i was in connecticut for a very short time. just about 30 hours. but it was packed full of visiting and talking and eating and talking and eating some more and walking being together with dear friends. these images are from inside their beautiful home. i would have been very happy to move in. there was loveliness in every corner.
i suppose i'll be back with words tomorrow.
this is just a taste of the beautiful outdoor world i saw on my short trip. next time, what i captured indoors.
it does come back. all of it. every last bit of baby-love comes right on back. the sleeping with one ear open, the ability to distinguish between "ba" and "ba" (ball and bottle), even the ability to hold the baby in one arm and do anything you can imagine of with the other. it all comes back. but of course, you all knew that it would. thank you, thank you for all of your encouraging comments yesterday. they are so much appreciated (my brother got a kick out of reading them, too!), and they gave me just the confidence i needed to attack this day with gusto.
it has been so much fun. smelling that baby smell. watching these three little people enjoy each other as much as they do. snuggling up with a baby before her nap. remembering what it's like to see the world through brand new eyes. singing (and singing and singing) in the car and at dinner and at bedtime.
but man, i don't know how you people with three kids do it! i am tired. it is hard to make three breakfasts and two lunches at the same time at seven o'clock in the morning. and it's hard to walk a child into school carrying a baby and her two dollies and the child's backpack and lunchbox and then explain to the baby why she is not staying at school. it's hard to navigate between two children who want the undivided attention of one toddler, and who really don't understand how to play with a toddler in the first place. oh, and all of the carrying! sheesh. i'm out of practice.
i had grand plans for us today - me and the babe - the library, a quick stop at the market (note to self: nothing is quick with a baby), a visit to my grandmother in her nursing home. of course, by the time i got both kids off to school and cleaned up from breakfast and ate my breakfast and packed a bag and got myself dressed, it was just about nap time. so i shuffled up the plans and made the visit to my grandmother our only major outing.
our time with my grandmother was short - the babe was already tired, and feeling understandably shy. but i was reminded, as i am reminded every time i visit my grandmother with my own children, how extraordinary it is to be standing in a room with my grandmother and her great-grandchild. how enormous is the span of time and love wrapped up in that little space? it gives me the shivers every time.
and since it's winter whites week, these serving pieces were my grandmother's. given to me years ago, when i was newly engaged and she was making a big move. they sit on a shelf in my dining room behind glass doors where i can see them every day; where i can watch the days and months and years pass by these timeless dishes that have served up nourishment to four generations of my family. and i am reminded, again, of the vast expanse of time and love that came before me, and all that is yet to come.
this was my brother's lunch today, in my kitchen. he drove in from philadelphia this afternoon with my niece - my sweet 16 month-old niece who is spending the next three days with me while her daycare is closed unexpectedly. she has never been away from home before, and i haven't changed a diaper in three years. but i'm crazy about her-little-baby-smelling-finger-gripping-just-starting-to-talk-self. and my children are over the moon - other than the arguing about who gets to sit next to her in the car and at the table.
i made her a delicious dinner of tofu, pasta, and peas - and she gobbled it up. i changed three dirty diapers. i put her to sleep. we're off to a good start, i think. my fingers are crossed. i'm hoping it's just like riding a bike, and that the being-with-a-baby feeling is going to come right back. in fact, i can feel it already.
more winter whites. there's lots more winter-y white goodness floating around this week - you can find a list of participants here.
photos from a walk in the woods today.
(for shari's winter whites week. i know the rules say one white photo per day, but these had to go together, don't you think?)
thirty days, august 27 through september 27, a self-portrait every day. i challenged myself - well, encouraged myself, really, to capture images of myself through this moment in time, this transition in my life.
in the end, it was thirty-two days. there were a few that i missed, a few days when i took more than one photo. and there are some photos that you won't see in the set because they include my children, whose photos i don't post on the blog or on flickr for my own mama-being-protective reasons.
but the rest, they're here if you want to see them.
like andrea, i'm a girl who loves a project. and for me, this was a good one.
i've begun a little photo project.
grateful for the realization of just how huge this year's back-to-school transition is for me, i decided to take a photo of myself every day for thirty days. i'm hoping to capture a bit of myself in transition, to record glimpses of how my life is changing, as i go from mother-at-home-with-small-children-all-day to mother-with-small-children-in-school-most-of-the-day.
these aren't fancy self-portraits. they're just moments, some less remarkable than others, that tell the story of my days.
i picked thirty days because it seemed manageable. and this particular thirty days takes me from the end of summer vacation through the start of school, the celebrations of the jewish new year and day of atonement (more on that later), through a certain eigth birthday and the arrival of a much beloved cousin who is coming across a continent and an ocean for a visit with our family.
i started on august 27, the last day of summer vacation, with a shot of myself with the two kids. and then the next day, it was just us girls. and so on. it's grounding, too, in a way - both the doing (remembering to take the photo, actually taking it) and the viewing - seeing myself, everyday like that, somehow it's a reminder of who and how and what i am.
i'm keeping them together in a set over here.
(today is the first birthday of my first niece - a very precious girl indeed. happy birthday little one.)
i went to the mall this morning (a rarity for me) for some help from the nice people at the apple store. something about the (ahem) 14,500 very large photos in my iphoto library taking up almost all of the too much space on my hard drive. yeah.
and while i was there, in the mall, all i could think about was feet. maybe it was all of the shoe stores i walked past. maybe it was because i was wearing these favorite shoes without socks and my feet were pretty uncomfortable.
maybe it was all of the fabulous feet week posts i've been reading lately. maybe it was these shoes i spotted along the way that i'm going to have to figure out when and how to acquire.
feet on my mind.
(thank you all for your kind comments about our recent transitions - from vacation to home and from home to school. not only are your words encouraging, but it's quite something to feel such a sense of community with all of you. a gift, truly.)
