Mutti

The french grandmother!!!

A Day in the Life of my Little Dude

Here's my little cutie, just doing his lil 5 1/2 month old thing!!!  He just looks so cute while he's doing it!!!

Playing with Mama

Little cutie, jitterbugging on the carpet!!!

Sprouts

This was so adorable!  My niece, Summer, came over to hang out and practice caring for Baby William.  It was so fun!  This was exactly one year ago today, December 26, 2012.  I've always called my 3 littlest nieces my "Sprouts", so now one of my sprouts is hanging out with my new little sprouts!  How cute is that?

Merry Christmas! World's Cutest Kid!!!

What can I say?  I'm biased!!!

Santa Baby

I was literally just in raptures of delight at the utter adorableness of William in this outfit.  As we walked into the family Christmas Eve dinner, I was overcome with excitement at everyone's reaction to William!!!  Totally a very fun moment in the life of this new parent!!!  My family's reactions didn't disappoint, they were very appreciative of William's cuteness!!!

Going to Cousin's

This was the first time that William met his second cousin, Kristian, who is 1 year older.  I hope they will grow to be good friends as the years pass.  I really love Kristian's mama, my first cousin Tiffany.  She is really sweet.

Les p'tits cousins

These are some really cute photos from when William was a newborn and Aurelien's family came from France to meet the new baby!  His 2 little cousins were quite enamored with him, especially the youngest one, Thibault.  They were so cute with William!!!

Oh Scrappy Joy!

Santa was very good to me, with lots of scrappy stocking stuffers!!!

Once Upon a Time there was a little elf...

He wore red pajamas, and then green pajamas, both in the same day!  And then he helped me with the painting I was working on!  He was quite the little santa's elf that day!!!!

Christmas Love

Here's my love, opening his gifts.  The main one was wireless headphones, so he can listen to his French talk radio and I don't have to suffer through it!!!  Now that's a smart gift!

Oh my darling!

He's such a doll!!!!  The cutest little face, ever!!!!

Baby's First Christmas 2012!!!

I think it was a good one!  He had so much stuff that he was still using that was given to us by all my friends and family that we just got him the complete Beatrix Potter set from Costco.  He got some presents from other people though, including this monkey from my brother Ray and his wife Sonjulaine, which has grown to be a favorite of his.

'twas the night before christmas...

Scenes from after Santa completed her work!!!

One Month Old

These are photos from August 19, 2012, when William was exactly one month old.  He slept a lot, I guess!!!  The photo in the upper right is of  my oldest niece, Rachelle, holding William...so the oldest cousin holding the youngest cousin!  Very cute!!!  And the photo in the bottom right is my mom with both of them, so grandma with her oldest and youngest grandchildren!!!

Christmas Eve Bath

Before we put William in his super cute Christmas outfit, we had to get him all clean and sparkly! 

Oh Christmas Tree

More photos of that precious moment...

getting ready for Christmas

These are some scenes from Christmas eve, as we were just chilling out before getting ready for the big annual Christmas eve shindig put on by my sister-in-law, Roxanne.  It is always the highlight of the holiday season for me!

newbie parents

Here we are, learning the ropes!

what dreams may come

Here's my little angel, peacefully sleeping away when I got home from performing in the church choir for the Living Nativity.  Daddy was on duty!  He did a good job! December 22, 2012.

Glory to God!

Here's Tiff and I performing as angels in our church choir for the Living Nativity last year!!!  It was a super fun experience!

Learn to Fly

I love this photo so much, my little koala cub sleeping on me while I read a book.  I'm a book-a-holic, and so it is cute to see how I am multi-tasking!!!

bff

This photo was taken after my longtime best friend, Tiffany, and I performed as angels in the choir at the Living Nativity at our church on December 22, 2012.  We have been friends since the 4th grade, so I think that puts the start date of our friendship around 1986.  So we've been friends for almost 27 years now.  That is a loooooooooooong time.  And I'm proud of that!

Wonder

This was such an amazing moment.  We showed William the Christmas tree all lit up.  He was wonderstruck, and it was soooooooooooooooooo exquisite to see it all through his innocent little eyes...I'm so glad I got pictures of it.

Authentic Heart's Random Musings-Poetry, A piece of my heart

Hello beautiful souls out there in cyberspace! 

Today's random peek into my heart is about Poetry.  I am going to share a poem that I once wrote.
This is a poem I wrote about 13 years ago when I was taking a poetry writing class as part of my program to earn my BA in English.  See, I used to write poetry constantly.  It was extremely important to me from seventh grade on, since I had always thought school was pretty boring until I made the delightful discovery of poetry that year in school.  And when did I stop writing poetry?  When I married my first husband at 24, and basically locked my creative heart up tightly in a little box and threw away the key...the only solution when one marries someone that they know they do not love, and who is their soul's opposite in every way. The last poems I ever wrote were the ones in which I was trying to work through my pre-wedding jitters.  I really should have listened to my own voice in those poems, because I knew I was making a mistake...anyway, those are other poems, for another day...

The poem I am going to share follows a form, that is why it has the structure and repetition that it does.  I believe the form is called "Villanelle".  If you want to research that further, here's a link I found: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796

"Flux"
The Lesson of Flux

The source of meaning is deaf to my cries,
mysteries I seek to unravel and understand-
Time just flies regardless, it flies.

I learned the only way to know is if you try,
this means failure nine times out of ten, and
the source of meaning is deaf to my cries.

Feeble wings falter, escapes my weary sigh,
persistence the only way to survive and still stand
Time just flies regardless, it flies.

Life has led me to too many goodbyes
and sorrow with a measure of joy to withstand
the source of meaning is deaf to my cries.

Hope comes in the morning, behind my eyes
before life's realities burn my heart like a brand
time just flies regardless, it flies.

Many dark nights awakened by questions of why,
with only a small pebble of faith as a talisman in my hand.
The source of meaning hears my cries,
but time still flies regardless, it flies.

Christina Carnoy

Saturday Market

This was a fun family outing, going to the Portland Saturday Market during the holiday season.  Our neighbor sells his art there, so we stopped by his booth to say hi.

my boy

I just thought William looked so gorgeous in these pictures.

Mama-Baby Playgroup

This was such a great experience.  I really enjoyed meeting every week with the mamas and babies in the group, as well as our fearless leader, an experienced Doula.  Great for reassurance and fellowship.  I'm very thankful for this group.

100 likes on my artist facebook page! www.facebook.com/inara77

I can't believe it! I got to 100 likes on my artist facebook page (www.facebook.com/inara77) in one afternoon!!!! As a symbol of my ENORMOUS GRATITUDE, let's do a GIVEAWAY!!! I will be giving away one artsy mixed media supplies grab bag. Just leave a comment on this face book post (https://www.facebook.com/inara77/posts/1450765721817381?notif_t=like)  telling me what makes YOU creative, and make sure you've already liked my artist facebook page (www.facebook.com/inara77), and I will randomly pick a winner Thursday morning, and then send you your prize!!! https://www.facebook.com/inara77/posts/1450765721817381?notif_t=like

awe

This photo is of one of those moments as a new, first time mom, when all you can do is gaze at your baby in wonder and thankfulness.