Project Life

I got the best surprise snail mail last week from my dear friend Abbe, it was perfectly timed because I just happened to be having one of those crazy busy days when the rushing around feels impossible. I love the inscription because as I'm sure you've noticed, I have been on a total flower binge lately and there are blooms in vases scattered all around the house. The necklace came with me to traffic court and was the only bit of sunshine present there that day. Would you believe they didn't have my case on the docket and so I sat there for 3 hours waiting and waiting and WAITING. Thankfully Brendan took the morning off to stay home with Oisín (who I had originally just planned on taking with me) and was even able to run carpool since all the waiting meant I wasn't available to get the girls at 11:30am. And just in case anyone is wondering, this whole thing stemmed from expired plates and not some wild and crazy speeding violation or high speed chase or anything dramatic like that. Never again, NEVER AGAIN.

Last week was a doozy, with a couple of afternoons where we had to be in multiple places at once and were literally running from one thing to the next with very little breathing room in-between, thankfully B was able to take more time away from the office otherwise I have no idea how we would have managed. Even with the team effort, even with a divide and conquer approach, it was still rushed and hectic and exhausting and I'm grateful that this week is back to our normal pace of crazy. 

Saoirse is home sick with a fever that started on Sunday morning and is still running strong. I'm not one for calling on the doctor for every little thing, but her class had confirmed cases of scarlet fever last week and so B took off AGAIN yesterday to run her in for a strep culture (did you know scarlet fever is really just a glorified strand of strep?) because of course I had a prenatal appointment scheduled during the exact same time the doctor could see her and my appointment had already been cancelled and rescheduled from last week due to the craziness I already mentioned. As I was leaving the OB's office he said, "So, can I see you in one week?" and I told him I'd call him when I go into labor. 37 weeks this past Sunday with no signs of anything happening anytime soon. We compromised and agreed I'd come back prior to delivery. Saoirse came home with negative cultures and nothing more than a virus, but better safe than sorry.

Project Life has taken flight in full force around here this past week. I thought it would be an easy fool proof way to start scrapbooking. As usual I was wrong. It is a beast, a hairy hairy beast, but simply too beautiful to turn back from now, so I'll just learn to be a bit patient with the whole thing and enjoy it when time allows. I also swapped out lenses on my camera this weekend, dusting off the Tamron 24-70 2.8 to see what she can really do. Most of these pictures are from last week though and so they were taken with my favorite (as in the only thing I ever use) lens, which is a 35mm 1.4. I promised myself that I would try to break out of my "comfort zone" and keep the Tamron on my camera for one full week, which has already been hard to stick with since it only drops down to 2.8, and just a few hours ago as Oisín was taking his bath all I wanted to do was swap lenses (just this once, I told myself) but I fought the temptation and made do and reminded myself that he'd probably take another bath one day and so I wasn't going to miss out on a once in a lifetime shot. Right? I mean, really most of my photos lately are just duplicates of us doing the same things we always do over and over again. Jury is still out on the 24-70, I want to love it, I really do, but I haven't had enough hands on time with it yet to really know if it will be sticking around long term. 

In other photography news, there will soon be a newborn here and I have been looking at newborn photography for the last few weeks trying to get ideas for at least 3 or 4 different shots I want to attempt. With Oisín I was running around after he was born trying to gather "props" postpartum (why do you think he wound up in a basket we use as a trash can on his fifth day of life?~That sounds really bad, but it was a really cute picture……). Anyways, I already have a few blankets for texture and I even bought a new basket so things are coming together nicely but there is still work to be done. I'd really love to get some of that super fuzzy fur you see in a lot of newborn shots and perhaps a few more baskets. 

And at this very moment Oisín is napping, Saoirse is watching Totoro, everyone else is at school and I'm about to go dip into some more Project Life or eat a brownie. The little girls have pictures today at ballet and so I have to try and dig up some tights that don't have holes in them but otherwise it's a fairly low-key Tuesday and I'm totally fine with that!

Close To The Nest

Another sick weekend around here, seriously can we just catch a break please? Pretty please? Or are we just getting it all out of our systems before the baby arrives? I suppose I can live with that. Random tidbits to wrap up the weekend: Maija gave me a book to read this morning. She told me about it a few days ago but then actually brought it home from her dad's house and gave it to me in the car as I dropped her and Sidhe off at school today. I feel like this is a big deal, I know I always say that, but this is the first time she's given me a book and so even though I haven't made time for much reading lately I am going to follow through with this one. Ruari read it too and both girls seemed to really enjoy it, I guess it's being made into a movie right now? Speaking of Maija she totally tore it up at the city-wide forensics meet on Saturday. She triple entered and brought home three second place trophies, one of which was for a category/piece she was attempting for the very first time. Wow.

Hmmmm, what else? Micah had a sleepover, Nuala and Oscar were both sick and stuck inside all weekend, Oisín got his first real cat scratch (which was totally accidental but still shocked the heck out of him), we finally started talking about baby names and of course I love one that Brendan hates and vice versa, I made some Goodwill magic happen and brought home a bunch of new books and board games which were put to great use (even if one of the stories brought me to tears on the couch in front of five unsuspecting kiddos), Oisín said "Sidhe" for the first time which is awesome because so far the only other name he's said is "Brenna", nesting began and I took Saoirse to a birthday party where she wanted to do nothing more than hide next to me or behind me for pretty much the entire time. I forget sometimes how shy she is. And I then I wonder if it's because there is not enough of me to give her what she needs. Which is exactly the type of self-interrogation that leads down all sorts of terrible paths and wastes valuable time along the way. In my heart I know she is fine and I just need to respect who she is and allow her the space she needs to continue spreading those wings. Somedays you're ready to dive in and other days you just need to stick close to the nest. 

Seriously you guys, she had to leave her children and return to the sea but would come and visit them at night? And bring them birthday gifts every year? I couldn't even hide the tears that morning and they know better than to ask me to read this one anymore, but Brendan has re-read it with them multiple times already. 59 cents at Goodwill never caused such an scene before.