Happy First Birthday, Madeleine!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Madeleine - Week 52

Funny what happens when the stomach flu sweeps through your house beginning a day before three guests arrive. That should give you an idea about why I've been MIA.

Alas, we're all well again, and here we are with the final installment of Miss Madeleine's 52-week photo project. I don't really know how to properly wrap up this series, so I'll just say that Madeleine's posed weekly photos might be done, but I can't wait for the rest of Madeleine to continue into this next year of her life and beyond. The love and joy that she brings to our family and the world around her is simply beyond words. I love you, Sweet Madeleine!

And, with that, our baby girl will turn one tomorrow.

Madeleine - Week 51

I'm not sad that it's the penultimate weekly photo, but I am starting to get a bit weepy about my baby turning one and transitioning out of more and more baby tendencies. How is it even possible? Then again, hasn't she always been part of our family? I digress.

Someone once told me that it takes 13 times to make something a habit. Apparently the number for me is higher than 51 because I nearly forgot today's photo between breakfast, playing, working from home, an excruciatingly difficult circuit training class, working from home, and making the first pie of the season. As a result of my forgetfulness, this week's photo is pajama themed. Even just before bed, our girl is still rolling, crawling, and climbing everywhere. Oh yeah, and moments after this photo was taken, she used her TWO teeth to bite me during a feeding. Ouch.

Weekend in Photos

It was such a beautiful weekend in the Puget Sound region (well, until those thunderstorms Sunday evening) that I thought I'd do a little weekend in photos action.

We moved M's toys into the cabinets. I'd say that she's figured out how to access them. 

On Saturday, Madeleine attended her first concert: A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.

The only two minutes when Madeleine wasn't on the move was when she was strapped into her chair, eating her current favorite food: strawberries. 

Turns out, the picnic cooler is the perfect height for pulling up.

The sun was so intense in the concert venue that we ended up hanging out outside of it, in the shade, for most of the concert. Who would have predicted such a fine day in June?  

On Sunday morning, I picked an enormous crop of strawberries from our garden. Woo hoo!

We spent most of Sunday out and about. Mum treated Daddy to some spa time, and we all had lunch together at one of Daddy's favorite restaurants. I was a little star struck when I spotted Rob McKenna dining with his family at Steelhead Diner, too. After buying some fresh fish and the world's juiciest peaches (#firstpieofthesummer), we came home to lounge in our yard. It's looking awfully jungle-like after skipping a week of mowing due to exterior painting. 

How was your weekend? How are you enjoying the summer weather?

Pinned It & Did It: Modern Art

This Pinned It & Did It project is one I must have really liked because I pinned it twice. Doh!

At any rate, I liked the modern simplicity of this Pinspirational piece...and the simplicity of the project as a whole. 

Pin. Original Source.

For my project, I bought a studio quality canvas when Michaels was having a 50% off sale. Then, I gave the whole thing two thin coats of our master bedroom ceiling paint. Once it was all dry, I printed out some numbers, which just so happen to be our anniversary, and traced them on the canvas. Finally, I filled in the traced letters with two heavy coats of charcoal colored acrylic paint that I already had sitting in my craft cabinet. Ta-da! 

This was a seriously, seriously easy project to complete. It's part of a larger Pinspired project, but you'll have to come back next Friday to see the larger project. 

What's on your Pinterest "to do" list for the weekend? 

Madeleine - Week 50

It's been a big week in our house. For starters, I've accepted a part-time contract job, which will allow me to dip my feet back in the law while doing most of my work from home. I love the balance it's bringing to my life and hope that we can make it work well for the whole family. I'm also hoping that it won't interfere too greatly with blogging or crafting, but I already missed my Monday post this week, so we'll see. 

In more exciting news, Madeleine finally sprouted her first tooth. I have yet to see it as she's ferociously protective, but I have most definitely felt the tooth. If the swelling in the gums next to it is any indication, it won't be alone for long. With the first tooth comes tooth brushing; fortunately, she loves it. 

She's continuing to be a pretty good eater and seems to have moved on from the (really aggravating) phase of throwing her food on the floor. I'm in the process of weaning her with the hope of serving my last boob juice shortly after her first birthday. I have mixed feelings and can't believe it's already been nearly a year since I so frequently wondered if I'd make it to one month, let alone one year. 

Miss M continues to be rather vocal, and we're pretty sure she said "banana" and "all done" within this past week. George thinks she's trying to repeat some Spanish words, too, which is pretty neat. She has figured out how to turn on the radio to NPR in her room, which George and I think is pretty amazing and appropriately geeky. 

She's still only standing on her own for a few seconds and sitting pretty much as soon as she realizes what she's doing. No steps yet, either, but Madeleine is a very effective crawler. She has pretty well mastered going up stairs and is getting the hang of going down stairs safely. 

In the play department, Madeleine loves passing a ball ("ba") back and forth. She could do it for about an hour at a time if the adult on the other end could stand it that long. In true Kiwi fashion, she figured out her Buzzy Bee this week, too. 

Our girl is growing up, and it's hard to believe we've gotten to this point so quickly. Oh yeah, and you probably want to see this week's photo, huh? She is sporting some serious squirrel cheeks as she couldn't bear to part with the cucumbers from lunch. 

Pinned It & Did It: Display Frame

This is the first installment in a series of Friday posts where I show you some of my Pinterest-inspired projects.  It's not in any way sponsored or endorsed by Pinterest. Instead, I hope this will inspire fellow Pinners to not pin it and forget it but rather pin it and do it.

About a million years ago (or shortly after I joined Pinterest), I pinned this little beauty:

Pin. Source unknown.

I hoped to make something similar to hang pictures and/or Madeleine's future art. Long story made short, I bought a discarded frame at a local craft store, and this is the result: 

To get there, I gave the frame a decent sand, scraped the rest of the paper off the frame's back, applied two thin coats of semi-gloss white spraypaint, stapled some miscellaneous twine in place, added a hanger and corner protective thingies, and clipped on some tiny clothes pins. As you can see, it's super complicated. 

I'd say it goes pretty well with the other pieces we hung in Madeleine's play area in the den. 

What have you pinned lately?

Madeleine - Week 49

Holy cow - it's Madeleine's birthday month! I can't get over how fast time has passed this last year. Ok, maybe not the first few weeks of the last year but most of the last year.

This week's photo celebrates Madeleine's love for exploring the world around her. (Please forgive her for sitting side on the fleur-de-lis.) She wants to explore, feel, see, taste, climb, smell, and really experience everything around her. It's exciting to watch and exhausting to keep her from hurting herself or completely destroying the house. Mostly, though, I think back to the baby preparation class where I said my biggest hope was for a curious child.

In celebration of Madeleine's curiosity, warm weather making its way to the Pacific Northwest, and the final week before the home stretch into the 50s, I'll share some photos from yesterday's water sensory play.

Chaos & Order

We have just come through a very chaotic time, specifically having virtually the entire interior of our house painted. I am thrilled with the results, but those five days and four nights were rough.

Now that we're putting the house back together, we have to create a little more chaos by doing things like washing all the electrical faceplates. At least this lets us save a few pennies by washing off old paint rather than replacing them.

All the chaos inside is balanced by the blooming beauty outside.

Can you tell that I've had balance on my mind these past few weeks? What's on your mind?