a little update, iPhone style

I think this may have been the longest blogging hiatus I've ever taken -- nearly two months! I think that the longer I didn't blog, the easier it's been not to blog. I just kept putting it off, because so many other things have demanded my attention lately. Well, here I am, back again. I'm determined to pound out a post and just get going. My advance apologies for any rough prose that follows -- Charlie's coughing in his bed, midway through his nap, so I don't think I'll have time to go back and look for typos :)

And so, without further ado... my life as of late, iPhone style!

***

Is there anything better than watermelon in the dead of winter?

Nope. (And Charlie agrees with me.)

Even though I paid too much for it. It was totally worth it.

On Wednesday afternoons, you'll find us at my grandma's house,

drinking tea with cousins and listening to ancient Irish poems read in my grandma's lilting accent.

p.s. "lilting" sounds nice, doesn't it? 

:)

Here's 90% of the reason I didn't blog for the month of February:

Charlie and I like to pass our time at different local coffee shops,

sipping coffee (no, not the 2-year-old) and nibbling on scones.

Our visits are usually short, and typically end in one of us throwing a tantrum.

(In order to protect the voiceless, I won't say who throws most of the tantrums.)

We've been hanging at both my parent's and my in-law's houses a lot.

Here's Charlie with his beloved Uncle Dan.

(They're watching Elmo at this point, if I correctly recall...)

I also learned that I married a big, giant cheeseball,

in the best, awesomest way possible :)

(he did this one night on our bedroom floor, with Bananagram tiles)

I got a haircut!

Haircuts are awesome.

I've decided, since I'm somewhat of a responsible adult now,

I'm going to get regular haircuts.

This makes me feel incredibly grown-up, in a very good (and silly) way.

Charlie turned TWO! WOW!

Can you believe it, I didn't even post about it?

We celebrated his birthday with

chocolate chip pancakes

an Elmo balloon

a trip to the zoo

a visit to great-grandma's

and dinner at McDonald's with some of his most favorite people in the world.

How is it possible that I have a 2-year-old?

Amazing :)

We've been Skyping a lot with Auntie Anna and Uncle Steve.

They live in Minnesota, and Charlie misses them.

He also misses their pet turtle, Franklin.

(I think, maybe sometimes more than he misses Anna and Steve.)

One day, Charlie discovered a dry-erase marker in the drawer next to his high chair.

When I wasn't looking, he drew all over his tray.

We thought it was great, and I took a picture :D

Charlie's favorite, favorite birthday gift? 

A giant bin of plastic food.

He takes his favorite "foods" with him wherever he goes, tucked away in a plastic container.

The library.

Grandma's house.

On walks.

In the car.

Everywhere.

It's a serious obsession :)

Another reason for the lack of posting:

We got really, really sick.

We all had the flu for almost two weeks,

and Charlie ended up with an ear infection.

 It was the worst thing ever.

Charlie was up all night, and cried for most of the day.

I cried a lot, too. It was so sad.

One way we distracted him is by putting birthday candles into everything he ate.

He loves singing Happy Birthday and blowing out candles,

especially when pancakes are involved :)

Here's what our bathroom sink looked like for two weeks.

Medicine, everywhere.

(The sight of a runny nose, or the sound of coughing, or any other "sick" symptoms

now strike wretched fear into this momma's heart.)

 

On to happier times:

we actually got snow!!

This has been the weirdest Chicago winter ever.

We're also attempting this...

It's not really going. He just likes to sit on his potty and look at books.

Still. It's something.

And, we've got a new tradition.

On Fridays, Charlie and I go to Starbucks.

He gets chocolate milk. I get coffee.

We celebrate making it through another week.

I now love Fridays for a whole new reason :)

And finally, what's a super-long, random, slightly annoying blog post without a little reward at the end?

Here's our big news, and yet another reason why blogging has been at a standstill:

!!!!

Oh yeah.

Baby #2, due September 2nd.

Watch out.

It's starting all over again :)

So, how's that for an update?!

More blogs coming soon!

facebook + like = coffee!

Hi all,

I just got around to creating a Facebook page for Sherah G Photography.

So here's the deal.

If you "like" the Sherah G Photography page (click here!)

between now and Tuesday, January 17th at midnight,

I'll enter you into a drawing for a

$20 gift card to Starbucks.

Woohoo!

(And, if you're not a coffee lover,

you can have one of their breakfast sandwiches.

Or, you can give the gift card back to me next Christmas.)

:)

And p.s.  

If you've already "liked" the page,

thank you!!

You're automatically entered!

******
UPDATE:

Thanks so much everyone for liking the FB page (...and Starbucks, of course!).
The winner of the gift card is...
Bob Landon!

Charlie + sink

I'm learning some of the reasons why people say being a mom is a lot of work.

Yes, yes. I'm well aware of the sleepless nights, the diaper changes, the discipline games, the eat-this-piece-of-broccoli-so-help-me standoffs. But it's the intentionality that's starting to get me. Sometimes, Charlie and I sit there and stare at each other. And I think, Wait. I'm the Mom. I'm supposed to come up with something educational/productive/entertaining for us both to do? At this very moment? 


Shoot.

Compounding the problem? The fact that, in my own house, I'm an anti-mess sort of person. Clean up after yourself -- or better yet, yeah... just don't do anything that requires cleaning up.

(Note the point of conflict between my lofty ideals and a one-year-old.)

So, I'm starting to learn how to get messy. Some parents can let their kids dump dirt on the floor and just clean it up later. Others do scrapbooking and cutting and gluing on the dining room table, with little scraps of pink construction-paper stars getting wedged between the floorboards or glued to the underside of the chairs. I applaud their bravery, and their creativity.

Me? I decided to start with water.

Doesn't this look idyllic? Charlie, happily playing away in the sink. Mommy, happily snapping pictures.

Actually:

Charlie had a cold. His nose was dripping all over the place.
Being the responsible mother I am... I was propping him up with my foot (so that he wouldn't fall off the chair) and taking pictures at the same time.
Then he started sucking on the hose nozzle thing. Do you have any idea how many germs are on a kitchen hose nozzle thing?
And then (of course) water was everywhere.
Down his pants.
Inside the cabinet.
On the floor.

But, Charlie was happily playing away in the sink.

I was just, more or less, stressfully taking pictures,
trying not to think about the water on the floor,
and giving myself a little pep-talk:
There! Good effort, newbie-mom. Good effort.