Playgrounds and Growing Up

On the first day of Spring, Nathaniel and I took our son to Rita's for his very first taste of water ice. As the cool, lemony-sweet crystals dissolved on his tongue, he looked up at us with a beaming smile. It's the little things in life. Watching the world through his eyes is such a beautiful reminder of all the things we easily take for granted. Everything is new for him. Every bus that drives by is a "Bus! Bus! Bus!!!! Bye, bus." Every dog is an "Oof, oof!" When he is sad, he wants "Mum mum mum" and when he's hungry he wants "Mur" food. It's so much fun to watch.

The weather has been just beautiful recently, so we broke out the shorts today and walked over to the playground for an adventure. At first, I tried putting him on the slide by himself and holding him as he went down, but he was a little nervous about that. So I climbed up and went down the slide with him on my lap, and he liked that. After a few times going down the slide together, he was feeling brave enough to go by himself (while I held onto him). By the end, he was getting to the bottom and giggling, going "Wowwww!"


If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that these moments really do go by so quickly. I can't believe how big he's getting and how quickly he is learning things. It seems like he's learning at least one new word a day, and even how to put words together. And the photos I have of him when he was younger are so precious to me now that he's getting big. With each new day, I look back at the memories those photos provide and cherish this incredible life that we have.

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me...

And I'm feelin' good.

Spring is finally here - and with it, longer days, more sunlight (plus that extra hour we got back with daylight savings!) and the thing I've been missing most of all is on its way... warmth! Bare feet weather! How I've missed you, you'll never know! I can't wait to go on adventures with my little man and explore the world around us!

Already, I've been working on fun projects for summer - a string of paper egg-shaped bulbs to fit around white lights and hang, a gallon jug became a lantern, and right now I'm waiting for two bowls made out of Trader Joe's grocery bags to dry! At the thrift store the other day, I picked up two saloon doors for $5. I'm going to grow herbs in coffee cans and hang them from the doors. These little projects are a lot of fun and great ways to reuse things creatively.

Ready for Spring.

The irony of these shorter days is that they seem twice as long to me. Every autumn, I find myself wishing I could curl up and hibernate until the spring comes again. I'm missing long, warm days with grass between my toes and sunshine on my face.

Shooting a wedding the first weekend in October was fantastic. Seeing bright, glowing faces, happiness, love, joy, it was wonderful. Every wedding I photograph reminds me of the day my best friend became my husband.

Spring.

 Try to take time to stop and enjoy the little things. They're everywhere and they're easy to miss.