La-La Land

Am in L.A. until next Tuesday, so O Chickadee won't have much action until I get home. But until then (pictures promised), here are a few of my observations being back again: 1. Smog is really brown. I forgot how brown living in Oregon. 2. Oh, how cute people dress. So cute. But also... so much work. I am currently sitting in the hotel bar, having a beer, in my jeans, t-shirt and flats. And have yet to see a woman (at 10:00 PM) in anything less than 3" heels and a skintight dress. They all look gorgeous... but yet... I sigh inside when I think about wearing 3" heels right now. And am happy to be in flats. (Also, want to know a secret? I think I have been checked out by more men in this bar, drinking my beer and watching the football game, than most of the women in heels and tight dresses. Which gives me a smug smile of satisfaction. I wonder what Zach would say if he knew? And generally, I feel happy for us girls that go to bars in LA in t-shirts and jeans and realize that maybe, just maybe, even LA guys like the approachable girl who drinks beer and likes football. Relief for my species.) 3. USC (University of Southern California, my alma mater and greatest university in the history of the world) is truly a special place. I forget when I am not here. But when I am here- oh, how I love it. 4. Traffic is yucky. More to come when I get home! P.S. Five days away from Tate. Five days, people!!!! Am looking at his picture every hour and am desperate for Zach to send me a few more. What if he starts to sit up on his own while I am away? Or forgets about me? I find comfort in the thought that it is important to me that I don't become that crazy mom who doesn't leave her kids until they are 5 years old. So this is healthy. Also- how embarrassing to have to ask a professional colleague for a room to pump in. And then proceed to do so in a conference room called "The California Room", on the floor, hidden by a table skirt also hiding disposable coffee cups. Oh, the things we do for our babes.

It's a Book

New book for Tate. Called "It's a Book" by Lane Smith. Makes me smile every time. I think it will be such fun, in ten or fifteen years, to see just how dated this book is. I just love the illustrations. (FYI before you buy: The last page could be controversial depending on your family. Do you see the little donkey? He is referred to as "jackass" throughout the book- and the last page says "It's a book, jackass!". We find it funny, and are ok living with it, but some of you might not be, which I totally get.)

Cake Stands

When we got married, one of my favorite elements of the wedding was our cake table. I didn't want a traditional wedding cake, and our florist, R. Jack Balthazar, came up with a beautiful concept. Covering an 8 foot table in wheat grass, we used assorted cake stands to give our five layer cakes an Alice in Wonderland feel. Wasn't it beautiful? But let me tell you, Mom and I must have spent weeks searching for the perfect cake stands. If only I had known then about Clara French Ceramique. These are customized, absolutely gorgeous cake stands:

You can get them glazed in colors to match your event. I think one of these would make a beautiful wedding gift.

Traditional cake stands not your style? How about these more modern ones from Iacoli & McAllister?

{such beautiful stands via prettyprettypaper}

Dolls

Oh my! I want to rush home from work right now and buy these dolls from idleDollstore.

And these weird but wonderful ones from Luci & Carlos- don't they look like they jumped from the pages of "Where the Wild Things Are"?

The View From Here

Wilting sunflowers. Growing babies. Happy happy.

They Might Be Giants

As soon as I saw Jordan Ferney's post on Babble about They Might Be Giant's new children's cd, Here Comes Science, I knew we had to have it. With a science teacher in the house, how could we resist? So I picked it up last weekend, and have been listening to it with Tate ever since.

It is so much fun. First of all, the science is not dumbed down ("a falling star is not a star, is not a star at all, a falling star's a meteor that's heading for a fall"). My favorite song is definitely "Why Does the Sun Really Shine", which immediately follows "Why Does the Sun Shine". The premise is great- basically, the first song ("Why Does the Sun Shine") gives a widely accepted but not actually scientifically accurate explanation for why the sun shines. So "Why Does the Sun Really Shine" gives the scientifically accurate explanation (with my favorite line of the entire album, "that thesis has been rendered invalid").

So fun! Do you have any good kid or baby music albums? We grew up on Wee See Silly Songs, and I sing those to Tate all the time.

Magic- A Belly Grows

Am I completely behind the times? Have you already seen this? Apparently, it whirled around the blogosphere in 2009 (pre-pregnancy for me), which explains why I never saw it. If you have seen it already, it is worth revisiting. If not, get ready. It is so fun. I spent the entire three minutes simultaneously wishing I was friends with Cole (because she seems so fun, doesn't she?), and wishing I had her hair (sigh. oh how I want curly hair that can also be straightened...). P.S. Don't you wish you were this cute pregnant? And wore such cute clothes throughout? And had enough confidence to let the joyfulness of pregnancy come through so vividly? I do. I think that this is proof of the power of names. Only a girl named "Cole" could pull this off. Janelle, not so much. Maggie? The Name-I-Wish-I-Was? Maybe. (Do you have a name you wish you were? Or do you love your name and feel it is a perfect representation of who you are?)

Magic- A Belly Grows from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.

9/11

image via tumblr God Bless America.

Cloth Diapers = Not Stretchy

Hello there! Today I am hoping that some of you use cloth diapers. We do. But we have reached an impasse, and I need some expertise. First, some background. We started out with Tate using the Bummis cloth diaper system. And we love it. The diapers are so, so absorbent. And they wash up beautifully. And I really love folding them when they are all warm from the drier. But... they don't fit anymore. We bought two sizes- the infant size and the baby size. The infant size worked wonderfully- a little big when Tate was born, but we just folded them over a bit, and it was fine. But the infant size is now, officially, too small (despite our stretching, the way you do with a t-shirt that clings a little too much... You know what I mean, right? Right.) So we tried to move up to the baby size and... well... I couldn't help but laugh. They were HUGE. So big. I don't think we could have fit any of his clothes over the giant, bulky diaper. Truly, I think I could use them as towels. So if you use cloth diapers- any advice? What do you do when you are "between sizes"? P.S. We have also used (and loved!) these Snappi Diaper Fasteners and have faced the same problem. We have had to move up to the "toddler" size to stretch across Tate's adorable and chubby belly, and they are almost too small already... is it true that chunky babies thin down once they learn to crawl and that these fasteners might fit better then? photo via weheartit

Rock 'N Rose

I want these Rock 'N Rose hair accessories. All of them. So much.

The styling also makes me want bangs. Thick bangs. Don't be surprised if I have bangs the next time you see me.

Old Books

I was reading Olive the other day, and stumbled across her post on artist Su Blackwell. She said that I would fall madly, deeply, truly in love with these book sculptures. And oh how I did!

It makes me want to buy an old book just to try my hand at it.

Speaking of old books, did I ever tell you what Zach got me for our wedding anniversary? It was a first edition copy of an E.E. Cummings' book with the poem we had read at our wedding in it. Isn't that a wonderful gift? Here's the poem, which I love love love (the first four words are also inscribed on my wedding band):

i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth day of life and love and wings:and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any--lifted from the no of all nothing--human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Someday when I finally renovate the backyard I want the first stanza painted on the gate to the garden. Wouldn't that be a wonderful way to be greeted?

Long Weekend

The end of summer. At the beach. Such a fitting finale. We drove out after work on Friday and made it just in time for fish and chips and beer and good conversation. There were five of us- Zach and I, Tate, Nonna and Grampa Coach. Nonna and Grampa Coach, you ask? Oh- haven't I told you the happy news yet? My mom and dad- Tate's Nonna and Grampa Coach- have come up to Oregon for the year to take care of Tate while Zach and I are working. Aren't we lucky? Tate will get the absolute best care, and we avoid daycare. But most exciting? My mom and dad are living just down the street! This is such joyful news, and I intend to soak in the luxury of it as much as I can. Weekends window shopping with Mom... improving my (non-existent) golf game with Dad... USC football on Saturday... Sunday night dinners as a family. And getting to watch Tate really grow up around his grandparents. So there we were, the five of us in a small coastal town called Cannon Beach. We slept. And read. And watched college football. And played Bananagrams. And walked around town. I snapped pictures as we went, since really, you can't believe Cannon Beach until you see. It is that idyllic. Charming candy shoppe.

Fresh saltwater taffy...

Yum! So many different flavors. 94, I believe. Zach bought an assortment to share.

The Captain's Quarters.

The wine shop. Grape vines.

Smiles.

Happy times by all.

Now for the not fun part of the weekend. I think on blogs it is so easy to only write about the fun and interesting parts of life, and the good decisions we make. But this weekend, we had one very, very bad (and almost deadly) accident. So here's what happened: like many people with cats, we occasionally leave Moose home alone for a few days. So when we left on Friday, we left Moose at home. A few bowls of food were scattered throughout the house, and multiple bowls of water. But when we walked in the front door this afternoon, laden down with bags and baby, we heard heart-stopping wailing coming from our bedroom. It turns out that, when shutting our bedroom door for the weekend, I had accidentally locked Moose inside. This is embarrassing and horrifying and could have been disastrous, since all his food and water was in other rooms. Luckily, the toilet seat was up, so he had water to drink, but he had nothing to eat, nowhere to go to the bathroom (except our bed, but I consider a new duvet a small price to pay), and generally was put through what I can only imagine was a ridiculously traumatic 3 days. Since we've been home, he won't leave our side (even to eat, which has led us to all huddle around his food bowl giving him encouragement and praising him when he takes a bite) and he is avoiding our bedroom (rightly so, as it was so recently his prison), but other than post-traumatic stress (can cats have that?), he appears ok. I am feeling horrible guilt about it and also incredible thankfulness that this member of our family is alive and well. So that's how we've been. How about you? Any highs (or lows) for the holiday weekend? Anything you are feeling particularly grateful for?