Month: May 2011

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven’t time, and to see takes time – like to have a friend takes time.” – Georgia O’Keefe

When I left the house to give birth, he was my baby.  I got home with our new baby and he had become a giant.

Watching Her SleepWhen I had my first baby, I watched as she slept and listened to her sighs.  No one else was in the house and the days were quiet.  While I gazed at her, there was a list of things in my head that should be done.  Sometimes there was even a list sitting on the table.  So, I would get up and do something.

Now there are four kids and the house is a noisy, busy place.  I don’t have as many opportunities to quietly stare at this new little one.  When I do, I drink her in.  There are still things that need to be done.  But I gaze at her peacefully, knowing that this is at the top of the list.

While I don’t feel like I must get to the laundry, getting a photograph is another story.  I have found my quiet times with our baby interrupted with thoughts of, “Maybe I could get that picture of her hand now…”  

My LoveThe tiniest clothes are worn for such a short time.  I’m the most nostalgic about them.  They are from the soft moments in the first weeks of life with a new person in the house.  Quickly, they are outgrown.  The dreamlike time with a brand new baby moves into daily life with dishes, laundry, and sibling squabbles.  

My sleepy newborn is beginning to wake up and look around a little more every day.  

Tiny FeetI’ve been struggling to get something posted here.  It’s such a full time for me and our family.  I have many thoughts and many photos but only little bits of time to work on a post.  Life with a four week is unpredictable.  My solution for this problem with household jobs is just to do a little at a time.  A few shirts and socks folded and put away.  I don’t think I’ll get the whole basket done and put away at once.  I’ll see if that works here.  Just a picture and a few quick thoughts.

Off We Go

Last summer, many trees with oak wilt were removed in the park that we visit.  In the area where the trees were cut down, there are now two large puddles.  We heard that these puddles were brimming with polliwogs.  We have been staying close to home with our tiny baby recently.  Seeing this for ourselves was just the reason we needed get out of the house together.

Indeed, I have never seen so many little tadpoles in one place.  The gathering began.  

Last summer we gathered monarch caterpillars and watched them change.  I loved watching metamorphosis when I was young but I didn’t have many larva reach adulthood in my care.   Now when I can offer it to my children, I feel like the mother I imagined myself being.  

My mother reads to children.  She wasn’t allowed to just sit and read as a child.  She needed to be doing something.  My sister in law does crafts with my kids and they love it.  I like to collect little creatures from the world and watch them.  

Maybe we’ll be seeing one of these someday soon.

Last year I was committed to capturing one image a day to share on Flickr – my 365 Project.  Doing the project changed my photography in many ways.  One important thing that changed was my willingness to carry my camera daily without knowing what I might photograph.  On the day we went to the polliwog puddles, I almost left my camera at home.  It was one of my first walks out with all four kids.  Did I really want to carry a tiny baby and a camera too?  When we got to the puddle and I saw the kids’ reflections in the puddles, I was glad I did.  I also was happy to have it later that day when the kids found a toad in the grass.  I was happy that my macro lens was on the camera so I could get that close to the little fellow.