paw prints

When I was growing up, I had this frustrating little habbit of dreaming up something, {often an outfit for a particular event} and then with much frustration, would roam from store to store looking for what I had in my mind. There is surely a special place in heaven for my mother for ever putting up with this!

When I daydream now, it is more often about something I'd like to do or create than it is about finding something in a store. And having the idea in advance is just invaluable when trying to capture a moment in time like I did here. These are my little one's "paw prints". It is such a simple thing, however as I was brainstorming on how to capture not only my little ones' age and size, but also their "three-ness", this seemed like the perfect activity. I did these hand prints when my smallest guy was only about a week old. I waited until he was asleep and relaxed, then when I had a good print, I did my older kiddos's prints, as they were more inclined to follow my directions to keep their hand spread and still. {If you had wanted to take this project to the next level, consider printing your little ones' hands on fabric, then embroider the print as I did here, http://mysweetbabu.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/07/little-hands.html.

Another project I have been working on is to take a weekly photograph of the little man. I am certain that I had taken photos of my other two kiddos each week, but I had never thought to do it purposefully or to label them. With both the hand prints and the photographs, if I had not thought of it in advance, I may have missed a precious opportunity. So in the end, I would have to say that my daydreaming has helped me capture some very special moments. It is all in the preparation...but what mama doesn't already know that! Happy prints!

~a.