Day 11: Tiny Feet

Critique time! I'm not really thrilled about either of these images. What are your thoughts?

I'll bet there was something I could add to give them a little dimension, a little more feel. But, since I'm days behind on this photo project, I'm excited to have gotten a few toe shots in.
We walked to the park about 3/4 mile away from our house, and now that M is big enough to understand that eating gravel is not okay, I was excited to let her play in it. What made our little adventure interesting to me is we were about a hundred yards away from a couple and their child that appeared to be close in age to M.
As I drew nearer, I could see them stop and debate continuing straight (toward me and M) or turning left to go up the street. The chose to go left, and it appeared fairly obvious that the intention was to avoid crossing paths. It made me sad.
Here was the potential to make a new friend, someone who lives where I do that has a baby near in age to my own, and it didn't happen because of... shyness? Fear of dogs? (Roxy is a big pug...) I'm not sure what drove their decision but I thought it was a missed opportunity. Perhaps I'm a little bored (or lonely, call it what you want) but I definitely would be excited for M to have more interaction with babies her age. Alas, it seems our society is moving farther away from the "social" part of it.
Farther along our walk, we passed two kids with a "chiweiner"—part chihuahua, part weiner dog who were friendly and well-mannered. And when I say well-mannered, they moved out of the way for us to pass, and then when we passed them on the walk home, said "Have a good night!"
That surprised me, because it seems a majority of children lack basic social skills. I wanted to find their mother and say, "Good job!" Too many times I find myself focusing on the things children do wrong or that simply annoy me, and it's refreshing to come across kids like that. Even if it was just a polite moment, I think I'd enjoy hearing that my child is behaving well from a stranger.
Maybe that should be the topic of a 30-day challenge: See the best in the children you interact with. Ready, set, GO POSITIVE!

Day 10's actual picture!

Well, I'm waaaaaaay behind in this little experiment but I'm trying to play catch up:

Things like this happen when you're busy (babycleaningnetworkingbabycleaningworkingbabycooking) and I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a week! It also helps to be home at the same time as my husband.
My mom commented on the situation that's happened to millions of families this past weekend, along the lines of "everyone works so much and so often just to make ends meet, there is no getting together just to enjoy each other." How true?!
Matt works Monday through Friday but my schedule is erratic, and I usually work weekends. I also work evenings so that we don't have to pay a babysitter to watch M at all. It makes for precious little time together as a family, so yesterday we soaked it up!
My dad came down to have lunch with us and he doesn't get to see the baby as often as I'd like, so it was nice to spend time with him (silly baby spent most of the time napping...) And the hubby and I actually got to spend the entire afternoon with each other and M, not needing to go anywhere or do anything. It was awesome!
All of this boils down to one conclusion: Money cannot be the priority. Family must be. To make this a reality in my life (and after reading the inspiring stuff at thepeacefulmom.com—if a 6-person family can make it on less than $30,000/year, we can live well with what we're blessed with!) I've given myself a mental smack and am going back into broke-and-just-married mode.
 That, for us, means every single penny is budgeted with no wiggle room. It seems to be the reverse of what I said, but I believe that by budgeting and conquering our debt, our family will be first. We've already made the decision for me to stay home with M and only work part time (not including my building photography business) and from here out I am determined to make the best of what we're given. I'm so thankful that we are so blessed, and I won't let myself fall in to the "I wish" trap anymore—that's living in the world and I'm called to live outside it!
I know God has great things in store for me and my family. I can't wait to see what's coming up! 

Day 9: Having a Meltdown or Crying

Okay this is from a week ago, but she didn't get upset today! It was a great, great day for both of us. Up at 6:40, a nice couple hours playing/cleaning, I read her to sleep for nap #1, she slept for an hour and a half, woke up cheerful and playing in her crib, I was able to shower even though she was awake (shocker!), a trip to Walmart (scored a few photo frames and some photography props on clearance, I don't know why people hate that store so much...), some time in the sun, and another read-to-sleep nap, which then allowed me to barbeque our dinner without any baby worry!
(That is likely the longest sentence I have ever written.)
If only I didn't get more bad news about our house-buying situation when I got home, this day would've been pretty nice. All I can say is, must be nice to live off the government, hope all those people enjoy themselves. :p