Loving on a Friday…

A tribute to the year of the Rabbit (aka MY YEAR!)
This exact conversation that occurs with Samuel at least 10 times a day lately. (no wonder the kid gets away with murder).

“Mummy?”
“Yes”
“I love you”

Oscar fever – and, after tonight, having miraculously seen 7 of the 10 best picture nominees, thanks partly to a couple of marathon aeroplane trips in the past 12 months. (ran out of time for The Fighter, 27 Hours and True Grit. In fairness, I’ll probably NEVER see 27 hours).
Thomas “reading” his Star Wars book to us each night and practicing during the day so he can read it to his friends at school.
Flavelsome Beats – plugging my baby brother’s latest gift to the ears.
Glee! Mixing my love of TV with my love of musicals. It’s perfect!
Dancers among us. Mixing my love of Musicals with my love of…well…life.
Feeling completely inspired after a couple of GREAT photo sessions – one at the Portland art museum with a group of coworkers (just for fun) and one for Iron Bartender last night (also fun, but for charity). A few of my favorites from the Portland museum are shared below.
3 nights out in a row (a mummy miracle).

Happy Friday

Moments to Myself

A couple of Saturdays ago, Kei took the boys sledding. By himself.

It was a gift to me. A few solitary hours to do with as I wished. Well, almost. I did have a big work project that I had to spend a few hours on, but there was no way that I was completely giving up a Saturday all to myself – a SUNNY Saturday all to myself.

So what is an overworked, exhausted, creatively-drained mummy to do with a few hours to herself? Why, take pictures of course.

I headed down to Mississippi avenue – a place that we visit often but that I never really take time to look at, much less take pictures. I’m usually too busy chasing five year olds or two year olds to making sure they don’t run into traffic or, worse, other people.

Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with my family, but being alone for a couple of hours on a favourite urban street suddenly opened a whole new world of opportunity.

Like vintage stores with objects so fragile and beautiful that a two year old would find them irresistible…

Tiny galleries in which I could browse the collection of strangely engrossing (and quite hilarious) photographic art for longer than a five year old attention span.

Wonderfully spiky plants in apartment building doorways that would otherwise have gone unnoticed.

Replicas of Easter Island relics sporting Christmas lights well into January. (OK, not sure what that was all about and pretty certain the boys would have found it hilarious as well).

Beautiful signs against even more beautiful blue skies.

And, most importantly, more than a few minutes to sit in a cafe with coffee and brunch, read my favourite magazine and just watch the world go by. Perfect.

Wordless Wednesday: Mr. Personality

This is what I get…

…when I ask to take a photo of their new haircuts.

I got a little more than I expected…

Wordless Wednesday: Portland Art Museum

Farewell January…

…it was nice knowing you, but I can’t say I’m sad to see you go.

Oh, there were good moments like Kei starting a new job, an end-of-month girls weekend at a spa (more on that later) and some great progress at the swimming pool for our five-year-old (head fully under water!). But there were also quite a few challenges like Kei starting a new job (bye bye reliable schedule), a plague that swept through our house and took down Samuel and me at the same time, a workload that threatens to pull me under and, of course, the endless dreariness of a Northwest winter.

I’ve been feeling tired, uninspired and generally crabby – but the optimist in me hopes that a new month and the promise of only a few more weeks of winter will help pull me out of this funk.

Thankfully my two year old seems to be coming out of his. The past week or so has been an enormous improvement in terms of behaviour and general attitude. He yells less, laughs more and has fewer tantrums. He’s also more likely to wake up in the morning on the RIGHT side of the bed. I’m cautiously optimistic, but I feel like I may be getting my happy baby back.

Which brings me to my I heart faces photo this week – best face photo in January. It’s not a perfect photo by any means, but it’s a wonderful memory of a nice, relaxing bedtime without arguments, challenges or screaming – a routine that is become more common as my little boy grows up. And how grown up he looks!

So goodbye January and hello to a February that promises more photos (with some new equipment), new eyes (hoping literally as well as figuratively) and the possibility of a little more sunshine.

Australia Day: What You Need to Know

Australia Day is the official national day of Australia, commemorating the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and our separation from England (oh, wait…).

Of course if I were in Australia right now I’d be celebrating with beer and a BBQ, but since we are yet to have the President proclaim the day as a national US holiday (I’m working on it), I will take this moment to share a few educational facts about the country of my birth.

We pronounce it AL-U-MIN-I-UM because we spell it that way. Same goes for AEROPLANE.
The toilets DO flush in the opposite direction, the moon appears upside-down and summer is in winter.
THONG is not a dirty word. (Please check in with me if you would like to be schooled on words which are, in fact, considered dirty in Australia but perfectly acceptable in the United States).
There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia and only around 20 million people.
In 1954 a man named Bob Hawke made it into the Guinness Record Book for downing 2.5 pints of beer in 11 seconds. Bob Hawke then went on to become the Prime Minister of Australia. (true story)

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Australia Day

Photos taken during our last visit in March – which right now feels like a lifetime ago.

Missing Out

I enjoy participating in the I Heart Faces photo challenges each week – mostly because they give me a blog topic and a reason to dig out photos that may otherwise be forgotten. And every once in a while these challenges spark a thought or reflection that may otherwise have slipped by.

This week’s challenge, “Innocent Wonder” sent me digging through photos from the past couple of months until I stopped at this one.

The obvious connection to the theme is the memory of a day with friends at the science museum. A rare opportunity spending some time with my boys as they explored with their eyes and their hands. In this photo Samuel is digging into a sand bath with his friend Patrick. Every so often he’d find a plastic animal and ask me what it was before burying it deeper under the sand or finding a suitable rock to rest it on.

But more than just a photo, this shot makes me think about moments that I am missing. When Thomas was Samuel’s age, I was blessed with a four day work week and the attention span that comes with having just one child. Thomas and I would visit the science museum at least once a month to play in the toddler area where I basked in the wonder of his learning and development and enjoyed that short, but significant, time we had together – just the two of us. I worry that Samuel is missing out on that same experience and, OK, I worry that I am missing out on it more.

I doubt there is any one person who feels as though they couldn’t do with just a little more time. My fear is that I haven’t been using mine wisely. Kei is in charge of pick up and drop off for Samuel so I took on the duty of putting him to bed each night for a little bonding time. Lately, however, I have been more worried about getting him to bed quickly and without too much frustration, rather than enjoying the short time we have together each day.

He’s only going to be two years old for a few more short months and I realize that I am missing this most precious period when his language development and curiousity for life is at its most powerful. This photo made me realize that I need to pause and take the time to bask in the wonder a little more and worry about bedtime a little less.

My Baby As He Should Be

Samuel is sick. Not “slight sniffle and a little cranky sick”. Nope. He is “barfing until the pile of laundry hits the ceiling” sick. Thankfully we seem to have some temporary relief from the carnage and he is sleeping soundly on the couch right now. He didn’t get to sleep until 2:30 this morning and was up at 6am so he has some catching up to do. Come to think of it, so do I.

Looking forward to the next few days when (hopefully) my baby is back to his normal self. In case you’ve forgotten what that might look like, I share with you a quick modeling session that Samuel and his Daddy blessed me with a couple of weeks back.

Show me happy!