A Bonkity Bonk on the Head

This little cutie learned how to babble a syllable Monday morning! Justin placed Phillip next to me in bed after he got up. I was in a state of half-alertness. All of the sudden I realized Phillip was saying, "bo-bo-bo-bo-bo-bo." I cracked open one eye to see his eye right next to mine intently telling me a story about "Bo." I swiftly snuggled his little happy body and crooned back to him. He did not perform his new trick until this afternoon for the camera. We mostly see him babbling when he is holding a cool toy or his super interesting toes.

I am having so much fun playing with my new studio set-up. Course, the kids are my guinea pigs. Most of the kinks are worked out now! I had a cute little model come over Monday afternoon. She was at the perfect age for a vintage shabby look. Before the session I whipped up a fun little skirt out of cream organza with a tutu underneath that matched some stringed pearls. I am nearly done editing a whole batch of new photos. You can view one session here.

Last night in between piano lessons I made dinner. Amelia was helping Phillip bounce in his bouncer. I moved him up to the counter and removed her chair. As I got an ingredient out of the fridge she managed to bounce Phillip of the counter onto his head and left side of his face. He screamed for 5 minutes then went into a strange sleep in my arms. Goodness, my heart about stopped. Amelia hurt her arm in the process so I had to wailing kids wanting the same amount of comfort. I was sweating bullets watching Phillip's eye swell up and a long red stripe appear. He woke back up after 10 minutes. The swelling went down and his red stripe eventually faded by the time Justin got home. Phillip seems fine this morning.

My cousin Carla inspired me to start some Montisorri "work" with Amelia. Last week I colored dried pasta for her sort. This week we had some water transfer activities, shape sorting, and animal works. She really loves the attention and is excited when she learns a new task. I plan on having about 10-15 works ready to rotate through. I will gradually rotate these activities during nursing time and when I need to work on the computer. Yesterday she surprised me by speaking Spanish! We were going down stairs and she said, "Mommy, vamos abajo the stairs-o." Guess Dora does teach some Spanish! Another funny thing is she has a Nephite friend named Martin. He sings primary songs with her while she stand on a "library chair" (a bean bag), with a pretend microphone.

I am trying to keep afloat lately. Sort of going through a selfish "poor me" crisis. Not sure why I feel so crappy lately. I should be feeling awesome due to the healthy diet, increased exercise, etc. Nah, I am more tired than ever. Alison and Justin listened to my sob story last night. Have you ever felt like a collection of undeveloped talents? I feel like I can do a lot of small things but nothing really well. Probably my most accomplished talent right now is being the best mom I can be and crocheting certain hat patterns. My photography is getting better but I still lack the proper camera and tools to get the effects I want. There is so much to learn and do in this life! Do you ever feel that you just woke up then look at the clock and it is 11 pm? The next question is, what happened today?!

I am looking forward to a fun weekend with Catherine, Malisia, and Kate. They are our good friends and neighbors from our Utah days. Kate and Mia are very close in age so should have a great time. Nearly time for another Valentine's Day...maybe Justin and I can go on a date.