Sunshine 

And rainclouds

She sees it all and still she keeps on smiling!

It’s really nice that Jo brings Lake to me for his lunch. We get to bond and we both eat our meals together. He gets good-for you breastmilk and I get to keep up my milk supply without pumping. It’s been going swimmingly never a hitch. Well, Lake must have thought it was time to mix things up a bit. Today after eating and sleeping beautifully for 59 minutes straight, Lake took the opportunity for in the 60th moment to throw it all back up. All over me! 

I was sitting in the biggest puddle of puke imaginable. That little guy can really tank up! Then, unfortunately all our hard work regurgitated back up. At least when Mr. Cat does the same thing he thinks nothing of licking it back up off the floor. Not Lake. He just smiles and flirts and carries on like all is perfect. Then I get to go back to work for my second half. Luckily we have scrubs. I stop by the bathroom on my way in from lunch, throw out my jeans, don a pair of scrubs and a smile. 

Home sweet home and all clean with a sleeping babe… a perfect day!

Lake is eight months old now! We had quite a baby party to celebrate. Well, life with Lake is all one big baby party if you’re open to it. He’s always up for a chat and a song and a smile. We pulled out the merman fish tail for the occasion. And had some fun with the whole family!

Lake is learning to be more mobile and manifest his ideas. He’s getting more comfortable in the crawl position. He’s a ton of fun and the life of our party!

We are über super fortunate as it turns out… Not only do we have Jo, but Jo has another au pair friend from Germany living just four blocks from us. And this au pair, her name is Rafaela, is taking care of another baby even. Her baby girl is just two months younger than Lake. Rafaela is a lot of fun and she and Jo get along really well. And the babies are thus also getting acquainted. It’s really cute! Today they got together as they often do to take the babies out for a walk in the fresh air. Sometimes they meet up at Greenlake. First they played a bit here at home before walking to the University Village. So I finally got to meet Rafaela and Piper. So sweet! We had a good visit. Come again, neighbors! We are so happy to be friends. 

This afternoon when I was home sick, the cats were showing me how it’s done. The resting napping thing. I’m not very practiced at it. I could really use some guidance and mentorship. I thought it remarkable they had chosen nesting grounds to suitably coordinate with their furs. Well, I’m still pretty sick and hacking up a lung, so tomorrow I’ll get another chance at a cat nap. Maybe I can find a golden blanket to curl up on. I have no excuse that I really don’t have the very best teachers!

And then again this evening:

When I read Marie Kondo’s book, the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing, at the end is 2015 I got super excited. Her story really resonated with me. I hung onto every word. I studied how to correctly fold clothes. I paid attention to learn how to best honor the spirit of the home and the resident pieces. See, I’m the person whom my parents nicknamed Little Miss Busy Fingers when I was a wee lass on account of I was always tidying and organizing my things. So for the New Year last year on January 1st, 2016, I Marie Kondo’ed my place. I started with the clothes with a boost of inertia from our friend Miranda. I powered through the categories over the course of several months.

It was amazing and I was able to make room for the entrance of Lake in our life and our little condo. But at the time some things were still in off-site storage. When we moved to our new house we brought them back to us. Then, there they were: filling the entrance to our beautiful home to the brim. I was afraid to open them for almost two months. I’d been living without these “treasures ” for two years. We have actually really not significantly more closet space in our huge house as compared to our compact condo. So, if I did unpack, where would my beloved things go? Many of these things belonged to my grandmother, or I’d had them since high school, or worn them as a businesswoman when I was the owner of the SPAhT Homeopathic Medical Spa. I was afraid there would be a sentimental attachment, I’d held onto them at great expense thus far, right? And really no where for them to go. There was also a substantial Steel Age filing cabinet full of files awaiting my attention. When I Marie Kondo’ed a year ago, I turned my then current filing cabinet into a 1″ binder per her instructions and with her guidance. But this cabinet was in storage at that time. What important files were really waiting for me in the cluttered entrance with the heavy filing cabinet and the humongous wardrobe boxes?

Files and Boxes: I used to create go-to outfits out of my wardrobe and file the results

So then, what do you do when you’re home sick from work? Time to tackle this project. Get to this lingering tidying project that’s been sitting in your entryway for the past months. Face it! All I needed was a little help from a friend. Turns out having a 20 year old European is very useful for in-home, on-the-spot style consultation! We had a lot of fun in the process of turning the three huge wardrobe boxes into just a small container of folded summer clothes, plus an organized shoe ottoman.

The fun-filled tidying process of January 2017…Thank you Jo!

 

Beautiful evening gown for just the right occasion…

 

The beautiful and functional results:

Plus, the magic of gaining a light filled tidy entryway in time for Spring!

Jo and Daddy were out doing errands today when they dropped by to bring Mummy her Lake for lunchies. Surprise: coordinated outfits! Lake and I could hardly be sicker and still up and functioning. So we take comfort in how cute we look in spite of how unwell we feel! Tonight I officially have a temperature though, so tomorrow we are staying home to recuperate. It will be a great relief to hopefully rid ourselves of the unrelenting lingering winter daycare crud once and for all. It’s been two months of solid sickies! Spring we are ready for you!

Lake is sitting up now for a minute at a time! He is gaining more steadiness. He will still topple over after a bit, but it’s like watching slow motion. He can move around pretty well too with his inchworm maneuver. 

Daddy was watching him for a long stretch this evening and said it was like witnessing the birth of greed and destruction in man. The way he would motor around the room after things that caught his eye, grab them and yell while shaking them to bits. Then on to the next one. I showed up just as his eye caught sight of Mr. Cat. 

​

​Boy, was he having fun though! Pretty soon he’ll be standing, walking running!

Errands with Nana today! In the Baby Björn for Lake. With some time for playing together at the beginning and the end. Happy Weekend!

When Lake and Daddy play, Lake has so much fun. Tonight they were playing “screech conversation” whereby they take turns screeching and yelping, and making other variations on delighted outbursts. Back and forth with each other so merrily. Catching a laugh intermittently for punctuation. 

Here we are post-bath yesterday enjoying our sunny Saturday morning. It’s fun to get to spend more time together on the weekend and get back into our coordinating outfit theme. I love this little guy! He cuddled up alongside and next to me in the sweetest way!