my baum shelter

Since we’re all still under the weather, the only thing we felt up to doing this Halloween was to take babyBaum over to his cousins to take some pics of them in their costumes. For babyBaum’s first Halloween, we dressed him as Charlie Brown and his cousins dressed up as Mario and Luigi. The first picture of the three of them I had to include because of its spontaneous coordinated nose picking!

Hope you had a great Halloween and received more treats than tricks this year!

More pics after the jump. . . ! Continue reading

I love, love, love etsy. For those of you unfamiliar with this site, please let me make the introductions. etsy is a website where artists of all types sell their wares. You can find anything you want that can be handmade. Paintings, Custom Portraits, Framed Photographs, Sculptures, Children’s Clothing, Pottery, Handcrafted Toys, Homemade Baked Goods, Candles, Soaps, Curtains. Seriously, you name the product – there’s an artist or two (or thousand) who makes it and sells it on etsy. The best thing is that most etsy artists are willing to work with you and custom make a product. You can also find some great vintage items on etsy.

So, for Friday’s Finds this week, I’ve rounded up a collection of some of my recent etsy purchases and some of my favorite etsy finds.

I had these mugs made for my brother and sister-in-law as a wedding gift. They were made by The House of Harriet (based in Amsterdam) using a picture from their Hawaiian wedding.

  I bought a custom stamp for each of my nieces last Christmas from CraftPudding’s shop. She has a ton of different boy and girl faces to choose from and will even work off of a photo of your child.

At FancifulForm’s shop, you can find beautifully scultped pieces to wear or for your home. And, this weekend only, her items are buy one, get one free.

Mmm – homemade maple marshmallows or espresso brownies, anyone? You can find them at Whimsy & Spice, Brooklyn based confectioners. 

Purpose Design is a shop that sells gourmet spices for any cuisine you can think of – Indian, Thai, Moroccan, French, and more!

A Seattle based shop, Red Leaf sells great bath and body products, including Bubble Bath Dough, Lotion, and Men’s Shaving Soap.

So, what are your favorite etsy finds? Share your finds in the comments.

 Well, I have to get to bed – we are still battling the Nasty Virus of ‘09.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to post Halloween pics of babyBaum tomorrow. Happy Halloween!

Our house is pitiful these days – raging fevers, intense coughing fits, runny noses. It’s definitely not pretty. We keep thinking that we’re surely on the last leg of this illness, but no such luck.

So, since we’ve been stuck inside, I was glad to receive a package in the mail from my friend Dionne who makes very cute baby hats and clothing. She had made a new hat for babyBaum – I ordered it after seeing one she made for my friend Carrie’s son. So, I pulled out the camera and we had a little photo shoot.

Isn’t he just adorable?

And, here are some pictures from the other week when it was cold and we had bundled him up.

Here’s hoping we’ll be able to get out of this house sometime soon. And, here’s hoping I get my voice back soon – it’s been five days without a voice and, well, that just doesn’t mesh very well with my personality!

Last week, we left for San Francisco to visit my brother Cliff and sister-in-law April. It was supposed to be a relaxing time of catching up, sightseeing, and just, well, relaxing. After working waaay too many hours the past few weeks, Fred was really looking forward to some time off and to some relaxation. As you know, the bathroom flooded the day before we left which resulted in me getting only 4 hours of sleep the night before we left because I was up all night packing  (it’s kind of hard to pack during the day when you are dealing with bathrooms flooding). And, then babyBaum contracted what we thought was pink eye but now know was just a really nasty virus that decided to leave an ear infection on its way out. However, we were still hopeful and determined to have a nice, albeit, short vacation. We should’ve realized that the floods and pink eye and huge rock that hit and cracked my windshield while driving to get antibiotics for said pink eye were all omens telling us to just stay put in Texas. But, we didn’t listen.

While we did get in some very good hanging out time with Cliff and April (and my parents, who were also there visiting) and while we did get to see Alcatraz, pretty much everything else about our short vacation was anything but fun or relaxing. babyBaum’s really nasty virus and resulting ear infection caused him to have 103+ degree fevers and made him anything but happy (or sleepy). Fred and I also caught whatever virus he had, causing me to lose my voice entirely. A fact that pleased my brother and Fred a little too much for my liking. And, though my voice is still gone, at least I have the powerful internet through which to speak!

We didn’t have a chance to get in much sightseeing, but we did manage to squeeze in a trip to Alcatraz, which was really pretty fascinating and provided an excellent opportunity for a good old-fashioned teaching moment for babyBaum. Luckily, I had packed just the right outfit for him. We decided a little time in stripes behind bars might be just what he needed to evaulate his behavior. His crime? Knowingly putting a toy in his mouth that had moments before been in the mouths of virus-infected daycare associates.

Here he is daydreaming of the days pre-incarceration -

And, finally, he rages against the injustice, screaming, “I swear, Mom, I didn’t know the rattle was infected before I put it in my mouth!” At this point, we felt sorry for him and felt our message had gotten through to him, so we let him out.

Back at Cliff and April’s place, babyBaum decided to befriend their dog, Aries, a Greyhound they rescued a few years back. Aries has to be the most patient dog I have ever seen. babyBaum was intent on grabbing his nose and dog collar tags (while tugging as hard as he could) as much as possible, all while Aries just sat looking amused. I’m afraid that the next dog babyBaum comes across will not be as acommodating when babyBaum tries to squeeze its nose or rip off its dog tags.

We are back in Texas and babyBaum is on the mend, while Fred and I are feeling pretty miserable. Poor Fred goes back to work tomorrow, feeling anything but rested and refreshed. But, we are both very glad to put this “vacation” behind us.

The plumbers finished repairing leak #2 and replaced our toilet. Repair of leak #1 (the major leak) to commence next week. We leave for California on a 6am flight tomorrow, so, of course, babyBaum came down with pink eye. In both eyes. I really don’t know how this week could get any worse (that’s not a challenge!). But, with prescription eye drops and Purell in hand, we are determined to make it to the Golden State for our vacation to visit my brother and sister-in-law.

Here are this week’s Friday’s Finds. Since we are getting closer to the holidays, I thought I would focus on some gift ideas from week to week. The downside of this, of course, is that my readership consists of family and friends, so you will most likely see your gift featured on here before you receive it. This week, some gift ideas for the little ones in your life.

These fantastic Jumbo Crayon Soaps can be found over at the etsy shop of Carvel Country Soapworks. A large set is $11.25 and a small set is $7.00. They also sell lollipop soaps and soaps in the shape of puzzle pieces.

I saw this hilarious Funny Faces Memory Card Game over at Land of Nod and it’s on sale for $14.95.

This subscription provided by the folks over at Uncle Envelope is so clever and creative and is such a fun gift idea! Every month, lucky recipients of this subscription will receive a different and exciting paper object or craft that could include anything from a mini comic book to blueprints for building your very own robot. From their website: Uncle Envelope will search high and low to find the best paper surprises made by amazing artists. Although all surprises are G-Rated, they are edgy and cool enough for teens. Uncle Envelope is all about art and creativity, so each month’s surprise is sure to delight kids of all ages. A 12 month subscription is $36.

What child wouldn’t want their very own teepee? You can find a handmade teepee at Gracie Bean Baby’s etsy shop and even customize it with your own choice of fabric for $130 (includes cost of shipping). There are also many other teepees handmade by other etsy artists with a lot of different colors/sizes/styles to choose from.

Have a great weekend! If we make it to California, I’ll be sure to post pics of babyBaum’s West Coast adventures.

Unlike Alexander, I did not wake up realizing this was going to be a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. My day started according to plan – Fred took babyBaum to his hospital’s daycare (which he attends part-time) to give me the day to run errands and do laundry and pack for our upcoming trip to California. By 11am, I had run to Babies R Us to pick up an umbrella stroller, to Target to pick up toiletries and baby stuff for the trip, and met with the plumber regarding our plan of attack for repairing our hot water heater pipe burst. A plan I sadly learned today would definitely involve the tearing up of newly lain wood floor and part of our foundation. I was moving and grooving and getting things done. Our plumber had told us that until the pipe was fixed, we could turn on our hot water to take showers and run the washer so long as we turned it off again when we were done. I had about 4 loads of laundry to do, so I got to work.

About 4:30pm, I got ready to leave to pick up babyBaum. I run to the master bathroom and there awaited 2 inches of standing water. That smelled. I call our contractor whose overseeing the pipe repair. I explain the problem and he tells me he is pretty sure from my description that this water has nothing to do with the already diagnosed burst pipe. He instructs me to mop up all the water (which took every single towel we owned plus some of Fred’s shirts – sorry, Fred) and call him back. We then try a few things, one of which is flushing the toilet with the water turned off at the valve. Um, bathroom floods again with 2 inches of water. Did I mention that I had already used every single towel we owned to mop up the water? I’m frantically looking at the clock, realizing I now only have 30 minutes to pick up babyBaum, who is probably very cranky since he’s not used to being at daycare all day. Our contractor who was already on his way home hears the desperation in my voice and tells me he’s confident it’s a blockage in our sewage line and he can be there in 30 minutes with a machine that can clear the line.

Fred had to work all night and I was completely overwhelmed - I have to mop up as much water as I can, go pick up babyBaum, figure out how to feed him and put him to bed while plumbers are in our house with a machine to suck out tree roots and other miscellaneous items stuck in our sewage line, oh yeah, and I was low on gas. The whole drive to the daycare, I kept tearing up. I miss living in Oklahoma City where I had dozens of friends who lived within 15 minutes and with whom I shared a years-long history of picking up one another’s babies or offering a guest room or a ride or whatever was needed when life’s little emergencies hit. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve made some very wonderful friends here in Fort Worth, but you know those friends whom you can call and you don’t even have to complete one sentence to have an entire conversation? The kind to whom all you would need to say is, ”2 inches of water on my bathroom floor!” and they would go pick up babyBaum, feed him, put him down at their house for a few hours or the night and have a margarita waiting for you at the end of it all? Those are hard friends to come by and I miss them!

So, I arrive at the daycare and babyBaum’s teacher asks me how my day was and well, I start crying. Yes, actual tears flowing down my face and all this poor woman was expecting was a “fine” or “great, thanks!” I quickly tell her everything is okay but we’re having major plumbing issues and I need to hurry and get back to meet the plumbers and she looks at me and says, “Go meet the plumbers, we’re here until 8pm – take care of that, we’ll take care of him.” I tell her that we aren’t on the full day plan and don’t pay for the care that late. She just smiles at me and tells me it’s okay. I hug her (and babyBaum) and rush back home to meet the plumbers. They hook up their machine and get to work fishing out roots and all sorts of gunk from our sewage line. They finish at exactly 7:40pm – enough time to go pick up babyBaum with 5 minutes to spare. . . that is, until I get in the car and it flashes its 5 miles until empty warning light. So, I use my 5 minutes to fill up and then go pick up my poor confused, sleepy baby. He’s back asleep, this time in his own crib, by 8:30pm and all I feel like doing is crawling into bed.

Unfortunately, I have to finish laundry - which now includes 2 extra loads of sopping wet towels – and clean a shower and bathroom floor covered with sewage line loveliness. Hopefully, tomorrow will see no unplanned emergent home repairs so I can get us packed and coordinate with the plumbers to finish the repairs from tonight (they have to reattach our toilet). And, we haven’t even started the repairs on the busted water heater pipe yet!

But, in an effort to stay positive, here is what I’m thankful for: a daycare teacher and a contractor who saw a person in need and extended a helping hand by going above and beyond their normal duty when they didn’t have to; friends who offered a place to stay if we couldn’t get our water turned back on; being able to once again use our water without flooding our bathroom; and, an imminent California vacation. And, now I bid this Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day farewell.

Last week, I posted how my friend Sarah and her husband Michael run a farm in Keller, Texas. On Saturday, we took babyBaum out to the farm to see the Pumpkin Patch. There has been a ton of rain here lately, so the ground was too wet for a hayride, but we got to walk through the pumpkins and see the animals – chickens, horses, and goats. babyBaum did not like the goats at all. He was totally enthralled by the chickens, however – I guess because they are more his size. Michael gave us a tour of the barn and milking facilities and showed us how they milk the goats and bottle the milk each day. As city folk, we were fascinated!

Here are some pics (please disregard the huge hole in Fred’s pullover)-

I love all things design. I love thumbing through design magazines and reading design blogs and channeling my inner design critic. If I had any modicum of natural talent for designing, I would so be doing that for a living. I’m afraid my only talent in the design world, however, is being able to recognize good designs when I see them. But, that doesn’t stop me from trying to design fantastic rooms in my house and, much to the annoyance of Fred, continuing to tinker with the rooms in our house until they look exactly right to me.

Two rooms that I’ve been tinkering with for far too long are babyBaum’s nursery and our living room. However, I am *this* close to finally getting them how I want them to look. I know, I know, you’re thinking to yourselves, “isn’t babyBaum almost 9 months old?” And, yes he is. But, again, if I had any natural design talent to go along with my passion for design, his room might have been finished before he was born. And, in my mind, as long as you have the nursery completed by his first birthday, you’re not an entirely horrible mother.

So, every Friday, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite finds to maybe give someone else out there some inspiration in designing their own living space. Enjoy!

This is the new rug from Flor that I ordered this week for our living room. It’s an Alexander Girard design that I’ve been eyeing for almost a year now. We’ve gone through about 5? area rugs in our living room, all of which just didn’t look right once we got them in room. And, yes, in case you were wondering, Fred LOVED hauling 5 different area rugs into the house only to haul them back to the store a few days later. So, I decided to finally to pull the trigger and make the purchase. It’s a little on the funky side but I think it is the perfect element to bring my mid-century modern living room together. I’ll share pics once we get it in the room.

Something else I ordered this week was a set of Skoy Paper Towel Replacements. We have been trying to be more environmentally conscious but have not yet been able to kick the paper towel dependency in our household. I’m hoping these will be just the ticket. I’ll let you know how they work out….

I saw these wooden block PlayShapes by MillerGoodman over at Ohdeedoh this week and I’m in love! I really, really love cleverly designed (and good looking!) toys. These are on the expensive side and not available in the U.S. for another month, but, I just might have to splurge and get these for babyBaum for Christmas or his first birthday.

These nesting M-cups, adorable nesting matroyshka dolls for your kitchen that double as measuring cups, were featured over at decor8 this past week. Too cute and priced under $15! They’re made by Fred & Friends (appropriate, no?). The perfect gift for the Russian or cook in your life. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

I’ve had several friends and family members ask how to best follow my blog, so I thought I would post a quick tutorial on how to follow this (or any) blog for my new-to-reading-blogs friends.

With my blog, you can subscribe via email. See that box to the right there that says “receive email notices of new blog posts”? You simply enter your email address and you will get an automatically generated email notice each time I post a new blog. The only person who can see your email address is me (if I think to go look at my subscriber email addresses) and clearly, I will never sell or share your information. You can also unsubscribe at any time if you find that I’m not as entertaining as you hoped, if I offend you, or you just have simply found better ways to waste your time on the internet.

Another way to follow the blog, which is especially useful if you like to follow several blogs, is through a blog reader. There are several blog readers you can use. The two most popular are Bloglines (which I use) and Google Reader (which you are already signed up for if you have a gmail account anyway). You can sign up for an account with any blog reader (they are free – you just sign up with an email account). Then you can add all of your blogs to your reader and just check that reader every day or however often you want to check in on your blogs. It will have all unread posts for each blog you read all there on one page, so it makes following several blogs very convenient as you only have to go to one website. The simplest way to add this blog to your blog reader is to click on the “subscribe” button at the top right of this page. It will take you to a feedburner page and there you can click on whichever blog reader you have signed up for. It will automatically add this blog to your blog reader.

Hope that helps – feel free to use the “Contact Me” page or leave a comment if you have any questions or, if you are more web-savvy than me (which would be most of you out there reading this) and you have any corrections to this information.

In unrelated news, babyBaum slept until 3:45am this morning and was back asleep by 4:30am, so I’m taking that as a good sign that he read my letter to him yesterday and is trying really hard to get back to sleeping through the night. I’ll keep you posted!

Dearest babyBaum,

Remember how several weeks before getting sick you had discovered the glorious art of sleeping through the night?Your dad and I thought it was the most precious gift you could ever have given us. You embraced the art of sleeping through the night as if it was the easiest thing in the world – as if you had been doing it your whole life (which we all know you most certainly had not been).

And then you came down with the Nasty Stomach Bug of ‘09 and your entire schedule was thrown off course. With all the puking and other expulsions of bodily fluid, it was impossible to stick to any of your regular routines and your poor, precious sleep was interrupted far too many times to count. We understood and dutifully took turns rocking you when your tummy hurt and changing sheets, pjs, and diapers throughout the night.

Even though the NSB of ‘09 left us several days ago, you are still waking every. single. night. Some nights, you wake twice a night. This wouldn’t be so painful for me and your dad if you hadn’t already shown us what it was like to get our sleep back. For weeks you slept from 7pm to 7am - you gave us TWELVE UNINTERUPTED HOURS for us to reclaim some former semblance of our selves and, more importantly, within which we could get a full night’s sleep.

So, I write to beg you to try and remember how much happier mommy and daddy seemed back in the STTN days. Remember how much prettier mommy looked without those scary dark circles under her eyes and how much more pleasant our mornings were together? Help me get back to the pretty days, son.

When that newly implanted internal alarm clock goes off again at 2:15am tomorrow morning, for the love of all that is decent and good in this world, please think of the scary dark circles and morning grunting and growling you are currently being greeted with and use that as your motivation to hit the snooze button, roll over, and sleep for at least 4 more hours.

Imploringly,

Your loving mother