Today there are a lot of photos of me and the little boy. Feel free to skip 🙂

This is shaping to be one of those weekends where I didn’t think I would get to do my todo list items and yet I get them all done. Unpredictably. I processed my client shoot from last weekend. I did two layouts. I did a crafting project with David. I finished my book. I got a pedicure and a brow wax. I am even processing David’s birthday movie and photos. Quite surreal.

I asked Jake to take a bunch of photos of Nathaniel and me today:

And I snapped one of him.

And we’ve made a new rule that David can only play the Wii one day of the week. He chose Saturday. So here he is focusing.

I swear he doesn’t look that sickly in real life.

After I came back from my pedicure, Jake snapped a few more photos of us:

Photos of me with any of my boys is rare and special to me.

Note to Self:
I am doing really well with this “a project daily for a week” process I started. It’s making me create more every day and I love the feeling of it. I was reading this on Jen Lee’s blog today: ” I remember that someone once told me that balance isn’t doing it all, all the time, but it is often doing one thing for a time, then doing another and creating balance in this turn-taking fashion over the course of a month or a season or a year.” and I realized that’s exactly how I feel. I love the process of focusing on one thing for a while and then shifting gears. My creativity and interest goes in ebbs and flows and I love following it around. Since February, I’ve done:

– Feb 6 – 13: a week of heart stitching/sewing
– Feb 15 – 21: a week in the life project – daily scrapping of our day
– Feb 22 – 28: daily creative therapy catalysts
– March 1 – 7: daily stitching (for the sampler I posted today)
– March 8 – 14: the 5 in 5 challenge (using one concept – trees – with 5 mediums)

I never intended to do this and it wasn’t planned but I am loving it and I plan to continue. So this week, I am going to do a layout a day. I started on Saturday cause I am leaving town on Thursday and don’t think I will be able to do it where I’m going (I am not one of those “away from home” scrappers. I like to have all my things with me.) I already did two layouts today and it felt great. I have all my photos printed and I will be hand journaling. Sometimes I long for the days when I didn’t know about all the scrapbooking sites and books where I learned “how” to scrapbook. I wish I could go back to the days where I didn’t worry about design or products so much and really focused on telling my story, capturing the moments. In the end, that’s all that matters and I need to keep that in mind so much more often. So here’s to hoping this week can be about capturing that spirit.

I think I will sit and plan the next few weeks too. I’m thinking daily copics, daily drawing, daily journaling just to name a few. I also want to incorporate some of the recurring events into my week. Like actually sit and do a creative therapy and a layout each week. I work better with schedules, time constraints, and creative constraints. So I think I’d like to find some way to incorporate that in my week. Let’s see what I can come up with…

If you have ideas for weekly creative ventures, please do let me know. I’m up for pretty much anything.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. The two layouts I made today were for no one else but me. no assignment. no required products. nice journaling but nothing too long or even too deep. just genuine. for me. for nathaniel. i loved doing them. i have enough product to last two lifetimes and i am grateful that i got to use some of it.
2. I am grateful that I got to take some time to myself and get a pedicure. It’s as much about the time alone as it is about the pedicure itself.
3. I am grateful for how nice, kind, and easygoing my husband is. It’s a rare quality and one I appreciate deeply.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. Playing the Wii! (of course)
2. Buying his lego toy (Jake’s brother got David a lego giftcard for xmas. we are now getting around to buying it.)
3. Learning to wash his own body during bath time.
He had three today.

Today was a long and stressful day. One of those days where things go wrong which causes the panic that then makes other things go wrong and it multiplies from there. Nathaniel woke up at 4 and would not go back to sleep. When I finally gave up and nursed him, he sat up and started giggling and wanting to play. Which made me mad and I put him back in his bed and passed out. Then when we dropped off David, Nathaniel wound’t take his morning nap. After complaining for a long time, he slept 25 minutes before it was time to get David which meant I had to wake him up. And then he would not take his afternoon nap and I was in the middle of the release craziness and he wouldn’t eat and then he wouldn’t sleep and I just was going a bit insane the whole day.

But in the end, it all worked out of course. Release went out. He slept, even if for 30 minutes. The kids took their bath where they hugged and smiled and played.

And they all went to bed and Jake and I got some quiet time and I got to play with my copics and do my trees. My arm is still hurting a lot and I am very tired. I think tonight will be a reading night. Haven’t done that in too long.

Note to Self:
I really need to focus on not letting the panic build. Sometimes I can literally feel the stress physically and it only does damage and causes more stress and causes more things to go wrong. Causes me to make stupid decisions which cause the whole thing to get worse. I need to take a moment, walk away, take a breath and come back calmer and more collected. I really need to work on this. For my sanity more than anything.

Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I was really at my wit’s end when Jake came home tonight and he just helped me and supported me all the way and thanks to him I now feel back to my calm and collected self. So thankful for him.
2. I am almost done with my art challenge and I love how my journal is turning out. I need another idea so I can keep the journal going. I am thankful for the internet for the inspiration and ideas.
3. I got a lot of support from another work mate today. I am thankful to work at a place full of kind, supportive people. I can never say this enough. People are what make a job suck or rock.

Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. School. He said he’s grateful for all of school.
2. Bath time!