ideas and inspiration for moms
Know a photographer? Here are ten gift ideas to consider:
[click on each image for details + pricing]
Do you enjoy taking photos – for business or fun?
If so, what kind of photography-related gifts would you want to receive?
*** Every week or so, I feature creative gift ideas in specific categories. Let me know if you have a recipient (examples: Cyclist, Guitar Player, Nurse, etc) that you would like me to feature.
I just got a new haircut too!
4 months down. 5 months to go.
The 1st trimester was KILLER. To be completely honest, it kicked my $$$ (I would say that, but it’s not the kind of thing people said where I come from).
I was terribly nauseous for months on end, lying horizontal for most of the day. I could barely even take a shower (and you should have seen my hair!).
It’s getting better. I’m actually cooking again and staying up past 8:30pm…sometimes.
BUT I haven’t had that famous 2nd trimester burst of energy yet. Did you?
Still, I am exceedingly grateful for this new life who I feel moving inside of me. (I always feel my babies earlier than the books say I “should” be able to).
The plan is to have the baby at the local birth center w/ a midwife. I keep thinking about how lovely it would be to have a home birth, but the nearest hospital is 45min away and I have yet to receive a glowing midwife referral.
Regardless of where I end up delivering, I can’t wait to meet this little one in early April (third babies are somethin’ special so I hear…I was a third baby too). ;)
We’ll find out the gender in mid-November. Care to venture a guess?
on your 5th birthday
Dear Kayla,
Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly get any brighter, more beautiful, more daring, more kind…you turn FIVE.
And now? You startle me with your wit and creativity, your goodness and your intoxicating liveliness. Your blonde curls and beguiling blue eyes.
At five, you like noodles and fancy dresses and chapter books. You’re a literalist and would rather people not tease you (as grown-ups often are in the habit of doing).
If we go past a toy aisle at the store, you say, “I like craft supplies more than toys.” You create masterpieces out of paper plates, paints, scissors, tape, and bits of string. You deserve canvases of your own.
“Kids always follow me and do what I do,” you told me insightfully a few months ago. I honestly can’t think of a better 5-year-old to lead. You love Jesus; you insist on honesty and virtue.
Meticulous. Observant. Visionary. That’s what you are. Last week, we were talking about something at the dinner table. You added in, “Next time we travel around the world, can we…?” I don’t even remember what you asked, but Tim & I looked at each other, inspired.
I have no doubts that you’ll travel the world, my adventurer. And when you do, you will carry with you all of the things that the world desperately covets – warmth, love, and the beautiful audaciousness of hope.
Love you.
modern day prairie girls - always barefoot
I lay back on the queen size mattress, sandwiched between a lanky 5-year-old and a squishy 2-year-old. My right arm encircles my expanding belly.
Kayla hands me the book, her finger hooked at our spot.
We hold our breaths and jump in the time machine. I let the words roll off my tongue, creating pictures in our imaginations. The girls listen in rapt wonder.
Liv usually falls asleep about halfway through the second chapter. Kayla stays awake, always begging for “another one” when the chapter ends. On most nights, we read for about an hour.
For the past few months, we’ve been wrapped up in farm life – droughts and fires, sunbonnets and grasshoppers, the frying of doughnuts and the churning of butter. Tim usually listens in, caught up in the history and suspense. “This is great American literature,” he remarked without sarcasm, when we first began the series.
This week, we’ll begin the 6th book of the The Complete Little House Nine-Book Set Little House series. It seems fitting to be reading them now – as we blaze these trails, carving out a new contented life in the deserts of Arizona.
Do you read chapter books aloud to your children? Have you read the Little House series?
