Catch the Moment 366 – Week 8

050 | Feb 19, Fri – Homer’s birthday party! Oh my goodness. I had plans to start inside first, then outdoors at a park. But the indoor space I’d chosen was full when we arrived, and outside, it was raining. But if Pacific Northwest-ers let the rain stop them, we’d never have any fun. So here’s a few rainy birthday party photos!

Catch the Moment 366 – Week 7

043 | Feb 12, Fri – Here’s Homer with his new jacket from our local Buy Nothing chapter. I picked it up expecting a different color, but he actually really liked everything about it, from the color to the “fuzzy softness.” He’s so adorable!

2015 End of Year Wrap Up

For weeks, I’ve been intending to revamp my blog, to start actually writing here. I feel a bit guilty about just completely dropping the ball on my photo project this year. It was a few weeks, maybe even months, before I realized I wasn’t going to catch up. So I finally conceded, and thought, ok, time to drop the photo project, and start actually writing. And then that didn’t happen. And now, hey, it’s almost the new year, which means it’s the perfect time to revamp everything. New headers, new about me page! And then… I still had to write! Ha. The downfall of writing – actually having to sit down and do it.

Truer words were never spoken, Mr. Gaiman.

So here I am – to write, to get things down, to begin again, to step forward, one foot still in 2015, the next lifted and in ever-moving-slowly-forward motion stepping frame by frame into the first moments of 2016. And in the pause of that step, over the threshold of the new year, I’ll take a moment to reflect on the year as a whole. (If I can remember back that clearly! I swear, it’s a wonder if I can remember last week much less the whole year, but let’s see where this takes us!)

In 2015…

I started and ended therapy with a psychiatrist. She was pretty great in many ways, but ultimately, she had a very rigid cancellation policy that caused more anxiety than she was helping me overcome. I learned a lot with her, how to dig deep to examine my emotions more, and how to stand up to her and say “This isn’t working for me.” That was hard as hell, but I’m glad I did it. Will I go see someone new? I’m considering it. I think therapy is great for most people, so it’s a good thing to seek out.

My little boy started preschool! We had gone to a type of preschool in California, but it had been long enough that it felt like starting completely new. It’s been so sweet an experience! I am glad to be part of a co-op, in which I get to participate and be around the kids, and be part of the class as a whole, along with the other parents who are all doing the same thing, too. It’s a really cool experience!

I had kidney stones for the first (and let’s hope ONLY) time! That was absolutely horrendous. Just completely freaking awful. I had no idea they were like that.

Relatedly, I became a vegetarian. I am really happy with this decision, and may write a bunch more on that soon!

My sweet little guy weaned. It’s been six months, but he still gets sad about it every so often. He’s so cute. Breastfeeding a 4 yr old is another subject that should be its own blog post, really! (This is becoming a list of things I ought to delve into more fully!!)

Speaking of my little guy – he had surgery for the first time too! Holy hell, that was a crazy frickin’ ride, but at least we got through it as smoothly as possible.

I did NaNoWriMo again, and in starting a new novel, my brain finally spat out the plot to my old novel. So my brand new novel may or may not ever take off, and my old novel may actually become a complete finished first draft. So, a draft of suckitude, as all first drafts are, but a completed first draft of suckitude, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Then there comes the editing, which… hell. Whew. Ok, I won’t think of that just yet! One step at a time.

I made lots of handmade stuff for Christmas, which was fun. Not every gift was handmade, but several were, and it was fun getting crafty this holiday season!

And saving the best for last, I got to be there for the birth of my new baby nephew!! That was so… just amazing. So, so amazing. I am still speechless, months later. It means the absolute world to me that I got to be there to witness something so extraordinary, that I could assist my wonderful friend/sis-in-law with various things that come up during birth. And even help my brother, too. I got to be included in the birth team, and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I’m forever grateful to be part of it. And I LOVE my nephew! He has the cutest smile and most scrumptious cheeks ever. (I’m staring at his photo framed on my desk now, one of my awesome Christmas presents from my family!) I got to be part of his very first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas festivities too! Such a smitten auntie I am, seriously!!

I also have a new baby niece, Winnie!! I’m so excited to have her in the family, and can’t wait to meet her in person!

My big fear now is that I’m forgetting something absolutely massive and I’m going to accidentally hurt someone’s feelings. That’s one of the hardest parts of writing online, honestly – that fear! Please know that I care deeply about my friends and family, always, always, and never want to hurt anyone or leave anyone out. Hopefully this is a decent wrap up, and I’ll leave it at that.

So much love to all of my friends and family, and anyone else who happens to be reading this too, and wishing you all a VERY Happy New Year!!!

100th Blog Post!

This is my 100th blog post at this site! I wanted to do something for it, because apparently, it is in online writers’ DNA to want to do something fun for these blogging milestones. I mused about it on facebook, and someone suggested 100 things I love, and then she suggested 100 things I hate. Ha! That did help though, because I realized I could do ten lists of ten things each. Hopefully it’ll be fun to read, and fun for me to write too. Here we go!

10 Things I Love:
1. My family & friends
2. Animals
3. Music
4. Sunsets & Thunder (I am cheating by having two weather-y type related thingies here… because I can! muahahhaha!)
5. Laughing
6. Peaceful alone time
7. Writing
8. Reading
9. Photography
10. Birth & Babies

Catch the Moment, Week 17

Day 113 | April 23, Thurs – This street was so cute for taking a nice walk together!