elenora stood today without holding onto anything for about three seconds. i was so impressed. she also knows how to kiss her animals. she's been leaning in and giving a kiss to Bluey (a porcelain blue and white dog that i got in rockport) and today we asked her to give a kiss to Cody and she leaned over and graced him with a kiss, too. so sweet.

this weekend ella and i went to maine to visit with my parents and grampa. my folks are on their way to north carolina to begin their wycliffe training. they wanted to see elenora before leaving, though, so we shot up to the cabin on saturday. my mom had all kinds of things for me to go through (old photos, diaries, letters, jewelry). it was so strange looking at so many pictures of me from high school and college--remembering how carefree and adventurous and silly and fun i used to be. i'm a mother now, and for some reason that has made me uber-responsible and serious.

looking at the photos made me think about who i am and where that light-hearted, adventurous girl is. so much of my life is wrapped up in routine and schedules and baby, and i just can't even say the last time i just was silly and young.