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stella3, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

happy birthday baby.
i love you.

wine in a mug

wine in a mug, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

sort of sad ... isn't it?
i managed to break EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. of our wine glasses during this last pregnancy.

and i wasn't even the one drinking.

all breakage occurred during somewhat rare dishwashing episodes. or when i dropped a package of airborne and it bounced off the counter where a used glass sat. or when i didn't handwash and pulled the wine glass out of the dishwasher and nicked it against the counter where it shattered. or when a cat knocked it over - empty of course - thankfully.

so now? that i'm finally through the pregnancy riddled with clumsy-ness ... (and according to my mother and husband ... crabby-ness)
i'm destined to drink my wine from a coffee mug.
it didn't really matter. tonight was a must. drink. wine. kinda night.

and this poor bottle of wine has sat open for so long.

and i have two birthday parties ... for the same birthday girl ... this weekend.

i'm pretty sure the bottle will be gone by saturday night.

ohmygoodness ... i forgot about the sleepover friday night.
i'm pretty sure the bottle will be gone by friday at nine pm.

send wine.
and chocolate.
and help.
(preferably cleaning fairies.)

in his eyes.

babyboyasleep, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

finn looks up at me and smiles. coos. gurgles.
in the middle of nursing ... he lights up. at the sight of me. his blue eyes sparkling with life and happy.

and i don't see myself the same ... through his eyes.
i don't see the pounds that i want to lose that threaten to remain. forever.

i don't see the tired mama that can barely keep her shit together somedays.

i don't see the wrinkles under my eyes.  or the stretch marks that make their way across my belly.

i don't see the feet in major need of a pedicure.  or the fingernails that are long neglected.

i don't see the lack of make up.  or the hair that has been pulled into a ponytail. again.

i see myself as he sees me. perfect.
because i am. to him.

i am so. in. love. with this boy.
i honestly never thought this was possible.

i'm sort of a you-capture virgin ... but i thought this post and picture was so fitting for this week's theme of ...
a moment.
and i've been a fan of you-capture for quite some time. check it out. beautiful entries. beautiful people.

what he sees - angles at i heart faces

what he sees., originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

this week, there are focusing on angles at i {heart} faces ...

notsomuch triangular angles ... but looking at your subjects from different angles. trying out something new. (well ... at least that's what i was trying to accomplish!)

and finn is all of a sudden extremely interested in looking up at himself in this mirror-ish thingy at the top of his swing. i wanted to see what the cool-ness of it was. so i plopped myself down below him to see it.

this is what we saw.

oh and bytheway ... please excuse the messy living room that you can also see ... it was a rough sorta day.

head on over to i {heart} faces to see more interesting angles! this is sure to be a good week to look around at what other people are trying!

and he will amaze you with his superior hula hooping skillz.

there was a bit of a hula hooping competition happening tonight as we stood around the grill basking in the semi warmth of a spring evening.

it went a little something like this ...

finn was in the midst of his scream-fest.  which is oh-so-fun.  let me tell you.  EVERY night ... for about 45 minutes ... he screams as if you are causing him oodles of pain.  there are tears.  and the screaming.  oh. the. screaming.  none of the previously learned tricks acquired through the having of two older children seem to work. 

... except he stops when you wash his hair.
yeah ... that's a bit quirky, dontcha think?

anyhoo.  he was in the middle of the screaming.  and the girls were up at the neighbors (probably to escape the screaming).  and we've all learned that the BEST thing you can do ... besides the washing of the hair ... is to throw him over your shoulder and just let the screaming commence.  because eventually it stops and the baby falls soundly asleep.  oddly enough. 

so ... while we all listened to the screaming ... we hula hooped.  (and took turns losing hearing in at least one of our ears.)

and my dad won.  because he was able to hoop it AND GRILL.  AT THE SAME TIME.

wanna see his mad hula hooping skillz? 

yeah ... so that's my dad, y'all. 

i totally lost.  even though after last summer's pure failure in the hulahooping department ... because i could totally blame the baby belly ... i semi-rocked the hula hoop tonight ...

and after everyone leaves ... in the wee hours of the morning ... i may just bring the hula hoop inside and practice it in my living room ... possibly while nursing a baby ... because ... BEAT THAT DAD.

bundled up at i {heart} faces ...

bundled up, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

over at i {heart} faces this week they want to see bundled up ...

and this is one of my most favorite bundled up pictures of cora.

head on over here to see more bundled up faces!  and enter one of your own!  it's fun!

so ... we found stella in the mailbox today ...

stella in the mail, originally uploaded by jenniferlivolson.

just about a year ago ... stella was asked to do a quick "modeling" gig for a photography studio.

and she did. donned her easter dress, borrowed pink rain boots from the teacher down the hall and used the studio's pink umbrella.  (and a tutu ... pink converse and a jean jacket.)

above all else ... she had the time of her life and LOVED having her pictures taken (especially by someone other than mom.) in fact for several weeks following the photo shoot ... she begged to do it again.

and today?

she showed up in the mailbox. and it was super fun trying to explain that lots o' people from all around got to see her picture today in their mailboxes.

although, we probably won't mention anything about her being recycled at any point. that might just be too difficult to comprehend.

let's just all pretend that everyone that received one of these flyers is gonna hang it up on their refrigerator for awhile. give her her 15 minutes of fame, mm-k?  thanks ... i appreciate it ...

and by the way ... ohmygod ... did you notice those eyes of hers?  seriously.  they are like the ocean, folks.  believe me.