to the gods of computer technology:

please spare my computer. again.

it appears that my computer may be dying a miserable death. most likely from a virus. hopefully it will be fixed soon, but until then blogging will be sparse.

stay tuned...

roomies?

well, that's the idea. in the meantime, however, they are both having entirely too much fun to actually sleep in the same room!

HAPPY SEVEN MONTHS SYLVI!

let me just say, for starters, that i cannot believe baby sylvi is seven months old already! it can't be true! but so it is, the little roo turned seven months old today. unfortunately she is ringing in this occasion with a head cold. so she is stuffy and sleepy and her blue eyes are a puffy and red. but she is still just as sweet and cute as she can be, snot and all.

so what is she like at seven months? fabulous! absolutely fabulous! she has been testing out her voice for a while now and we are all convinced that she is going to be the talker of the family. seriously, the girl can make some noise! whether it's screaching or humming, murmuring through her pacifier as she goes to sleep or blowing raspberries, she clearly knows how to communicate. she is also enjoying reaching and grabbing at anything in sight, be it her sister's hair or whatever you've got on your plate. she's quick too. you may have noticed that she is in her "stand up toy" alot lately. this is because she loves to stand and bounce. she actually has callouses on her feet from the bouncing! if she's in her stand up toy, reaching for things around her, blowing raspberries, and bouncing away-- well, she doesn't have a care in the world!

she is also getting better at sitting up on her own and can sit unassisted for longer stretches of time before tumbing over. she has been thinking about getting up on her knees too, but i don't think she'll be crawling anytime soon. she's quite content to be where she is and if need be she can turn and roll and scoot around to get to where she wants to go.

so that's sylvi roo at seven months, just as happy and sweet as ever. we love you roo!

(insert caption here)

i keep trying to think of an appropriate caption for this photo. but i just can't. it leaves me speechless!

rainy days

what better to do on a rainy afternoon than lounge around in bed with the cat? exactly. luckily otter is just as interested in lying around as we are!

flashback!

all this talk of kiddie pools reminded me of isa's first swimming lesson! here she is getting suited up for the pool in the summer of 2007, at 8 months old. funny faces and chubby babies in bathing suits make for good flashbacks!

in pictures...

summa, summa, summatime!

that's right folks, summer has officially arrived around here. hard to believe, but we made it past the solstice before the hot temperatures arrived. very happy about that! but now it is summer in earnest-- the sun never seems to go down (atleast before 10pm), it's getting hot by midday, the fans are running and the kiddie pool is filled to the brim. speaking of kiddie pools, we had a lovely playdate this afternoon with rene, charlotte, and timothy. three out of four babies were happy as clams in the pool (or sandbox or mud) and i am pretty sure that all adults involved were able to carry on a conversation. that's no small feat for a party with four children under the age of three.

on another note, the summer 2009 session of 'this ole house' is in full swing. phil has been slaving away at the fence, the beds are planted and watered, the garden is growing well, and sooner rather than later there will be a lovely new deck on which we lounge! we have deemed this "the year of the yard" and it seems to be so. stay tuned for photographic evidence of these projects and of course some regular kiddie cuteness...

gigglebox overturned.

roo's debut

sylvi has officially made her modeling debut in the shop! she's still a little wobbly but it's well worth it for the chance to photograph those big ole blue eyes!

chatty kathy. or drooly julie. or spitty kitty.

the videos are back!

or atleast i hope so. i think i did it right. i am getting used to YouTube, as the trusty ole google video is no longer available. here is a little clip of isa, sylvi, and our friend (and babysitter) Morgan. hopefully more videos to come!

edited to add: the video quality should improve once the video has been fully processed, or so says YouTube. we'll see.

hello sunshine!

today is one of those days where i am pretty sure my children could not get any cuter. yep, no shame in saying it either ;)

isa fashionista

(tigger) roo

we're just hanging around here. or bouncing, as it were. someone has realized how much fun it is to use their legs for jumping and bouncing and spinning. this goes for her exersaucer too, which just may be the most entertaining piece of plastic we have ever purchased. there is video of that to come, as soon as we read the directions for our new video camera! that's right, the videos will be back soon! thanks to sybil for the tip on the Flip-- nothing like getting one for over 75% off.

isa's cool blue room

finally, some pictures of the latest project around here. or atleast my latest project. and as usual, it's not totally finished but being that i am impatient by nature, i couldn't wait much longer. there is trim to be painted (alot of it, actually) and framed art to be hung over the dresser and bed, but for the most part it's all put together. the lighter color makes it alot more calm and peaceful than the previous green. there are lots of nice little etsy tidbits, like the papel picado flags and the various prints, and the alphabet cards. all of the furniture, with the exception of the bookshelf, was either thrifted or refinished. isa is enjoying all of the personal space for now, but eventually she will be rooming with sylvi, at which point we will likely loft the twin bed to make room for the crib. voila, isa's cool blue room.

little of this, little of that...

...with two little girls who enjoy entertaining each other. and leftover cupcakes. and synchronized naps. not bad for a monday, not bad at all.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

here's a special birthday slideshow for the best daddy in the whole wide world. we hope your special day is as wonderful as can be. We love you!

p.s. isa looks forward to cupcakes with candles. she said so.

second haircut

it may have taken some bribery, but isa's second haircut went really smoothly! an early morning bath with mommy's "special lemon soap" and a video didn't hurt either! but hey, it worked, and the end result is one very cute little hairdo (if i do say so myself) and a happy little girl. i cut about 3 inches off and it already looks so much better. no more crazy tangles and little dreadlocks. hard to tell from the photos, but it actually ended up pretty even and with some nice layers too. as you can see, isa loves it and said, "Well, aren't I so cute!". indeed!

stay tuned later for a special HAPPY BITHDAY DADDY post!

the week, in review.

it's been a really long week around here it seems. the weather hasn't really helped. while we always welcome any rain we can get here in the high desert, we're about to start growing mold if the storm clouds don't move on! but despite that, we've still managed to get out quite a bit. and of course there was no shortage of things to do around the house either. welcoming Otter was certainly the highlight of the week! he continues to be a sweetheart and has settled right into the routine. a house with big windows is well suited for such a lazy cat! if he's not sitting in the window, he's snoozing under the bed. occasionally he walks by and says hello and gets a quick snuggle or if you're sitting on the couch he may curl up in your lap for a while. sylvi and isa think he's downright fabulous, particularly sylvi, who giggles like it's nobody's business any time the cat comes over to say hello. they already seem to have a bond, as he insists on laying next to her, just watching and purring when she goes to sleep. and even though she grabs at his ears and tail, he never flinches or seems the least bit bothered by her baby manners. kitties and babies, it's the stuff baby blogs are made of apparently.

and with that, we welcome the weekend. ahhhhhh.

meet otter!

so far, so good! otter arrived this afternoon and already seems reasonably comfortable. isa loves him and has been very sweet and gentle to him as he adjusts. i think they're going to be buddies!

hold on to your hats

tomorrow (ok, maybe friday?) we will be introducing a new member to the family, and so the blog as well! and no, i am NOT pregnant thankyouverymuch. on the edge of your seats yet?

meow ;)

the state of (business) affairs

i've had alot of people asking recently how the business is going? what was it like trying to run the shop with two kids, one of them a little baby? how was the economy affecting sales and all that jazz? so i figured i'd do a little business update, for the sake of keeping friends and family informed.

tax time was good this year in that it forced me (*ahem* or phil) to get my bookkeeping act together a bit. it was good to look at the numbers and see if they matched my expectations, as well as my thoughts on how the year went (numbers aside) and what that meant for the coming year. by the numbers, it was a great year and surpassed my expectations by a long shot. but it was also a very, very busy year-- maybe a little too busy for a family and a toddler and a pregnancy and a very patient husband. there were good lessons learned about advertising, online and otherwise, and marketing products on the great 'internets'. etsy grew by leaps and bounds, and while that is good for business in general, it also means there is alot more competition and that advertising dollars must be spent wisely. with hundreds of thousands of products on the site now, it's as much a matter of sheer exposure as it presenting a good product.

so now it's summer again and the Mountain Aven Baby will be two years old next month. i agreed to a small wholesale order with a returning customer in australia, which is somewhat unexpected but welcome. surprisingly enough, the general economic mayhem hasn't tanked business as much as i thought it might-- though the strength of the dollar has made international customers fewer and far between, which was not the case last year. while overall numbers started to decline some in february, business has still been steady (or steady enough considering we have a new baby around here!). it seems that while people are spending less per transaction, they are certainly not ceasing to buy altogether.

so there you have it. that's the business scoop. Mountain Aven Baby will remain, atleast for a while longer. thanks to all of you (you know who you are!) for your support this year-- couldn't and wouldn't have done it without you! and with that, i should probably get to sewing ;)

because it's monday

kids say the darndest things...

isa seems to have had a developmental leap as of late. usually these milestones are preceded by the most exhausting behavior-- so to see (or hear) her doing new and cool things makes the previous weeks of tantrums and mayhem seem somehow worth it. most of the time, atleast.

lately she has been cracking us up with the things she says. in general, she is expressing more free thoughts and observations. by this, i mean that she's gotten really good at letting you know what she thinks about a given subject or event or person or place. she's no longer just repeating phrases but coming up with her own genuine ideas and thoughts.

that being said, she is still venturing out into the world of language and social norms. most recently, she's been trying to repeat common phrases that involve meeting new people or seeing people we know out and about. "Nice to meet you!" is one such example, although usually she ends up saying "Nice to meet me!" instead. "It's so nice to see me!" is another example that makes everyone smile-- including isa herself, as she is quite proud to be trying out these new found phrases!

Habitat for Humanity Benefit Party

there was a benefit for Habitat for Humanity last night at the new Museum of the American West. it was great reason to go check out the new museum and to let the little ones play until they were ready to fall into bed! isa had a BLAST and has been talking about going back to "the party" since we got home last night. and in case you've ever wondered, toddler girls can seriously cut a rug! isa, charlotte and willow were the queens of the dance floor and provided entertainment for everyone there! for her part, sylvi looked around at everyone like they must be crazy. she was thoroughly entertained and happily sat back enjoying the scene. good times, good times.

flashback for two...

sylvi then (six days)

sylvi now (six months)

isa then (six months)

isa now (30+ months)