The Mirror

I have a large mirror on the wall in our living room. Eric made it for me a few years ago. We bought the plain mirror at Home Depot and then he designed, built and painted black a wooden frame for it.

3 days old

I pass this mirror every time I go to or from our bedroom. Since the changing table and baby bed are in there, I am going in and out of our room and passing by this mirror many times every day.

4 days old

Not surprisingly, there is often a little baby in my arms as I traipse back and forth putting away clean clothes and changing diapers.

5 days old

I love the view I see in the mirror as I pass by of my little girl slung over my shoulder; sometimes asleep, sometimes not.

20 nights old

And I can't help but grab my camera and snap a few.

5 weeks old

Over the course of the last 8 weeks I've amassed a little collection of these mirror pictures. They make me smile every time I see them.

8 weeks old

I love how little she looks and how I can see how much she grown by comparing the pictures.


I love that I'm in the pictures too, even if I'm usually in ratty clothes (apparently I throw on that gray sweatshirt a lot!) with my hair pulled back in a ponytail and no makeup and with a large, black camera in front of my face. This is about the only way that I get to be in the pictures with my baby since I'm always behind the camera.


But, every once in a while I manage to get my face in the frame, too.


I think I've started a little tradition that I hope continues as Clara grows. It's something special that I've only shared with her; only Clara has a collection of these quirky snapshots.

Capturing the little moments. Making memories. That's what photography is about.

Dress up clothes

When I did the kids' portraits a couple of weeks ago, I let them pick out the clothes they would wear. I figured Elizabeth would pick out some dress up clothes and, sure enough, she did. But, the outfit she picked has some history. My mom and dad were in town the week before and Mom brought some old dance costumes that I wore as a child that she thought Elizabeth would like to have. She saved them for the last 25 years and they are still in really good shape and, of course, Elizabeth absolutely loved them.

In the mail today I received a letter from my mom and enclosed was a small 3x5 picture.


I was 6 years old in this shot (gosh I was tall even then!) and I'm doing one of the poses from my dance routine. What a fun little trip down memory lane! I remember this brick wall from the tiny little house we lived in. It was the official picture taking spot and all of the pictures of us dressed for any occasion have it in the background.

That little outfit sure did stand the test of time! The hat got a little squashed somewhere along the line and even though it seems to constantly drop copious amounts of sequins, it still is just as sparkly as ever.


I think Mom and Dad got their money's worth.

Walk down memory lane

A friend of mine sent me an email yesterday that made me want to cry. Don't worry, it wasn't anything bad. She jsut found some old photos from about four years ago on her computer and sent them to me. This is one of them...

Isn't it just precious? This is Jonathan when he was two years old hugging his best friend at the time, Maddy. This photo was taken about a month before Elizabeth was born. Four years doesn't seem like all that long ago, but the time in my life when it was just me and Jonathan all day long does seem like a very long time ago. It's just so hard to remember what life was like without Elizabeth and Gustin in it.

But, at the same time, I remember lots of little details. I gave Jonathan the haircut that he has in this picture. The shirt he is wearing was a hand-me-down from friends. He would rarely give hugs at that age, but Maddy would give them to everyone and it looks like in this picture she had finally convinced him to give her one back. Oh, and it's hard to tell, but his eyes are still blue in this pic. They started changing to green when he was about two and a half. Isn't that weird? I never new that eyes could change colors in a child that old.

Sadly, Jonathan doesn't get to see Maddy very often anymore. The playgroup that they were a part of slowly fell apart as some families moved away and all of us started to have more kids. But, it was such a fun and rewarding part of our lives. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a similar playgroup for Elizabeth. So many of my friends have started working again, most of them part time, and very few kids we know are Elizabeth's age. Most of them are either significantly older or younger. I really wish Elizabeth had a close little group of 5 or 6 friends like Jonathan did. Sometimes I really feel badly that I haven't been able to provide her with more opportunity to play with kids her own age. :(

What about the rest of you moms? Do you remember back when it was just you and your first child? Doesn't it almost seem like another lifetime ago?

Papal memories

Gustin took an hour and a half nap today in bed and it's amazing how better I feel this evening. Why, I'm down right perky! Since Pope Benedict's historical visit, I've been wanting to post about my memories of another time a pope came to the US and tonight I just might get it done.

OK, it's been about 18 hours since I wrote the above. Life intervened, beginning with Elizabeth accidentally falling over on top of Gustin and it went down hill from there. But, Gustin is again down for a nap so we'll see how far I can get this time. :)

Growing up I went to our local Catholic elementary school, which I absolutely loved. My sister (who was one year behind me in school) and I were both in the school choir. Looking back, that fact is really funny because I can not sing. I try, but really, it is not good. But, lucky for me, singing ability was not a requirement for joining the choir. During my fourth grade year, Pope John Paul II came to the US and his trip included a stop in San Antonio, Texas. Our choir teacher decided that we should audition to be one of the choirs who would sing at the large outdoor mass that JPII would say during his visit.

I remember going up to school one weekend and singing several simple hymns (such as Like a Sunflower and Sing a New Song) over and over again while our choir teacher tried to capture our best attempts on a little cassette player/recorder. Our innocent, unpolished voices must have impressed someone because we were chosen to be one of the choirs featured before mass. We were all so excited, even though at the time we really didn't understand how unique this opportunity was.

When the big day finally came for our trip to San Antonio, we all arrived at school at three o'clock in the morning to board the bus. Even though I don't think I had ever gotten up that early in my whole life, I was not tired but instead bubbling with excitement. We had a very busy day ahead of us. After a 5 or 6 hour bus ride to San Antonio, we went to the grounds where the mass was to be held so we could practice and get instructions about the mass that would be the next day. That evening we settled in at a dormitory of a local convent. I have fond memories of playing heartily on the green, grassy grounds and finally falling into an exhausted sleep on the floor of the dormitory surrounded by classmates and chaperons.

The next morning we again awoke very early, dressed in our school uniforms, ate muffins and pastries supplied by the sisters and went back to the mass venue. Security was much tighter this time. I remember going through metal detectors which was fascinating to me. We had brought a banner with our motto on it, "We who sing pray twice," but we were not allowed to bring in the rods that formed the stand for it. Instead we all took turns holding it up ourselves.

Seats were reserved for us immediately to the right of the altar. A massive platform that seemed as big as a mountain to my ten year old eyes had been erected with the altar on top. Even though we were right next to it, when JPII was saying mass he looked so small and far away.

We sang a couple of hours before mass began. I remember being disappointed because the pope wasn't actually there to hear us sing. It was all over so quickly that I hardly remember the actual singing though I do remember the massive line of port-a-potties that we passed on the way to the stage. Isn't it strange the things we remember?

We next went back to our seats to await the arrival of the pope. The area where our seats were was roped off and the path that the pope-mobile would travel on went right past us. Our chaperons gave us strict instructions that we must remain in our seats and could not run up to the ropes when the pope drove by. Of course, as soon as we could catch a glimpse of the pope-mobile on the way, all the adults ran to the ropes to see. None of us kids could see him even though we stood on our chairs. I remember thinking it was so unfair that the adults didn't follow their own rules!

We then settled in for the mass. I remember hearing JPII's voice on the PA system echoing across the massive grounds, first in English, then in Spanish. Too bad I can't remember a word of what he said. It wasn't long before my exhausted little body fell asleep sitting up in my chair. My friend's mother, who was traveling with us, propped up an umbrella to shade me so I wouldn't get a sunburn while I slept. I was awoken just in time for communion. After receiving we had to leave the mass, pile in the bus, and begin the long journey home.

We felt like celebrities back at home. Our pictures were on the front page of the local newspaper and all the local television stations covered our trip.

I treasure all these memories of my one and only encounter with Pope John Paul II. I feel privileged to have been able to sing for him (even if he wasn't there!). I dearly miss our Holy Father and am so grateful for the wonderful gift he was to us, the church.

Pope John Paul the Great, pray for us!