Here's Atticus's newest cousin, Maggie. Can you believe how beautiful, small, and pink she is? And - ahem - the hair is pretty impressive too.
Speaking of "Atticus's this or that," I never realized when I chose his alias how hard it would be to punctuate the possessive. Apparently I'm not the only one: This blogger says I should add the ' + S, unless it's a classical or ancient name. It is a classical name, but I don't think the exception need apply here.
One of my favorite memories of my childhood was when my parents would tuck me and my sister into bed. Usually this was my mom, and she would sing lullabies to us. But when my mom was at Tabernacle Choir rehearsals Thursday nights, my dad would tuck us in and tell us "True Stories," which were from the scriptures.
When I was eight, my mom had a three-week choir tour to Australia and New Zealand. So she made a tape of lullabies for us to listen to while she was away. A few years ago, our brother made this tape into a CD so that it can live on in our family.
I treasure having this CD for Atticus, and decided that I'm going to make my own for him as a sequel to his grandma's, hoping both CDs will mean something to him now and when he's older.
Here are some lullabies on my mom's CD:
Here are songs I'm going to include:
I'm also going to include readings of a few stories: Where the Wild Things Are, Runaway Bunny, On the Night You Were Born, and Goodnight Moon.
What lullabies are your favorites? What are ones that carry special memories for your family?
It was great my parents invited me to go with them to my grandma's house on Mother's Day so I could introduce her to her newest great grandchild (she also has many great-great grandchildren). Here we are: four generations on my dad's side.
ETA - I also have to say that Atticus is no longer her newest great-grandchild. Congrats to Jenny and Alan for their darling baby girl, born Friday!
I love that our neighborhood has old trees that bring so many birds into our area. The other day, I glanced out the window during breakfast and saw a pheasant in our front yard. I take that as a lucky sign.
We also have several nests in our yard, and here are a few that I was able to photograph in some way (it's pretty much impossible to photograph a nest in a spruce tree).
Chickadees in our crab apple tree. They are the cutest little birds. When they arrive at the hole, they like to take their time and look around before diving inside. I think they do it to watch for predators. I'm not so sure that's a good strategy.
Starlings in our covered porch. I don't like starlings. They come back to this nest every year and act aggressively. They also push their babies out of the nest (which is not so pretty to discover).
We also need to figure out how to fix that corner when we don't have a beam to nail it back to. Any suggestions?
This one is pretty old. It's in one of our very expensive sewer-line invading maples.
And unfortunately, Phoebe has now discovered the chickadees.
Where I live in Utah, it's hard to get the seasons just right for apricots. Because the trees bloom early, it will always snow after blooms appear. Depending on when it snows, fruit may not form.
It snowed shortly after I snapped this photo in my parents' yard, but this tree is now covered with tons of little green apricots. They have tiny brown freckles on them. I think they've been kissed.
"... not only because she bought me this outfit, but because she just graduated with her master's degree and bought a new house with my uncle Gavin. Go Aunt Tracy!"
Thank you for all of your support, checking in with me and asking how things at work are. It's good to be back. Right now I only have two minor projects, so I find myself doing a lot of reading for professional development - the kind of stuff I never regularly have time to do. And pumping milk is a hassle. Especially keeping everything clean.
It's only been two weeks, so I'll have to re-asses once the novelty of working has worn off. Right now, it's a little strange having free time at work since home life is so demanding. I definitely know that between me and Kevin, the hardest job goes to Kevin while he's watching Atticus full time, studying, and looking for jobs.
Another strange part of going back to work is that I get to watch another one of my peers conduct all the work I was previously doing. This person came back from maternity just as I was leaving, and now all of my previous clients, projects, and even the team member I've worked the most with over my 3.5 years are allocated to her. On top of this, I'm also reporting into someone new. It's a little uncanny, but on the plus side it's a fresh start.
Last night I was experiencing some Sunday-night depression going back, especially after a wonderful Mother's Day. Atticus was being so cute. And this morning I went into the nursery to kiss him goodbye, but noticed from the doorway that he was beginning to stir in his sleep and decided to duck out before he awoke. That was hard.
