Photography Challenge Day 1

A Self Portrait

I rarely ever leave the house with no makeup.

I have frizzy hair.

Seriously, if I dont blow dry it or put tons of product in

Its a disaster.

You can always see the exhaustion in my eyes.

I have horribly uneven and unruly eyebrows.

My nose has a huge bump in it.

Im getting freckles.

And ya know what?

Im ok with that.

Iam who Iam.

God made me perfect to Him.

The closer I get to 30

I feel I am finally starting to feel

comfortable in my own skin.

Thankful that I have 2 eyes that can see

A nose to smell when my stinky kids need a bath

and lips to give sweet kisses.

So, here is my self portrait. Straight out of the shower.

Still have traces of mascara under my eyes

My hair with no product.

But this is me.

First Day of Kindergarten

I packed a lunch today. Not for a play date or a picnic at the park but because my first born was heading out to start school for the first time ever.

Unlike most kids, he didn't go to preschool. I did that with him at home. So today, August 8th, 2011 he officially became a first time student.

I couldn't sleep last night. I was tossing and turning and my nerves were through the roof. I kept thinking about the little things. Does he know what to do with his lunch stuff when he is done? How is he going to treat little girls? Is he going to be bullied? Will he use his manners and be respectful to the teacher? Will he need a nap? What if he gets thirsty? What if he gets a really bad tummy ache or falls of the playground? What if kids make fun of him?

Then I have to have faith in how we have raised him for the past 5 years. We have raised him to be kind to others. To say yes sir and no ma'am. We have taught him that its not ok to put your hands on someone. He knows to clean up his trash and always plays cautious. He is an outstanding, smart all around amazing kid.

It is time for me to let go.

For weeks now he has counted down the days till he started school. This morning I could tell how bad his nerves were setting in. He got shy and quiet. He stayed close to my side. When we got to the class I could tell he was over me taking pictures. He gave me one last good smile and then walked into his room and made his way to a table.

It was amazing how the boys and girls naturally separated themselves.

There was a boy standing behind him that was in tears the whole time. Poor guy. I am thankful Aiden is so independent.

As I was standing in the doorway watching him I signed "I love you" to him about 8 times. He never once signed it back to me. Instead his eyes got real big and he had a smirk on his face while nodding his head.

It sank in. He is officially embarrassed by his mother. And you know what? I will gladly embarass him on every single first day of school. I will always be there taking pictures and singing "I love you" From now until his senior year of college.

30 Day Photo Challenge

I have jumped on the photo challenge bandwagon.  I have nothing to blog about and this will give me a little inspiration. Somewhat of a push in the right direction. Why do I blog? Couple of reasons (by the way  before I go any further I am not doing paragraphs because the format keeps messing up.) I blog because its therapeutic. It feels good to get my thought and feelings out. It feels good to have a few of my girlfriends encourage me and support me. Then there is the morbid reason. You know that song, "If I Die Young?" I think about that kind of stuff often and God forbid I do, I want my kids to know me. Through my pictures, my words, my memories of them. I want them to know how deeply they were loved. Ok, I know that sounds crazy. Now Im gonna be "that crazy girl" But its true. On the flip side, if I live to be 100 it would be really great to see what was going on in my mind at 29 years old. I cant imagine the things I would have blogged about in the past. I would have loved to read what 18 or 19 year old Amy was experiencing or going through. Wait, now that I think about it...never mind. So here it is. 30 days of blogs. 30 pictures. 30 ways to take a sneak peek inside my life. I cant start today (excuses excuses) cause I don't have my camera. I do have a secret though. Anyhow, I will start on Monday. Happy weekend everyone!!