Self-Portrait Tuesday

This month's challenge is "time" and since I don't think that a series of photos of myself taken at various points of the day is particularly conducive to this blog, I give you this. On the right is the first gift that Ruby ever received, a little sleeper from our friends Tyler and Marzia (and their little daughter Lily). It's the first outfit that Ruby ever wore -- we brought her home from the hospital in it and she swam in it. On the left is the lastest outfit that Ruby's received, a gorgeous coat and some pants and a shirt from our friend Lauren, who is addicted to buying little girls' clothes. What a difference 13 months makes.

Now, I know that this is supposed to be a self-portrait, and please don't think that I consider images of Ruby as being equivalent to images of myself. But that's kind of the point here: when she fit into the blue outfit, she still was a part of me. Every ounce of nutrient that built her body passed through mine first: I spent nine months growing her inside of me and then exclusively fed her with my own body for another six. Now, as she gets her fuel for growth from other sources and is down to just a couple nurses a day, she's becoming less and less a part of me and more and more an independent agent. Heck, she learned how to feed herself with a spoon yesterday! So, that's what time has done in this case: transformed my sweet girl from a satellite of myself into an independent being. And that's a very good thing.

Oh, and I apologize for the lack of snazzy composition on this one -- frankly, it's a miracle that I got this thing up at all today. It's been a hub of busy-ness (business?) in our house: I have three interviews this week (the son of a pair of English folk singers, an alt.country dreamboat gone solo artist and the female singer of a Canadian indie-pop band who's putting out a solo album of her own), Aaron's been busy working on jingle pitches and Miss Ruby is growing some new teeth, which has been unbearable for both her and myself. Plus we're readying for our vacation, which we leave for in two weeks. Whew!