The little things...

I haven't blogged much lately because I've been scrapping like mad.  Either I've become more adept at time management or David has become more manageable, I'm not sure which (or both).  Either way, I've made it a priority (and Cory's made it a priority to help me) to get into my scrap room and start catching up.  I'm having a ball.

With that being said, I'm not sure what I would do without this blog to look back on to help me remember precise details of our day-to-day life.  With everything changing so fast and so constantly, it is easy to overlook the funny, fleeting things as we try to remember the more obvious, clear-cut milestones.  I think, someday, we will all find more pleasure in recalling that cringe-worthy way that David ground his top left and bottom right tooth together absentmindedly as he crawled about the house rather than remembering the exact date each and every tooth appeared.  On second thought, maybe I'd rather forget that?  desperately rubbing at the goosebumps on my arms!

Today, I've decided to try to list some of the "here and now" events.  Haven't done this in awhile.  I know I'm likely to forget some of these little details.  Here goes...

1. As I mentioned before, David's teeth are coming in one by one.  He has four now, two top and two bottom.  His toothless grin is no more, but his little chicklets are even more adorable.  I won't mention again how he makes their presence known, lest my readers are desperately rubbing at their own goosebumps after imaging what this might sound like.  shudder
2. He is "cruising" - taking steps while holding on to furniture.  His motivation?  Almost always something he is not supposed to have.  No attempt at walking yet, although he will sometimes stand on his own for a few seconds before sinking to a seated position.  Why walk when you are a speedy, efficienct crawler?  He has that skill down pat.
3. He continues to love books.  Current faves include I Love You Through and Through, Smoky Mountain Wee Ones, and I'll See You in the Morning.  All of which, unfortunately, I have memorized word for word.  Something which happened with no effort on my part, just a side effect of reading them aloud hundreds of time.
4. He has learned to shake objects.  With feeling.  I've been known to give him a bottle of water (cap on uber-tight, of course) and tell him to "shake it like a polaroid pic-ture".  And he does!!  Love it.
5. David loves bath time.  So much so, it is unwise to take him into, or even past, the bathroom as you are preparing the tub.  Once he sees that water drawn, he had better be getting into it. And getting into it NOW. He thinks the world is ending when you take him into his room to get him undressed.  He screams bloody murder, which stops as soon as you lower him into the warm water.  Then all is well, re: the pic at the top of this post.  Like I said, happy as a lark.
6. He's waving quite a bit now.  But he's very selective about how and to whom he doles these out.  Consider yourself lucky if you get one of his left-handed flaps.  (Always the left, wonder why?)

I could go on and on.   Can't wait to see what's next.

I can see the Murdock in him now...

Since the day he was born, almost everyone has remarked at the uncanny resemblence David has to Cory.  Time has passed and little has changed - he has remained most assuredly his father's son in appearance.  I didn't realize how much he has begun to favor my side of the family until I snapped these pictures this past week.  You can see the Murdock in him now, and I think you Murdocks out there will see why, especially in this first one. 

No special reason for remarking on this next one, just thought it was funny.  I love taking pictures for so many reasons, one of which is that a photo can capture an expression that is so fleeting we might miss it in real life.  The look on his face here is priceless - I have no idea what prompted it, or what exactly he is looking at:

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far, I know I sure am.

Gymboree Day

Now that the obligations of the holidays are behind us and the new year is in full swing, we've been itching to get out and do something with our free time. Kind of hard with an almost-10-month-old in the dead of a snowy and frigid winter.

I accompanied my youngest niece and brother to a little place in Carmel called Gymboree Play & Music when she was but a wee little thing many years ago.  I remember her having an absolutely fantastic time toddling around in the colorful indoor gym and playing with the other kiddies.  Although David is quite a bit younger now than she was at the time, I researched the place anyway and discovered that they offer "classes" suited to little ones as young as 3 months.  I also found an offer for a free preview class.  With cabin fever really setting in and being unable to find any other indoor entertainment alternatives for babies his age, we signed up this week and went this morning.  What a treat!

Right off the bat, our parental chests were swelling with pride as we watched David crawl around the room, pulling up on the various obstacles and unabashedly approaching the other sedentary, drooling babies that did little else than sit at their parents' feet and gape at David's ambulatory prowess. Cory even gave me the thumbs up once, I'm assuming to acknowledge the obvious advancement of our son, and I hope none of the other parents saw this and felt bad about their remedial offspring.

(Author's note:  the above paragraph is a joke, but kinda true, LOL).

Once class began, David had a great time trying to wrestle out of my arms while the instructor, Miss Melissa, led various songs and activities.  While the other parents manipulated the limbs of thier babies like dolls, all to music and the commands of Miss Melissa, I tried in vain to restrain David as he crawled around the circle snatching the other kids toys, attempting to touch their faces, and trying to make friends with their envious parents.  Cory and I had to take turns chasing after and attempting to hold him because it was so exhausting.  We didn't realize that we, too, would receive a workout as part of the package.

The highlight of the class was the finale, when Miss Melissa blew bubbles with an amazing contraption, and the play space was filled with thousands of tiny bubbles.  David LOVED this.  He also loved watching Miss Melissa as she shamelessly belted out all of the little ditties.  I have to admit I was a little jealous, I'm not sure I liked the admiring gaze he kept fixing on her.  I endured it in the name of fostering his development and socialization, but I'd better still be his favorite gal.

Although we all know that David is a pretty special creature, I will now admit that we signed up for the 6-10 month class because it fit better with his nap schedule than the one for 10-16 month-olds, so he was on the brink of being not just developmentally but also chronologically more advanced than his unfortunate peers.  So, when the instructor suggested that he might be more appropriate for the next level because of his obvious abilities, the sale was made.  And this, folks, is how a "free" class transforms into a full-fledged, dues-paying membership to a (probably) overpriced little operation.  Genius.  And worth it.  Worth. Every. Penny.

Can't wait to see what he does next week with the big kids.  :)

Getting re-acquainted with my camera

Today's post title might make some people chuckle considering the volume of photos that I've taken since around March 10th, 2010. It's not like my DSLR and I have had much time apart judging by the growth of my galleries, but I have gotten away from the creative aspirations that originally inspired me to get a high-quality camera in the first place.  In recent days, I have rediscovered the rewards of photography as art, more than just the capturing of moments.

As I mentioned last post, I'm taking a class at Big Picture Classes called Picture Winter.  Each day in January, I will receive a prompt via email written by Tracey Clark of Shutter Sisters designed to inspire a unique photograph.  It takes about 5 minutes to complete the assignment, and so far its been incredibly rewarding. I'm really loving this project, and it will ultimately give me a snippet of what everyday life was like at this particular moment in time, much like Design Your Life did last year.

Yesterday's assignment was to capture a bit of sunshine in the everyday.  Considering I worked all day, not to mention the fact that it's January in Indiana, my choices were rather limited.  I felt that my subject of an unwrapped clementine was a bit cliche, but I love the end result:

Of course, all of this self-improvement really has one ultimate goal:  to improve the images that I can capture of David. After all, he is pretty much the center of the universe right now.  Snapped this one on Monday right before leaving for work.  Although it is fundamentally flawed in so many ways, I love the way it captured both his jovial spirit and those smoky little eyes that have yet to reveal their true color.

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I'm off to take some more photos....

Happy New Year!

I had every intention of posting yesterday, but as usual, the Saturday that I thought would be endless was over in a flash. 

While trying to entertain David in the confines of our bedroom, I got some great photos using the natural light of the front windows.  It didn't take him long to discover that the blinds in there are crunchy, much like the wrapping paper that he took such delight in shredding over Christmas.  In an attempt to keep him from wadding them up, I raised the blinds a few feet and voila, the light on his face looking out on the neighborhood was just perfect.

I also embarked on my newest project, another photo-a-day class at Big Picture Classes called Picture Winter.  I look at my photo albums and see the hundreds and hundreds of headshots and close-ups of David that I have taken since he arrived on the scene, and although I will continue to take just as many of these in the new year, I feel like he will appreciate me (in later years of course) having captured more images of our everyday world.  The first day's theme was "a day of rest", and what better subject than our resident Rumplestiltskin, Sammy, curled up in his chair.

Later, had a nice dinner out with Cory in the evening, enjoying some Outback Steakhouse fare.  We have only gone out alone a few times since David has been around and it was nice, but weird, to be out just the two of us.  Had to memorialize it with a few bad Blackberry phone pics that, after a second look, appear to glorify drinking.  But, boy, did that margarita taste good.  ;)

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at home with a movie and resisting the urge to wake David up for a little play time.  Overall, we had a great start to 2011...

Hope everyone else had an enjoyable New Year's Day.