This past Saturday was my 34th birthday! It was such a wonderful day and wonderful, fun filled weekend. We spent the morning downtown. My parents met us down town too. We had tea and coffee at my favorite coffee shop and then took a nice stroll. Jeff spoiled me with art supplies and the whole collection of Earl Thollander books (I’m a big fan of his art). That evening we had dinner down in Carpinteria with some of my favorite Mamas and their families. They all spoiled me rotten and it was so nice watching all of our kiddos run around. The weather was strangely cold and windy, but the sunset at the end of the day was gorgeous!




Sunday we took the long trek out to Los Angeles to the Natural History Museum for their Nature Festival. The festival itself wasn’t the best thing we’ve ever been too, but I hadn’t been to this museum in years and it was Ellie’s first time seeing dinosaur bones. It was worth the crazy California traffic and very long drive there and back to see Ellie’s reactions to the dinosaurs.

A very happy Birthday weekend indeed.

25/52

eloise: my sun shine girl! I’ve been so proud of you this past week. You went to the dentist for the first time and came back with glowing reviews. You’ve been going to sleep with Dada happily every night and sleeping in your own bed into the wee mornings. A lot of growing these days. Don’t grow up too fast…

joining Jodi for the 52 project!

Were going through a transition around here. For the past almost 3 years, Ellie has gone to sleep, every night in our bed, nursing. We never really intended it to go that way, but it’s worked for all of us and so that’s how it’s gone. This week though, Jeff and I decided to see if he could get her down instead of me (milk). We have attempted to switch up the routine before with results we won’t even mention here. But, with Ellie getting older and weddings and other events that require me to be out of the home at night time (or gone for a couple days), we thought we’d start slowly and ever so gently, moving in another direction. So, last week Jeff started putting her down for bedtime. The second night, she requested sleeping in her own room (crazy?! I know?! ) and despite the fact that it takes anywhere from 2 to 3 hours for Ellie to fall asleep, she’s still doing it without me, without tears and without milk. She still comes into our room in the early morning but every night this week she’s slept in her room till at least 2am! It’s been an interesting transition, with a few tears (far fewer than I would have thought) and some angry feelings about not having her beloved milk, but, it already seems to be creating a stronger bond between Ellie and Jeff. 

There are tougher nights and I sometimes wonder if we are doing the right thing or not. Especially when my weary husband finally heads downstairs at 11. But, were trying our best to be as respectful of her needs as possible while still making our needs a priority as well. A delicate balance. We are still nursing for nap times and in the morning ( in case you thought we were weaning completely, were not). She still needs Mama’s milk and that’s fine with me right now, but cutting out the nursing part of the night was also needed. Mama needed a little more breathing room in that sense too. 

It seems to be a new chapter in all of our lives. Our baby is growing up and hopefully this new night time routine just gets easier and easier. 

We had such a nice weekend. A beautiful, hot, first day of summer weekend!

We spent Saturday afternoon in Carpinteria. Jeff wanted to try a new brewery that had opened up down there and after a very late nap, we had all afternoon and into the evening with Miss Ellie Boo, so we enjoyed playing at the park and ending the evening with a visit to the beach. It was a really nice day.

Fathers Day was a nice one too. Because it was also the solstice, Ellie’s “summer sprites” put together a little summer time basket for her to find. Bubbles, a butterfly net and some other fun goodies greeted her in the morning. For Jeff, we made him a t-shirt with Ellie’s hand print and framed a sweet photo of the 3 of us. We headed up to my parents house that afternoon and cooked out on the grill. Ellie and I made my Dad a similar shirt (my hand print with Ellie’s inside of it, because he’s the grandpa). We ended the night with some ice cream and some music! A very fun weekend for everyone!

24/52

  
Eloise: “Mama, I’m TigerLily today.” 
-joining the 52 project! 

It’s been very hard keeping up in this space. Partly because every spare moment I have (while Ellie is sleeping or playing with Dada) I’m crafting or painting (or cleaning). I thought I’d catch up in this space though, and share what I’ve been working on lately. 

   
  
Some of you may be following me on Instagram, so you’ve seen my little summer solstice sprites. Were counting down with a little nature peg doll every day. I’ve been enjoying writing little poems for each summer sprite and Ellie has been giddy about the new play mates. 

   

I’ve also been working on my softie and rag doll patterns.  They’ve been so much fun to make, but I don’t think I’ve quite found my pattern yet. I think I’m very close. The doll above was a custom order for a friend and the two Alpaca softies were gifts for family. 

Ive been working on all sorts of other crafty things, but these are what I have photos of right now. More updates to come!! 

We laid low again this weekend. Mulched and tended to our June garden, Ellie,munching strawberries all the while. We took a walk downtown. Spent an afternoon at my parents. Painted. Cleaned. Crafted. Rode bikes and played at the park. A pretty run of the mill, lovely weekend.

23/52

eloise: I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom and peeked into your room to find you laughing and giggling with your friends, “Bath baby”, “Polar Bear Cub” and “Lambie Pie”. You had gotten them all dressed for the day and placed them in seats while you made them laugh.

(disclaimer: The bedroom blinds string is usually always up away from reach. Jeff had been fixing the window earlier, thus why it’s placed so haphazardly). 😉

-joining Jodi for the 52 project!

It felt strange getting out of the house this weekend. We’ve all been stuck inside for so long with the bug. But, the strangeness wore off and we quickly enjoyed the chance to get out. We didn’t go too far. Stayed local, went to the garden center and worked on our garden and yard. When two-year old’s help you plant vegetables from seed, you end up with boxes full of random things, as you can see. We bought a wagon full of other goodies, more herbs and some milkweed for our front window to hopefully entice the monarchs. We had my parents over for birthday cake and a birthday re-do for Jeff. A nice quiet weekend, resting up and making sure everyone was well.

(I missed the Portrait last week because of illness. So here are 21/52 and 22/52).
21/52

eloise: finally eating again after your first real stomach bug. Fever following by Lots of throwing up and diarrhea. The whole nine yards. It was a miserable two weeks. Thankfully you are feeling much better. Hanging with softie friends, drinking chamomile tea and snacking on apples and leftovers in complete Ana costume. You are back!

22/52

eloise: Her Highness, The Sand Queen. She is fierce, this queen! 😉

-joining Jodi for The 52 Project!