A couple of months ago and a whopping four months after Felix was born, I finally got around to sending out some proper birth announcements. I try to be good with thank-you notes because they serve as a moment to slow down and take the time to be grateful and thoughtful of those who are good to you.
I'm usually very good about getting my stationery out speedily because I believe that part of the thank-you is acknowledging the act of kindness when it actually happened. I was super happy when we went on our honeymoon (we took a train all the way across the country to Vancouver) and we were able to write our wedding thank-yous en route just days after the big day. It was especially nice because it felt like the final chapter to five months of busy planning and wedding talk but even more importantly because we still had all of the love and generosity of our families and friends fresh in our mind. Being in awe of how much everyone loves you is great inspiration for a stack of fresh cards. Half-way through our trip we landed in Winnipeg and found the central post office which turned out to have a special stamp (used only at that particular post-office) and the guy behind the counter hand-cancelled every single note for us. This is heaven for me! I felt pretty awesome that our thank-yous got to their recipients even before we got back from our trip.
But then there were the baby announcements. I know these aren't technically thank-you notes but for whatever reason in MY mind, sending these out felt like a final, official note of love for everyone who had been so supportive and thoughtful throughout our pregnancy and during those early months of our baby-dom.
The only problem was I had a baby.
A baby but no time.
No time until one night when I woke up at three in the morning and couldn't sleep and like lightning had a burst of energy and inspiration. Two and a half hours later I was looking at these guys and tweaking the type. Giving away pre-dawn sleep when your baby is snoozing is a big deal around these parts so I'm certainly glad I had something to show for my effort.
I love how they turned out. I wanted something simple and traditional and landed on the nautical theme while I was still in bed, pretending I might be able to get back to sleep. I had been toying with a completely different design for a couple of months (thinking of a green and yellow colour combination) but could never figure out how I was going to tie everything together. When I thought of the little sail boat as the focal point, the rest of the look and colours just clicked. I hope that they do justice to a boy that is so sweet and lovely. He deserves some good stationery and you better bet he'll get some lessons about sending out some mail.
