the life of juliana+kurt+liv

Happy birthday Jude!!

2011-06-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Wow. I cannot believe you are 1 already. This year has been so fast and so full! I was a little disappointed when I found out you were a boy... I only knew "girl" and felt like I was getting the hang of it. But man, I would be missing out on SO much if you had been a girl. I am so thankful to have you, my sweet smiley Jude!

You make everyone smile - me, Daddy, Liv, other kids, every lady in the grocery store, the electrician, friends at Liv's dance class, your grandmas, the checkers at Trader Joe's... literally everyone!

You are laid back and easy going, content to take in the scene and enjoy life as it comes at you. You LOVE your sister. She makes you laugh and is so protective of you. You like to chase her with your funny little army crawl - I keep telling her that someday you will catch her! You love to lay on her bed with her while I sing before naptime... she loves it too! You look for her when she's not around and I love that you two are already great buddies!

You LOVE your Daddy! When he calls and you hear his voice you do the funniest high pitched/almost silent squeal and start flapping your arms. You watch everything he does and love being with him. He adores you too.

You are a great snuggler! You burrow into my neck or chest and get as close as you possibly can. You pat the arm or back or leg of whoever is holding you in a sweet "I really like you" kind of way.

You love Row, Row, Row Your Boat (with the two of us rowing back and forth!) and Trot Little Pony. You especially love when I flip you upside down at the end.

You love the swings, wind in your face, putting food in your hair, bathtime, being tickled, music of any sort (you have impeccable rhythm!), zippers, buckles, straps, strings and food of any sort.

You have the Hilmerson ability of being able to raise one eyebrow and you do it a lot - at the perfect times!

You can be a little impatient when it comes to food - if you're in the high chair, you are very vocal about asking where the food is! I love the way you spit your plug out after a nap when I'm about to give you a bottle.

You are a great sleeper - 11+ hours at night and two good naps during the day. We just gave you a little elephant to sleep with and you were in your crib singing to her the first night. :)

You have a funny sense of humor and laugh at your mama all the time (thanks for that!) :)

You say dada a lot but not really about or to anyone in particular. You also hoot a lot - "hoo, hoo" - you are our little owl.

You are crawling (mostly army, but you started on all 4s yesterday) and you are fast!

You look like both of your grandpas. I wish they could both know you as you grow up.

You have a twinkle in your eye and scrunch up your nose when you smile.

I love you Jude. I am so happy to be your mama. I wish I could keep you little and snuggly forever but I am looking forward to all the new things this next year will bring!

Happy Summer!

2009-06-21T02:00:00.000-07:00

Words

2009-06-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Liv is talking more and more everyday. She hasn't completely mastered sentence construction yet (she frequently sounds like Yoda!) but hey, she's not even 2 so we'll give her a little more time.

Today she was in the bathroom giving the (closed!) toilet a pat and saying "Mommy potty chair!"

Yes, we have gotten out the potty chair and Liv is in love with it. She somehow knew just what it was and told us all the proper steps of using the chair in the correct order the first time we let her sit on it! She hasn't actually done anything on it yet but she is excited about sitting on it and that's a start, right?! Potty training tips anyone?

Oh, and did I mention that she's in LOVE with this skirt? She'd wear it all day everyday (and night!) if I'd let her!

It's been awhile...

2009-05-12T15:54:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a huge slacker... sometimes I'm just not in the blogging mood. :) Here are some pics to catch up on the last few months!

Eilee got this cute little kitchen set for her birthday. Liv thought it was pretty cool and they had a fun morning playing together!

In March our friends Jason & Janeen and their son Ethan came to visit. Kurt grew up visiting his grandparents in New York every summer and got to know Jason while he was there. Their moms are friends, their grandmas are friends and their great-grandmothers were friends! Ethan and liv are the 5th generation of friends in these two families! It was fun to have them here and show them around southern California! Liv really liked Jason... especially when he read to her! :)

Liv & Ethan at the fountain in the circle.

We went down to Balboa for a while one day. We rode the ferry across from the island, then played a bit on the beach and finished up with lunch at Ruby's on the pier.

We had fun showing Ethan Liv's favorite rides at California Adventure. Here are the daddys and kiddos waiting in line for something in Bug's Land (Liv's favorite!)

Janeen had never been to California and Jason had never been to Hollywood so they wanted to go up and check it out. You can see the Hollywood sign up on the hill behind us if you look closely! I think this is the first pic we have of the three of us with Liv actually smiling! Yay!

The day Jason & Janeen left we went to our neighbors' wedding out in Temecula. It was at the Wiens' family Cellars and it was beautiful! We wished that we could have been stow-aways in their luggage as they left for their month long South American honeymoon!

Liv loves the tea cups at Disneyland!

The day before Easter we went down to Carlsbad with my parents to check out the beautiful flower fields there. I've wanted to do this for a long time and am so glad we finally made it happen. It is absolutely incredible. I LOVE ranunculus and there are so many there... and they are so stunning!

Liv refused to look at the camera but I love this shot anyway.

The beautiful flower fields!

Running through the sweet pea maze.

Checking out the poinsettias with Grandma! I never knew there were so many types!

Kurt has a new hobby... golfing. Figures that he would pick it up after we've moved away from one of the nicest courses in Orange County! Anyway, he's been going to the driving range at lunch with a couple guys from work and wanted to show off his skills to me & Liv one night. We had fun hitting (is that the right word?) a bucket of balls at our local cheap driving range. I have a feeling we'll be doing this again! :)

This is what Liv looks like after her nap with two crazy pig tails. She rocks some awesome bedhead!

Finally, Kurt and I were so excited to be able to go away for a weekend by ourselves! I got a great deal at the Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage. It was SO lovely! We haven't had a trip like this since before Liv was born. We spent time relaxing by the pool, eating, walking, napping, planning for the future and enjoying a diaper and toddler-free weekend! They have an awesome pool there...

Dinner out at "the River"

We had a great weekend! Thanks Mom & Dad for taking such good care of our nugget so we could have some much needed time together!

She's always liked Will Smith...

2009-04-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Today I am...

2009-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

funny how that doesn't really seem that old anymore. :)

Liv's favorite friend

2009-03-30T13:24:00.001-07:00

Liv & Wallace don't have any choice in the matter... they basically HAVE to be friends and they HAVE to hang out. I'm sure there will come a day when Liv would rather play with a little girl but for now her favorite friend is Wallace. She LOVES Wallace. She says his name probably 20 times a day and whenever we are getting ready to go somewhere to play with anyone she asks if Wallace will be there. They don't even play together that much yet but I know Liv likes having him around... good thing, because they have years of mandatory play dates ahead of them!

Stuff

2009-02-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

We've been really enjoying our Disneyland passes and usually end up going about once a week or every other week. It is so fun to experience it all through the eyes of an almost 18 month old! Liv loves going on all the rides she can and is itching to grow a couple inches to get on some of the more intense rides! It rained this day and it made for some beautiful skies!

I love this shot of Liv & Kurt. Liv always has to step on anything that looks different than the regular ground around her so she was having a ball stepping on the rails. :)

This past week Cassi (who is due with her baby boy in just a few weeks!) and I went out to visit Bretta and her kiddos again. It's so fun to see Liv with my friends' kids! She's finally getting big enough to actually play with other kids. She had a blast playing dress-up with Hannah & Jackson! They are both so sweet with her.

Yesterday we had a little shower for Meghan & her baby girl, Skyler (also due in a couple weeks!) It was a lovely afternoon with good friends!

It's 85 today...

2009-02-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

It feels like summer. It's supposed to rain in a few days but it sure feels like June, not February around here. I decided it was high time to get Liv her first pair of flip flops.

They were much needed after I gave her a little pedicure this morning! :)

She thinks both the flip flops and the painted nails are pretty cool. That's my girl!

Hey!

2009-01-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We had a lovely Christmas and New Year's and are now sick. Yuck. I hate being sick. I hate when Kurt is sick and I really hate when Liv is sick. So I guess I'm full of hate right now. Hmmm... Here are some pics from the past month:

We've really been enjoying our Disneyland passes. We finally stayed for the snow after the fireworks one night. Liv LOVED that! I can't wait to take her to real snow someday!

Liv loves the carousel! I tried to fix her red-eye but I think I made her look possessed!

We had a lovely Christmas. Kurt's mom bought the cute little pram for Liv and Kurt thought it would be fun to just have it out waiting for her. When she came down Christmas morning she saw it and said "Oh WOW!!" and went running over to it! So cute!

We spent the morning together as just the three of us and it was so fun to open presents with Liv! Needless to say she was a bit more into it than last year!

Can I just take a moment here to brag about my husband? Not only is he a true man's man (he went to a shooting range just last night with some buddies!) but he can make beautiful bows! Look at this beauty that sat atop one of my presents. I know it's not a super important life skill but I love that he learned how to do that for me. I love making packages look lovely and he has perfected this so that I have beautiful packages too. Thanks, babe! :)

Later on my parents, my uncle, Michael & Pam and Gray & Heidi came over for more gifts and a delicious ham dinner. It's really nice to have a bunch of family around for Christmas! Last year my brother was in Iraq, Pam was with her family and Gray & Heidi were in North Carolina so it was good to be with all of them! We had a great meal and played games til way too late but it was really fun! Liv just adores her aunts and uncles. Here she is playing the ever-popular "Smash your face against the plastic" with Gray.

Lara & Joe's boys made a surprise entrance to the world a few days before Christmas. Xander and Jax are doing just fine and are both home now! This was taken when they were 8 days old. They are so sweet and so tiny! I can't wait til we are healthy so we can go visit them again!

Liv is really good at being a messy eater... and don't you love that haird0?

December 29 was Pam's birthday AND the long anticipated ultrasound day! They found out they are having a GIRL! Yay for baby girls! My brother was convinced it was a boy because he wanted it to wear dickies and be cool just like him. I found this little girl Dickies outfit and bought it a few weeks before the ultrasound on a hunch! We can't wait to meet this little girl in May!

Liv likes hanging out with Uncle Mike! He's really sweet with her. :)

New Years Eve started out as a mellow gathering but the guest list grew and it was such a fun group to welcome in the new year with! Kurt and I always forget to take pictures of us together so before everyone came over, we did!

Drew spent a lot of time by himself in the corner, wistfully looking out the window and wishing Leslie didn't have to work. ;)

We played Beyond Balderdash (love that game!) and some mean Boggle... Gray won, of course.

Dick Clark even stopped by... told you we had a crowd!

New Year's Day we went to Disneyland for a few hours and Liv got to meet Santa. This picture is pretty awesome! Love that we have this for her to look back on!

Liv got this little baby for Christmas and she is so sweet with her. She snuggles her and cradles her and pats her. And then when she's done, she throws her on the floor. We have some work to do before we leave her alone with a real baby!

Finally, Liv has a new trick... undressing herself. This is how she was when I went to get her after her nap yesterday. Silly girl. She thinks it's hilarious and says "Uh-oh!" over and over. I never know what each new day will bring!

I'm excited about 2009 and what is ahead. I turn 30 in a few months, big changes are coming to Hilmerson Photography, there are lots of new babies coming (no, not in this house!), and so much more. I think it's going to be a great year!

Major catch-up

2008-12-15T08:18:00.000-08:00

I've been a slacker. Yes, I know. So, here's a bunch of pictures from the last month and a half!

Liv thoroughly enjoyed playing with the Halloween candy... the wrappers made crinkly noises so who wouldn't? :) We didn't have a single trick-or-treater so all that candy went to work with Kurt the next day!

Our view of the smoke from the Yorba Linda fires. We used to live right there. Crazy! You can also see that our little neighborhood is now complete. I am so thankful for the peace and quiet after months and months of construction!

My friend Lara is expecting twin boys in January! We had a shower for her here in November and unfortunately I didn't take many great pictures! She's going to put this & sign on the wall in between their two cribs... so cute!

I attempted to copy Sprinkles with the little fondant circle on top of my cupcakes. They were pretty cute but Sprinkles' taste a whole lot better!

Loungey girl!

Love those big blue eyes and check out those eyelashes!

Cat was here from Ohio so we had a Monday Night Girls get together with our boys! I love these girls!

Eilee came over to play and once again she pushed Liv around! One of these days Eilee is going to realize she's getting the short end of the stick but for now they both enjoy it! Eilee loved wearing Liv's sunglasses!

I'm so glad these two are friends.

We got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and this year is so different than last! Liv wanted to help Daddy make sure the tree was straight in the stand! She loves the tree and goes over to it every morning to smell it and give it a little pat-pat. :)

Blurry pic but cute anyway. My mom gave her this shirt and it couldn't be more appropriate!

My friend Tanya got a new job in Washington DC and they moved out there a couple weeks ago. :( Before they left we had a fun girls night out!

We went to Koji's for some shabu shabu for my brother's birthday last week. Liv had a ball with the VERY sticky rice!

Michael & Pam. They find out what they're having on Pam's birthday, December 29! I can't wait to know if I'm getting a niece or a nephew!

Liv & Wallace had a blast on the little train in Crystal Court. They smiled and clapped and waved the whole time!

So... there you go. Mom, are you happy? ;) I'll post more soon!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T10:47:00.001-07:00

We went to Treats in the Streets yesterday afternoon. Liv liked her pretty little butterfly costume!

scowly face

2008-10-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Liv has been discovering some muscles in her face this past week which has resulted in some new expressions... namely a fierce little scowl. Here's the evolution of the scowl:

This is last weekend. It started as an innocent little squint.

Then the brows started to furrow a little further...

Today at lunch... a full-fledged scowl.

Fortunately she doesn't really associate it with being angry or upset, actually she's almost always smirking underneath the scowl. :) I know that will change at some point but for now it's kinda cute.

In addition to some new expressions, Liv has also become a little more fond of snuggling! Kurt and I are both so excited when she decides to be a snuggle bug for a few minutes! (And check out that curl above her ear! Yay for hair!!)

Tagging

2008-10-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by my friend Jenni and I'm supposed to say 7 random things about me. So here it goes:

1. I'm a blog stalker, okay? I just admitted it. I read people's blogs who I don't even know that well. For some reason people are just super interesting. It's one thing to be up-to-date on the lives of friends you see periodically but quite another to know all about their friends, too. So, chances are if your blog is linked to on one of my friend's blogs, I've taken a peek (or three!) at your life. I really should start commenting. If you're stalking me, feel free to leave a comment! I'm probably stalking you too!

2. I've gotten kicked out of Disneyland. Apparently they don't appreciate you wearing your own costumes there.

3. When Kurt and I got back from living in London we watched the Nickelodeon cartoon Kipper whenever it was on... it's super babyish but the two dogs on there speak with British accents and we craved hearing not only the accent but the "funny" words too. (Did you know they call a flashlight a torch?) The other night I happened to flip through the Sprout channel (never heard of it til then!) and Kipper was on. Of course I stopped and we watched it... Liv thought it was pretty cool. :)

4. Kurt gets me a glass of water every night before we go to bed. He's just nice like that.

5. I am a procrastinating, messy perfectionist. What?! Yes, you read that right. In my head I have grand plans of having the perfect birthday/anniversary card/gift purchased weeks in advance but I will usually get to the big day and either not have a card (which should have already been mailed!) or the card that I did buy weeks in advance has gone missing. So, I often don't do anything. Because in my sick twisted perfectionism, if I can't do it totally right, I seem to think "what's the point in doing it at all?" Hmmmm. Also, I LOVE the idea of a completely organized closet, pantry, garage, you name it. And, sometimes my perfectionistic side takes charge and I organize like crazy. At other times I am a complete failure in this department!

6. I don't have any cousins. Not. even. one. My mom has two brothers who never married and my dad has one brother who never married... so I also don't have any aunts. Needless to say our family gatherings and holidays were quite small and I've always longed for the big family holidays you see in movies and some of my friends actually have in real life! I keep telling Kurt we need to have at least 8 kids so we can have those wonderfully chaotic gatherings, but he's not buying that idea (& I'm not that crazy!) Fortunately, it's not just us contributing to this dream... Liv is gaining THREE cousins in 2009! Lucky little girl! We are so excited that my sister and her husband are in the process of adopting the two foster boys they've had in their home for the past 2 years! We've already had one very fun Christmas with them last year and we are looking forward to many, many more! And, we are thrilled that my brother and his wife are expecting their own little bundle next May! That makes 4 grandkids for my parents with the potential for more in the years to come!! Yay for cousins and insane family get togethers!

7. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. I've had different themes & colors for our tree - blue & silver (way back in the day!), pink, lime green, turquoise, black & gold, red, white... you name it. That being said, I have WAY too many boxes of Christmas decor. :) I also really love wrapping presents. I usually find awesome wrapping paper for Christmas at K-Mart. I don't usually like K-Mart but the Martha Stewart Christmas stuff they have is usually pretty cool & the wrapping paper is cheap! They also have great deals on cool glass ornament balls too. I'm a nerd and love to coordinate my tree with the packages underneath it. I haven't decided what I'm going to do this year... but I'm thinking about it!

So there you have it! Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more friends to do this. Don't hate me, ok? I tag: Meghan, Missy, Alissa, Erin, Jen, Cassi & Lara.

This just in...

2008-10-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Liv has been walking pretty well for awhile now... IF she's holding our finger. As soon as that finger's gone, she plops down on the floor and won't even try walking on her own. The past few days she's been standing up more and more on her own without holding on to anything. We figured that was a move in the right direction. So, just a few moments ago, I decided to video Liv as she crawled around with a sweatshirt on her head (she thought that was hilarious!) Here's what happened next:

Pumpkins!

2008-10-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today Liv and I met up with Erin & Eilee at a fun Pumpkin Patch in Irvine. It was so fun to let Liv crawl around checking out the pumpkins... it will be even better next year when she's walking!

Liv LOVES feeling things. Her favorite page in her texture book is the one that has sandpaper on it... she could scratch that page all day. Anyway, there were so many fun things for her to touch at the pumpkin patch. Of course the smooth skin was great fun to rub and pound on but she was drawn to the little scratchy bit at the bottom of each pumpkin!

She also loved feeling the straw (and the dirt underneath, of course!)

There were some goats hanging out and Liv loved talking to them and feeling their noses. She lectured them a bit like she does with that cat that hangs out on our patio. :)

I don't know why but we've never taken Liv on a carousel ride... until today! Ok, this was probably the world's smallest carousel but she LOVED it! She was kind of small for this ride but she did such a good job holding on tight and balancing!

After the little carousel, Liv checked out a little race car that she thought was pretty fun. Good thing she's been practicing her steering with Daddy!

Eilee is just 6 months older than Liv but she seems so much bigger... and she has a lot more hair! :) She walks really well and was so sweet to take Liv on a little wagon ride. When she got tired of pulling Liv, she decided to push her for a bit! It's going to be fun to see them play together even more as they get older.

Here's Liv & Eilee sharing a couple pumpkins...

I hardly ever get pics of just me & Liv (yes, even with a photographer for a husband... hmmmm...) Anyway, another mom offered to take our picture which was so sweet. So here we are... don't you think this is the best shot of Liv you've ever seen? :) Oh well.

We had a great morning and I'm really bummed that my camera battery died right before Heidi & Dahlia joined us. We had fun with them too... it's just not documented!

The last month or so...

2008-09-18T09:09:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been awhile so I have a lot to catch up on. I know I still haven't even blogged about Liv's birthday... I will, I promise! But, here's some of the fun stuff we've done over the past month.

Our good friend, Jason Vasquez, was in town from Washington DC so we had a fun high school reunion lunch at the Filling Station one day. It was fun to see him and some other friends I hadn't seen forever! Jason & I have been friends since kindergarten... I can't believe we're "adults" now!
Liv & I have really been enjoying our morning walks lately. We've made a point to walk through the campus of Chapman University because it is so beautiful and peaceful. Liv loves the fountains and especially loves staring at the students riding their skateboards to class! I think the students like seeing a smiley baby too!

It was so fun to be back in Old Towne for the Street Fair. We used to live right above the circle so we'd always have people over to enjoy the festivities. We are a little farther away now but still had fun walking over with some good friends!

This is my inherited friend, Carol Ann and her boyfriend Brett. Missy's been good friends with Carol Ann for quite awhile and now I'm in their Bunco group so we've become friends too! She is hilarious and Brett is such a nice guy. It was fun to hang out with them a bit!

Liv cruised around on Kurt's back for a bit... she kept trying to touch all the people we squeezed by! This was so much easier than trying to maneuver a stroller through the crowds! I love Sara and Carol Ann enjoying their grub in the background... so street fair!

Miss took a turn holding Liv and she loved it!

Our builder gave us some Metrolink passes so we took the train down to San Juan Capistrano for breakfast one morning. Liv loves trains and waves to them even when we're just at home and she can only hear their horns!

Kurt's mom was in town for a week so Liv got some good grandma time in...

Liv got this super fun bouncy pony from the Kennedys and Mellemas for her birthday. She thoroughly enjoys it! I love this shot of her!

We've had this toy for awhile now but Liv finally figured out how to make the little doors open on her own... so fun!

The Metrolink passes were good for awhile so Meg and I took the kids down to SJC again. We had an adventure that day with a bunch of delayed trains and whatnot but it was fun... kind of. :) We are so lucky to have pretty easy going kids who were happy for the most part with lots of cheerios and book reading! Wallace is walking now... I think Liv's a little jealous of his increased mobility and freedom!

Last week we went to the Santa Ana Zoo with Erin & Eilee and Rebecca & Logan. Liv really liked the monkeys and it was fun to be with these friends!

Kurt gave me this awesome bike for my birthday back in March. I've been wanting to ride it more but we didn't have a seat for Liv (and I usually don't leave her at home by herself! :) We finally got the right seat and Kurt installed it for me last weekend. Liv & I have been enjoying our little rides! The other day we rode over to JDW to say hi to our friends!

That's it for now... are you happy? I still have to work on Liv's bday post and I need to write about my Westmont girls weekend away AND tomorrow morning I leave for Napa with the 7 girls. Man, I have a lot to do today!

First "Sentence"

2008-09-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Liv verbalized a complete thought for the first time. There's this cat that thinks we are its family. We are NOT this cat's family, nor are we willing to pretend that we like having it on our front patio loudly meowing in our windows every time it sees us. So, we've been pretty vocal about it leaving the premises when it comes around. Liv, on the other hand, has been pretty captivated by this creature that sits on the ledge just a screen away from her. She has been pressing her face up against the screen and talking to the cat who loudly meows back at her. So, this past week Liv has finally learned that cats do not bark, they in fact meow. Liv's meow is more like "mmmmowwwwww" (think meow without the e sound). Yesterday I was holding Liv and the cat came to the window. I shook my finger (granny style!) at the cat and said "Go away, kitty!" Or something to that effect. Liv looked at me, looked at the cat and then shook her fist at the cat and said "No, no mmmmmowwwww!" :)

Toddler

2008-09-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

To me, that word sounds so much older than newborn, infant and baby. But, I am realizing that my baby is now venturing into toddlerhood. My email updates about her development now say "Your Toddler This Week" instead of "Your Baby This Week." Her super cute pink jacket from BabyGap, sized 12-18 months, also says Toddler right there on the tag. There's no escaping it.

She's also exhibiting some toddler behavior... wanting a little more independence and freedom, racing to try to get up the stairs when we're not watching even though she knows she's not supposed to go up without us, saying "no" - even though I think it's more of a mimic at this point, getting frustrated with "rules," talking, engaging with other little kids and exploring like crazy. Sometimes Kurt and I look at her and shake our heads... where is our little baby and where did this toddler come from?

And then there are times when she snuggles for a minute, or lays her head on my chest, or just needs to be held (even though that's usually followed quickly by squirming to get down!), or reaches up to touch my face while I give her a bottle and I realize that even though she's getting bigger and learning more and more each day, she's still my baby.

Happy Birthday Liv!

2008-09-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Today Liv is 1 year old! How can it be that this year is already gone? We had a party and all sorts of fun. I will post pictures of that soon but here's a shot of our little muffin on her birthday morning.

Thirty-three

2008-08-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Today Kurt turns 33. Am I old enough to have a husband who's 33? Yes, I guess so. :) Happy birthday, babe! I love you and I know another little girl who thinks pretty highly of you, too!

Morning on the Bay

2008-08-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

This morning Liv woke up early (figures.... it's Saturday!) We headed down to Newport and had a yummy breakfast at Alta and then met up with the Kennedys for a little jaunt around the bay on their boat. It was such a lovely overcast morning and we had a great time... even with two tired babies!

Liv loves water and Kurt had fun dipping her feet and legs in... she thought it was pretty fun too!

Thanks guys!

Love me some Ikea

2008-07-30T09:21:00.001-07:00

Don't you love the names of the items at Ikea? Somebody had enough time on their hands to create a Swedish Furniture Name Generator... click here to find out what you would be if you were sold flat in cardboard boxes with a nice assortment of allen wrenches. Here's mine:

I'm a winner!!

2008-07-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

Apartment Therapy is one of my favorite design & inspiration websites. They frequently have Thursday Giveaways where they award anything from vacuum cleaners to vases to the latest decor accessories. Well, last Thursday they were offering a free consultation with Designers Call, an interior design service that makes house calls! I thought,"What the heck... I could use some professional advice as we try to put our place together," so I entered the giveaway. Tonight I was about to empty the spam box in my email when the words "Congrats from Apartment Therapy" caught my eye. I won!! I'm so excited to a) win something (who doesn't like that?!) and b) have the opportunity to get feedback and ideas from a real designer about our space! Thank you Apartment Therapy and Designers Call!

Finally!

2008-07-29T16:40:00.001-07:00

We finally have color on our walls! I don't know why it took me so long to figure out what I wanted to do but we made some decisions and I'm pretty excited about how it all turned out!

Here's our downstairs living/dining room. That's a bright pink/fuschia on that wall and in the little niche. I was going to do green or orange but Kurt persuaded me to do pink after I bought a little sample paint and put a patch of the pink on the wall. It's fun and different and, as I always say, it's just paint! If we get tired of it, we can change it all in the course of a weekend!

The rest of the walls downstairs are a light gray which is my current favorite neutral. :) You can see the rug we got which ended up being a bit different than I expected it to be. It's growing on me but I'm not completely sold on it yet - it's a lot lighter and softer in color than I anticipated. (I guess that's what I get for buying sight unseen on overstock.com!) We still need to paint the fireplace a dark gray and get some art but it's starting to look a little more put together! Yay!

Here's our room. We did a brown gray on all the walls except the one above our bed which is a very fun green! Love it! We still have projects to do but this is coming together too.

The office is a little more of a yellowy green or pea green. I like it. I think it's soothing yet inspiring. Plus, I love the shot of orange and want to incorporate that here and there throughout the room.

This has nothing to do with paint but I wanted to show our new "yard!" We bought some fake grass to put up on our deck and I think it makes the space way more inviting. Plus, now Liv can crawl around out there which has been so fun! Don't worry, we'll have a party here pretty soon!

Happy Birthday Wallace!

2008-07-22T10:30:00.000-07:00

Today Wallace turns 1. Yes, already. I can't believe it. What's more, I can't believe that 6 weeks from now Liv will be 1 as well. Where did this year go? How is it that these two are crawling, standing, "talking" and actually playing with each other? I know every parent says that it goes so fast, but this year I have come to know that first hand.

Sunday was W's birthday party and it was so fun. Liv dressed up... complete with a bow in her hair (for about 5 minutes!)

Wallace wasn't too sure what to do with his cake, but he figured it out and ended up really enjoying it! I think Liv was a little jealous. She crawled over to Meghan who was holding the candle to see if she could sneak a little lick of the frosting! :)

As soon as Wallace was done opening his presents I put Liv down and she made a beeline over toward the mountain of loot. I think she thought W's new toys were the best part of the party!

We may need to get her a truck for her birthday!

Liv has recently started kissing properly (ie, lips puckered, mouth closed) ... sometimes! She gave Auntie Sara a kiss at the party.

I like this shot of W, Liv and Harrison. Harrison is such a sweet boy and is so good with Liv. Here he's showing Liv how to make a baseball character fly. :) I love how W is checking out his new firetruck in the background.

It was a great party. Happy birthday, Wallace! We love you so much!!

Better pic

2008-07-16T16:59:00.001-07:00

Kurt's phone did a better job capturing them when they were in our section... cool, huh? :)

Coldplay

2008-07-16T09:23:00.001-07:00

Last night Kurt and I headed up to the Forum in Inglewood to see one of our favorite bands, Coldplay! First of all, the Forum is disgusting and should be condemned. It was dirty, parking was a nightmare, it took an hour to get from the freeway to the place (2 miles!!) and it smelled. Other than the venue, it was a great show. We saw Coldplay a few years ago at the Hollywood Bowl and that was such a fun concert we knew we had to go again when they came back to town. Here's a more in depth review if you're interested but I just wanted to show a couple pictures.

We decided to buy the "cheap" seats, which really aren't so cheap but are definitely FAR from the stage and definitely a lot cheaper than the seats on the floor. We were in Colonnade 5 at the very back and very top of the Forum. It was a great vantage point to see all of the crazy lasers and lights during the show but actually seeing the band was a little harder. Here's our view:

Well, towards the end of the show, the band left the stage and ran through the crowd. I had read the review from the night before so I knew they were headed somewhere to sing an acoustic version of "Yellow" with the audience. This of course prompted all sorts of cheering and everyone was thrilled to get a little closer glimpse of the band. They got closer and closer to us and right as they were in front of our little section, they stopped. The section they had arranged to do their little audience sing-along from was Colonnade 5! They were about 8 rows in front of us and it was awesome! I know this picture doesn't do it justice but you can see how close they were! (They were in that swath of light!) So fun for us cheapskates in the back!! Thanks Mom & Dad for watching Liv for us!!

Confession

2008-07-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

I broke the law yesterday. Although I've been diligently donning my oh-so-stylish bluetooth earpiece since last Tuesday, yesterday I drove and held my phone while talking. And I didn't even think twice about it until later. Just wanted to come clean.

the latest

2008-06-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

a few random happenings:

Liv LOVES being in her highchair... probably because she equates that with eating, which she also loves! :) Here she is making a complete mess with a teething biscuit. Why I didn't have a bib on her is beyond me!

This is what Liv looks like when she decides not to take a nap and to hang out in a pile of laundry.

One of Liv's new tricks is pointing. She started doing this in New York - probably because there were so many interesting things to look and point at! She loves pointing to trees, lights on the ceiling, food, other kids and a billion other things. She's also kind of saying "that" although it's more like "dat" and it's super random but we can pretend she's incredibly gifted, right?

Yes, that is a bow you see in Liv's hair! Her little patch on top is finally long enough and thick enough to support a little clippy! Of course she does love to pull them out and gnaw on them!

Last, but not least.... we have graduated to the bathtub! Liv had her first full-on real bathtub bath last night and I'm pretty sure she was mad at us for holding out on her! She loves water and had a blast kicking and splashing and chasing her duckies around! She and I went swimming the other night at Erin's and she was shrieking with delight and probably would have stayed in far longer than we did. I think we have a little swimmer on our hands!

Tall & skinny

2008-06-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am pretty much resigned to the fact that I will never be tall and skinny. Definitely won't ever be tall and we'll see about the skinny... My daughter, however, just may be both. At least she is right now. Who would have ever guessed that Kurt and I would have a tall kid? The doctor has told me that she is tall and skinny at her last two check-ups. Let's hope this lasts so she doesn't have to know the world of too long pants & shirt sleeves & needing a step stool to reach the second shelf of her cupboards!

Unfortunately, according to this equation for genetic potential height, she doesn't have much hope!

(Dad's height - 5 inches) + Mom's height = Daughter's genetic growth potential
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj2

(5'8" - 5") + 5'3" = 5'3" = my height!
jjjjjjjjjjj2

Oh well. I hope she's enjoying it while she has it! :)

What is my problem?

2008-06-05T11:12:00.001-07:00

I know I haven't blogged about our New York trip but I am working on it and it was a wonderful vacation. Right now I am trying to find a rug. When we were in New York I made a point to go to a few of the cool design stores to try to find something that would fit with our new couches... something fun, modern, different. Well, I found the PERFECT rug! We were meandering through one of my favorite sections of Soho and found a store called The Rug Company (original, I know!) We popped in and the super nice sales guy went through this huge pile of rugs with us and then we saw it.... THE rug. (It would look way better on my dark bamboo floors with my charcoal gray couches... in my opinion, of course!)

It's fun, different, modern AND it has both green and orange in it! (I've been trying to make my mind up about which one to have as my accent color downstairs.) Awesome! And, when we asked if they shipped, they told us they had a store in LA. Even more awesome! The super helpful sales guy wrote down the info for me and then I asked about the price. Ummmmm... yeah. He said it was one of their less expensive rugs because it didn't have any silk in it. Cool... I usually have a knack for picking out the most expensive thing in a store. Seriously, take me to a 99 cent store and I will probably find the one thing that is $1.50. Anyway, the price. $5700. Yeah... for a rug. Needless to say we won't be buying that rug. Not with our budget, and definitely not with a little girl who likes to spit-up.

So, I'm still looking for a rug. What do you think about these:

They are all significantly cheaper than my New York find, but I just can't make up my mind. Am I the only person out there who obsesses about a rug? Probably. If you have an opinion about the rugs, let me know!

1

2008-05-16T14:41:00.001-07:00

1 day til we leave for New York!! I'm so glad we're going to miss some of this heat!!

5

2008-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

days til we leave for New York. We need a vacation and I'm so looking forward to chilling in Central Park and exploring the city. We are also going to Kurt's grandma's house to celebrate her 90th birthday! I'm so glad that Liv will get to meet her great-grandma! She will also get to meet her uncle Gray for the first time. Hooray for vacation!!

Cat & Dan's wedding

2008-05-11T16:59:00.001-07:00

Wow. What a weekend. I have been doing flower stuff non-stop since Wednesday morning and I am beat. I've never had back-to-back weddings like this before and now I know that I can do it... with a number of extra helping hands!! Both weddings were really beautiful and meaningful and I was honored to be a guest at each and I think the flowers were awesome, if I do say so myself. These weddings were so different but both were visually stunning!

For Cat's wedding on Friday, the theme was tropical, beachy and lime green orchids! I had never worked with cymbidium orchids before and this was a really fun way to get acquainted with them... all 220 heads of them that we used for her wedding! Wow. The bouquets just popped in front of the bridesmaids' black dresses.

I stole this picture from Michelle's blog... thanks Michelle! Great shot!

I got to do this cool "flower girl" basket that I've wanted to do for a long time. So cute!!

Cat wanted a very dark purple bouquet with the lime green. She looked absolutely stunning and her dress was perfect for her! She is already tall and elegant and that dress just helped her rock it!

Cat & Dan's wedding was an intimate affair on the beach. I've never been to a wedding like that. It was perfect. Simple, peaceful, beautiful and meaningful. It was wonderful to see Cat walk down that aisle to the man God had prepared for her. We had prayed for Dan for many years but it wasn't until this past year that we knew his name and what he looked like.

The reception was held at The Cannery on the patio. We did three different types of centerpieces and it was so fun to have some creative license from the bride to play a bit! I've never had an opportunity to do fun tropical stuff and these turned out so cool! Thank you to Heidi, Lara & Jen for all your help! I seriously couldn't have done it without you all!

Here are the Monday Night Girls!

Cat & Dan, congratulations! I love you guys and hope you are having a wonderful, relaxing honeymoon! Thanks for letting me be part of your big day!

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms! We have had a very chill day. We went to church this morning and saw Wallace get dedicated. Afterward, we tried to take a pic of me and Meg with the babies but they were both tired and cranky. Here's the best shot... fussy little ones!!

It has been so fun to be a new mom with Meghan. Liv and Wallace are just 6 weeks apart so we have had so many similar experiences at about the same time. We are both continually amazed that this is our "job" now and that it is so fun. We really are blessed to be able to stay home with our babies and to hang out weekly!

We are exhausted from working so hard on two weddings these past few days so we are laying low the rest of the day. Don't you think Mondays should be part of the weekend? I'm not ready for Kurt to go back to work tomorrow.

Slithering

2008-05-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have a very cute little slitherer around here now. Liv is on the move! She's not quite crawling but she can definitely get from one place to another and is extremely motivated to get to anything she can get her hands on. We have some major baby-proofing to do in the very near future. I know everyone says that everything changes once kids get mobile and they are definitely right! Wow. Life is gonna change around here really quickly!

Grandpa time!

2008-05-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

Liv LOVES pulling hair these days. She particularly enjoys pulling Kurt's chest and arm hair and has discovered my dad's goatee as well. Ouch! Here she is enjoying some time with her Grandpa last weekend at Koji's.

TYDTWD

2008-05-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Although the official Take Your Daughter to Work Day was in April, Kurt took Liv to work last Friday. Everyone at Pictage likes her for some reason :) and they got sick of just seeing pictures. She had a blast hanging out with all of Kurt's friends and was passed around all day. She is seriously already a little social butterfly! I'm sure that not much actual work got done, but I think everyone had fun.

when it rains...

2008-05-06T08:14:00.001-07:00

Big week around here... My sister was in town for a family wedding this last weekend and was our first overnight guest in our new place. Liv loved having her auntie here and it was nice to just relax and hang out a bit! Abigail left yesterday and I am now officially in crazy mode.

We have two weddings this weekend. By we, I mean Kurt and I. He is shooting both weddings and I am doing the flowers for both. Yes, we are insane and totally nuts but we are excited! This whole wedding business gets a whole lot more complicated when you have an 8 month old to think about too! Fortunately, my wonderful friend Cassi is coming down to be Liv's nanny for the weekend so I don't have to think about bottles, diapers and all the other little things that usually make up my days!

Anyway, I'm really excited about these weddings... both brides are very special to me. One is my dear friend Catherine from my Monday Night Girls group. She is getting married Friday on the beach in Newport and we are doing lots of fun tropical, funky flowers. Her reception is going to be on the bay at The Cannery. So fun! Her wedding day is also her birthday - what a great day!! Here's Cat & her wonderful fiancé, Dan.

The wedding on Saturday is for Meghan Perstac. She was in my small group back in 1997 when I interned with the jr high group at Calvary. She and her friend Stephanie Philp teased me and Kurt all summer long that we were going to get married and all sorts of other fun jr high girl thoughts about two staffers. Little did any of us know that they were right! Of course they took credit for our union when the time came! Anyway, I am feeling super old that it is now time for Meghan to get married! She has a very creative style and her wedding flowers will be very natural and organic looking with lots of moss and dried split peas! Here's Meghan & her soon-to-be husband, Rick.

Aren't these girls just beautiful?! They are both just as beautiful on the inside and have hearts of gold. I am so excited to be a part of helping to make their wedding days beautiful too!

Picnic with friends

2008-05-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

We took advantage of Alissa being in town and had a little play date Wednesday morning. She and her girls, Kate & Amelia, Meghan & Wallace and Missy came over and we hung out for a bit. We have such great light that I couldn't resist taking a few pictures!

Here's the adorable Kate... she is a natural in front of the camera!

Here's beautiful Amelia! I know this isn't the best angle, but floppy babies are hard to photograph well (at least for me!) Aren't her big, blue eyes just stunning?!

We walked over to the circle and had a picnic in the middle. Kate thoroughly enjoyed the cream cheese on her bagel.

Wallace looking a little gangsta!

We attempted to get a decent picture of the 4 little ones together. This may have been an impossible task. Here's one of the better ones I got...

I love this little moment. In the midst of the craziness of all 4 of us "grown-ups" acting like children in order to get the real children to all smile and look the same direction, Kate decided that her little sister needed a little attention and sweetly kissed her little head. What a loving big sister!

We had a great time and it was so fun to be with Liss and her kids. We can't wait til they are back in town so we can do it again!

Seven

2008-04-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Alissa is in town and that is the best reason for a girls' night out! We started in with a little hang out time with her girls. We finally got to meet the beautiful Amelia Paige who is already 3.5 months old! Of course I didn't take a great picture of her... I will try to do that tomorrow! Here's Liss with Liv and her daughter Kate who is SO grown up now (at 2.5!)and just a delightful, spunky girl!

Liv is fascinated by older kids right now. She loves watching them play and run and she squeals with delight at their antics. Kate was so excited to share her toys (and ballet moves!)with Liv and instructed her not to eat the little doll she gave her! :) It was adorable to watch them "play" together and I wish we could have regular play dates with these dear friends! It won't be long before Liv is running around with Kate!

The seven of us enjoyed a great dinner at Javier's at the Spectrum. Yum!! I love these girls and am so blessed to have this incredible group of friends!

Coldplay Single Review

2008-04-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

Coldplay has a new album coming out soon but they released a single this week. You can download it free from their website. Here's Liv Hilmerson's exclusive review for your viewing pleasure:

That's two emphatic arms up! :)

Our little artist

2008-04-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

Liv is very resourceful when it comes to finding media for her art projects. Today it was a little breakfast... previously ingested and partially digested.

The end of an era...

2008-04-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

This past week we said goodbye to something that was somewhat of an icon around here... Liv's SwaddleMe. Liv happened to be one of those babies that had a lot of trouble sleeping without being wrapped up nice and tight. We called it a "Liv burrito" but many of our friends called it her straight jacket. Call it whatever you want but we called it a good night's sleep. For the past 7.5 months Liv slept in her swaddle - arms straight at her sides except when she managed to escape and pop an arm or two out. The past month she had been "escaping" more often than not and waking up each time so we decided it was time to banish the swaddle. Liv has adjusted to sleeping "in the wild" so well! She loves being on her tummy and we are so glad to not have midnight re-swaddle-me sessions anymore! Plus, I think she's pretty darn cute with her little bum sticking up a bit! (And yes, we have lowered the crib since this picture was taken!)

$0.91

2008-04-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

I got our electric bill today from Southern California Edison. Our new place has solar panels and last month our bill was $14 which is pretty good for a 2000 sf house. We usually paid $35-$40 (except when we ran the air) at our place in Fullerton that was 400 sf smaller. Anyway, I logged onto SCE today and our new bill is $0.91. Yes, you read that right, NINETY-ONE CENTS! Wow.

Liv loves to swim!

2008-04-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took Liv swimming at the Wallace's. She loved it although she wanted to drink the water.

This past weekend we went to the pool at our old place in Yorba Linda. Kurt got to see how much she loves the water!

And here she is "laying out." :)

Saturday Morning Snuggle

2008-04-15T14:44:00.000-07:00

I love Saturdays because they are the only days all three of us get to be lazy and enjoy some snuggle time together before starting on the weekend's activities. Liv rarely lays still very long but this past weekend she was quiet for a few minutes with Kurt.

And the three of us had a few peaceful moments together too... quickly followed by lots of shrieking, laughing, airplane playing and whatnot. I love this stage (and how red Liv's hair looks at times!!)

Parenting Advice

2008-03-31T15:25:00.000-07:00

I love when people you've never even seen before offer up their take on how you should raise your children. For instance, while perusing the yogurt section at Whole Foods today I heard someone behind me say "Well, if that isn't the Gerber baby!" This is not an uncommon comment about Liv... especially when I have her little tuft of hair sticking up! I probably hear this about 5 times a week and usually I smile and have a little chat with the person about how old she is or whatever other questions they pose. This woman, who was probably in her mid-thirties, smiled and said something about how cute Liv was. I thanked her and went back to reading the ingredient label on the yogurt I was considering. Then, right after she passed us, she turned around to me and said "You should always have your eyes on your baby... ALWAYS." What? It's not like I had left Liv on another aisle or even 3 feet from me... my hand was holding her foot for crying out loud! Does this woman seriously think it's possible to do any sort of shopping, let alone grocery shopping including disecting ingredient labels, with both eyes firmly glued to your child? Get a clue woman! I know there are wackos out there and I am always very attentive to Liv but I also believe that most of the general public are probably pretty nice, decent folks and that if I happen to avert my eyes from my daughter for, oh say, 30 seconds to read a yogurt container, that most people passing by will smile at her rather than harm her. Perhaps I'm too trusting but I don't think so... I really do believe most people can resist the urge to kidnap a child who is strapped into a grocery cart and whose mother has a firm grasp on her foot!

You never know what you'll see in downtown LA...

2008-03-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

Interesting passenger...

Easter Weekend

2008-03-26T11:01:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Easter weekend. Saturday morning we got together with some friends from Canvas for breakfast and a little Easter reflection. We love these people and feel like they are family!

Here's Liv with Amy:

Some of the girls: Kathy, Nicole, me, Lisa, Amy & Liv

Sunday we went to the Rock Harbor service at the Pacific Amphitheatre. It was HOT!! Liv hung out with our friend Cat in the nursery & was chillin' in an exersaucer when we got back. It's always nice to see your kid having fun and being well-behaved when you're not around!

We had a little picnic with my parents and uncle that afternoon. It was so nice and warm and a perfect day to relax in the shade.

Liv kickin' back with Daddy...

and enjoying some Grandma time.

Kurt & I also had a nice little date night on Saturday. We went out for Indian food (thanks for the recommendation, Amy... we promise to take you next time!) and then saw a movie. We haven't been to the movies forever and the last time we went we took Liv. It was fun to be out together without Liv although I do kind of feel naked without her! :) She enjoyed her night with Grandpa and Grandma and was sound asleep in Grandma's arms when we got home. Thanks for babysitting, Mom & Dad!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

Blue Grout...

2008-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

What? You haven't heard? Blue grout is the latest trend... yes even with your classic travertine or modern cement-look porcelain tile. Ok, fine. Blue grout isn't cool and hopefully it will never be a mainstream trend BUT... I am sporting it in my laundry room right now. So, if you decide to leave a nearly full bottle of liquid laundry detergent on top of your washing machine and then do a load of laundry, you too may come back to find a pool of blue soap all over your laundry room and if you're lucky you might just end up with blue grout.

First beach day!

2008-03-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Meghan & I took Liv & Wallace to the beach yesterday. It was Liv's first time going on the sand and feeling the cold water on her feet. She LOVED the sand!

Liv recently mastered the fine art of sitting up and she and Wallace were so cute sitting there in the sand.

Of course Liv couldn't resist the urge to put this new stuff in her mouth!

Wallace & Meg

After playing for awhile Liv was a little tired and she snuggled with me for a bit. This was so sweet because she NEVER sits still... she is such a busy body and the only times I really get to hold her like this are when she's asleep. She did nod off and took a little nap... I enjoyed every minute of it!

We had such a fun day and are looking forward to many more of these in the coming months! Hooray for Spring!

Home at last!

2008-03-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

I have always loved the pictures in the newspaper showing servicemen (& women!) coming home from deployment and seeing their loved ones for the first time in months and sometimes for the first time ever for all those babies that are born while their daddies are away. I was really excited to be there when my brother came home from Iraq. I imagined a big bus pulling up and mass chaos as the troops exited the bus and rushed to their families. I imagined a warm afternoon with kids running around and a military band playing. Ok, maybe not the band, but the rest of it. I was a little off...

My brother was supposed to be to Camp Pendleton at 10 in the morning originally. As the day drew closer the time gradually got pushed back until finally, on the day of, it settled at 7:30 pm. My first thought was that 7:30 does NOTHING for the beautiful, emotional (not to mention well-lit) pictures I had planned out in my head. Yes, a somewhat selfish thought, but I wanted to document this well! My second thought was "oh goodie... Kurt can come!"

Kurt got home from work and we headed down to Pendleton, arriving just in time. Just in time to wait, that is. My dad likes to say that the military's slogan is "Hurry up and wait." So we waited. There were a bunch of people... wives, kids, parents, grandparents, girlfriends, boyfriends, you name it. They had food and music (no, not a military band... a couple of speakers blaring everything from country music to Dave Matthews) and a bounce house (obviously whoever planned this thing knew that the kids would need something to keep them entertained as they waited. Heck, I almost went in for a bounce myself.) Every so often they would stop the music and say that the guys were just about to come.

Around 9:30, after my toes had frozen through (don't wear flip-flops to Camp Pendleton at night in the middle of February!), they finally came. It wasn't a bus and mass chaos. Rather they filed in in orderly ranks... quietly, solemnly, dutifully. The anxious crowd was anything but quiet. Everyone cheered, patriotic music played, there was clapping and flag waving. It was all very moving. At that point I don't think it mattered what anyone thought about the war and whether or not the US should be involved. At that point everyone was proud of these men and women who had served well... Proud and glad that they were home after a long seven months!

The troops stopped in a long row of ranks as their commander barked out the last orders of this tour. They turned, backs to us and held that position for a moment. The commander shouted "About face." The crowd went nuts as the travel-weary troops faced us. Everyone scanned each face, hoping to find the familiar one they had missed so much. Then came the words everyone had been waiting for..."Company dismiss!" Then came the chaos. Michael knew right where we were and walked straight to us as we all squinted trying to pick out our camoflauged brother/son/husband in the dark.

Even though it wasn't well-lit and perfectly photographable, it was still beautiful and emotional to watch him greet his wife, my parents and Kurt. It was so fun to introduce him to Liv and see her face as she checked out her uncle. And of course it was great to give him a big hug myself and welcome him home. He had been gone longer while he was stationed in Japan but it was different this time and we were all so glad that he was home, safe and sound.

Coming home!

2008-01-27T22:31:00.000-08:00

My brother Michael has been in Iraq since July... that's a long time to be away but especially long when you're newly married and newly an uncle! We are so excited that he is scheduled to leave Iraq next week and should be home a few days later. We can't wait to see him and I can't wait to introduce Liv to him.

Here he is with his new best friend... Rock on Walker Texas Ranger!

We are moving!!

2008-01-22T10:43:00.000-08:00

We are in escrow! Hooray! We are so excited to be moving back to Orange! It's been 4.5 years since we left our awesome apartment above the Circle. We are moving just 5 blocks away from our first place which is so fun! The builder that built the place we had in Fullerton is building in Orange, near the train station. We placed an offer and they accepted it a week and a half ago. Last time we had 6 months to think and plan and this time we have a few weeks because the place is already built... it just needs flooring! We love the floorplan and can hardly wait to be back in Orange!

This is our place... 529 West Maple! I adore all the huge windows....

and we are particularly excited about the rooftop deck! Margaritas anyone??

Major catch-up time...

2008-01-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I wrote... needless to say it's been a busy month and a lot has happened! I'll do my best to get up-to-date!

The weekend before Christmas, Meghan and I planned a surprise for our boys but when we got there, the place was closed. So, we headed over to Strawberry Farms for breakfast and then an impromptu photo shoot. More pics on Kurt's blog.

It was fun to see Kurt with Wallace... I get to see him all the time but Kurt doesn't. They had some good bonding time at the restaurant. I think he's looking so old! (Wallace, that is!)

Liv found her feet!! She is in love with these built in toys and has recently realized that she can get them in her mouth! She also started rolling over... first from stomach to back and now back to stomach. She can't keep still anymore and is pulling her little legs up underneath her when she's on her tummy and trying to scoot along. I'm afraid she's going to be an early crawler!

I love Christmas! We had a lovely day... we spent the morning as just the three of us which was so special and fun.

Liv knew something was different Christmas morning. She patiently waited as we got everything ready. She particularly enjoyed the wrapping paper!

Our first Christmas as a family!

Kurt's mom sent this super soft kitty for Liv. She included a note that said it was the best kind of family pet... with no litter box! Liv LOVES this guy! She immediately set to drooling all over him. She is certainly in an oral stage! Anything she can get in her hands goes into her mouth!

My sister Abigail and her husband Matt were in town for Christmas along with their two foster boys, M & S. We had a lot of fun with them & Liv finally got to meet her first biological aunt! The two boys are so cute and it was so fun to play auntie to them. We are hoping that Matt & Abigail will be able to adopt them!

We have been living on the beautiful Black Gold Golf Course for almost a year and we've never been able to try it out. It was closed on Christmas Day so we all went for a walk. Kurt borrowed some clubs to try a little driving. He looked pretty cool swinging that club but that ball hit a roof in our neighborhood and we took off running! :)

Christmas was a lot different this year. We typically have a quiet celebration with my parents, Kurt's mom and Gray when he was here. I do believe the years of quiet gatherings are done! We had so much fun with Liv and M & S! Kids make Christmas even better!

We spent New Year's Eve at Meg & Rian's. Liv was just about ready to go to bed when we got there but we just had to get a shot of her and Wallace for their first New Year's together. Needless to say, Liv was past the point of smiles & giggles. She's gonna love these pics when she's older! I love Wallace's "what are you crying about?" look!

Me & Heidi at midnight!

Christmas Dinner with the Girls

2007-12-19T09:58:00.001-08:00

This year we gave up our $5 gifts or gift exchange for an incredible dinner at Savannah. We had such a lovely evening!

After our delicious meal, we went to the stunning California Scenario garden that is tucked behind the restaurant in between a couple high rise office buildings and a parking structure. I have always loved this space and I just found out it was designed by Isamu Noguchi, a modern designer whose work I love! This is an incredible place for a photo shoot and I almost asked Kurt to come down and take some cool photos of us girls. He was taking care of Liv so we made do with our little point and shoot cameras... I don't think we did too badly!

Meghan got this shot of me & Heidi taking the next pic.

You may have noticed it was a party of 6 instead of our usual 7. Alissa couldn't be with us because she is due in just a couple weeks and couldn't travel down from Concord this year. We missed her but can't wait to meet baby Amelia Paige!

Those kinds of friends...

2007-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:00

I consider myself to be incredibly blessed in the friend department. I know it is uncommon to maintain close relationships as you move through the various stages of life but I somehow still have a number of wonderful friends from each stage of life... from infancy, elementary school, high school, college, work, church and some random places in between. What an incredible gift! Last night I had the privilege of being with two of my friends from Westmont. I say this over and over, but I can't believe that I only spent one year there. The depth and quality of the relationships formed that year is so amazing to me and here we are 10 years later, at a completely different stage in life, still enjoying each other's company and connecting with each other's souls.

Kurt was going to a photography party up in Santa Barbara and I asked if Cassi, Liv and I could join him for the trip. We sat in horrible LA traffic, and then horrible "overturned big rig" traffic for 3 hours to get there. We dropped Kurt off at the party and then headed over to Liza's house. Liza's husband Dave offered to take care of Liv (in addition to their two kids) so Cassi, Liza and I could have a girls night out. What a guy! We hit up a local Indian restaurant and spent the next few hours enjoying some great food and even better company. I love that there isn't any awkwardness or warming up period with these girls. We laugh as hard and share as deeply as we ever have... maybe even more so because these past 10 years have been full of life - incredible, wonderful things and hard, heartbreaking things - and there is an intimate connection that comes when you honestly share life with others.

We got home at 2 this morning... Liv woke up and was cranky and tired and probably wondered why the heck we had bothered her sleep so much. I hoped she would sleep in this morning but she was up at 7:15. Now I'm tired (and maybe a little cranky) but I would repeat our evening again because when you have those kinds of friends who know you and love you and who you can be completely real with, you don't think twice about traffic and cranky babies. Our time together was worth it.

Monday Night Girls Christmas Party

2007-12-11T19:52:00.001-08:00

We have been meeting together for almost 7 years - sometimes more frequently than others and last night we had our annual Christmas gift exchange complete with lots of laughing, a little crying (something about an ambiguous duo...) and plenty of fun. I love you girls! (and don't mock my shirt... I know it looks weird!)

Joe & Lara's Christmas Party

2007-12-10T10:02:00.001-08:00

Last night Kurt & I headed up to LA for Joe & Lara's annual Christmas party. Their downtown loft was absolutely beautiful... all decked out with black and white for Christmas! It was fun to get dressed up and be with our good friends.

Sunsets

2007-12-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

We have had some incredible sunsets lately. Yesterday was so clear thanks to the rain on Friday & Saturday. We could see Catalina Island all day and the sun was beautiful shining off the water. I'm going to miss this view when we move.

Lunch at Alta

2007-12-08T18:34:00.000-08:00

We had a late lunch at Alta in Newport today. The light coming through the window was so perfect!

While we were there it started raining. We love the rain and hope that Liv will too! We saw a beautiful rainbow on the way home.

Laguna Beach Swings

2007-12-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

Liv and I hung out with Meg & Wallace in Laguna Beach the other day. There's a little playground at the end of Main Beach and we stuck Liv & Wallace in one of the swings. They were so cute in there!

Liv's bucket of toys

2007-12-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I needed to put some laundry away in Liv's dresser. She was a little grumpy and I knew if I set her down on the ground she wouldn't be too happy. So, I made a space for her in her collection of stuffed animals. She was so cute snuggled in there and happily hung out with her little friends while I put the laundry away!

Long overdue...

2007-12-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

We had a very relaxed, chill Thanksgiving. My parents came over and Kurt's aunt Helen was also able to join us from Hawaii. Of course Liv was the center of attention. We are thankful for this beautiful little girl who has stolen our hearts! We can't imagine our life without her!

iPod baby!

2007-12-03T15:08:00.001-08:00

While at South Coast Plaza this weekend, we stopped by the Apple store and took a pic of Liv checking out the new iPod nano. The Apple employees were eyeing us closely as we set up the shot. Liv was happy to smile for the picture and show off her new hat! She is getting so big!

December Top Picks

2007-12-03T14:41:00.001-08:00

I can't believe it's December already! Here are my top picks for this first week of my favorite month!

1. A new planner - Yes, it's back to orange this year, although I did contemplate pink for a minute. For some reason I just love orange and while I do I might as well go all orange! I love these pocket planners by GLC. You can find them at most Borders bookstores.

2. Christmas music - Kurt will be the first to tell you that I have a slight obsession here. I just LOVE Christmas music and each year I try to find some new, hopefully interesting, if not good, music to add to our collection. This year I bought Sufjan Stevens collection of Christmas EPs. He has some cool takes on the traditional carols and whatnot, along with some fun originals. This is definitely not your typical Christmas album, but if you like to mix it up, I recommend this. My second purchase was an impulse buy. I've always enjoyed Ottmar Liebert and his nouveau flamenco style. He and his band, Luna Negra, mix elements of flamenco with jazz and bossa nova. When I was at Borders this weekend I saw that he has a Christmas cd out. christmas + santa fe is a cool, chill album. Great for background music!

3. Online Christmas shopping - I love getting a box from Amazon with such a random assortment of gifts inside that I would never be able to buy at just one retail store! I am doing so well on my Christmas shopping this year. I guess it does help to not be at a real job all day. My new little "job" can go shopping with me!

3 months old!

2007-12-01T15:27:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Liv loves the wind! She was squealing with delight as we crossed the bridge from South Coast Plaza to Crystal Court on her 3 month birthday!

Liv & Elliott

2007-11-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago we got together with Josh & Cassi to shoot some pictures for their Christmas card. They brought their little dog Elliott. We thought it would be fun to introduce him to Liv. I think he was a little more excited than she was. Check out that tongue! Don't worry, we didn't let him lick her! Yuck!

Real Clothes...

2007-11-15T09:02:00.000-08:00

I've had to get Liv some warmer clothes as the weather's gotten cooler (although today it's going to be 90 - yuck). I think Liv looks so much older in these than in the little onesies she spent the first 2 months of her life in. I love these little jeans, even if they are still a little big!

Balboa Island

2007-11-06T08:48:00.000-08:00

Kurt got off work a bit early yesterday (a rare treat!) so we went down to walk around Balboa island. Liv got a little sick of being in the stroller and it was pretty chilly so Kurt made an impromptu baby carrier with his jacket. Liv loves looking around so she was content to be snuggled up with her daddy and checking out the beautiful bay!

Two months!!

2007-11-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Liv is two months old! I can't believe it and I already find myself realizing why parents always say that they grow up so fast! She is now 11 lbs 10 oz (almost 3 lbs heavier than when she was born) and she's grown 3 inches too. Kurt and I keep asking her how she got so big. She did so well at her check up. We are going to the pediatrician both Kurt and I went to when we were little. We didn't know each other then but we could have been sitting in the waiting room together - crazy!

Halloween

2007-11-01T07:57:00.000-07:00

Meghan and I decided to try to find a pumpkin patch to take some pictures of Liv & Wallace. We couldn't find one anywhere but we did find these gourds at Roger's Gardens! It must have been a little uncomfortable but neither one made a peep!

That night we joined some other friends at Meg & Rian's house to hang out, bbq and watch some old (embarrassing and hilarious) videos. Liv didn't have a costume but her Little Pumpkin onesie did the trick. Wallace was adorable in his little cow outift - check out those dimples! Liv doesn't smile on demand quite yet... we're working on it!

The three of us... seems like one of us is always the one taking the picture so it's nice to have one of us all together!

Fridays with Grandma

2007-10-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

My mom gets every other Friday off from work so she's been coming over to get in a little quality time with her favorite granddaughter (ok, her only granddaughter!) I think they both enjoy it!

9:00 naps

2007-10-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Liv has settled into a fairly predictable schedule which is so nice! The past week or so she has been ready for her morning nap at 9:00 on the dot. Chances are if she's been fed, changed, played a little bit, smiled at me for awhile and then suddenly gets cranky, I will look at the clock and it will be 9:00. This has been a great little break for me to eat breakfast if I haven't already, take a shower (imagine that!), watch Regis & Kelly :), and get some things done! I hope this lasts for awhile!

Smiley girl

2007-10-23T16:13:00.000-07:00

Liv started to smile a couple weeks ago and it is the sweetest thing! She always smiled in her sleep but it has been so fun to see her smile at us while she's awake! Sometimes she opens her mouth so much when she smiles! Here she is laying on the beautiful quilt that her Auntie Heidi made for her. We can't wait for Liv to get to meet all of her aunts and uncles... we wish they were closer!

Faux hawks

2007-10-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Liv was born with the cutest patch of long hair right on top of her head. Her hair has started falling out so a couple weekends ago we finally put some product in it and she had a little faux hawk to match her daddy. I hope she eventually gets hair every where else but for now this is pretty cute.

Day away in Valley Center

2007-10-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

One fun thing about not working right now is the ability to see friends more regularly! One of my Westmont room mates, Bretta, lives down in Valley Center and Cassi (another Westmont friend), Liv and I drove down to visit her and her two kids. It was so fun to be with these girls and have no special event going on. It was just Thursday and we were just hanging out. Jackson and Hannah are just adorable and they were so sweet with Liv. They are excited about their new little sister coming early next year.

8 years

2007-10-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated our 8th anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long! This year's celebration was very low key... take out sushi, trader joe's chocolate chip cookies, snuggling with an adorable little girl and a great night's sleep... Liv slept from 9 last night til 6 this morning! Here's a little time capsule... :)

Pray for Dahlia Faire

2007-10-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Dahlia is having major heart surgery tomorrow up at Stanford. We stopped by to see her and the rest of the Reids on Monday night. She is such a sweet girl and we are praying for wisdom for the doctors and peace for Mike & Heidi. Here's Dahlia checking out Liv. (I promise, we do let her out of her car seat once in awhile!)

Naomie & Justin's Wedding Weekend

2007-10-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we were up in the Bay area for one of my Westmont girls' wedding. Liv was such a good girl! She slept almost all the way there and all the way back... I think she knows she has to like road trips to be part of this family! We had such a fun time being with all the girls and their husbands. Liv got passed around and loved on by everyone! She also got to meet Liza's kids, Thomas & Ramona. Ramona loved touching & looking at Liv and even wanted to share her baby doll with her!

Naomie & Justin's wedding was beautiful. Naomie was stunning and Kurt shot it so you can see more pictures from the day on his blog. As usual, his images are just gorgeous.

I did the bouquets and other personal flowers and realized that it is hard to get much done with a 5 week old! Fortunately there were many friends who were willing to take Liv so I could finish my job! It was a wonderful weekend!

blogging...

2007-10-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

So, everyone else has a blog... why shouldn't we? :) We'll see how well I do updating this!