What I Should Be Doing Instead of Blogging

Laundry
Finishing up my lesson for Enrichment tomorrow night
Making handouts for Enrichment
Baking treats for Enrichment
Planning what to teach in my tutoring session tomorrow
Cleaning
Sleeping (still recovering from last week's cold and about to be hit by today's flu shot)
Learning how to make baby food (I checked out three books, ask me if I've read any)
Figuring out what to do about the fact that Virginia seems to be getting a tooth
Washing the dishes
Finishing the email to my law school friends that has been in progress for nearly a month

...but I need a break from the to-do list. So, now that I've written it all down I'm going to go ahead and keep doing this, secure in the knowledge that my to-do list will definitely keep.

Foray into Nature

A friend and I recently took our children to Olbrich Botanical Gardens, ostensibly to enjoy the beauty of nature. However, since my baby is too young to appreciate such an outing much and my friend has a snazzy new camera, it was actually just an excuse to take some pictures. I recently discovered (after six months of procrastinating actually reading my camera's owner's manual) that my little point-and-shoot has a macro setting and I wanted to get a better handle on what it could and couldn't do. Here are some of the results:

I've never actually watched a bee in the process of pollinating before. It was interesting.

Many of the flowers were freshly watered, which made the pictures more interesting.

Trying to be abstract...

There's that narrow depth of field we were looking for. Macro at its up close best.

A lot of interesting colors.

This is actually a crop job on what turned out not to be that great of a composition. My dad always tells me stories of taking his photography students on field trips and letting them take only one photo. In today's digital world, it's way too easy not to be careful about your composition and instead to allow quantity to substitute for quality. I didn't take a large number of pictures at the gardens, but I did try to be very careful in my composition. For the most part, I was quite pleased with the result and most of these have not been cropped. This one, however, just needed help.

Hydrangeas in black and white. I guess I'm trying to be Ansel Adams. It's not working.

There are many beautiful leaves in Wisconsin. I don't know why I always used to think of leaves as needing to be green. It would seem I didn't listen to enough Harry Chapin growing up.

Well, it's sort of breaking the rule of thirds, but I like this one anyway.

Yet another misconception from my youth. I always thought petunias weren't that pretty. I'm not sure where I came up with that, but I was obviously wrong.

I like the lines in this photo.

Near the end of our trip, my friend actually let me use her camera for a few minutes. This was extremely generous, considering that she used to avoid even taking the camera out of doors. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hurried a bit more with the SLR, however, so the results aren't quite as good as they might have been. Here are some of my favorites (sorry, it's another collage):
My favorite is the one in the middle. Ah, fancy cameras. Someday....

Girly Perks, A Sad Farewell and Fabulous Footwear

It's no secret I wanted, and even expected to have a boy first. It took me more than a week to adjust to the idea of our first child being a girl. Of course, I wouldn't trade my sweet Virginia for the world. But, even after she was born, I would look longingly at the racks of boys' clothes at the store. I really do find many baby boy clothes much cuter than a lot of what is available for baby girls (must be because I'm not that into pink). And I'm still looking forward to buying little boy outfits someday. But....

I must say that I have been absolutely converted to the fun of dressing a little girl. There are so many adorable outfits, such precious little bows. So, it is with no small amount of sadness, and a bit of sheepishness, that I bid a fond farewell to Virginia's 0-3 month wardrobe. I had a hard enough time giving up the newborn stuff when she was 7 weeks old! I suppose it's high time, now that she is nearly four months. Still, I have many fond memories of picking out her sweet little outfits and knowing that even though I was still sometimes sporting maternity clothes and looked absolutely terrible, at least my baby was beautiful. So, here are some photos I took to remember one of my favorite dresses, which has now been retired until Virginia has a little sister.

I'm starting to wonder whether people have more than one child just so they can have someone else to fit into the adorable little clothes.

And while we're on the subject of clothes, because I won't be blogging about them often...are these not some of the most fabulous socks you've ever seen? I just love them! And I'm very glad Virginia has tiny feet, even for a baby, so they still fit (notwithstanding the fact that this picture is almost two months old).

And Sometimes We're Awake...

...even when Virginia is sleeping.

We do, however, creep into her room quite often to admire her and enjoy her peaceful sleep. I've decided this is either a very good thing or a sign that I need a hobby. Okay, I have hobbies, I just prefer enjoying her. It reminds me of the summer I lived in Washington, DC, and worked for the Public Defender. I spent all day doing criminal defense work, and when I came home in the evening I would watch Law & Order marathons. I guess that's one way I figured out that criminal law was undoubtedly the place for me. I'm a person of limited interests. I had a bit of deja vu the other night when I put Virginia to bed and immediately started looking at pictures of her on my computer. I guess being her mom must be a good fit for me too.

Daddy-Daughter Time

What I've Been Doing Instead of Blogging

11 Weeks-ish

Smiles at Last

Yep, still obsessed. Here's my little beauty at seven weeks old. She has been smiling for over a week now, but I've been too busy enjoying the smiles to attempt to capture them on film. She smiles in the mornings when I go to get her out of bed, when we change her diaper (unless she's hungry, in which case there are no smiles to be found) and almost every time she sees her dad. On Monday, I finally took the plunge and decided to attempt some photographs of her toothless grins. Here are the results (along with a nice yawn). Also, a shout out to my friend Julie for the adorable quilt featured in this collage. Warm, cuddly, cute and photogenic. What a quilt! It really pulls the nursery together. Thank you Julie!

What's in a Name?

Since people have asked...
Yes, it's true that James and I met and fell in love in the state of Virginia. We lived there for the first two years of our married life. We loved it. I want to move back there. I must confess that sometimes I play "Shenendoah" on my my iTunes and just sit with my eyes closed and dream of still being there with the beautiful flowering springs, the firefly-filled summer evenings, the warm wonderful people, the misty mornings, the trees and the porch swings.
HOWEVER...our daughter was not named for that Virginia. She was named after this Virginia:
This is Virginia Rand Shelley, who is James' grandmother and whom we like even more than the state of Virginia. It would seem she likes us too, since she came to visit this weekend. Or maybe she was checking out the baby to be sure her namesake is up to snuff. They seem to have gotten along quite well. And we hope Virginia grows up to be more like her great-grandmother than the state where her parents met (even though there are good things about both).

While we're talking about names...the current most popular nickname for Virginia is Scout, so I might as well explain that one too. It's not this Scout...
...it's this one (or, more accurately, her literary counterpart).
I was reading the book right after Virginia was born, she had on some overalls one day, and the nickname was born. We couldn't very well call her Atticus, could we?

Collage Obsessed

Here is what Virginia looked like at four weeks old....

And here she is at five weeks...
And now, because James tells me I'm obsessed, an explanation of my (perhaps excessive) use of collages:

Basically, I like collages because they allow me to include several shots of the same incident so I can better capture it. Then, by looking at all the photos, you get a better idea of what it was like to be there. By seeing multiple shots of Virginia, you get a more realistic idea of what she really looks like. Or at least that's what I think. I like photographs to capture some piece of the experience and it's often difficult for me to choose just one shot that really "captures" Virginia. Okay, really I just can't pick only one shot. Here's another classic example of me being totally unable to choose just one:
Though I think if I had to pick, my favorite would be the bottom left. Or maybe the bottom right. Okay, I can't do it. And this is a scaled down collage from the twelve-shot monster that it once was. I'm hopeless (or the children in my life are too cute...or both).