I know I am only two years out from under your wing, but I’m
writing to you today as the spouse of one of your minions.
Stock footage from April 2011. Sadly, his current work is keeping him at the office.
I’m just wondering when this lawyer thing slows down. Will has been working around the clock (or at
least that’s what it feels like) and I am about to check in to our local mental
hospital. Not really, but now that I think
about it, what a great break that would be, no?
Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate that Will is gainfully employed
and that the economy appears to be as strong as ever. I feel blessed that his job allows me to stay
home with the kids and pays for my yoga classes (because, LG, without that yoga
I would have written this letter long ago).
But two weeks plus in a row of single-parent bedtime should be an
automatic nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Actually since I’m daydreaming, a much better prize would be to have
Mary Poppins come live with you for a year.
And a child-free weekend once a month.
But since none of that will actually happen, Lawyer Gods, I’d
just ask that Will get a break. It doesn’t
have to be long; just enough for us to be able to see him more than 15 minutes
in the morning during the school rush. I’ve
got about 20 different anecdotes to share with him from this latest round of
all-nighters and I can’t seem to find the time to tell him (and I think I may
have already forgotten 16 or so of them).
Frances has stopped asking if Daddy is going to be home to put her to
bed and George has figured out that one of my buttons these days is to say, “I
want DADDY!!!!” when he gets in trouble.
No lie, kid. I want Daddy, too!
Here’s hoping for more of this guy in the (near?)
future. And a happy Monday, everyone!
But these days, it is feeling much more like this:
Chilly and gray—very un-spring-like. I’m refusing to turn the heat back on in the
house out of principle, but I may cave soon considering Will and I have both slept wearing our winter fleece coats overtop of our pajamas all week. I’m just going to assume the kids are warm
enough since we don't hear a peep.
One of the few bright spots of the unseasonably cool weather
is how much the flowers seem to love it.
Our azalea hedge is looking prettier than I ever remember it this year:
And my pansies show no signs of drooping or fading, which
might just be a first:
The cold weather also seems to be keeping the mosquitos at
bay, so there has been lots of al fresco dining this month:
A rare warm(ish) evening when coats weren't necessary
And because of the bug-less days and evenings, we’ve been
using our patio much more than usual, which inspired me to get some new outdoor
pillows to spruce up the space:
Please excuse the shabby chic nature of our patio furniture--much more shabby than chic, I'm afraid.
I'm having a bit of an orange obsession these days, so I couldn't resist these.
All from Target, of course--the greatest place on earth and
the surest way for me to spend at least $100 under one roof.
Inside my kitchen shelves got a little spring makeover:
And I’ve been buying fresh flowers more than I remember in
the past.
Once you get used to them in the house, they’re a bit
addicting. Beware! Plus, it never hurts to have a rose as
gorgeous as this to stare at every time you enter a room:
Costco oranges in a glass bowl round out my orange
obsession.
Sadly, these babies are even
less enduring than fresh flowers—Will and I devoured them in about 5 days. Or at least I hope Will ate some of them
otherwise I may be more obsessed with orange than I had originally thought.
It just isn’t springtime until we get a picture of Frances and
George in the playhouse window at the botanical gardens:
My yearly reminder that Frances is quickly outgrowing her
preschool baby face and George still needs Daddy to be doing something
ridiculous on the other side of the lens to have a genuine smile.
One of my college friends, Susan, is expecting her first
baby (a girl!!) later this year and asked for recommendations on how best to record
her daughter’s all-too-quick first years—whether there was something I wish I
had done (or thankful I did do) with Frances and George.By her own admission, she is private and is
unsure if blogging is the way to go.
It was such a great question and one that I had honestly not
thought about until she asked … so being that I am (apparently) not a very private
person, I wanted to brainstorm my answer on my blog. And I would love to hear from others on their
recommendations because I know there is no right way to preserve those lightning-fast
first months.
Baby Books
If you have told even one person you are expecting a baby,
you are sure to get at least 5 different baby books to help you chronicle that
first year. Use them! Or rather, pick your favorite one and fill it
up as best you can (and then immediately, without
guilt, give the rest to Goodwill; they will be used and loved by other
newbie mothers and you won’t have them around as constant reminders that you
have failed to fill all of them up with baby memories). Chances are they will all contain similar
content (monthly stats—weight, height, etc.; “firsts”—first smile, first tooth,
first step; family information—grandparents, great-grandparents, godparents,
etc.), so just go with what format you like and think will be the most efficient
way to keep up your book.
Both Frances and George had calendar baby books (from
Current catalog, I think) which I loved.
Twelve months’ worth of information that you personalized starting with the
month your baby was born, lots of “firsts” stickers to use on the exact day those
events happened (if you have your head together enough to remember; otherwise,
feel free to “guestimate!”), and plenty of room for pictures and other memorabilia
that you will want to hold onto (hospital bracelets are my favorite). They were very simple, which is what I needed
that first year (especially with number 2), but they don’t skimp on both
emotional and technical information that you may want to remember for years
down the road (i.e., how much did your huge 3-month-old weigh again??).
One last thought on the baby book—try to record memories as
quickly as possible. Otherwise, the baby
book may become just another stressor in your life of a “to-do” item you have
yet to check off. Have it in a handy
place (the kitchen is where we kept ours because we seem to be in there most
often) and set aside a designated time each week (or day if you’re super
organized) to breeze through it and write down anything that’s recently happened. Of course, I would also avoid the “all or
nothing” mentality—don’t stop writing things down because you missed a month or
two. It’s okay; just pick up again where
you left off and go back later if you can.
Memory Boxes
If you have read my blog, you know I am anti-clutter to a
fault (I have a standing weekly appointment at the Goodwill donation
center). But even I recognize the
importance of keeping those irreplaceable items for no other reason than
because they mean the world to you—baby shoes, first pacifier, first
tooth. So I have a memory box for each
child (two now for Frances) that I use to store those little treasures. I have to weed out a lot, which is hard; but
one box every four years seems reasonable.
I want Frances and George to have memories of their childhood—but not an
entire basement full.
Pictures
Before I started blogging, Will was the family photographer
and I am so very, very thankful that he was.
In that first year, particularly those first six months, your baby will
change in ways you won’t even believe. Take
lots and lots of pictures—you will never regret it. In fact, I would shy away from blogging
during the first year anyway (especially if you’re already wary of it) because most
of the changes occurring in your baby are visual (pictures) or can be captured
in the baby book.
Some of my greatest joys have come from looking back on
candid pictures of Frances and George as babies—I can almost still feel them in
my arms when I scroll through the images on our computer. That time goes quickly as it is; I would just
try and capture them on film as much as possible.
Three thoughts that piggyback on the picture recommendation:
1)
Have an organized system on your computer to
store your pictures;
We keep ours in a chronological month/year format (i.e.,
October 2008; November 2008, etc.). It’s
not a perfect system for recalling pictures if you can’t remember the exact
month you took it, but you can almost always remember the season and the year
(let’s hope) and start from there. We do
designate folders for special occasions like beach trips (“Sandbridge 2010”) and
other vacations (“Spain 2012” – woot!), but keep those folders in the same chronological
order as the other pictures.
2)
Get a good camera or cell phone with a decent camera
that will inspire you to take pictures;
I don’t mean that you have to spend $700+ on the latest
Canon SLR camera—in fact, I wouldn’t do that.
The more portable the camera the better because when you have a diaper
bag, a car seat, a stroller, a purse, and a baby to lug around the last thing
you want is a big, heavy camera. You
want something that you can take easily out of one of the five bags you are
carrying and snap a few pictures of your first outing to the park, first dip in
the pool, or first visit with the cousins.
Since getting my iPhone last fall, it has unintentionally
become my daily camera for candid shots (because I always have it with
me), but I still use my regular camera (a Canon G12) for special occasions and trips because
I feel like I have more control over what the pictures look like.
3)
Download pictures as soon as possible.
There is nothing more intimidating than a digital camera or
phone with over 600 pictures patiently stored in the memory card and waiting
for their instructions. Download as
frequently as possible, store them in the month/year folder, print out your favorites for updating your frames, and delete the memory
card (along those lines, I highly recommend a backup system for your pictures—CDs,
iCloud, or something similar).
I use Walgreen's website to print out most of my pictures for next to nothing and hang them around the house.
Videos
I credit Will (and Apple computer) 100% with the idea of
making video montages of the first years with Frances and George. They take some time, but they are by far my
favorite way of capturing their childhood—those early newborn movements, the
toddler giggle, their sibling playtimes.
Sight, sound, and music—the perfect combination.
Frances's 1st year
George's 1st year
If you have the patience (and a Mac), I highly recommend
learning how to make these videos. The
program itself is very user friendly; the hard part is narrowing down pictures,
video clips and music choices. Will’s
videos tend to be long (which I love), but you can make them as short as you’d
like.
Some of my favorite shorter videos ...
Frances counting to ten in Spanish
Frances and George and their endless energy
Blogging
As they have gotten older, blogging has been my favorite way
of preserving their childhood. It doesn’t
have to be a public blog either (like mine); you can make the settings for
invited readers only (which I better be one, Missy, should you go that
route : )). My motivation behind
blogging has changed over these last two years:
·
My blog started as a way for me to keep myself
mentally stimulated after coming from a highly verbal profession (lawyer) to a
highly emotional one (full-time mother).
There is no doubt, it still meets that goal; although as it turns out,
this new profession is plenty mentally stimulating as it is.
·
My parents, Will’s parents, our extended family,
and our friends have all been able to keep up with Frances and George on a nearly daily basis. I’ve had many people tell me they feel like
they know my children even though they haven’t seen them in a year or so (or ever!)—I never
get tired of hearing that. If I can
capture their personalities in writing and share them with those that mean the
most to me, my mission is accomplished.
·
Will has been good about printing out my blog
every year for my “surprise” Christmas present and I couldn’t be happier. I’m not a scrapbooker (but if you are, this is
another excellent way to keep memories!), so to have a hard copy of my
blog is simply priceless.
Should you decide to start a blog, my one suggestion is to
have a good schedule for writing and stick to it. I post something every-other day (usually)
and that has worked for me—but, of course, this is part of “my job.” If you work outside the home, once a week or
three times a month might be more doable.
Like anything else, if you don’t do it regularly you run the risk of
always playing catch-up with your posts (Christmas pictures in April, while
adorable, don’t always capture the spirit of the season).
What we wish we had
done
I talked with Will about this one and we came up with two
thoughts:
· 1) Do a better job of annual handprint images (ceramic or even finger paint). We don’t have any of these, except those they
did in preschool that aren’t great quality.
Looking back, it would be nice to have a handprint from each year (maybe
on their birthday). Those little hands
aren’t so little anymore (*sob!*).
· 2) Date,
date, date everything. For these
last two years, France especially has taken an interest in art and
writing/reading. Needless to say we have
a lot of homemade treasures floating around the house and some of them have
been so great I have framed and hung them in various rooms. Unfortunately, I failed to put the date they
were made anywhere on them. This is one
of the “Truths of Parenthood”—you always think you will remember everything
about a certain age (8 months; 2 ½ years; etc.) because at the time, it is the
greatest age yet. But you never
remember. So, put a date on it and you
don’t have to!
Kid art in the guest room
One of my favorites by Frances--an owl--so recent that I have yet to hang it on the wall.
And, I think I’m finally done! I know other parents have different (and
probably better) suggestions on how to record keep, so I would love to hear
from anyone—I know Susan would appreciate it as well.
Thanks again, Susan, for the great question. Here's to a happy and healthy pregnancy! And a happy Saturday to everyone!
It’s hard to believe it was nearly three weeks after Baby
Claire made her appearance that I first saw her, but with our next foreseeable
weekends filled with obligations I just couldn’t wait any longer. So yesterday, George and I packed up the car
and headed for a quick day trip to meet the next Heil heartbreaker:
Big sister Maggie was a perfect hostess-with-the-mostess by
letting George play with her toys:
And treating us to lunch:
George had a hard time saying goodbye at the end of our
visit and who can blame him:
Is anyone else seeing a big brother in the making?? No? Let's look again, shall we?
George, the baby whisperer
Thank you Baby Claire and family for letting us come and
crash your adorable party!
And happy Friday (woohoo!!),
everyone! I don’t know about you, but I neeeeed a nice relaxing
weekend at home with the family. Or at
least, as relaxing as it gets around here.
I have found myself feeling both eternally grateful and utterly sad in the same instant far too often these last five years. Sending prayers to those who have lost the unimaginable and hope that they will find peace in knowing how much more love than hate there is in this world.
The innocent and those they left behind are the real heros.
I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. We’ve been running around like fools here and
my computer time has been severely curtailed.
But I can’t complain – family time is so limited these days that when it
does come, it’s nice to take a break and soak it up.
And speaking of running, Will and I ran our very first race
together:
The local Monument Avenue 10k. It is a huge race (they anticipated
upwards of 40,000 people this year) and I typically bow out of because of the
numbers, but Will decided months ago to attempt the 6.2 mile run and I couldn’t
resist the idea of our first day date road race.
After! And much more smiley.
He did great – I was beyond proud of him. His silent goal time (that I didn’t even know
about until after we finished) was to run it in under an hour and he crushed
that (in 56 minutes to be exact). To put
that in some perspective, this was his first time ever running more than 5
miles on those long, lean, and sometimes trick-kneed legs of his and he never
once slowed down. It’s all downhill (in a good way) from
here, Will!
After a seemingly endless Spring Break, the kids are finally back to a normal
routine—Frances is in school and George is resuming his favorite status of “only
child.”
Finally, we wrapped up this weekend with a Rhode play date/cookout at our
house:
Frances, George, big brother Andrew, and little bro Bryan.
The weather could not have been nicer—sunny and 75
degrees. We played outside for nearly
the entire 6 hour visit, which means we all have a little bit too much pink on
our faces today (whoops). But it was
worth it, particularly to George who you will notice has an empty plate in
front of him that minutes before held about a dozen cheese and sausage balls.
And I wonder why he is the size of an average 6-year-0ld.
Happy Monday, everyone!
It’s so nice to be back to blogging : )
In addition to my side trip to Charlottesville, the kids and
I had a great four-day visit in Lynchburg last week.
For the first time, the kids shared a bedroom with two twin
beds and no adults. The last time we
visited my parents, George still slept in his pack ‘n play, which had become
comical considering his size. “Mommy, I
can’t straighten out my legs!” “Shhhhh,
it’s okay … just go to sleep little man … “
Mother of the Year, no doubt. But
they did great together—very little talking to get to sleep and not too
early waking up. I’m sure it had nothing
to do with the non-stop activity at Nana and Pop’s house, including:
Shopping
Why yes, that is a pink cowgirl hat with a built-in tiara. It's as though the hat maker consulted Frances herself on this one.
Children’s museum
George and Georgettes
Rolling around my old college lawn
Playing dress-up
Only real men can wear pink cowgirl hats.
And eating very, very well
Can you spot the "F," "G," and "L" on this baked Brie? I'm surprised I had enough time to capture this picture because about 2 minutes later, the plate was empty.
While I was there, I couldn’t help but snap a few more
pictures of my mother’s collection of old family photos.
My mother, age 4
This one is a little blurry, but I am in awe of how much
Frances looks like my mother at this age.
Circa 1943
And this might just be my favorite father/daughter picture
of all time, taken during my grandfather’s leave from World War II to see his
daughter for the first time. His pride
is palpable, even decades and a faded photograph later. A father’s love—yet another thing Frances has
in common with my mother:
After a wonderful visit complete with some not-so-wonderful
George meltdowns (apparently, no trip would be complete without that), we are
back at home and back to our schedule—school, errands, and finally enjoying the
spring weather.
Thank you Nana and Pop for
putting up with all of us (Marshall included).
And happy Wednesday, everyone!
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