How to Be Happy

The thing about feeling down is that is goes away when you work at it. I'm not talking about actual depression. That stuff takes actual counseling, sometimes medication. But doldrums? Work. Work for someone else, preferably. But you've got to be able to overcome the down to make yourself get back up again. Very tricky!

My darling son is sometimes a trigger for unhappy thoughts (will you please, please just stop wiggling, stop needing to be rocked,stop wanting attention and let me sleep?!) but more often he is a big source of joy and laughter. Mr. Distractable has recently become enamored of me (more than he already was, if that's possible) and has taken to staring lovingly at me while he eats instead of eating. He latches on, sucks enough to get the milk really strongly flowing, then looks up at me suddenly, making sure I'm still there. Those big, black eyes peer up, all innocent-like. And milk sprays all over his cheek, his eye, his ear, and my front. Thank you.

I would like to explain to him, "Kid, your food and I? We're well attached. As long as you're eating, I'm not going anywhere." But still he stares.

Then goes down to latch on agai--PSYCH! Hi, Mommy!

Now it's time to tuck in--Gotcha! You still there?

...Until I give up and hand him over to the less-mammarily-gifted adult to deal with, because I am done.

But you can only stay mad at this face for so long.

I've been watching my nephew and my own son growing up lately, and I'm led to wonder: are babies really as happy as they seem, or do they smile all the time because they only see people smiling at them?

Our Little Chunk

Gideon is the cutest thing. He's been working on growing quite the mane, lately. I miss being able to kiss his bald head, but I suppose it's nice to have a baby with hair.

He sleeps all night (about 10pm-6am) usually and I am SO glad, because I'm ready to get some sleep around here. We just had his two-month checkup, and according to the chart, he is in the 99^th percentile for weight and 95^th for height (14 lb 8 oz and 25-3/4 in). That's about the size of an average four-month-old. And my, he feels like it, too!

All the pregnancy sites/forums tell you to get some cardio/aerobic exercise in because it'll help you have an easier labor and delivery... I had a relatively easy time with the L&D stuff, even though I was in poor shape. But I wish I had taken the advice of my sister to weight train for carrying around this squirmy baby! I should have been hefting ten pound bags of flour around to train for motherhood. Flour doesn't wiggle as much as a baby, but it's a good approximation of my little chunk in the beginning!

Floating Shelves

Our living room needs some decor. It's beautiful, but plain. Since Daniel and I are new to home ownership, we don't know much about decorating. I decided to trust the Rule of Thirds for the long wall and knew I wanted floating shelves in my last third.

Scouring the internet brings up options from $20-$200. But here in Ruraltown, USA, the nearest IKEA is three hours away, and I want something a little better quality than the blue store's finest without spending a fortune. So the project got put off. Maybe when we have more in the budget.

Cue my discovery of Ana White, HomeMaker: she has actually built a house. With her husband. They built their house together. She knows how to build floating shelves! And she does it with super cheap cuts of wood! And my husband loves woodworking so he can teach me! I pretty much ran into the trifecta of project get-up-and-go. I went to the lumber store and had them cut all my pieces for me. What gentlemen! Then I got home, measured the cuts with Daniel, and we re-cut every piece. So much for saving time on the saws! Together, we sawed, glued, screwed, nailed, puttied, and sanded.

Gideon even got to help!

But he's easily distracted.

The fully assembled setup, ready to paint and install.

We'll screw the frames into the wall then slide our box-shaped covers right over them. I'm sanding and putting the final coat of paint on today, then Daniel will help me install them tonight. Pictures soon!