Tryng to make a comeback!

Hi all, sorry I've been gone for so long. Things have been really busy, but amazing, for me these past months.

We moved into our new house on May 4th. Lily loves it here and we are trying to settle into some sort of routine; although with the amount of work I have gong on in the house she is sadly feeling like she doesn't get enough Mommy time.

She is sooo close to conversant talking now. She says about 250 words, signs about 50ish, and knows more than I can guess. She started putting together 3 word sentences a couple of weeks ago. Her first one: "I eat food!" Now she carries on all day in a mixture of English and Lilyish... Hopefully one of us will become fluent in one or the other some day soon :)

We have not gotten to the beach as much as we would have liked to but I do have a few awesome beach pics to share:







And a couple of extremely cute photos of her walking around in my Chucks :)

Lily found a bee :( and update

Wow, it feels like forever since I've had a second to post. Moving is crazy!

Today, while I was watering our flowers, lily found a dead bee in her pool. I shouldhave checked her pool first thing, but I guess it takes a lesson to think of things like that, anyway, she picked it up and found out that bees sting :(

Luckily she seems to not be developing any severe reaction, TG, but is quite unhappy. I told her that some bugs bite and we shouldn't touch them so every time she remembers her finger hurts she is saying "bug! Bug, BUG...WHAAAA" poor baby!

Other than our traumatic bug incident, everything is going quite well. The house is coming along, albeit much slower than I hoped (OF COURSE!) but we are all healthy and happy at the moment.

I hope to get back with pics and a better update sometime soon, but now I have to run. Dishes are calling since Lily has forgotten about the bug for the moment!

We Have a Home!!!

Well, we made our offer, they countered. We countered their counter and they accepted!! We have a new home!!! --well, provisionally.  Now for the sticky details.  We have to get inspections of a few things and whatever else gets done before sales are final, but then it is ours.

I'm currently researching gardening (I hope to turn my black thumb green) and thinking about wall colors and other homey stuff.  I've never been a domestically inclined type of person but Lily has inspired a lot of respect and desire in me to explore and learn proficiency in the "womanly arts."

Yeah, I want to become that mommy who gives her family a beautiful place to live and maybe even bakes cookies or something.  I'm going to save the baking for later and concentrate my current energies on making a home that feels comforting, inspiring, and full of love for everyone who enters.

This is all a part of my quest to live a more beautiful life-- to become the kind of person I admire and have never quite believed myself capable of being.

Enough about me though... Lily will have her own room in our new home and I'm having fun thinking about how to decorate for her.  If any of you have any helpful tips or ideas on making a fun and practical (yet beautiful) child's room, I'd love to hear them!

We hope everyone is great and that we get to see or hear from you soon!

Recent Happenings...

California is turning out to be even more amazing than I thought it would be.  I am currently wavering between disbelief that I actually live in this amazingly beautiful place and disbelief that I didn't move here before now.  I am really starting to believe that this is where I was supposed to have been born :)

Yesterday Lily, Sabi, and I walked about a mile to attempt to get free grand slam breakfast at Denny's.  The line was snaking out the door and down the sidewalk so we chose to have Pizza instead, but on the way to the Pizza joint Sabi complained that she was "getting sweat on her shirt."  I just laughed a little and replied, "It's February! We are walking outside in short sleeves and it's warm enough to break a tiny sweat! There are blooming flowers!"  She laughed too and we went on to thoughoughly enjoy another perfect february day.

Outside, new flowers are begining to bloom.  There are brilliant orange poppies, purple morning glories, roses, my eternal faves-- Puffball trees (mimosas), and many others I cannot begin to identify.  Lily loves picking and eating the pretty ripe lemons off the tree in the backyard and Sabrina and I contemplate ways to get the huge oranges we can't reach in the front yard tree.

The sky is that perfect blue, reserved for hot summer days in Missouri, and the mountains frame the scenery in a distant haze.  Lily calls all the yellow flowers and signs ducks. We walk together and she babbles about what she sees on the way and waves to all the cars.  We rode the bus last night and she happilly repeated "bus" in sign and english the whole way. Everything just seems magical.

And Lily is thriving:  She has decided that objects can all have "ie" added to the end and now regularly requests and thinks about her "bookies!!"  We have started fixing her hair on a daily basis, mostly because it now hangs over her eyes, and she seems to love wearing it in a pony or two (though she hates the process of getting them done).  She is obsessed with ducks and calls most birds (except chickens) and anything yellow, excitedly, a duck wherever she sees them.  She loves shoes and is often seen carrying ours around, putting them randomly on the coffee table, and trying them on.  She now brings us any of her clothes she can find; presumably when she's ready to get dressed for the day.  She plays with her stock of diapers when she needs to be changed.  Lily is still an amazing extrovert-- she loves to say hello to everyone she sees, and seems to live for making other people smile (and they seem to love her too!).  We wonder where she gets it from since Eric and I tend to be more reserved.  Most of all, Lily is becoming very much her own person.  She has her own mind and is not afraid to prove it.  She is begining to have opinions on what she eats, what she plays with, what we are doing, and what she wants.  When she doesn't get her way her little hands sometimes shake with frustration just before she screams to let us know she's not pleased.  This  is sometimes embarrassing in public but she is still amazingly well-behaved and easy to take wherever we want to go.

I don't know what Eric and I did to earn such a wonderful child, but I cannot thank life enough for blessing us with the joy and continuing amazement of Lily.

As for me-- I am also thriving in California.  The sunshine through the lace curtains, the magnolia leaves accross the street, the slightly imperfect orbs of delicious orangeness that gently wave hello each morning, waking up to Eric's beautiful long eyelashes fluttering peacefully in the early glow of sunrise, hearing Lily say hi to her mousie and tell it her morning babble, seeing the deep green of healthy trees covering the mountains just beyond the city, dreaming of transforming a house into "our home," tasting the amazing freshness and crispness of food as a nonsmoking Californian, having the certainty that this is a new life and I can be whoever I choose to become, knowing the beach is only 30 minutes away from me, seeing people smile without obvious provocation.... All of this and a million other things add up to a me I never even dreamed I could become.  I am so full of creativity that I find it hard to pick one idea out and work, I am so full of hope that I want to sing and dance in the street, I am so full of confidence that I can once again talk to strangers and not even think to worry that they won't like me.  I am free once again; I'm so happy to be able to be this person for me and for my family.

I can't speak for Eric but he also seems to be very happy here. He has a great job that is challenging and rewarding on a daily basis.  Everything is almost too beautiful and Lily becomes a greater joy every day.  He is close to putting in an offer on a house (http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Jose/1260-FRUITDALE-Ave-95126/home/712990) has a much happier girlfriend and is busy resuming and making new friendships at work and all over the place.

In all, life is amazing and we know we are very lucky.  We miss everyone we had to leave to come here but are happy to give you all an amazing place to visit as often as you can.  We love you and hope that you are having as much of a wonderful year as we are.  Keep in touch and I will try to post more pictures very soon!

Want pics? California photos 1/9- 1/13/2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/myopic.dream/CaliJan9thTo13th#

Our home in campbell & farmer's market

Our first visit to Santa Cruz and the beach

Designing My Beach

My good friend Sabi and I have decided that this time and place in our lives affords each of us the somewhat unique opportunity to decide not only who we are but also who we want to be tomorrow.  So a large part of my mental time has been spent, for the last week or so, thinking about who I have been and who I would like to be.  We developed a code for this process... we're thinking about our beaches.

So the idea is that we are to design our perfect life (our individual beaches) in our minds so that we have a clear idea of what destination we want to head toward... until we know where we're going we can't know which direction to go in to get there.  Anyway, today I discovered a lot about myself and where I want to go.

Today we drove to Santa Cruz. Today I found a place that resonates within my soul. 

Santa Cruz is bounded by mountains and the ocean.  There are storeys high redwoods shaking hands with delicate palms. Pelicans glide inches from the water. The wind carries salty brine, hippy's happy-hash, fresh grilled veggies, and unspoiled mountain air.  The water shimmers.  The mountains stand like stout guardians you can trust.  People smile to themselves, in unison, as they stroll down the sidewalk-- maybe it's the happy-hash.  It's beautiful.

I can see myself an old woman here.  I will wear red velvet pants and a pink tshirt with my flowered hat while I walk my monkey or iguana down the boardwalk.  I will hum to myself as I smile at the bare-chested boys and gracefully unshod girls playing volleyball in the sand or drumming and strumming their tunes into the healthy breeze.  The sun will kiss my face and I won't worry about my wrinkles. I can breathe.  I can simply be.

And I imagine myself in a few years, maybe a decade, living my perfect life.  I will live in town but only blocks from the beach.  I will own a building with a storefront and an apartment.  I will live upstairs in bright blue rooms with sari curtains and lush paintings.  I will drink coffee and tea on a balcony while Lily reads to me in the morning.  I will wear my hair messily on top of my head and smile.  I will paint. In the store downstairs I will sell beautiful things; books, jewelery, homemade clothing, things I find elsewhere, upcycled stuff... things that are beautiful, that I made beautiful, or things I made from scratch.  I will tend the store on odd days and travel when I'm feeling even.  I'll be who I am, not be afraid to say hello (and I am strangely unshy in Santa Cruz!!!), and create create create...

For Santa Cruz stirs my blood and makes me remember that creative passion I've sometimes forgotten.  To me, the waves and the people and the dreams and even the culture of drugs has more color and whimsy than I'm used to; has the right amount of color and whimsy to make me feel at home. When I look around words flow, colors glide, images burn into me.  Everything is inspiration.  Here I could create.... here I could not not create.

My beach lies somewhere along this coastline... so close I can almost smell the sheets.

Our first California Sunday

It seems that California wakes me up early. Today I woke at 6am (Pacific time) and I guess I'm happy enough about it.

More interestingly, today we plan to go to the Campbell farmers market (2 blocks from our place!!!) which is supposed to be one of the best around. I think we're supposed to try for breakfast there as well as some yummy produce. Yesterday we stopped by the santa clara farmers market and I have to say that the fruit really does taste better here (and homemade samoosaa!!!!). I'm looking forward to getting used to better and fresher produce.

After the farmers market we plan to explore some open houses in Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Yesterday we drove around quite a bit. I think I have fallen in love with Willow Glen, in terms of personality, the most. I really like downtown Santa Clara as well. I think it will be tough deciding where to settle :)

Yesterday we stopped by a walmart when we were driving around. As I was talking to Lily and putting the car away I was pointing out all of the birds we saw. It was so beautiful to see that in addition to pigeons and blackbirds I also got to talk to her about seagulls and others that I couldn't quite identify.

It is going to be amazing for both of us to learn the names and types of plants and animals we see here. OH! We saw the cutest squirrel yesterday in Santa Clara!!! It was nearly black with a short tail. Its fur was longish and it was just super cute!

I didn't take this photo but it is perhaps the same squirrel!

I can't really tell you how beautiful it is here.  I don't know where to begin.  I feel almost like I am drowning in an ocean of newness and beauty.. It almost becomes uncomfortable to attempt to take in all of the stimulus and convince myself that I now belong here; I am home.

Well... it could also be the trauma of day 3 without smoking :)

Move to California

The morning light is brighter here; it streams through my living room window like summer in Missouri. On its path it touches the nearly ripe oranges on the tree between nearly awake me and the street. I've always wanted fruit trees.

Our new home, our temporary home, is a place of bright sunshine. White walls that could feel cold are warmed and made homey by lace curtains and leaded glass windows from other Victorian buildings somewhere. Floral rugs and paintings feel right in this space. I wonder how long it will take me to realize this is now my home.

I feel lucky to live here. This home is wonderful. You can tell it was prepared with love and care, from the multitude of mirrors in the bath to the hand laid mosaic that winds paths into the backyard. There are ripe lemons back there too.

But as wonderful as it is, I still feel asleep. I cannot quite believe that I no longer live in the city that has always been my home. I'm almost sad to think of no more gray winters... until I remember how sad they soon become.

Lily... Lily doesn't realize that we moved. She seems to like our new home though.

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.