beauty, on or around, november 7

*hearing duncan sheik on the radio
*the handsome guy at great harvest ringing me out-i can't talk to boys anymore-i babble and say dumb things-and yes, jere knows about this and just laughs at me
*making pumpkin pie
*having a friend come to visit and loving all the art in my house-saying that i inspire her
*buying cheap books at tj maxx (martha stewart classic cooking for 6.99!!)
*j giving me an afternoon off
*wins sleeping from 7.30 at night until 6.30 am 3 nights in a row
*eating dinner with friends-shrimp and grits, sweet potato fries, and pumpkin pie-an absolutely divine meal
*the weather-in the 70's but crisp and fall-y
*catching up on my blog reading

octoberness

whoops. loaded these pictures backwards. well, if you care about chronological order, scroll to the bottom and work your way up. if not, start here.

w in his father's costume of choice. a football player of course. thanks mom, for the unintentional, but completely adorable leatherheads helmet.

w as a lion. ohmygoodness, it was cute.

w's first snow! daddy was sad he missed it so we documented it.

grandmother has the magic touch.

cousin finners. love that little half smile.

the cousins play for the first time.

grammy and wins.

w in his blessing outfit, the day AFTER his blessing because momma was too airheaded and distracted the day of to take a proper picture.

winston's blessing day. we like to think that he looks a LITTLE like he's laughing...

i so know what this feels like.

the sweet hub's 30th birthday. (our first family portrait-i think it's a good prediction of portraits to come, eh?)

'nough said.

and to top off our random assortment of pictures, fish tacos (if you haven't already figured it out, when i do something good, i like to document it so that i remember that i CAN do it later).

october was lovely. a visit home, birthdays, several firsts, snow, a couple costume changes. fall is sublime.

oh and p.s., i should just admit now that, despite what i said several posts ago, this blog is most likely going to be largely pictures of the babe with the occasional random thought from me on the side. he's what's interesting in my life right now. sorry.

i'm weird

so. there are some things that i really REALLY wish i was good at. like dancing. and art. and being spontaneously creative. i love seeing other people who are really good at these things. i really do. but sometimes, it makes me cry, quite literally, to see how talented other people are. i'm not exactly sure of all the reasons that this makes me cry but i think it's because 1-i wish i was them, with that talent, 2-i feel that, at some point, i COULD have been as good as they are, had i had the training and the natural ability and 3-simply because of the beauty of it. does this make any sense at all? example: jere's little sister is an unbelievable dancer. she's in a dance troupe, odyssey, in salt lake and recently performed in their fall show called "thriller" (yes, mj's thriller). the opening number is the show's namesake and, wait for it...yep, it made me cry. people dressed in torn tights and scraggly wigs and bloody makeup made me cry. watching them share their amazingness, being able to exude through their bodies how much they love their craft, wishing so much that i could do that, made me cry. again, this probably makes no sense. but it happens over and over. i get sad over the things i wish i could do. i know it's somewhat pathetic. i'm not saying i don't think i'm talented. i do. but i'm good at the things I'M good at, you know? sometimes, i want to be good at the things that other people are good at.

marshmallow test

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

i laughed all the way through this.
thanks andrea.

winston, of late

this is possibly my favorite picture to date. he looks so sneaky/sweet.

i laugh every time i look at this picture. he just looks so...is there a word for this expression?

bringing back the belly shirt, one outfit at a time.

in one of his more mellow moments.

winston got a bath for his one month birthday. lucky boy.

here are some of the pictures of our little man from the last few weeks. he's almost two months old already! that blows my mind. it never ceases to amaze me that he was inside of me and now is a fully functioning little baby (as much as a baby can function on their own, i suppose...). and i had almost nothing to do with it (besides the obvious things). it's funny how having him has changed my perspective on some simple, basic things. for example: i consider myself to be somewhat of a hopeless romantic and upon hearing any song that seems remotely sweet, i automatically assume it was written about love between a couple. but today i was listening to "calico skies" by paul mccartney and i thought something totally different.

"it was written that i would love you
from the moment i opened my eyes
and the morning when i first saw you
gave me life under calico skies

i will hold you for as long as you like
i'll hold you for the rest of my life"

i still think that this is a sweet, romantic song but now, i can hear a different meaning in it. now, i'm not saying that my life had no meaning before wins was born, that things really only began for me when he was born. on the contrary-i was totally scared and, before i got pregnant, pretty reluctant to have kids. and happy with my life and being the center of my husband's attention. but since he's been here, things have just sort of expanded. there's more room in my heart (i know, i know, that sounds totally schmultzy). it's true though-your capacity to love stretches tenfold when you have a baby. you can lose hours of sleep for days on end, you can be spit up on and peed on and pooped on (all of which are fairly projectile-TMI? it's reality, people), you can listen to their screams until you think you've blown an ear drum, and still. they smile at you and it all disappears. i'm not saying it's easy-it's far from it. FAAAAR from it. but man, he's adorable. and he's mine.

random question

i have a question i want to throw out there to the universe: why is it that whenever i am buying something like breast pads or lanolin (nipple cream) or bags for breastmilk or pads/tampons/feminine products, my checker is always a teenage boy? seriously. i'm probably making a bigger deal out of this than is necessary, but it's somewhat embarrassing for me and awkward, i'm sure, for him. what cruel cosmic entity is getting a kick out of this? thus burns the eternal question...

?

so i always said that i would never turn my blog into an all baby blog. and i'm still going to try to keep some of me visible. but c'mon people, look at this outfit. how stinking cute is he? is this onesie not to die for? my lovely friend, emily, made it and two others that are just as cute. i think she should start her own business. and the babylegs are compliments of another good friend, ashley. thank you ladies! you've made wins a super stylish dude. (p.s. maybe my favorite thing is that the babylegs are way too big on him. i had to roll them up at the bottom because his little legs are too scrawny.)