Monkey is 4 months old now. It’s hard to believe, and I keep squeezing him extra tight and enjoying that delicious baby smell because I know that the newborn days are flying by. Each passing day is bittersweet– it is wonderful to watch him grow and thrive, but I miss some of his itty bitty baby behaviors. I took these pictures early this evening.
Monkey is such a happy baby. He is a joy to be around:
He is such a smiley boy– he loves to laugh. Frog was much harder to make smile.
I’d like to think that I’m not a horrible photographer. I’ve enjoyed the wonderful capabilities of my Nikon D70 since Frog was just over a year old. That’s nearly a decade, and the camera has served me well. I don’t think that MM and I would be together now if we didn’t both have D70s. They are what caused us to click.
I’ve been trying to improve my photography of food and crafts. It’s not quite the same type of photography as capturing a smiling kiddo or flowers blooming outside. Scenic vista and cherubic children have been the primary subjects until I started this little blog. It’s a new style of photography, and we live in a home with not a lot of natural light. The family room is covered with knotty pine paneling, which darkens the room. We have a yard surrounded by old oak, magnolia and hickory trees that provide lush shade, which can hinder good close-up shots.
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Being wordless isn’t something that generally describes me. Wordless and still, are two things I am not. However, I like the concept of Wordless Wednesday, and Nancy over at Do Small Things with Love made a new button for Wordless Wednesday:
Take a moment.
Reflect.
Consider.
Pause.
I hadn’t considered my word for 2013. I wasn’t even planning on having a word. I had other things on my mind. You see, I’ve been busy. Busy juggling. Juggling the Monkey and the holidays, travel to visit family out of state, and Frogs’s extracurricular activities… and so on and so forth. And then a week ago, I had to prepare to go back to work. Technically, I returned from maternity leave at the start of December, but then had several weeks off for the holidays, so a week ago on Friday was my first real day back. I was nervous. In fact, that’s a gross underestimate. I was terrified. MM and I talked and talked, and I had come to the conclusion that I needed to re-evaluate my work-family balance. Working full-time after the arrival of Monkey had become an untenable position.
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Several months ago, I was at a Cub Scout den meeting, talking to another mother and her 9-year-old son. We were discussing requirements for the next Cub Scout rank, and the mother explained that her son needed to complete the “Family Fun Night Requirement.” Her son looked at me, and said, “Well, I guess I won’t get my Bear Badge, I don’t have a family.” I’ve known this family for 5 years, and watched the parents struggle with their marriage, and their subsequent divorce. Overall, the parents did a great job working as a coparenting team, and I was impressed at how successful they were at working towards the best interests of their son. The dad moved into a house that was only 5 houses down the street from the mom, and the son seemed to be handling everything as well as could be hoped. Of course, it can be challenging to keep the delicate two-household equilibrium for a long period of time. About eighteen months ago, this child’s father was deployed to Afghanistan for nine months. Upon returning to the US, he was stationed another state, and is now about 7 hours away from his son. When I asked this child what he meant about not having a family, he said, “It’s just me and mom. Dad lives so far away now. I don’t have a real family.”
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This year, LB, my parents and I celebrated New Year’s Day with my in-laws in Florida. (MM had to work, and BB was away with his dad’s family.) Before arriving my mother-in-law and I talked about having New Year’s Day dinner. Her family is from above the Mason-Dixon line, and her New Year’s Day menu is somewhat different from that I grew up with. She grew up with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I grew up with black-eyed peas, collards and rice. We both always have pork on New Year’s. We divided the menu up, and she cooked her traditional favorites and the pork, and I cooked the greens and peas. Greens and peas are required for wealth and good luck in the New Year, so I was determined to have them!
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On Christmas day, my mother’s friend shared that she was going to bring a special cocktail with her to dinner. She didn’t tell us much, other than it had champagne in it. Everyone really liked the drink, so when visiting with family, we decided to serve it for New Year’s Eve. It is a quick, colorful beverage that is both a little bit sweet and tart.
To make the drink, one needs only a bottle of Champagne, Pomegranate Liqueur (such as PAMA), and fresh pomegranate.
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We usually go see a holiday lights exhibit each year. Until this year, for the previous 5 years, we’d all load up in a car and head to Callaway Gardens to see their Fantasy in Lights show. That show peaked in excitement for us about 3 years ago, and Frog asked if we could see something new. Around the Atlanta area, there are a number of great holiday light exhibits, including our next door neighbors, but last year we went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the Garden Lights exhibit, and we had heard that the display was supposed to be even better this year.
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Cinnamon Bread was one of my grandmother’s holiday baking staples. She would bake it along with Zucchini Bread, and then deliver two small loaves to each one of her neighbors during the holiday season. I can remember being a small girl and helping her make the bread and then watching her package the two small loaves in colorful Christmas wrapping before walking around the block to drop off her treats. She lived in a neighborhood where everyone knew each other, and all of the children played and grew together. One of those old-fashioned suburban neighborhoods that seems to be rapidly disappearing in our current digital age. (I suppose this is rather ironic for me to to say, as we live in my grandmother’s house!)
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I love Christmas. I mean really, I *LOVE* Christmas. I love Christmas Carols. I love the smell of Frasier Firs and Balsam. I love Gingerbread and Pumpkin Pie. I love reading Holiday Newsletters. I love seeing light displays around our neighborhood. I love finding the perfect gifts for the people I love. I love spending the day with my family. I have been so very excited about this season since this Christmas is Monkey’s first. I’ve wanted to make sure that he looked the part to commemorate all of those special firsts.
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