normal revisited

it's safe to say that it's been a very long time since i had my own stuffed animals... 30+ years, i think. {with the exception of a stuffed monkey that my sister gave me when i was sick about ten years ago.} so for this week's picture inspiration prompt titled "back to basics", using a photo i took of isaac's plush toys seemed the perfect option. tracey gave us her example of what to shoot... a simple stack of books with a mug on top. and it was beautifully basic... some good reading material and a comforting cup of something warm. those are basics i'd love to get back to!

but for me these days, i have little time for reading much of anything {even my favorite blogs}, and i'm lucky if i remember to gulp down a glass of raspberry lemonade to take my prenatal vitamin with in between isaac's feedings. so i went in search of something a bit more "my life right now". and it couldn't get any more basic than these little friends that adorn isaac's crib by day.

can i just say here?... stuffed animals were never this adorable when i was a little squirt. i love the long-limbed, floppy styles of the animals these days. and they always have such charming "skins"... either really soft furs or fleece, or sweet knits and tweeds. they've also got the cutest little faces.

anyway, in the caption of my picture inspiration submission, i wrote that this is my "new normal"... the presence of these guys around my house and making them come to life with little cartoonish zoo voices that come from somewhere down deep in my belly {for issac's amusement} has replaced my stacks of books and cabinet full of mugs and my morning blog reads while sipping a good cup of coffee.

but then i wrote, "or should i say normal revisited?"... after all, this was a scene of my world once before. although, i must say, i was on the breezier side of it then. no worries. no deadlines. no cares. no responsibilities. how good we all had it as little babies and toddlers when someone else took care of us!

it's sort of a good lesson for me, though. it makes me want to enjoy what i have right here, right now. if i am still around another forty years from now, i may once again be in need of others to take care of me. but i may have just a few more problems by then. of course, i did not have the "wisdom" {or cognitive ability} as a baby to enjoy what i had and not take it for granted. but that doesn't mean i should not enjoy life now or take all i have for granted {my health, my mobility, my freedom, my provisions, my relationships, my joy}. why look back again in forty more and say, "i should have enjoyed that time more while i had it."

and though little isaac will consume most minutes of most of my days for a while yet... though i may not be having too many cups of joe with a good book in an even better chair, i fully intend to enjoy every part of my life right now.

it's sort of strange when i think about something my mom pointed out to me the other day. she told me that the day after she turned forty years old, her firstborn {my brother who just got married} left to join the army. he had to have been about eighteen years old. i am going to turn forty years old in a little over a month... and my firstborn will only be one quarter of a year old!!!  YIKES! what a different path... or rather, drastically different timing.

but one way of looking at it... i just did things backwards. i enjoyed many of the things, in my twenties and thirties, that my mom had to wait to enjoy until after her kids were grown. this goes to prove, there is no map or timeline for life that is "one size fits all".

well, enough about all that. i just thought i would share a couple thoughts that little inanimate creatures with life-like smiles can stir up in my little ol' head. and here are a couple more photos of those sweet little friends...

and speaking of my mother... i thought i would also post some recent photos of her with isaac. i had posted the photo immediately below on my life filled with laughter blog {which has been sadly neglected... not due to reading books in my favorite reading chair with a drink, mind you}.

i took it when i was staying with her a few weeks ago. i treasure it for so many reasons... one being because it is a reminder that my mom is a big help to me with isaac. for instance, she taught me how to burp him effectively {which she is actually doing in the photo}... she is the expert after five kids of her own... and several grand children to boot.

the rest of these were taken last sunday when she came out to visit us. i put the whole lot of them on facebook, but since it is more cumbersome and takes longer to load them to blogger, i'll only post a "few" now. you can see the rest here, if you want to.

they are all precious to me... but these are my favorites.

as you can see, she is also a source of entertainment and does wonders with getting him to go to sleep. i'm so glad that, like the reverting to my childhood with stuffed animals around, we also get to revert to what life with babies is like with my mother's love around.