This Is My Concentration Face

Look what I can do! Carter in the hallway SITTING UP! He just decided yesterday it's time, I guess, because the day before he couldn't do it for more than a couple of seconds.

Please Come Home Soon...

Month 5

Dear Carter,

My friend and I were talking over lunch about how everyone's favorite baby gift to give is clothing in sizes 0-6 months. We laughed about how you boys (her boy is 6 weeks older than you) had too many clothes right now, but in a pound or so, you'd have to go around naked. If it weren't for the weather, I could probably go at least another month before your superfluous wardrobe all of a sudden became barren. But Fall has plunged down upon us, and you don't have one long-sleeved shirt in the dresser.


So tonight I went shopping for some warmer clothes for you and almost before I stepped foot in the store, a strange, familiar feeling crept over me. I realized the last time I had gone shopping for baby clothes was before you were born. As I let the feeling set in - reserved yet hopeful - I remembered being filled with so much anticipation for our baby, but I always shopped with many reservations. Was it silly to be buying onesies now, when we could end up waiting for our baby for several years? Did I deserve to be buying socks, diapers, and PJs even though I wasn't pregnant? Every night I would fold and re-fold the unisex clothes I had collected, trying so hard to imagine who you would be. Trying to imagine some tiny, precious thing breathing in and out between my arms while wearing that one striped onesie or that polka-dotted sleeper.

Pure gratefulness washed over me tonight as I shopped without reservations. Tonight there was no need to feel silly or premature. Tonight I shopped for a real live baby for the first time. One who I know loves bath time, his daddy's voice, and nuzzling his face into my neck. One who absolutely prefers dinosaurs on his shirt over ducks. And as I tucked a tiny red cardigan under my arm tonight, I didn't have to wonder what it would feel like to cuddle your little body in it.



I came home to find your dad had already tucked you in to bed. I peeked in on you and watched your belly rise and fall and thought to myself, "I can't believe you're mine forever." Despite the special way we had to follow Heaven's clues to find you, you are undoubtedly a part of us, and we you... and I will never be the same.

Love,
Mommy

Behind...

I'm feeling behind in posting pictures and Carter Updates, so here are some favorites from the last couple weeks.

At the office, laughing at me pretending to sneeze. Auntie Elle discovered that trick!

Egging me on for more sneezes.

Steve documented bath time tonight and here's my favorite from it. This is the morning Carter turned 5 months old. The light in our bedroom in the morning is perfect for black+whites so I strip him down and take some every now and again. I'll post the BWs from this shoot later.

Could you die? It doesn't get any sweeter than this.

Flying

Stop it right now with the chubby knees or I'll have to bite them!

Summer Reading Recap

I have always had a hard time following rules. There's just something about The Man telling me to do things that makes me want to do the exact opposite. This is also a problem for me when setting goals for myself, because then I become my own The Man. And the (The Man) voice in my head keeps telling me to do this or do that and I just can't bring myself to obey.

My mom started a summer reading program over at InkSplasher, challenging everyone who joined to make a reading goal for summer and stick to it. This summer I've read more books than I have any other summer, and it wasn't because I set the goal. It was because I happened upon books that I just can't get enough of. That or I now crave a fictional getaway more than I have in the past. So here's the recap of my Summer Reading Thing:

1. How many total books did you read? Were you surprised by that number?
I read 7 books. It didn't surprise me while I was in the midst of it... how fast I was reading, that is. But in hindsight, 7 books in one summer is pretty significant for me:
1. Bridge to Terabithia
2. Twilight
3. New Moon
4. Eclipse
5. Uglies
6. Pretties
7. The 5th Horseman


2. How do you feel about what you read?
Love Edward. Love Jacob. Annoyed at Bella. Tally's my hero. Huge crush on Zane. Totally bubbly summer.


3. Which was your favorite book, and why?
Don't make me do this. I can only narrow to two: Eclipse and Uglies. And Twilight, because you have to love the first one.

4. Which was your least favorite, and why?
The 5th Horseman. This is the 5th book in James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series. They were never phenominal, but the plots were okay so they kept me reading. Now that the bar is a sexy vampire, I'm not going to finish the series.

5. What about your stretch book? Did you find that you enjoyed it after all? Are you planning to read more of that genre/author?
My stretch book was Uglies. I hate Sci-Fi. Still do. But the Uglies series doesn't count. I'm completely loving it.


6. Did you discover a new author that you're excited about?
Two! Stephenie Meyer rocks my world. Scott Westerfeld is even better at writing, and I love his Uglies series, but I don't know if I'll read his other stuff... just because I'm afraid it won't measure up to Uglies.

7. What did you learn about yourself through this reading experience? Was this fun?
I learned that I love vampires and my son is a werewolf. Very fun.

Come On, Fennie!

1st Haircut

Right, so before you start going off about what a bad mom I am for buzzing my 4 month old's hair off his head, you should know that he totally looked like he had a bad toupee on, because all around the edges from the ears down he was bald, and on top of his head, he had 4 inch curls. Also, we thought the longest setting on the clippers would leave it a little longer, just long enough to keep just a bit of curl. So here is the before:Here is the 'during', where he caught the hairdresser (Steve) up to date on all the latest gossip, as is the appropriate thing to do while getting your hair cut. He jabbered the whole time. Look at all that hair on the towel!

Steve made the first cut and I immediately screamed, "Oh no it's too short! UGH just keep going it's too late now."
And the after. At this point I'm crying because such a huge part of who Carter is to me, his curls, are now gone. He doesn't look like Carter anymore. Who is this baby?
A few hours later I saw my son emerge again. He's every bit as darling now as he was then, just in a different way. His cheeks look rounder and his eyes look bigger and the best part? I'm now relieved of the 5-6 daily random people in public who have to stop to tell me, "oh my gosh, your baby has so much hair!" in case I hadn't yet noticed. My life is now void of these helpful reminders. Now when I go to the grocery store I can add items to my cart in peace without anyone bugging me in that way. See, there's a new way now: "oh wow, your baby has dark hair!"

Good times, good times.

The Charleston

Go Sk*rt Yourself

I've added a "Sk*rt This" option at the end of each post. DesignMom turned me on to it. Why do I love? Because now, if you especially like something on ShrekLovesFiona, you can just click that button and put it on Sk*rt in a snap. And then all those amazing sk*rt users will come check it out. Which means my readership will grow, bringing me ever closer to world domination.

From the feedback Sk*rt has received so far, any blog or website that makes the front page of Sk*rt, apparently gets a ton of hits.

So... go create a Sk*rt account (takes 2 seconds, you don't even have to respond to a verification email) Then. Sk*rt me. Sk*rt yourself. Instructions are here.

Why it's good for you: it's free, it's easy, and you'll get a bunch of traffic when your readers list your posts on sk*rt. Why it's good for sk*rt: sk*rt wants to be associated with super-cool blogs like yours.

Enjoying

Go ye swiftly to iTunes

My Moon Has Come

twas waiting for me on my doorstep when i came home today.
goodbye world, for just a little while.

today.i.love

i love the smell of: the custom-scented lotion i created for carter: pear, egyptian musk, freesia, and a few other notes. i keep stealing it for myself.
i love the sound of: carter's laughter. steve's voice telling me about his day. colbie caillat on the ipod.
i love the taste of: fresh strawberries. only a few more weeks until they're out of season.
i love the sight of: sleek furniture, cuddly bedding right before i turn down the top and climb in, art: lately i've been inspired, inspired, inspired to stretch myself and create a little more. i used to get so much joy out of artistic and musical outlets. where has my focus gone? i've heard it whispering to me for quite some time now, but lately it's screaming for me to come back. it seems every day the last two weeks, i've been startled by a muse of some form. it's carrying me at the moment.
i love the feel of: coloring with crayons, my lips on carter's chin, being around a good, old friend.

My Inspiration For August's Masthead... (and then nothing else about the boy for the rest of the week, I swear)

Thanks to Nana Whitney, this is his new favorite thing to do while at the office with me: listen to Baby Einstein on the iPod. f'shizzle.

Waterbabies!

Yesterday my friend Chante invited me to go to the pool with her and her almost 8 month old, Brecken. It was so much fun! Carter hated the initial shock of getting in the pool, but once we were in for a few minutes, he was content turning into a prune with the rest of us. It was nice to sit and chat with my friend while our kids splashed their hands in the water. We spent an hour in the pool (reapplying sunscreen about evern 47 seconds), and then when I pulled him out, he fell asleep in the middle of me changing him into dry clothes. He slept on my chest while Chante and I talked another hour by the side of the pool.

Me as a Disney Character

I recently ran into a dear friend on Facebook that I haven't seen in five or six years. It's been so fun to recall old memories. Drew and I used to sing in choir together and I thought he was the most artistic person I knew. His dearest professional ambition was to work for Walt Disney as an illustrator/animator. I have often wondered if he made it there or not... he certainly had the talent! I'll never forget the sketchbook he carried with him everywhere. It contained (among a gazillion other things) concept art for "Disney's 12 Dancing Princesses", which he someday dreamed of animating for Disney. His inspiration for the 12 princesses were his friends, and I was honored when he drew me as one of them.

Now that we've somewhat reconnected, I have been looking at his online art gallery, which I find overwhelmingly inspiring. His talent has flourished and whenever I open the lappy to take a look, I find myself losing lots of time scrolling through his brilliant drawings. Lo and behold, last night I came across a folder in his gallery called "Disney Concept Art". My eyes fell upon a cartooned depiction of me in my prom dress (I went with Drew's best friend). My hair looks just as I remember that night and after a second of silence upon discovering the drawing, I cheered out loud with my hands in the air.

(I'm on the left. If you click you can see my name scratched into his book. He didn't finish my face in this picture, but still.)

I was so excited to see this last night! What an amazing talent, and the above picture is NOTHING! Drew's out of town and unreachable until March 2008, when he'll be back and ready for Disney to beg for him.

Here's a link to his gallery - Harry Potter fans watch out - I promise he's an even bigger fanatic than you (in fact, I sometimes wonder if he actually thinks he is HP) and he has about 100 or so little HP delights in there to gobble up.

So here's his site: Drew Graham's Gallery
And a few of my favorites are here, here, and here.