Feeling kind of blah lately. I think I’m just in a funk with schedules. I use the term “schedules” lightly because we don’t really have a schedule at all, but I just feel like we do the same thing every day, day in and day out. I know this is a common issue, but it’s been weighing on me lately.

Wash laundry, feed kids, wipe table, dry laundry, load/unload dishes, wipe counters, fold laundry, feed kids, vacuum, clean toilets, feed kids, put away laundry, pick up toys, feed kids, pay bills, change diapers, feed kids.

And we’re also working through some napping issues … Lucy takes too many, and believe it or not, this is an issue. I KNOW! But it is creating some problems for all of us, and we’re gradually trying to transition her down to one long nap a day. We are also dealing with some typical 4-year old stuff with Emma, but it’s very very normal behavior that doesn’t need to be discussed.

I don’t want to complain, because I realize how very fortunate I am to be able to spend the entire day with my girls, but … I don’t know. I feel like we need to mix things up a bit. Do something different. Get out and explore other areas of interest. It’s really too bad I’m such a homebody.

Anyway, I finished one month of daily photos, and here are just a few of my favorites from January …

I noticed a common theme … eating. We do that a LOT around here, apparently.

Now, this is not a project 365. I didn’t even make it a month taking one photo a day, but I have been trying to post one photo a day, because many of the photos I take never make the front page of the blog if it doesn’t tie in with the current blog post. And clearly, I think I am ALL THAT and that you should see ALL of the pictures I take. Ha.

Also, if you’ve noticed my editing this year, I’ve tried to keep it a lot cleaner and less “vintage” or “cloudy” as it has been called before. Mostly because I printed out a lot of my photos from last year and wasn’t pleased with how they looked once I held them in my hands.

Yet another reason I’m glad I’m not a real photographer … I’ve changed my editing process a LOT just in the past couple of years, and I’d hate to see people paying for my experimentations. [Another reason to keep your edits clean and timeless.]

You might also notice that I’m having some soft/missed focus issues with my camera, and it’s driving me insane. I sent it in for repair last year after I dropped it in our driveway, but I don’t think it’ll ever be as clear as it once was. I don’t HAVE to have a new camera, so I’m just pushing this poor 50D as far as I can right now.

Okay, so this just turned into a post full of whining, but that wasn’t my intention. Things have just been a little meh around here lately, and that’s the honest truth. I am sure we will snap out of this funk very soon.

Even though the SUN finally came out and is super bright and fabulous, it was still a little too chilly to take Lucy outside with her residual cough on Tuesday. So we were all having some serious cabin fever. After building a really awful fort that lasted all of about 4 minutes before it fell down [seriously, I need a tutorial or something], the girls were still whiny and bored.

I really wanted to wash every piece of linen we have used for the past week to try to de-germ our house, so I pulled out the trusty roll of wrapping paper that a neighbor left behind when they moved, taped a big hunk of it to the floor and threw a couple buckets of crayons down with it.

Emma’s newest obsession is tracing her feet and hands, and then measuring them with a ruler. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a 4-year old?

Lucy just wants to eat the crayons. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having a 1-year old?

And then Emma exclaimed that she was “exhausted” and that she wanted to tape it to the door so daddy could see it as soon as he got home.

So that’s what we did.

And then Lucy discovered that she wasn’t sitting in my lap and needed to remedy that ASAP.

Another successful 12-minute activity.

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Remember my afternoon with Emma? Well, I have been wanting to do the same with Lucy, but her cold has made things … difficult. So instead, I spent 30 minutes with her a couple of days ago before we had to go pick up Emma from preschool.

Yes, she ate a banana and a clementine within a 30-minute period of time. No, this is not unusual.

all images edited with VSCO presets Fuji 800Z+

I almost never think about the fact that Lucy was premature. Except for when she’s sick. I swear, my baby girl catches everything that’s going around, even if it’s just floating down the street. I almost bore myself with all of my facebook updates and tweets about her being snotty and coughing and a total wreck.

I feel like I somehow failed her, because even though I breastfed her, she still doesn’t seem to have the immune system to fight whatever comes her way. I mean, that’s one of the reasons given by the breastfeeding advocates – your kid will miraculously be healthier! Sigh.

She eats healthier than any of the rest of us, and I feel like I’m doing everything on the “how to boost immunity” check list.

I usually have these feelings of “what am I doing wrong!?!?” when I’m sitting on the floor of her bedroom at 2am, rocking back and forth and trying not to lose my mind.

Or at 3am when she’s finally asleep, but I am sitting up. On the floor.

Or at 4am, when I have to pee, but I can’t move her off of me without her acting like I am doing the WORST THING EVER.

Anyway, all of that to say, Lucy’s sick again. Again.

[Two babies on the front!]

SO if you don’t see me or hear from me for a couple of days, it’s because I’ll be busy snuggling this one and sucking snot and pushing fluids and offering blueberries and shoveling vitamin drops into her mouth.

Wish us luck. And sleepy dust.

We were out all day yesterday … Molly Flanagan and I [and our 5 kids!] drove to Atlanta to see one of our dear Flickr friends. The girls and I left our house at 8:15am and got home at 10:15pm. It was a beautiful day, and I am so thankful for friends like this. Unfortunately [fortunately?], I was so intent on leaving somewhat remotely on time, I walked out the door without my camera. Durrr. But just believe me when I say we had a wonderful day!

And today, we are just having a totally lazy day at home …

watching cartoons

catching up on sleep

and catching up on the usual stuff that happens when you’re away from your house for a day.

Okay, so that last picture has nothing to do with laundry or cleaning or whatever else I’ll be thinking about doing today … I just thought it was pretty.

Happy Tuesday!

I don’t really know what to say about 2011. It was a challenging and amazing year. Truly.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Looking forward to what 2012 brings for us!!

I guess I took an unexpected blog break … I will probably come back and do some 2011 wrap-up posts in the next couple of days, but for now, I just wanted to say hello and happy new year!

I don’t really have much to say right now, which is weird. I’m usually quite chatty. But I’ve been working on getting stuff organized and cleaned out this week, and that’s not very interesting.

So here’s a peek into a day in our lives. Or just a couple of hours.

Morning :: Lucy naps and Emma usually plays pretty quietly in her playroom while I pay bills, do online stuff, edit photos, shower [sometimes] and clean.

[box by door & box with pink pumpkin? going to goodwill. blue thing on white rug? doll baby blanket. two packages on white rug? photo albums. red bag? diaper bag from deb. our downstairs? HOT MESS. but not for long!!]

Then, Lucy wakes up and stretches for about 37 minutes …

Seriously, this kid stretches for SO long after she wakes up … must be the swaddling?

And one more for momma. {swoon}

Oh! There’s big sister!

Then it was playtime while I fixed lunch.

The afternoon was sunny and warm(ish), so we decided to head down to the playground after their afternoon naps {aka, the quiet part of my day}.

Lucy’s been fighting the wraps in the house, so I thought I’d try to wear her for an outdoor adventure.

This was her first time in the rucksack carry, and it kind of made my stomach hurt. I mean, she’s using a legs-out carry! She’s not my teeny tiny curled up little newborn anymore. {sniff}

It’s hard to believe that it’s January … and we’re walking around in sweaters and no jackets. I could definitely get used to this.

On a completely different subject … people often ask me if I “make” Emma do poses for me, and my answer is NO. Of course I’ll ask her to “give me a jump” or “do a twirl” … but she’s 3.5. If she doesn’t want to do it, she doesn’t do it.

But this little pose with the hands on her hips? Oh, that is ALL HER.

After all, she has had my camera in her face from the second she came screaming into this world.

It was such a gorgeous day. We usually get a lot of sun here in the winter, but last week was kind of dreary, so I soaked in every last bit of sun.

The maximum dose of Vitamin D.

We inhaled it.

Emma found a magic wand {dried up pampas grass} and granted all of our wishes.

Can I please have a full night sleep?

ABACADABRA, ALAKAZAM!

Ummmm, it didn’t work. Heh.

{I love the Harry Potter’ness of that picture}

It’s moments like these that I absolutely love being a mom.

And on these days, I brush aside the feelings of exhaustion and wear … and I feel extremely grateful to be able to stay at home and experience going to the playground in the middle of the afternoon.

Extremely grateful.

Are you guys enjoying these {our life} posts at all? I have been inspired to capture more of our daily life without going to special places or doing super exciting things. It’s just us doing what we do on a daily basis.

I kind of sort of realized that I am also capturing our last summer with just Emma. In a little over 10 weeks, she’ll be a big sister & with that comes having to share momma and daddy. I’m not sure how she’ll feel about it … heck, I’m not sure how *I* will feel about it!

In all honesty, I’m scared. She’s my life right now. I quit my job to raise her. I went to college for four years, worked hard to get a degree in marketing w/ an emphasis in statistics, went on to fall in love with accounting, and then left all of that behind to stay at home with her. We do without so many of the extravagances that used to be normal so that I can stay home with her. My daily decisions revolve around what kind of mood she’s in or what she wants to do that day. Emma knows this … she knows that when she asks for a snack, I can pretty much get up and get it immediately. She knows that if she asks me to come help her with something, I’ll come.

And as much as I am really really excited about having a new baby girl in our lives, I’m just worried how she will fit into this life we’ve had for 3 years. I know. She will. She’ll fit perfectly the moment she comes into this world.

But I can’t help but wonder how that will affect Emma. And how it will affect me. And how it will affect our dynamics.

So these last weeks are precious to me. And I’m going to do my best to fill it with as much life and love as I can.

Anyway, Ken is still teaching two nights a week, so those days are hard on Emma since she only gets to see him in the morning before he leaves. Sometimes, if I can get it all together, I make supper and we go eat with him.

And sometimes, when certain people tell me it’s National Ice Cream Day, we get ice cream orange sherbet afterwards.

After all, it’s our civic duty to celebrate holidays.

Am I right?

And in a little less than 10 weeks, we’ll have someone else tagging along, which is just about the coolest and scariest thing ever.

Taking a break from the Orlando recap … and trying out this whole storyboard / blog template thing.

The chalk storyboard (first image) is from here, and then I added rounded corners. The others are ones I created myself. Fun!

I am still working on the q&a from this post, so I should have that up sometime tomorrow or this weekend at the latest. There are a couple of questions that have actually been asked since then that I’ll also answer for you (kid-sized headphones and photo processing). I’m not ignoring you guys … pinky swear!

For once in my life, I actually have too many posts to write.