hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week
I love nights like tonight. The eve of hump day and I am on fire. It was a good week, this last one. I’m looking back and feeling inspired and moved. Things are fitting snugly into my life like a perfectly placed bobby pin. Oh yes there are loose hairs but don’t you know messy buns are SO IN?
August is a wild card in western Montana. It can be so effing hot that your thighs rub together like two greased jello-o molds and it can be so smokey that you taste ash with each inhale. Or, it can be as it is this summer. Fifties at night, occasional thunderstorm, 70s-80s during the day, dry and clear as a good martini.
It’s good to be home.
nuggets.
:: The boulevard garden is bursting. And I haven’t been ticketed or arrested yet. Really, how could one not love squash vines more than dead grass and knapweed?
The girls and I hang out there all the time. Margot chases butterflies and Ruby attempts to eat pine cones, lavender, box elder bugs and anything that is three-dimensional and within reach of her chubby hands.
Oh the joy at Margot’s discovery that the itty seeds she planted are now “carrecks.”
:: We ventured downtown last Friday for a sleepy art walk. Missoulians tend to race to the lakes, rivers and mountains come weekend. This was the first in a while that we were home with minimal plans and so we ambled.
Looked at art and exchanged stories with old friends.
Sat on the steps of the museum that is partly responsible for raising Margot.
Ate burritos on the sidewalk and watched Margot dance.
And, of course, finished it off with ice cream.
:: With all our travels we’ve missed our Sunday family walks. We made up for it last weekend with a stroll long enough for us to talk about end of summer goals, taxes (yep. still haven’t gotten around to it), preschools, haircuts and canning pears inbetween hunting for ducks, counting yellow flowers and explaining how much longer it would take to reach the big, giant blue slide and the little, tiny brown swing.
:: And, I’d like to interrupt these nuggets to talk about sleep. As in, I am getting some! Funny, most people say that last sentence when referring to something else but I am very confident in saying sleep is hotter than sex. I am still up a few times a night but it is only to sing to my sweet potato because Ruby isn’t nursing at night anymore (HOLY SHIT I KNOW). See, last month, Ruby has been sleeping while nursing. As in, all the time. She woke if she came off the boob. This was killing me. It was amazingly hard to break the habit and our method was, for those interested, this: I nursed her to sleep. We moved her out of our bed and into Margot’s room across the hall. When she woke at exactly 12:30, one of us (usually me because my husband lacks opposable thumbs when woken in the middle of the night) would go to her, pick her up and rock her and sing until she fell back to sleep. The first night was horrendous and I channeled every mama in the universe to get me through it. I stood in our living room and swayed and hummed for hours. And, since then, she wakes, I go and say hi leapshin, time to go to sleep and pat her bum for about 10 minutes and that’s it. So my sleep is still interrupted but oh sweet liberation. I get several hours at a time.
If only the world slept like Margot (bug has slept 10 hours a night since day one. no joke.)
:: We met up with friends at Missoula’s water park for adult-only night and holy hell we had the most fun.
:: My work has been very busy in the best way. I hired a seamstress and am looking forward to some exciting growth this next year with both sewing and writing. I will share it all here, of course! On that note, I am currently planning my 2011 blog sponsor schedule. Click here for my readership stats and other info. My rates are affordable and I love to work with small businesses….ideas? E mail me at [email protected]
:: There’s been a lot of dancing.
^Margot’s new signature move: high splits with a severe head shake^
:: And some singing.
:: Gazing.
:: Hugging.
:: And pushing off bedtime just a few more minutes.
I am so thoroughly smitten with all the little day-to-day minutia that adds up to years and lifetimes. The exchanges in between posed photos, the subtle offerings of love from my kids when it feels hard, the sun that faithfully warms my family. Minutia is the bobby pin in my messy bun.
32 Comments
Great great nuggets! And I love the birds in the corner of your girlies room!
what great adventures, loving seeing your World .. what a garden, what fun times.
My little guy is peering at the screen and has just told me, he wants to go see that little girl on the bike because she has no shoes on lol… bit of a distance from here in the UK
xx
I love this post! Yes, I love messy buns! And did you know when secured buns slip out of place and all falls out, there are beautiful CURLS underneath? It’s a win/win!!!
I heart those girls so much!
I barely made it past “carrecks”. Holy hell is that cute or what?
I think Margot needs a colorful tutu and some ballet shoes!
LOVE this!!!!! I’ll be back!
”dry and clear as a good martini”….ah, that is the best line EVER!
What a boulevard garden! My strip is about 2 ft wide and full of maple tree roots. Luckily it doesn’t stop the sweet native plants from growing, but not so good for veggies. Oh how I am jealous of your sunny garden spaces…and your weather. We are getting some cooler days now, but holy hell.. all is dryed and crispy in my neck of the woods. August is a good month. I love the light outside, the slower pace, the end of summer relaxation that comes with it all. Love your world and thanks for this calming post… good job on slowing it down! xo
Just want to tell you that I am more and more smitten with your blog and your family each week.
My favorite blogs are the ones I can relate to the most personally. Our girls are all within months of each other I think, so you’re always writing about a phase or milestone that I’m currently in or have just gone though. My favorite blogs are also the ones where the writer turns the same everyday thoughts I have into “poetry”, and you manage to do that all of the time as well. You’re a great writer!
(geez am I gushy enough? hehe) Just wanted you to know you have a special thing here. 🙂
Love the pic of Andy with his vest made of daughters! Also, the Elmo slippers make fine dancing shoes…
cute-as-buttons kiddos and charming wonderful lovely missoula… i always love your blogs but sometimes they make my heartache horribly for that town and all my friends, walks, hikes and gardens that only had to produce enough for me and my sweet guy….
you are a lucky crew.
LOVE:
The description of mountain weather in August: right on.
The sisters photos always make me smile and long, just a teeny tiny bit, for another baby.
Sleep.
Your powerhouse of a business that is Dig this Chick, that you somehow created while mothering and gardening and writing and crafting. OMG. Impressed.
How you turned your boulevard grass/weeds into food! (box elder bugs *are* protein, maybe Rubes is more of a carnivore).
And always, your appreciation of the moments.
you are totally awesome.
Loved reading about your family and seeing the photos. The days when I was nursing babies, sewing, cooking, taking walks, and reading to my three are long gone. They went too fast- but oh what great memories. (I’m a grandmother now – that’s fun, too.) Love that last picture of wearing the babes both front and back. I did that myself a few times!
I could just hear Margot’s happy voice in all of those pictures. What a sweetie and great big sister. Can’t wait to see you all over Labor Day for the wedding!!
Sarah is right about the martini and sleep is better than sex. I love bed time. Magot keep dancing and Rubes, enjoy all those little snacks that inhabit the outdoors all within your reach. Can’t WAIT for another visit. The garden in the front yard is outrageous. Carrecks for everyone. Ya Pam Andys vest of sweetness, he wears it well.
,,,great nuggets to get us over the hump and in the direction of the finish line,,,i dig margot’s moves and ruby’s spectator ways,,,oh happy day!
Love this post! So comfy…
And don’t you love how the kids enertain each other? Priceless.
Thank you for the reminder to appreciate minutiae.. Not my best skill so you can be my role model.
XOXO
Lindsay Anne-Marie
Freakin’ adorable pictures Nici! I love reading your blog, and recognizing that feeling of gratitude for being able to experience this life exactly how it is….so awesome.
Lovin’ the curbside garden. Cheers to getting more sleep. xoxo
Hello! been reading for a while but this is my first comment…your house and girls and hubby are too darn cute. you have a lovely life 🙂 that last pic is just delicious.
Love that last pic! It looks hot and sweaty (although your place doesn’t sound quite as hot as here), but it also looks a lot like love!
:)Lisa
love your girls’ room. just love it. xo
I love these beautiful nuggets of your life. I found you through 6512and growing, and I’m so happy that I did. I need to slow down these next weeks and enjoy all of the little things in my life. Thanks for this reminder.
Hey there, Dig!
So nice to see what is growing in your garden and your cute, cute house.
You wrote about your red lipstick a little while ago…is there a brand that you use that doesn’t start “bleeding?” When I wear red…I feel like it starts “fraying” too quickly. Share your tips!
Also, love the blue smock/dress thing that Ruby is wearing. Did you make it yourself? Love that fabric.
Hey there, Dig!
So nice to see what is growing in your garden and your cute, cute house.
You wrote about your red lipstick a little while ago…is there a brand that you use that doesn’t start “bleeding?” When I wear red…I feel like it starts “fraying” too quickly. Share your tips!
Also, love the blue smock/dress thing that Ruby is wearing. Did you make it yourself? Love that fabric.
Hey there, Dig!
So nice to see what is growing in your garden and your cute, cute house.
You wrote about your red lipstick a little while ago…is there a brand that you use that doesn’t start “bleeding?” When I wear red…I feel like it starts “fraying” too quickly. Share your tips!
Also, love the blue smock/dress thing that Ruby is wearing. Did you make it yourself? Love that fabric.
Hey there, Dig!
So nice to see what is growing in your garden and your cute, cute house.
You wrote about your red lipstick a little while ago…is there a brand that you use that doesn’t start “bleeding?” When I wear red…I feel like it starts “fraying” too quickly. Share your tips!
Also, love the blue smock/dress thing that Ruby is wearing. Did you make it yourself? Love that fabric.
Hey there, Dig!
So nice to see what is growing in your garden and your cute, cute house.
You wrote about your red lipstick a little while ago…is there a brand that you use that doesn’t start “bleeding?” When I wear red…I feel like it starts “fraying” too quickly. Share your tips!
Also, love the blue smock/dress thing that Ruby is wearing. Did you make it yourself? Love that fabric.
I think you guys live in the moment more than anyone I know. And it’s absolutely invigorating to see.
That sidewalk patch, by the way, AWESOME!
Our little meadow is coming in nicely and I haven’t missed the stupid lawn it replaced for one hot second.
From the photo your front yard looks much better than any of your neighbors. Why on earth would you ever get a ticket?! I can’t imagine. All you need now are a few chickens in that yard.