The Circus!

This past weekend we were given free tickets to the circus. While for me the circus is...eh... it was so fun spending time together. This elephant was the coolest part. Recently Jackson's been hearing "sweetie I can't do that because of the baby" a lot. I mean my back aches blah di blah but I felt like this ginormous elephant blew away all of my lame excuses. If he can stand on his legs like that for like 45 seconds then maybe I can spend another 20 minutes crawling on the floor.

Amazingly though Jackson wasn't blown away and spent a big part playing peek-a-boo with my now dumped out bag. I think he just assumes anybody can fly on that trapeze.

jackson, pretend like you're sleeping with daddy.

good pretending

Sewing machine...today we were friends.

We're not always good friends. I've been debating at what point i needed to pack my sewing stuff. It's not mandatory but it's always on my mind about what i need/want to get done. To pack it would basically mean all projects with a deadline probably wouldn't get done. I wasn't quite ready to give up on some though. I finished Lori's toy bags for my final pay it forward project. Then I looked at the stacks of squares for Jackson's blanket. I wanted to give it to him for Christmas. It looked like packing was going to win. I assembled the boxes to start loading them up. Pulled out the machine then before I knew it I was sewing at the kitchen table. Spontaneous sewing stresses me out b/c i'm bound to make giant mistakes. Today, however, I just kept going with few mentionable earthshattering mistakes. It makes me so good when projects transform from lots of little pieces to a big piece. It makes it feel like the end is near. (even though its not even close) but its still fun to look at progress. so I guess i'm saying, thank you sewing machine for loving me today and not making me regre hasty decisions.
It's only the fun part of the quilt top. I still have serious inspections/corrections to make.

This is us 5 years ago

on our honeymoon.

We didn't have a camera so we took a disposable camera that we never got developed until our five year anniversary. Some how it just kinda never got done. It became one of Jackson's toys.... I don't know. These pictures make me happy. Happy that we're still happy. Happy that despite the fact it was pre-digital camera I didn't have my eyes closed in one single picture. Happy that as a sign of kinda how low-key we are we went to Nashville for our honeymoon. Happy that as another sign of how low-key we are we still own and wear most of those clothes. Happy that even though its been five years (which i realize is nothing) so little has changed. I mean the world has changed a lot around us. But between us, where it matters the most, nothing has changed. Strengthened, totally, but constant.

Oh and for the record, for our five year anniversary, which I hear is the paper anniversary, we totally knocked it out of the park and are under contract to buy a house! I've never been more scared in my life but the excitedness is slowly, slowly creeping in.

Sometimes Brent struggles getting to work on time.

maybe this is a reson.

I want to buy a house.

sort of. It's such a huge decision. I know the market is perfect right now for first time home buyers. I've spent....an embarassing amount of time....looking for houses. Trying to figure out what we can afford. What we need out of our house. What we want out of our house. Unfortunately, I have these big, too big, dreams of what I want. I'm realizing though that this most likely won't be our one and only house. a starter home. so I'm pleading with you. What is highest on the list? bedrooms? kitchen? bonus? square footage? yard? proximity to work/shopping? pantry? neighbors? I know I'm kinda an introvert so I think a neighborhood pool would help me meet neighbors. Is that silly? Just tell me you homeowners. What did you feel like you most appreciated/used/needed/lacked from your first house.

The giving tree

.I told Jackson I had to do dishes so I couldn't play (two posts in row of me putting him off to clean!) He told me he was going to read to me.

PS It's really quiet.

I hope that giving is always practiced in our home. My lesson: give my time.

here i am!

That's what my camera said when I found it yesterday. It had been hiding for the whole month of september. I decided to celebrate winning hide and seek by posting. just cause.

So yesterday I grounded myself from the computer so I'd get some things done. (like finding my camera) it had been sucking out my soul. I had a lot of cleaning to do so I wasn't finished when Jackson woke up from his nap. I kept telling him to follow me and he could help me with my chores. He just wanted to go play in his room. Then he comes in and says "Mommy come on! I made a BIG BIG MESS!" these are words I fear.

This is what I found. He'd knocked over his stack of library books, added a blanket, pencil, and puzzle piece to the "disaster." Yeah, sometimes its nice to have a child that wasn't more creative with his I'll-get-moms-attention-by-making-a-mess scheme.
I don't have a scanner so I just took a picture of my ultrasound. We did this a few weeks ago. We've decided to wait to find out the babies gender. We found out with Jackson but thought this would be fun. I know its just an ultrasound. A black and white picture of a baby that could be anybody's. I get all emotional though looking at it. I'm so so excited. I think more so with this one than Jackson because I have a clue about what mommy love is. With Jackson I didn't know how to interpret my feelings and nerves and stuff. With number #2 though I can attach this strong feeling of love that I've experienced before to this new person I haven't met and I just stinkin' can't wait. I'm crying now. typical. I love you baby!