Blog a la Cart

I’m two days into this solo parenting gig, and, so far, everyone’s still breathing. I call that a win.

There has been a urine flood, some plastic toy destruction, and a run to the grocery store without my wallet (which was only realized after check out. Oof). Also, my favorite hen, Bunty, is apparently staging a protest against the coop. Every evening I’ve found her hanging out in the rafters of our hay loft, rather than in the coop with her flock. I don’t know how to get her to resume her loyalty to the coop. I’ve spent the past two nights racing around the hay loft after a flapping, squawking, disgruntled bird while the girls roam around our fenced in yard discovering every poop mine the dogs have laid. Dignity, folks. It goes out the window the moment you squeeze a person out of your vagina. If not during the maternity induced flatulence. But I honestly never thought I’d reach chicken chasing lows.

On the upside, we did make it to our local pumpkin patch, and I even documented the adventures.

Of late, I’ve been shooting with the Canon 7D but pulled out our little Rebel XTI and the cheap, but brilliant, Canon 50mm f/1.8 (seriously, this a $100 lens and worth every penny. Can’t go wrong with the Nifty Fifty. I use it pretty much exclusively. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is my latest jam). ANYWAY, it was a lovely reminder that if you know what you’re doing behind the camera, the equipment isn’t nearly as important. I’ve been really working on improving my photography skills (thanks to some schooling with my girl, Kate) and now only shoot in manual mode. It’s a big step for me and exciting to look back over the past couple years and physically see the improvement.

My favorite part of the pumpkin patch adventure had to be Courtland’s absolute adoration and obsession with the pumpkins. The girl would coo aggressively at each orange orb, then wrap her little arms around a pumpkin in enthusiasm, and then grunt and groan and strain to try to lift the weight of the giant gourd. It happened over and over again and always with an enormous, Jack-o-lantern grin painted across her face.

The wagon was also quite the hit. And Sunny demonstrated her big sister skills by lugging the wagon and pumpkins around the patch. She has been my little helper all weekend and I am so proud of the sweet, thoughtful person she’s becoming. It makes her (tired, lonely, adult-conversation-deprived) Mama proud. And helps ease some of the aforementioned feelings of self-pity. In fact, we’ve had nightly slumber parties to keep one another company. Or mostly to keep ME company as she is quite accustomed to sleeping alone. Ah, what would I do without my girls? Certainly I would never master the Katniss side braid (see Sunny for proof).