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!