It finally cooled off around here yesterday, enough for me to change out of my short-sleeved t-shirt into cozy flannel and put socks on! Who knows how long that will last (it could be back to 80 tomorrow) but I am loving it while we’ve got it. I have the office window open, a cup of coffee at my side, and I want to fill you all in on what’s new.

• I’m reading a couple of really wonderful books right now (and I finally updated my books page):

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children was mentioned recently by a friend of mine and I got it at our library. It is mind-opening new science… new perspectives/studies on child development: why children lie, sibling relationships, the inverse power of praise, race relations, sleep patterns, and more good stuff. Check it out for sure.

The other awesome read is Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed (author of the memoir Wild). All I can say is “wow.” These are humorous but kick-butt advice columns that get right to the crux of the matter… that life is hard but you do your darndest.

• I am feeling the inevitable slump that comes after a flurry of activity and am trying to go easy on myself. We have a ridiculous number of people coming to my daughter’s fourth birthday party and I’ll need to gear up for that.

• I decided to give you guys more time to enter the giveaway for the awesome free book. There are lots of ways to enter and doing more than one of them (like leaving a comment AND sharing it on Facebook or your own blog) earns you more than one chance to win. Enter by midnight tonight. I’ll announce the winner in Friday’s post.

• Since I’m not crazy busy with classes, I’m working on my daughter’s scrapbooks again. Somehow I stopped about a year and a half ago when my laptop decided to break up with me and I just couldn’t face recreating the book I was working on. In safe mode, I was finally able to pull at least some text of what my two-and-a-half year old did every day (I’d written weekly summaries… how awesome of me) and I started from scratch on my mac. I’m smiling the entire time I work on it… her cute young self was so little!

Perspective is a funny thing. It catches you totally unaware. I remember feeling so frenzied then, but the pictures don’t convey that at all. We definitely did lots of running around, but she was happy with just about every adventure and I was right there with my camera, recognizing and capturing it for future (like now) enjoyment. How cool.

I should tell you, as a Blurb affiliate, that they are continuing their holiday deal of 25% off until December 3. You can make custom planners, calendars, recipe books, wedding albums… the options are endless. Use code HOLIDAYTHANKS to get your discount.

• Speaking of kids and perspective… I really can’t fathom how it’s possible to hold two completely different emotions simultaneously. I completely adore my sweet girl and would do absolutely anything in the world for her… and yet I am constantly trying to escape her. I need her and love her and value what she teaches me… and yet so much of what I struggle with right now stems from her. The sense of responsibility I feel and the fear of the future practically knocks me over sometimes.

So many emotions… pride, awe, tenderness, closeness, but also annoyed, impatient, stifled. Luckily the good ones outweigh the not-so-good ones. I’m sure I can’t be alone in this, but I wonder why I don’t hear other people saying these things. The closest thing I hear is from my friends who resumed their careers soon after having a baby say, “I could never be a stay-at-home mom. I’d go crazy.” Yeah. I fear the judgement that may be running through your head as you read this so I’ll just leave it at that.

I think maybe I just need chocolate.

• And finally, I must admit that I’ve been haunted by feelings of inadequacy lately. I absolutely hate promoting myself AND no one seems interested in purchasing my photography products. Perhaps I’m forcing the issue too much. Something isn’t quite right so I’m going to stop thinking about it so much and see what evolves on its own. Because every time I do think of it, I wonder what’s wrong with me that nothing is selling. Who needs that?!

That’s the latest, friends. I hope you are all being nice to yourselves out there. See you here on Friday.