self portrait: january 2010

On the last day of each month I plan to post a self-portrait. Here's the one from today:



I can't believe it's me. I never thought I'd ever look fairly attractive. I was always the ugly duckling growing up, awkward and trying way too hard to fit in. I followed too many fads. I'm over that now. Maybe that's why I look confident here.

I'm excited to catalog myself monthly and see how much I change in the course of a year - physically, that is.

[For those of you wondering where my last few days' photos have been, I have been taking them but my internet at home has not been working. They are uploaded now and can be found listed chronologically by date in the archives.]

01/30/10: heart is where the home is

This is the house where I grew up. I wanted to include two photos today, one of the house itself, and one of the driveway where my brother Mitchell and I signed our names when we first moved in with our parents over twenty years ago. We haven't lived here in years, but this is always going to be home for us. My dad is in the process of selling it and I understand his reasons behind it and I support his decision - it's all the memories I'll miss. Thankfully, I can carry those with me forever.

01/29/10: baby boy bliss

When Betsy goes to bed, that's when we have our best times with Ben. He gets to feel special, like he's the only baby in the world. And we get to truly enjoy him and all his unique personality traits.

01/28/10

Ben can hold his own bottle now!

01/27/10: lights out

Curse you, AT&T!

1/26/10: diaper genie

I am going to have to retrograde my missing blogs - something is wrong with our home internet so I'm updating the past several days at my dad's house. This is Wednesday's photo:



Ben had just gotten a diaper change and the sight of his baby nightshirt piled atop his head reminded me of a turban.

shoulder peekaboo

Just having some fun family time after dinner this evening. Ben, like his sister, loves the camera.

sunday shots

I couldn't decide on which photo to post; they are both so different so I had to post both.

The first one is cute and fun...


This is my pastor's youngest daughter playing in a set of cubbies in the hallway at church this morning.

The second one is weird and funny.


This is the poor sap who stands on the highway near my house every day in a creepy Statue of Liberty suit for Liberty Tax Services.

Yep.

let them eat cake

"And when our queen was told our subjects had no bread, do you know what she said? She said 'Let them eat cake'!!!"

My daughter is a bread fiend. Hello, tiny Marie Antoinette. Minus that whole decapitation thing.

alice in wonderland

As promised here are a few photos of my favorite book from my antique book collection.

The first one is a little blurry. As you can see this book is quite old and before I got it, was not well cared for (note the NAIL POLISH on the cover!!! Argh!). But it's got a good home now.

This picture is of the front inside. On the other side of the title page is the copyright page, which is not pictured, but all it says is "MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"...no date or anything! It's pretty wild.

bookworm

I collect antique/vintage books. I have a tendency to remove the jackets. Here is most of my collection. My favorite one is not in this picture - it is an American first edition of Alice and Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. It is so old that there is no copyright date to be found. I'll post a photo of that tomorrow.

of post-its & pudgkins

Somehow Betsy ended up walking around this evening with a Post-It Note attached to her hair.

"Pudgkins" is a nickname we gave to Ben months ago. Recently he went to the doctor and he weighed in at FOURTEEN POUNDS. He's only three months old - I'd say he's earned the title.

tree time

It was such a gorgeous day outside so today we all went for a little walk around our neighborhood. Betsy led the way - we went all over the place. She is very curious. However, I couldn't get a good shot of her, so I had to settle on a photo of a pine tree.

matryoshka madness x2

Another set of my matryoshka dolls. This set has six of them. In fact I think there is actually a seventh extremely tiny one because the sixth one also opens up - but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

sweet sunday

Swinging life away


Little buckaroo


Window wonderment


Honey bun


Y'all come back now, you hear?

rainy day

Today it rained. All day.

everyone loves a baby boy

Today I decided I just don't spend enough time with my infant son. A sad but true fact. He is such a cute little thing and I don't know why I'm not constantly obsessing over him. He's so lovey and sweet.

orange peel and chocolate curl

That's what this reminds me of.

hair of the husby

When I first met my husband, his hair was VERY long.



[c. 2008]

When our daughter was about six months old, he decided he needed a major change.



[c. 2009]

And today, he came home from his latest hair cutting escapade like this:



Yep. That's my 365 for the day.

sassy junior

Today was a hectic day in our home. We had some issues concerning extended family, and people were in and out all day and blowing up my cell phone. I didn't have much time to go hunting for that "perfect" picture.

There was a blessed hour, however, where I just enjoyed watching my daughter play with one of her ride-on toys. And of course, I just couldn't resist taking a few photos.



I've entered this photo in a contest from the site I Heart Faces. Go check them out; they have some excellent tips and tricks.

hour by hour [january 2010]

Today I decided to take a photo every hour, from the time I got up until the time the babies went to bed.

9:00 AM. Waking up to find our banana trees had been chopped down by the landscapers:

They do this every year. No biggie.

10:00 AM. Betsy asking me to read her one of her favorite books:

She totally loves Sandra Boynton anything.

11:00 AM. Both babies are napping and I can finally eat my breakfast:

Cream of Wheat with LOTS of butter.

12:00 PM. Ben wakes up and we have some fun on the floor:

He really is just the cutest little guy. We call him Baby Dinosaur because he roars when he laughs.

1:00 PM. Betsy is up from her nap and doesn't need her pacifier:


She can chuck those suckers clear across the room.

2:00 PM. Her boots are made for walkin':

We went outside for some fresh air while Ben caught some ZZZ's. Betsy loves to explore.

3:00 PM. Betsy trying to put socks on her feet:

At least she knows what to do with them!

4:00 PM. Nap Round Two, and I take a bath:

Ahhh. Relief.

5:00 PM. Betsy and Ben do tummy time together:

She's such a good big sister. They LOVE each other.

6:00 PM. Betsy decides to help me in the kitchen:

Hello Little Chef! Thanks for the hat GiGi!

7:00 PM. Chris and Betsy playing together:

I love capturing those special moments on camera.

8:00 PM. The shadow of the tree against our bedroom window.

I've been wanting a shot of this for over a year now. Got it!

view from the inside

I was just lying around on the floor of my living room while the kidlets napped this afternoon and I decided it would be fun to take a photo of my point of view from this angle. I was right next to our sliding glass door and the blinds were slightly turned open and this is what I got.



As for yesterday's Take A Guess photo, both Diana and Gretchen posted great guesses, but neither were correct. The photo was an extreme close-up of my daughter's giant red ball. I'll be doing a Take A Guess once a month, have fun!

take a guess

What do you think this is?

goldleaf

We have this huge patch of banana trees next to our patio. While I don't exactly prefer their presence on a daily basis, today I noticed their texture had an interesting quality perfect for photography's sake. Enjoy!