I've got friends... (and Anni has a costume)

Once upon a time I was in college (above), and I had lovely friends.  I still have lovely friends, but we're pretty scattered now.  Luckily, sometimes one of those friends (right) needs a break and decides to take a spontaneous trip to Colorado.  I couldn't be happier about that decision!

 

We spent a lot of time talking about dreams, and our pasts and our futures.  Oh, and putting my hair into a faux-hawk... maybe...

Then, because it was a beautiful fall day, we attempted a hike... after stopping at the overlook by my husband's office... because it is awesome!

And by attempted a hike, I mean... I failed at finding a place to park by a trail... so as our time was dwindling until we needed to head down the mountain, we pulled up by a hill in the mountains and just hung out for a few minutes.   

Yep, just hanging out on the hill.  Anni loved it!  She had just woken up from a nap (after destroying an entire cereal bar in her seat... it still hasn't recovered) and reveled in the many small things to be sorted and examined. 

It was a good fall moment :).

Then we went on to visit our sweet friend Jill.  Amanda and Jill were roommates in college (at a different time than when Amanda and I were roomies).  

Then, while we watched all of these sweet little ones trick-or-treat and eat chili (alas, my yummy chicken chili did not win anything), the snow started...

See my sweet little doctor (St. Gianna) in the front row?  She loved holding her little doctor bag - it was a lot of fun.  Since her grandpa's a doctor, we think he'll enjoy this year's costume :).  There were some amazing costumes at the All Saint's Day party... I think John the Baptist wins for most creative (far right).  They were all so adorable!

But, back to that snow.  It snowed all night and through the next day.  

 
I had some hopes that Amanda's plane would be delayed, giving me more time to convince her to move here.  Unfortunately... no such luck.  We did make it through the snow to stare a little more at the mountains and go thrift storing (in which she bought Anni an adorable dress and I found a little kiddo chair for $7... score!).  It's a good life.  We miss you already Amanda!

Perspective

Sometimes I feel guilty about the fact that I work from home.  There are days when this little girl doesn't get the attention she deserves.  However, I let my mom guilt work in my favor today.  I coerced Anni to put her pants back on and asked her to pick out a hat, and we headed on our way.  The hat was definitely not what I had in mind, but other than the fact that we nearly lost it on our adventure, it was fortuitous as it made a perfect place to collect leaves.  We took a little trip across the street and into our neighborhood park, and when Anni stopped every few feet to sort everything (and I mean everything: rocks, leaves, wood chips, more leaves, more leaves...), I didn't get too impatient (I can't admit I wasn't impatient at all, I'm working on it).   

Most of the trip, she zoned in to her sorting.  However, when I started to sing the "Mr. Sun" song, adorable grins broke out.

I discovered a little pathway that is autumn beauty at it's best.  Fluttering leaves, golden light, and a sweet little girl, what more could a mama ask for?  Well, some things, but this was pretty good. 

See, sometimes, a little bit of that guilt is good for me.  It reminds me that my sweet will not be little forever, and there are only so many fall days in her 2nd year for me to take her leaf-sorting.  Balance between mommyhood and work will always be hard for me.  I was a photographer long before I was a mommy, so the transition is a little strange.  I've had to shift my perspective quite a bit, and I've realized, that if it comes right down to it, I'd rather disappoint a client (something I find terrifying and mortifying) than not take enough fall walks with my baby. 

The end.  ...and the beginning of mommy carrying the tired one home.

Celebrating Fall

The change of a season should be celebrated, especially one that brings sweet little pumpkin hats, cool weather and adventures to the pumpkin patch.  Last year, Miss Anni was still a little thing, and while quite adorable propped amongst the pumpkins and corn box, probably didn't get too much out of the adventure.  This year, it was all excitement. 

Her favorite activity of sorting got put to use at the corn box.  Meaning all corn had to be set outside the box.

There was much pumpkin loving and snuggling.  I never thought of pumpkins as snuggly, but I've been wrong before.

And poor Levi kept trying to pull Anni along (she was going her very own pace) and got rejected a few times.  She is strong-willed, that one :).

Then, well, then we hopped in a car.  And over that night and the next morning, we drove to our alma mater with no better reasons than that my brother was there and so was Irishfest and both were deemed worthy of a 10 hour drive.

And yes, I seem to like that shirt... and hat... it's a good fall combo, and anything that I feel pretty in is going to be worn as much as physically possible.

Yep, lots of family resemblance.  It was great fun to introduce my brother to Irish fest, Daniel and I went both years we were dating in college.  We spent a lot of time holding hands and spending too much money on Irish stew, Guinness and other yummy things and once he bought me clauddaugh earrings... yep, I love this place.

Anni developed a fascination with the leaves right outside the apartment we were staying in.  Side note?  This dorm is the dorm I was living in when I started dating Daniel, and the dorm we both lived in the summer we stayed on campus.  The whole weekend was nostalgic in a strange, slightly painful way, because even though I don't want to go back to the over-stressed, slightly silly college girl I was, I had a lot of fun and did a lot of really good work when I was there and I can't go back.

I'm lucky, though.  I made amazing friends when I was in college, and I still get to have times with them when we're all laughing hard enough to fall off of our chairs.

That may or may not have happened once.

or so...

Happy Fall!

All about Anni

I know I've been away.  Miss Anni and I just spent a week with my family in Kansas... trying to do a little rest and relaxation, as well as be there for my beautiful sister's first craft fair while my hubby took a business trip.  We had a wonderful time, but I admit to still feeling a little overwhelmed with life.

How do you deal with the overwhelming demands of motherhood, being a wife, business and life in general?  I think I need some new coping mechanisms... and we're going to start with a little update on my sweet little one.  Yesterday marked 17 months since her birth, so I just want to revel in her little personality for a few minutes.

Nugget has definitely gotten the hang of walking.  She tends to do it at full speed with her arms in the air, yelling "Go, go, go!" or "Yaaaaaay!"  She's also picked up the "Go Big!"  of "Go Big Red!"  after spending a week with hardcore Cornhusker fans.  She is still a little unsteady, especially when she demands to walk on our jaunts outside, but I can't really blame her, I still trip over my own feet.

Our gal has hit the sorting phase.  It's pretty awesome.  These buttons keep her happily entertained and were especially helpful when I had to run out to a meeting and my mom watched her.  I love watching her little self busily at work sorting and thinking through what she's going to dump, pour and sometimes throw next.  She likes to sort other things as well (drawers full of paper, books and kitchen supplies), but this is probably the easiest to keep contained and takes up very little space.

This girl has a very distinct personality, and I love discovering all of its little facets.  She has very distinct body language for "shy" (a little chin dip and tiny smile while she keeps her eyes on the new person) as well as "nervous" (holding her wrists and plucking at her clothes a little).  She also has a wide array of smiles, some of which I haven't quite figured out yet (can a 17 month old have a sarcastic smile?).  As wonderful as it is to watch her grow, I also have to admit to being scared stiff that I will mess it up.  She is such a beautiful little soul and I'm a new mommy, just trying to figure all of this out.  My dad reminded me this weekend that he still didn't have it all figured out.

  
Anni got to spend a lot of time with her cousin, Charlie, and she loved it!  He was amazingly patient with her and she just wanted to follow him around and make sure she could pat his head whenever she wanted.  I love getting to see her love others.

We find her in some interesting positions as her flexibility lets her stretch beyond that of a normal toddler.  Even the normal toddler squat stretches into a little froggie pose.   Oh, and speaking of body parts (great segue right?), she knows a whole lot of hers.  She can point to her belly button, mouth, nose, eyes, ears, hair, feet and hands (well, she just wiggles the feet and hands, but she knows what they are).  Isn't it amazing watching little ones learn?

Oh, and we can't forget the temper tantrums.  She has a good scream on her and likes to instantly alert us to things that are not going her way.  We're working on it :).  

 
Sweet Anni, I love watching you grow!

Drifting

You may have noticed that I've been woefully absent for the last couple of weeks.  I promise I have a good reason.

You see, I've had a lot of work to do, and to be honest, I am still struggling to learn that delicate balance of working at home and being the best mom I can be to this little nugget.  Some days, I truly fail.  Either work is neglected, or my sweet little one has a cranky day because mommy hasn't been very present that day.  One day, the internet broke.  It was good for me.  I spent the morning cleaning and playing, the door to the bedroom and the internet shut tight (really, that door kind of sticks) and reminded myself what was important.  Obviously, work is important to me as well, but when I did sit down to work that day, I got so much more done without the internet in the background calling me to distraction.  Hence, the lack of any update. 

So, the point is, I'm still working on that balance thing.  But I've got a lot of motivation to get it right, and maybe someday I will.

Here are a few of those sweet moments...

 

Anni is finally doing a little better hanging out with people other than Daniel and I.  Amy is definitely a favorite, and as you can see, she's pretty excited for Baby Lucy to come out and play (any day now!)

We also had some old (does it count as old when you're still in your 20's?) friends move to Colorado with their son, and while we are thrilled, Anni is absolutely over-the-moon excited.  She spent most of the time there giving hugs and cuddles.  Their little man was a little confused, but I think Anni just gets excited over kids her size she can play with :).  

Yep, they're awesome.

Oh, and I'm still super impressed with how fast Jill got their apartment looking adorable and cozy.  I'm still working on that.

We've had a lot of this recently.  While she's still a champion sleeper at night (except for this morning, where she was restless from 5:30 - 6:30 when we finally just gave in and got up... er... Daniel got up, I slept until 7, have I mentioned how awesome my husband is?), naps are a near no-go recently.  I can't figure out why, because she's obviously tired.  She sleeps nearly every time we're in the car longer than 15 minutes.  

I cut my hair off (I know it looks like a different color... it's not, just different lighting).  Easy is necessary for me :).

She walks absolutely everywhere!  It's adorable and I'm so proud of her.  She is, too, she gets the biggest grin on her face every time she walks through the apartment.

She blows kisses, which melts my heart to no end... especially since I'm not sure where she learned it.  

We celebrated the actual day of our anniversary the way we always have, with a picnic :).  (Every other year it's inside, although we don't plan it that way.)

 Passing on our faith to Miss Anni is important to us, but it is equally important to me that she knows why we believe what we believe and that we as parents truly represent the love and mercy we believe God is.  All that will come with time, but for now she likes to point at this icon, say "Jesus" and do a little kiss pucker.   

And, as you can tell, I'm running out of steam.  Anni is napping, for once, and I'm going to go crawl into bed in hopes that it lasts longer than 15 minutes.

the end.