Virtual Empty Canyon

Hello! (Hello! Hello!) I realize that being gone for almost a year means I'm probably shouting into a virtual empty canyon, but if anyone is out there, I think I'm going to give blogging another try. Hopefully. We'll see how it goes.

Where have I been for a year? Mainly, I've been trying to keep up with this young lady:

This is my daughter C, who just turned a year old on Saturday. She is a delight in every way, but being her mother, being Cary's wife, and working full-time has meant that what I'm wearing has moved to the back burner. And what I have to say about what I'm wearing has been removed from the stove altogether. Add that to the fact that most of my pre-pregnancy clothes haven't fit until recently, and you have an explanation for where I've been for a year.

But. BUT. I like writing, and I like clothes. I feel good about my forever-different body, and now that I have a toddler instead of an infant, I feel like I have my feet back under me enough to spend time on a little more than baby, marriage, and work. I definitely don't think this blog will look like it did before; in fact, I have no idea what it will look like. But it's a good creative outlet. When C grows up, I want her to know that I did creative things. And I'm pretty sure collapsing in front of The West Wing on Netflix doesn't count as creative.

Also, I just noticed that I have eleventy jillion pictures of C, and very few of me in the last year. I read Allison Tate's wonderful essay, "The Mom Stays in the Picture," last year, and I want to stay in the picture too. To that end, here's a picture of C and me at the Jacksonville Zoo in June:

This is her "put me down" face.

So off I go into the virtual empty canyon. Feel free to jump on a burro and follow along. Am I really talking about burros? This metaphor is falling apart. Until next time, reader(s).