long weekend

If every weekend was three days long I'm pretty sure my life would be perfect. 

We've had a nice time so far these few days. Even though the fourth was rainy, it cleared up for most of the important parts: the parade in the morning and the fireworks. David slept through most of the parade, despite every single noisy float/band stopping right in front of us. Oh, to sleep like a baby. What he did see he seemed to enjoy. 

(Sidenote: David's getting HUGE. Almost 20 pounds already, can you believe it?)

Later we had some friends and Mike's family over for dinner. It was fun. I have to admit though. .  the part of the evening I enjoyed most was when everyone went to the fireworks and I stayed home with a sleeping David and the dog. Now that I'm a mom, I'm finding that I have very little quality alone time. As much as I love my husband and baby, sometimes it's nice to just be by myself. So after everyone left last night, I put the ipod on shuffle, cleaned up the house, caught up on folding laundry for the first time in months, and generally just enjoyed the solitude. The fireworks go off only a few blocks from our house, so near the end I walked out onto the front sidewalk and caught a glimpse of a few. That was enough for me. 

design team call

So: scrapbooking. I do it. It's true. I think it's time I man up and stop calling it something else. But I do feel like I come to it with a different sensibility maybe? Anyway. Now that I have this special little guy in my life, it's especially important for me to write things down, remember the stories, create something for posterity. And since paper + glue is pretty much my favorite, why not scrapbook? 

I tend not to go too crazy over products, but there are a few companies that I always love. Cosmo Cricket is one of them. Their designs have a kind of fresh spirit and quirky humor and the colors are perfect in a non-traditional but very usable kind of way. I was doing a search today because I'd heard they're making fabrics of the designs (how awesome is that?) and I saw on their blog that there's a design team call. And it's due today. Nice timing, huh? I've never done something like this but I figure, hey, I love the stuff, maybe it's worth a shot. 

Links go to the original Flickr page (where I usually post my art and scrapbooking.) 

Pages from my art journal, done when I was pregnant, right after our first ultrasound. 

A recent "blowing off steam" collage. Sometimes just cutting and pasting is so soothing to me. And who doesn't love rainbow order?

My April guest design for The Art is Found. I didn't totally love this when I made it, but the more I look at it the more I really dig it. 

One of the tutorials from Rachel Denbow's summer art journal class. I'm still working through the class and really loving it. I'm trying to take it slow and savor it rather than finishing everything just for the sake of finishing. 

And a recent layout from David's scrapbook, made this past weekend. The journalling is just about the daily stuff of life with the baby. Washing bottles! Etc. 

So that's it! Just a few of my precious little paper + glue projects. 

I know it's been forever since I blogged. . . and there are two good reasons. I've been: 

1. Working so hard at my dayjob I swear my head literally spins by the end of every day. We're at the tail end of the busy season now and I feel like I'm coming up for air. I finally relaxed enough this weekend to feel kind of okay again. It's been pretty intense. It would have been pretty unbearable if not for the fact that I've also been. . . 

2. Hanging out with the most awesome baby of all time. Seriously, David is such a good boy and now that he's 5 months a lot of things have smoothed out and we're just cruising along. He's so happy and fun to be around. We feel soooo lucky. Ahh, happiness. 

the end of May

update! i returned the skirt. I figured $70 for something I'll wear once or twice a month in the summer isn't worth it. Instead I bought this one

which I assume I will wear at least 8,000 times. Seriously, I love a good denim skirt. 

Everything else in life is just flowing along. For some reason I've been having a harder time dropping David off at daycare. . . He is just so amazingly cute these days that I hate to not be around him much during the day, especially when work is challenging, as it has been this week. But I am thankful that the time we do have together is so much fun. 

May is always my favorite month and I'm sad to see it coming to an end. Springtime is the best and it always seems so short. 

oh, decisions

So I bought this skirt from Anthropologie. I got a gift card for Christmas and it's been burning a hole in my wallet ever since I lost (um. . . most of) my baby weight. Even though I love about a million things on their website, I just decided to order something and satisfy my fancy new clothes craving.

I really like it, but it's not exactly what I thought it would be, and it doesn't quite match anything else I own. At this point there are two options: 1. Buy a new blouse and shoes to go with it. or 2. Return it. I do love having an excuse to buy more clothes, but really, is it a valid excuse?

Any suggestions?

There are many other more important things to blog about, but its nice to throw in some fluff every once in a while, you know? 

he's got a lot to say

I think David has discovered consonants. I love this kid. Even his voice is adorable!

By the way, I'm classing it up a bit and changing most of my internet usernames to my actual name. My tumblr is now katielicht.tumblr.com. I might even switch the blog over at some point. . . but that's a huge pain, so we'll see. 

lovely afternoon

I had a long day at work today but it was a lovely spring evening at home. David was super sleepy when i picked him up at daycare, and he went down for a little nap when we got home around 5. Thank you angelic baby! I had a half hour to myself to just sit on the patio and unwind. David woke up right around when Mike came home, and we sat outside for a while and went for a little walk around the block. The weather was beautiful and it was the best way to end my day. 

mother's day, this year and last

I want to preface this photo by saying, it's an OLD photo. I'm definitely NOT pregnant again. :)

This is what we were doing a year ago on Mother's day. Even though this is my first official Mother's Day, it was definitely something last year. 

Where would any of us be without our mothers? Now that I have a child of my own I'm amazed by my parents. Amazed by any parent that turns out a halfway decent, normal, happy child. It's a daunting task, but not without it's charm. 

Especially this particular charm. The end result of those two little lines, one year later.