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DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 31 2009  And Nathaniel touching him (albeit unintentionally).  Look at those beautiful lips. He's so so cute.  And the funny boy with a funny face!  Tomorrow is a new month. Possibly a big one for us. Hope your weekend was great!  CATALYST 64 - ONE SIMPLE EMAIL  Here's my text: Years ago, I was sitting at school with a friend who told me that a friend of hers (someone I only knew as an acquaintance) had had a really bad day. I am not sure what prompted me, but I emailed her friend that day and asked him if he was ok. Next thing I know, we were hanging out, becoming friends. And then dating. And then we got married. And now we have two kids. It all started with one single email. Amazing what can change in a moment. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 30 2009  And Nathaniel cranky whenever I don't hold him.  David kisses Nathaniel, trying to calm him down. Nathaniel is really lucky to have him.  Good day! We watched Street Fight (excellent!) this morning and Jake held the sleeping Nathaniel while I cleaned up all my scrap stuff. It's amazing how much stuff I have, especially the Thickers. Off to do some more cleanup. NATHANIEL  Journaling Reads: Welcome to our lives Nathaniel. We’ve been waiting for you. You are loved and cherished. Nathaniel James. Born April 24, 2009. 6:04am. 6lbs. 7oz. 20.5 inches. JOY OF YOU  Journaling Reads: I’m not known for my sense of humor. I don’t laugh very often. Except when I am with you. You make me smile and laugh every single day, my son. Thank you for bringing so much joy into my life. Thank you. YOUR BIG BROTHER  Journaling Reads: When I was expecting you, everyone told me to be prepared. Your brother would be jealous, they said. He will act out. I knew they were wrong, but I kept quiet. You’ll see, they said. All kids do. Well, I was right, of course. You have the best brother in the world. The day after you were born, he was already reading stories to you. And giving you kisses. You are so lucky, my boy. And so am I. FAMILY BOND  Journaling Reads: My sister, Yona, doesn't visit very often. In fact, the last time she was here was seven years ago and the last time she saw you was almost three years ago. So, I was very excited when she decided to come see us. Once she arrived and you saw all the presents she brought (and there were many!) you were instant best friends. But the best memories you and Yona made were over blowing kisses. She taught you how to blow and catch kisses and you two spent hours playing that game. "It went on the ceiling," she shouted. "It went inside my tummy," you shrieked. And you laughed and laughed. David, it makes me so happy to see you and my sister share a special bond. I hope it lasts forever. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 29 2009  And Nathaniel doing tummy time.  Long day here. Nathaniel wouldn't sleep even after a trip to the park. David peed in his bed. The mailman came but didn't leave the packages so we had to drive to the post office to get them. Ugh. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 28 2009  And here's the smiley boy. He's such a sweetheart.   And David is sweet as always too. I love him love him love him. A rough start today. Nathaniel wouldn't sleep from 5:30am to 1pm. But then passed out finally. And he's slept 3 times since then. Sleeping now. I got a bunch done tho. Wrote my journaling for the June layouts for a Million Memories and organized a lot of stuff using Evernote and even packed a box. Got lots lots lots more to do of course but making slooooow progress. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 27 2009  And here's the little one who had a rough day today. Not enough naps.  I got some work done today, cleaned up a bit and watched Marley and Me and Yes Men. And some quality family time. All in all, good day! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 26 2009  And David is back at school. Yey!!  Got a lot of work done today cleaning up. Not that you can tell at all...oh well. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 25 2009  Today was my seven-year wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband. As a present to me, we took lots of family photos and went to a wonderful lunch (thank you, mom and dad!) The rest of the day was spent with relaxation and art. A truly great day and here are some more family photos:     Happy anniversary, baby. I love you madly!! 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 21  Family. Art. Books. Sleep. Honestly, it's all I ever need.  I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 20  Ahem. A bit embarrased to answer this one but I've been obsessed with twitter a lot lately and it seemed appropriate... Some ink, chipboard bird painted with glimmery paint, and some letters and bling.  I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 19  I am in the middle of big changes in my life. Lots of new beginnings and exciting possibilities. They are making me giddy with excitement and hope. It's like the first day of school. The clean notebooks. All that possibility. All that hope of starting over and getting it right this time around. That's how I feel. Just cut out some papers and added some bling for this one. And a butterfly of course.  I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. CATALYST 63 - JOSHUA TREE  Here are my words: There are some days that are meant to be perfect. Like a wedding day, a graduation, a birth, a honeymoon. But then there are those other days that start out absolutely ordinary. Never promising more. On rare occasions, one of these days turn out magnificent. Unexpected. Perfect. Those are the extraordinary moments life is made out of. Joshua Tree was one of those days for me. I will never, ever forget it. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 24 2009  I am still sick so we went to urgent care today and after spending 2 hours and 45 minutes there, it turns out I am fine and just came back home to rest and drink lots of water. bleh. At least David was in a good mood.  All in all, a quiet day with lots of TV and family time. What else can I ask for? DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 23 2009  I'm still sick. Caughing, sneezing, shivering. yuck. So we all napped, watched TV, and just relaxed. We all needs days like this every now and then.  And, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY Aksel and Jeff! I love you and miss you! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 22 2209  David is still sick so I kept him home today, too. I finally took him to the doctor and it turns out he has sinusitis the poor boy. So he's on antibiotics now and hopefully will get better much more quickly. But, of course, to keep life interesting, now I am sick. Ugh.  Tonight, we attempted to go to I KEA (after renting a truck) and buy the 15 new pieces of furniture I wanted to buy and it turns out they each weigh like 100 lbs which is not a realistic number to carry when you have a newborn on a Bjorn, a 4year old who's having fun with all the boxes and a poor daddy who's been up since 4am. So that plan was aborted and we returned he truck and decided the delivery price was worth it. Oh well. And, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I love you Madly! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 21 2109   Here's the little one. Still not sleeping perfectly but I love him so! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 20 2009   Those eyes still look blue to me! And here's poor David who's been caughing and just feeling crabby for days now. Poor little boy.  Happy hump day! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 19 2009  And here he is being all cool with his cool glasses. He even asked me to take this photo.  And here's the daily Nataniel. Another one of my sunshines.  And, of course, the tulip.  So far, no the most productive day but let's see how the afternoon is. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 18 2009   Yum. CATALYST 62 - TIME TO LOVE ME  Here are my words: The trait I admire most in others is what I call "being comfortable in your skin." I have a few friends who are just like that. They know who they are and they are comfortable with themselves. It's not confidence as much as just a level of self-comfort. When I hang out with them, I always find myself wishing I were like that too. It's something I am working on: loving myself the way I am. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 17 2009  Nathaniel, on the other hand, has been going through what I think is a growth spurt. All he does is eat, cry and sleep. If he's not eating or sleeping, he's pretty much crying. I feel bad for him and I am pretty tired too so I hope it's not going to last too long.  He still looks so so cute, doesn't he? DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 16 2009  Not the best day. Nathaniel decided not to sleep much after 2:30am so I've been up all night and all day and I couldn't sleep when he did finally fall asleep so I am dead tired. I think he's having a growth spurt cause he will not stop nursing all day either. Well, tomorrow is another day :)  Happy Saturday to you. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 15 2009  Productive day! yey! I got some errands done and then went to work to have lunch with my friend Cole. I saw about a million people which made it hard to chat with Cole but it was great to see everyone. I stayed a bit longer than I should have though and Nathaniel was really hungry by the time we got home. I even bought moving boxes. Yey me.  Here's how I found David at school today. He had some boo-boos. But he's so so cute. And here's the little one, sleeping peacefully.  DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 14 2009   Here's David at school. Much better today. One of those days where you know he's going to come home all messy with paint everywhere. Hope you're having a good week! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 13 2009   And here's Nathaniel. See those beautiful eyes? I wonder if they will stay blue. What do you think?  DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 12 2009  Today was a bit challenging for us. Nathaniel just cried the whole time he was awake and I was trying to not get him to sleep too much so we fought back and forth since all he wanted to do was nurse and sleep. I hope he will sleep tonight.  He is so so beautiful though and I love him so so so much.  And of course, here's the other one who is also manificent and he's playing with a teaset with me right now as Natheniel sleeps (of course!) I love my boys so so much!  DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 11 2009  And here's David's third teacher. Teacher Melissa. She's so so sweet!  And the little boy who won't sleep from 4am to 7am is sound asleep when I take him to school. Just not when it's 4am.  Happy Monday! CATALYST 61 - NOT SO CLEAN AND TIDY  Here are my words: Despite the fact that I like clean and tidy houses, it's the one thing I always and always put off. I wish I were tidier. I wish I had one of those perfect houses that look so organized and tidy. I don't think it's in the cards for me. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 10 2009  A wonderful mother's day here. Jake came from Boston with tulips and we sat down and chatted and then went to IKEA to run some errands. Nothing amazing, just a quiet day with my wonderful family. Couldn't ask for anything better.  And just so you can see that Nathaniel isn't always happy happy joy joy...  Hope your mother's day was wonderful, too! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 9 2009  Today was David's best friend Joseph's birthday. Jake's in Boston so the three of us got in the car and went to the park where it was. I didn't want David to miss it no matter what. He did have a great time even though we weren't there for a long time. I am so glad we did go.  The little one slept the whole time.  The rest of our day was quiet and wonderful. I really love being home with my kids. I love my kids. I love my husband. I am feeling so thankful. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 18  Well seeing that I have a newborn, this was easy. Family is all that's on my todo list this week. Stamps, epoxy, brads, and a bit of ribbon is it.  52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 17  I had to think about this one for a while. My first instinct was to write what I might put down on a self-evaluation at work. I am good at getting things done. I execute. This is something that has allowed me to accomplish a lot in my life and it has allowed me to be successful in my career. But, then again, it's not really my superpower. My true superpower, i believe, is that i stick by people and will do anything for them. Pleasing others and seeing them happy gives me indescribable joy and I will do pretty much anything to see them happy. I give and love wholeheartedly. Just some misting and epoxies for this one. And stitching.  52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 16  This was easy for me. I've been thinking lately about how wonderful life is and how lucky and blessed I am. So my current truth is just that: Life is wonderful. Just some chipboard, punches and ink on this one. Nothing else.  DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 8 2009  And here's David with teacher Kathleen. We all love her.  Quiet day today. Finally got to do some art. A little bit but still better than none. It was so nice to spend some time with the tags. Jake's going to be gone some of this weekend but I am still excited to have him for some of the weekend and to spend some time all four of us. I love my family so much and I feel so blessed. Speaking of family, Dad is home safe and sound, thankfully. All in all, a great week! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 7 2009  I meant to say that the really colorful place where Nathaniel was sleeping yesterday was a present from our friend Jess. Something I really wanted so thank you so much Jess! Nathaniel loves it too. So does David. He loves playing with the baby toys everywhere. He keeps showing Nathaniel his toys too. He's so sweet. Here's Nathaniel from this morning. He was actually awake when I took David to school which is pretty rare since the car puts him to sleep asap.  A better night last night. We all slept a bunch more. I decided to give myself the day off and took a morning nap and feel much more rested. The headache is still here but quiet now. The next six weeks promises to be very hectic but a good kind of hectic a new, big step in our life. I can't wait! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 6 2009  Thankfully, I have the world's best husband ever cause he left work early, gassed up both of the cars, went grocery shopping, and then picked up David. He's an angel. I just was completely useless all day. I slept. I tried to sleep and then slept some more. That was about it. Here's the big brother.  My dad had an operation today. Got his gallbladder removed. I am so thankful to know he's ok and so thankful for iChat and Skype. And the internet. I was there with them as much as possible. Get well quickly, Daddy. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 5 2009  Tonight while I was processing photos, Nathaniel was lying in my bed, looking around and David decided he wanted to talk to him and give him hugs and kisses. He kept bringing toys to show the baby. He really is being ultra sweet to Nathaniel.  David came home from school covered in green paint today. I mean all over. Like the Hulk. When I left him this morning, he was doing a Mother's Day project. I wonder if that's what the green was for.  Here's one of Nathaniel from early in the morning. He loves looking around and watching everything.  And finally another shot of the beautiful tulips.  A lot of little errands again today. I might finally be seeing the bottom of that list which is good cause I'd love to do some art. Let's see if I get to this week. Oh, and, I hope you get well really soon Daddy, I love you! DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 4 2009  David was being an angel at school again. I love watching him play and discover new things at school. I am so glad he is happy there.  We also got confirmation that Nathaniel's cord blood was successfully stored. This is something we decided at the very last minute. We never did it for David and we couldn't decide if we should for Nathaniel or not. As it turned out, the yearly cost was quite low so it just came to the one-time collection fee and we decided better safe than sorry. Especially if we decide not to have any more kids. Now that it's come and gone, I am really glad we did it. And I hope we never, ever need it. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 3 2009  Days are passing uneventfully here, which, to me, is a good sign. Another relaxing day. David went to his friend's birthday party, we watched some TV, ate some, slept some, and that's about it. Here's Nathaniel accomodating me as I try a new pose. He did get annoyed about two seconds after I snapped this.  Here's David with his hair short. Yes, not nearly as cute but now he can see.  CATALYST 60 - THE SEYCHELLES  Here's my text: I thought about this one for a long time. Honestly, I've had two "best vacation" experiences. The one I decided to highlight here is our honeymoon to the Seychelles islands. Coincidentally, this was the number one choice for both of us and while the trip was obscenely long and they lost our luggage when we got there, it was worth every single minute. The beaches, the nature and the wildlife at the Seychelles is absolutely breathtaking. We were relaxed, happy, and loved everything about this paradise on earth. I will never, ever forget this trip. The one I didn't highlight here was our cross-country trip. In 2003, we both quit our jobs and decided to move across the county. We bought a car and visited 40 states. We camped, we visited all the national parks, we ate both good and really bad food. We spent the whole summer in our little Civic and had a total blast. Another vacation I will never, ever forget. DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 2 2009  David was invited to a birthday party today, so he got all dressed up, posed for some blurry photos and he and Daddy went off only to realize that the party is tomorrow, not today. Doh! So they finaly went and got his hair cut. You'll see in tomorrow's photos.  Nathaniel and I stayed behind and did some errands. I folded all the laundry (there was a lot). Watched some TV (we're running out of space in the dvr). Changed the look of my site (like it?). and got caught up on all my posts. I am prepping tomorrow's catalyst, too and then I will lie down for a nap. Here's the little boy from earlier today.  DAILY PHOTOS - MAY 1 2009  Mom's last day today. She's leaving tonight for Turkey. It's been a productive and useful but short visit. We ran a lot of errands. She took care of David while we were in the hospital and helped me out in so many ways. I'm always sad when she leaves but I feel like this particular trip we accomplished so much that I feel less regretful than usual. Thank you so much for everything, Mom. I love you. Here's Nathaniel. So alert and so sweet.  Happy May! DAILY PHOTOS - APRIL 30 2009  Today was a good day. Nathaniel and Mom and I went out to lunch and got some sunshine. We then came back home and chatted with my sister a bit and that was it for the eventful part of the day. Oh, and, his umbilical cord already fell off. Yeah, that's about it. Honestly, I love how quiet and empty the days are. It forces me to rest more and be calmer. Here's David playing at school and the second one is a baloon string he attached to his ninja to make a ninja parachute. He spent hours and hours playing with that little toy.   And of course, here's the little one. I promised myself there'd be daily photos of him, especially because I did that for David in his first year.  Catalyst 59 - I am so Sorry  Here's my text: I try to live my life with as few regrets as possible and when I hurt someone or feel bad about something, I generally try to apologize immedaitely so that it’s not something that I drag out for a long time. One of the rare exceptions is an old friend. Many many many years ago, this boy asked me out. He would have been my first boyfriend and for a plethora of reasons, I said no. I told him some of the reasons but the really big reason, the one I wasn't so proud of even then, I didn't tell him. He guessed it and knew it but I never admitted to it. We stayed friends on and off for a very long time and still talk today and I have always regretted having turned him down then but we never had the opportunity to date ever again. A few years ago, I took this course that had me reevaluate my life and coincidentally, I was planning a trip back home after the course. So the first thing I did was call him up and apologize. I met with him and I told him the real reason I didn't have the guts to go out with him then and how much and how deeply I regretted not telling him all these years even though he knew it and even worse how much I regretting missing our opportunity. He was incredibly graceful. Not only did he forgive me but he told me that maybe things worked out much better this way. Had we dated, he said, we might have gone out for a while and then broken up and never talked again. Whereas this way, we got to stay friends for another twenty years and get to be in each others' lives even now. That apology and hearing his response was one of the most healing moments of my life and I wanted to commemorate it with this piece of art. |
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