Project Life: Sept 2012, All 3 Together

On Sept 30, the night before I was scheduled to go to the hospital to have BabyM, I stayed up late to finish my Project Life pages through the end of September. Becoming a family of 4 is such a momentous event that I wanted to start a new layout on October 1, so I "cheated" a little and squeezed the last 20 days in September into one 2-page spread, instead of 2 weeks like I'd normally do.  Also, I was huge and pregnant and tired.

I love using coordinated kits for my pages - it helps rein in my tendency to include a little of everything, and keeps me to a cohesive look and color scheme.  For the first half of September, T was starting her new preschool, so I used Fancy Pants Design's Off to School line.  I love the alphabets, numbers and retro-bright colors, and settled on a color scheme of aqua and red.  I'm also in love with the simple designs of the fake "washi" tape from Target - I find myself using it more often than my more expensive "designer" tape.

(Click to see a larger version of each photo.)

Aug 27 - Sep 9: zoo, Granny & Robin visit, T's Smartcar and art

Aug 27 - Sep 9: T's first week at new preschool, yardwork, food in a box

For the rest of September, I used the Studio Calico 35mm kit which I bought from someone online.  I had been coveting that kit for several weeks, but it sold out quickly, and was thrilled to find it at a decent price.  It has lots of hexagons, which I love, because it reminds me of OChem.  Yes, I'm a geek.   I had lots of photos from my new fancy DSLR camera.

Sep 10-30: my new camera, Redmond Town Center, fingerpainting

Sep 10-30: Indigo Girls + Seattle Symphony, T's birthday, grandparents

We've had a couple of professional photo shoots this year - family pics in March, Microsoft shoot that T and I volunteered for (I love free photos!), and T's birthday.  There are way too many for me to include in Project Life, plus I usually get the photos back weeks after I've completed the pages.  So I make simple collages using Photoscape and print them on letter-sized photo paper.  The 8.5x11" page protectors fit perfectly in the 12x12" Project Life binder.  This is a fast, easy way to include more photos from specific events.

Sep 15: T's birthday party collage (partial).  Photos by Phani Kowta.

I try hard to make Project Life about all of us, and not just T.  I'd like to do a better job capturing some of TJ's interests and plans.  But I definitely put in my own stuff, like the Indigo Girls + Seattle Symphony concert I went to (alone!).  I also wrote down my thoughts on T turning 3 (how/when did that happen?!) and how I felt on the brink of having BabyM.  I don't think about what will happen to this album "in the future", but I do know our families like it, and T also loves looking at it repeatedly.  That, and the fact that it's fun for me to work on, is enough.  I don't have great aspirations to document our lives for posterity or future generations.

On a more practical note, it's also encouraged me to take more photos of all of us.  My photography has gotten SO much better just in the past 9 months, thanks to this.  And I'm "caught up" in putting those photos in our online gallery, so making our yearly photobook and calendar will be easier this year.

I love that this project gives me a chance to reflect on what we've done as a family, and think about the myriad special moments that happen each week while we're just going about our business.  In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller:

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.