it's the little things

Happy November!

Yesterday I kept thinking about how recent it seemed that I was worrying about working and motherhood as the school year got underway... and now two months have gone by, and Nell and I are both still alive.  We're doing it, this whole life thing.  Go, us.

And it's been another week of little things worth celebrating.

one

Cozying up with my little family and surviving Hurricane Sandy safe and sound.

My chrysanthemum in a pot on the front step was lifted up and out of the pot and blown down the front walkway, but the only damage we suffered was a tree beside our garage and shed that fell... away from the buildings and not on top of them, thankfully!

I know it's easy for those of us largely unaffected by the storm to say, "Oh, pish-posh, that was nothing!  What was all the fuss about?  Why were all the businesses and schools closed?"  But then I read about a man dying only miles from here in an accident on the highway during the storm, and I'm grateful Nathan, Andrew, and I didn't have to go to work and were able to stay indoors and safe.  So many have lost their homes and even their lives... we are grateful to be safe, and to have a roof over our heads that kept us warm and dry.

two

Nell's first Halloween!

I grew up with a more harvest festival-type celebration of Halloween; we dressed up (in fun homemade costumes), but we didn't go trick-or-treating.  I'm not sure yet how we'll choose to handle Halloween as Nell gets older, but when I found a $2.00 ladybug costume at a thrift store earlier in the week, I couldn't pass it up.

We invited a few friends over for a very low-key Halloween party.  Everyone brought stuff for tacos, and all together we ended up with quite a spread, with minimal effort for each of us -- the perfect party for busy people. 

The three babies on their first Halloween: Ian the {unhappy} monkey, Nell the ladybug, and Emmett the peapod.

Me and my little lady{bug}:

Awww!

three

She sits!  Over the weekend I began to notice that she was sitting fairly well on her changing pad when I'd do buttons on her back.  By Monday or Tuesday it was clear: Nell had flipped the switch from not-sitting to sitting, just like that.

She sits like a champ... with the occasional toppling over.

Who me?  What's the big deal, Mom?

four

Striped pants!  So cute.

five

Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th Symphony.

{I'm off to a rehearsal for Mahler 5 tonight!}

'It's the little things' is just my way of remembering weekly the small things as well as the momentous ones; the little everyday things that make life good.

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