Gymboree + Eric Carle

The lovely folks at Gymboree sent me some PJs from their new Eric Carle line and they're just fabulous! We're huge fans of Eric Carle books, so I was pretty excited to put them on the boys. Oscar keeps asking to wear them even when it's not bedtime and Ian got a kick out of seeing the same bear on his book and PJ pants. He kept pointing at the pants and the book while exclaiming "Same! Same!" I swear I didn't tell them to hold up the books in that first photo - they just thought it was so fun to have PJs to go with the books that they were just hamming it up for me. The cotton on these is so soft and plush. We have another older pair of Gymboree PJs and they're seriously the only ones that have held up through both boys!

The collection will be released next Tuesday, 9/2, and there will be a special Eric Carle event at all Gymboree store locations on Friday, 9/5, from 10am to noon. There'll be an Eric-Carle-themed craft and story time reading of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Be sure to check it out!

a colorful birthday party for Ian

We never had proper celebration when Ian turned one since we were in Paris at the time, so of course we had to throw him a real party for his second birthday. Since Ian loves to eat, and is really a happy little guy, I loosely based the party off of a little piggy I drew and a fun and bright color palette. We held it at a park and couldn't have asked for better weather. I made a garland of half-blown-up balloons and made tiny floral centerpieces for the picnic tables. For the kid favors I sewed small felt totes and glued felt letters for the first initial of each kid. The adult favors were chocolate bars repackaged in patterned paper I designed and printed. We were having so much fun that I forgot to have Ian wear the birthday hat I made him until the party was practically over!


Photos by me and Traci Yau of 45wall Design

slow summer days

I've been really enjoying the boys lately. I find myself looking at them and wanting to capture and remember forever this moment or that feeling. Things feel a bit slower, less chaotic. Maybe because I've found a good rhythm, maybe because the boys have been going through a good phase, or maybe because Oscar is in pre-school a couple mornings a week now. Probably all of the above.

an afternoon at the beach

Some shots from an afternoon at the beach a couple of weekends ago. Oscar had been wanting to go and had a great time playing in the sand and with all the sand crabs Irving caught. The beaches here tend to be on the colder side (by California standards) in the summers, but the weather was pretty perfect that day. I've been trying to let the boys spend more time outside, which I confess isn't natural for me, being a homebody who is sort of afraid of messes and maybe even the heat and the cold. They just seem happier and calmer outside though, and I know it helps me to slow down too.

oscar is 3!

We celebrated Oscar's 3rd birthday this weekend with family and had a great time. We feel so blessed to be near both sides of the family, and that Oscar can grow up with his cousins and be spoiled by his grandparents and aunts and uncles. I figured since I did next to nothing for his 2nd birthday, I should try and make this one a bit more special, especially since he's old enough now to understand what a birthday party means. I tried to keep it simple with just a few decorations but it still took me a couple evenings to prepare, and I'm not so sure Oscar cared all that much about the decor. He hardly noticed or would at most ask why those paper balls were hanging there. Maybe he'll appreciate it when he's older and looking back at pictures, but at least I had fun with it! I loved seeing the expression on his face when we all gathered around to sing him happy birthday. And naturally he was more interested in the frosting than the cake, and his favorite part was opening his presents of course!

goodbye summer

I can't quite believe it's October already -- didn't the year just start? Already I'm missing the long days. We got some nice warm temperatures this weekend though. As you can see, the cars got a bath, and Oscar had fun helping. Oscar's legs are also finally long enough to reach the pedals on his tricycle, so he's been riding around the back yard a lot.

Fall also means that it's time to get the shop in order.  I've been working on the 2013 wall calendar and planners and hope to have them up in the shop in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned!

8 weeks

Ian is 8 weeks today, and I feel like I'm getting more used to life with 2 boys. It also helps that Ian started sleeping longer stretches at night (hooray!) so I'm more rested overall. Sometimes things are manageable and everyone is fed and happy, but there are times when both boys are demanding my immediate attention and it's hard not to stress out, though I'm more okay now with letting one of them cry while I settle the other. I'm just doing the bare minimum these days to keep things humming along, and when there is a free moment I just want to eat ice cream and watch TV or flip through blogs or Pinterest. I'm not quite sure how we'll squeeze in packing for the move, but things like that always get done somehow, right? As you can see from the last photo, the house is a mess! I'm so ready to start over back in our old place.

meet ian

Well, look who made an early appearance! Ian arrived last Thursday at 9:44pm, 11 days before his due date. Everything happened so fast - contractions started just after 8pm, and we got to the hospital at 9:20pm. I guess someone was in a hurry to come out! All is well - we're all home and healthy and feeling very blessed. Oscar has been a sweet big brother, but sometimes he is a little sad when my arms aren't available. I'm still so amazed by the whole thing -- pregnancy, birth, and now a new life. How he is so fragile yet perfect, and how our lives are now changed forever. The shop will be closed for awhile, but hopefully not too long!

37 weeks

The girls from my church small group threw me a little surprise baby shower recently. It was so sweet of them since I wasn't expecting anything at all, and all the little details were just perfect. I love the Anthropologie-inspired hair ties Sumiko made and included in the favor box. Oscar still has days where he drools quite a bit, so I cut up some old shirts and sewed them into bandana bibs. I like how they look on him better than regular bibs. I've been reading this great book (thanks Susan!), and feel inspired to cook with better ingredients. This past weekend I made lentil spread using this recipe, and some almond milk using this video. Both turned out great!

out and about

There's been a few sunny days here and there in the last month, so we've been able to take Oscar out and about more than usual. It helps too that he is down to one nap now so that we usually have a big chunk of time in the afternoon. He's been getting quite comfortable with walking around now, and hardly crawls anymore. It's strange seeing him upright most of the time, and it makes me happy and sad at the same time that he is becoming more like a boy and less like a baby. Of course this also means he's started to express his preferences much more strongly, and I've been surprised that my mild-mannered boy is maybe not so mild-mannered after all. At least not all the time. There's a lot I'm still trying to figure out - the whole discipline thing, and how much I want to make mealtimes a battle, for example. He's also been picking up a lot of words in the last couple of months. I try to speak to him in Chinese as much as I can, so most of what he says is in Chinese, but he's picked up on a few English words like blueberry and peekaboo (I guess there isn't a Chinese equivalent for that!), and his version of banana is "yaya".

I feel like I can't enjoy him enough, he just changes so fast.