estrogen in abundance

As of one in the morning when we arrived home from the airport, four generations of Keith women were together again in Colorado. Grandma, Mom, Aunt Lori, Meghan, Sarah, baby Charlotte (still in Mommy's tum) and I spent the day doing one of our favorite things - thrifting! I think we all walked away with a treasure of one kind or another. Meghan became my personal shopper since her 7th month of pregnancy has left her in the too-big-to-buy-anything-new state. I'm lovin' it. She found me some hot items!




After our Goodwill run we stopped at Panera for lunch and then hit Gymboree where we found adorable matching turtle outfits for Sarah and Charlotte to wear when they're together over Christmas. Can't wait for that!

Here are a few shots from our day together. My personal favorite is Sarah's greeting from her Grandma this morning.

I was inspired.

Everyday I check a few of my favorite blogs. Not even neccessarily people I know, just people whose religious insights I enjoy, photography I admire, or friends of friends. Tara Whitney's photography is amazing and today I was especially inspired by this. So Aunt Lori and I cleared the living room, stripped the baby, and created a moment. Here's what we came up with. I have to say, I love it.



And let's just say the coffee table got an extra moisturizing layer today, if you know what I mean.

a doll from Great Grandma

Grandma Dixie and I were up bright and early this morning waiting for Sarah to wake up. of course, she chose today to sleep until 7. When the sleepyhead finally roused she was greeted by three surprises - her Great Grandma, her Great Aunt Lori, and a NEW dolly! This is the first doll she's shown an interest in. It's kind of sad. Dollies are for big girls, not my little baby girl. Anyway, it's been great fun watching Sarah and her new friend playing together. Mainly Sarah enjoys chewing on her hand. Dolly doesn't seem to mind.

just another day together

Sometimes it seems like the days run together, they're always the same. Washing bottles, picking up toys, lunch with a friend, quick stop at the grocery store, naptime.

But then I look at you and realize that you're changing everyday. Doing new things everyday. Tugging at a different part of my heart everyday. I'm learning to find joy in the mundane, in the sameness of our days. Because I love being here with you for just another day together.

Here are some of our moments from today.





You sure are fascinated by Mommy's face.

And, you liked supervising Caroline's roll-over lessons...




This cold, yucky April weather gave you a chance to wear your super-cute Baby Gap outfit from Ms. Kathy (Alexander). Thanks, Ms. Kathy!!




Can't wait for "just another day together". Aunt Lori and Great Grandma are arriving tonight...so exciting!

the girl with a million photographs

That's Sarah - the girl with a million photographs. What in the world will we do with all of these pictures? So far we've collected them on the blog, in her scrapbook, in her baby book, on slideshow DVDs put to music, as screensavers, in frames, in wallets, the list goes on and on!

Last night Brent and I were having great fun photographing the pigbear and trying to capture her sucking on her toes. We were both on our hands and knees in her room, with her wriggling around sandwiched between us, each trying to get the perfect shot. About mid-way through I realized, "hey, the real moment to capture here is Daddy lovingly photographing his baby girl." Hence, this shot...



I thought I was very clever. Apparently, I wasn't the only person in the room with that idea. Hence, this shot from Daddy...




I've been really proud of Brent and his recent interest in figuring out his "new" camera. He's gotten some great shots lately. Here are a couple of my favorites of Sarah with her RaeRae... she loves that little lovey!

love, love, love

She loves the mommy-daddy bed. Just loves it.

hangin' with Dad

After a particularly harried day with the Pigbear yesterday and just a long week in general I pleaded with Brent to take Sarah somewhere, anywhere away from me. Of course it doesn't take much pleading to get him to want to spend time with his baby girl so he strapped her into the Baby Bjorn and promptly took her outside to do some yardwork. After spending a quality five minutes of alone time I started to feel a little left out so I snuck outside to see what they were doing. Here's what I found...





After watering all of our half-dead-but-hopefully-just-dormant bushes they decided to go for a little stroll. Hmmmm...



And, as to be expected from a little girl who woke up from her afternoon nap an hour early, here's what I found upon their return...



Nothing like hangin' with (or on) Dad!

my girls minus one

Last night we had book club at Samantha's to discuss Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. It was interesting. Bizzare. Slightly disturbing. The group was pretty evenly split on who liked it and who loved it. I was firmly in the "like" camp. I was wishing for an entirely different second half of the book. Too bad adults don't read "choose your own ending" adventures anymore. I would have liked to choose my own ending.

Anyway, here is my bookclub that I love, love, love. Jodi is absent from the picture since she moved to Philadelphia a few months back but she still "phones in", as she did last night. It's so great to hear her voice and laugh with her but it's also sad to have a cell phone sitting in the spot where she should be. I guess that's what we get for starting a book club full of military girls.



from left to right, top to bottom: Gina, Susie, Samantha, Jennifer, Pigbear's Momma, Liz, Amy, Brandy. Love you girls!

pretty, prissy, and petty in pink

Sarah was pink today from head to toe. Not exactly mommy's thing but I do have to admit that she looked adorable. But apparently pink turns Sarah into a little prissy, petty baby girl (or maybe it was the bow?). We went to playgroup at Colleen's house and Sarah did quite a bit of screaming. Colleen was kind enough to introduce Sarah to Noah's jumparoo which she loved. What she didn't love, however, was when she was removed from it and another baby was placed in. Not happy.



And as it turns out, all the baby girls were dolled up in pink today...check out Caroline's mischevious grin!



and I could photograph these two all day...aren't they perfect?



Tonight is book club (hooray!) and we're having a little photo shoot. Wish Jodi could be with us (miss you girl!). I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

a few things

My dear cousin Jared reminded me just yesterday that the little moments in life are what make our existence so meaningful. The cup of hot chocolate, the feel of your child's sweet little hand on your face, the coolness of your pillow when you first slide into bed. Little things make up our lives. There's a quote that I've always loved that says "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." So true.

I'm trying desperately to document the little moments in the life of my family, hoping that Sarah (and all the pigbears to come) will look back and know that they are loved and that God is good. This blog is helping me to do that. So is my pretty pink calendar that I LOVE. I bought it at the end of '05 with the intention of jotting down notes each day of the things we did, important milestones, things that made me smile. Then I lost it. Until two weeks ago. It was hiding behind a row of books on the bookshelf. Stinks that I lost four months in my pretty pink calendar but I think it was also a gift because now I'm even more determined to write in it everyday.

I also love scrapbooking the little moments. The things I don't want to forget. The things I want Sarah to know. There are tons of super sites that I pillage for ideas but I rarely post my work. I get too caught up in what other people think my pages should look like, rather than how I want to remember my moments. They're mine. I scrap them my way. But I thought I'd share a few of my latest favorites with you all...

yum yum

Here are some shots of Sarah enjoying her first food - brown rice cereal. She's a big fan of "feeding herself" which basically means grabbing the spoon and thrusting it towards her face. I'm a little afraid she's going to put out an eye. Needless to say we both end up with sticky, dried porridge all over us by the time we're finished. Yesterday Sarah decided to rub her tired eyes mid-meal which made a nice eyelash paste.




Such a pretty little girl, such a mess. J.J. - I think at this rate, we'll just skip spaghetti.

Easter Joy

I hope you all experienced some Easter Joy throughout your day today. A few days ago when I posed the question about how to balance American Easter and Christian Easter I was reminded that Easter morning is about JOY. The JOY of a people who have seen their savior risen from the dead. The JOY of new life. The JOY of friends and family. And the JOY of a child's face upon discovering that Easter eggs are filled with marvelous treasures, and so is the empty tomb. So I'd like to share with you some of my Joys on this Easter...

Things I Can't Get Enough Of...

1. these eyes




2. watching Brent and Sarah play together




3. video clips like this