and grandpa and meet lots of other friends/ aunties and uncles. you also got to enjoy many other firsts on our trip...first slip and slide, first time at the lake, and first time on karaoke. here are some pictures of our trip.

happy mothers day

what a beautiful day to celebrate being a mom...and to all the other moms i now 'get it'...the joys of being a mom...im only 3 mos in, but i 'get it'...happy mother's day to all of us!

top 10

top 10 wonderful things about being a mom...

10. falling madly in love with another man...and my husband being in support of it
9. waking up to a sweet stretch and smile
8. cooing---one of the sweetest sounds to a new mom's ears
7. letting go of everything else
6. watching development
5. nurturing development
4. discovering the world all over again and in such a new light
3. such excitement over just being there
2. holding such a sweet boy that just melts into my arms
1. william gregory pearson

pump up the volume

there were a lot of things that i though would be 'hard' in terms of being a new mom...lack of sleep, exhaustion, soreness, frustration with a crying baby, and such. these things seemed to come with the territory, but one i never really realized has to do with pumping.
today in particular...i switched cars with chad and so i had his truck. i unfortunately have to pump either on the way to or the way home from work. yes...you read right...pumpin' and driving'---if i were a hip hop fan, maybe i could write some poetry about this, but for now, i'll just fill you in on the dilemma.
so driving my car while pumping, makes it hard to pull up next to a big truck, that can look down and see everything from above. there's not really much to see except for tubes and wires, but i f i could turn up the volume...and someone had no familiarity with pumping...it would really sound like some funky torture machine...or something. so to keep the commentary at bay...i strategically have to pull up so that im right next to someones trunk so i don't have to get a look in from the passenger window wondering what in the world?!?!
so now to chad's truck. who would have known that his stick shift comes so close to the power adapter that you can't shift into first and/or third while the pump is plugged in. it's hard to drive without using those critical gears. so me...on the way home...
pump...pump...
unplug...shift...re plug...
pump...pump...
unplug...shift...re plug
pump...pump...
thank goodness for fourth and fifth gear and green lights

the power of the "SHUSSSSHHHH"

when i was registering for baby items and looking through 'baby bargains' books and trying to figure out what i really NEEDED and what was just a gimmick, there were plenty of things i figure i could do without. i thought for sure that a crib would be a high need item. in fact, when i was first pregnant and mentioned to chad that we'd need to do a "nursery" and buy a crib, he was convinced we didn't need a nursery or a crib. "he can sleep in our drawer...we can change will on our bed...why do we need so much stuff...it'll be fine." now a few months into this, chad's favorite baby thing (besides the yoga ball---which is really more of a love/ hate relationship) is the changing table. the yoga ball kills our back, and the changing table saves it. or so he says. and we still have yet to use the crib...much less the nursery (though my sewing machine lives there...so it's getting a little workout)

well for me...i must say, one of my favorite items that i would have thought would never have been needed includes our white noise machines. we have 2 (one at the bed, one that's portable) and then the MOST important--- a digital voice recorder (that i used to use as a verbal to do list back when i had things 'to do' other than being a mom). the digital voice recorder has a 2 minute recording of our vacuum cleaner---that i recorded one nite out of pure exasperation... now, three mos later, im guessing that i've probably listened to that for 10+ hrs of our vacuum cleaner recording (no wonder my brain is mush). we take it most everywhere, and it has a volume control so that it can get pretty intense (chat HATES it---which is funny as vacuuming is chad's job in our relationship). anyway...who would have thought that the kiddo would love the vacuum cleaner so much...or rather it would calm him so much (is he destined for a life in the service industry?!).

there was a day a few weeks ago that our friend carlee was visiting. we were out downtown boulder and left the 'vacuum' in the car. sure enough william melted down. i tried nursing him as we walked down the street as there was nowhere to sit, so he was in the sling, crying, nursing, sputtering milk, as i smiled at the passerby's. then in harmony, carlee and i both started to "shhhh" (trying to sound as much like the vacuum cleaner as possible), and i even added it a bounce that tried to mimic the yoga ball....sure enough a few minutes later he was soundly sleeping, and comforted.

mother's day (i owe a whole blog entry to the day...more to come) was another time the vacuum cleaner came in handy. we went on a breakfast hike/ picnic to one of our favorite hiking spots. despite taking us 30 min to get out the door, and having to turn back around once b/c we forgot the baby carrier, we got there...we hiked...we ate...enjoyed the view...and even cooed a bit (will's fun new trick). on the way back, poor will, tired as could be, gave chad quite a workout...that is until we pulled out the 'vacuum.' there we were hiking this beautiful hike, and listening to the damn vacuum. we smiled at the passerby's, and no one even wondered who in the world was vacuuming the trail....or at least they didn't let on to us that they wondered. maybe they were parents too, with children who liked the sound of their vacuum.