the last bit of summer

It's true... fall is right around the corner. I love fall. It's fresh (weather), exciting (football) and full of holidays and events to look forward to (and not to beat a dead horse, but also our BABY!). However... I'm not there yet. Not today.

This week we are stretching out our summer with a week at the beach house. Tommy's 30th birthday was last week and in an attempt to go above and beyond for this milestone year, I planned a surprise beach week and invited all of his friends to join us. So we're here for the week and we have lots of friendly faces dropping in to visit for a few days here and there. As I type this Tommy is out on the ocean in a sailboat with his friend Dave. Success!

I have spent the past few days sitting on the beach reading, doing a little work here and there, and enjoying lots of bubble baths. :)

Oh... and taking pictures, of course. Here are two of my favs (the one on the left was taken from inside of the car):

I'm excited about fall (always am), but I'm soaking up the rays right now... soaking up these last few weeks of life with just me and my man. <3

accountability

I am so tired of the go go go. I am exhausted with my addiction to constantly receive new information.

I am embarrassed by my self-imposed ADD.

I am worn out by my inability to just be.

When I share this with friends and I tell them my plan, they ask me "What will you do during all those hours you spend nursing your baby?" Well, I am not quite sure yet. But I'll tell you what I won't be doing.

I won't be browsing Facebook.

I won't be watching TV shows that feed my addiction to drama.

Hopefully I don't be watching/observing/participating in anything digital.

I hope, instead, to spend that time praying for my precious babe, smelling his/her hair, and maybe... just maybe sitting still and finding contentment in doing just that.

do you need to get off of facebook?

hello, my name is liz and I am a cloth diapering addict

Oh yes... I am a proud cloth diapering mama-to-be! I had read that it was easy to get addicted to the world of cloth diapers... but I honestly didn't think it would happen before the baby was even here!

Well, lo and behold... I already have my newborn cloth diapering stash ready to go. With the exception of some accessories (wipes, diaper rash cream, etc) I am set to begin our cloth diapering adventure. Unfortunately, this also means that I should need to stop buying diapers. So sad. I have had a lot of fun shopping for good deals and unboxing the sweetest little diapers as they come in the mail!

So here is what I've got so far:

THE NEWBORN STASH 8 kissaluvs size 0 fitted diapers 12 swaddlebees organic cotton fitted diapers 6 organic caboose fitted diapers 12 GMD newborn prefolds 6 nappies newborn covers 2 kissa's wool lover diaper cover (soon to come)

AFTER NEWBORN STASH 12 kissaluvs size 1 fitted diapers 6 pooters bamboo one-size fitted diapers

I am leaving plenty of room to grow the after-newborn-stash until after the baby is here and I can buy some fun gender appropriate diapers. It's hard to know at this time what diapers will be my favorites (depending on how they fit the baby), but I can tell you right now that my favorites so far are the Swaddlebees. They are fluffy, and soft, and look super absorbent! And clearly I have a place in my heart for the fitted diapers... I just love that they look like disposables but we can reuse them and not toss our money in the trash day after day. Makes me feel good. :)

So there's a quick peek into our not-so-mainstream plans of parenting. (Although cloth diapering is gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds!) I plan on writing a little more in depth about cloth diapering once we get a routine going and I have actually started the experience. So stay tuned!

happenings

Believe it or not, there really are other things going on around here besides baby prep. :)

I am a little past the halfway mark of my busiest wedding season ever. The months of May/June were a doozy with 6 weddings in a row and not a break to be found between them. But, thankfully, I had an awesome three week break in July and enjoyed spending extra time with Tommy on those weekends! I was happy to get back to work late July and kicked off my last half of the year with a few local weddings. So here we are now, 12 weddings down, 8 more to go for 2011 and loving every minute of them!

Tommy is at the beginning of an insane travel schedule. He's in a two week long training course right now, only to leave for a week long business trip two days after he gets home. After his return from the business trip we are taking a family vacation and will get home just in time for his 2 week annual training. Woohoo! And people wondered why I was "early in the game" regarding baby prep. ;) I knew our months of Aug/Sept/Oct were pretty much going to be a no-go with any sort of nursery/baby plans (or furniture building) so our only option was to take care of it during our July mini-vacation. And that we did!

Red moved back to my mom's house. We were sad to see him go, but my sanity was at stake (and truthfully, his was as well). Tommy has decided to comfort himself with thoughts of "we'll have him again someday when we move to a large, open plot of land." Whenever that happens...!

Tommy's paternal grandmother passed away very recently. While it is a heartbreaking thing to experience with anyone, we truly are blessed with incredible family who chose to spend the time of mourning to instead celebrate her life and praise her work here on earth. She was one amazing, strong, talented and giving woman and I look forward to sharing stories of her life with our children. She is missed dearly.

As always, we have a lot of things going on. Tommy and I are looking forward to settling into our home in early November and simply waiting to welcome this little baby into our lives. We have no plans to travel or work on any projects for a few months after the baby gets here... simply to settle into a routine and our new reality as parents. I am so excited!

In the meantime... as they say... time flies when you are having fun! So here's to the next few months flying by!

a digital detox...

1. because it's summertime...
2. because I am far too addicted...
3. because I have a million and one other things to do besides browse facebook...
4. because my real-life relationships are nurtured through one-on-one time, not @replies or tweets...
5. because my doggies need to go on a walk...
6. because...

Do you really need more reasons than that?

As of this moment, I am digitally detoxing and will only be accessible through email (lizATsincerelylizphotoDOTcom) or blog comments (they come to my email) until further notice. No more Facebook messages or Twitter replies... if you need me, you can call! Or email. :)

I am sooooo looking forward to the free time that will surely come in abundance after this moment! ;)