Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Baby Tuesday


Got one! I finally took a picture of Kevin in which he looks fatter than he is! It's usually me who gets that honor. Btw, this is her bathroom game of sticking her little fingers into the drawers that have safety latches on them to see what she can pull out. It's usually hair ties, bobby pins or makeup. Posted by Picasa


Bottom teeth brushing, fun. Upper teeth brushing, torturous. Posted by Picasa


Since I can't say no to these things, another church contacted me to redesign a local elementary's playground. I had to go back to take some photos and the family came with me. Here she is making a mad dash for the playground equipment. She loves swings and slides-- alot.

Monday, October 09, 2006

one more that didn't make the cut

Wyatt- Wyatt Earp, rogue of the old west, once married to a Ms. Blaylock! But Kevin said "no." I think it's too western for him.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

by popular demand

...okay, mostly because Aurora's been on my back about it-- I have created a registry, actually two: BabiesRUs and Target.

You can search by my name at either website or store.

oops, skipped a day

My intention had been to reveal an incorrect baby name each day, but I missed yesterday, so I'll do two today.

Clive- CS (Clive Staples) Lewis is my favorite author. It's a intelligent English name. But Kevin said "no way."

Lucky- It's cute right? And how can you not like a guy named Lucky? But Kevin said "no." I wasn't surprised.

and

Today's booty!:

I love having a legitimate reason to shop! I had to sift through all the baseball, yu gi-o and oakland raiders boys stuff to find these little jewels. Note the velvet blazer!

Friday, October 06, 2006

at least I'm telling you it's a boy.


But Kevin said we should draw out the name game for a few more days. (He has a frustrated inner blogger.)

So here are all the reasons the girls names weren't picked, and the name we would have used if it had been a girl. (which it's not, it's a boy, did I mention it was a boy? I did, it's a boy):

Ruby- I asked Kevin about 5 times if he was sure he didn't like this name, over the past few months. He insists that he doesn't like it. I think it's cute, especially if she has red hair.

Cora- Kevin has a distant relative named Cora, and he liked it. Sorry, I think it's a frumpy girls name. 'Makes me think of spinning yarn and making porridge.

Pascale- I liked this name alot, because it's a name that means Easter in French. It's also a science reference. But she would have to repeat it and spell it everytime she met someone. I know what that's like. Plus, it's French. And we're not.

Zipper(Zipporah)- If Kevin had said yes, I think I really would have gone with this one. It's both Biblical (Moses' wife's name) and cute at the same time. Kevin said it sounded like Sapporo (as in the Japanese beer).

Honeybee- The only problem with this name is that, along with her sister, we would have two girls named after insects. And it's not like we're entmologists or anything. It's a bit too much. Plus, if she wanted to be serious lawyer or kick-fighter, she'd have to go by "Bee," I guess. But dang, isn't that a cute name?

Adenine- I've covered why this name didn't make my cut. (No molecules!)

Elka- Can she be anything but tall and pretty with a name like that? Problem is, we're not Scandanavian.

Indigo- Also a little "tree-in-the-wind" for me. This was almost Baby C's middle name.

June- This is the counterpart to Henry, as in too traditional. I like it. BUT if the baby was due in June, I might have done it. (I know there are plenty of Aprils, May's, June's and Autumn's out there whose birthday's don't fall during those months, but that never made sense to me.)

Tigerlily- I always thought my daughter would be named Tigerlily, ever since I heard of the late Michael Hutchins (of INXS fame) naming his daughter that, after the indian princess in Peter Pan. But it's FOUR syllables and I don't like the name Lily on it's own. And people would probably call her that. So it got cut, despite years of determination that I would use it.

Echo
Although she doesn't remember, I think my mom suggested this name during the last pregnancy and then I thought it was too "tree-in-the-wind." However with this pregancy, I was determined to have the girl's name end in "o." I didn't like Cleo, or Rosario, or Sappho, or any other I found except Echo. And it started growing on me. It's unique, it's actually a name from Greek Mythology, and it's easy to spell and say. I even found a 21yr old (very normal and intelligent and not a hussy) with that name on MySpace and asked her how she liked it, did it ever bring her grief growing up? And she exclaimed "no! I love my name. I have never wanted to change it. There was always someone who said 'hey, Echo Echo,' but that's it."

p.s. Our sonogram guy like a comedian. He cracks jokes the whole time. He's been doing it for like 20 years, and he's never been wrong (so I have no fear buying blue). Poor Baby C fell and skinned her shin minutes before it was our turn to go in, so Kevin had to hold her outside until we were ready with a verdict.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

tomorrow, we'll know

As promised, here are the 10 boy's names that we considered:


Clive
Lucky
Wyatt
Keith
Malachi
Ezra
Ransom
Silas
Judah
Henry

3 day countdown, or is it 2?

On Friday we find out whether it's a boy or a girl.

To add to the festivities, I thought I'd make a little game out of guessing the name.

Today, I will list, in no particular order, 10 of the names that were up for consideration for a girl, and tomorrow I'll list 10 boy names. And then people can guess, or be horrified, but no telling if you already know the answer!

nombres de las chicas

Ruby
Cora
Pascale
Zipper(Zipporah)
Echo
Honeybee
Adenine
Elka
Indigo
June
Tigerlily

hello, old friends

Until yessterday, I had been sorrowfully without cupcakes for many moons.
Thankfully, I had the use of an oven this week and we were reunited- me and the 'cakes.



They are no ordinary cupcakes...


[harp strumming!]
...they have sprinkles!

They will be served tonight for our guesties, but I confess I have already eaten three.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Baby Tuesday

Sorry it's late, she wouldn't nap.




I got this little sparkley mini skirt from a mommies' clothing swap. Except I didn't bring any to swap, like a jerk. But they said they didn't care, so I filled up a bag!


She refuses to look at the camera long enough. Posted by Picasa


This pic totally reminds me of Mini-Charlie. (I also got that puppy blankie from the swap, score!) Posted by Picasa

Monday, October 02, 2006

Almost done designing the houses

It's 1AM and I've been up for the past 3 hours doing these...


Before. This poor little old lady has a dirt lawn in front and back. (She has super surviving Iceplant between the sidewalk and the street, though) Her fancy pants neighbors turned her in to the city because they are trying to sell their house next door, to the right. I still think they should have just been nice and offered to sod her front yard for her. We'll do it better, anyway, but jinkies, people can be mean. Posted by Picasa

after. Yes, a fountain. If they nix that, it'll be a bird bath. Posted by Picasa

before Posted by Picasa

after. (well the porch needs help, but I don't know if they'll let me touch this porch) Posted by Picasa

This is the vietnam vet with Miss Piggie out back. He likes stuff. Alot of stuff. His dirveway is filled to capacity. Also, he uses old toilets as flower planters. Resouceful! Posted by Picasa

after Posted by Picasa

Saturday, September 30, 2006

left to my own devices

Kevin's asleep, the baby's asleep, and though both of those things allow me to do anything I want to right now, I am not motivated.

I unloaded/loaded the dishwasher, made waffles, fed the baby, and pushed her down the street in her baby-trike.

That's all I'm gonna do for a while.

Friday, September 29, 2006

who needs a landscaping degree?

This is what I'm working on for this year's Beautiful Day Project. It's called "Better Homes and Gardens" or at least that's we're calling it. I haven't redesigned the pig owner's house yet, but this is what I got done this afternoon.
I have a list of drought resistant plants to work with and a budget but those are my only restrictions. (Good thing I don't get paid for it!)

The yellow house is my favorite. They made me cry...and that's why they get a barbeque! ;)

More details later...


before Posted by Picasa


after Posted by Picasa

before Posted by Picasa

after Posted by Picasa

befoe Posted by Picasa


after Posted by Picasa

Thursday, September 28, 2006

"roll on family, roll on along..."

A few Sundays ago, there was a garage sale in our neighborhood, and I wasn't going to stop the car until I saw a double stroller in the driveway for sale.
Target aquired! Beep beep beep!
One lady said 15 bucks and then the other one said 20, since I'm not a negotiator (sorry Mom!) I bought it for 20. Plus, I think they needed the money.
It had a few problems, it obviously had been sitting outside for while, etc.

So I pulled the duct tape off of it, unscrewed the canvas off (not easy), washed it, sewed it up in a few places and a few replacment screws here and there, new clear coat on the kick plate, and it's a beauty.

Bonus:It fits in my trunk, I didn't think it would. I thought I was gonna have to wheel it a few blocks back our house that day, but it fits!

We tried it out this morning on our walk, with baby C in one side and a big plush polar bear in the other side. :)



I didn't think to take any "before" photos, but these are the "after"s.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

"help, I'm being oppressed!"


This has bothered me for a long time, and now that I have my own little girl, I can't take it anymore!

The concept of the "tomboy."

I swear, every mom I talk to who has girls says "oh my little McKaila/Kirsten/Calee, she's a tomboy, she likes to play outside...run around...climb trees."

Yeah? So she likes to play? Like a kid?

What are people expecting from little girls? A strong innate desire to practice ballet formations and arrange flowers?

(If a boy likes bunnies and gymnastics, do we call him a sallygirl?)

Just because a girl plays basketball or wears pants or picks up bugs, that shouldn't make her weird. I think most little girls do those things and it doesn't make them less of a girl.

Tomboy is an ugly word. No more!!

I'm sure the British love her for her cookies

This morning I saw Nigella Lawson, sexy cooking star of the UK on the Today show. I couldn't stop staring at her-- huge tracks of land.


Don't let this photo decieve you, her shape defies reason.


I have decided she is the Dolly Parton of the culinary world.



I love Dolly, but I don't think even she would say she reached celecrity status solely on how well she plays the banjo.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Baby Tuesday

The bug got sick for the first time on Sunday. It wasn't too bad although it made me sad to see her not feeling well. By last night she was her old self again, after two different dr. visits and a trip to the drug store. She's on soy milk (yech!) for a little while until we can figure out if the cow milk is irritating her. I sure hope not. Soy milk is caca.

I hope you enjoy her zebra dress photo shoot. She has a smokin' leopard faux fur coat too for this winter, I can't wait for her to wear it!

Just like her mom, showin' the world her underoo's. Posted by Picasa




These videos aren't that interesting. But, it's funny to watch her walk.

Today's menu: blueberry yogurt and purple roses. Posted by Picasa

She'll point to just about anything now, meaning that she wants it. Door knobs, light switches, wallpaper-- anything. Point point point. Posted by Picasa

This year's toddler fashion is seeing a return of animal prints and vintage converse. Low slung wasitlines and A-lines dresses are also popular this fall season. Posted by Picasa