Callaloo Soup

Kieran, 12 Weeks Old

* He loves to be held in a standing position. I keep telling him he's too little, but does he listen? if we could hold him standing all day long he'd be totally happy!

* We still don't seem to be getting into a stable eating or sleeping routine, Each time I think "ok, this is it!" something happens and we're all thrown out of wack again. I am trying to be patient.....

*However his bedtime routine is all set: bath, pyjamas, nurse, and bed, and he does seem to get it. When the time between bathing and nursing seems to be getting too long, he lets us know to hurry it up!

*He doesn't hate tummy time as much now, since I started getting down on the floor with him face to face and talking him through it. We should see some major head lifting soon I think!

*He enjoys being in his bouncy chair and has long conversations with the toys hanging from it (this is where he is as I am writing this). But after a while he gets bored or something and starts to scream at them!

*He talks a lot! He's a very vocal boy, especially after he's had a good meal.

*He's totally entranced by the painting of five market ladies which hangs over the fireplace, he talks to them a lot too.

*He really hates waking up in the morning, but complains whenever I put him down for a nap. He calms down when I sing Rockabye Baby

*He's starting to follow sounds with his head now, he totally responded to Lucas the other day when he called him, and turned his head to look at him. Then he smiled.

*He likes hearing his granny on the phone. She sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and he goes quiet and listens

* He's very sociable and doesn't mind being held by people other than Lucas and I

* He's started wearing some 6-month clothing already. It's partly due to the supah diapah effect, but he's also longer than the average 3-month old

* He likes looking at the sky, and stares up constantly when we're outside

*He loves when we play with his nose. He laughs and laughs!

*All in all he's generally a happy baby!

Family Photos

We went to a wedding yesterday, and since we were not only nicely dressed but also colour coordinated, I handed my camera to our friend Olivier and asked him to take some photos. They are the first we have of us three together! Kind of fitting that it happened on Kieran's 12-week anniversary.

Just before this, I shot some of my two guys together. I think this one is my favourite

Oh wait no. This one is my favourite

It's so hard to choose! Can you believe it's been 12 weeks since the munchkin boy was born? Tomorrow I'll do a post about what he's been up to recently. Caveat: Bear in mind that these days when I say "tomorrow' it doesn't always work in that way!

Well Lookee Here!!

I went digging through my stash of kits and found a bunch of lovely Cosmo Cricket papers. Remember how motivated I said I was feeling after my little expo? Well I put that to good use yesterday! First this canvas. I have really been loving vine images lately and a pillow I saw at the Anthropologie online store totally inspired this. (By the way, I also found out that they ship internationally. I think I could be in trouble!)

I hand cut the stems and leaves from a variety of Cosmo Cricket papers from the Farmer's Market, Early Bird and Girl Friday lines.

With the scraps I made these two cards. The sentiment on the first is from the Everafter Elements sheet.

Get close up details here

I also came across this layout while browsing through the minefield that is my image filing system.

I loved this old abandoned house I saw back home and knew it would look awesome edited in different ways. Yes, I know. This is random, very random. But it's me.

Some of my favourites

It’s never easy talking about yourself, and what you’re good at is it? I have a hard time doing self-marketing, but when I heard that Cosmo Cricket was having a Design Team call I decided to bite the bullet. So as my “application” so to speak. I want to talk about some of my favourite scrapping and paper crafting projects. It’s actually kind of hard to choose just a few, but there are some that jump out at me and make me smile when I see them.

First let’s look at my absolute favourite page about me. It’s over a year old but I really love it, because it is really a representation of my style in all things. You may call my style “any old thing lumped together” but I think the word eclecticist really encompasses what it is, in scrapping, fashion and decor. I put this page together for fun at a crop, because I loved the definition of eclecticist, and shortly after it was published in Scrapbook Trends Embellish Idea Book

I’m not what you would call a mushy person, my journaling tends to be mostly on the light hearted side, however there are certain times when reflection is called for, and turning 40 was definitely one of those times! This page was originally done for a contest (that I didn’t win!) but was later published in BHG Scrapbooks etc. as part of an article about adult milestones.

Usually I use handwritten journaling on my pages, but this one called for a cleaner look, so I printed the computer journaling out onto a journaling note.

When I first started scrapping, the majority of my pages were about travel, and it’s still a subject that I scrap about. Lately I’m mostly inspired to make pages about my trips back to my home in the Caribbean. These pages were made for challenges. The first one of the waterfront area in Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados is the kind of page where I don’t do any planning, I just sit with a bunch of stuff I love, the challenge requirements and have at it! This is probably one of the most dimensional pages I have ever made and I love the look!

The second page is my attempt to capture the quote “Take only photos, leave only footprints” on a scrapbook page. I love quotations and I scrap pages using them all the time.

You might wonder how I ended up in France, well, I met this guy and somehow my life course changed completely. He always laughs at me when I say that everything happens for a reason, but he can’t deny that the reason we were both at UMass Dartmouth at the same time was so we could meet and fall in love. This is another page done for the same contest above. It is one of my absolute favourites because it tells a bit of our story, but this is the first time it is seeing the light of day.

I mostly make layouts, but of course cards, altered items and minibooks also make me happy. Here is another project about my love story, an acrylic mini-album, featuring random photos of Lucas and I between 2003 when we met and 2007.

   

Did I mention we now have a son? Kieran was born April 11th this year, but was loved by us long before as you can see here.

In order to get ready for his arrival, I had to get organised. Being organised is not my strong point, so I needed some serious help.

He also needed some cute handmade stuff for his nursery.

I know it says “name” there, but at the time I made this we were keeping his name to ourselves. I promise I will add the “Kieran” in there soon!

So there you have it. A little peek into what I do and what I love. You know even if I don’t make the team I have had a great time taking the little walk though my scrapbook history! It’s even motivated me to get some projects done this week, so I invite you to drop by again soon to see what I get up to.

Update July 3rd: I did get creative! Look for some Cosmo Cricket projects in this post.

A Very Special Lunch

We got together with family and friends on Sunday to celebrate Kieran’s birth - his “Inauguration” as my mother -in-law called it. We weren’t many, just enough. My mother-in-law; Lucas, Kieran and I; Lucy, Loic and Ian; our friends Olivier and Vanina; my brother-in-law Manouche and his girlfriend Cécile.

 

 

As usual my mother-in-law laid a beautiful table, with a special service bought just for the occasion.  The vases are  “timbales”, the silver cups traditionally given at the birth of a baby.

 

And speaking of timbales, Lucas was presented with the one that belonged to his late uncle, who was also his godfather. We celebrated with champagne.

 

 

 

During lunch Kieran took a nap (albeit a brief one!) in a traditional Alsatian berceau, made by a family friend and decorated by my mother-in-law

Dessert was a combination of delights with home made ice-cream, Lebanese pastries, West Indian black cake and cupcakes.

I think this photo clearly shows that the entire event was a resounding success!

Crafty Mumma

Little man took a nice long nap this afternoon, and since it came on the heels of a good night's sleep, it meant that this mama didn't need to nap along with him. So I reveled in some creative time.

Gift wrap and card for Lucas' one year old godson. Here is a close up of the card

Some decorated onesies for Kieran

I love these and plan to make more!

All these projects were done using Banana Frog stamps. If you have any questions just drop me a line!

We call him "Supah Diapah Boy"

I mentioned in an earlier post that we are using cloth diapers with Kieran.

We opted for the one size fitted diapers; with some folding they work from newborn to potty trained age.

Because of this they are pretty bulky right now and so he became "Supah Diapah Boy!!"

P.S. I am working on a post about my experiences using cloth diapers so far. Stay tuned for it coming soon.

Home and He{art}

A little mini I did for Banana Frog using a large arrow stamp as a house shape. See all the details here

Two on a Tuesday

Coffee Table

Lunch

I hope you're having a lovely day!

Today I Will

• Excercise
• Cuddle with Kieran

• Drink more water
• Cuddle with Kieran

• scrapbook
• Cuddle with Kieran

• Fold laundry
• Cuddle with Kieran

• Read outside in the sun
• Cuddle with Kieran

 

Hmmm, I see a pattern developing here!