Schmoopy

it's about to get a bit, um, wordy.

So much in fact, I had to make a part 1 and a part 2 video. Wow, I look really tired, huh?

Spa Therapy Works ~ as mentioned in second video

here comes the rain again
falling on my head like a tragedy...

coronado orange

crochet yumminess for sale on etsy

I have a friend named Tina who I have known pretty much my entire life. When I was a little girl, my mom and I were true gypsies for a number of years. When my mom was able to purchase her first home for us to settle down a bit, it was down the street from Tina where we became fast friends. I think we were in fourth grade at the time and our big passion back then was hopscotch.

Things have definitely changed since our days of hopscotch, but Tina has always been a constant for me throughout my life and in addition to being a wonderful friend, cheerleader, wife, sister and a truly amazing mother is her craftiness. She makes these amazing scrapbooks for people, handmade cards and has crocheted for as long as I can remember.

She has tried to teach me a few times how to crochet, but I ultimately decided to leave these things to the experts. (read: i suck at it)

Last year, Tina made Isabella the most gorgeously soft, delicate handmade blanket and it's one of my most treasured possessions. Over the holidays she also sent over a couple of her adorable hats for Isabella to wear. For years it feels as if I have been trying to gently urge her to do something with her talents, but I know her priority was always to her family first as she was raising two young girls for many years while her husband was out to sea. She has been through some truly difficult times on her journey. Now that her children are in school and her husband is home more, she is finally in a place where she feels ready to spread her wings a bit and I couldn't be happier for her.

She has just launched her own Etsy store: Coronado Orange. I know she is working on expanding it, but it is slowly being filled with yummy scarves, hats and eventually blankets that are handmade with love, so go have a look see.

She has some pretty cute models too.

I am so happy you are taking the leap, Tina! I wish you every success in the world.

ten

Dear Isabella,

Today you turned ten months old. This was a month of milestones for you and further proof of how quickly you are growing. You rang in the new year by showing Daddy and I that after seven months of teething you finally grew two bottom teeth. They are pretty cute... and sharp! It turns out that baby teeth and breastfeeding do not mix too well, and while you are somewhat good about not biting mama, for the most part, you have gotten me pretty good once or twice. So now would be a good time to start listening to mama and STOP DOING THAT. Thank you.

You've discovered the joys of Cheerios. At first it was really funny because you would grab them off your tray and would miss your mouth entirely so I would find Cheerios all over the floor. You are a quick study, however, and now you place most every one in your mouth with delicate precision. Sometimes I will play with your Cheerios and see how many I can stack onto each other and you always think it's a good idea to then try and place the entire stack in your mouth. Suffice it to say, you love Cheerios.

You have a really funny sense of humor and there are many little peculiar and quirky things you do consistently that make me laugh big. Such as, when you are nursing, you will reach your hand up to find my bottom lip and will then use your finger to flip it downward to make that sound lips make when you pull your bottom lip down and then let it go. You will do this over and over and then will start laughing in the middle of nursing. Another thing that kills me is when I am putting you to sleep it seems sometimes the only way for you to relax is if you are either pulling my hair or scratching my eyebrows. I am not entirely sure how this helps you relax but it just does.

 

You received some really fun toys for Christmas and enjoy getting into your own world and playing with them. You do this really peculiar thing where you will pick up something you are playing with, place it up and over your head and then drop it behind you. I have no idea what that is about but it's really funny to see you playing on the floor with a pile of toys directly behind you where you have dropped them all.

I also have to mention your love of Beyonce. I am sure you will not be happy when I mention this to your future love interests, but just know when I was little I loved Barry Manilow and the family made fun of me for years. There, does that make you feel better? I have been meaning to tell the whole story of Beyonce in a separate post on mommy's blog but the short version is if you are being fussy all I have to do is put on Beyonce and you are instantly fixated, whatever you were upset about is instantly forgotten.

Over the holidays Daddy and I left you with your grandparents for a little bit. Quite frankly we were a bit worried since you don't like it much when one of us isn't around. When we arrived back at their house and walked up to the door we weren't quite sure what we would find once we opened it. We didn't hear screaming which was a good sign and were laughing when we opened the door to find a living room dance party inside featuring you, your grandparents and your Aunt Kaitlyn all singing and dancing to Single Ladies.

They said we were right and Beyonce instantly calmed you down. If only I had the video camera with me at that moment. Although that may have been bad because I was so excited to see everyone twirling about that in a fit of excitement, I dropped a bottle of wine on your grandmother's toe. It's amazing how quickly I can put a stop to all the fun.

So far, you seem to have no interest in crawling. You will get up on your knees and rock back and forth, but will then roll over and be done with it, it's just too much work. Although you love standing and can pull yourself up quite well. Your Daddy, Uncle Charlie and Aunt Dianna never crawled either and when I told your pediatrician she jokingly asked, "Do they all have developmental problems now?" Which was simply her way of saying it ain't no thing. She explained that mellow babies, like yourself, are usually slow to crawl and walk to which I say, "Thank you." Momma is not quite ready for you to be running around just yet. I am still getting used to you having teeth.

You have been mimicking mommy and daddy a lot and will tilt your head from side to side when we do. You also make kissing sounds which I realized is something daddy and I also do. You have also learned to undo your diapers once they are on you so changing your nappies has now become this game of how fast I can get your bottoms on before you get your diaper back off again. It's great big fun. But I don't get upset about that because it's actually pretty funny and you have also become really cuddly this past month. When I pick you up you hug me and nuzzle your sweet head into my neck as if you are trying to get closer to me. It's pure heaven.

I would say the hugging is my new favorite thing of yours except you started something the night before last that melted my heart into a gooey puddle of love all over the floor. I was putting you to bed and had just finished reading, and singing, Five Little Monkeys to you when you rolled over, looked at me and said, "Mama."

This wasn't your normal mamamama, dadadadada, babababababa baby babbledy boo that you speak, or you know, the screaming that ensues when I take something out of your possession like my car keys or simply because you like to hear yourself scream, it was just mama. I looked at you and started laughing. A strange reaction I know.

"Did you just say mama?" I asked you. I wasn't expecting you to answer me of course but you had your little hand on my cheek and answered me by saying "Mama" again. The enormity of this tiny moment opened my heart even wider. How long I have waited to hear your sweet little voice say mama to me, the most wonderful word ever. I was completely melted and stayed there with you for the longest time in complete awe of you and how quickly you are growing.

Yes baby, I am your mama.

serendipity

photo taken by daddy, processed by mommy

My wish going into this month's giveaway would that the necklace would go to someone who not only believes in making wishes, but knows that wishes can manifest themselves into reality.

The first name that was pulled was my friend, Kristen. Hi Kristen! She said in her comment that her wish was that someone who didn't yet have a Bella Wish necklace would win this. Well, since I know for fact that Kristen does indeed have a necklace (or two...) I honored her wish and pulled another name.

That name is.... Meredith!

What a surprise to me when I clicked on her link to discover that she had written a post on wishes inspired by this very giveaway. Thank you, Meredith and congratulations.

Please contact me so I may send this wish-filled gift your way.

~~~~

I realize with the exception of these giveaways and letters to Bella that I have been very quiet here and over on my photoblog. I hope this will change soon, but in the meantime know that the sweet blue-eyed girl in the photo above is the main reason I have been quiet and I am just enjoying being her mommy in this moment and soaking up every moment of her that I can. I am also taking some time to organize my life and manifest some juicy wishes for this new year.

wishes + giveaway

Wish pendants available in my Etsy store

My apologies for posting this month's giveaway a bit late, I thank you for your patience. I love these giveaways and I wanted to start this years giveaways with what else? Wishes.

I am a firm believer in making wishes. I make wishes on stars, eyelashes on the back of my hand, painted rocks, dandelions and while holding my breath in tunnels.

This necklace was inspired by the candles on our birthday cake and created for all of us who believe in closing our eyes and making a wish. My wish is that you give this necklace to those special people in your life to remind them to make a wish on their birthdays, and every other day as well. And yes, that special person can be you.

This necklace is a 3/4" round sterling silver disc accented with a Swarovski crystal in the birthstone of your choice. It is available in my Etsy store and is also my first giveaway of the year.

I am so excited to introduce this necklace and excited to give one away this month as well. To be included in this giveaway, please leave a comment here before midnight on Sunday, January 18th. I will announce the lucky recipient the following day.

Love + wishes

contemplating {updated}

We just returned home from five days with family. We opened presents, consumed way too much amazing food, slept (!) and witnessed Isabella's first two teeth come in: one at my Dad's house and one at my Mom's.

I was so happy to be able to spend the end of the year with my family though I admit it's hard in some ways because I really feel their pain now when they have to say goodbye to Isabella. I miss her when she takes a nap, so I can only imagine not being able to see her for a couple months and it breaks my heart to have to watch them let her go for a time, besides the fact that I want Isabella to have as much time as possible with her grandparents and her entire extended family.

Tonight, I made a cup of hot chocolate and sat down to write a post about my thoughts on the year ahead. But instead, I sit here sipping chocolate, completely jumbled in thought. I don't make resolutions because I am not very good at that sort of thing, but I do believe that the thought of a new year comes with a clean slate. A blank canvas that is ours to paint with whatever we wish to fill it with.

But the thing is this... the thought of a clean slate is just an idea, it's not reality. My canvas is not blank. My canvas holds many layers of things I need to deal with from last year (and the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that, and the yea... you get the idea) before I feel like I have anything close to a clean slate.

One of them is my clutter. Not just clutter in the form of things around the house (though that is a huge part of it), but the clutter in my mind, in my thoughts, on my laptop, in my email. I have let things accumulate to the point of feeling jumbled with no clear train of thought. I notice this feeling spilling into many different areas of my life since it has nowhere else to go.

This was brought to my full attention a few weeks ago when my amazing husband surprised me with a new laptop to help me grow my business and, after sighing heavily upon seeing my desktop, was giving me a lesson on all it's new features and throwing out words like "workflow", "syncing", "organization" and "keychain access". All words that prompted my little right-brained head to spontaneously combust.

He showed me a bit of what his laptop workflow was like and after I was done being impressed, I sort of fell in love with him all over again. That and the fact that a few days afterward he organized and, ahem, LABELED our daughters dresser drawers (short sleeved onsies, long sleeved onesies, pajamas, etc...) She has the most organized space in our house, thanks to him.

I should interject here to say that my husband and I may seem very similar in many ways on the surface, but are truly Oscar & Felix in reality. He is organized to the point of anal (remember Micky Rourke's closet in the movie 9.5 weeks? That is my husband) and me? Well, I am organized chaos. Or more accurately, just chaos.

So, as excited as I am about a year full of possibility, growth, exploration and new ideas, all I can focus on in this moment is clearing all my clutter and embracing workflow. Sure, it's fun to get messy and be creative and play, I'm all about that, but I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be like my husband and make organization a conscious choice. And it's time for me to grow up.

Is this a resolution? I don't know. I am not calling it that, but I am going to take the rest of this month (or two, or however long it takes) to clear out my clutter and make space to allow all the new possibility, growth, exploration and ideas to flow freely and have room to play for the coming year.

I would love to hear some ideas about how you clear our your clutter and organize your life...

**note: I will be posting this month's giveaway sometime this week. It's a good one too. {wink}

~~~~~~~

{updated} thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts in the comments and in emails. it's been fun, and informative, to read some of these. i suppose i just wanted to make it clear that what this is more about for me is paper clutter and not how to clean my house. i know how to clean my house (although doing it regularly is something else) and i do purge things constantly, so my personal battle is not so much about me holding on to things, because i don't really do that, it's more about finding a workflow so paperwork comes in and out of here more efficiently. and while i did communicate that my house does get cluttered too, i know that is more because although i love having a clean house, i am not a domestic goddess, i have a baby, and would rather have a housekeeper scrub the toilet if i could afford one.

my oscar tendancies are that i tend to pile mail up in my office, my filing cabinets are a nightmare and things just start to fall through the cracks because i don't take the time to deal with it when it first comes in. same with some emails, computer files, my thoughts...

turns out i am not the only one with this issue apparently as i saw that some magazines are dedicated to organizing as well this month. so i picked up a couple of them to get some tips and am off to the races. but if you have any of your own tips that have worked for you, please keep sharing. thank you!