"Before he came I wanted a girl, so that I could call her Anne," said Diana. "But now that little Fred is here I wouldn't exchange him for a million girls. He just couldn't have been anything but his own precious self."

~Diana Barry Wright

Anne of the Island

Little Things

Sketchy

Whenever we go to the California Adventure theme park, Husband convinces me to pay a visit to the Animation Academy. This is where a Disney animator teaches how to draw a Disney character. At first, for me this translated to, “A great place to take a 15-minute nap.” Now though, Husband doesn’t have to try so hard to convince me, and I don’t freak out when my shaky pencil markings look less like Goofy and more like a deformed wombat. (Though I am still tempted to take a nap in the cushioned-bench, air-conditioned theater.)
 

So what better way to decorate a kid’s room than with Disney characters sketched by his very own parents? We went through all our drawings and picked the best ones:

Husband: Tigger and Dopey. Me: Daisy. Final score: 2 to 1.

Sure, it’s a random pick of characters (and I’ll have to introduce the word “dopey” to our young’un sooner than I’d like), but at least I won’t look at the wall multiple times a day and think, “That looks awful!” and then take out my lack of artistic talent on our son by never buying him crayons. Hopefully he will inherit his father’s solid drawing skills.

Or Baby can just be inspired by the professionals.

Aww!

These here are baby mittens. They are the cutest darned things I've ever seen. I've always loved them, and I had to get a pair (or three) for Baby. Mainly so he won't scratch his little eyes out, but also because (have I mentioned this?) they are the cutest things ever.

They also moonlight as cheerful thumb-warmers.

Don’t blame me. I’ve only been pregnant for eight months or so. It’s something that’s on my mind a lot, okay? So when a fellow employee asked me a question I hear quite often lately, I thought my response was perfectly appropriate.

Her: How long are you going to be here?
Me: Well, I’m having the baby on February 17th, so that’s two weeks from Friday, and then I’ll be on maternity leave.
Her: Wow, that’s coming up fast! [pause] How long are you going to be here today?
Me: Oh! To-day! Heh heh. Um, 4:30. Heh.

And then I waddled away as quickly as possible.

Getting Ready