Project Life

After getting kind of overwhelmed and worn out on my 100 Days of Holidays series, I really doubted I would have the stamina for Project 365 (now sometimes called Project Life). The idea is to take at least one photo every day, to document the beautifully mundane things that make up a year in our lives.

I regretted starting the 100 Days series by about Day 42, but I loved the end result of having a file on my computer with 100 photos (mostly of Kate, but also our home, fun events, etc.) illustrating our life over the past three months or so. Obviously, I have hundreds (thousands?) of pictures of Kate, but the intentionality of taking and selecting one specific photo to capture what was special about that one day was a cool exercise. As Kate approaches her first birthday and I reflect back on the past year, I remember a lot about her early months, when I was on maternity leave and spending every moment with her, and a lot about the fall and Christmas season, because it's recent, festivity-filled, etc. For the summer, though, I remember the big events--going to the cabins, to Louisville for my birthday, to Chattanooga, etc.--and the milestones Kate hit in those months, but the tiny details about cute things she did or fun times just hanging out, I can't remember as well.

Combining this realization with the fact that, frankly, I kind of missed the daily memory-keeping discipline after the new year started, and the inspiration and encouragement offered by Jessica Turner at The Mom Creative, I decided to give it a go for 2010.

Jessica is doing a weekly feature, Project Life Tuesdays, through which anyone doing a similar project (even if it's just one photo a week) can link up. So, once you're done here, click over there and take a sneak peek into other people's beautifully ordinary lives. Here we go!

1/1: Kate likes to push the play table she got for Christmas around the room, sometimes even knocking it over. She's a very "physical" child. 1/2: I went to my friend Tearza's baby shower. Kate's new little friend Emery will be coming very soon! Her nursery will have a bird theme with green, brown, and pink, which the shower decor reflected--very chic!

1/3: Inspired by a gorgeous scrapbook Tearza's mom-in-law had made for her, I got motivated to start scrapping my Christmas pics, even though I didn't have them printed yet! This page was designed for a specific Christmas photo of Kate where she is showing off her new top teeth!

1/4: Now that Kate has both top and bottom teeth, she is capable of tearing a bite of food off of a larger chunk. She practiced this by grabbing a crumbly roll off the table and carrying it all around the family room, leaving bits of bread EVERYWHERE! (yes, Mom, I vacuumed it up immediately after she went to bed.)

1/5: Matt's parents gave Kate a great set of holiday bibs back in September, and I was very good about getting each of them out in time for her to wear them leading up to each holiday. I forgot to break out the "My 1st New Year" bib until a few days after the ball dropped, so she's wearing it throughout January now!

1/6: We always leave our Christmas decor up until at least Epiphany (1/6), and I'm usually sad to take it down, but this year (and every year after!) I get to start planning and decorating for Kate's birthday once the Christmas stuff is down. I've actually been planning her party in my head for months, and this pack of scrapbook paper is my starting-point. (I can't wait to show you the decorations I'm making!!)

1/7: Yes, this is what counts as a "snow day" in Tennessee. Pathetic, yes, but it was still fun to take Kate out in it. Matt was out of town at the Festival of Young Preachers, so he didn't get to be there for this "first."

1/8: With Matt out of town, I was mainly just eating leftovers, but on the third night of his absence, I decided to actually cook: salmon with feta, corn, and a fancy salad.

1/9: With nativity scenes, angels, nutcrackers, and greenery all put away, it was time to tackle the tree. I got all the ornaments off, but left the lights and actual tree disposal for Matt.

1/10: Kate wore a new dress to church today. I bought it months ago when the off-season clearance price seduced me into buying a sleeveless dress for her to wear at Christmas. She ended up getting a cuter Christmas dress, and it worked okay as a fancy jumper. Would have been perfect for a New Year's Eve cocktail party, but alas, Kate was not invited to any of those :0)