Thanks to everyone who made my birthday incredibly special this year. You all mean the world to me.

Through The Eyes Of A Preschooler.

These pictures were all taken by the three year old that I work with. I love seeing the things preschoolers find interesting enough to capture on film and the interesting angles their photography produces. They see things so differently than we do, these photos made the table tops and adults look like giants in an imaginary land!

Food, legs, babies, and toys seem to be this artist's favorite subjects to shoot. Obviously some of the best things in life, I think she's got it pretty much figured out!

Songs We Love 7/50

Ingrid from Pop Culture Casualty just introduced me to this wonderful song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I was feeling a bit sad about my sister leaving for Pennsylvania and she said it would cheer me up. It totally did!

Please listen and check out her blog, both are so worth your time. Promise!

Goodbye Aunt Lindsey!

I dropped off my little sister Lindsey at the airport today. Having here with us for the past ten days has reminded me all over again just how much I miss my family. When she first flew in, ten days seemed like forever. I couldn't see the end of her stay and I liked it that way but now she's gone and I'm feeling sad.

We had so much fun, the three of us running all over this city together. We laughed with the kids I nanny, swam outdoors in the 90 degree weather, listened to new music, awwww-ed over Henrykins, watched movies, and fell asleep under the same roof to the sound of summer storms. I loved every minute of it!

I think the hardest thing about seeing her go was realizing that she is the last family we will be seeing for a very long time. I love Georgia but living this far from family is so hard for me. I hate watching Henry grow and discover new things and only being able to tell my mom about his developments over the phone. I hate not having the support of family and friends and feeling like I have to do all of this on my own.

I am so grateful for the time I have gotten to spend with both of my little sisters this summer. They are both such smart and beautiful girls and Henry went absolutely nuts-happy over their presence.

I can't wait until we are all living closer to each other again.

The Miniature Art Show

Our theme at work this week was "Like the Artists". Over the past five days we spent time looking at famous paintings and learning about all of the ways we can create art. We experimented with photography, painting, mosaic, collage, and chalk. The kids loved making replica Monets, painting textured pieces like Eric Carle, copying Van Gogh's Starry Night, and taping/pasting pieces of the Mona Lisa together (over and over and over!)



Today we set up the children's very first art exhibition to display all of their pieces. It was so much fun watching them stand and stare at the wall full of their creations and each tiny finger point led to the cutest conversations.

Right Where I Want To Be.

Today I am 25 years old. This past year was one of the most memorable times of my life as the majority of it was spent being pregnant with Henry. If you had told 20 year old me that by 25 I'd be married with a baby I would have had a hard time believing you. It's amazing to me how quickly time changes everything.

In the blink of an eye life can go from this:



To this:



Tricky time, I'll never quite understand you but thank you so much for everything you've given me so far.

My two favorite boys after a pretty epic morning sleep-in. I love the weekends.

Cribs: Baby Edition

Our Memorial Day project. H says, "Check out my crib!"



ps. doesn't my sister rule at video editing?!

Inside the Mind of a New Mom.

When Henry was a new baby:

He was always falling asleep. I used to have to wipe his face with a wet cloth to wake him up in between boobs.

One of my favorite things to do was snuggle him skin to skin.

Just getting out of the house to go to Target was a huuuuge deal.

I cried when he got his first taste of sick, a blocked tear duct.

His nickname was "Baby Bear".

I would check his breathing at least six times a night.

I thought it was impossible to love him anymore than I already did.

I was too afraid to let him sleep longer than two hours in a row because I was afraid my milk would dry up.

I loved sleeping with him curled up on my chest and listening to him breathe.

I had a complete melt down when my mother in-law was visiting because I thought I couldn't handle the endless crying and had convinced myself that I was a bad mom because I couldn't make him stop.

I was waking every 1-2 hours to feed him at night and taking pretty epic naps during the day.

I would dream that I had fallen asleep while feeding him and wake up in a panic searching the sheets for my tiny baby.

He had a three inch knot on the top of his head from being pressed too hard against my only semi-dilated birth canal for too long. I would run circles around it with my fingers and it would calm him down when he was upset.

I was worried that he wasn't getting enough milk while feeding or latching correctly and obsessed over making sure he did.

Every time we'd eat out I spent most of the time worrying that he'd start crying.

I slept with five blankets at night because my hormones were going all crazy so I was always either really cold or really hot.

I discovered a whole new kind of love for my husband and it blew me away.

What kinds of crazy things did you worry about/think when your baby was still brand new?

It's da Plumber...

Aunt Lindsey found some crack by the pool this weekend. Baby H says, "Knock, knock. It's da plumber. I've come ta fix da sink!"