7.31.16 - Clara's bedtime routine

Most nights once Clara starts acting tired, I put her in PJs and then I go to the bathroom to get her toothbrush ready. I call "Clara Lynnnn" in a sing-song voice and, between that and the sound of the water running on the toothbrush, she usually comes running, laughing or giggling on the way.

Then I hand her the toothbrush and get my own ready and we brush teeth together. She watches intently as I spit out my toothpase and rinse off my brush, and then I ask her for her brush and she hands it over to me and gets excited as I rinse off her brush too, and put it back in the toothbrush holder.

Then we read some bedtime stories. Sometimes we sit on my bed, other times on the living room couch (depending on which room Jack isn't in). In either case, it's starting to get to the point where she will come to me as I'm picking the books and try to crawl in my lap in anticipation.

I read 4-5 books, usually. She helps turn pages. She still grabs my finger to point to each letter if I sing the ABCs at the end of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. She's starting to do this thing now where she makes sounds with the same cadence and pitch as my "Theeee end!" at the end of stories. Tonight in particular, when I finished reading "Good Night Gorilla" she squirmed off of me, took it back off the coffee table, carried it to the corner by the front door, and sat down and read it to herself for awhile. I just sat and watched her, trying to tell if she was mimicking the way I always read it to her.

Once story time is over, I take her to her room and hold her next to the Lumos/Nox light switch and let her turn her lights off. I always tell her good job when she does it, as flipping that switch is still a bit of a struggle for her very tiny fingers.

It used to be after that I'd give her a kiss and/or snuggle and put her to bed. Recently we've added a new element, where I put a baby bottle of water on the crib edge and she goes and picks it up and has a drink before lying down. This seems to have made bedtime even smoother as she's less likely to fuss with a bottle in her mouth. I also feel better about it because in the middle of summer now its pretty warm even at night, and I like the idea that she has access to water right away. Most mornings the bottle is empty when I go to get her, so she seems to be using it plenty.

Anyway, just some sweet moments I wanted to remember.

7.31.16 - July joy statuses

7.30.16 - Cooking joys

7.29.16 - Clara's joys

More pics I made for the FB page. It could be fun to revisit what she enjoys the most as the years go by.

7.27.16 - Staying cool in the summer

7.25.16 - Jack's joy inventory (again)

Last September during one of our date nights, Jack came up with 50 things that would be in his Joy Inventory. As part of my inventory expansion I made custom photos for some of those things.

7.24.16 - Paint & Vino

Today was a good day for socializing.

First I met up with Erin to get work done, and while I did get some work done we also spent a lot of time catching up and making each other laugh. I told her about my Joy Inventory FB page and she sent me a list of joys so I can dedicate a day to her. It was fun talking to her about what she picked and why and seeing how much she enjoyed it too.

Then I went home and took a quick shower and then Rachel came over. She drove all the way up from the bay area so we could use my birthday gift from Julie and Everett: a groupon for painting for two. It was only maybe a 10 minute drive away at a local hotel and it included some very cheap delicious tropical alcohol drinks, haha.

We had a great time visiting while painting and comparing and contrasting our approaches. And I was pretty happy with my finished product. I added a crescent moon and a cat to try to make it feel slightly Harry Potter-esque. The lanterns already made it feel a bit that way because they remind me of Dumbledore and his deluminator.

7.23.16 - More favorite scents

I created all these to eventually add to my FB page, but of course I want to have them here too.

7.22.13 - Joy Inventory FB page

Yesterday I decided to take a hiatus from FB because my newsfeed was getting me down to much. When I made a status letting people know, my friend Yvette suggested I create a Joy Inventory FB page. I don't know why I never thought about it before, but I love the idea! I checked and it didn't already exist, so I made one: Facebook.com/TheJoyInventory

I still disabled my account just to get a break, but I made Clara's account an admin so I could upload things to the FB page anyway. In the last two days I've made lists of new joys to get pics of and worked on better pics of old joys I added long ago, and the whole thing has been so enjoyable and fun. It's a creative outlet and it really focuses me on the good things in my life. I'm grateful to Yvette for coming up with the idea, because having it as a page just amplifies the whole process.

Now, in addition to posting pictures of things I like, I can add videos that make me happy and link to news or anything on the internet that gives me joy. My hope is that it gains followers and other people start posting their own idiosyncratic joys as well. It got about 100 followers in the first day because of me and my friends inviting our friends, so it already has enough people to feel worth it, but the more the merrier. But, really, even if no one else followed it, I enjoy doing it and having a more public place to, well, inventory my joys. Hooray!

7.17.16 - cool summer mornings

7.16.16 - Clara statuses

7.15.16 - Costco Asiago bagels

7.12.16 - When your show has great lines.