New Pictures

I put up some new pictures here.

Last weekend we tried to escape the heat and hopped into the car and went out to the Coast. It was a wonderful trip! The whole family was there and it was just really easy. We went up Saturday morning and came back late Sunday night and it was just the perfect amount of time to be away. Enough that you really feel like you got a break, but not so much that you have trouble getting back into the swing of things. It was 94 degrees inside our house when we got back at 11:30 at night. I can't even imagine how awful it was during the when the temps were in the 100's.

Will did great. We talked about going the whole way to school on Friday and near the end of our car ride he had learned the word beach. Except as you can imagine he had a little problem with the pronunciation. So instead it sounded like "Bitch!" So here we are driving to school at he is in the back seat just repeating "Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!" with increasing levels of intensity because he is so excited about the idea of going to the beach. I decided I should warn his teachers at school that I had not, in fact, taught him to swear at them on our way to school that morning. Although, maybe I shouldn't have - it would have been great to see if they would have said anything to us if I hadn't.

Identity Crisis

So, anyone who knows me well or for longer than 5 years knows that I went through a pretty "fun" identity crisis from about age 21-23. It's a period of time I lovingly refer to as "That one time when I was drunk". So, those who went through that with me will be relieved to know that my current identity crisis is much more...I don't know, surface?

I am having serious identity issues with this space here. I have no idea what I want out of this forum of communication. I originally set it up as a way to relay information about the Little Man, but as I read more of these 'blog thingies' I am more and more fascinated by this way of writing. I am not so sure that I want to only post about being a mom and what is going on with Will. Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom and I really enjoy writing about it. It is a large part of who I am and what I do on a daily basis, and I love getting to brag about the wonderful-ness that is my child. But I am starting to feel like I might have something, maybe, possibly, more to say.

However, this is very unfamiliar territory for me. I have NEVER been the type to journal. I never kept a diary, never worked things out through writing about them. It has never been a practical our creative outlet for me. I am much more comfortable talking about the things I have floating around in my head , fluidly moving from one topic to the next. I have always had difficulty translating that fluidity onto paper. But more and more, I think I might want to try...I am not sure yet. Hence, my current identity crisis.

Also, a blogger whose voice and writing I have respected immensely for the last few years has returned to the blogging world. Check her out here and on my blogroll. You will be very happy that you did.

Because I am Lazy

This is one of the most fanstastically wonderful things I have read in a long time. I just know that Will is totally going to pull the same kind of swearing thing in 7 months and I have no idea how Dan and I are going to hold our shit together when he does. Seriously.

This is a family trip to the park...actual pictures of the three of us together.

These are pictures from the Selden annual BBQ on the 4th. I am seriously reconsidering my friendship with Kari for posting a couple of really bad pictures...but then again, she did take the wonderful ones above from the park so I guess I will forgive her.

We get to watch Little Will tomorrow night. I can't wait to play with a little baby again. They are just so...non-mobile. I will try and get some good pics of the boys together.

Photoshop fun

So, I used to take a lot of pictures. I mean I still take a lot of pictures of the Little Man, but I used to take pictures of other things as well. I had this beautiful camera that I bought with my high school graduation money and it was stolen out of my car after college. I know, who leaves something like that in a car? What I can I say, I was probably drunk. In any case, I used to love taking pictures and have been talking about doing it more. So, I am going to take a class in Photoshop elements and start playing around again. This is one of my first attempts at self learning though. I found the steps to do this on dooce. I believe it's known across the blogging world as "The Dooce Effect". I think it's pretty cool.

Before:


After:

Day for Dad

Four reasons instead of two:

For being such an involved Dad in every aspect of his life...

For changing diapers, washing bottles, soothing nightmares, dressing him hip, reading favorite stories over and over again, telling him what is going on in the world, making sure he always has water, giving hugs and kisses, teaching him what it means to feel safe, finding Elmo, bath time, morning cuddles, how sad you were for him to give up the bottle, playing good music for him, taking him to school, picking him up from school, going to get gelato, being patient, swimming lessons, playing the hat game, protecting him, wrestling on the floor, playing catch, going for walks, giving him syrup with pancakes...

For the way you look at him like he is the most important thing in this world...

For loving him wholly and unconditionally...

Thank you. I love you.