hump day nuggets: camera as therapy

In response to questions, yes, I usually have my camera with me. It’s a choice I make because when I look through the tiny glass rectangle, frame in whatever love lays before me, set focus to that ordinary moment and capture it (sometimes well and sometimes not), it makes me present, hyper-aware of how amazingly stunning and inspiring our world is. My camera is a well-used tool, it grounds me solidly, electrifies my surroundings and seeks only beauty.

I use my camera as therapy. When faced with a toddler who dumps out my hard-earned, pumped milk so mom and dad can have their first date in seven months or a baby who just can’t settle into anything, my solution is ALWAYS to grab the camera and go for a walk.

^ Margot wasn’t ready for bed the other night so we put “Jimmy” in her sling to first walk her to sleep. ^

Sometimes the walk is smooth and we stride through our neighborhood with smiles, tossing daisies all the way to the park. Sometimes the walk is painful and we fight it at first, making it only a few feet and then sitting on the sidewalk to talk about bugs or dig in the front garden.

However it unfolds, it always works.

^ 5am wake up with my girls last Sunday. Everyone was fussy so we

went outside to pull the last of the radish and plant our leeks. ^

Getting out with a camera is our reset button.

I take photos and find joy in Margot’s slow, meandering shuffle, in Ruby’s asymmetrical ears, in the way the sun hits the tree tops, in our shadows. Margot finds joy in a whole world to be explored. And Ruby finds joy wherever we find it, especially if she’s on her mama.

nuggets.

:: We’re in it THICK with the peas. Oh the peas.

And I just adore how Ruby wraps her wee feet around me. Little primate.

Bug loves fresh vegetables. Except for carrots, she won’t eat out-of-season produce. Swear. I have to puree cauliflower and peas and bury it in cheesy noodles. But, interestingly, come garden season, she can’t get enough of the peas, radish, rhubarb (straight!), strawberries, spinach. It was the same way last year. Monkey knows good food.

:: A few days ago, Andy called from the living room, come here, babe! And I walked in to a standing, VERY pleased with herself Ruby. And, Margot who said, Look, mama, I can do it too!

:: Margot loves to help turn the compost.

And clean the coop.

:: Oh my I can’t dwell to much on this one. There was one last thing we had to do regarding Ruby’s health that I have been dragging my feet on: one more 24-hour holter to monitor her heart. When in the hospital last December, she kept triggering ventricular tachycardia which is some serious stuff (heart attack). It was never figured out…she clearly didn’t have a heart attack but she was having v tach…anyway, I had to get over my Ruby-doctor allergy and take her in to have wires glued to her torso one last time. We find out the good news that all is well some time next week.

:: We dance daily. I guess that’s our other reset button.

There’s not much a good ol’ booty shakin’ can’t fix.

:: In business news, the Sodastream winner:

Patty said…
I love your blog and would love to win your giveaway!! Such a cute video of Andy demonstrating…so cool that you could see all the bubbles coming from the glass and tickling Andy’s nose!!

Congrats! E mail me at digthischick@gmail.com.

Also, I have another product review coming up from CSN Stores. They have all manner of goods from twin beds to espresso machines. I am excited with what they are sending me (and my bug will be even more thrilled!).

:: Lots of backyard sipping and dining lately.

:: And roaring contests.

:: And morning breakfast dates with friends.

:: Letting go when your kid insists on wearing only the fishy bathing suit, froggy boots and green hat! even though it’s really cold outside.

:: Mourning the loss of some potato plants and hoping like hell that the others won’t die off.

^ I thought it was blight at first but the soggy stem makes me think it’s bacterial wilt. ^

At least there were some itty taters under those sick plants. Perfect for Ruby.

:: And, this. This is when I choose to find beauty. Because *sometimes* I am about to lose it. Like when I pick up the whole house and, as I mentioned (but it’s worth rementioning!), pumped milk for Ruby and Margot manages to dump clothes out of a laundry basket, fill it with toys and pour my milk on the rug in 37 seconds flat.

I took a deep breath, forgave my curious daughter and took a sweet photo of Margot with her prized possessions in a laundry basket.

I was so upset about the milk. I nearly cried. I surprised myself. I think I hate pumping because I had to pump for those two horrid weeks when Ruby was hospitalized. I grew to hate the whop whir of that machine. To hate that it meant my baby was too weak to eat.

But I have to remember that THIS is where we are NOW: