kapachino

Blog

  • Currently

    I’ve been in reading/book cataloguing/organizing mode. This is my to-read shelf, and here’s what’s on it.

    Time // 1:45 p.m.
    Place // on break at work
    Eating // for lunch we were brought a delicious chicken in a creamy sauce over rice
    Drinking // afternoon coffee (my caffeine addiction has taken itself up a notch)
    Watching // nothing since the Olympics ended
    Reading // Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (for book club, on the Kindle) and Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenthal (from the library)
    Wanting // to finish cataloging our book collection and make the library into a happy place
    Thinking // about painting our front door
    Creating // a cross stitch I’ve been working on for ages, and fiddling around with hand illustrating a new blog header myself
    Hoping // to pay off some debt and save some money now that we’ve dropped a car payment (long story)
    Needing // to make the switch from our bank to a local credit union
    Anticipating // the arrival of my new cold coffee press that I ordered recently

  • project life 2012 : weeks 27 – 28

    So far still combining two weeks into one spread and it’s working well for me.

    These weeks aren’t my most inspired or colorful, but that’s okay. It’s what happens when I have to finish them on a week night after a busy work day. I’m just grateful for a husband who likes to take the baby on errands with him to give me some time to myself.

    Stuff is kind of out of order here. I took a close-up of Meredith’s feet to signify her taking her first steps, and I will probably dedicate more to her walking on the next week since that’s when she really took off. On the bottom is a picture of David and I when we were hanging out watching the Olympics together on a night that Meredith went to bed early. It doesn’t happen often so I had to document it. At work I did an interview with my mentor and we made it into the hospital magazine so I cut out our picture to include.

    At some point I received a book in the mail (from Bookmooch) and I cut out the stamps on the package. Then I wanted to highlight a perfect little moment I had with Meredith one day, so I gave it its own pocket.

    I got a picture of me writing in a patient’s chart at work – several things from work made it in this week and usually there are none – and included an update on the cross stitch project I’m working on. Of course I had to do a little summary of VEDA since that’s a big part of my life at the moment, and then there’s also a photo of me and my two best coworker-friends, one of whom just transferred somewhere closer to home.

    I used a lot of neutrals this week so next I think I need some color!

  • fun.

    I had such a fun weekend. Meredith walked. On Saturday it was just three steps and I didn’t know when she’d repeat it, but on Sunday she took off and I knew it was the real deal. Seeing the exhilarated smile on her face makes me so happy; I know it’s the natural course of development but I have never felt so proud.

    We played together a lot over the weekend, which I am enjoying more and more. She is doing purposeful things with her toys now instead of just throwing them or eating them. She is interacting with me better and showing such joy. And as a follow up to my last post, we started a bedtime routine with her and for three nights in a row now she’s fallen asleep without needing to be driven.

    Other weekend things: A few weeks ago I started a weekly ritual of making pancakes from scratch. It’s easy and yummy. I read a lot, and finished The Age of Innocence. I started cataloging and organizing my books, and even though it will probably take me weeks to finish, I am loving the process of laying hands on all my books again. David and I went on a date to see The Dark Knight Rises. I hung out with a coworker-turned-friend, and recorded a day in the life for VEDA.

    There are some things hanging over my head these days, but for the most part life is good and I am choosing to see that.

  • Sleeping Baby.

    Photographing a sleeping baby is a sickness. I just can’t help it.

    She’s a good sleeper, she is. Not so great at naps, but after the first couple weeks I have only felt sleep deprived a handful of times. I will never fail to appreciate this gift.

    She sleeps most of the night beside me and has since birth. We are happiest that way (even my husband!), and it’s easy, and it makes me feel more connected to her after being away so long during the day.

    But if there’s ooooone little thing I could request, it’s that she wouldn’t resist GOING to sleep so much. She has had a late bedtime for awhile now, and I didn’t fight it because it wasn’t worth it. But lately she gets super grumpy and tantrum-y when she’s tired and I don’t like it one bit. The only thing that puts her to sleep consistently is taking her for a drive, and we have to resort to that a lot. The other thing that works is nursing her, but not even that has been successful lately.

    I know there are so many things coming into play here – her development and growing teeth come to mind immediately – and usually we can deal. But if you have had a similar experience, I’d love to hear about it. I don’t even need advice, just let me know I’m not alone!

  • a first birthday scrapbook

    Like I mentioned in Meredith’s first birthday post, the thing that was most important to me about the event was doing something to remember it by, including a sort of guest book. After all, she won’t remember the party, and I knew it would be a blur for me, too. (It was.)

    At first I tried to think of something unusual, but in the end what I kept coming back to was a simple scrapbook, because that’s what I love. My idea was that I’d buy an Instax Mini camera, have everyone take a picture with Meredith at the party, then decorate a page and write her a note. (This idea may or may not have been influenced by the fact that I’ve wanted an excuse to buy an Instax for awhile now.)

    So that’s what we did!

    I set up a station with instructions and supplies, thusly:

    There was also a box with color coordinating papers. Then I just went around telling people what to do. My husband was great and took the camera around and made people take pictures. He knew how important this scrapbook was to me and he made it happen! (That M was a chipboard letter that I covered with washi tape.)

    The result was amazing! Everyone made a page except for one family (my aunt, uncle, & cousin) who were late.

    The nice thing is that by the end of the party it was done! It gave people something fun to do while they were there and now Meredith will have a special book to look back on.