October 05, 2007

Solids

Sienna has now been on solids for about 2 weeks! I made a video of her first feeding and man, am I goofy! I'm sure I will be a pure embarassment to her in front of her friends when that time comes. LOL. Here is a picture of her 2nd feeding. She wasn't crazy about it but I think she's getting into it. The first few days I gave her rice cereal and then switched it to barley cereal. I don't know if it's the barley she likes better or the fact that she is just getting used to it. Wouldn't it be funny if she didn't like rice?

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Here she is grabbing at the camera strap and trying to put it in her mouth!

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And using the sippy cup today!

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Me and Sienna have actually been trying to keep busy. We signed up for a Music Together class in Bay Ridge (hope to have some pics soon). She seems to be enjoying it. And we've met up with Diana and her 4 month old Dakota at Prospect Park twice so far. And I hope to start taking her into the city more often.

Posted by luluvision at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2007

The last days in Chicago

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Sienna's first IHOP trip

Sunday we took a final dip in the pool since we were checking out on Monday and staying at Rich and Theresa's. Sienna didn't seem as excited about the pool as she was the first time. Oh well. In the afternoon we headed over to R and T's to watch football on their HDTV and eat brats.

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Their dog Elvis

Monday we were total tourists and headed over to check out 'the bean' and walk around a bit.

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Geeks at the bean

We had lunch in the restaurant behind the bean, it was really good! We checked out a few more places and took pictures, which I took film and hope they come out. We headed back just in the nick of time, it started raining!

Tuesday we kinda laid low and went to see Rich's old condo and that neighborhood. Had lunch at Moody's (?), apparently home of Chicago's best burger (wasn't bad) and walked over to the lake.

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Wednesday we flew back and again, Sienna was perfect for the flight. It wasn't full and I debated about asking if we can bring on the car seat since we got spoiled the first time around. I decided not to just to see how she was going to be in our laps since the flight was so short. We did have a seat mate for the window so she was in our lap the whole time. She fell asleep in Yves' arms and woke up once we landed. And we got there about 40 minutes early! Yay! (Yves took the same flight when he came back from Chicago last month and it was also early.) Such a nice and relaxing trip.

Posted by luluvision at 07:52 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2007

Rich and Theresa get married

Rich and Theresa got married on Saturday, Sept. 8 in downtown Chicago. They had about maybe 100 or 150 people? I'm not sure but it wasn't huge and it was as small as ours. The ceremony was held in the private dining room at Spiaggia along with cocktail hour and dinner. The food was terrific but more on that later. Since Yves was best man we arrived early to be involved in the pictures. There was a beautiful gazebo across from the restaurant, a popular spot for wedding couples as we can see it from the window. I didn't know me and Sienna were also in the pictures or else I would have changed Sienna into her pretty dress a lot earlier! I hope Theresa didn't mind!

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Because Chicago had so much rain, the mosqitos were plentiful and of course I got bit! 4 times!! So after we were done with our part of the pictures, we went in search of a Walgreens to buy some creme. On the way back, we saw the couple getting their picture taken on the median.

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Yves went to take a horizon picture of them and got into the picture!

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We went back to the restaurant and hung out until it was time for the ceremony at 6. Sienna got a big kick out of Bob, Rich's dad. He was making her laugh and laugh and not even doing anything goofy. I have video of it. And here is Martha, Rich's mom, hanging out with Sienna.

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I don't have any pictures of the ceremony as I had Sienna and since 6 is her feeding time, was feeding her near the back to keep out of the way. Boy was she farting up a storm during the ceremony! I was hoping no one could really smell it and it turned out she was pooping! I hope that means good luck for the marriage in some cultures! LOL!

I only got to try a couple of hors d'oeuvres since the room got really crowded and Sienna was in her carriage so I wanted to keep out of the way and stayed in the other room. I was kinda bummed about missing all that food, as those who know me know what a glutton I am, but in retrospect it was a good thing I did because the dinner was sooooo good! And I stuffed myself with the bread basket, not surprising! And I ate tomatoes!! The starter was mozzarella and tomato salad. It was fresh buffalo mozzarella (melted in your mouth!) and the tomatoes were little cherry tomatoes but it went so well with the cheese and the olive oil and basil. YUM! The next course was homemade veal ravioli. YUM! There are no pictures of them because I guess I ate it too fast! LOL. Yves got the filet mignon, so tender and I got the fish, flaky on the outside and moist on the inside!

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And then the cake! OMG!! Theresa told me all the different layers on there, really, it was like she couldn't decide and decided to have all the cakes in there! And they passed around a tray of homemade gelato and of course I chose mint. DELICIOUS!!

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And the happy couple!

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Yves was really nervous because he had to do a best man speech. Well, Rich told him he didn't have to but since the maid of honor was saying something, he felt like he had to say something. He did a great job!! Sienna slept thru mostly everything and woke up near the end, around 10. By the time we left, it was pretty late but she fell asleep on the way back to the hotel even before we got lost!

Posted by luluvision at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

Happy Birthday

to the greatest person I know! My husband! He is an amazing husband, a terrific father and a wonderful provider for his family!

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Posted by luluvision at 04:41 PM | Comments (0)

September 14, 2007

Chicago memories

We're back from Chicago! And it was a successful trip. The flights were great, the wedding wonderful and the weather wasn't the greatest with some on and off rain but we had a couple of bright sunny days.

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We took the 6:45 am Jetblue flight and as you can see, we don't look totally awake. Our flight was pretty empty and we were able to take the car seat on board and put it next to us. What a big help that was! Sienna was an absolute angel! We started feeding her her bottle while waiting to board since that was her usual time. She didn't finish it so while we took off, I gave her the rest of it and she drank it. Once she finished it, we put her in the car seat next to the window and she fell asleep for the rest of the flight!! Who can ask for anything better?

Once we landed and got our bags, we headed over to Enterprise for our car. They happen to be out of the compact car we reserved and upgraded us to a PT Cruiser, a car Yves always had his eye on so of course he was happy! Now normally I wouldn't show a picture with my butt toward the camera but this happens to be one of the only pics of the car. Plus we were laughing at ourselves for changing Sienna in the trunk and calling ourselves ghetto. The trunk is so roomy!

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Later that day we relaxed and took Sienna to her first trip to the hotel's indoor pool! She loved it!

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We had Thai food with Rich, Theresa and Matt later that night. It was delicious! Sienna fell asleep in the car seat and just happened to wake up right when we were leaving. We ended up giving her some water back at the hotel and she fell back asleep in the Pack and Play. And then the rest of us fell asleep. What a long day!

Friday we drove up to Wisconsin for lunch to go to one of Yves' favorite places, the Brat Stop. Rich couldn't believe we drove up there but it was only a little less than an hour, equal to a subway ride!

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I got the garlic brat and it was good. I only wished the bun was just a tad bit on the softer side. I think I felt the same way last time I had a Milwaukee brat back in 2001.

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Where's my Brat? Where's my Brat?

Later that night we met up with some of Rich and Theresa's family for a sort of rehearsal dinner at a mexican restaurant called Don Juan's. It was delicious! And Sienna slept thru the whole thing and we were certainly a loud bunch! We also did not have any trouble transfering her from the car seat to the pack and play back at the hotel. Whew!

More on the trip later...

Posted by luluvision at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2007

The zoo!

We decided at the last minute to go check out the Prospect Park Zoo on Sunday. I've never been there before and after going, I can see why. It's pretty small and not a lot of animals but it was a good 'starter' zoo for Sienna. We figured she would be really excited to see all the animals while in the bjorn and were equally excited to show her around. So we were a little bummed that she fell asleep on the way over! And since we've been having trouble getting her down for naps, we let her sleep. She slept for an hour and a half! Figures!

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Waiting...

We were ready to go once she woke up! We probably went thru the whole zoo faster than her whole nap! LOL. We saw some monkeys and colorful birds and fishes. There was also an area with some kangaroos but they were too far back to really see. And the red pandas had their backs to us. The monkeys were saw were baboons and there was a petting zoo area where we saw goats and a cow.

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I'm up! I'm up! Let's go!

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Where should we start daddy?

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Monkeys!

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Hey goat, sorry I don't have any food for you

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Thanks for taking me to the zoo daddy!

After we fed Sienna at the zoo, we went and got ourselves some lunch of patties. We went to the same patty place we went before. I had a chicken and a beef and Yves got 2 beef ones. He felt they were too salty and not enough beef. All in all another fun family day!

Posted by luluvision at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)

September 04, 2007

Fun Filled Family Weekend!

Saturday we were invited to a pool party in Sunset Park. Since it didn't start until 4, we decided to head over earlier and get some delicious banh mi. Afterwards, we headed to the park to feed Sienna and hang out for a bit to enjoy the beautiful day. It was in the mid 70's and it couldn't have been nicer.

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When we got to the party, she was hanging out in the bjorn with her daddy. She loved it and loved meeting everyone. We met another cutie named Marley who is 17 months old, also born in March! The 21st!

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She also got hungry while we were there so Yves found a nice corner to feed her.

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And it looked like Nuno and Marley were the only ones enjoying the pool. At least while we were there!

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Sienna had such an exciting and exhausting day that we basically put her to bed right after her bath. And she went down without a fight! We did give her an extra 2 ounces since it was a little later than usual.

Posted by luluvision at 11:35 AM | Comments (1)

August 28, 2007

Sienna's First Dim Sum!

Saturday we ventured out to Chinatown to meet up with Pete and Joy at Golden Unicorn for some dim sum! Of course, it had to be the muggiest, yuckiest day but we survived.

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Ok, she's not really looking at the har kow here. She just woke up from a short nap near the end of our meal so I wanted to document her first dim sum outting. We ended up taking her out anyway.

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I don't remember what we were looking at and laughing at.

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Shortly after this shot, Sienna spit up on Joy. LOL.

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And the cart ladies all loved Sienna too!

After dim sum, we went for our traditional bubble tea at Tenren. We went to the park so we can feed Sienna her lunch and called it a day!

Posted by luluvision at 09:11 AM | Comments (2)

August 27, 2007

The Mall and Bjorn

Thursday we went out to the mall on Long Island with my parents. Like usual, we head over to Ikea and then to Target through the mall. While in Ikea, I was trying to get Sienna to take a nap. She hasn't been very cooperative with her naps lately. By the time were walked thru Ikea, I knew I was fighting a losing battle so I just took her out and put her in the Baby Bjorn, which I knew she would love. She got so excited! She loves looking around at everything. And I had fun taking a series of goofy pictures of us and my dad.

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So we walked thru the mall over to Target and I'm just walking around shopping for things. About half an hour into shopping in Target, I realized that it was quiet, too quiet! I looked down to see Sienna starting to nod off iin the Bjorn! I didn't think it could happen! She's falling asleep in the Bjorn!! I called my dad over with the carriage and put her in where she slept for about 2 blissful hours. And we were able to enjoy a quiet lunch of Mexican food (the first time my parents tried "Mexican" food!)

I also want to note that Sienna is starting to roll over! Last Monday she woke me up to find her on her tummy in her crib. She has yet to master rolling back although I did see her do it a couple of times. She has rolled over a couple of times in the morning. Here is a cute picture of her sucking on her toes and one playing with her daddy.

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Posted by luluvision at 09:30 AM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2007

A Perfect Day!

Saturday was a beautiful day! It was nice and sunny and the temps were somewhere in the 70's. We decided to take Sienna into the city and bring the baby bjorn. We got off at Union Square and used the elevators. They are very helpful! We had her in the carriage on the way over hoping that she would take a little nap. (She doesn't seem to nap very well on the weekends, we're wondering if it's because Yves is home) She did manage to fall asleep halfway there and while we had lunch at Montien Thai.

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After lunch we decided to stop by Babies R Us (actually Yves suggested it! Can you believe it?). We didn't buy anything but just looked around. Seems I missed the swimwear! Oh well, I'll have to buy something online for Sienna for Chicago. Anyway, we went into Union Square Park afterwards and decided to feed her in there. She loved beiing taken out of the car seat and looking around and everything. So much to see!

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Posted by luluvision at 09:23 AM | Comments (1)

August 17, 2007

Lunching in Fort Greene

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Tuesday me and Sienna went to have lunch with Brenda, who was on vacation for the week. We went to Chez Lola. It was so delicious!! Surprisingly Sienna was a bit antsy even though I fed her and changed her right before we left to meet Brenda. After we ordered, I took her out of her seat so she could have a look around the restaurant. She loved it! I wish I took pictures of the restaurant, there was so much to see. Lots of oranges and textures (the wine rack was made out of a mattress spring!) Once our dishes came, I put her back in and ended up giving her a paci and she fell asleep! Good girl! I ordered the salmon basil omelette (salmon, goat cheese and scallions) and Brenda got the Croque Madame. YUM!!

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We went for a walk in Fort Greene Park after lunch. What a nice park!! We went around a few times and it's hilly so I got quite a workout. I need to do more of those! LOL. I was so tired when I got home!

And if anyone is keeping tabs on the sleep situation, Tuesday and Wednesday night we had trouble putting her down. We put her down on the earlier side since she really hasn't been taking her afternoon naps and she just didn't want to go down. Then last night we had the AC on because it was so muggy all day and she went down easy and also on the earlier side! She fussed a little bit during Goodnight Moon but did not cry when Yves put her down in the crib. A successful putdown for Yves! Yay! So it seems the AC has a lot to do with how easy she goes down. Of course if it is really cool out, it won't be necessary but from now on, even if it's just a bit warm, we are putting that sucker on for her!

Posted by luluvision at 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

Goodnight Moon!

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I think it is pretty clear that Sienna knows Goodnight Moon means bedtime. Yesterday we went with my dad to pick Yves up from the airport. There was traffic on the belt so we got there later than we anticipated and then with lunch and everything, the afternoon really flew by. Sienna wouldn't take an afternoon nap. Which I really wasn't concerned about since she has been doing that lately but I really wanted to give her a bath that night since she hadn't had one all weekend!! Anyway, I put her down on her activity mat and put Sprout (PBS kids channel) on the tv so I could help Yves get his lunch ready for the week. (I know they say not to let children under 2 watch tv at all but as long as her day is well rounded, I am not going to worry about that.) I was at the dining room table cutting up cucumbers and I just had a feeling she fell asleep. I look over and yep, she fell asleep! She ended up only sleeping for an hour so although I knew her bedtime will have to be pushed back because of this, I was hoping it wasn't going to be too late. So we gave her a bath, hung out with her a little bit and gave her the last bottle for the night. Yves took her into her room for reading and by the time he got to Goodnight Moon (I think he even read 2 books prior to that to make sure she was tired), she was bawling! So we let her hang out with us in the living room for a bit. When she did a couple of eye rubs, I took her into her room to finish reading Goodnight Moon. She bawled, really bawled, through the whole thing! So we took her out to the living room again. Instead of having her sit with us on the sofa, I put her down on her activity mat. After a few minutes, she seemed so calm that I thought for sure she was ready for the crib. I picked her up and put her down in her bed. No fuss! She went to sleep and it was about 8:45. Not too bad.

Posted by luluvision at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 13, 2007

An Yves-less weekend

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On Friday Yves left for Chicago to take his annual trip with his friend Rich up to Lake Elkhart for Champ Car Racing. This is the first time Yves left for a trip since Sienna was born. I knew it wouldn't be a big deal since it was only for 4 days but to make sure, I made plans for each day so I wouldn't get lazy and bored.

So Friday Pete came over for lunch since he has half day Fridays. It was a rainy and gloomy day so he picked up salads for us from Whole Foods and delicious strawberry/cake/creamy desserts. YUM! Skippy was very happy to see Pete and basically wore him out! LOL

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I also took a cute video of Pete making Sienna laugh and I'm debating whether to put it on youtube. Since Yves left that morning, I didn't need to walk him until that evening. My parents came over for dinner and I took Skippy out for his walk after I put Sienna to sleep.

Saturday morning I took Sienna with me in the Baby Bjorn while I walked Skippy. It wasn't too bad and as long as I guide Skippy to poop on the concrete so I can kneel down and pick it up, it was fine. The bumblebees came over for potluck. I totally forgot to take pictures of the food! But DeeDee made baked chicken, Ruth made creole shrimp and rice, Joy made brussel sprouts and portabello mushrooms and I made cupcakes and sugarless cookies (which were gross but Ruth liked them). It was a nice and relaxing day and needless to say, ate like a pig! Everyone enjoyed playing with Sienna and Skippy. Even Neo got attention! The weather was beautiful and if only the rest of the summer could be like that day, I'd be such a happy camper.

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Sunday I met up with 2 other moms for a day at the park. We met up at a park in Bensonhurst with a sprinkler. I met up with Regina and Evan (4.5 months), whom I've met before and also Marlissa and Munir (7 months). It was a nice day!

And if you are keeping up with the Sienna sleeping situation that we started last Sunday, here is what is going on. Monday she went down like that (snap!). Me and Yves were amazed. She ended up waking up around 12:30 in the morning and took the paci after 3 tries. Tuesday it took an hour to get her down and I ended up giving her the paci and she fell asleep after that (I was a little surprised she still had the paci in her mouth a couple of hours later, it usually comes out of her mouth after she falls asleep!). Wednesday she went down easy after about 5-10 minutes and then Thursday and Friday and Sunday, all easy!! I wanted to note that Monday and Wed. we had the air conditioner on but we didn't for Thursday and Friday so maybe it was just a coincidence. Now for Saturday. Well, she was showing the signs of tiredness around the time all the bees were leaving so the bees let themselves out while I read Sienna her bedtime stories. So, while I'm sitting there I thought to myself "I betcha DeeDee is going to forget something!" Lo and behold I get a call 2 seconds after I hear the door close. DeeDee forgot her cell phone! LOL. Now, I usually read Sienna 2 books before bedtime and i only finished one when I got the call. I decided to put her down anyway hoping she would fall asleep since I knew she was tired. Well, I put her down, got DeeDee her cell phone and then came back inside to hear Sienna crying. I gave her 10 minutes. She was still crying. I went into her room to soothe her, she stopped crying and I left. Crying starts. I gave her another 10 minutes. Still crying. Then I decided to go back in and read her a 2nd book (I usually end with Goodnight Moon). Well, I did that, put her down and she went out!! I don't know if it was just a coincidence or if she needed a 2nd book or that it was Goodnight Moon. Quite interesting!!

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I know this is blurry but I just love when Sienna sucks on her lower lip and makes these puffy cheeks!!

Posted by luluvision at 09:10 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2007

Accidental Parenting

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So me and Yves realized that we were doing some "accidental parenting" meaning we started something with Sienna that we really don't want to become a habit. It seems that Sienna needs a bottle in order to fall asleep for the night. It's not a terrible thing but we would rather she be able to fall asleep on her own. It was very rare that we would be able to put her in her crib or pen and she would go to sleep, even when she shows 'the signs' of tiredness. But the bottle was always magic. We would give her her nighttime bottle, she would drink the majority of it or even all of it and either want more (which she usually would take a couple of sips of her next bottle rendering the rest of the bottle garbage!) and then fall asleep. We would gently lay her down in her crib and then go about our merry business for the evening. On rare occasions, she'll wake up and cry but mostly, she was out for the night.

Last week she started to not take her afternoon naps, which started this whole realization. Then I discovered something called "4 month regression." Even tho Sienna is technically going to be 5 months next week, because she was a month early, it's not surprising that she follows the 4 month developments. Basically, because she is now more aware of things going on around her and her brain is really starting to develop, why would she want to miss out and go to sleep? Can't say that I blame her! So we decided to combat the nighttime problem first since the regression is a phase and she might go back to her afternoon naps. So last night we decided to follow the advice of the Baby Whisperer, who was very helpful earlier. We gave Sienna her nighttime bottle out in the living room and a little before her bedtime. She finished her whole bottle and then I took her into her room and read her a couple of books. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, ooh, signs of tiredness! I put her down in her crib and walked out. She cried. I went back in, picked her up and soothed her and when she stopped crying, put her down. She cried again. I picked her up and soothed her and put her down when she stopped. This went back and forth for about 45 minutes although I thought I had it in the bag twice and had walked out only to have her cry again. Eventually, she went down and didn't cry and fell asleep. Whew! Not too bad for the first night. Tonight shouldn't take as long as last night, according to the Baby Whisperer. We'll see. I didn't feel bad as I didn't let her cry it out and I was confident I was doing the right thing for all of us.

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Posted by luluvision at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2007

Aaaah Spaaaa

Yesterday I went to get my Swedish massage that Yves got me for my birthday. I went to Ohm spa in midtown. HEAVEN! It's been awhile since I've gotten a massage, a true spa massage and I really wish it could have lasted all afternoon! The atmosphere was so nice and relaxing and calming. They gave you a nice robe and really nice slippers, hard plastic types. I swear, when I came out of the spa onto the street, if someone would have mugged me, I would have given them everything I had, I was so relaxed. It's too bad I picked one of the hottest, muggiest, yuckiest days of the year! I think next time I get a massage in the summer, I'll hire a limo to take me home. HA!

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After massage feet

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After massage me

This past Sunday, we also went to visit Tammy and Mark and had yummy burgers. While she drooled over Sienna, me and Yves drooled over her iphone and new 46 inch HDTV!!

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Posted by luluvision at 01:45 PM | Comments (1)

July 27, 2007

More Sienna Action!

Wednesday me and Sienna went into the city again! Woohoo! Survived the 2nd trip! This time we were meeting a mom I was corresponding with from cafemom.com. We only tried about 3 times to get together. LOL. We met at the park on Houston and 1st Avenue. I was glad to have a solid reason to go on the subway again because I know that if I keep doing it and get used to it, I won't be so nervous (just like with driving). And this time someone offered to help me (both times on the Brooklyn side, no times on the Manhattan side). I took the B to Bdwy/Laf and the steps weren't too bad with the stroller. Of course I had to go into Whole Foods to get my favorite wraps. And I even went a little earlier so I can drop off my film!

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Jade is 10 months old and a real cutie. Her mom Maria is really nice too and I hope we can make this a regular thing. Sienna managed to fall asleep early on during the subway ride and woke up just about when we got to the park. I fed her a bottle but she didn't drink the whole thing. I've noticed she doesn't finish her bottle when we are out. Hmmm...

We also brought up Sienna's high chair and activity center. I've been propping her up in her pen while we've been eating dinner and Yves realized we should just bring her chair up! She still looks so small in it!

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She hasn't quite gotten the hang of the activity center but she will!

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Ma, quit taking pictures and help me up! OR
No pictures please you damn paparazzi!

Posted by luluvision at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2007

A Cute Duo

Me and Sienna took a walk yesterday to try and find some mint flavored toothpaste for Skippy (he doesn't like the beef flavor I got for him-go figure!) Well, we struck out but at least me and Sienna go tuse of the baby bjorn again.

And see the ham, she knows that camera!
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And she knows when the camera's not pointing directly toward her!
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Posted by luluvision at 01:34 PM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2007

My daughter the ham (just like MOM!)

Like I had mentioned in a previous entry, every once in awhile, we'll hear Sienna laughing. I try to catch it on the camera in the video function but everytime I pull it out, she sees it and stops and stares at the camera. Even when I sneak up on her and her dad! We'll get her one day!

We went to the park and three guys fruit stand the other day and getting more practice with the Baby bjorn. She's teething now so we put the cloth on the edge so she has something to slobber all over.

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And I know this shot is blurry. In my rush to try to capture this, I had the camera on the wrong setting. I think it's cute anyway and you can get the idea.

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And then right after

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Posted by luluvision at 11:03 AM | Comments (1)

July 15, 2007

Good Food and Good Peeps

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Yesterday we met JW and Rod Cone for lunch at Castro's in Bed Stuy/Clinton Hill. It was delicious!! We ate outside in the back and it wasn't crowded and really laid back. We ended up staying a little bit to feed Sienna after paying the bill and they didn't care. We will definitely be going back!

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(sorry for the different color temperatures in these 2, I can't seem to get it right!)

And to remind us of how big the portions were, here is my Flounder Torta, platanos and Yves' chicken enchiladas!

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Posted by luluvision at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2007

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday. Monday was Tammy's birthday. So Tuesday we went out to dinner to celebrate. First we attempted to go to Pearl Oyster Bar but with an hour wait, it was cutting into my bedtime. HA! Then we headed over to Ed's Lobster Bar (who used to work at Pearl!) and it was only half an hour wait. But then we ended up at Cafe Esquina, down the block and we both got yummy steak. I made these goofy placemats for Tammy's birthday using photos from her honeymoon in New Zealand.

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As per tradition, my parents bought me a cake and we had that on Sunday. It was vanilla sponge cake with strawberries. The berries were a little tart but the super soft cake was delicious.

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On my actual birthday yesterday, I went to the Broadway Mall with my parents. Mostly to get out of the humidity and have someone else pay for the AC! We walked around Ikea and Target and had lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. I had the grilled salmon sandwich, which was disappointing because it was overcooked but I still ate it. Here's a cute picture of my dad with Sienna in the restaurant.

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Then after lunch I decided to walk with Sienna in my arms instead of putting her back into her car seat. It was only a short walk thru the mall to the parking lot. She loved it! She was all excited looking around at everything and laughing. It was soooo cute! I only wonder what this means later on. She'll probably want to go to the mall all the time. Groan!!

And here's a cute picture of her waving. She's wearing one of Gabby's old outfits. Or was it Maia's?

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Yves gave me a gift card to get a massage (YAY!) and I can't wait to go. He also made me a super cute card with a picture of him and Sienna on the cover. And for dinner we got take out sushi and I got a special roll with lobster on top. It was delicious!

Posted by luluvision at 09:28 AM | Comments (0)

July 08, 2007

Stroll in the Park

Yesterday, we went for a stroll in Sunset Park. I haven't been in that park for ages and forgot how nice it is. I never realized how big the pool was and for such a nice day, it wasn't crowded at all. Plus you get a nice view of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty. But the main reason we were in the area was yes, we went back to the Banh Mi place! HA!

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We're trying to use the Baby Bjorn more often. She didn't like it much when she was younger but then again I realized that it was when I was carrying her. The first time when Yves carried her into Babies R Us, she was asleep and was fine. But I also tried it with her around the house the other day and she was fine with it too. Maybe it was just too tight before or something.

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I love how she is grabbing hold of Yves finger. So cute! And here's a cute family picture. I love how Sienna is looking into the camera. It's like she knows now! A ham just like mom!

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And I wanted to show the cute beach shirt that Grandma M got for Sienna.

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Posted by luluvision at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

July 04, 2007

Happy Independence Day!

Speaking of independence, I finally took Sienna into the city on Monday and her first subway ride!!

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Doesn't Sienna actually look excited?! She's still pretty light so it was easy carrying her up and down the stairs. I know I shouldn't be surprised but not one person offered to help! But maybe I didn't look like I needed help since like I said, she is still light. Anyway, Monday was a perfect day to go into the city, it was bright sunshine and not humid or gross like a week before. We transfered to the B train so I could show Sienna Bryant Park.

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Not a fabulous picture but I wanted to show her by the Carousel. And then I wanted to take a picture of her by the lions at the library but man, so many tourists! This is the best I could do:

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We went to visit my former co-workers at mada. It felt so weird walking the same streets I used to walk to go to work everyday. But now with a baby carriage! She was a big hit with everyone there. Here's a pic of her with Theresa and Cindy.

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Then we walked over to visit where her daddy works and meet his co-workers. Needless to say, everyone loved her there too. It was weird going in there too since I also used to work there.

Then we went back on the train to go home. Yves was with us this time so it was an easier trip. More emotionally easy because I felt more comfortable being with another adult as opposed to being all by myself. I don't know why I still have that hang up. I blame my mother. LOL!

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And before I forget to document this, we heard Sienna laugh for the first time last Friday!! She's been laughing and smiling for a couple of weeks before that but Friday was the first time we heard her! It was so precious!!

Posted by luluvision at 08:32 AM | Comments (0)

July 02, 2007

Cute outfits!

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Sock monkey onesie from Aunt Jennifer. Pink gorilla from her daddy.

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Tiki Tot onesie from Aunt Carol and Uncle Rene.

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Year of the Pig outfit from Uncle Bill and Aunt Laura.

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Cute tank outfit from her momma!

Posted by luluvision at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)

July 01, 2007

Patties!

Last week we went to Kings Plaza strictly to go have patties at Golden Krust (which I only learned was there a few weeks ago) only to discover it was closed due to the marshal seizing it. What a downer! Especially when you have the taste of patties in your mouth even before getting there. So yesterday we headed over to Prospect Park to Christie's patties on Flatbush. They say it's the best patties in Brooklyn. It was quite tasty but I'm not sure it's the best. We'll have to test that out. ;-)
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I decided to try a veggie pattie, which according to Yves anything but beef is a sacrilege. It wasn't bad despite the peas. The sauerkraut gave it an interesting flavor.

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And of course had to have a beef one too!

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Sienna's first ting. too bad it was empty.

Posted by luluvision at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

June 19, 2007

Action packed weekend

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We went out with Sienna almost everyday this past weekend. On Friday I thought it would be nice to go out to lunch at a kid friendly place with Sienna. I settled on Two Boots in Park Slope but little did I realize how much traffic there was and how hard parking was going to be! Then we tried equally kid friendly Bubbys in Dumbo. That was my original plan but the reviews said the service was really lacking and I didn't want to waste my time. HA! I ended up wasting more time just getting down there with the traffic! So we finally ended up at Metzals on Atlantic Avenue. It was pretty empty so Sienna's carriage wasn't in anyone's way. While down there, I finally went and checked out Sahadi's. That place has been there forever and I remember going to school with Renee Sahadi. We were in band together and she played clarinet. Anyway, I got Turkish apricots there and they are delicious! And half the price of Russ and Daughters! Now I don't have to go to LES for my dried apricot fix anymore.

Saturday we went to the Renegade Craft Fair in Williamsburg. I went last year with Peter and Brenda. Brenda got a late start so was not able to meet up with her. I managed to overdo it at the Reprodepot booth. I couldn't resist all their fun fabrics and ended up spending almost $60!! I better start sewing! Since we were close, I had to check out Peter Pan Donuts, people say this is the best donuts in NYC. I have to say, they were pretty good and I even give them a slight edge over our place on Avenue U but Yves is sticking with our place.

Saturday we were up early to meet the members of Kagero for their photoshoot down in Coney Island. I used my holga and my horizon and will be picking up the film on Wed. Can't wait to see them. It was super fun and all the band members were really cool.

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Silvia was nice enough to come along so she can watch Sienna. She said it was a pleasure as Sienna slept most of the time!

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Later that day Mummy and the Chopards came over to celebrate Father's day and so we can do a video conference with Daddy and JP down in Jamaica. Mummy cooked delicious Jamaican dishes. Poor mummy fell down the stairs on Friday and broke her wrist and had to get stitches in her lip! Here she is sipping wine through a straw.

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a cute picture of Liz with Sienna and Maia.

Posted by luluvision at 02:43 PM | Comments (0)

June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day!

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Posted by luluvision at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)

June 11, 2007

SiennaMania

I don't mean for this blog to become the Sienna blog but it has been requested that I update the blog more with Sienna pictures! And since Sienna is my most current and ongoing project, I must oblige! I will try to post other things going on as well but for now, Sienna is going on!

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We received this real cute handmade onesie from Ingrid a friend from the fotolog days. She does a whole bunch of stuff for her dog Tony.

JW and his girlfriend Silvia came over for lunch yesterday and to meet her majesty. I keep forgetting to take pictures of Sienna with other people! So, you'll just have to see her with her dad. HA

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And poor Skippy, trying to get affection wherever he can!

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Sienna has also taken to trying to suck her hand. We think she's trying to get a thumb but since she hasn't figured out how to make a fist and stick her thumb out, she sticks her whole hand in there. It's also her left hand so I wonder if she'll be a lefty.

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Posted by luluvision at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2007

Rochester Roadtrip Success!

This past weekend we took our first family trip to Rochester, NY. Tammy and Mark were getting married and we really did not want to miss it. So we packed up the car (my dad's) and headed to Western NY on Friday. Mapquest said it would take 6 hours and with Sienna, we weren't sure how long it would actually take. We left around 9:45 am and with 3 stops, got to the Hyatt at 4:30. Not bad!!

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I was laughing really hard watching Yves come up the little hotel 'elevator' with Sienna that I had to take a picture. And here is Sienna in her first hotel room! LOL

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All the things we were worried about that might happen did not happen. She slept like a log in the hotel crib, she didn't cry during the wedding ceremony and she was generally a good girl throughout the whole trip!! For dinner on Friday, I went to get Dinosaur BBQ, which was only 2 blocks away! YUM! I took it to go to eat in our hotel room. We really didn't want to put Sienna back into the car seat to go out again after subjecting her to it for over 6 hours. Saturday morning, we went to breakfast at one of the places Tammy had suggested. Another successful restaurant outting with Sienna!! I guess as long as there is room for her carriage, there really shouldn't be much of a problem. She is such a good girl!

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She woke up just in time for the couple to walk down the aisle!

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She was asleep throughout the whole cocktail hour and we were right next to the musicians! Many people were disappointed she was asleep, they wanted to play with her. Need I say that she was a big hit with everybody? ;-)

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As per her usual, she woke up just as we were sitting down to have dinner. Yves fed her and then I took over to change her. There wasn't any air conditioning at all, just big giant fans, so I wanted to change her out of her thick dress. She started to get cranky after dinner, which was after her usual bedtime. We took her outside and thought maybe the fresh air would help her calm down. Not really. We took her back inside and put her back into her seat and she fell asleep shortly after. And the band was playing loudly in the next room! I was eagerly waiting for the cake cutting, I needed a sweet fix!

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They also had 3 trays of pastries. YUM!! I was told there was supposed to be a chocolate fountain but I did not see one. I'll have to talk to Tammy about that when they come back from their honeymoon! How can she tease me with that??

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We left around 8:30 on Sunday morning, we took advantage of Sienna napping to get started on the road. I think we only stopped twice but there was also a little traffic. Since I couldn't pack sandwiches for the ride, we stopped for lunch at Friendly's. Another successful restaurant outting with Sienna! LOL We got home around 4:30. All in all a successful trip!


Posted by luluvision at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)

May 31, 2007

More Sienna Fun!

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend. Sunday we took Sienna out to lunch in Bay Ridge to this great healthy cafe we used to go to a lot. This was our first restaurant outting with Sienna and she was a perfect angel! Slept through the whole thing!

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After lunch we went down by the shore and walked a little bit by the water. We didn't stay out too long because Yves brought work home that he needed to finish.

Monday we went to Queens and had a picnic in the park with Liz, Sylvain, Elianna and Maia. It was such a beautiful day out! Sienna slept throught most of it but did manage to enjoy lunch al fresco!

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I thought this picture was great! Sienna has a hat just like her daddy! And here is a cute picture I got of Liz and Maia.

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Auntie Tammy had stopped by on Saturday and I got a picture of them together. I also went shopping with Joy at Kings Plaza and it was nice to get out of the house without Sienna. It's not that I don't mind taking Sienna with me but it's all the crap I have to bring too! Anyway, I didn't get a picture of Joy with Sienna cuz she only held her for like a second. As soon as Sienna started fidgeting, she gave her back to me! LOL. On a side note, we took the bus to Kings Plaza cuz it's so close and why waste gas. My metrocard expired!!! I'm so astounded by it. And I have money on it, at least $15. I think I can get it back, I have to send it to them. Anyway, here is the picture of Tammy and Sienna.

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The next entry you should be reading will be Tammy's wedding, which is this weekend. This will be our first trip with Sienna. We are driving up to Rochester and it feels like we're bringing her whole nursery with us! Wish us luck!

Posted by luluvision at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Sienna Sammich

We were having some photo fun with Sienna yesterday...

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Just look at that face!!!

Posted by luluvision at 09:56 AM | Comments (2)

May 22, 2007

Getting there!

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Sienna has started to laugh and smile a lot more now. She is sooo cute! Yvee took this picture of her laughing. You could really see how much she looks like her daddy!

I thought it would be funny to see what Sienna sees from her crib so I took this goofy picture of myself. I'll have to get Yves to do one too.

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For the past five nights or so, she's been pretty much sleeping through the night, about 9 hours!! That kinda freaked me out at first and I even snuck into her room at 1:30 am one night to make sure she was breathing! When we put her down at 7:30 one night, we thought for sure that we wouldn't hear the last from her. But then it wasn't until 4:30 am that we did! I know it won't last so I'm trying not to get too used to it. And she seems to entertain herself in her crib when she first wakes up. We can hear her in there cooing and stuff and only wait for her to cry before we go in.
This is a picture of her after a bath the other night.

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The reason I named this post 'getting there' is because I went to Ikea last week with Sienna! Well, and mom and dad too. I almost wanted to chicken out because Ikea was so far away but I managed to stay strong. LOL. I lucked out! She pretty much slept through everything! First we went to Ikea, then walked over to Target and had lunch at Boston Market. She started stirring on the way home but I felt that we could make it home before she got too fussy. So, in a way, this trip really didn't count cuz it was so easy. Here's a picture of her at Ikea.

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And the second reason I named this post what I did was yesterday I drove with Sienna! All by myself!! I was meeting a mom from the Brooklyn Playgroups at Marine Park. The park was a little too far away for me to walk but the drive was short enough that I could handle it. It wasn't bad at all! And I even fed her in the park! She fussed a little bit on the way over, during the walk and right before we left to go home but it didn't last too long. It was nice to meet Regina and her baby boy Evan, who was born about a week after Sienna. It was also nice to walk around the park, I could certainly use the exercise!!

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Posted by luluvision at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)

May 16, 2007

Funny Faces

My mother in law sent me a mother's day card that I got the other day. She included a few pictures that she took of me and Sienna while she was staying with us. These 2 really cracked me up because of the funny face my daughter is making at me. (holy crap, my daughter!!

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While they were here, my father in law also bought a new Macbook so we are now able to do the video ichat with them. It's so cool!! Yves took a screen capture of a recent conversation.

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Posted by luluvision at 07:27 PM | Comments (0)

May 14, 2007

My first mother's day

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This shot was taken last month at the park and I haven't had a chance to download more current pics from the camera. She has gotten bigger! Anyway, this picture shows how much like Yves she looks! There's an old picture of Yves that a co-worker of his gave me where he is making a similiar face, a little angrier because he wasn't in a good mood, that would go great with this shot. Not that Sienna is angry but the look on her face is similiar, in a happier way.

Last week me and dad took Sienna for her 2 month check up! She's up to 9 pounds and 1 ounce! She had to get shots too which she wasn't too happy about but who would be? But all in all, she was very good. The doctor had me give her some infant tylenol because of the shots but as a preventive measure. Later on that night, she slept the longest she has ever slept, 9 hours!! I don't know if it was the tylenol or what but it was pleasant and almost a little nerve racking at the same time. I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and tip toed into her room to make sure she was breathing!!

Yesterday was my first mother's day and Sienna gave me a cute card. Other than that, we really didn't do much to commemorate the event. Yves worked from home on Thursday and Friday since I had a dentist and an ob appt. so that was present enough, being able to roam the city a little bit.

Here is the card I made for mum.
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Posted by luluvision at 08:43 AM | Comments (0)

May 08, 2007

I did it!!

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I did it! I did it! I went to the park with Sienna on Friday ALL BY MYSELF!! I know it seems silly to be nervous to go out with Sienna but I feel so vulnerable especially being all by myself. What I think I'm most afraid of is the unpredictability of Sienna. She could sleep the whole way through or she could bawl and bawl without consolation. I don't want to be one of those parents with the bawling, out of control kid. But so far, she hasn't really been like that except when we are home. While walking to the park Friday, she was awake and alert. I got a little nervous about that because usually the car seat and the strolling put her to sleep. She was crying a little bit when we got to the park and I almost high-tailed it outta there but I kept with it (mainly because I realize you couldn't really hear her too loudly.) I started to rock the stroller back and forth and she fell asleep. Phew!!

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Then Saturday me and Yves drove down to the water in Sheepshead Bay with Sienna. Yves felt the walk would be a little too far in case something happened. Hey, we all have to take baby steps here! Manuevering in the car takes a little getting used to but we did it. Once down there, we just walked along the piers. Unfortunately, the bay doesn't really excite us too much. I think we just really miss Bay Ridge a lot. We were going to have lunch in the Greek restaurant down there since there was outdoor seating. Easing into eating out with the little one! But once we got the menu, we thought it was just too expensive for lunch! So we walked out. I don't think I ever did that before. Maybe once. I did take a pretty picture of some flower tree.

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And then today, I went to the post office with Sienna!!! Wow, I'm making strides, huh? When I got there, there was a long line (seems to be the case all the time no matter what time it is!) I almost turned around but decided to stick it out. Sienna was sleeping anyway. I managed to do my business successfully!! And Sienna stayed asleep evening during an argument a customer was having with the postal clerk. I was so excited about the adventure I even went to Payless and bought a pair of shoes. It was just too nice out to go home so I decided to go to the park for a little bit, read my magazine and then went home.

Posted by luluvision at 01:07 PM | Comments (1)

April 23, 2007

Weekend of firsts

This weekend we had some of the most beautiful weather we've had in a long time. So I was happy to have the opportunity to take Sienna to the park with her grandma on Friday. I don't know why I get nervous at the thought of taking Sienna out by myself, I know I can do it and that it's no big deal but just the same, I'm glad someone was with me for this first. We went around noon and when we got to the park, Sienna was hungry. There was a bit of a breeze so I had to wrap her in a blanket. Here is a picture of us that grandma took.

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Mummy is notorious for cutting people's heads off in pictures but to her credit, she couldn't see the screen because of the sun. LOL. Not too bad for someone that still uses a disposable camera!

We went back to the park on Saturday with Yves as well and it was much warmer and not as breezy. We went a little later than on Friday so she wasn't hungry at the park. Each time we stayed about an hour.

Then on Sunday, she had her first car ride! We were taking Mummy back to Liz's in Queens and stopped by the Babies R Us to pick up a few things. There was traffic on the Belt so a trip that normally takes 15 minutes took an hour. Sienna slept the whole way. We also tried the Baby Bjorn carrier for the first time. Yves thinks she is still a tad too small for it but I think she was comfortable because she didn't cry or budge while we were in the store.

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I think the car seat is magic or something because she seems to sleep in it a long time. Last time I came back from the doctor's office, I left her in there and actually had to wake her up to feed! It was the same story when we got to Liz's. Yves fed her, grandma changed her and she took a group picture with her cousins. Too cute!!

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Posted by luluvision at 12:17 PM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2007

I don't have a monster in law!

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As I mentioned in the previous post, my mother in law is staying with us during the week to help with the baby. And she's been a real big help! I was able to go shopping at Target, get Skippy's hair cut, get my hair cut and colored (those roots were horrible and now I don't have to pull my grays out!) and go to my cd mixer. As much as she would love to stay (and as much as I would want her to stay), she has to go back to Jamaica next week.

Posted by luluvision at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2007

It's A Girl!

Last night was the April mixer and since my mother in law is in town, staying with us to help with the baby, I couldn't let this opportunity pass by. I had to go out! It was a pretty subdued evening starting with dinner at Sapore, an awesome Italian restaurant across the street from the venue. At first it was meeting for dinner with 3 and turned into dinner with 9! And Sapore was a real small place! I easily got buzzed on red wine. The venue we went to was The Treehouse, a real cute place.

While it's true that I couldn't help but think about Sienna the whole evening, it was nice to get out and socialize and see everyone!

Here is my mix!
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1. This Is the Day The The
2. Always Erasure
3. Girl Least Likely To Morrissey
4. That Girl Has Love Rooney
5. City Girl Tegan & Sara
6. China Girl David Bowie
7. Family Tree Belle & Sebastian
8. soldier girl (the GO! team remix) The polyphonic spree
9. Rich Girls the Virgins
10. Annabelle Heavens
11. At Last I Am Born Morrissey
12. Rollercoaster M. Ward
13. Open Eyes Apples In Stereo
14. Modern Girl Camera Obscura
15. Family Tree Ben Kweller
16. A New Family Colour Revolt
17. Cold World The Electric Soft Parade
18. While You Were Sleeping Elvis Perkins
19. Wet, Wet, Wet Badly Drawn Boy
20. Lullabye Ben Folds Five

Posted by luluvision at 11:10 PM | Comments (1)

April 15, 2007

All Hope Is Not Lost!

My creative brain is starting to come back to life, somewhat. I actually had an interest in making some birth announcement cards, they are not as cute as the ones Jessica made for me and sent to me shortly after Sienna's birth via priority mail (thank you Jess!!) but I was glad to be creating!

I think I made about 5 or 6 different variations. I guess my attention span is getting shorter and shorter!

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And here are the ones Jess made for me.
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And I included one of these 2 pictures of Sienna:

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Now onto some thank you cards!

Posted by luluvision at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2007

04.08.07

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Aaah, it's so nice when she is sleeping. Which honestly is most of the time but when she's awake and crying, it seems to last forever! She seems to be eating more and more, sometimes 4-5 oz! I noticed that when she only eats about 2 oz and falls asleep, she isn't asleep for very long. Sometimes she'll wake up a half an hour later or an hour later. After giving her 3 ounces (while the ped. says to give her 2.5 if she wants it), I think that she can't possibly want any more and I try to calm her crying but then I end up giving her another ounce and she's so content. I think she's going to end up being a big girl! A supermodel even! HA!

Yesterday, April 8, was Sienna's original due date. It also happened to be Easter, which I didn't realize until recently. How cute.

Posted by luluvision at 12:14 PM | Comments (1)

April 02, 2007

Everyday is Like Sunday

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I was cracking myself up when I was stamping this last night. I couldn't wait to put it on her today! I knew I had to take a picture fast after putting it on her because who knows how long it will be before I have to change her out of it. We are starting to get more used to her feeding schedule and Yves let me sleep in over the weekend, which was so nice! I've also discovered that the muzak played with the mobile and other similiar toys does nothing for her. She seemed to calm down when I played her Erasure, Morrissey and The Decemberists. That's my girl! Right after my own heart! She'll probably like a lot of others but so far that's what I've been playing. She even likes my singing!!!

Posted by luluvision at 12:56 PM | Comments (1)

March 30, 2007

Throwing in the nipple!

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I gained 7 ounces!! Woohoo!

Today was Sienna's fourth doctor's visit, maybe even fifth I can't remember! She weighed in at 6 lbs, 1 ounce! That's a 7 ounce weight gain! Woohoo!! When she was born, she weighed 5 lbs, 15 oz. The day after we took her home from the hospital, she was 5 lbs, 7 oz. Last week she was 5 lbs 10 oz so she is doing good. It's good to hear especially since it seems like she's eating a lot more lately.

I've decided to throw in the towel, or the nipple rather and give up on the breastfeeding. I truly believe that I'm one of those anomalies where my body can't produce very much breast milk. I joked about my breasts not growing very big during my pregnancy and they never really became engorged after birth either. Someone had mentioned on one of those mom boards (yeah, I'm reading them, can you believe it??!!) about having funny shaped nipples and not being able to produce milk. Well, I always thought I had funny looking nipples even though Yves protests (as he should!) Or it could just be that I never was ble to get Sienna latched on to my boobs and the pump not being a strong enough suction to tell my body to make more. Whatever the case, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. She's gaining weight! That is what is important!

Thank goodness for TLC and the show Bringing Home Baby. I watched an episode yesterday and man, did it help me feel a lot better! Seeing other couples going through the same things me and Yves are going through really helps. And the couple they showed yesterday were doing formula and she didn't mention about feeling guilty or anything so why should I? I was also watching a show on Discovery about 2 women giving birth. One vaginally and one via C-section. It's funny because I couldn't bring myself to watch it before I gave birth. Now I say, bring it on! I'm fascinated!

Posted by luluvision at 02:36 PM | Comments (0)

March 26, 2007

What's a plastic nipple got that I don't?

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Wow! Sienna is 2 weeks old! We were released from the hospital on the 14th. Before we left, we took a postpartum class where we learned how to change the baby's diaper, burp her and swaddle her. It was very helpful but I wish we learned it sooner. The woman teaching the class is also a lactation specialist so she helped me get Sienna to my breast, which I was having trouble with. She told me to keep practicing with her. Well, she made it seem so easy at the hospital and it looked like Sienna was taking to my breast. She said it didn't matter if she just got my nipple (which is the total opposite of all the books!) as long as she was latching on. I was quite relieved but it was a different story when I got home. She kept struggling to keep my nipple in her mouth. I don't know what changed! Because she's a preemie (even tho they said her birth weight is a good weight) the pediatrician at the hospital wanted me to supplement with formula to make sure she gets enough to eat. And that's what is most important, that she gets enough to eat! But boy, did I feel like a failure! I took for granted how hard this breastfeeding was going to be and the books don't really help make you feel better. They are so pro breastfeeding and speak so highly of the benefits but don't tell you how difficult it could be that it makes you feel guilty that you can't provide this simple little thing for your baby. I since learned that the majority of mothers I know had trouble with it!! I'm trying to pump as much as I can so at least I can fool my body into making more milk and also give the baby my milk via bottle so we don't always have to rely on formula. For now, I barely get an ounce of milk a day. It was hard to find time to pump during the first week and a half. It was stupid of me to try to be super mom during that time and I hope I didn't miss the window of opportunity to produce more milk. It's crazy the things I worry about now!

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It really is truly amazing how the birth of a child can really change you. I don't think fathers can feel it as strongly as mothers can, I mean, shoot, I was the one that carried her for 8 months and pushed the little bugger out 2 weeks ago (and without DRUGS! Need I remind you?!) I'm sure as I get more and more used to the idea that, SHIT, I'm somebody's mother! I'll get back to my more normal self but right now I can't even think about all the other things I was interested in. Art? not right now. Concerts? not right now. Stare at the baby all day? Hell yeah! Be amazed that me and Yves produced this little wonder? Hell yeah! We haven't even really gone camera crazy with her just yet either! I guess we are still in a state of shock and as the weeks go by, we'll come back down to earth a little more.

Posted by luluvision at 03:50 PM | Comments (3)

March 16, 2007

The day Sienna was born...

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So where I last left off, they were going to induce me on Friday. At least I was able to go back over to the labor and delivery side and the luxury of a spacious room by myself and much nicer nurses. Friday nite at around 11, the doctor gave me the first dose of medication to help soften the cervix and open it up a bit. I forgot what it was called but it looked like a shoelace and gets administered every 12 hours. I had cramping all night, nothing major. Yves felt bad leaving me alone that night but since this was so unexpected, there were things that needed to be done at home. Yves' sister Liz was going to take care of Skippy, he had to arrange Neo's feeder and get some other things settled. He came back early Saturday morning and Tammy came in the afternoon.

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And speaking of Tammy. My dear, dear Tammy. I cannot begin to give enough props to this woman. I'm still getting teary eyed just thinking about it. She was there for the majority of the time (minus a few hours which I'll get to later) and was there for the birth of Sienna. She is an amazing person. Her energetic, upbeat, positive persona helped me tremendously throughout all this and I can't even imagine having to go through it without her there. She even made a big impression on my mother!!

Joy also came by and helped passed the time with good conversation and food. My parents also got them noodles from Chinatown so the room was filled with talking, laughing and eating. One of the nurses even called our room the happy room! I got another dose of meds at 11 am but as far as any contractions, it was pretty uneventful, just cramping. Later on that night, it was time to try different meds, I remember the name of this one! It's called Miso (not sure if it's spelled correctly) and that needs to be administered every 3-4 hours. Well, that did even less than the other stuff! I was barely even getting cramps and it helped soften up the cervix a little but not much. I must have gotten about 4 doses of that throughout Saturday and Sunday. The Sunday night nurse, Jackie, came in to introduce herself (I like when they do that!) and she even took a step further by sitting us all down and explaining everything that was going to happen to us during labor. Everything! Much to Joy's chagrin. LOL. She really didn't want to hear any of it. Tammy loved it and mopped it all up. I pretty much already knew most of everything she told us because of the childbirthing classes but it was nice to get a refresher course. Jackie was extremely nice albeit a bit gruff but the fact that she took the time out to do all that explaining AND set up the couch bed with sheets and gave Tammy a pillow and more sheets for the extra bed and gave everyone slipper socks.

That night the doctor said we might have to reconsider what to do next since the meds weren't really doing anything. He wanted me to get another sonogram Monday to check on my fluids again and he wasn't going to give me any more meds that night so I can get some rest and sleep. He was going to consult with the high risk OB to see what he says about it. I asked him if having a C-section was in the equation and he said no, everything looks ok to still have a natural vaginal birth. I also asked him if there was any other reason why he wouldn't give me another dose of meds that night. He said no, he would if I wanted him to and I did. I wanted to be proactive with this! When we first agreed to get induced, we (as in me, Yves and Tammy) were thinking it would be no time before I was in labor! None of this 2+ days shit! So he gave me another dose of miso at probably around 10:30ish. We were all kinda bummed that nothing was really happening. It felt like 'gee, all this for nothing?' I had a feeling I wasn't going to leave the hospital without a baby in my hands but how long was that going to be? I longed for home and my own comfortable bed and not to be constantly hooked up to a monitor and blood pressure cuff.

So Tammy was considering going home for a few hours to spend some time with Mark and get some rest to come back tomorrow. She was conflicted because she didn't want to leave and I felt bad that she spent so much time with us without anything happening but I wanted her to come up with the decision on her own and didn't want to persuade her either way. She decided to head home around 11:15.

Ok, so if you are still reading down to this, get ready for some action finally!

My water ended up breaking at around 2:20 am Monday morning. I wasn't quite positive it was my water breaking, it just felt like I peed in the bed. When the nurse came she told me it was my water breaking and I was still in disbelief. Something was finally happening! I wasn't allowed to get out of bed so I had to use a bed pan. Er, yuck! For some reason a nurse told me I had to stay in bed until the doctor came and checked me out to make sure the umbilical cord wasn't hanging down to choke the baby because we weren't sure where the baby's head was. I later found out that that was wrong. Hmmm. Anyway, it felt really weird peeing into a bed pan but relieving at the same time.

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Oh, the pain!

My doctor came by in the morning to check on me and I think I was barely .5 centimeters dilated, I can't remember now. He let me get up and eat a little bit, take a shower and walk around the room a little bit before putting me on the Pitocin. The Pitocin is what will jump start my labor and move it into the active phase. I believe it was started by 9:30 am. And now things start moving!! I can't remember how long it took but the labor pains were definitely increasing. Before I knew it, I was really in excruciating pain and the nurses said they would ask the doctor to give me drugs if I was in that much pain. I refused it at very first but then after awhile I said to hell with it! GIMME!!

When the doctor showed up, he asked if I could hold out for a little longer. He felt it was still too early to give me any drugs and I begrudgingly complied. He told me to just continue breathing through the contractions. Yves and Tammy helped me breath through the pain. Jackie had given me a little tip about breathing through the pain. Inhale through nose (smell the roses) and breath out through the mouth (blow out the candles). Tammy gave me a better analogy for it since the blowing out the candles part wasn't really accurate. Inhale (take a toke) and exhale (release the toke) and that worked out well for all of us.

It felt like within a matter of minutes of the doctor leaving, the pain was just one on top of the other and it felt like the baby wanted to come out. I was told not to push and I wasn't and it still felt like she wanted to come out. They brought the doc back and we told him it wasn't this bad before so he decided to check me out. Guess what?! I was fully dilated!!! Therefore there wasn't any time for any narcotics or an epidural at all!!! The doc went to change into his scrubs and the nurse got everything ready and here we gooooooooo!!!!!!

According to the doctor, the pushing part only took about an hour!! I had Yves on my left holding up my leg doing the counting, Tammy on my right holding up that leg and then everytime there was a contraction, I was to push one long push for 10 counts really hard and they had to hold up my legs. The first series of pushes I did, I grunted. The doctor told me not to do that and save my energy for the pushing. Then he realized that the 2nd series of pushes were kinda wimpy and told me to go back to grunting! Well, before you know it, our little baby girl comes out!! OH MY GOODNESS how good it felt to have it all over with and to learn she's got all her parts and everything was fine with her!!

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Unfortunately I didn't get to stay very long in the L&D room because they needed it! So many babies being born!! So I had to go back over to the other side. UGH. I had a bunch of visitors come by tho. Yves' sister Liz, the bumblebees Ruthie and Denise, Joy and Nuno, who also bought me beautiful pink tulips! I was completely exhausted but got to go home on Wednesday! YAY!!!!!

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Now a new journey begins...

Posted by luluvision at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

The Road to Sienna...

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She's here!! Our beautiful little baby girl! Sienna was born March 12, 2007 at 12:31 pm. Yep, my due date was April 8 and believe us, we weren't expecting her this early either! I'm a mix of emotions right now, still a bit overwhelmed and my mind is a big mush. I probably should be sleeping while she is sleeping but I just can't so I figured I'd chronicle this event while it's still fresh in my mind. This is going to be a long one!

So last Wednesday, the 7th I was admitted into the hospital for observation because my high risk OB felt my blood pressure was too high (I have to tell you we aren't big fans of his, we've nicknamed him the primadonna doctor.) Of course I was totally bummed out about it but knew it was a possibility and was hoping I didn't have to stay that long. On the plus side, they admitted me into a labor and delivery room, which is very spacious and roommate free.

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Trying to stay positive while in the hospital. Can you see how excited I am about dinner?

So on Thursday, it was looking like I might be able to go home by Friday afternoon. My regular OB raised the dosage on my blood pressure meds and they just wanted to keep me one more night to observe how the increase in the dosage went. Plus I had to finish my 24 hour urine collection so they can check for proteins, which is a sign of preeclampsia. That was fun. I also needed to get another sonogram to check my fluids. Apparently, the one on Wed. indicated that my fluids were too low for being in the 35th week. I also had to go to the eye doctor to check my retinas since high blood pressure can effect them. Tammy and Joy came by to see me after work and of course, Yves was there. Plus I got a bunch of phone calls and that helped me pass the time.

Friday was tough as I was very antsy in the hospital and my appointments for the sonogram and eye doctor were very late in the afternoon. Not only that, but they moved me out of my room and over into the maternity ward side. They needed the room for all the laboring mothers coming in (they had gotten 7 in last night!) Let me tell you, the maternity ward is like another country. The rooms are a quarter of the size AND you have to share. Plus the nurses were not as friendly as the other side. I was miserable and was really hoping I was going home because frankly, being there wasn't helping my blood pressure! I got the sonogram first and while waiting for the eye doctor, my regular OB came by to see me with the results. Turns out my fluids are even LOWER!! And now he wants to INDUCE before things might turn worse! At current, everything was fine and the baby is happy inside. I did have some proteins in my urine, not enough to indicate preeclampsia but enough to think that it might be brewing. So he wanted to get the baby out before the baby becomes unhappy.

Wow. We didn't see that one coming! Of course you know that we agreed to induce but we were weighing the options. I've been going to my OB for many years and I trust and respect his opinion so that helped in deciding to do it.

Tomorrow I will continue with the story of my induction, if that is the correct way to say it. It was a dooseeee!!

Posted by luluvision at 07:13 PM | Comments (1)

March 05, 2007

Shower, Baby, Shower!

This past Saturday was my baby shower, wonderfully organized by Tammy and Joy. They did a great job of doing everything and keeping me out of the loop. I had to resist really hard and not offer up my services to make baby shower favors or cook or bake something. Not that they would have taken me up on it. They had food, decorated the place, and Joy even ordered cute little baby shower candles for favors!! I didn't want to play silly games so they were kind enough to do me that favor. They did make me and Yves wear the 'hat' which we were both unfamiliar with.

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I wish someone told me how greasy my hair looked!! Or at least to brush it! It was a beautiful sunny day in the 60s. While opening the present from Peter, Skippy kept jumping up on the box! It was so cute and funny and he only did that with that gift. Guess he wants to sit in the booster seat!

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Thank you so much to my hubby Yves, Tammy and Joy for organizing it. And thanks to Pete, Liz, Elianna, Tom, Maureen, Brenda, Robyn, Alan, Denise, Ruth, Cindy and Cory for the wonderful gifts and for coming!! Woohoo!! Here are the cute candles that Joy ordered. Yes, JOY!! Even though she doesn't wrap her gifts or get cards, she ordered the shower favors! HAHA!

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Posted by luluvision at 05:40 PM | Comments (3)

March 02, 2007

Most Awesome Mail!

Fellow blogger and generally awesome person, Jennifer sent me this box full of great goodies the other day!

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We never officially met but I discovered her blog about a year and half ago when she was hosting a CD mix swap and I've been keeping up with her craftiness ever since. She and her sister have a wonderful shop and they know how to sew! If I was working, I'd definitely own a bunch more of their pouches than the one I currently own. She included adorable sock monkey onesies and a bib for the baby, bones for skippy and lots of fun stuff for me!

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Of course Skippy just knew there was something in there for him! Thanks again Jen!!

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Posted by luluvision at 01:44 PM | Comments (0)

February 26, 2007

Sew-a-thon

Last week I finally made the curtains for the nursery with the fabric I got here. Man, that was harder than I expected! It was harder because I didn't have enough fabric and I had to do math! When I bought the green fabric, I suspected that it would be too much green and I was right. I went back to the store to buy some fabric to add to the side as a sort of patchwork curtain. I couldn't decide between the pink and purple so bought a yard of each. It's a good thing I saw the cute bunny fabric and bought a yard of that too. Who knew that a yard isn't that long? Not me! So they are a little crooked but I think they came out really cute! Of course I wanted the green fabric to be the main fabric (which is on the backside) but this side had all 4 designs so we decided to make this the front instead of the back.

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Since I was in the sewing groove, I decided to make some zippered pouches for the bumblebee dinner last Friday (which I'll write about in another post). These pouches are for their Christmas presents. Yeah, I know, that was months ago! Anyway, I finally tried the printing on muslin with the help of freezer paper method that I've been wanting to try forever. Easy Peasy!

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I messed up a bit on the Ben Harper image because the muslin was a little too wide and got caught in the printer. I made sure I didn't make that same mistake with Prince's image. I took the Ben Harper image and the picture of Prince was taken by Joy, who this bag is for, if you didn't already know from the "Oh, Joy!" I added. I think it came out really cute!

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Here are all 3 bags and the lining.

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I've also been wanting to make myself a little pin cushion and finally made a quickie one. Of course, I make it after my sew-a-thon but I do plan on some more sewing (hello Morrissey pillow cover!) so it's no biggie. I used velcro so I could wear it on my wrist or put it on the sewing machine.

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Posted by luluvision at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2007

Make room!

The baby furniture we ordered from Babies R Us finally arrived yesterday, a month after we ordered it! I'll just say it took a month because of a "miscommunication", HA! Even though I really want to say BRU are a bit backwards as well as the delivery company they use but wahtever, it's all water under the bridge now. We got the crib, changing table and most importantly my glider and ottoman! wooohooo!! All iin Cherry wood, which I've really taken a liking to lately. Here are pictures of Yves (and Skippy) putting it together!

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It looks like Skippy wants to help but he just wants attention.

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Getting all the nuts and bolts in!

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It's finished! But uh,oh, a slight problem!

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Will it work, can he get it in there or will he have to take it apart?

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Wooohooo! Success!!

Let me tell you, that glider is super duper comfortable! Skippy was trying to get on it but we're not going to let him or Neo on it. It's only for us! Me and the baby in particular!!

Posted by luluvision at 02:42 PM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2007

Big belly

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photo by Shuggy

Yves took this picture of us about a week and a half ago at 31 weeks. I wish we could go back to that time because that was before I was sick! My little cough turned into a full fledged cold and I'm miserable! I can't breath and with every cough and sneeze I have, I'm trying to convince myself that it's not going to hurt the baby. I'm sure in all the history of pregnant women, the baby doesn't get hurt just cuz the mother is sick with a cold. But the coughing worries me cuz it raises my blood pressure and it's high enough already. And I can't take the cold medicine I would usually take in this situation. I'm just being a whiny baby cuz we missed the 2nd childbirthing class tonight because I'm feeling miserable and I'm going to have to miss my cdmixer tomorrow night. At least we can make up the 2nd class in March. I also couldn't sleep at all last night and tried to nap this afternoon but don't think I did so well. Being sick sucks! Being sick and pregnant sucks even more!! WAAAAHHH!!!!

Posted by luluvision at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

Wa wa wiii wa!

Tonight was the cd mix of the month meeting and the group surprised me with a baby shower. WOW! I was totally taken aback and was in such awe and amazement that the group did that for me!! What a great bunch of guys. And there were cupcakes from yummy Sugar Sweet Sunshine even though I had bought one for myself before I went in. HA! Who says I can't have more than one?? We had it the old trusty Magician, where it all started. Shoot, even Yves came by and surprised me! It is very rare for him to come out on the weeknights since he wakes up at 5 every morning for work.

So, check out the swag the baby got!!
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There's a CDMOM bib (!), an I heart mom onesie, lime green pacifer, crib cd player, an I refuse to be pacified tee, alphabet cards wall art, photo mobile, an ipod onesie, a 2 cd baby mix, Stay Awake music cd, Prokofiev's Music for Children cd, a $25 AmEx gift card and a cute teddy blanket. The baby is off to a great start!! Thanks to Joy, Brenda, Cindy, Ali, Nuno, Carrie, Josh, Bill, Laura, Ken, Ben, Robyn, Eric, Jonathan, Matthew and of course my honey, Yves for coming out!

And of course, here is my mix for the month!

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Here Comes A City • The Go-Betweens
California Waiting • Kings Of Leon
Mexico • Morrissey
Canada Vs. America • Broken Social Scene
Chicago At Night • Spoon
Detroit Rock City • Kiss
Escape From New York • Chris Mills
Fake Tales of San Francisco • Arctic Monkeys
Florida • Grandaddy
Omaha • Tapes 'n Tapes
Police Helicopters Over Brooklyn • The Sound Of Urchin
O Valencia! • The Decemberists
Tennessee • Arrested Development
Twin Falls • Ben Folds Five
Get Out the State • Spoon
From Georgia To Osaka • Gene
London, London (feat. Devendra Banhart) • Cibelle
Homesick • Kings Of Convenience

Posted by luluvision at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2007

Getting ready

Yves was home from work the past 2 weeks, he just went back on Tuesday. While he was home, he did a lot of home stuff in preparation of the new arrival in April. One of the first things he did was move everything out of the third room, which was our storage/guest room. All the shelves moved down to the basement, we got rid of a lot of old clothes to goodwill and sorted shifted things around. He cleared some space in the cabinets and his first handyman project was hanging up the pots like we had in the old apartment. I was secretly trying to hold him off of this project until after Christmas so he can use his new drill, which he loves! Here is the finished project:

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I think it came out great! We still have some pots in the cabinet but these are the ones we use most often. The lids are still in the cabinet too. Those will have to stay in there.

Then he painted the soon to be nursery. We are pretty sure of the sex of the baby (although they told us it's only 100% when the baby comes out), we didn't want a typical color for either sex and picked something that we think would be good for either sex. Lime green! Well, the official title is Tinker Bell. I wanted something a bit more deeper but Yves thought it might be too bright so we compromised. We decided to do white stripes to break up the green. Then I thought I'd add highlight colors later on via wooden shelves and other accessories in orange (of course!), violet, blue, and other colors.

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From dark blue to lime green

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Adding tape to make white stripes was harder than we thought. Yves was concerned with keeping it straight but since we weren't even making symmetrical columns, I didn't think it mattered that much.

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Revealing the first stripe!

We also went to Ikea to check out some book shelves, in which we are in dire need and we're talking mega bookshelves, not meager ones like we have. It's about time to get serious! We found one we really liked although there were 2 we wanted to see but couldn't find the other one. We'll have to go back and pick it up with the help of dad. It's going to go in the living room and the next big project will be packing away the cds. Since we hardly reference the cds once it's on our computer, we might as well pack them away.

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They'll be going from this...

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To this!

We'll be getting rid of the plastic cases and this aluminum case is supposed to fit 1,000 CDs. I'm not sure how much it will fit once we put in the booklet but we can always get more. This case was only $80 with free shipping!

Now for baby furniture....

Posted by luluvision at 11:19 AM | Comments (1)

November 26, 2006

Half way there!

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So this is my sonogram from last week, at 20 weeks. I don't really know what I'm looking at but the technician told me where the face was. If you look, you should be able to see it. Looks like Alfred Hitchcock to me! After dealing with several technicians since being pregnant, I have to say I'm not big fans of them. It must be a general thing because it wasn't just at this hospital but at another hospital I had to go to. I'm not saying they are bad people but they tend to act cold and aren't very friendly. They aren't very forthcoming when it comes to what's going on. I suppose it's not their job to tell you anything or converse with you or try to make you feel comfortable or anything like that. Maybe I just had bad luck with technicians and that there are some nice ones out there. I wish I knew where they were!

Posted by luluvision at 04:40 PM | Comments (2)