Believe it or not, I still haven’t managed to go shooting. Tomorrow I will take a long walk (ahem, I know i’ve said this before!) and take photos.
After yesterday’s disastrous ending to my day, today was absolutely wonderful!! It seems we all wake up a little cranky and tired in the mornings. Here’s Nathaniel when I tell him he can’t have something. The face, the pose, the kick, and then finally calming down and giving up on being whiny.
We all got to work relatively early today. The kids played while I worked and then we took a break to talk to Jake’s mom on Skype. In the middle of the talk, David was showing his grandpa how his top tooth fell off and just as he was talking, his bottom one fell, too. It was amazing and we both laughed out loud. No pain at all and it came off clean without any blood. I tried to snap a photo right away.
You can’t see it that well from there so I tried to get him to make just the right face but he couldn’t. Here he is fake-laughing but you can see it better.
David spent some of his day digging up legos for Nathaniel. He loves teaching his brother how to play with them and he even said “I love Nathaniel so much.” which of course made me cry.
And here are a few shots of the little boy.
Just cause they make me happy.
He has so much personality. He loves playing with empty bottles, putting their top on. He brings me water bottles and his sippy cup to tell me to fill it several times a day. When he’s hungry he points to my box of graham crackers. When he’s tired, he comes and puts his head on my lap or asks to nurse. Lately, he chews on his lip. He loves playing football with my fabric ball.He is emptying all the drawers in the kitchen. When I say “pis” (means dirty in Turkish) he puts whatever he’s holding in the trash and then claps to congratulate himself. He claps every time I say “good job.” He loves cream cheese in anything. If I give him a cream cheese sandwich, he splits it open and eats the cheese. He loves when Daddy comes home and runs to him saying “dada” and he loves David, too. When I sit in the bathroom, he takes his toys and comes to play in there with me. If we leave the bathroom door open, he will touch the water in the toilet or throw things in it. He will also go in the pantry and touch everything. He loves looking through books, playing with musical toys, and legos. He loves music and will immediately dance when some is on. When you look at him, he smiles. He loves hugging his brother and will do so several times a day. He is the delight of our days.
Right around dinner time, David got his box of legos (that I had ordered last week) in the mail and he’s been ecstatically putting it together. He’s so happy and so overjoyed. He’s thanked me 100 times already and is truly, deeply so happy. I love seeing him like this. I love that he’s so kind and so appreciative. I love that he loves legos so much and his imagination is amazing. I am so thankful for this boy, the little one has big big shoes to fill.
I found the thing I lost yesterday. It was part of my checkbook. Made me stress out way way too much and all along it was sitting in a quiet little spot. Some days are just like that. And then I got some more amazing news. I often say things happen for a reason and I got to experience that first hand today. Just feeling grateful for everything today.
And for those of you who come here often and read my life, there are two things I want to tell you:
1. Thank you. For taking the time to read, and share wise, kind, generous comments with me. I truly cherish each. Truly.
2. I know it might look like I do a lot, and I do, but I want you to know that there’s a lot (A LOT) I don’t do. A lot. I don’t clean my house. I don’t go to the grocery store. I rarely run errands. Laundry has been sitting in my room for days, unfolded. Beds are unmade. Dishes need to be put away. I don’t cook. I can go on and on. There are millions of things I don’t accomplish in my day. Some days, I sit and watch TV for hours. Hours. And do nothing. So please don’t think that I am some super-over-achiever. Don’t ever compare your life to mine in a negative light. I do that all the time and I wanted to make sure that in case you’re doing it, too, you should know things aren’t what they seem. I fight with my husband, too. I yell at my kids. My kids drive me insane. I do things I am not proud of. I struggle. I try hard to make it through the day sometimes. I am just working a little bit harder than usual to focus on doing the things that bring joy into my life and capture the good moments so on tougher days I can come back to them and draw strength from them. Just so you know.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for finding my checks! woohoo!
2. I am grateful for a great opportunity that came my way, unexpectedly but so happy for it.
3. I am grateful for my July project. It’s proven to be tough and it’s kicking me in the butt most days and it’s like that quiet annoying voice in the back of my head, telling me all the things I need to do but every day that I exercise or draw or eat veggies, I am actually happier so I really am grateful for it.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. mommy for getting me legos
2. putting together my new legos!
3. daddy.
1. I am grateful for finding my checks! woohoo!
Please write me one. 🙂
I love seeing pictures of your boys. Hope I can meet them one day.
lol, i’ve already canceled the checks so that won’t help!! 🙂 I hope you can meet them too! coming to CA anytime soon??? 🙂
You may think you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel with your nature pictures but these latest ones are striking and poignant in a way that the pretty flowers while beautiful and precious just match. Having said that I do like them, always love me happy photos.
Can’t believe his tooth just fell out while he was talking. Amazing.
Lovely post, thanks.
thank *you*!! I still haven’t managed to go shooting. I am hoping in the next half hour 🙂 the tooth was quite amazing to us too!
I DO think you do a lot, but I know that we all choose what we do and how we use our time. If we are each OK with our choices, then no worries. Thanks for being so honest, though.
I totally agree. thank you for reminding me. 🙂
It’s good to know that there are things you don’t do, that I do. Does that make sense? It helps me to feel better about not being as productive (creatively) as you. And my kids drive me insane and I yell and my husband and I disagree, too. But those things seem to make the better things the best, don’t they?
you are so creatively productive! your work is beautiful and inspiring so whatever! 🙂 yes i do agree that sometimes we need the bad to be able to tell when the good is good. 🙂
Kim’s comment covers part of what I wanted to say. Thank you for reassuring me that you are not in fact Superwoman, though it so often feels like it! 🙂
I’m at that age right now where many of my peers are getting married and/or prioritizing family over a career, and as a result end up living lives which are very different from mine. I often find myself comparing their choices to mine, and sometimes get trapped either thinking the grass is greener on the other side, or belittling or exaggerating the worth of one choice over the other.
I find you inspiring because you manage to make it seem possible that one can be good at both work and family and not one at the cost of the other. Thanks for that Karen!
I was just thinking of you last night!! I am so far from superwoman it’s quite amazing, trust me. And it’s super hard to make famiyl and work, work. I do think you have to pick one over the other at least on some level. but you certainly can do both, just at different strengths. are you in the states now? 🙂
Thank you for this post. I have had a week where I have felt “blah”–no ambition to do anything beyond getting out of bed. I’m not cooking this week because of vacation Bible school at our church this week; the church ladies are preparing supper meals each night. I have spent hours sitting on my recliner doing almost nothing, and I have baskets of clothes to fold this week. I’m definitely not productive this week. Perhaps next week will be better.
I love the nature photos you put up with your posts. And you have some jewels of photos of Nathaniel and David.
i had one of those weeks last week. i am here to tell you it passes. sometimes slowly, but it does. life works in cycles like that. thank you so much for your kind words 🙂
I hardly miss a day reading your blog, and it’s a bit of a constant in my day that I look forward to. I love the mix of deeply felt words and beautiful photos, as well as the creative stuff. But this post – enriching! You seem to have found an overall balance that works.
bless you debbie. some days feel like i found a balance and others are nothing short of crazy. but that’s the joy of life i spose. thank you so much for coming to visit and for your kind kind words.