An officer showed up at our door on Wednesday...

thanks to an emergency phone call from this wise-guy:

It was the icing on the on my crappy-day cake. After he left, I immediately ordered myself a large pizza. They're going to have to lift me with a crane out of here -- if I keep comforting myself with food whenever Lily is fussy... seriously.

I started a story for my little baby panda on my storybook blog. I'll post a page every Friday.

Jeff and I felt like a couple of teenagers...

leaving my parents on the couch as we set out to have a date night.  Although, I didn't have a sleeping baby and a purse full of diapers as a teenager.  We went to see one of my favorite Austin musicians, Bob Schneider, at the Uptown Marble theater... yes, the very same place I saw Toy Story 2 and Lord of the Rings #1.  It was really fun to see him in such a small venue and he even took audience requests.  The best was hearing his hilarious commentary and his making fun of Marble Falls and its cast of characters... even to their faces.

 

Lily has learned how to turn pages and can't get enough of

Happy Baby Colors.

Don't forget to go to vanillabeandesigns.com.  Laura and I are blogging daily and introducing a new product weekly.  Laura's umbrella art, Rain on my Parade, was unveiled yesterday... and I think it is SO cute. I want one  to match Lily's room.  We have several official orders and lots of ideas... so it's getting fun!

Lily had been rubbing her ear a little, so we figured she had an ear infection. Everything we found said to just wait it out and that doctors don't even give antibiotics anymore. Then she started running low grade fevers. We kept waiting. Then she puked like never before, so we took her temperature again and it read 104.8!!!! So, we took her in immediately. Turns out, she has a horrible ear infection and they gave her antibiotics. Last time I read to wait it out was with a cough, and it turned out that she had bronchialitis and needed breathing treatments.

I think I'm going to quit reading... and just take her to the doctor.

Anyway... this is the baby I've been dealing with all week:

Don't forget to go to VANILLABEANDESIGNS.com. Tomorrow, there's an extra cute picture of the little chubster we know so well. Monday, we'll have a new product to introduce.

It's official...

DA-DA

is Lily's first word. She's been saying it for a while, but now she says it when she sees him... so I know it's for real.

I'm not bitter. Frankly, I'm just glad to hear her say some consonants... after I read in a week by week book that she should have been saying them WAY before she did. Stupid book.

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE...

We're finally doing it. My best friend, Laura, and I are starting a children's artwork business. We decided that other people might want our colorful, handmade art and letters. Especially, after I noticed that Pottery Barn Kids had something very similar in this latest catalog... crazy!

bookmark our new site: vanillabeandesigns.com

We'll be blogging and introducing new vanillabean originals... so check back often and peruse the merchandise in the 'bean boutique'... and PLEASE, please, please comment -- so we don't feel like complete losers.

Despite saying we would not be exchanging valentine gifts... I brought home Chuy's as a dinner surprise for Jeff and found a memory foam mattress topper waiting for me.

Here is Lily enjoying it before her bathtime... and right before she decided to spit up on my side of the duvet, so I got the pleasure of smelling regurgitated gerber turkey dinner and cottage cheese all night:




I posted the end of Grace's book today.... don't know what next Friday will bring.

Happy Valen-TIMES Day!!

I had to put it like that as an homage to my former profession. It was my mission as an elementary school teacher to inform kids that they were passing our their valentines not their valen-TIMES. I feel that my year was successful if kids left my class knowing this, that we check out books in the library-- not the li-BARRY, and that something that belongs to me is mine-- not MINES.

Here is my latest scrapbook page:

Jeff took some photos of Lily wearing my favorite little sweater hoodie from gymboree's panda line... which Lily owns thanks to a gift card from the Zainfeld family!
I loved the colors and Lily's blue eyes in them.

Back story: I used to make my grandparents sing in the car EVERY time I rode with them. My favorite was a song that went, 'Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes. Beautiful, beautiful brown ey-es. Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes. I'll never love blue eyes again."



side note: you can now click on the link to your right to view all of lily's scrapbook pages done so far.

Lily and I have thoroughly been enjoying the warm weather very uncharacteristic for February. We've gone outside everyday and played with her "outside box". (a tupperware lid, tiny rolling pin, homemade drum-made from rice cereal can with a pink pearl eraser inside, a few balls, and BUBBLES) She's really liking the bubbles. I'm really liking being able to get out of the house!




Here are a few of my favorite things lately:

backyardigans- a nickelodeon cartoon that is VERY enjoyable. I turn it on in the morning while I'm cleaning and Lily is playing in the living room for background music. I'll seriously find myself stopped and watching the t.v. The 4 characters go from playing pretend in their backyards, then the pretend setting appears and they play together... meanwhile they sing catchy songs and teach about feelings, problem solving, etc. I think I would have enjoyed it as a kid and then gone outside and played the same thing. Way to go Nickelodeon... this is the best cartoon I've seen since Dumbo's Circus in my day.


chik patties- since Jeff began working for Kellogg's we've had a lot of cereal and pop tarts around... but recently, a giant box of Morning Star Farms products showed up on our doorstep. I LOVE the chik patties and veggie corn dogs. It tastes like the real thing... but you don't have to worry about all the weird meat going into them.


disney collection- I was feeling a little down the other day and went for a drive with Lily to the post office. I decided to pop in the disney collection c.d.s that Suzanne had let me borrow. They should play that on loud speakers throughout the world. Just like there's NO way to look cool walking down a hill...there is NO way to stay in a bad mood singing 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!'


rob bell- My parents gave us a sermon to listen to that Rob Bell had taught about Jesus being a rabbi. He really gives the context of the time with every biblical lesson... it changes the way you hear the Bible stories you've heard a hundred times when you hear them through a historical filter with a little perspective on situation. Since then, we've listen to some more and I get a LOT out of them... I do love history! Listen to clips of some of his talks here.

By the way:

I updated Grace's story last Friday with 3 new pages. I hope to have the conclusion done by this Friday.

My best friend, Laura, posted quite a collage of embarrassing photos of my college days for my birthday. I'll be the first to laugh at myself.... and I got to do it A LOT reading this.

I had a nice 25th birthday today. Unfortunately, my husband had to leave me for work... but he tried to make up for it with letting me sleep in an extra hour, 2 new dvds to watch, a book, taking me to Gatti's for lunch, a DQ ice cream cake, and some pretty flowers. He really is such a great husband. I'm very thankful for him. Lily didn't care at all that it was my birthday... woke up at 5, fought naps, and got very cranky in the afternoon.

However, this post is not about me...

Suzanne's birthday is the day after mine. As I've now written a birthday post for mom and dad, I can't leave out my big sis. (pictured below in the blue wig... I'm the little one that looks like it has Down's Syndrome)

Suzanne is turning 29... very hard to believe. In my head we're still those nerdy kids with country accents from our home videos.

I've decided, in honor of her birthday, to tell 29 things about my sister.
So here goes:
1. she laughs at ALL my jokes
2. she's the most loyal of companions
3. she used to need me to walk with her into social events
4. she had 3 Legends of the Fall posters side by side in her room in high school
5. while other kids my age were listening to Raffi... I was listening to Bon Jovi --thanks to Suzanne
6. Speaking of... she had a Bon Jovi pin that she wore on her jean jacket in elementary school
7. she's made me WAY cooler than I would normally have been without her
8. she used to con me into doing her chores by saying she'd play barbies with me
9. then she'd dream up a catastrophic death for her characters like tornado (ceiling fan) or falling off a mountain (side of the bed)
10. one time she ate my piece of leftover pizza... so she made be canned biscuits in a heart shaped pan
11. she's AWESOME at pop-culture trivia
12. she always wanted me to come with her to hang out with her friends... even in high school
13. we have a special voice that we used to talk to each other in... now we use it to keep things light in uncomfortable situations
14. she always listened to music to go to sleep... usually Buffalo Springfield or Phil Driscoll
15. she's only 5'4'' but is ready to stand up to anyone if she feels it necessary
16. she'd ride bikes with me to Wendy's and the library
17. she was willing to put on a swimsuit and dance with me in front of the t.v. with MTV spring break
18. she used to let me sleep with her in her bed after I'd write her a note and slip it to her at some point during the evening
19. she usually has kept me from doing anything stupid-- I would never want to disappoint her
20. she refuses to dance in public... but in middle school had a signature dance move that she did ANY time ANY place
21. she HATES when people breathe loud, are sick, or make noises when they yawn
22. she's ALWAYS made me feel like I'm someone special
23. she has scars on her legs from me scratching her under the table at morning bible study... with my TOEnails
24. she picked me up from school to go see Titanic and we RAN into the theater to get the best seats
25. she was the BEST at figuring out our Christmas presents
26. she has a terrible sense of direction--we once got lost trying to find an Old Navy and ended up in inner-city Houston
27. she still cares what I think
28. she once called me 'incompetent' and we had a fight that would qualify us for the WWF
29. she gave me the cutest little nephew anyone could want


I wouldn't be the person I am without her beside me these 25 years. She's my best friend, my kindred spirit, my secret keeper, my second mother, my trusted adviser, my fraternal twin born 3 years and 364 days apart... and I love her more than words can express. It's a great comfort to know she'll still be all of those things when I turn 85, too.

Tomorrow, February 3rd, is my dad's 57th birthday. Thinking about what to get him, on a recent drive into Austin, (No radio for a sleeping baby gives one much time to think.) led me to think about why he is such a good dad.




What I decided is that there are so many things that I love about Dad... how he tells stories, loves a good laugh, his "nuggets" of truth, that everyone that knows him--loves him, how clueless he is sometimes, etc...

but there are 3 main things that make him so special to me.

1. How much he loves me...
He never had any trouble telling me that he loved me.... "with all (his) heart, for real, for real, forever and ever" every time he thought about it. I'm the only kid I know that was "bu-wudduh-wudduhed on" every night (sometimes mercilessly). He maybe didn't go to every one of my choir concerts, but he took an active interest in the shaping of my character and the growing of my spirit. Research shows that so much about a girl rests on her relationship with her dad. I always had an identity in his love and correction and KNEW I had great worth, so didn't search for it in less fulfilling places.

2. How much he loves my mom...
I think it does something extra special for a daughter's spirit when she knows, without a doubt, that her dad thinks her mom is the most beautiful creation on this earth and wants to be around her every second of every day. My sister and I heard him say every Sunday morning when were ready to go to church, "You SURE are pretty," in that distinctive Texas drawl. We knew that she is his favorite person in the world and that he felt it to be the greatest gift just to call her his wife.

3. How much he loves Jesus...
Some of my earliest memories are emerging sleepy-eyed from my room in the morning to see my dad sitting at the table with his Bible. From an early age, Suzanne and I both got to hear the profound thoughts and revelations that my dad was receiving. He was always ready to pray as a family and draw our attention to the way God was working in the life of our family in the times of blessing and times that tested his faith. Most important of all, I got to see that his relationship with Jesus was something that he devoted time and energy to and was always growing.


Being that I share his same sense of humor.... we aren't comfortable being sentimental much... but sometimes it's called for. This public proclamation should last for quite a few years.
In one more bit of serious-ness, I was blessed to have him as a dad and I'm so excited for Luke and Lily to get to have him as their Granddad.

This new part of the story every Friday thing was supposed to make me organized to do a little every day...

so why am I still in my pajamas at 1:30 with my living room in complete disarray under paper pieces because I waited until Friday morning to start anything?

There is no good answer.... once a procrastinator -- always a procrastinator.

However, I finished the next 4 pages during Lily's nap time. Hopefully I do better next week.

Go check them out at my storybook blog.