This month, In lieu of it being the month of love and James' birthday I'm going to get completely sappy,,so if you have a weak stomach, please save yourself now.


James,

You make me smile when I'm sad. You tell me to stop being grumpy when I am and then make me smile again. You put up with my moods and I know there are so many of them it makes your head spin sometimes (mine too!). You support me in anything I do and encourage me to better myself. You helped me get help when I needed it and love me despite my (many) flaws.

I'm not easy to live with. I'm moody and blue sometimes. I shout and cry and alongside that I'm not the best mother out there, but you see past all of that and more. You see what I want and strive to be. You help me stay grounded enough to try to be that person that seems ever elusive to me. You are an incredible dad to Jack and he thinks the world of you. Your such a genuinely nice person to everyone. Your peers respect and admire you.

All of this is me trying to say that you're an incredible husband, father and person. I love watching our relationship evolve as we go and I'm proud of us for working things out when they get tough, instead of (me) running away and not communicating. I'm proud of us in the way we parent and help and respect each others views and wishes when it comes to raising Jack. I am in awe of the fact that you are such a hands on dad, that we carry this responsibility 50/50, because a lot of women don't have it that way. When Jack was a baby you got up with him at night (and still do if needed!), despite having to go to work the next day and you changed diapers like a champ and you helped with feedings. You took over when it got too much and you were (are) always there, no matter what, whenever. Thank you. I know you see it as he's your child too and it's just as much your responsibility as it is mine, but not all people do, so I'm one lucky lady. I know I probably don't say it enough, but I love you James and, I love loving you. You make me so very happy.

Happy Birthday and Valentines day.


Love,

Your very happy Lobster.

(Don't ask)


P.S. I know I'm a blubbering fool sometimes.

P.P.S. I counted the word Love seven times in this post. That must set some sort of record!

How many things can one fit into a post?

Yeah, so long time no see! Apparently keeping up a blog is a little harder than I anticipated. So my goal now is to publish at least one post a month. Stop laughing. Given the last time I posted was around six months ago alot has happened. Jack started preschool and absolutely adores it. He even gets to ride the big kid bus! His enthusiasm for that lasted all of five minutes. James' parents came for a visit at the end of September, which is always so much fun. And always such a drag when they leave. It's especially hard on Jack, and getting noticeably harder every year (When they leave, obviously, not when they visit). Umm, then we had Christmas, which if you've never spent Christmas with a four year old, let me tell you, it's the closest thing to being a kid again you'll ever get to. All the build up and excitement to the big day is huge, and to watch his face when he comes downstairs is the best. At the sake of sounding sappy, it's the reason to have kids.

James' birthday is coming up soon, which gets me thinking that he was a year younger than me when we met. That was 8! years ago. That old adage time flies by when your having fun couldn't be more true (again, sorry for the sap). I'll have to do a post on how we met another time, but safe to say it's a good story. Or maybe I'm biased and it's just another boring ol' story, oh well, I have control of the publish button. Mwahaha. A lot happened while we were dating and it took alot of hard work and bribing of the government to get him over here. Speaking of the government, we got a letter the other day saying James had finally been granted a green card, which he'd actually received a few years ago, so we freaked out a little about that. It's always unnerving to get a letter from immigration when your not expecting one. Anyways back to his birthday, any gift ideas would be very very appreciated. There are only so many monitors one person can have on their desk. Also; only so many cables one can have around their desk. So I will not be buying any more of those (sorry hon), but all other ideas will be welcome.

On to other things. I haven't been taking very many pictures lately, well not artsy fartsy ones anyway. James got me a digital photo frame for xmas (yes I know this is not the correct way to spell it, but I don't go in for the whole "God" thing so it's perfectly acceptable) so I've been editing to try and fill that up. I've been having tons of trouble with my monitor color matching print color, so we've gotten a calibrator called Huey. This works wonders, I was amazed just how out of whack my monitor really was! But it's still not perfect, and I'm not sure how other photographers do it, so if anyone reads this (snort!) and know how to fix this pain in the ass problem completely, please be a dear and let me know. *silence...crickets* Yeah, so I haven't been photographing much lately and I really do miss it. I try to use Jack as my go to guy, but he just sticks his tongue out and rolls his eyes. Since when do four year old's have attitude problems? Well, this post appears to be going nowhere in particular so I shall just leave you with some pretty pics that I did not take recently. Please to enjoy.

Idle moments

Some days I look at my life and marvel at how I got to where I am. Some days I look at my son and am completely blown away and awe struck at what an incredible person I helped to create.

There are days he drives me so nuts I wonder what possessed me to consider having a child. Then there are the days that live forever in my heart. The days that are so full of cuddles and love that they just couldn't get any better.

Raising a little boy is chock full of surprises, irritation, energy, dirt, and wonder. I highly recommend it.