So tonight at dinner Sam started talking about how when he grows up he wants to be a Daddy just like his Daddy. And Hubby sat there and beamed. Aaaah. Sweetness.

And then Sam went on to say something along the lines of, “Daddies are to play, and mommies are to snuggle with.” Aaaah. Uber-sweetness.

And speaking of sweetness, some lovely ladies have given me some award love recently.

It just so happens that all three of them are recent finds for me, which have become fast favorites. And I love that I still find new blogs to enjoy after all this time. I often don’t remember who finds who or how it happens, but that really is the fun of blogging, I suppose. Via a random click you can find someone who just seems to get you and vice versa. So thank you so much to the ladies who write these great blogs: Such The Spot, Mayberry Mom, and Pearls of Wisdom. I luuurve you all too.

Did you ever have a really lucky day at the library? When you come home with something you’d never even heard of but it ended up being a special little treasure?

A few weeks ago we went to check out the area library in our new neighborhood, and came away with tons of books for the boys (like 30 - at this library they have no limit!) I just picked up everything I saw that I thought would be fun for Sam, mostly, many of which I had never seen before. When we got home and started reading them we discovered two new favorites.

The Snail and the Whale

We love this one. At the end of the first reading both Hubby and I said, “What a great book!” The story is wonderful, about a small snail who saves the day despite her size, after being shown the big, big world by her friend, the whale.  There is a nice underlying eco-theme, and in the end the community comes together to save the whale. Besides that, it’s written in a totally fun rhyme scheme that makes it a pleasure to read, and the illustrations are lovely.


If you sat down with a child, had them tell you a story in which their imagination is the limit, and wrote down everything they said, you’d probably come up with something like Jimmy Zangwow’s Out-Of-This-World Moon-Pie Adventure. It’s a great story about a boy who flies on his home-made jalopy in search of moon-pies (because his mom won’t give him one before dinner), which starts him off on a terrific adventure through the galaxy. What really sets this book apart, however, is the art. OMG! It’s beautiful. You just have to see it. Really, really beautiful, and really like nothing I have quite seen before in a children’s book.

I know, it sounds like I’m writing a review, but I actually just wanted to share these two great books because we have really been enjoying them. If you feel like reading a book review, however, let me send you on over to Mama Speaks, where I have a review up of another book I really enjoyed (but for adults - moms, specifically) and thoroughly recommend, The Stay-At-Home Survival Guide.

Just FYI - If you ever, say, find yourself observing your face in the mirror while your three-year-old takes his bath a few feet away, when he says something along the lines of, “Mommy, remember that time I did a poopie in the baftub?” you’ll want to get on that. Like, immediately. Do not continue to contemplate your pores. Do not, for the love of God, go on to remove your contact lenses as you wonder why on earth he would have thought of that time (because you are a nincompoop). For if you do, by the time you take 3 steps back over to the bath you will wonder what just happened to your eyes, cuz somethin’ ain’t lookin’ right in that water.

And as you get down on your hands and knees to deal with the situation, you’ll be reminded of a time just 20 minutes before, when you were in the same position, but under your dining room table trying to remove noodles from the carpet, knowing you would never succeed and wondering why in the hell you were the only one down there picking up food, contemplating what has become of your life. You’ll wish, that you were back in that dining room, facing smashed noodles in the carpet, rather than, well, the bathtub.

But THEN, ladies, oh ladies, 20 minutes later, you will find yourself sitting on the couch. You will be nursing your teething one-year-old as he sits up, facing the goods, as it were, at which point he will decide to clamp down and hurtle himself backward while keeping your boob in his mouth. At which point, you’ll wish you were back upstairs looking at a tub full of crap instead of a handful of ice.

Many of you have been asking about what else I learned from the Martha Stewart Show on blogging. (That post has now been updated with photos, by the way.) I have to admit, it all went by pretty quickly. The guests were on and off within moments, it seemed, and the discussion with each of them really didn’t go beyond what their blog was about. Perez Hilton did share some tips, but as for blogging success, that was about the extent of it.

One thing I noticed, however, is what a difference a well-designed blog and great photographs can make for readers. When I come across blogs that are simple, clean, and easy to read, I really notice it. When I find blogs that are cluttered and busy, well, I notice that too. And that was true when I looked at all the blogs that were featured on the show that day as well.

The blogs that really stood out for me were also the ones that had beautiful photos within the posts. My favorite was A Way To Garden. I realize this is common sense, but I do sometimes forget that blogging is a visual medium, and the look really does matter. As I said before, the greatest thing I came away with was the book, A Year Of Mornings, which, again, places emphasis on great photography, and made me want to do a lot more with the photos I take of the boys and our family.

And I think all of this applies to mommy blogging just as much as any other type of blogging. Many of us share pictures of our kids on our blogs, and the quality of those pictures obviously ranges in quality (although the subject matter is always gorgeous, of course:). I know I’ve been guilty of posting many poorly composed or blurry photos, simply because I wanted to share the subject in the photo, and I just was not able to capture it any better. And I’m not saying that it’s not ok to do that occasionally - most of us are not professional photographers. But I can also think of many mommy blogs that consistently have beautiful photos, and that makes them a pleasure to read, which makes me want to practice, practice, practice.

Some of my favorite moms who put me to shame in the photography department are Jaime at All Things Avery, who always stuns me with beautiful photos of her adorable daughter, Nicole of The Tales of Eli and Maddux, who has a wonderful ability to capture the emotions and excitement of every day activities with little ones, and Gretchen from Lifenut, who always manages to find the smallest of beautiful details.

So bear with me, because all of this together has gotten me on a bit of a photo frenzy, and you may have to witness some serious experimental photography in the coming weeks. I figure, why not? Is it possible to have too many pictures of one’s children? I think not.

What are your favorite blogs with great photos? Any of them mommy blogs?

Well, things are . . . windy. We haven’t been swimming since Sunday due to wind, cold, and extremely rough seas. Instead, we’ve been biking, visiting the nature center, and heading out to the beach in sweats and windbreakers. As I said before, the shore in September is a very different thing, a different type of vacation. But Hubby and I got to go out to dinner last night, just the two of us. And I’m not sure how we’ll start filling the time tomorrow when the rain is supposed to begin, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.

Can you feel the wind?