Lily at 9 months

Lily turned 9 months yesterday and it is hard to imagine what my life was like before she entered it. We do most everything together and she is definitely a fun sidekick at any event. This weekend we went to the St. Louis Pride Festival in Tower Grove Park. On Saturday there was a pet parade (which we missed) and tons of animals walking around with their owners. Lily was super-excited to see everyone and their pets. She waved and clapped at as many people as she could.

This is her newest game; she stares at her target person(people) until they notice her, once they see her she smiles her most charming smile (dimples and all) and of course they can't resist smiling back. Then she waves her two-handed backwards wave with all her little might and once they are completely head-over-heels about her and gushing, she claps her little hands and looks for another target. It seems like she has a little contest with herself to see how many people she can make happy every day.

She is quite verbal now, she says mama, dada, daddy, baba, makes kissing noises and all sorts of other unidentifiable sounds. She currently most enjoys practicing screaming these noises in enclosed places or telling everyone she meets about her "da-da-da-da-da..." Eric is famous all over St. Louis city and county by now!

Lily has begun crawling, she is still a little shaky with it but gets around well. He r mobility has increased her independence and she is starting to want to do everything by herself. It's amazing to see how much she learns every day and how much she loves doing even the smallest things.

Her favorite toys at the moment are her walk around exersaucer, her dora the explorer rubber ball, a non functional remote that Eric gave her, and a musical toy we received from Eric's uncle Glenn and family.

Hope you are enjoying your summer! I'll post some pics as soon as we upload them.

Some more lily pictures

^^Best Napping Spot^^

^^Uh Oh, Where's the Washcloth?^^

^^ I don't think there's enough light, mom^^

Almost Free at Last!

Monday is my final final and then I graduate on next Saturday! Very exciting, and i'm already trying to decide what I can do to fill my suddenly less busy schedule (I like living fast and crazy!). Lily and I will, of course, be having many adventures this summer as we prepare for our move and (probably) Lily becomes more mobile.

I will be trying to keep creating art... and I hope to be able to find the time to post more regularly :)

Lily Update

Lily had her 6 month check up last week. She weighs 14lbs 7oz, is 27" long and her percentiles are: 14% for weight and 58%for weight... head circumference percentile is escaping me at the moment :) She is perfectly healthy and beautiful (according to her doctor :) and still has a most calm and sweet disposition.

Both Lily and I slept through this morning's early earthquake (4:37am) though it woke Eric up-- he said he hopped out of bed to see what was going on. I slept through the 10:14am one as well and Eric says that Lily even notice. I'm a little disappointed that I slept through it; I've long wondered what earthquakes are like. Guess I'll have to wait for California.

It's getting close to graduation for me (May 10th) I look forward to having more time to work on things like this blog :)

Overwhelming Busy-ness Should Burn Fat!

Lily's first modeling shoot

She is the easiest model I've ever worked with! :)

Ah, I can't believe how fast time is going now-a-days. Well, maybe I can but I wish there were some way to harness is and tell it to chill out for a little while. I want to smell the roses and remember tiny moments of Lily's infancy... I guess a full course load, opening two (yes two!) handmade clothing stores, working on various personal projects, designing new clothing and getting back into fashion photography makes things a little hectic, who knew?!? :-P

Well, that is what's going on with me. I graduate May 10th so things should calm down after that.

More importantly... Lily is amazing and beautiful, she is verbalizing a great deal, she's testing out her fun, non-crying, screaming abilities (especially when ignored and in a crowd), is verrrrry close to crawling, likes working to get toys that are just out of reach, will cry if mommy walks out of the room (sometimes daddy too), likes "jokes" and pat-a-cake, can't get enough "Oh My a Fly," makes raspberries indiscriminately, and laughed at a poor guy in my drawing class while he was explaining his work.

I love being her mommy!

Amazing Gift Box

This Christmas, while we were visiting Eric's family in Wisconsin, I was very impressed by what I found out was a yearly tradition of receiving a box of very thoughtful, personalized, sometimes homemade and often local (to the gifter) gifts. I, at that time, thought that it was an amazing idea to collect gifts throughout the year and send them in a magic box (I found this especially inspiring as I prepare myself to move thousands of miles from my own family). I'd never seen anything like it and it was really, really fun to open the box and discover all of the wonderful gifts that had been specially chosen for their particular recipients.

Tonight, I got home from going out with a friend and found a box waiting inside. It was one of the magic gift boxes-- I am calling it magic because opening it and discovering a wide variety of hand-chosen and made things... well it reminded me a lot of Mary Poppins' magic purse.

Inside of the box we discovered kits for making baby toys and scrap booking (which I keep meaning to learn to do), ornaments personalized with infant Lily pictures, miniature frames with Lily photos, stuffed animals, sing along books, pampering stuff for me (with a fierce red velvet bag), pictures of Eric growing up, stencil monogrammed totes and onesies and much more. In all, amazing, I am speechless.

So tonight I have resolved, again, to try and start a similar tradition when I move away. Especially as Lily grows older, I think it will be a beautiful way to keep us all connected to our families even though we will be (or already are) far away from them.

Thank You Mary Catherine, you are an inspiration!

Lily Steals the Show

On Friday Lily, Sabrina and I attended the launch of this year's Bellerive (the Honors college's literary publication). I have one poem published in it and decided it would be fun to show off Lily and listen to the guest speaker.

The speaker this year was Richard Newman a very good poet who is also editor of River Styx (a prominant literary journal based in St. Louis). I was lucky enough to get a seat on the couch, was eating some yummy finger foods, and chatting with Sabrina as Mr. Newman (who was sitting in a chair next to the couch) was preparing to speak. At some point in the three minutes preceding Newman's speech, Lily grabbed a hold of his index finger and kept it, just holding his hand (though I didn't notice), as she watched the people mingling.

Dean Bliss introduced Newman and I was surprised to find that Newman did not extricate himself from Lily's grasp.. "I was going to stand up for this speech, but as you can see that is not possible..." then he said something quite cute about how nice it was to have someone to hold his hand for his speech and continued to sit like that until, about 3-4 minutes later, Lily let go of his finger and found other amusements.

Happily, there were photographers present, who took about a million photos of this cute event. I can't wait to get them and show them to you.

It seems little Lily has had her first taste of stardom. She seemed to enjoy it and happily shared her enthusiasm with everyone who greeted her. We were at the launch for about 2 hours and many, many people came up to me amazed. She never even got a little crabby-- events like Friday remind me (though I never really forget) how lucky I got with Lily. She's truly amazing

Sorry I don't have a pic of the launch yet... will get it up asap.

Some Cute Photos

(^^^Absolutely the Cutest Baby Face EVER!^^^)
Unfortunately we all came down with the flu in the last few weeks (poor Lily!) but I am happy to say that we are all almost completely healed up. Lily and I have a bit of a cough and she's a bit gooey but otherwise we are doing well.

I finally uploaded photos of Lily in her new legwarmers (2 of the 3 pairs) and thought you might like to see them (they are sooo adorable).

The Whales

Most Awesome Giraffe Cuteness!

Etsy Stuff, Lily Update, and Valentines

^^ From the Dreamy Giraffe^^

As I contemplate the possibility (likelihood) of becoming an Artisan of baby clothing and perhaps other sewn/knitted things, we have come to discover the joys of shopping on Etsy. We have so far ordered some amazing baby leg warmers called wangly legs from Felicity's Boutique and several prints of original illustrations from a store called "The Dreamy Giraffe."

I highly recommend both of these shops, the products are amazing!, and encourage everyone to buy handmade whenever possible. It really does feel good to know that your money is going to a real person who is directly benefiting from your business :) I hope to continue to buy from Artisans, local and through the net.

In other news, Lily had her 4 month dr's appointment. She is now 24.5 inches long and nearly 13lbs! Everything looks good, the dr. says she seems, developmentally, like a 6 month old baby instead of a 4 month old and she is ready to start eating solids. We started her on a little rice cereal and plan to begin banana in a few days.

Last, I was somewhat lazy and never quite got around to sending out holiday cards this year, even though we ordered pictures and bought cards. As penance for my laziness I decided I must handmake Valentine's cards to send out with the pics. I finished making them last night and now only have to craft a letter, address them, and send them out. I feel very accomplished now :)

Project #3- Poppins/ Lily Update

Well, project 2, a purse, didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. It's cute but pretty much unusable-- c'est la vie. I maybe should have used a pattern. Well tonight I started and finished my 3rd sewing project. I decided to embroider a onesie and some pants for Lily. On the onesie front is the saying "Practically perfect in every way" and then there is a white Mary Poppins flying with umbrella and bag on the pants. I think it turned out ok, but the pants embroidery is not far enough to the right for my taste. I'll post pics eventually.

Eric decided he has some interest in the sewing machine as well (it is pretty cool!) and finished a very cute project; a multi-colored snake toy. It is quite adorable and I have the feeling it might be Lily's favorite. I can't wait to see his next creation and show you pics.

Now for the Lily update I'm sure you are all waiting for. Lily is doing great! She weathered her first cold at New Years and that lasted a few weeks but her sniffles are finally gone. I think she may be thinking about teething soon, she seems pretty chewy. On that note; she has found her hands and chews on them all the time. She is also reaching for and grabbing objects. Her favorite toy is a pig with plastic-y thingies that she chews on. It's pretty cute, I think Eric is going to try and get a pic. We go for her 4 month check up in a little bit then I will be able to report about growth and stuff. I think she will not start on solids for another 2 months.

Lily is so much fun and terribly cute :) She is turning towards your lips when we kiss her cheeks. She seems pretty close to trying to imitate us and loves to make bubbles. She also has developed a great laugh.

I think that's about it for the Lily update. Be back soon!

Most Adorable Baby Clothes!

I love cute baby clothes, if you hadn't noticed :), and if you are into baby/kids clothes that are a little more sophisticated and less baby-ish than mainstream stuff I highly recommend this site.

Hana and Violet- by Hiroko


I have to warn you that the models of these clothes might be some of the cutest children I've seen.

First Sewing Project--- cutest model ever!

I finished my first project, a pillowcase dress, last night and then had Lily model it for me today :) I'm super happy with the way it turned out and that I have such a fun model on hand.



This was a great first project since it was pretty easy to accomplish and the results are pretty amazing, I think. I like that it will grow with her and eventually be a top as she gets older.


since I was so happy with the results I went out to find some more (vintage) pillowcases. My next project is a tote, but these dresses are sure to come up again.

New Sewing Machine

^^^Unrelated Baby Photo^^^

I bought a new sewing machine from Amazon on Friday. It is being delivered tomorrow; I am verrrry excited. So I decided on a Brother SE270D sewing and embroidery machine. I have visions of grandeur about what I will accomplish with this partner.

I see myself starting out with slipcovers for our dining room chairs. I have designed what I want, and I think they'll look pretty awesome, and will have fun trying to make them without a pattern :)

After I finish the slipcovers I plan to start making Lily some cool clothes. I really don't like the excessively cutesy stuff out there for babies so I decided I'll make her some funky, punky and retro stuff. I think it'll be fun trying out new stuff and that the embroidery function on the machine is going to be awesome for this :).

I've decided that there must be other parents out there who want cute kids clothes that aren't too syrup-y sweet.... so if I enjoy sewing and become good enough to do so, I plan to sell some of my designs.

Oh, and the embroidery function in the machine is computerized (which Eric is somewhat interested in) and I'm super excited to be able to make my own embroidery designs... I think that's going to be amazing. I also look forward to making Lily's pictures into embroidery designs for her clothes once she gets old enough to color and stuff....

I will post pictures of what I make as I complete them... this is gonna be fun :)

Lily's first cold :(

Lily has been suffering from her first cold for the past three days. The poor thing has such a stuffy nose that she can barely breathe while eating, and has thus slowed down eating quite a bit. Luckily she has not run a temperature yet and the stuffiness seems localized. We just feel so sorry for her and hate how much she screams when we have to suction her nose out... poor baby :(

Other than that things are great. We had a nice holiday, and since back in St. Louis have celebrated with my family. My brother's family was in town over New Years (when we did xmas) and we got the chance to visit several times, which was very nice. I wish I saw them more. My Sister in law is pregnant with their 3rd baby and we are all really excited.

I have just uploaded a bunch of photos to my photobucket account... if you wanna see fresh ones of Lily, my knitting projects and all the other stuff I have up here.. http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j192/Myopicdream/