March 4, 2010 - Can Clothes Change a Season?

Georgia's outfit today beckoned Spring to show its lovely, warm, sun kissed face. It has been way too long since we've seen you dear Spring. It has been a long winter here, one that can not slink back to that frozen wasteland fast enough. And today, I think her outfit almost worked as for a time, it felt like Spring. Even Georgia seemed surprised to see the sun.

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March 3, 2010 - The Poop Dance

You'd think I was in the fertilizer business or something! After all, they are the only people I can understand getting excited about poop. Yet here I am, cheering and marking an X on the calendar every time my little darling fills up that diaper of hers. Especially now that she's at the age when she doesn't fill it every day, I find myself anxious checking every full-feeling diaper hoping I'll find poop inside of it. HELLO!!!... when did I check my sanity at the door? Shouldn't I be getting excited about things like new shoes or a bubble bath or a good movie? No, I do poop dances these days. And yes, this diaper deserved a little dancing.

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March 1, 2010 - Even Toys Get a Bath

This job is actually a few weeks overdue as Georgia has been grabbing at everything within reach for more than a month now. But constantly feeling like a falling domino around here - falling from diaper changes to feedings to bottle cleanings to cooking to cleaning to bath times to laundry to... well you understand - I won't criticize myself too much for not doing this sooner. I finally pulled out all of the toys we bought, or were given, for Georgia and I washed/sanitized all of them. Now she has some toys to play with and put straight into her mouth. While I was digging the toys out of the toy basket, I came across the red crab and it took me right back to a woman with a slightly bulging belly that only I probably noticed, that often commented-on glow of the face and dreams just starting to form for the future of my little baby. The crab was the first toy I ever bought for Georgia after finding out I was pregnant, I was probably about 12-14 weeks along. I saw it and it made me smile, then it was promptly tossed into a sink of warm, soapy water. Daydream over, back to being a domino.

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March 2, 2010 - Kiss My Feet!

If you want to hear something more beautiful than the songs of birds in the spring or splash of raindrops on a misty day or the music of angels, just kiss Georgia's feet. Most days, it will make her burst into the purest, happiest laugh I've ever heard. And she'll just laugh and laugh and laugh and even throw in a snort every now and then. I could get drunk off of that laugh. I love her laugh.

Speaking of laughs, this is my first attempt at photographing me with Georgia, so don't laugh at it!

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February 28, 2010 - A Zoo of a Day

A few days ago, a moment of reality hit me that really made me sad. In Georgia's 19 weeks of life, she has not really spent many moments outside. There have been no birds singing for her, no trees swaying for her, no grass stains on her clothes or the feel of grass tickling her toes, no breezes blowing the fuzz on her head. Other than dashes to and from the car, thanks to our outrageously cold winter, Georgia has spent most of her life staring at the four walls of various buildings around town. Talk about wintertime blues. So that was it. Today's trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo was planned. So within minutes we went from the frozen life in Nebraska...

... to a humid, warm dream world of a tropical rain forest. The humidity hugged us like a warm blanket, instantly fogging up glasses and camera lenses, but we didn't care for a moment. We found summer in the harshness of a frigid winter.

And Georgia just couldn't take her eyes out of the up position. What transfixed her so? Trees. Our little girl has never seen green, wise, beautiful trees. And now the green of them was suddenly so lush you could taste it in the air and on your tongue. Oh how she stared at those trees.

We listened to waterfalls and watched the water play and splash over each rock on its fall to the earth below. We spied darting, flirting fish in the pools below the falls.

We looked at brilliantly colored birds that would make rainbows blush with shame.

And for a minute, the fresh, unknown bombardments on each and every one of Georgia's senses grew a little overwhelming. So we found a quite bench cradled in the roots of a large tree and Georgia and her daddy just sat and cuddled. It wasn't long though before she was again peeking out from daddy's grasp and staring at everything that surrounded her.

And as we left the zoo today, even the cold felt a little warmer, the sun a little closer and Spring must be nearby. I swear Georgia agreed with her soft, sweet snores from inside her stroller as we left that green island in the middle of all this white.

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February 27, 2010 - Her Many Sides

Georgia's new hat came in the mail the other day. OK, two new hats (but her daddy only knows about one of them). I anxiously tore open the box and couldn't wait to see how precious my daughter made the hats look. Well here's the answer and looking through my camera lens, I saw so many different sides of Georgia in a few short minutes that I had to post a few of them here. Maybe it's the mom in me starting to know my little one as well as I know the ins and outs of myself, but it's like I know what she's thinking and feeling. My husband would tell me I can't read minds, but it's not that I'm reading Georgia's, I just know her like an old, familiar soul. Maybe it's because our souls are connected and always will be. My beautiful girl.

Playful Georgia who loves to stick her tongue out and try to make a blowing sound.

Wistful Georgia who is so deep in thought sometimes as she tries to figure out this crazy world surrounding her.

This is the Georgia who could care less what the hat looks like on her head or how cute she makes it look, she just wants her mom to stop with the pictures already!

The interest just luminates from her eyes here. She has spotted something she likes and wants to discover.

And this picture has to be one of my favorite of Georgia so far. It just seems to say it all to me - I am Georgia.

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February 26, 2010 - To Wake or Be Late?

In my small world right now, there is not much more beautiful and right than watching my baby sleep. It's the best kind of peace imaginable full of the occasional sleepy sigh, sound asleep smiles, her lips nursing as if she's dreaming of milk, the sudden jumping and flailing of arms and/or legs followed by deep sleep once more. I could sit and get lost in Georgia's sleep-filled face for hours. Her peace gives me peace.

Many days though, like this one, I face a dilemma as the clock strikes 12:50 p.m. Do I break this spell of peace and wake my angel up or do I let her continue to dream of milk and succumb to the fact that I will be late for work. 12:50 p.m. is my on-time out-the-door time to get Georgia dropped off at daycare and make my commute into downtown Omaha with enough time to slide into my desk chair around 1:30. It's a battle with myself I lose all too often, including today. Georgia and I left the house at 1:10.

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