12/30/06 Scrapping

I took Katrina to a scrapbook store that's closing and is having a huge sale today, managing to spend more money in one shot than I ever have. She was being very fussy, so I had no time to make decisions -- if something caught my eye, in my basket it went. Besides, everything was on major sale. Total damage: $104. A grumpy baby and 30% off will do that.

Later, I discovered my mistake: I had her in the Baby Bjorn facing inward. Silly me. Don't I know this baby after 12 weeks? Once I faced her out, she was fine, though I kept having to peer in her face to make sure, since as usual she was in constant motion and it was hard to tell if it was fun or fuss.

I'm doing a scrapbook page that will have a short list of adjectives that describe Katrina. I asked Dave to give me a word for her, and without hesitation, he said, "WIGGLY!" Of course, that's the first word I put down too!

Today I caught a piece of a travel show on KCSM (a local public TV station) that talked about a museum in France featuring the work of Matisse. When he was old and sick and in a wheelchair and could no longer paint, he still created art, in a new medium: paper cutting! He took colored paper and scissors and glued cutouts to other paper. Matisse -- an early scrapbooker? We're legit!

Yesterday Gabriel got his bike stuck in some dirt in the backyard, and loved that he could spin the pedals and not go anywhere.
I found him out there happily sitting on his bike and spinning the pedals around, as though he were in a genuine spinning class. You go boy!

I attempted some self-times with Katrina outside yesterday, but she was winding down at the time, and it's especially hard to find a place to set up a camera, even with a tripod, which I didn't use. The recycling bin had to do for these.



We finally opened some more gifts last night -- we're still not done! But we did come across these adorable and very useful Robeez from Aunt Laura and Uncle Ryan, with little mermaids on them. Aww! They don't fit yet, but I couldn't resist trying them on anyway. Thanks guys!

While I was at it, I got some self-times with Katrina, this time just holding the camera facing us. No good shots again, though I think this expression on Katrina's face is pretty funny.
But I'm going to try more like that, this time when she's not, again, tired of being awake for the moment.

Speaking of gifts, Julian is doing great on his bicycle, riding it around our tiny backyard patio for a good half-hour today, turning it carefully, getting off and backing up when need be. He's so cute on it, with his round little helmet, and takes it pretty seriously and applies a fair amount of concentration to it. That's typical Julian; more cautious and reserved than his exuberant, but calculated, brother.

I remember now that I was dismayed that we wouldn't be able to all go bicycling together as a family when I got pregnant, at least not for a while. But then, seeing Julian today reminded me that little boys aren't going to wait around for their sister to ride a bicycle. One way or another, we're going to be doing all those things together. Baby will just have to go along for the ride.

12/30/06