one two three four five, everybody in the car so come on lets ride

1. I saw these gentlemen holding this sign outside a downtown Little Rock Easter Egg Hunt. If you can't see it, it says Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and a few other denominations are all going to hell. They also said their church was the only way to heaven. It makes sense, really. Ahhhh love it.
2. I posted this at Share Love Everyday but my newly polished 'wet cement' fingers and toes make me hap-hap-happy. (Like how I took the pictures on the dry cement? oh, so clever. er, lame. whatever.)
3. Airplane watching.
4. Flips.
5. This piece that I adore but appears to be sold out by artist Lisa Congdon.
Five things for you!

Additionally, Nate turned 21 months this past week. He can identify all his letters (the ABCs!), most colors, and is starting to recognize some numbers. I'm not kidding when I tell you he speaks in sentences. Often. He repeats EVERY. SINGLE. THING. out of my mouth. I can't get enough of this stage. He's communicative and happy and laughing and sleeping and JESUS ITS FUN.

That is all.

attack of the blue bathroom

Yesterday, I was standing on my toilet, reaching for something in the very back of the top most built in cabinet in our bathroom. I leaned my hand (and entire weight) against the towel rack (stupid i know) and it collapsed, broke, and fell off the wall. I fell with it. Hard. I kind of bounced with my chest/right shoulder off the sink below and flipped back, landing on my bottom (but not before hitting my other shoulder and head on the wall and door, respectively.).

I sat there on the floor, stunned, and said the same thing aloud that I say to Nate when he falls: "You're okay, It's okay, You're okay, You're FINE." while checking to make sure I really was okay and nothing was bleeding or broken. (Thankfully no, but DAMN it hurt.) I went slowly into the other room for a time out (ha.) and began to instant message Karl on the computer to let him know I fell. About ten minutes into messaging I started to feel woozy and vomit-ey. Thankfully Nate was napping, but Karl decided to come home (just in case), and we spent a nice, quiet afternoon together.

Other than a massive bruise in the shape of my sink ledge on my chest and some soreness, I really am totally fine. All in all, it wasn't that a big deal but when I started feeling all nauseous I started to feel all PANIC about the situation. Not so much for myself but because I was all alone in the house with my toddler and what if I had passed out and Nate wasn't contained in his crib and what if what if what if what if what if and OH AND WHAT IF?!?!

I don't really know why I'm telling you this story. Mostly, I guess because it scared me and I needed to get it off my (very bruised) chest. And it made me feel a little bit like a fragile old lady.

trees and bunnies and rompers oh my

Things that are making me happy:

1.
Here are the invites I did for an upcoming baby shower. I thought they were fun. Not perfect but fun.

2.
This very scary, uh, bunny at USA Drug. (S)He was greeting people at the door. I'm guessing it was an Easter shoot as there was a bench covered with that icky Easter grass (What is that?) and a camera person. Nevertheless, freaked me out. I wanted desperately to ask him: Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit? (Correct response: Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?) (Donnie Darko reference.)

3.
I've been following craftastrophe for a while now and for some reason this particular jumper made me giggle....especially the line from the first part of the description: "Why are his hands up by her shoulders when his head is on her tummy? It looks like Ernie’s being held at gunpoint. And if that’s the case then what did he do? So many questions!" Read the rest of the description here.

Ok that's it. Just three happy things for today. (Well and the weather and the pasta I made for dinner with broccoli and mushrooms and the park and the sun and the blue sky and the clouds...oh and did I mention the weather? It's crazy how much of a difference the temperature makes on my attitude!)

sunday sweets: daffodils, dresses, and drinks

We spent a gorgeous Friday atop Wye Mountain running amongst the daffodils. More pics here.

Saturday we attended a lovely wedding at the Albert Pike Hotel.

I wore a dress:
and took an image of the back of some peoples heads:
This wedding was SIMPLY GORGEOUS ya'll. There were greens and pinks and wish trees and photo booths and glittery cup cake boxes. Oh, and beer! After the wedding, we headed to The Flying Saucer (a bar!) for some more drinks, er, okay, FINE for the ENORMOUS soft pretzels and cheese fries. Our much appreciated designated driver dropped us safely at our door and we were in bed by midnight. (Nate was on an overnight date with Gigi and PawPaw! YEA HAW!)

Sunday we spent recovering and churching.

I have been working on some invites (almost done!) and they may be my favorite thing I have ever designed. As soon as they are printed and mailed, I'll post the proof.

state of the, uh, union (?)

A friend of mine and I were discussing her recent decision to stay home with her children and I decided maybe it was time for a little state of the union about my own, uh, union: The Union of Staying Homeness. Before I begin I would like to remind everyone that this is my own personal experience/thoughts and nothing in the below paragraphs are meant to judge or critic or discuss the merits of staying homeness versus not staying homeness versus workingness versus blah blah blahbity blah. (Disclaimer done.)

So, yea, I've officially been a stay at home mom (SAHM. pronounced Saaaaaaaaahm. Long A. Bow down to Saaaaaaaaaahm. Ok, it's not really pronounced that way. And please don't bow down to me.) since May 2009. Gulp. We are approaching one year! Big Gulp. That is me out of the workforce for one year. Not a single "real job" on my resume since then. Sometimes it still makes me suck in my breath.

my adjustment phase:

("Adjustment phase" - ha! I'm such a geek. But there definitely was one. I still feel like I am constantly adjusting. Aren't we all? I hope so!)

The most difficult thing about this DRASTIC lifestyle change (for me) to get used to: the SLOWNESS and lack of daily structure. I've been working since 15. Even summers I had full time 8 to 5 jobs. (Well, except my freshman year of college. I didn't work that year and believe me it was a drunken, glorious, car-less (as in no vehicle) 365 days.) I've worked as many as three jobs at one time. I don't know why. I just have. I didn't really know what people that don't work "normal office hours" DO during the day and, when I first began staying home, I marveled at the sheer number of strangers ambling around the grocery and parks for weeks ! I still feel like I'm having to teach myself to SLOW DOWN and I attempt to be more of a homebody (because SAHMs MUST. STAY. HOME. lock the doors!) in a effort to further simplify. (It's okay to stay in. It's okay to watch movies during the day every so often. It's okay to sometimes stay in pajamas until noon. It's okay to occasionally eat popcorn and cheese sticks for lunch. It's okay to play on the internet during naptime. Aaaand REPEAT.)

Some days suck (especially rainy cold ones!). Some days are boring. Some days I wish TO GOD I had an office and (gasp) Outlook email. Some days I even wish for conference calls and slacks with a crease. Some days I would rather have my boss or my coworker yell/snark at me than watch my 20 month old throw one more piece of food or whine (or poop! ew. poop post! poop post! sorry for no warning!) one more time. When I'm having less than awesome days I try to remind myself that, if I were at the office, I would have days were I had to complete work I didn't love or deal with clients I didn't like. (AND I remind myself that I no longer have to write my name and DO NOT EAT on my lunch or store my breastmilk next to my bosses leftover spaghetti in a nasty office fridge!)

Mostly, we have great days. Nate and I run around so much visiting and learning and playing and laughing that we're both exhausted. We go visit Karl at work and spend time with Karl's parents and grandmother. Now that it is spring, we try to spend most of our daylight hours outside. He's at my favorite age yet and I intend to fully enjoy that this spring and summer.

Overall, I am just happy with my decision. Nate goes to school one day a week (soon it will be two!) and I spend that time recalling my inner-creative (that may or may not have gotten lost for a bit!). I ATTEMPT to spend my free time creating, designing, writing, reading, websiting, interneting and working with Karl on projects... and contemplating looking for more freelance or part time work. I like to think that if the right opportunity came along (part time, full time, or otherwise) I would consider taking it because I try to keep an open mind. (AND I'm getting a lot better about leaving Nate at school after the disastrous daycare dramas of past.)

Ahem. So, in conclusion, yeah, it's going pretty well. It's working for me and my family right now. I don't know what the next year is going to hold, but we're ready! We're constantly adjusting and reevaluating and working towards a happier, more balanced family life. What can I say? We work hard, we play hard, and we love it!

Evaluation OVER.

Share Love Everyday

My friend Sarah and I have been wanting to participate in a 365 project (photo a day) for a while and we finally took the plunge! We started posting our photos side by side on March 1. (Well, we started posting the photos anyway; they weren't side by side until, uh, yesterday as we have been template tweaking and trying to find what works the best!)

We are still trying to fix some thing to make the design of the site even cleaner with easier links to the archives and to our feed. (Right now, both are linked above her and both above me.) So, we're working on that, but we wanted to start sharing our love with our friends and family and bloggy friends. (bleinds?)

You can subscribe via our RSS feed here.

or

You can follow us on twitter here. (We will post one tweet a day when both our photos are up.)

We are undecided as to whether to enable comments on the photos. Right now, we aren't. What do you think? You can also email us at wepointweclick@gmail.com if you have any thoughts or suggestions.

After 5 years (almost six) of blogging, this is my first time to REALLY start posting at another site. We don't claim to be sensational photographers, but we do love to share our moments. Hope you will come along!

irish catholic roots

So, you may have noticed if you know me at all or follow me on the twitters that we celebrate St. Patrick's Day in my family! This year Nate and I decided to spend Parade Day in St. Louis with my family. (We also were able to attend a good friend's wedding shower so it was a double boosh kind of weekend.)


Here are some Photos of St. Patrick's Day PAST:

My grandparents marched and danced with a group called the Green Garter Brigade for, oh, maybe ten years or so. It was always fun (in younger years) to be huddled up under our blankets eating pretzel rods and an inappopriate amount of cookies waiting for them to pass by in the parade. Here are some shots of me from my second 2nd Pat's Day, jamming to Irish tunes on the front porch.

Here is Nate on his 2nd St. Pat's Day. The parade was way too cold for him and he spent a lot of it crying. (So that was fun.)
Dad and I enjoying a Guiness!
I don't think St. Patrick intended green beer, shamrock headbands, and excessive beads as celebration of his patron saint-ness, but, well, it sure is fun. My family has been celebrating in the exact same way since prior to my own birth. It was lovely to be a part of this year.

Happy St. Pats. Go put your green on.

oops

Nate and I were in St. Louis for four days this past week. Whilst packing, I put this tweet on the twitters.
The tweet said "Things I excel at: Packing" with a link to a Twit pic that I took on my phone of my suitcase. It SHOULD have looked like this:
(I wanted to showcase my stellar pile everything on top of a suitcase and cram it in skillz.)

Instead, our friends at Twit Pic somehow linked my followers to this image:
Which, while I'm sure this is a picture of a very nice man (and a firefighter!), is not exactly what I had in mind to pack in my suitcase!

Karl called me about thirty minutes into my drive laughing hysterically. I made him post a corrective tweet with my suitcase image! Ahhhh I love it when the internet has an accident. I wonder if someone hoping to see a picture of their firefighter was disappointed by the image of my hastily packed suitcase.

St. Patrick's Day pics shortly...

goldfish soup

For lunch, she wanted Goldfish Soup.

He obliged.

glorious

These images represent me shouting from the, uh, mountaintops (er, back porch steps): Look! We're OUT of DOORS. Hooray. Feel the sun on your cheeks! Take off your jacket!

We have spent no less than all day every day outside engaging in various outside activities. Today, we spent some time "cu-kin" (cooking) "sup" (soup...er, leaves) in the dog bowl (stirred with a stick spoon). We also played basketball (for hours) and pushed around the lawnmower (what? it's EDUCATIONAL.).

God, I love the outside. Can Spring stick around forever?

alive and well

Fun Places I have been since Thursday:

• The VFW for a dart league. Yep, dart league. At the VFW. Where you have to knock and sign in at the door.

• Up and down Kavanaugh Blvd Friday morning (b/w the early hours of 5:30 and 6:00) for a 3 mile run with my friend and running partner Julie.

• An extremely fun Friday date on an extremely gorgeous day with our friends Shannon and Nash at the LR Zoo. It started out as a comedy of errors. The Zoo wasn't open when we arrived (and we got there well after the specified opening hour). The geese were scary and breeding (SIGNS: CAUTION: ATTACK GOOSE! DO NOT PET!), the petting zoo was closed because of an infectious disease, the bears were still hibernating, the pavilions were under construction, the fish food was empty. But despite (because of?) all these things, we had the best time. Lots of birds and big cats out, diabetic monkeys, gorgeous weather, and a train ride made us more than happy.

• A t-shirt making party with my friend Erin followed by a birthday dinner for her husband. (Not Nate's finest dining experience, but, eh, you win some, you lose some.)
  

• A made-up 10K (6 miles) on Saturday morning with my friend Jenny! (We wore the aforementioned t-shirts. It's not a race until you have t-shirts!) The race was a tribute to our friend Melissa's move to LA. (This is her final weekend in town!) We based our t-shirt design after a night of debauchery in which Melissa made, oh, three thousand inappropriate 'your mom' jokes (specifically about my mama, Linda, and Jenny's mama, Libby. Hence the "Linda and Libby 10K" title. Also, we think Linda & Libby would be damn proud of our running achievements. Here is a shot of us after we made it home from "the race." One of my bloggy friends suggested I host a virtual 10K (maybe 5k?) and make us all t-shirts. I send you the t-shirt, you send me your race picture for the blog. Oh, we're doing it! We are SO doing it.
• 

• Dinner and drinks for Melissa's going away party. I have no words to type about Melissa going away in fear that I may burst into tears as I type.

• The Little Rock Marathon this morning to cheer on aforementioned friend and running partner Julie! If you've never been to a Marathon (just to watch or cheer even if you don't know anyone), I highly HIGHLY recommend it. I welled up with tears of inspiration no fewer than three times. (There was a woman runner with a prosthetic leg PUSHING what looked to be her son in a wheelchair! We saw her at mile 23. Yea.)

• Karl and I volunteered to do childcare at our church service tonight. One four year old, one three year old, three two years olds, and two one year olds. (That is seven kids 4 and under!) It was a nice reminder of what a patient, loving man I married. (It was easy peasy and the kids were all great; I'm just bragging on Karl's 'dad' mode.)
  

It was such a wonderful, laughter filled weekend. We were able to focus on friends and family and fun. I'm so appreciative that I have the opportunity to do that.

You have a baby. In a car.

I sat down today to write a fluffy, lovey dovey post about Nate, but am distracted by something that happened to me a few hours ago.

Nate and I were in the car on our way home from the bookstore this morning and stopped at a red light, waiting to get on the highway. Karl is in DC this week for a meeting so I pulled out my phone to see if he had called. The VI (very important!) meeting was this morning so I was hoping he had called to update me. The second I whipped out my phone, the woman next to me started honking. I glanced over to find her waving at me. She mouthed (very clearly) "You have a baby" and then made some imaginary texting/phone motions with her hands and THEN A "tsk tsk" motion with her finger. I looked at her in disbelief as she repeated "You have a baby" again, pointing to Nate in the backseat. I mouthed back "I know" and pointed to the red light to indicate traffic was stopped. She again shook her head and repeated the baby thing. Yes, lady, got it. I have a baby. In a car. I am aware. He is properly buckled into his properly researched and installed car seat.

I was INFURIATED. I wanted to follow her, talk (yell?) to her face to face and list out all the activities and precautions and time and stress and LOVE (always love) I pour into my child's life. I wanted to scream "You don't know me!" (and not in a funny way). I wanted to not feel judged. It stings to feel criticism of your parenting - even from a complete (maybe crazy?) stranger - who I am sure thought I was an irresponsible teen mom (not that all teen moms are irresponsible) with my 12-year-old face, messy bun, baseball hat, and beat up old car. Maybe she did not think that but I get insecure sometimes when I'm out with Nate - like people won't believe I am his "real Mom" because I look young. And, also, because, at only 20 months 'in' I still sometimes feel like I have NO IDEA what I'm doing when it comes to parenting and occasionally feel like a poser. (I swear he came out of my body!) Both silly, I know, but the parenting waters are murky, and fear/insecurity occasionally rears its ugly head (particularly when prompted by the smallest of incident such as this.).

The thing is: Maybe I shouldn't have checked my phone. Maybe I shouldn't have it out at all in the car. For the record, before I even glanced at it, I had ensured that the person in front of and behind me were fully stopped. I don't text and drive. I do occasionally check my phone at stoplights. I also talk on the phone while I am driving. Maybe these are wrong of me. Either way, it's not her business, right? It's a decision I make and I feel okay about it. I mean, if she knew how much I hate driving and how much of a GRANDMA I am around town (It seriously takes me ten minutes to make a left turn across traffic. Road must be totally clear! I avoid most interstates because I HATE CARS!), maybe she wouldn't have felt the need to TSK TSK me. Additionally, can she say she has never changed her radio station at a stopped light because my glance at my phone at a STOPPED LIGHT has to be the equivalent to that, right?

I got angry. I thought about crying. Then I thought: YOU AREN'T GETTING TO ME LADY!! I am a parent and a damn good one and I won't let your overly coiffed hair and your overdone make up and your MORE WRINKLES THAN MINE (take that!) and your enormous shitty van ruin my day! Instead, I will blog about it while my child naps (safely in his crib which I am sure would also not pass your rigorous safety standards!) and get it out of my system. Then, when he wakes, I will take my child to the park or color pictures with him or read books and continue to spew love like I normally do.

There.

I feel better now.

Thanks for listening.