Posted on

Jazzed Up

Day 1: Self Portrait:

Remember that I’m doing the 30 Day Photo Challenge? I decided that today’s self-portrait will be a shared one and it will also be a up close and personal one. The other option was one with Maggie picking her nose, so I’m pleased with this one.

You know how I was so jazzed up yesterday about February coming and book group? Well, it was all for a good reason. Last night book group was a total and utter hit. We were missing a couple girls, of the ones that were there, we actually all read the book! We eventually talked about the book (Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken) but spent the first part of the evening sipping on wine, eating cheese and laughing about wildly inappropriate stories….well, our version of wildly inappropriate, which is extremely tame. It was a splendid time, of course I didn’t bring my camera.

Today I was still feeling like I was walking around with a bit of pep in my step and then we went to the grocery store and Maggie puked in the middle of everything. It was entirely my fault too because I had given her some food to snack on in the car while we drove, thinking that we’d moved past the No Food in the Car rule that was established after our drive to Carmel. Turns out the girl still gets sick facing forward. The No Food in the Car rule stands.

So there we were covered in puke at the grocery store. Luckily it was right next to customer service and they had somebody out helping us pronto….I plan to never return to that store again, unless I am wearing a mask and wig. Maggie is fine and we’d been planning on going to the park, but the puke smell that we were wearing wasn’t going to get us any friends at the park, so we headed home to at least change. While we were at home it started hailing….which we ran around in, but that stopped being fun after a few minutes.

Instead of piling back into the car, we started to make our pizza dough for dinner and get ready for Maggie’s nap. Barry called in the middle of pounding the dough out and now I’m wondering if my phone is buried in the middle of one of the dough balls. We’ll find out soon enough.  When I put Maggie down for her nap, I realized that she was covered in flour and crusty dough because she really got into it while I chatted on the phone with Barry.

I guess the whole point in all of this puking and pounding is this: I’m still jazzed up. The sun is out and I swear I can hear birds chirping in the trees in the mornings when I take the dogs for a walk. They’re announcing that it’s almost time to get TOTALLY jazzed up and think about packing away our sweaters. But then it hails and we (the birds and me) are reminded that just because Mr. Sun gave a quick shout-out, by no means does that mean winter is over.

You know what though? We’ll just have to wait and see what Punxsutawney Phil has to say about that….he is the final word, after all.

And that is the end of this deliriously boring post. Smell ya later.

Posted on

La, La, La!!

 

Before I go any further, I implore you to watch Maggie’s latest jam session on the harmonica. Last night Barry and I were sitting with her in the front room and she stood in the middle of the room just stomping her foot and playing her harmonica while we clapped along. She was rocking out and stomping her foot super hard, I had to try and record it. The video is a very toned down version of what she was doing minutes before, but the transition into the computer room meant she lost a little steam. Still funny though…at least to us.

We’ve been having so much fun here now that the snow is melted and our regular routines are back in full swing. Maggie has developed into somewhat of a boss (not sure where she gets that from…must be Barry) and is very, very specific about how we play games with her. Lately Barry has transformed back into Captain B-Nut and they rush up and down the hallway making all kinds of noise. Mags especially likes to run by the mirror to check herself out. (Side note: how cute is Barry? So cute. Best dad ever.)

Last night Barry and I sat on the kitchen floor while she ran circles around the kitchen and hallway. For the first part of the game we accommodated her bossiness and worked with her to say “excuse me” when bustling by. Once she figured out what ‘excuse me’ actually means, she kept saying it to us and the dogs, except it sounds like ‘new me,’ a perfect compliment to her version of thank-you, which is ‘nee-new.’

Eventually though we got bored with her telling US what to do (make sure our legs were stretched out, eyes closed, backs against the cabinets) so we started to throw her for a few loops by switching positions, singing and even kissing, she isn’t a fan of us kissing, but I suppose most kids don’t like to see their parents kiss, right? At first she was really sweet about us not doing it exactly how she wanted, but towards the end she really wanted to restore order to the game. Of course we appeased her.

I feel extremely  cheerful today…perhaps it is the sun peeking through the clouds or the fact that I have book group tonight and get to see some friends. Maybe I’m feeling good about finishing Maggie’s first year photo book (hallelujah!) and can move on to her next one. Yesterday in a fit of needing a change, we reorganized furniture in our house and Maggie’s room. Things here are in constant flux, but the changes feel SO good and fresh. Bring it on, Spring!!!

In these past weeks I’ve been bustin’ my tail to finish Maggie’s book, I’ve found myself looking at tons of old photos and I’m going to try hard to keep  myself from sharing a billion of them, but some are just too good to pass up. (See above image to get my drift.) Since tomorrow is February, my favorite month, I’m going to do a 30 Day Photography Challenge. Since there aren’t 30 days in February, I’ll have to swing into March, but that seems like a great transition.

Alrighty. Did you watch the video of Mags jammin’?  Hilarious stuff around here, folks.

Posted on

There Ya Go

One of my all time favorite photos.

Barry took Maggie on a date to visit his parents and I’m hunkered down at home working on a few projects. It took me a while to get into the groove of being here alone, but now I’m blasting music and working through some photos. In putting the final touches on Maggie’s first year book, I have found myself trying to ignore the tears that well up in my eyes and the lump that forms in my throat.  Maggie has had so much love in her life. Our families amaze me, our friends astound me and I’m starting to think that we’re okay parents.

I’ve always  maintained that I keep the blog to document our life, because I’m never going to be a scrapbooker and I don’t feel like I’ve got time to sit down and journal things out. Blogging is an outlet for me that feels right. I have struggled lately with writing and have found myself holding back from writing about things out of fear that someone might find it offensive or think it’s about them.  And usually my version of a rant is about somebody’s smelly breath or rude people at IKEA (hate that place, but that’s a story for a different day) and not anything deep or out of this world.

But working on Maggie’s photo book? I’m struck by how many important moments I captured with my camera that I’ve already forgotten about. I bet I blogged about a lot of them, but I don’t have time to go back and read about it all. I hope the details are there. ALL the details.

I basically answered my own question and squelched my worry. I’m going to keep blogging and if stinky breath and disrespectful people happen to be in my post, hopefully it won’t be about you.  And if it is? Go brush your teeth and try to fall on the side life that is a bit more happy, jolly and helpful.

We’ve got a whole lot of love here and we’re going to document the shit out of it.