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The ABC's of Keira: B

Until the last few months, when Keira really started experimenting with sounds and language, I didn't realize how important the letter B is to a baby. And since it's such a simple sound to make, I wonder if that's how babies came to be called babies in the first place.

Our blond and blue-eyed darling now says a handful of words, that all sound the same ("buh-buh" or "bah-bah"), but I can distinguish between them fairly easily by context.

She says:

baby (referring to herself, to her Baby Stella doll, and to random babies she sees in pictures)
bye-bye
bellybutton (sounds a bit more like "bey-buhhh")
bottle
binkie (sounds like bi-bi)
booby*

*Being a bottle-fed baby from the start, Keira never had a real need to be fully acquainted with this word, but one day a bit of mom's cleavage was escaping the confines of her clothing, and Keira poked it and made her signature inquiring "uh?" sound. Since we spend all day pointing at and identifying things, mom (aka me) replied "booby," quite absentmindedly. She plucked out her binkie and repeated "buh-buh." And, unlike the many other words we say all day long, this one has stuck. It's time to be careful what I say around the little sponge. She now also pokes other people's boobies and says "buh-buh" without prompting. I just grin and shrug.

In other B news, Keira's adoring grandma Beverly keeps her dressed beautifully in fashionable duds. Keira has an aunt Becky, who adores her too, and cousins named Breanna and Brock. And she has a favorite bear that she cuddles during naptime. Her birthmom, Anneliese, has a larger bear just like this one, and we took pictures of Keira with her baby bear every month until her first birthday.

The ABC's of Keira: A

A is a very important letter in Keira's little life.

First of all, she was adopted at just 2 days old. The gift of adoption has blessed more lives than she, or her birth parents, may ever know.

Her mother's name is Angie and her birthmom (or "tummy mommy" which might be the term we'll use until she's old enough to understand this in more depth) is Anneliese. She has seven aunts who love her more than words can say.

And of course the word adorable has to make it onto my list. Her perfect little features, so unique to my little girl, strike me daily with wonder. And yes, I even think it's cute when she screeches like a baby pterodactyl all day long. Annoying? Yes, but adorable too.

All in all, I am in awe at the blessings and challenges of motherhood. Perhaps it is because I had to wait for so long, but this journey, though difficult, has been immensely rewarding. And I look forward to what the future brings.

 

Tiny baby Keira, with her aunt Alli, wearing a little knit hat from her aunt Karste.

About the A illustration
A while back, I found a cool old children's book at a thrift store (D.I. for you locals) called Peppermint Fence, which I promptly tore apart to make a notebook. But I had to save this cute alphabet section, "Nonsense Alphabet," in the back of the book for some future project. When I recently stumbled across the torn-out pages, I had the idea to write about Keira's life, one letter at a time.

I'll post a few new letters per month until I complete all 26. Feel free to join me in this journaling project, and post links to your own letter-by-letter ruminations in the comments section!

Planner Winners!

And the winners of the random drawing are:

#13 Lisa Hansen

#16 Cindy Recker

#27 Annalys Wilson

#30 Rebekah

Winners, email your mailing addresses to angie@ellapublishing.com!

Thanks everyone for sharing your hopes and dreams. (And for making me feel better about procrasting. I'm clearly not alone!)

A Take Twelve Family Adventure: January

I love the whole idea behind the Take Twelve photography challenge so much that I talked my sister and my two sisters-in-law into joining the fun! I sincerely wanted them (who have 10 young children among them) to reward themselves by carving some time out to focus on their memories. I know that I'm loving it so far!

Here's my 12 x 12, two-page scrapbook layout, featuring (once again) products from the For the Record line by Echo Park Paper Co. I followed a sketch found in the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit, adapting the left page for horizontal instead of vertical photos) and used a journaling card from the kit, too.

 

My Sis-in-Law, Becky (Utah):

Since she's local, Becky was able to come over so we could work on our pages together. She doesn't have a useful photo-editing program on her home computer, so she used Picnik.com to create her collage on the left! Her three photos on the right are just 4 x 6 prints. And the little journaling card came from the Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. She chose two different colors of cardstock for her background papers, tying them together with the same pattern across the bottom of both pages.

 My Sis-in-Law, Suzanne (Arizona):

Back when she just had two children (she now has four), Suzanne was a prolific little scrapbooker. And I can't count the number of times I've seen her kids looking through their albums. This project inspired her to dig out those supplies again and start playing. With a busy and hectic household, Suzanne set a time limit for creating her page and stuck to it. She printed her photos as 4 x 6 prints and then cut each down to size and played with the arrangement until she got the look she wanted. (I love how she also included some memoriablia too, in the form of coupons!)

Unrelated Side Note: Suzanne is a super coupon shopper. During my recent visit to Arizona, she filled the main part of the shopping cart (and used coupons), and I just filled the child seat in the front with my items (and didn't use coupons) and we spent the same amount of money! (Granted, I had to buy formula and diapers, but still!)

 

My Sister, Michele (California):

Michele is tied with Suzanne as far as number of children (four), but Michele's are younger. The youngest two are just 20 months apart. Clearly, she is also very pressed for time, so she chose to adapt the Take Twelve photo challenge to her clean & simple tastes and to her busy lifestyle. She's creating digital-collage pages, one per month, that she'll assemble into a 12 x 12 photo book at the end of the year! No cutting, gluing, or shopping for scrapbook supplies required. She completed this collage page in an hour using Google's free Picasa program, even though she had never used the program before in her life. 

A Few Fun Facts

Two of the three ladies were into scrapbooking at one point, but they truly haven't made a scrapbook page in 7 or more years. And the other has never really scrapbooked at all. 

Two of the three hate their cameras, and found themselves really wishing for a new one come January 12. But I say, photos taken with a less-than-perfect camera are still better than no photos taken at all! 

Three of the three were challenged by this new experience, having to dust off old skills and supplies.

Three of the three are SO glad they made the time to participate, and they look forward to evolving and adapting the project as the year goes on!

I found myself desperately wishing (yet AGAIN) that we all lived closer to one another. But I love how this project is keeping us connected, one day a month, from our three different states.

 

One great thing about photo challenges like this one is that they give you the inclination and motivation to stay involved in your hobby, which forces you to figure out what products, processes, and programs suit your tastes and lifestyle—and which don't. I can't wait to see how we all adapt and change throughout the year.

Anyone can take the opportunity to capture the magic in the every day, just one day per month, for 12 months. And then what you do with your photos after that is up to you! (But we do have some great ideas in our Take Twelve kit.)

If you're looking for more Take Twelve inspiration, check out the results from our Take Twelve photography challenge design team, on Ella's blog.

And remember, YOU CAN STILL PARTICIPATE if you'd like to, read all about how and why here.

Happy January!

Unforgiveably Late Planner Giveaway

Procrastinators, rejoice! If you haven't yet settled on a planner or calendar system for 2012, then have I got the the giveaway for you?

Yes, yes I do.

I know I'm not the ONLY one who's been a bit reluctant to admit that it's really 2012 already. The little old lady in line behind me at the bank this morning was stopping in solely for a free calendar for her kitchen. Well, I promise you I have something better than a free bank calendar.

It's the customizeable photo planner for 2012! (Heck, even if you do have another system, throw it out and use this one instead. I absolutely love it.)

My 2012 Photo Planner

Here's my cover and title page. I used the For the Record product line from Echo Park Paper Co. And a little tradition I started last year was to include my "one little word" for the year in the decor of the title page, to remind me to keep it in mind all year long. My word this year: PRAY. (Not familiar with "one little word"? It's an idea started by Ali Edwards, where you choose one word as a theme to guide your life all year long. It's SO much friendlier than setting a list of resolutions.)

For my month pages, I decided to browse through my photo files and choose one favorite scenery shot taken in each month, from any year between 2004 and 2011. I love these shots! They remind me of memorable vacations, scenes from where I live, and more. On the reverse sides of these pages, I may or may not scrapbook a photo taken during the current month, as I progress throughout the year. (I already have a year-long phototography project on my plate!)

Yes, indeed, I did "put a bird on it."

So, what do you say? Do you want to win one? Leave me a comment sharing your hopes and dreams for 2012, and I'll pick two random winners! (I'll ship to winners in the U.S. for free.)

Alternate Approach: My 2011 Photo Planner
I also used a My Book Planner in 2011, and here was my approach last year:

My one little word for 2011 was: PURPOSE. It was a good word.

On the front side of each month page, I included a photo or two from the previous year (2010), and then throughout the year, I'd scrapbook a couple of pictures to represent the current year (which was 2011).

Above: photos from February 2010 followed by one cute shot from February 2011.

Above: March 2010 photos followed by one very special photo from March 2011.

Have fun with your 2012 planning system, whatever you have in mind!

Twelve Photos on the 12th

Yesterday, on January 12th, 2012, I took twelve photos of my everyday life, and I printed them for my forthcoming scrapbook page for January. Here they are, awaiting some paper, glue, and all that other scrapbooky stuff!

This is part of the Take Twelve photo challenge hosted over at Ella Publishing Co. this year, and it's been a blast so far!

It's easy to get so busy that I forget to take very many meaningful photos of my regular days, and this challenge is going to solve that problem for me this year.

I had planned to use our "nice" camera for this project, so I could practice my Nikon DSLR skills. (I get lucky shots now and then, like Jovie jumping mid-air as seen above, but I have lots to learn.)

But, alas, I found it to be so much more convenient to just use my camera phone for most of my pictures. In fact, I started using Instagram for the first time yesterday, which is a camera app for the iPhone, and it was surprisingly fun. (My first thought was, I don't need one more app to learn or one more social site to keep up with, but when the timing is right, it can be FUN to have one more app to learn and one more social site to play with.)

So here are a few pointers from me to you, in case you're even a little bit intrigued by Take Twelve:

1. You don't have to commit to ONE camera for the whole day of photos. I took three photos on my DSLR and nine on my camera phone. And I'm still going to turn them into a fun layout. You'll see.

2. Recruit some friends! I talked my sister, Michele, and my sisters-in-law, Suzanne and Becky, to join the challenge! (And a few of my cousins too.) And they're not even consistent scrapbookers, if they scrapbook at all. But the challenge is appealing to them because it's DOABLE and it fits into their very busy lives. And I'm going to share their pages with you here on my blog all year long, too. Just to prove that people of any skill level, or interest level for that matter, can do this.

3. YES you can still join the challenge, even though January 12th is already in the past. I blogged all about it over at The Daily Trumpet today, so go find out how you can still take 144 awesome photos of your everyday life this year—and get the support and encouragement you need to make 12 scrapbook pages with them.

4. Sign up for the Ella Publishing Co. email list, so you can get email reminders when it's time to take your next set of photos.

It's going to be FUN!

The Wonders of Wall Decor

If you've been to my house at any point in the past 7 years, you'll be shocked to learn that I, Angie Hill Lucas, deliberately put several nail holes in several of my walls in the last few weeks. I know, I'm shocked, too.

You see, after moving in to this cute old house, we painted every square inch of it, floor by floor, and it took us two years to complete the job (especially since we had to remove unpleasant amounts of wallpaper and prime everything first due to the use of glossy, oil-based paint in every room).

After all that effort, I just couldn't bring myself to commit to any wall decor (except for certain pieces hung with Command  Plastic Hooks and related non-destructive products). Just couldn't do it. For YEARS.

But after so many years of feeling the need to explain my lack of wall decor to every guest who entered my home, I decided it was time to grab a hammer and make some holes. So I did.

And now I think, what was I waiting for?

In the kitchen, I hung up the little plate that I purchased in a cute little shop in Hollywood years ago. The plate inspired the three wall hangings you see reflected in the window (which are hung with those non-destructive Command things and which you can see better here), but my aversion to putting nail holes in my walls held me back from actually displaying the plate.

 

In the bathroom, where the above set of placeholder templates has adorned the wall since August (yes, I got many compliments), I finally nailed up the actual mirrors. And I tell you, the templates did make it a whole lot easier.

Ahhh. Restful. Reflective. Rejuvenating. This collection of mirrors, gathered over the course of a year at consignment shops and the like, makes me smile every time I pee.

 

And in the living room, on a long, empty wall, I hung up a staggered row of electic and unmatching picture frames above the piano. I was inspired by an article I saw in Real Simple magazine, "Artful Ideas for Every Room," which said:

"Gather up photos, paintings, and silhouettes in plain frames. [Clearly, I ignored the "plain frames" part.] Begin with a large item centered above a desk or a table (or simply in the middle of a wall) and at eye level. Add a piece to each side, hanging the frames close enough to touch but intentionally creating an uneven line on the top and the bottom. Continue, one on the right and one on the left, building out from the center. You can fill the width of the wall or not. Vary the subject, the medium, and the orientation (vertical or horizontal) for a playful feel."

This is my crowning achievement of my "putting holes in the walls" adventure. Seven holes, all in a row.

And, ironically, behind that oval-framed map is a large, unsightly tear (down to the wallboard) caused by me putting up one of those non-destructive Command hooks and trying to reposition it without reading the directions first.

And guess what? It doesn't bother me at all.

p.s. Did you know you can get a 20 x 30 canvas-wrapped gallery print at Costo for $70? It's true. We got one for my parents for Christmas. And that little canvas print on the far left was right around $30. Gotta love Costco.

Gifts I AM Giving This Year

Yes, I'm serious. I gave someone a plush uterus. My sister had hers removed earlier this month, so I sent her a new one! She loved it.

And it's giving her far fewer problems than her previous one. The company, I Heart Guts, also has plush kidneys, hearts, gall bladders, even an appendix. (Thanks to my friend Yvette for the tip!)

 

Yes, Heaven help me, Keira is getting a Sing-a-Ma-Jig. I was worse than all the kids in the Kohl's toy section last week, playing with and giggling at the Sing-a-Ma-Jig display. Keira was fascinated too, so guess what she's getting, thanks to my 30 percent off coupon?

And in the grand tradition of Grandpa Jeff (my dad), I find I AM getting Keira's Christmas gifts out early for her to play with—I have to make sure she likes them!—before putting them back away so they can be a "surprise" on Christmas morning. This will probably be the only year that trick will actually work.

In far less hilarious news (what could be funnier than a plush internal organ, after all), I've created some quick and inexpensive Christmas photo albums for my family members.

You can read all about it on the Ella blog (just follow that previous link or click on the picture)! And/or enjoy the free tutorial I created showing you exactly how to colorize a PNG file in Photoshop Elements. My gift to you:

Now to round up some white elephants for my family Christmas party. Any grand ideas for gag gifts?

3rd Annual Christmas Not-Shopping List

With only five more shopping days to go before Christmas, I decided it's time to disappoint my friends and family yet again with my list of things they will not be receiving from me this year.

1. The Smart Planet CDM-2 Pigs in a Blanket Maker
Granted, this puppy has a total of seven reviews on Amazon.com, all 5-star. But I suppose if you're going to purchase an appliance this specific, you probably have a specific need for it. And since I don't think there's anyone on my gift list this year who is a particular pig-in-a-blanket connoisseur, I'll take a pass on this one. It would probably be a big hit with the kids, though. Me? I'm not sure I've even had the option  to sample this American delicacy since I frequented the Southland Elementary cafeteria in the '80s.

 

2. Claw magnifying necklace
It makes such a statement all on its own that, well, what would you wear with it? Maybe a tall, pointy hat? So, friends and family, you won't be startled by one of these in your gift bag this year. For that matter, it's probably safe to say that I won't be giving any gifts this year that involve bird claws.

 

3. Giraffe toilet brush.
Finally! A toilet-cleaning device that you can proudly display in your bathroom! No boring, white toilet brushes skulking in the corner, where no one ever notices or appreciates them. And the fact that it looks like a toy means your kids will happily play with it for hours on end. With a giraffe-shaped toiled brush, everyone wins. But you're still not getting one from me this year.

 

4. Eggies.
Sorry, pals, you won't get the opportunity to replace the frustration of peeling the shells off of hard-boiled eggs with the frustration of assembling six tiny capsules, greasing them up with cooking oil, trying to aim the contents of a cracked egg into the tiny opening on top, cleaning up the mess once the pan boils over, and then trying pry the boiled eggs out of the capsules. Not from me, anyway.

 

I couldn't even bring myself to talk about Forever Lazy this year, but that doesn't mean it's in the running for gift giving. Maybe next year.

What are you most excited about not getting this year?

For additional ideas for what not to give, also consult my 2010 and 2009 lists.

The Truth About Babies

I have 10 nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 12 years to 2 months, so I knew this before, as everyone does and mentions a million times a day, all over the world.

But now that I have a 14-month-old toddling around my house (who is, at the moment, emptying my purse onto the floor and exploring every compartment, object, and zipper), I know this personally, viscerally, completely.

The truth is, babies grow SO fast.

Yeah, I knew that. Everyone knows that. But then I see a picture like this one, taken just a year ago, and I'm halted in my tracks.

This photo captures my every sense. I'm stunned at the sight of her tiny fist next to my grandpa's thumb—how his massive welder's hands cradle her little pajama-clad body.

I look at this picture, and I am instantly enveloped (as Keira must have been) in that familiar, musky scent that always clings to grandpa's plaid cowboy shirts: a combination of Old Spice, horses, and that sandpaper-like soap he keeps in his downstairs bathroom. He smells like love and comfort and dependability.

At the same time, I'm drinking in the fresh newness of Keira, all slathered in baby lotion, with her whisper-soft cotton clothes carrying traces of Dreft baby detergent. She smells like hope and miracles and the future.

I want to live in this picture, basking in the light from the window that is filtered through the branches of my mom's Christmas tree, newly in love with my new baby daughter, remembering the hours I spent cocooned on grandpa's lap when I was little.

This is nostalgia. This is the power of a photo.

Journaling Prompt
Find a photo that causes an emotional response in you and write about what you see or hear or smell as you imagine yourself inside that photo. Describing what something smells like is not an easy thing to do, and almost whatever you write will feel inadequate to you, but it is a wonderful exercise for helping you connect very deeply to a memory. Try it! And share it on your blog, in your journal, or on a scrapbook page.

Note: as you try to describe what something or someone smells like, you are bound to discover the woeful lack of adequate synonyms for the word "smell." After checking my favorite online Thesaurus, I even Googled the phrase "other words for smell" and came across a new-to-me website, the "Super Thesaurus," that clearly does NOT know what a verb is. Here's a screen capture: