Dressing Up

I think this is my all time favorite photo of Luna with her daddy!

A friend threw a fun Christmas party. I had fun dressing up and feeling human again! Can I admit that I spent an embarrassing amount of time at the mall- in the Gap particularly. I searched and searched the sales racks to find something that would be somewhat flattering for my post baby body. I was so excited at the chance to dress up. I don't know what it is, but for women we just need to dress up and feel pretty sometimes. I even put on make up for the second time of the year!

Christmas eve and Christmas day was spent at a few different places. It was busy. I don't have any pictures of the party, and only one photo taken on Christmas day, but I guess that means that we were having too much fun, which is always a good thing!

Chopping the Tree

Please forgive me, I realize I'm going back in time here- but with a baby, thanksgiving, my birthday, visitors, Christmas- it's been nuts and I really wanted to share these things on my blog. Luna was welcomed into the world at a busy but happy, happy time!

December just flew by this year. It was a different kind of December- but such a good one! Christmas comes quicker every year, doesn't it?

It had just been snowing like crazy. Then my mom came for a week. We went straight to Coeur D'Alene for an open house at the birthing center and to do our annual tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree. This year we did a drive by hunt

No traipsing through the woods for me this year. We actually found a much better tree than last year. But every year we always cut it too close, it's always dark- or almost dark when we are cutting it down- so sorry- blurry photos as usual!

It was a bit of a steep climb!

It ended up being a Griswald family tree. They always look bigger in the forest! We got it home and did major trimming. It took up most of our dining room! It was a gorgeous day.
We decided since it's only $5 to get a tree from the national forest, we would get 2 trees. It will be a tradition. Luna will get her own little tree. I think it will be fun when she's a little older! Here it is outside.

Here she is with her little Charlie Brown tree.

Luna's First Outing- Thanksgiving and my Birthday

Please forgive me, I realize I'm going back in time here- but with a baby, thanksgiving, my birthday, visitors, Christmas- it's been nuts and I really wanted to share these things on my blog. Luna was welcomed into the world at a busy but happy, happy time!

After Luna was born Sam stayed home for two weeks. It was a nice cozy time spent mainly at home. We had our first outing on Thanksgiving. Of course she was the star of Thanksgiving. It was quite a drive. The roads were terrible and we were slipping and sliding. It was definitely an adventurous first trip out. But we made it to great grandma's house.

The next day was my birthday and we went on our first walk during a beautiful snow fall to the cafe around the block. Luna was the best birthday gift. It was so funny, they asked her name and we told them. The waitress said, "Wait, I've heard about this baby!" I was a little surprised, how could they know about her- she's less than a week old? Our friends had visited the cafe earlier in the week and they were telling the waitress all about Luna. So at 6 days old she was already being talked about!

Smoothies

The gross and the good. Since I have an abundance of fruit and veggies on hand I'm trying to be more creative with my smoothies. I've fallen in love with green smoothies. I make them with fruits I've frozen from trips to Green Bluff. When I was pregnant I always added some protein powder. Now that I don't choose the fruits and veggies we buy, I don't have quite as much freedom. I love spinach in my fruit smoothies, but I got romaine lettuce in my basket. It tastes a little more leafy, but I can handle it. If you're new to green smoothies, start with baby spinach! I was feeling adventurous and decided to make an all veggie one. I knew it would be oh so healthy. I'm usually good with stomaching things. This smoothie made me gag! I had to toss it!

The Gross One:

1/2 cucumber

2 carrots

1 apple

water

I wasn't done with my veggie attempt. I tried a new one and I love it

The Good One:

2 carrots

2 oranges

1 apple

a good chunk of ginger

orange juice

frozen peaches (optional)

It tastes great, even without the peaches!

Amy's Visit

Amy came for a visit. She spent a fair amount of time snuggling with Luna.We had fun shopping for bridesmaid dresses, dreaming up wedding color schemes, and of course she tried on wedding dresses!
Chaps for brunch on Sunday. Brunch is my favorite there. Chaps is amazing, it's like a restaurant version of anthropologie!

I think I'm glad Amy doesn't live here- she's got too good of an eye at thrifting! She found this cute cookbook stand that folds up. Adorable! Too bad it's so portable , or maybe I would have had a chance at keeping it. And I have bags and bags of items from thrift stores that need to be inventoried!And I just have to share some of my new favorites of my cutie in her new reversible corduroy vest. I couldn't resist. I justified the purchase because we're making a trip to Minnesota tomorrow and the temps are lower there! I think she's going to be a fashionista, clearly- she loves it!

I love my husband. He's the sweetest and best when I have visitors. One night he made homemade soup for us (even without a recipe) and he cleaned up too. He cooked and cleaned and watched Luna all weekend so we could do some shopping a little more easily.

Bountiful Baskets

I've started to use bountiful baskets, thanks to the tip from my friend Andi. For $15 each week I receive roughly $50 worth of produce. It is a co-op that gets as much local produce as possible throughout the year. The middle men are cut out and it is volunteer run to keep costs down. You order online on Tuesday and you have a 20 minute window to pick the food up on Saturday. You bring your own container and your "basket" is all ready to go for you to transfer into your basket. If you don't pick it up, it gets donated. Obviously at this time of year there isn't a ton of local produce available, but they tell you where it comes from. And the bananas are bought from small Mexican farmers, versus huge corporations. I was amazed at the huge amount of food I received for only $15, you can also order organic food for only $10 more ($25). You can order the food once a week. If you don't pick it up, it gets donated. You can check if they have this in your area. If they don't, there is also information on how to get it started in your neck of the woods. This has been so good for getting us to eat healthier. I always end up eating what is available, and if I have a ton of produce around, that's what I eat. This is inline with my values and it's cheap which is cool!

This is what I got this week:
:: 1 pineapple
:: 5 bananas

:: 1 head romaine lettuce

:: 1 bag of carrots

:: 1 cucumber

:: 2 avocados

:: 2 large sweet potatoes

:: 12 roma tomatoes

:: 10 oranges

:: 20 baby red potatoes

last time I think was an even better deal:

:: 1 carton of strawberries

:: 2 heads of romaine lettuce

:: bag of russet potatoes

:: 2 bags of carrots

:: 1 pineapple

:: 5 bananas

:: 3 grapefruit

:: 5 oranges

:: 1 bag of celery

:: 8 granny smith apples

:: bag of onions

:: 2 cucumbers

:: 3 green bell peppers

Luna- One month

Each day is different, and yet very much the same. Luna has no routine yet. She usually likes to stay up late (like her mama). Luna is such a little cutey pie. We just love her to pieces. She has been a smiley girl from the start. I can't even remember when the first one came. I just remember trying so hard to catch a picture of it! This is the first time- teamwork was the key.

She was smiling away at her daddy and I got a whole series of great shots! Forgive me for going overboard, but these are my favorites!

She's already growing so much. She's a strong little girl and holds her head up and stretches her little turtle neck around. She loves to hang out in the moby with her daddy. I'm not sure who likes it more.

She's losing her hair on top- so she's got an old man receding hair line! She loves to dress up- and accessorize! Her favorite place to be is her dresser/ changing pad. She loves to look in the mirror, smile, coo and she kicks her arms and legs like a madwoman.

We spend a lot of our time on this exercise ball when she's not happy.

It calms her like a charm every time. She also loves her little chair.

We also found that she stops crying when she hears the sound of running water. She always knows when it's dinner time and insists on eating when we eat! She is growing like crazy, at 5 weeks she weighed in at 11 pounds! And gained 2 inches.

As a parent I've learned that:

:: Little ones really can be quite trying on the patience. Even Sam, the calmest man alive admits this!

:: I really suck at swaddling.

::It really is wonderful and so worth it each time she flashes a little smile at me.

::Priorities change. If she gets upset when I set her down to try to do something I pick her up. I know that she'll be so big before I know it so I'm just letting things go as I sit and cherish the time spent holding her in my arms.

Time flies-now that I'm actually posting this she is 7 weeks old- closer to 2 months than 1, but I need to catch up!

2011 Here We Come...

I'm excited for the new year. It should be a good year. It's already starting out fun this month because Amy will be visiting and then my family will head out to MN for everyone to meet Luna.

I'm going to do the 365 project. You can see the start here on flickr. I am really hoping to learn to use my camera better. I keep debating over whether I should hunker down and learn the manual settings. I always feel guilty about not knowing how to. I'm thinking I would love to get a new flash because I'm really struggling getting good pics of Luna with the low light in the house.

I'm really pumped to document Luna's life with this calendar from a sweet friend. It's simple enough and will be so cool to look back on.

I made my first blurb book for a gift this Christmas. It's from the tulip festival in Mt. Vernon. I would love to make more. I've hardly printed any photos from the past 5 years and I would at least like a little book of each year.

Tulip Festival by Rebecca Lux | Make Your Own Book

I need to refresh my google reader with new inspiration. And I need to stop lurking and leave more comments. I'm bad at saying witty one liners. Any suggestions for new blog reads?

I want to do little things for people. It could be super simple or more elaborate.

I want to be happier- more grateful for things. I have trouble always seeing the good in things- I just want to be more mindful of all the good stuff in my life.

Make things. I'm doing Farm Chicks again. I want to get etsy up and going again. And I want to just make more stuff for fun. Hopefully I can be a little more organized for Farm Chicks this year so I'm not running around like a mad person at the end!

Have an inspiration board. I love these.

Organization. Always an ongoing goal of mine- it's my biggest weakness

So that is the plan for now. Nothing too grand, just some good things to keep in mind for this new year.

Headbands

Part of the joy of having a little girl is being able to dress her up pretty! I love making little things for her. I made some headbands and I thought I would show you my little secret. One band- many styles. It's nothing too impressive. I simply made the band and attached a piece of felt and a snap to it. Every flower I make I simply attach the other side of a snap to. So it's even quicker and easier to whip up an accessory that coordinates with her outfit before leaving the house! I'm planning on making some felt hearts for Valentine's Day.

Now- the part you really want to see, my little model showing them off. I purposely made the headband slightly too big so it will last a long time and so it won't be too snug.




We could seriously nickname this girl smiley. She is always so smiley and happy- it just melts my heart!

2010

I had three big goals- I thought if I limited it to 3 I would actually accomplish them. I was too much of a chicken to share them on my blog this year. Especially because uh- making a baby isn't a predictable thing and it seems really creepy to have that as a "goal"

So I was 2 for 3. The goal that I thought would be the easiest to accomplish proved to be the toughest. It was the only one I thought that was reasonable. I didn't reach 100 etsy sales, but I am happy with the Farm Chicks turnout. I'm also glad that I got another show in.

Here is the picture of my booth at The Farm Chicks. My friend Jess came out to help. It was so much work, but so worth it. I really need to do some treasure hunting for this year!

Here I am pretty much popping out of my dress!

These are pictures of The Funky Junk Show I did with my friend Janessa. (They're her photos) I never got around to blogging about it. We went camping and had so much fun. The show was a blast. Low key with the nicest people putting it on. Her son Preston is a little cutey! He's the most curious little boy who says the funniest things.

And here are the latest Luna pictures. More on her later! I have so many blog posts to do!

She was so smiley and happy all day today. And she's almost fitting into her skinny jeans- I can't wait!

I had a lot of little goals and I forgot to look at them in 2010. I still like the ideas so I'm going to look at them again for this year.