Being Washingtonians

It's been FOREVER since I have written on this blog, and honestly I don't think it will be around much longer. We just got the internet at our little beach cabin and that makes it easier, it's that I think I may start a different blog and put my free time (what's that?!?) into that. It will be about hair and how to love your hair at home....trying to come up with a good title.

Anyway, I have no event to report, nothing humorous to say, just a basic 'hi! We're still here!!'. Lala is huge and speaking in scentences. It's a little surreal at times. I'm looking forward to the weather warming up so Lala and I can play outside more and start gardening. Adam is working and looking forward to the Cruise season. He has been selling his sculptures to a few cruise lines and that has turned into our 'busy season'. WA has proven to be frustrating and annoying about giving me my Cosmetology license in this state. It's a whole debacle, I kinda don't want to get into it. Anyway, that's the official update. I'll keep you posted on the blog thing.... here's a recent pic of Lala.

The Big Move

Where to start, where to start?

We moved to Washington. Thats a good place to start, right? It has been both really, really cool and really, really hard at the same time. We are broke, but that is to be expected when you first start to live the life of an artist. I am so proud of my Monkey!! He is pursuing the life he wants, and as frustrated as he gets, he still is a great father and husband. I am going to be taking the state boards again (lame) in WA because they don't recognize my active license.

We are living in a cabin on the beach which is very fitting for a small family of starving artists! I love it! I have worked all winter to get the yard in good condition for the spring. I am very excited for all my flowers!

We don't have internet at the cabin yet so it will be a little while till I can update again.

Dont lose faith in me! I will be back as soon as I can.

Here is a photo of Lala to keep you at bay, until next time.

p.s. She is talking in sentences and starting to potty train herself!! How did I get so stinkin' lucky!?!?!

Update!

I cant believe so much time has passed since my last post! How the heck did that happen?! Lavender has 4 almost 5 new teeth now and is too stinkin' cute for her own good. A while ago I started working at the David Douglas Salon part time and love it there. It is a good fit. Luckily I did start working there because a few weeks ago Adam got laid off and is now looking for work wherever we can find it. My boss was pleased to hear that I wanted more hours so now I am working almost full time.

Luckily we have this beautiful little girl to keep us occupied! It's hard to not be happy when she smiles at you like this!!

Showing off my 2 bottom teeth. I have 2 on top to match now!

Love this one!!

Thank you Auntie Melinda for my cute swimsuit! It fits perfect now!

I love this little sideways look. She does it to her Papa a lot. Too cute!!

For Cora

Valentine's Day

Yeah yeah! I know I'm 2 weeks late! This past Valentine's Day marked our 6 year anniversary. I cant believe how time has flown! We did nothing special and enjoyed every minute of it!

These were our V-day outfits! We HAD to wear pink and red! I don't have much to say things are much of the same around here but I may be getting some work soon. I'll keep you posted.

Here is a little video of Adam playing with Lala. He can really get her giggling! I love it!

Cuteness

I needed to post this. This is her favorite thing. She gets her bouncer going so hard that her head gets bounced off of it! Plus I caught her favorite sound on film! It was a lucky shot, and I needed to show it off. :P

The Little Things

Almost two months ago I was washing a load of laundry when I smelt burnt rubber. I went running to the source of the smell (our bathroom/laundry room) and opened the door to a room full of smoke. It made our whole apartment stink! I opened all the windows and Lala and I hung out in our winter coats and snuggled in blankets for an hour. Losing something like a washer in an area that isn't exactly polluted with laundromats, is quite traumatic. Of course I had a great time going to my sisters house to use her washer but its just not the same. There are things that needed washing that got put on hold because of the inconvenience of it. The floor mats for example.

So here I am on this beautiful monday morn*-wait.. its afternoon already? er.... beautiful Monday afternoon, my shower curtain is soaking in the washer while my jeans are in the dryer. Lala is snoozing, the washer and dryer are humming from behind the bathroom door, I'm sitting down to have some lunch and update my resume. (side bar: I found a salon to work in)

Today is a good day to stop and appreciate what I have. What little things did you notice today?

my lonely shower curtain hooks. I think they are pretty, and I love the shadow behind.

My Top 10

I have been blog surfing and I have seen a few people making a Top 10 list of either things from '09 or a list of resolutions for '10. I have always thought it is a good idea to write goals down to help your sub-conscience remember. Since I am a new Mamma, I am turning over a new leaf and this is the first time I am making New Years resolutions. I don't know if I can accomplish all ten but I may as well try, right? So here they are in the order that they pop into my head:

1. I am going to knit a sweater for myself. I have knitted many things for friends and family but nothing for myself.

2. I am going to make pillow covers for the pillows on my couch.

3. I am going to copy the smock that my Sis-in-law gave me and make me another one that doesn't have asian cartoon characters on it... and isn't lime green. :)

4. Knit, knit, knit! I want to design things. or see something and figure out how to make it (generally) so I will need to get more practice!

5. Spin, spin, spin! Right now I have 2 garbage bags full of unspun yarn under my couch. I really want to felt with the short staple and...

6. I want to pick, clean, dye and maybe even spin (if I'm not biting off more than I can chew).

7. Really?! Am I only on 7?... I am going to stock my kitchen with the dishes I want and the utensils I want. I don't own a muffin tin, and my 1 cookie sheet is kinda pathetic.

8. I am going to stock up my family's food storage. Which means I will be canning like crazy this summer!

9. I'm running out of ideas! This one involves my sisters photographic expertise. I am going to take a ton of gorgeous advertisement photos for my parents jewelry business Walker Goldsmiths. I have a bunch of ideas already, I just need to put them into action.

10. I am going to go outside!! I want to make more of an effort to enjoy the parks and canyons around where I live. Its one of the reasons Adam and I moved here so I should enjoy it!

There you have it folks! This post actually took me 2 days to write. I thought 10 would be easy but it turned out to be more difficult than I had thought.

What are you goals for this year?

and here's a pic of Lala enjoying her sink bath... just because she's so damn cute!!!

My name is Olea, and I'm a knitter.

Over the last few years I taught myself how to knit and I LOVE it. This Christmas I made Christmas gifts for the Stier family and have a bunch of projects for friends and family I'm working on now. Up until recently I have followed patterns I've found online and if I ran into something I didnt know how to do it would be a learning experience. Here is a hat I saw a picture of and came home and knit. It was the first time I've been able to do that! Yay!! It is very simple and I got to practice grafting (I just learned how) plus I got to make pom poms for the first time.

I'm sending this hat to my niece Cora. I think it will be perfect for her!

More of my crafty creations to come, I'm sure of it.

Christmas time is come and gone

I love Christmas!!

This year I was challenged to bring the feeling of Christmas into my home. It was difficult. With me not working the funds are low and with a baby who doesn't know the difference yet it was up to me to participate in all things Christmas that we could. I usually have no problem with giving instead of getting but this year I couldn't just go buy a gift for someone. For a while this bothered me. Then I started seeing all kind of homemade goodies everywhere and thought about how much I love getting goodies at Christmas from people. So this year was my year to bake!!

I had SO much fun!!

Here are some pictures of my baking goodness:

Pumpkin Choc. Chunk Cookies

My first attempt at fudge!

Adam gave me a Christmas Bouquet

Our little tree

Dear Lavender

I am completely and utterly in love with you.

I love everything about you.

I love your wispy soft hair.

I love your long scratchy fingernails.

I love your squishy chunky thighs.

I love your clammy feet.

I love the smell of your breath.

I love your breathy laugh.

I love that you get happy and smile and kick when you see me.

I love that you twist your fingers in my hair.

I love your ear-bleeding squeals.

I love your snores.

I love that you 'talk' to your papa more than anyone else.

I love your bottom lip when you cry.

I love the way you make my home feel.

I love that you turned me into your mama.

I love you, and I always will.

AAAAHH!

Lavender found her thumb! Hopefully she wont suck her thumb till she's 10 like I did! Oh well, I guess there are worse habits she could have!

Here are a few videos or your viewing pleasure.

Aunty Melinda put lipstick on me!

Give us a kiss!

All the Goings On!

We have had lots of family coming and going over the last few weeks and have enjoyed every minute of it! After Glen left, Adam's mom, Marilyn came to visit, then it was Owen and Melinda, then Shanon and Matt and kids. Also my parents came and so did Sariah and Cora. Everyone was here for Lavender's baby blessing. We have had a blast! I know it really meant so much to Adam that his family that could make it, did. He misses them a lot! One of the days we took them all to the Hot Pots in Midway. Everyone had a blast! They were SO hot that everyone had to stand out in the FREEZING weather to cool down. Here are some pictures from the day.

This was too cute to not post. Cora's little bum about to jump back into the springs.
This is Adam's sister Shanon, her husband Matt and their children Cameron and Ashton. We had a lot of fun with them. We miss them SOOOO much!!

I would like to point out... I made Lala's blessing dress. I got some instruction from Jessica but am very proud of the dress. It turned out so well!! Me and the parents at the blessing.

I love this pic even though its blurry. For some reason my camera was being weird. Adam's mom is having a conversation with Lala.

I was so blown away at the amount of family that came to her blessing. It really floored me and made me realize that I need to make more of an effort to show appreciation for them. I need to not forget the little things that i love to get from friends and family so much and reciprocate. I've never tried to keep/make a new years resolution but this year I am going to. We'll see how attempt number one works out.

I am so thankful for my family, for their love for me and their willingness to express it.

I will post some more pictures and video of hanging out with O-dog and Mel soon... I promise.

thats life

Lala loves her Papa!
Lavender has sensitive skin. She has a spot of infected eczema on the back of her neck. Of course it got really bad and itchy on saturday. She hardly slept at all that night. On monday we went to see her doctor, got some ointment for it and by saturday night she was smiling at her Papa. When I saw her smile I realized that she hadn't smiled for 2 days. How awful to not see my baby smile for 2 whole days! I was upset that it took so long for me to notice.

Anyway, Adam's dad has been here visiting. Its been nice having someone make breakfast for me every morning but I fear that Lavender has totally been spoiled and will scream when she gets put down. Its hard to tell a grandparent to stop picking up their grand daughter... its been a long week in this little apartment.

Momma-hood

Who would have thought that I would love this so much? Sure it is hard and I miss communicating with adults. Shame on me for doubting that I would enjoy this! The funny thing is that I'm not just enjoying the mothering part of it. I'm having a good time becoming a better homemaker... I know... Olea?! a homemaker?!

I have been successfully following through on my promise to myself; that I would learn how to cook (and do so more often) once I was staying at home more. The internet sure helps! I have been looking up ideas and recipes and they have been turning out pretty good if I say so myself! I'm rather proud of it actually. Here are some pictures of Lavender for your viewing pleasure

Say what?

Camouflage.

You talkin' to me?

Lavender enjoying her Baby Einstein dvd. It amazes me how much she likes them. Her favorites are the Baby's first signs, Baby Beethoven, and Baby Mozart.

Our trip to the Doctor!

Lavender has eczema!! You can kind of see all the little red spots on her tummy and her entire neck is red and rough. It started a few weeks or so ago. I had been putting apricot kernel oil on her and that kept it at bay but did not seem to make it go away. I made the mistake of switching to baby oil and BOOM! breakout... Plus she got her first set of shots. She did really well, only screamed for the second shot (the nurse said that is the one that stings). But she recovered very well and has been sleeping and snuggling her mama and papa all day! Its so hard to see her uncomfortable! As the day has progressed I have been putting Eucerin on her and the redness is starting to fade a bit. We'll see how the bath helps tonight!

On a better note.. she is 13lbs and 25in. She gained 2.5 lbs and 2in. in the last month!! 2 inches is a lot!! She is at a 93%. But did anyone doubt that she would be a big girl? I didn't think so.

Busy,Busy,Busy

Today Lavender took her first bottle! This gives me hope that I may be able to work in a salon soon. Also, since I no longer work at Telos I colored my hair back to the way I like it, dark with a fuschia streak. I feel like myself again!

A week ago I was able to go visit my family in Washington. It was a spur of the moment trip when my Mother called and said she needed help canning 250 pounds of smoked salmon. I had a blast! Here are some pictures from my trip.

Here is my mom with a VERY small portion of the salmon.

This is my Dad showing all the grandkids how the apple press works. They were very involved in the process and were in charge of throwing the apples into the top while Grandad cranked.

Here is Grandad with Lala. She is trying to figure him out!

Here is my beautiful sister Sariah playing with Lavender in my parents backyard. (Lala looks like a podling from The Dark Crystal.)

The Many Faces of Lavender

I can't believe how big she is! She is learning new facial expressions and likes to stare and Adam and try to make his faces. We cant get enough of her!

Lala loves being in her Papa's arms!
I almost caught her smiling in this one!
This is my impression of an old man!

Her trip to the Farmers Market in Papa's arms.

Give us a Kiss!

I'm a Mom...

At least once a day you hear this in my house:

Me to Adam: Dude....I'm a Mom.

Adam: Dude... I know.

Me: I pushed that (point at Lavender) out of my vagina.

Adam: I know... I saw it.

Me: ...Weird.

Adam: ...Weird.

I do have to admit that I am taking to being a mom much more than I thought I would.  On top of that I am TOTALLY surprised at how much this little girl poops! She is seriously a high production poop factory.

I still need to take her for her first well baby visit so I dont know how much she weighs right now but she seems to be getting some more rolls.

Lavender Matisse Mills

Well she is here at last!  Our beautiful girl was born on July 24.  She was a wopping 9lbs and 22in long.  I was in labor for 8 hours all together. Not too shabby.

We are both doing really well, and are actually leaving tomorrow morning to drive up to northern Idaho to the big family reunion! It is going to be an adventure for all three of us! 

Adam is trying so hard to get some sleep whenever he can because he is working his butt off for us.  More pics to come soon!