8 months of baby

Oh, man. Here is this little guy from the very beginning. Bowie is 8 months old, and I love seeing how fast he's grown in these side-by-side pictures. This has been our tradition ever since Lo was born. See her pics and the little book I made with them here.

He's super fun and silly, loves his big sister and has a smile for everyone. He has two tiny teeth and bright blue eyes. He gives lots of snuggles and slobbery kisses and can sit up all by himself. His hair is fluffy, his skin is crazy soft and he smells delicious. He is sweet as pie. This is my boy ... I love him to pieces.

hand-knit

 

All of these hand-knit super chunky cowls are in my shop right now! Hand-knit. All of them. By moi. It's officially fall. The days (and nights) are getting chillier. And now is the time to snag one of these before the best colors are gone. Want to check everything out in person? Visit me at next month's Black Friday Market Day. (But you might not want to wait!)  ;)

Lo's lunches

I haven't posted lunch/bento pics in awhile, but this is what they're looking like lately. I've been having fun carving jack o'lanterns, ghosts and bats out of slices of cheese. Isn't Halloween the best? Also, I've been loving Trader Joe's Cinnamon Schoolbook alphabet cookies to go along with Lo's letter of the week. She has been begging for apple slices each day (eeek, kind of in a rut with that) but I've been packing them in separate small containers to ensure that the lemon juice that I put on them doesn't make everything else soggy. I still need to do some work on convincing this kid to eat a bigger variety of foods, but we'll get there. (I'm honestly just happy that she's eating her lunches!)

The Unofficial Harajuku Mini Metal/Rock Band Font Breakdown

Back when the Harajuku Mini/Gwen Stefani baby clothes line first came out at Target, I sort of freaked out a little bit. Over this fabric in particular. I couldn't find this exact one-piece playsuit where I live and couldn't get it online, so I asked my friend Vee send it to me from the East coast.

But then I became obsessed with the fonts/logos they used all over this pattern. If I could sit down with Gwen, I would ask her all about this because clearly it was intentional. I flipping love it. I found myself sitting on the couch holding my baby, wondering ... 'Is that green font supposed to be Poison? Nope. Def Leppard? Yup.'

And so, I bring you ... The Unofficial Harajuku Mini Metal/Rock Band Font Breakdown. In case you were wondering what all of those fonts were, too. It took some time but I think I have accurately matched them all up. (If you disagree, let me know.)

 'Thanks for clearing that up, Mom! People were losing sleep.'

 'I have to admit though, it's a little embarrassing sometimes. Who takes the time to do this? Making diagrams in Photoshop? Why can't you be normal like the other babies' moms?'

10/11/12

This day will only happen once, and Moop is running a sale – 12% off anything in the shop. Run over and grab yourself a new bag. Just enter the code 101112 in the coupon field upon checkout to receive the discount. Today only!

**This sale is valid for today only: October 11, 2012 and is only valid on moopshop.com. This special sale may not be combined with any other offers**

***Photo courtesy of Moop. 

Tuk Tuk yarn bomb

This is cool. A local guy here in the Des Moines owns a bunch of tuk tuks/rickshaws/Cushmans, and he's organizing a race called the Tuk Tuk Goose Chase.

I recently met two lovely knitters/crocheters (Riane and Deb) from Goodsmiths while vending at Market Day, and they told me that they were yarn bombing their tuk tuk for the race. Naturally, I asked ... how can I help?

 

I haven't had much time to do extra knitting yet, but they have made an awesome amount of progress on this thing. Wow. I'm hoping to knit a few more pieces to help out before the race, but here's a little strip I knitted while I was at Market Day last Saturday. Too busy. Wish I could have made more!

If you're in the area, check out the Tuk Tuk Goose Chase downtown on October 28th. I've seen pics of a Mystery Machine that's ridiculously cool, a Peace Tree brewing company Cushman completely covered in beer labels and a starry mosaic-covered tuk tuk that will blow your mind.

ROCKTOBER Market Day

Market Day is this Saturday, Des Moines friends!

So what is Market Day? It's a monthly market of independent art, crafts and vintage finds in downtown Des Moines. At Market Day you'll find handmade items and local finds from makers in central Iowa. Accessories, artwork, handmade goods, paintings by Van Holmgren, hand-knit scarves/cowls/hats made by me and an impressive array of vintage housewares, clothing and jewelry, too. 

 You might find a really neat vintage dress for $18. Like I did last month.

You might find yourself being entertained by an adorable little boy who is having his very own dance party thanks to Cat Rocketship's fantastic DJ skills. While eating a vegan cupcake. Like I did last month.

No matter what, it will be a fun time. Swing by the Kirkwood building and support the local creative community. You can find us at 400 Walnut Street between 8am and 1pm. Stop by during the Farmers Market (the last Farmers Market of the season) and before your Saturday afternoon plans. And head over to the Facebook invite to RSVP. Rock on in Rocktober and we'll see you Saturday!

Old School Me – #oldschoolme

Today I'm playing old school with Pip from Meet Me At Mikes. This pic is a rare shot of the group of kids I grew up with. Recess 1989, probably on our last day of school that year. I'm right in the middle, sitting to the right of my friend Sara in the Iowa t-shirt. Want to play along? It's a Friday thing. Here's how it works (from Pip's blog.)

a week in bentos

Lunches! I'm starting to find out a few things about packing lunches. My new lunch-packing motto is borrowed from Bubba Sparxx and the Ying Yang Twins. Get it ripe, get it right, get it tight. (Ahem. Nothing like getting crunk while packing school lunches.) I try to use fresh fruits and veggies. Which I guess would be the 'ripe' part. But most importantly, I get it right, get it tight. You have to fill that lunch box right up to the top. I have been using my smaller bento boxes more often, and I can actually fit a lot of food in there. When you pack it nice and tight things don't slide around and get mixed together, especially if you fill up every open space available. This also keeps the wet foods contained so you don't end up with a soggy sandwich from the juice on your apple slices.

We tried Goldfish brand Honey Whole Wheat sandwich bread this week with a stack of cheese hedgehogs and a mozzarella letter 'A' for the letter of the day. On the side are carrot sticks and edamame, and the pink container has apple slices inside.

On Wednesday, I packed pretzels, cheese stars, apple slices, fruit leather and yogurt on the side.

Thursday's lunch was salami (Lo's favorite) and cheese with Annie's white cheddar bunny crackers, with a squirrel jam sandwich and apples on the side.

And finally, another Goldfish bread sandwich, cheddar crackers, rasperries, snap peas and yogurt (not pictured.) Lo has been on an apple kick lately. She wants apples every day. But I need to branch out and start including things she normally wouldn't try. Next week, I will do better. (Get it right, get it tight!)

rainy day

This baby is seven months old now. And this is what we did today.  

It was raining, and so we snuggled and listened to the rain drops hit the roof, deciding what we should do next.

 Smoochy kisses and and made-up songs?

 Yes.

 Making funny faces at the iPhone camera? Totally.

We should probably do something productive. Clean the house, do the dishes, run to Target. But it's still raining.

 Maybe later.

** I realize that I just made the stay-at-home mom life sound ridiculously lazy and awesome. And I will admit that sometimes, for very short fleeting moments of time, it is lazy and awesome. I am eternally grateful for each and every afternoon I have ever spent with my babies snuggling under blankets on a rainy day. And for every lazy and awesome moment I could share with you, I could tell just as many stories about frighteningly explosive diapers, nursing in McDonald's parking lots, what it feels like to be covered in spit-up and just how many ways a baby can find the opportunity to pee on you. My house is no cleaner than yours. I don't know what I'm making for dinner. But today the mom life is good and I'm not complaining.