Mixing patterns

I received a request on our Etsy store to create a little urban unisex baby outfit. Soooo, I came up with these snazzy combos. Now I wait to see which one is picked.

Lessons learned at a real-live photo shoot!

Yesterday I had my first-ever print ad photo shoot! I booked it through my agency -- it was quite exciting. Here are a few things that I learned:

1. There is a lot of waiting. My call was at 2pm and then I spent two hours in hair and make-up. Then I waited some more until we started test-shooting around 5. I also waited in between shots. Then when the client was reviewing the shots I waited again. Good thing there were plenty of places to sit.
2. Things often take longer than you expect. I got there around 1:30 and I was hoping to be home around 5. I actually left the studio at 6:30. I'm so glad my sister-in-law was able to hang out with Jo that whole time! 
3. It's good to make friends with the people on set. My shoot was pretty physically grueling with lots of squatting and reaching and pulling. Chatting with the guys on the set made it more fun. And they even brought me water when I needed it. Also, people like it when you remember their names.
4. Casting is a weird process. I found out there were around 200 people at the casting for this job. All sorts -- tall, short, gorgeous, quirky, normal, young, old...you get the point. From what I heard on set yesterday, the client liked the way my hair looked and that I was lanky. Finally, my unique physicality helps me get a job!  

Here's to hoping that more jobs will follow soon!

We survived the move!

We did it! Here are a few photos from the move (courtesy of my mama).

My mama had a little fun putting hats and accessories on Jo.

Sustenance

Cherries!

Making sure the box is put together correctly

We found this scarf while packing. Jo loves it.

Our new sunroom (1 of 2)

Jo's room

My office/studio

Living room and hall

Look, I can fit in the pantry!

Just checking out the 1st bath

Play-time break with Nick

Ugly Doll & DD (Daddy Doll)

Peek-a-boo!

In love

I'm in love with our new apartment. Working on posting pics later today. I love how open and airy it is. I love that we have two bathrooms. I love my office/studio. I love my closet. I love love love my pantry!

Gross? Part 3

So we all know that I'm not a huge fan of washing my hair, right? Well, this week Nick asked me, "What's the longest you've ever gone without washing your hair?" My response was seven days. Not bad. Then he said, "I'm going on 10 days! It's so easy to style!"

Coming next week: pics from vacation, some of my favorite nursing accessories that aren't really nursing accessories, and an update on our move!

Little friends!

We were really lucky to be able to do a nanny-share with another family in Chicago. Miriam and Catherine were generous enough to share their daughter, Eliana, with us for a few months before they moved to Philadelphia. Eliana would come over at least once a week and she and Jo and Sooz would play and play and play. Eliana taught Jo how to grow hair and eat food. Jo taught Eliana how to sit and sleep. It was a good situation.

Here they are posing and sharing a toy.

Eliana, Sooz, Jo

Traveling with baby...

After our week in Portland and Hood River, Oregon, we have learned quite a bit about traveling with Baby Jo. I'll have more of an update of how our vacay went later this week, but in the meantime, here are a few things we learned:

1. If you are flying, try try try to sit in the bulk head row. The added leg room and play room for baby make up for the lack of storage space. The only other downside is the noise that the flight attendants make can be distracting if your baby is trying to sleep. But I suppose this can happen anywhere on the plane. As can a flight attendant dropping pretzels on your sleeping baby, waking them up. Argh.
2. Wipe down everything around you on the plane with some sort of cleaning wipe. Seriously, everywhere. Jo had her hands all over, even on our lovely seat neighbors. I wish I could have wiped down THEIR hands. Why do strangers think it's ok to touch babies they don't know?
3. It's easy to check a car seat, just ask the airline attendant to put it in a plastic bag. 
4. Did you know that Southwest checks bikes for free from PDX airport either in June or July every year? We didn't -- but we certainly were happy about it. Score.
5. Our little honey badger didn't care at all about the time change (2 hours difference between Portland and Chicago). This just meant Nick and I went to bed around 9pm to wake up with her around 5am. Fun.
6. If you're traveling with others, be sure that they are flexible and not expecting you to be on their schedule. Our travel partners were super cool. We had fun together. We had fun separately. Everyone was chill and a great time was had. The key here is that everyone has similar expectations.

#vacationwithbaby

We're off on another vacation next week! This time we're flying to Portland to spend the week in Hood River, OR. I'll be tweeting again and taking pics on Instagram. You can follow it all here.

We can't wait to hike and eat and bike and see cousins and sleep and have fun together!

Zulily Alert - Plan Toys

I love love love Plan Toys! They are a super green company with innovative approaches to creating toys that are safe, educational, and fun.

Here are a few of my faves that are on Zulily right now.

From top left clockwise:
Who doesn't love radishes?
Something to help Baby Jo walk around?
Every baby needs a doll house.
Simple fun kitchen to make delicious food in.

8 month stats

Hard to believe that Jo turned 8 months yesterday. Of course she performed well at her doctor visit again. Can you believe that she grew 2.5 inches in two months? Jo is now 29.75 inches long and 21.5 pounds. Powered by mama's milk. She's going to be an amazon! Oh yeah, she got another shot and didn't cry at all.

Nick was sorting through his cell phone pictures the other day and came across this one. This is Jo at one minute old.

Lucky little baby!

My mama was visiting over the weekend (yippee) and we had such a good time. Not only did we make a trek to Vogue Fabrics, but we also had a great time sewing and tweaking patterns and proto-typing. Baby Jo got two new outfits out of it.

Here's one:

Here's another:

Yep, those are fuzzy pink bloomers.

Jo was really yukking it up for the camera.

Sleep is for the weak...

Jo is teething hard. I think that's why she's having such a hard time sleeping lately. Sigh.

Due to the fact that she has such a hard time falling asleep, and staying asleep, Nick and I have had to up our game with our sleep-inducing methods.

I've never actually seen Nick perform his routine, but it goes something like this:

1. Sit in rocking chair with Jo facing you. Her legs have to be straddled otherwise she'll kick. She'll fuss and push away and look around. 
2. After a few minutes flip her around so she is facing out. 
3. If she reaches for the crib, raise your arm so she can't reach. 
4. After a few minutes flip her around again so she is facing you. You know she's on her way when she bangs her forehead into your chest. 
5. Repeat these two positions until her arms are limp. 
6. Rock her for a few more minutes and then put her in the crib. 
7. Place your hand on her chest for at least three minutes before leaving the room. 
8. Step gingerly on the way out to avoid making the floor creak (that's tricky since our floors are old).

Note: He takes an immense amount of pride in the fact that he can get Jo down without a swaddle OR binky. 

I've tried Nick's method. I can't quite figure it out because I can't get it to work. So I've developed my own. It goes something like this:

1. First hold Jo sideways with one arm tucked under your arm and bounce her for a few minutes. 
2. If she fusses try to give her the binky. She may push it away. 
3. Start bouncing.
1. Bouncing variation 1: Bounce twice on one side and swing her to the other side and bounce twice again. Repeat. 
2. Bouncing variation 2 (it's less of a bounce and more of a swing): Swing baby in your arms horizontally back and forth pretty quickly. Consider it a work out for your abs and arms.   
4. Alternate between these two variations.  
5. Try the binky again. You know she's on her way when her eyelids start to flutter. 
6. Once her arms go limp keep bouncing/swinging her for a few more minutes and place her in the crib. She'll probably open her eyes a bit.
7. Place your hand on her chest and gently jiggle her a little until she closes her eyes and spreads her arms out. 
8. Jiggle for a few minutes before leaving the room.
9. Step gingerly on the way out. 

Note: If all of this fails, swaddle her arms and try the binky and bouncing again.

Then minutes later when she wakes up again do it all over. 

The key here with either of our methods is persistence, or as Nick calls it: breaking her down. Not sure if she's breaking us down or if we're breaking her down. Hoping this phase passes soon!