life shift = blog shift... it was one year ago today. and speaking of the number one, i've chosen my "one word" for 2012. and i think it goes quite nicely with today's post.

i had hoped to get this posted earlier in the day.

but i've been working on processing a christmas toddler photo shoot all day...

more on that later {exciting!}

but it's still officially the 20th of december,

so if i hurry and post this by midnight,

i can still say i wrote on this day

in celebration of what occurred one year ago.
{oh, rats!... by the time i hit the "publish post" button, it was already the 21st.}

anywaaaaaay...

 if you've been reading here a while,

you may recognize what is pictured above...

and/or you may remember this post from one year ago today.

or perhaps you are one of my more-recent-than-a-year-ago visitors...

then you might have read about it by viewing my blog page called "behind the necklace".

either way, in case you need a brief reminder,

the necklace in the photo is the necklace i bought the day isaac was conceived

{though i had no idea at the time}.

so it simply had to be used in the photos i took

for my post to announce i was pregnant last december 20th.

well, that sweet little necklace now hangs

on a peg shelf that i made for isaac in his nursery.

and not only is it hanging there,

but the word has become somewhat of a theme in his nursery.

i also have this little stamp displayed on that same shelf...

it was the stamp that was used on the envelopes of the baby shower invitations...

there's also this sweet little word trinket/stand that sits atop isaac's vintage dresser...

{by the way, many of these photos were taken for a post that i have in the works

that will highlight and show what isaac's nursery design looks like.

but that will be some other day in the future.}

anyway, not only do i like the word "believe"
and like to display it in his room for obvious reasons,

but i also love other words in decorative fashion

that offer inspiration and whimsy.

like...

{also hanging on the peg shelf i made}

and...

sometimes it's not just one word, but two...

and while in most cases, the words are action verbs,

in some place i have nouns...

{just in case someone walks in his room and isn't sure if it's for a baby or not. *wink*}

and of course, i can't forget the biggest noun of all...

the pronoun...

which means...

here's another two-worder... a noun that hangs near his crib as a wish for his slumbering...

i love to have words strewn about his room

that remind me of him or words that i want to be a part of his life...

even words hidden inside the cover of a vintage record album...

like "symphony".

there are also words that could be seen as nouns or verbs...

and...

{which, believe it or not, contains yet another "believe" on a little tag i added}

well, there you have it...
all the words you can find in isaac's humble abode,

a little sneak peak at my nursery design post,

and a look back and remembrance of my announcement a year ago.

i was thinking about it today...

it seems to me that on that day,
there was a change or shift in what my blog is for.

i officially, that day, became a blogger mom... or rather, a mom blogger.

i remember seeing so many mom blogs before i got pregnant

and wishing that some day i would be blogging about my kids.

not that there is anything wrong with being a blogger that's not a mom...

or even being a person {period} that is not a mom.

but with the longing in my heart to be a mother,

it was painful to see blogs about moms and their children.

so painful, i had to stop looking at them.

anyway, even though i was still just pregnant for those first several months,

and not yet officially a mom to a born child,

it felt like my whole approach to blogging changed that day.

i felt i had more purpose for blogging.

i felt it was less about photography

{or the desperate need i felt to make it about photography,

because i didn't feel like i had anything else substantial to make it about}.

and i felt like everything shifted from that point on.

even my blogging habits have changed,

not to mention the time i have for blogging... or lack thereof!

well, i hadn't intended to write so much.

but i did want to say this...

looking at all these images,
i think of the mood that i created in isaac's nursery...

quiet.

i wanted it to be a peaceful, serene haven for him.

and i truly feel i achieved that.

in fact, he's just begun sleeping {sort of} through the night.

i'm down to one feeding in the middle of the night.

and other than that, he only wakes up a couple times,

usually without the need to be comforted and helped back to sleep,

as he has learned to soothe himself.

but not only was it my goal to make isaac's room quiet both visually and audibly,

it is my goal to make my life that way, too.

we have a lot to say when it comes to our own small world

from a visual standpoint...
we can for the most part control what we see and look at...

how much clutter we allow in...

how simple and peaceful and ordered our surroundings appear...

we can create an environment of little noise.

but unfortunately, we don't always have control over the sounds

that are all around us... at home, at work, in public.

very recently, my quiet, respectful family of three

has been exposed to some inconsiderate, noisy people.

and it is beyond frustrating,

because we set an example of quietness when they arrived on the scene...

for their sake as much as ours.

but it was not afforded to us in return.

i've gotten downright angry about it,

frustrated,

sad,

retaliative,

even bitter...

because i've worked so hard to set up a peaceful environment

for this family and my son's first years.

but i guess all good things must come to an end.

the only thing we can do is ask the people who are creating the noise to stop...

or go somewhere else.

but the latter is not the most doable thing for us right now.

so, because we hate being put in the uncomfortable position
of having to confront the other party,

we feel we have to put up with it.

i can't even begin to explain how frustrating that is!

when you shouldn't even have to ask in the first place,

because it's just common courtesy... common sense, really.

if what they are doing were done to them,

i am certain they would not appreciate it.

so i don't understand the careless, inconsiderate nature of their actions.

well, i don't want to go into all that.

because, quite frankly, i don't want to use this space to complain about noise

or people who are noisy in life.

instead, i want to use it to write about my goal to live a quiet life.

and that's why "quiet" will be my word for 2012...
to focus on and implement or integrate in my life.

i'm not saying i'll never listen to music

or yell out loud

or sing at the top of my lungs

or gobble isaac's belly so much that he screams in torturous delight.

i just mean that i want to take time to be quiet.

to make sure i am quietly considerate
to anyone who should be within proximity of me.

to declutter my life so as to get rid of physical, visual noise...

but also emotional, mental noise...

even relational noise.

i've lived too many years where i let others yell at me with hurtful words...

even if on paper, still so very loud.

or where others screamed out how little regard they have for me by their silence

{this being one instance where quiet is not a good thing, i think}.

and i've put up with a lot of my own noise...

thoughts of a worrying nature

or focus on unimportant things that don't bring me joy and peace.

and i tend to be a borderline hoarder {although i'm nothing like i used to be}

and somewhat of a pack-rat {especially compared to some very minimalist people i know}.

i want it all gone!

i want quiet!

in fact, achieving quiet might even mean

physically moving away from the noise that has invaded our quiet home recently.

and while we are at it,

moving away from the other types of noise i mentioned.

it's not running away.

it's realizing that some people or things can not be expected to change.

people who are yellers will yell.

people who are stompers will stomp.

people who are door slammers will slam doors.

if a person doesn't like those kind of people,

it's easier for the person to leave it behind,
than it is to expect those others to change.

and i have every intention of making it my number one goal in the year 2012
to focus on quietness and creating it at the very core of my life...
letting it saturate outward to every layer and level.

that said, maybe i should just take my own advice and shut up already...
*wink*

and be done with this post.
although, i'm sure i didn't say my goal was to be brief in 2012...

just to be quiet.

and i think that, although long, this post is quiet.

so i hope i'm off to a running start for the new year to come.

{running in the quietest of sneakers, of course,

on the softest of tracks that don't make noise.}

{i've got some fun things to blog for the next few day before christmas. then i'll be around on christmas day to share the isaac christmas card photos i mentioned in my last post.

after that, i don't expect to be around until after the new year. but when i am, it will hopefully be in a quiet manner, as i want my blog to reflect my life.
and i want
my life
to be

quiet

.

see you tomorrow!}