Tucson, Tucson, Tucson

How we love you. Every time we come to Tucson, we say, "Dang, when are we going to move here?" We jump off that airplane and suck up that cool desert night air. Even if we don't have plans to move, we love having family to visit. GranJanne lives there and became Eliza's main bottle feeder, snuggler and Addie playmate. Pop Pop and Nana came down for their annual desert sojourn and Uncle Drew and his girl Christina were there as well.

We got sick, we got better. We ate, we drank and shared a night sans kids in the hotel where we got married (THANK YOU GRANJANNE!!!). We went swimming, walked amongst the butterflies and the hummingbirds and watched our girls love their family and be loved. That's Tucson for ya.


The artist and her puffer fish


The butterfly exhibit at the Tucson Botanic Garden


The photographer and the hummingbird at the Desert Museum


GranJanne's favorite fuzzy man cacti


Nana and the hitchhiker


Addie in a grandma sandwich


Pop Pop, Eliza and Addie the Tortoise

Check here for more pictures of our trip.

On your mark . . .

get set . . .


crawl? Well, not yet but soon. We just got back from 5 lovely nights (minus the part where Cap and I were sick) in Tucson vising family. Eliza had her 6 month birthday on Friday which she celebrated by adding a few new milestones and a second tooth. She can now sit up unassisted with the support of her hands and get into a sitting position all on her own. She also is getting into crawling position on all fours thanks in part to the carpeting at GranJanne's house. She's in an awesome stage where she's easy to take out to dinner with us and drifts off to sleep in your arms after gulping down a bottle. She loves watching Addie, and Addie loves making her laugh.

Today she also started at Addie's Montessori school in the infant room. We are sad to say good-bye to Andi who has been another grandmother to our kids, but absolutely thrilled with the single drop-off and pick-up, and the fact we won't have to transition her to another school for pre-school. Simplicity!

Happy 6 months lil' Eliza Wren!

Addie Ant and the Mexican Wrestlers

More drawings by Addie! Here is Addie Ant although later she explained it was a Mommy Ant that was sad because she lost her baby ants. I commented that the ant was smiling and that Addie could maybe draw some baby ants. Addie said no, she didn't know how to draw baby ants.




This is another family portrait that Addie drew at school last week. I was asking her about it and then I got distracted watching Ellen interview Courtney Cox. When I looked back down, Addie had drawn masks on the people. See, Mommy. They have masks now. I think we look a little Nacho Libre-esque.

Home Projects

According to avid housing blog reader and husband, Cap thinks we probably won't be able to buy a house in LA for, oh, maybe 7 years. Depressing. Maybe we should move to Ohio. With that mental readjustment in mind, I've decided to throw myself into home decorating projects here in my apartment.



Inspired by this project in an issue of Sunset Magazine, I made this photo wall over a year ago. I never was able to figure out a way to successfully hang it though (duct tape as the article suggested didn't seem to work for me). It's been hiding behind our sofa since then. Now that I've discovered the joy of 3M command strips, I dusted off the picture frames and finally hung them up. Success! Since Addie is about 2 1/2 in these and Eliza is completely absent, it's probably time to update the photos as well. Hopefully it won't take another year for me to do that!

You may also have seen my facebook update a few weeks ago when I snagged this gorgeous Mahogany china cabinet for $80 off craigslist. I feel a little guilty. The cabinet belong originally to the mother of an elderly gentlemen who was moving from his one bedroom into a studio apartment. We promise to take good care of it, Sir! My dining room was starting to look a little grandma-y though and needed a face-lift. We moved the cardboard deer head from the office into the dining room to bring a little humor and levity to all the heavy antiques. Then this past weekend, I lined the back of the cabinet with a wrapping paper I found for $1.99 a roll at Tuesday Morning. My mom reminded me that Nana lined her China cabinet with wallpaper to spruce it up. Nana was an interior decorator in Chicago and her style has definitely influenced my own design aesthetic - traditional but with a twist. I guess being grandma-y can be a good thing!


Before


After

When I was on maternity leave, I also had a pair of chairs recovered. They were gifts from Nana to my parents and then to me. The fabric has been in tatters for over a decade after a certain black kitty decided to use the chairs as a scratching post. I never could make a decision about the fabric, but when Eliza was a week old, My mom and I drove to Calico Corners and made an ultimatum that we wouldn't leave without picking a fabric. Sometimes I just need a hard deadline to make a decision.


Addie wanted to get in on the action too. She and I made paper chains on Sunday and she hung them (with some help from Cap) from the ceiling in her bedroom.


Other home decorating projects on my list include:

- Sewing new curtains for Addie and Eliza's room
- Roman blinds in the office (another DIY project)
- Headboard for the master bedroom (DIY?!??)
- Reupholstering 2 side chairs (definitely a job for the professionals)
- Curtains in the dining room (dare I make them myself???)
- Maybe a rug for the dining room too (I like the look of sisal but the thought of cleaning maple syrup or spaghetti sauce out of the fibers makes me reconsider)
- I'm obsessed with the concept of removable wallpaper. Maybe for the front hall? Perfect for the renter and/or commitment-phobe (i'm both).

Living in America

This is Addie's drawing of our family. I'm the giant figure in the center, little Eliza is on the right, Daddy on top left and Addie bottom left. Addie is into drawing hearts now and these figures are a derivation of that shape. Cute, huh.



And then here Addie explained this was a house with a chimney, windows, stairs and a front door with "beautiful decorations on it." Under her own strict design instructions I helped her put tiny dots as "decorations" on the outside. When I asked her if it was our house, she said, "No, it's North America."

Sarah Sews

I've been wanting to learn to sew for ages. Cap's mom bought me a fabulous sewing kit full of all the necessary accessories about 10 years ago when I picked up a 1971 Singer sewing machine at a thrift store for $10. It died before I could get my hands dirty. While I've used the sewing kit to hand stitch a few things here and there I never did learn to use a sewing machine. I have been wanting to make new curtains for Addie and Eliza's room by re-purposing some pre-made ones with cute red pom-pom trim that I ordered already when I was on maternity leave, but the project requires some basic hemming. The project has come to a halt.

2010 is going to be the year I learn to sew. Cap bought me a new Singer sewing machine for my birthday, but I had been too intimidated by the instructions on winding the bobbin and what not to even conceive of sewing that first stitch. Finally, Cap set up the machine and I attempted my first project today - a crinkle square toy for Eliza. I whined and cursed my way through the process. Sure, the stitches are all wonky and one of the ribbons is already falling off, but Eliza loves it. Maybe I'll be brave enough to tackle the curtains next, or maybe I'll just stick to crinkle squares for a while.

Happy Feet

I can't count the number of times I have to tell Addie to get her feet away from Eliza. "Addie! You know the rules. NO FEET NEAR YOUR SISTER!"

It's not that I'm overly concerned that Eliza will gnaw on a pair of dirty, germy toddler toes (although I know she'd like to!), it's that one isn't usually as graceful with ones feet as one might be with ones hands even if one was trying to be nice and gentile and just play with one's sister. Or, don't freaking kick your sister in the head! I don't care if it was just an accident. NO FEET NEAR YOUR SISTER!

To the Beaches We Go

Saturday before my sister arrived, we took off for the beach in the afternoon. The weather has been pleasantly warm after all the rain we've been having. We spotted a few sea anemones and a giant heron. Mainly though we looked for "stuff." I must have used the term to refer to rocks, kelp and any sticks we collected on the beach. Addie kept exclaiming, "I found stuff!"

Then on Monday, we headed back to PCH and up to El Matador Beach with Auntie Jennifer. We've been meaning to check out this particular beach for, well, years. It was worth the wait. Gorgeous! You park at the top of the bluff and then wind your way down a dirt path and then wooden stairs to reach the beach. You have to go when the tide is low (or at least not high) otherwise there is very little beach.

We'll are missing Auntie Jennifer already!

Heart Shaped Cookies

My sister said she did more before 11 am with us on President's Day than she does all day. We woke up early (thanks Eliza) and were at Urth Cafe for breakfast a minute before 8 am. By 10 we had decorated heart-shaped cookies with Addie which we had baked the day before. By 11 we had played t-ball and thrown a nerf football around the backyard. After that we packed up the car and head up the coast to El Matador Beach in Malibu. I told her that our weekend mornings usually involved a lot more television and time in our PJs, but we only had one day with Auntie Jennifer so I wanted to take advantage of every second!

I highly recommend this sugar cookie recipe from, who else, Martha Stewart. They were perfect for decorating and yummy too!

Happy Ballinstine Day!

Addie, usually an excellent linguist, gets her "Vs" and her "B" mixed up. At school she has a cuvvy and her favorite TV show is Max and Roovy. In anticipation of Ballinstine Day, we got a little crafty. Using crayon shavings, wax paper, an iron and heart shaped cookie cutters, we adorned this Valentine tree. These branches have been handy for all holidays. You might remember when it first appeared as an Easter egg tree, for Halloween it hung ghosts and at Christmas paper chains. When we aren't celebrating a holiday, I hang bird cut-outs that I made out of cereal box cardboard covered in a pretty wrapping paper.



We also made Valentine's for the grandparents using potato stamps. I learned the hard way not to expect to get red stamp pads the weekend before Valentine's day. Instead, we made do with pink and silver - a little too 80s I think. They didn't come out quite as I had envisioned, but it was the process that counts, not the product (oh Maria Montessori would be so proud). I thought I'd have plenty of time to get Addie to write her name in the cards, but on Monday evening I realized she was expected to bring 24 handmade Valentines for her classmates on Thursday. Thank goodness I went a little craft supply crazy at Michael's and had bought a paper trimmer. I set out cutting up cardstock I happened to have already into 3 x 3 folding cards. I resurrected the potato stamps and the left over wax crayon hearts from the trash and set Addie to work gluing, stamping and signing for 3 nights in a row. It was like a Valentine sweat shop. I think the mini cards turned out rather sweet.

Tonight my sister arrives from snowpocolypse, and I'm so excited! We'll have to do something sunny and warm with her.

Tufty Turns 5 (months)

Tufty is 5 months old today. Happy Birthday! We are hoping that this next month will be a healthy one as Miss E has had a cold for about two weeks. We took two trips to the pediatrician just to tell us, "Yes, she has a cold." The doc is probably thinking, "Geesh, I'd expect this from new parents, but really now."

Today, Addie's school is closed for Teacher Training Day. I'm on the morning shift at home with Addie and then will go into work in the afternoon. We decided to take Eliza into daycare anyway, to give Addie a chance to hang out with us one on one again. Depending on how ambitious I am, we might go shopping and then make valentine cookies. Or, we might just end up in our PJs all morning watching "Up".

Happy Day little Tufty love!


Super Flying Tufty Power!


Tufty Outtake

Not last weekend but last last weekend

I'm a little behind, but two weekends ago we went to the Hammer Museum to see the entire Book of GenesisBook of Genesis illustrated by comic book artist-extraordinaire R. Crumb. Amazing. Addie kept returning to the page with Eve eating the apple. And I didn't realize there was so much procreating in Genesis until I saw it illustrated. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks for a treat. Because Addie can't get enough museums, we went this past weekend as well to do some Korean brush painting in the Children's gallery at LACMA where we also tried to see the exhibit Heroes and Villains: The Battle for Good in India's Comics which was unexpectedly closed that day. I guess graphic novels are all the rage in the art world these days!

Breakthrough

I was unprepared at Addie's swim lesson on Saturday when I looked up and there she was swimming across the pool. Not only I was not equipped with my video camera (thank goodness my phone takes video!), but I wasn't prepared for the wave of emotion that washed over me. I was so proud! And so glad I was wearing sunglasses so the other people wouldn't see me cry.

It's my goal to get her swimming by summer and I think we're gonna make it! In the video she's the little red hat doggy paddling in the middle. Once she gets comfortable with this, then her teacher James will work on getting her face in the water. For someone who has been, I won't say afraid, but very, very, very cautious in the water, this is a giant step for her. When the weather warms up, we'll all go swimming together which should continue to help build her confidence as well. This reminds me I need to get a cute, one-piece suit for myself. Maybe something with stripes and ruffles.

My little swimmer! I'm so proud!

More Delicious Baby Photos

Here are some photos just because she's a baby and she's cute, and I know I won't remember any of this. It's like planning for amnesia.

Eliza finally had her 4 month check-up with the pediatrician along with a second round of immunizations - I made Cap go this time. She's 14lbs 12oz and 25 1/4", both above average. She rolls over now in both directions and gets frustrated when she can't quite find the right thing to shove into her mouth. Right now she has a cold poor lass. She's a champion sleeper, except when she's not. Miss E often has her tongue hanging out as if she's just tasting the world going by. Eat it up, baby! It's all yours!