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That's me, age 2! Always dressing for a special occasion.

Even as a child, I use to think about what my future family was going to look like.  When I met new families, I would reflect on which of their traits I wanted my family to have.  Later in high school and college, I thought in more depth about the kind of life I’d like to have with my husband and children.  How many we’d have.  The sports we’d play.  The vacations we could take.

I sometimes felt desperate to know how everything was going to turn out.  Sometimes, I felt doomed to live a spinster life because there was to perfect match for me.

 

#SOCsunday

And then one day, I got engaged (literally we went from friends to engaged), and I suddenly felt silly for being so …desperate.  I said to myself, “I can’t believe it’s actually here.  Now I know who that person is going to be.”  So I began fantasizing about how great our married life was going to be…

I did eventually learn my lesson that creating expectations can actually ruin an event, a relationship, or a career.  My first year of marriage was tough, because I was so busy rebuking the expectations I had wildly created.  I had to slow down and look at how my relationship with my husband was really developing, not how I assumed it would.

That’s when I learned the most important key to a good relationship:  acceptance.

Once I began accepting him for him, me for me, and us for us, our marriage flourished!  In fact, it’s turned into a better relationship full of more opportunities than I could have even fantasized on my own.

You may be feeling desperate like I did for something to happen. Or you might already be chugging along on your “plan”.  Stop and think for a minute about the relationships you have.  Are you really accepting those people?  Are you really loving your children for being their quirky selves?  Are you trying to upkeep an image you created before you had the information you do now?

Live in the moment.  Accept.  Be.

That's Milli, age 2. Fashion runs in the family.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

  • Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
  • Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
  • Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
  • Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
  • Link up your post below.
  • Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

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Adventurous.  Observant.  Grounded, yet experimental. Love a sense of home like old blankets, to-do lists, and photo albums.  Chocolate milk can fix any bad mood.  And grocery fresh daily muffins for that matter.  I love to exercise, but not too much.  Nothing beats the countryside  in the summertime and sweet tea.

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a secret spy. I realized I’m a bit too clumsy, and I sleep too much.  And I can’t run all that fast.  That, and I don’t have the sexy hair for it.  But I did think I could fit in with the mafia and obtain insider information…

I’ve changed from my secret spy days, and I’ve opted for the family instead.  But family life doesn’t have to be any less adventurous.  We’ve had fun in suburbia, scrambled around living abroad, and now touring the US via RV.  Luckily, bad hair days are expected, and I’m given naps!

I originally used this space to document one aspect of my family life:  Milligan.  I posted images of what she was seeing as we lived abroad in Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand.  She was a nomadic baby.  But the truth is that I was also a nomadic baby.

In fact, being nomad isn’t just for travelers.  We are all nomadic.  We are always changing, trying to find our best composition. As soon as we find it, find “who we are”, we shift.

We are constantly moving.  Switching hobbies, jobs, favorite restaurants, hairstyles, relationships.

Nomad Baby is now my space to share my journey in finding my best composition.  And when it shifts, I hope you are there to laugh through it with me.

Feel free to contact me at courtneyrbaker (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Note:  Visit the “Where Are We?” page for more photos of our stops and our current location.

NYC, you are expected to be amazing!  Philadelphia, you are rich with history.  Hershey, you are so…yummy!

5 REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE NYC

  • There are a lot of people there.  And by a lot, I mean 18 million.
  • There are a lot of fire hydrants.  We were the bold tourists that decided to bring a car.  Every time, I landed a sweet parking spot, I was only tricked by the pesky fire hydrant.  You got me F.H., you got me.
  • There are more restaurants on one block than in my hometown altogether.  Period.
  • Stores like Disney, Lego, ToysRUs,  FAO Schwarz, and Apple are actually magical.
  • You are bound to bump into like-minded people:  Jonathon Fields, Ramit Sethi, EV Bogue, 27 and Frugal, and BlissBombed.

5 REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE PHILLY

  • You can see inside the football stadium from the highway
  • They have vertical billboards.
  • They are rich in US history including the Independence Hall and Liberty Bell (both free to visit).
  • The Fragments of Franklin’s Court has Ben’s fully functional printing press that they use daily.
  • I’ve never met more enthusiastic, sassin’, history lovin’ volunteers anywhere else.

5 REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE HERSHEY

  • It’s chocolate.  I don’t even like chocolate.  But being in Hershey, makes me want…  some…  chocolate!
  • The town really does have an aroma.  Let me rephrase: a pleasant aroma.
  • The Hershey’s Chocolate World has several free events like Factory Tour Ride and Wrapping Hershey Kisses.
  • There is a theme park.  Did you know that?
  • If you feel like you’ve really squeezed the town dry, you can begin a whole new adventure in the local Amish community.

Thank you New York.  Thank you Philadelphia.  Thank you Hershey.


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Giving the Camera a Break

January 19, 2011

About this time last year, 2010, I began posting a picture a day in an attempt to post every day of the year.  I had two purposes for posting: share our travels with you share photography tricks with a community In that time, I posted 245 of 365 images. In that time, I posted images [...]

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Where Are We?

January 17, 2011

I’ve included a page here at NomadBaby that tracks our route and activities.  I can already see my mother-in-law thanking the Lord for this, because she can’t believe we’ve run off with your grandchild.  Hopefully the rest of you will come along and join me on this adventure as well. To Use the Map If [...]

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I Like You Momma

January 12, 2011

I love how Milli is consumed in her thoughts here as she looks over Pittsburgh.  What is she thinking about?   How much more complex are her thoughts than her verbal language?  I love seeing this growth, but then again it brings a sense of fear.  The fear we moms and dads get when we [...]

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HDR Attempt

August 31, 2010

Description                                      (Image 227 of 365) HDR is where you bracket a photo with three exposures:  one stop underexposed, one stop at the right exposure, and one stop overexposed.  Then you lay the three images on top of [...]

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ISO Differences

July 27, 2010

Description (Image 197 of 365) Sometimes my pictures just turn out dark.  My natural reaction is to boost the exposure or use my compensations modes, but then it’s too blasted.  I’ve discovered lately that sometimes, I just need to change my ISO. Technical ISO measures how sensitive the image sensor is to light.  ISO 100 [...]

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What a Bust!

July 8, 2010

Description                                     (Image 180 of 365) In my Wishlist post, I mentioned some income ideas to buy a new telephoto lens.  Well many of those are slowly dwindling away.  I realized that the Indieana Craft Fair was June [...]

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June Collage and Many Thanks!

July 3, 2010

When I started NomadBaby, I intended to show all the places that Milli was visiting around the world.  We had no idea that we would only be traveling for two more months, but that’s life!  I’m thankful to all of you that have hung around and supported me in my photographic journey even though the [...]

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