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DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 14 2009  David decided he wanted to write a letter to Santa. He wrote it all by himself. I sounded out the words to him so he could recognize the letters. Here he is writing it.  And writing some more.  And the finished product.  Nathaniel is still loving these biscuits. I took it away for two minutes and he cried until I gave it back.  And it makes a mess. Huge mess. He's standing all the time now. Still can't sit down by himself but can stand up just fine.  And here's me. It's hard to see my bruise. I am not all black and blue but my nose is swollen quite a bit. And my thigh and back hurt a LOT.  Thank you for your kind words. I am trying to rest and relax. I happened to have taken today and tomorrow off work and David's sick at home so except for a quick trip to work (to pick up a Christmas present) I've been home all day. Oh and the camera is all fine as you can see. Happy Monday.  DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 14 Here are my pages for day fourteen. I decided today I will write letters to both my kids. The front is David.  and the back is Nathaniel.  I sewed the papers on to the fabric and will slide my letter inside. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 13 Here are my pages for day thirteen. Since I don't really have any other photos, day thirteen is about our *fun* time in Gilroy.  same journaling I put on the post below.  In quite a bit of pain today but mostly my back not my nose. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 12 Here are my pages for day twelve. Hard to tell from this shot but the photo has journaling all around it.  and the back is about out trip to the model train exhibit.  One of the things I noticed in the last month was that I really like stitching on my layouts. It's hard to do that on this album since both sides are pre-prepared. So I did this on a separate sheet and then adhered it. THE 55-DOLLAR SHOT So we made it to Gilroy Gardens last night and it was mostly drizzling so I was all excited about finally being there. As we entered I grabbed some shots and saw this beautiful scene.  So I decided to run and grab a photo of my family as they walked in. Except that I was wearing the wrong shoes and I was stupid and I slipped and fell. And the camera fell with me and the lens hit my face. It all happened pretty quickly and since my running had prompted David to run Jake was trying to get him to stop and not looking at me at all. When he came over to see if I was ok, we both saw the blood dripping out of my nose. I'm told I was covered with it within seconds though I never got to see my face like that. We waited around for the EMT to show up, all the while I cursed myself for being so stupid. Several times I told them that we should just go in and I was fine. But Jake insisted we wait. Finally the woman showed up, cleaned me up and said we needed to go to the hospital cause my cut was too deep and it was going to need stitches. I had just told someone last week that I never had stitches in my life. Never. We got in the car and drove around for a bit, trying to find the urgent care she gave us directions for and the woman at the Walgreens drive-through told us that it was closed so we then got on the road to find the Gilroy hospital. Halfway through, we decided to bail and just come back home so we could go to Stanford hospital. By now, it was already past Nathaniel's bedtime. We called up the hospital and they said that I had 12 hours to get sutures so it was safe to take the extra 45 minutes to drive there. When we got to the emergency room, the nurse looked at my nose and sent me to the extension which is a quieter, calmer portion of ER where less serious patients are sent. After several visits from hospital personnel, the resident showed up and looked at it. He said he might be able to just glue it. (Which made me happy, I am still nursing so I wasn't keen on getting any drugs for the stitches. Not to mention my track record of not having any stitches.) We all waited for the attending to show up. Nathaniel was a champ the whole time.  The doctor came and decided she agreed and we could use dermabond. We were very concerned about any long-term scars since it's on my nose but she assured there's no difference between stitches and glue for that. So they cleaned my nose off really well with saline and went to get the stuff. I asked Jake to snap some photos while they were gone. I had still not seen what I looked like. Here's the only one that came out relatively clear.  The resident came back, glued me up twice and put some small bandages on. The doctor came back and checked his work. And then the nurse came and gave me a tetanus shot (I hadn't had one since I taught for Teach For America in 2002. And I guess you need to have had it in the last 5 years.) which made me bleed all over. So at 8:15pm, we were finally done and could go back home. Everyone was exhausted and worn out from being on adrenalin for four hours. After having paid the $15 admissions fee for all three of us and the $10 parking fee, the above one is the only photo I have to show for the almost four hours we spent driving back and forth to Gilroy this weekend. The $55 photo. CATALYST 92 - PEACE  The one thing I’d like to accomplish before my next birthday is to find a way to feel more peaceful inside. To choose peace and joy. To let go of worry and feel a little lighter, look at the world in a more positive manner. My life is really full and beautiful and I would like to be peacefully blissful. So I stitched this dove and created a little olive branch out of wire and beads. This would, by far, be the greatest gift I can give myself. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 13 2009  And then I remembered the mess they make!  On a completely unrelated note, I've had this toy for years and just realized that its in the shape of a face. The blue eyes, yellow eye brows, green head and blue hait. The smiling red mouth. Holy cow! How did I not ever notice that before?  Yesterday's Gilroy Gardens attempt had to be aborted. So today we try again. We ended up in the model train show yesterday and then a long trip to Target. Let's see if we manage to get there today. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 11 Here are my pages for day eleven. I loved this fabric so I wanted to not cover it.  and the back celebrates David being the Shabbat helper:  I have so many mixed feelings about this album. I love documenting our family but on one side I wish I were craftier, on the other side I wish it were plainer and more classic, and everything in between. Then I remind myself it's about documenting. About being present. Everything else is icing. And documenting, we are. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 10 Here are my pages for day ten. This one is actually a continuation of day nine since we did the wreath on the 9th.  and the tenth:  Keeping it simple still. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 12 2009  It's been really rainy here so we've been cooped up at home. But it's lush and green outside.  And here's boy number one.  And boy number two.  Off to see if we can go to Gilroy Gardens. Here's to hoping rain stops. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 11 2009  David was the Shabbat helper today at school so we all went to be with him.  Here he is collecting sadakah.  It was lovely watching him and how comfortable he was.  Nathaniel woke up at 4am today for his second feeding and I could not fall back asleep so I really need to go off to bed now. Happy weekend. WEEKLY LAYOUTS - WRITING YOUR LETTERS  David, one of the things I regret a lot is not spending more quality time with you. Especially now that I am working from home and we're together more often. I worry that maybe I am not teaching you enough. Maybe when you go to school, you'll be behind all those other kids. I want to make sure that you have all the opportunities you deserve. A few weeks ago, I decided it would be a good idea for us to start practicing our letters. I knew you could already write your name but I wasn't sure how many of the other letters you could write. So we started practicing. Every day, we'd pick one letter and write it ten, twenty times. Over and over again until it came easily to you. About two weeks into it, we did start to slack a bit and I was feeling guilty again, so, one night, you wanted to play with my beads and I made a deal with you, I said you have to sit and write one of each of the letters in the alphabet and you could come play with me. So you did. You sat down. And began to write. ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUvWXYZ. You wrote them all. Perfectly. I guess maybe I don't need to worry after all. You're doing wonderfully all on your own. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 10 2009  And despite resisting it, David actually enjoyed it.  Today, we had playgroup. This is the third week of Nathaniel's new playgroup and it's been quite fun. I am really glad we can do this for him.  And one of him eating those puffs he loves so much.  Off from work for the next five days! Excited to rest and relax. And play. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 9 Here are my pages for day nine. I wanted to honor the baking and avocados so two simple pages today with photos and words.  and the back:  Sad that we're almost on day ten. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 9 2009  I am normally very anti putting even slightly naked photos of my kids online anywhere. Just a personal peeve. To each his own. But I love this cute little one and it doesn't show anything so I decided it was ok. This is from last night's bath. David was in there, too.  And a smile from Nathaniel.  Trying to catch up today. Working hard and methodically. This month is going to be topsy turvy. I won't get to read as many books but I will spend lots of time with my boys. All three of them. Love them. Today David said that his brain was full and that he had to create more room in it. And then he proceeded to do just that. Love love love this boy. 52 QUESTIONS AND TECHNIQUES - TAG 48  This was easy for me. Photos. I take photos over and over and over again. I love taking photos. I love capturing my family. One of the few items on my list that I hadn't done yet was using rubons on a tag. Just rubons. So I picked this beautiful Jenni Bowlin rubon which was so apt. I rubbed it on and then inked the tag. I love the way the silver makes it look embossed. I then put a tiny camera sticker just for me.  I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there's a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I'll be happy to add it. I am combining Emily Falconbridge's art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here. Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 8 Here are my pages for day eight. I changed the cover cause I wanted to journal because the inside page of this is just a photo.  here's the inside. I love the colors I see on my drive to David's school and I wanted to capture it so I could remember forever:  On the back, I just put our Christmas tree.  Still keeping it simple. WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - HOLIDAY PRESENT LABELS This week's download is a set of labels. They are really simple:  They are PDFs so you cannot change the color (apologies) but you can print them on white or craft or red cardstock. The words you get are: joy, love, christmas, blessings, santa, merry, surprise. You can download it here: holiday labels set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 8 2009   And I tried to give Nathaniel some avocado and was met with this face.  And a lot of gagging. Let's just say he didn't like it.  Here's our tree. I've made my peace with it being slanted.  And the mantle with our stockings and the beautiful mirror.  Nathaniel is also in this phase where he gets up every time I put him in bed and cries and cries. Fun fun. Sorry that the posts have been inconsistent this last week. I am spending more time with my family for December which is giving me less time to do these things. I am prepared for pages 8 and some of 9 for tomorrow and I will post them. I did finish a book last week and I plan to post that, too. And I've got an idea for downloads so expect those some time tomorrow. My tag, I haven't begun yet. But I shall. At some point. Apologies. Family comes first. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 7 Here are my pages for day seven. Just a few words from Jake's storytelling.  and the little boy with one of my digital overlays from a while ago.  I'm loving this book. This is definitely my favorite project all year. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 7 2009  And I snapped photos, of course  We were supposed to go to Six Flags afterwards but it turns out they are closed so we stayed home and relaxed.  Happy Monday. CATALYST 91 - K  I am not always very good to myself. I don’t appreciate all that I have and I might even go as far to say that there are periods where I really dislike myself. I know that if I were someone else, I’d be giving myself the benefit of the doubt. Yet, I cut myself so little slack. I criticize and judge myself so harshly. So I made this art to remind myself that I need to get along better with myself. Love all of me. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 6 Here are my pages for day six. Simple pages today.  here's the back:  that's it. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 6 2009   Nathaniel has been super-clingy but he's also learned to stand up al by himself. He's quite amazing.  Tired but thankful. PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS - LENSES - TELEPHOTO Apologies for the delay in this. Today's video is on telephoto . If you hear some background noise, that's the fan of my laptop, apologies. Next week is lenses too. My favorite lens. Photography Tips is a weekly feature and is posted every Friday. You can find all of them here. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 5 Here are my pages for day five. Photos with Santa.  without the cover.  and the ornaments we made at the event:  simple day today. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 5 2009  Before that, Jake and the kids had some family time listening to music.  And here is Nathaniel.  A lovely day and then we had a delicious lunch at Donato in Redwood City. Three days ago, it was our fifteenth anniversary (dating) and today was the celebratory lunch. Delicious. Off to spend some family time. Happy Saturday. Movie coming soon I promise. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 4 Here are my pages for day four. This is from the playground we went to in the afternoon, I just wanted to capture it.  the back.  and the pages from the train of lights.  the back.  inside the envelope are the tickets for the trip.  and when I open the flap.  and the back.  Happy day 4. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 4 2009  This train was decorated inside and out with Santa and carolers and everything.  I loved all the decorations and if it weren't for taking care of Nathaniel I might have taken 1000 photos. As it is, I took 112.  David loved it, too.  And here's the litte boy. Seconds after this he was off the carseat and on our laps for the rest of the trip.  And here are my three boys. Loves of my life.  December daily page and the weekly movie coming tomorrow! Too tired to move now. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 3 Here are my pages for day three. This is a simple one. About making ornaments yesterday.  and the back:  And a closeup.  Yey for another day. DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 3 2009  And this one. I love how his wings are folded but out.  My boys.  And one of just Nathaniel.  Trying to achieve some peace and calm today. This week went by too fast, I need time to slow down a bit. On another note, my class started today. Yey! DAILY PHOTOS - DECEMBER 2 2009  While I attempted to accomplish some work, Nathaniel and David played together.  And then Nathaniel went around and put everything in his mouth.  Yep this was in his mouth seconds later.  And then as he napped, I took a short break to help David make some ornaments. He made a total of 5 different ones but this one is my favorite.  Still feeling out of sorts but hoping it will pass before the week is out and I can settle into some sort of routine. Let's see... WEEKLY DIGITAL DOWNLOADS - HOLIDAY CIRCLES This week's download is a set of holiday themed circles. This was a request. If you have ideas of things you'd like let me know. Here is what's in there:  You can download it here: holiday circles set download. You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you'd like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don't have to but I'd appreciate a link back if you do use them. This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 2 Here are my pages for day two. David decorating the tree.  For the back, I wanted to do something fun so I made a tree using some fabric and adhered some beads. That's it.  And here's a closer look:  Still not on top of our schedule and todos but working on it. DECEMBER DAILY 2009 - DAY 1 Here are my pages for day one. I really loved the fabric on the page so I didn't want to cover it. I just added a little angel and sewed pearls around her head to give the feeling of a halo.  here's a closer shot:  And then on the back, I put the photo that I love from our trip and journaled right on the photo. Sweet, simple and colorful.  I am trying to keep it simple and focused on words and photos. WEEKLY LAYOUTS - YOUR GIFT  Journaling reads: When David was born, everyone told me how much he looked like your Daddy. "He's like a copy of Jake," they said. "Really? You couldn't pass one gene on to him?" asked my sister. But I was happy with that. I loved your dad and I thought he was really good looking and I didn't think as highly of my looks. So, to me, it was a blessing that our little boy looked exactly like his Daddy. And then you came along. For a while, it was uncertain whom you looked like. My mom kept asking and I just said I didn't know. Until a few months ago. I was looking through some of my childhood photos and I came across this one. When I put it next to the one of you I had just taken, it was perfectly clear to me that you were an exact copy of me. The resemblance was stunning. Considering how I felt when David was born, you might think this made me sad. But it had the exact opposite effect. Seeing you, seeing how cute you are, how wonderful and lovable you are, made me feel better about myself. If I looked like you, maybe I was sweet and pretty and cute, too. You, my little boy, did the unimaginable: you made me feel better about the way I look. It might seem shallow, but I promise you it's anything but. No one has had the ability to make me feel as good about myself as you managed to do. Just by being born. Thank you, little Nathaniel, for all the gifts you brought with you. For opening my eyes and helping me see things differently. For helping me see things better. For the gift that you are. Thank you. Daily Photos - December 1 2009  Here's David opening his advent calendar. We have a cheap-o one Jake got from the pharmacy. It's just the daily act of the little indulgence and having something to look forward to.  And Nathaniel is sitting there, observing us all the time. He's such a joy, such a delight to have around. His giggles give us endless pleasure.  More to come tomorrow. I am supposed to be sleeping and have so much more to do. |
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