Here's Olive enjoying her bath last night with her dad and doggies. We're unpacked and unloaded, and are back into our routine, just in time for things to change again! I've really been enjoying these days with her: staying inside and playing on our bed, running errands together, hearing her tiny voice babble away at the ceiling fan - i feel like i could listen to her forever.

More and more I feel like I'm getting a better hang of all of this - again, i don't want to jinx myself, or seem too self confident (i'm anything but!), but I'm no longer terrified of night time, or feel quite so "in the trenches" to borrow a very apt phrase from a friend. it IS interesting to learn how to do things with a baby, and Im sure it will only get more so as she grows into toddler-hood and older, but for now we take it day by day and it works for us. I've got no problem being a lazy bones sometimes, and feel blessed that i get the luxury of being at home with her and not having too fixed of a schedule to maintain.

Speaking of staying home, I've decided to try an experiment my friend did awhile ago, where she went an entire year without buying any clothes or extraneous items for herself. i think it was a challenge not just out of respect for her family's' budget, but also to simplify and try not to add a bunch of "stuff" that she didn't need. I'm inspired by her, and am making this my goal as well - September 2010 - September 2011 I'll be making due with the wealth of clothes and things that I have already. I'm looking forward to this - I think it will help make me more aware of what I have, what I use, and how I can make do with less! My one caveat will be supplies like fabric or yarn for sewing/knitting projects, but my promise to myself is to finish them, or die trying...

Visiting Washington and Oregon was so nice - seeing family, passing babies back and forth, smelling smelling smelling the northwest, and loving cold ocean breezes. I can't think of a better way to spend July. I'm tempted to say that it will have to become a tradition, if we can manage it :) Hanging out with Toledo family and my "cousins-in law" for a week every year is something i could get used to! Won't it be fun to watch our daughters grow up and have summer adventures together?!