to think we all were once this small...

today i was lucky enough to hold the newest member of our family, and i'm pretty sure i've never actually held a 6-day old baby (or younger) ever before. i didn't want to let him go...for once, i can say it's a good thing i don't have a special man in my life because he'd probably run away screaming after all my oogling over this sweet boy. seriously, he's just so little, sweet, precious, and purely amazing. life truly is a beautiful thing. 

i'm so glad to have these tiny little toes and scrawny little legs in our family. welcome, jack donald!

appreciation

thoughts about appreciation began with the appreciation of cows. yes, we like them. especially their advocacy for the consumption of chickens. and their free chicken sandwiches. it was kind of like cow christmas.

also, as of late:
appreciation for family,
appreciation for friends,
appreciation for smiles & laughter,
appreciation for decisions,
appreciation for plans,
appreciation for inspiration, and most of all,
appreciation for smiles.

the puzzling day of the kung fu lion kid.

i arrived to work this morning and found that i was nannying a completely different child. he had suddenly learned kung fu and was totally into doing puzzles. okay, so not really...but since going to see The Karate Kid yesterday, the kiddo has been totally into being a cobra-charming kung fu kid. and lucky for me, i've gotten to witness these moves and attempt to follow the insanely detailed stories he imagines. also lucky for me, i arrived to find him working on building a lion out of puzzibits. as neat of a toy they are, they are extremely difficult for even a highly dexterous 22-year-old to assemble. so, while the 7-year-old practiced his kung fu, the 22-year-old was left to assemble a 3D "lion" (or hamster?) out of small, connecting hexagons. my fingers still hurt. however, the lion made the kung fu kid happy, and that made the nanny happy. and accomplished.

(we call this navajo kung fu)

rawr.

color

so i don't know if i've really officially mentioned it before, but i love color. like, love love LOVE color. so, in thinking through decorating my apartment for next year, and as thriftily as possible, i've totally settled on having brightly colored (refinished) furniture and decorating in color. and, although i will be a broke, rice&bean-eating graduate student in just a few weeks, i can't think about sacrificing my sanity or a happy space in which to live! SO, instead of just going nutty creating images of what i can (and mostly cannot) have in my future apartment, i've created a special beautiful happy "inspiration book" where i can save pretty pictures from magazines and catalogues and doodle ideas. said book is mostly a way of talking myself down from things i think i need while helping me create all that from what i have.

for instance, my mom AMAZINGLY remembered that she has a desk in the attic that I of COURSE may have--and paint! i've also remembered that i can sew and am a pretty crafty person, so why shouldn't i be creating my own accessories and artwork for the apartment. when i stumbled upon this awesome tutorial for fabric roses, i knew i needed to do something with them. so, i'm endeavoring upon a new sewing/quilting project creating a rose-covered pillow.

step 1: make roses

so here's the start. i've made 18 roses, so far, but i'm thinking i need about 25--so, 2 more colors? i'm glad i've had a start to creating something fun and beautiful and i can't wait to see where these colors take me.

aside from my personal apartment design crisis, i've mostly been hanging out and babysitting. seeing this guy's smile on a regular basis doesn't make anything too bad.

oh, and i made a really, really dangerous decision in stopping by peace camera yesterday to "test out" a 35mm prime lens for my camera. talk about coveting. so...anyone who has babysitting to be done can just holler so that i can save some extra money for a new lens!

happy faces

as anxious as i am to move to fort collins, i'm getting excited that these two are going to be my summer.