beautiful blogger award (WIN)! February 5, 2010
i am quite simply tickled pink – my lovely and stylish bloggy friend allie of it’s a wonderful life has nominated me for a ‘beautiful blogger’ award! and whether i deserve this little bit of internet honor or not (no comments nessecary, kthanxbai) she is a total sweetheart and i’m way too excited that she thought of me and my humble little blog! thanks so much, allie!
miss allie hall-marr is a brand new mama to a gorgeous newborn boy named henry. she lives in savannah, ga but was originally from here in washington (which explains how she has actually heard of my favorite-ever band, carissa’s weird.) it was a pleasure to read along with a’s posts throughout her pregnancy as a young first-time mama – she is so cute, bubbly, creative and sweet! now that her little man is here, she and her awesome hub seem to be making the very most of every second of new parenthood, and i just can’t wait to see what comes next for this little family. allie, you are a dear and i’m so glad to be in touch! cheers!
ok, so according to allie’s blog, what what comes next is:
1. thank the person who nominated me for this award
2. copy the award & place it on my blog
3. link to the person who nominated me for this award
4. share 7 interesting things about myself
5. nominate 7 other beautiful bloggers
m’kay, soooo here’s my attempt at the seven interesting things about yours truly:
* i have never in my life, not even once, tried a taste of tuna fish, a-1 steak sauce, or relish. now, i realize these are very common foods to the general public, and possibly even tasty to some people, but i have always been so freaked out/turned off by the scents of these substances that i just couldn’t muster up the courage to give them a chance. i also didn’t like ketchup until i was 20. maybe it’s a ‘youngest child’ thing?? at this point, who knows…
* i have a borderline-obsessive, um, issue concerning my eyebrows. while they are not always perfectly groomed (hi, i have a freaking BABY to raise here!) i run my fingertips over them multiple times in a day, and if i’m going anywhere people might actually see me they are the first feature i’ll attack with cosmetics in a pinch for time. one of the worst sensations i can imagine is someone holding me down and scruffing my eyebrows in the opposite direction they grow (actually just thinking about it kind of makes me queasy!) “hi, my name is emily bilbrey, and i suffer from eyebrow-specific o.c.d.”
* my husband and i may have kinda, sorta, broken up with people we we dating & living with so that we could start a relationship together. i know! I KNOW! we are terrible people! but to be fair, the guy i had been dating was a douche to the max, and d’s ex is now happily married to the guy she started seeing post-david. we have always considered it our one “get out of jail free” card. but if david ever dumps me for another girl, i suppose i’ll have had it coming! (good thing i don’t believe in karma??)
* i might have touched on this once or twice before, but i think it’s at least kinda interesting – when i was 21 i bought a little clothing store in downtown tacoma, and ran it for 2 1/2 years. it was buy, sell and trade, and we specialized in vintage. it was a lot of stress, but the rent was cheap, i got amazing clothes, and it waa a thrill to be owning and managing a business at such a young age! literally every single time i unlocked the door and flipped the “open” sign, starting my first day there right through my last, i took a moment to remind myself how lucky i was to be able to be in such a position. i’m also glad that i was able to end things on my own accord, by selling the shop to another owner so i could travel and then start a family… it was a great life experience, and i’ll always be proud to have done it!
* i don’t know how to whistle or snap. but i can flip small objects over my knuckles like val kilmer did in ‘tombstone’ and ‘top gun’. at least i have a skill (question mark?)
* i was considered a HUGE GEEK throughout pretty much my entire school career. starting in about 3rd grade, i was definitely one of the least popular kids in school – i was seriously right above the kid who only got to spend half his day in the regular classroom because he had violent outbursts, and the kid who had a stuttering problem and bad b.o. i was picked last for everything, from gym sports to group assignments, and things didn’t get much better in high school… i was bullied because i rumor started that i was gay (i hung out in the art room and had short hair = lesbian? and why for the love of god is being gay still taboo to so many people?! pffft.) i still don’t know exactly what it was about me that rubbed people the wrong way, but i don’t think too much about it because the minute i got out of high school i started making amazing friends and haven’t stopped since! plus i think that being on the outside socially made me into a much more interesting, self-assured person. score.
* as much as i completely adore being a mother and raising my wonderful girl, i am not sure if david and are going to have any more kids… it’s so weird for me to even express that openly, because when i was pregnant i never even considered the idea that it would be the only time i’d experience it. i always figured that if you have one, you have more than one… but d and i have been through a lot of tough times the last year; not with our relationship (which, forgive me for sounding snotty, is always great!) but with other life stuff that was totally out of our hands. the stress we’ve been through has really made us analyze and re-evaluate our future plans, and for now we are landing on just really focusing on poppy and giving our all to her. plus, i’m honestly no where near ‘over’ the trauma and pain i went through with my labor (that’ll have to be another post entirely!) not to mention the physical recovery, pain and stress of breastfeeding, hormonal troubles, and sleep deprivation! of course there are plenty of years ahead for plans to take shape and change, but for the moment i am honestly settling into the idea of miss magoo possibly being an only child. however, if we have an “oops” in the future, promise me no hate mail, ok? ;D
soooo, now it’s time for me to share the love and nominate seven other lovely lady bloggers to enjoy this little prize. if you haven’t visited these fine women yet, please be sure to do so! they are all fabulous! here they are, in no particular order:
1) the unlikely mama! amber and i like to joke that we are each others’ mama-doppleganger, not only because our daughters are asian-american, but also because our mothering styles are consistently so similar. like me, amber decidedly leans towards an attachment/natural parenting style, but doesn’t adhere so fiercely to the granola side of things that she’s unrelatable. her blog is honest, her daughter is strikingly beautiful, and i’m just plain glad to know this lady! yay, amber!
2) emmiebee dot com! holla back, my fellow “emily b!” miss emily brandt is a total sweetheart, mama to an adorable 1-year-old son and (get this!) is pregnant with TWINS! my witty, stylish friend does an amazing job handling it all – staying at home to raise her lovely son and laughing at herself through her crazy back-to-back pregnancies. i can’t wait to hear what comes next for this little family. em, you are wonderful and kind and i just hope hudson, truman and sawyer take it easy on you! plus, let’s face it, you have officially earned the world’s biggest martini… (:
3) about all things life! my good bloggy friend kerri gave birth to wonderful ella on april 12th, 2009 – the day after i had poppy! kerri is a sahm and photographer, and tells funny, heartwarming tales about life with a new baby. and baby ella is simply a stunning little creature, with strawberry-blonde hair, and impish smile and a sweet, playful personality. i can seriously relate to pretty much 100% of what kerri writes about, and she manages to make the mundane entertaining. i love this blog; i love these girls! go kerri, go!
4) baby in broad! hi, noelle! :::waves frantically::: people, this girl has it all: she is a seriously good writer, mama to an adorable (and whip-smart!) toddler boy named westly, and displays a sensitive, thoughtful perspective on mothering without the slightest hint of pretension. basically, i just want noelle to have more babies and never stop writing so i can always enjoy her fun personality and great stories! love this girl. love.
5) cozytimes! yay, cozytimes! heather is rad chick and great photog, and her baby son august is, well, you’re just gonna have to go take a look yourself. and then promptly crap a rainbow because he’s so cute. i think i actually met heather on flickr, and i’m glad to know about her blog because it takes the level of preciousness in my life up, like, several notches! love your blog, lady! it’s good to know ya!
6) little baby bateman! desi is a proud new mama to beautiful olivia carolyn (liv, for short.) i’m so glad to be in touch with this lady – she’s endlessly sweet and her photos of her gorgeous, powder-blue-eyed daughter always make me smile. and the outfits – oh, the outfits! this is one of the most stylishly dressed babies i can think of. the girl, the blog, and the baby are all fantastic. period.
7) my bottle’s up! oh, nic, where do i begin? i actually remember initially being a little intimidated to comment and introduce myself on this blog, simply because nic is a for-reals writer, has so many readers and has been blogging for so long. so i lurked silently for some weeks, enjoying her witty, sentimental writing and photos of her handsome son jackson. but when i finally did muster up the courage to comment, i was pleasantly surprised when nic responded with a very nice personal email to me, thanking me for my words and complimenting me blog! and i’m so happy that we’ve been in touch ever since! i always appreciate nic’s honesty on tough (no, seriously, TOUGH) issues; on things that, as we have joked, are considered taboo by the mainstream but totally shouldn’t be! take one good look around her page, and you’ll see right away what i’m referring to. nic, i am just plain glad to know you. i hope that your book is coming along well, and i want to once again thank you for putting your words out there against adversity. you rock. that’s all there is to it!
whew! that was FUN! another great big thanks to allie for nominating me, and for giving me a great platform to pay tribute to some of my wonderful blog friends! this was a fun post. plus, i mean, who doesn’t love winning?!
cheers!
go baby, go! February 1, 2010
so, remember this post from two weeks ago where i mentioned poppy had learned to pull up to a stand by herself, and was starting to think about cruising? well, she decided to take these skills up a notch last night in her newly-lowered crib: i was taking some video of her pulling up to a stand, and she suddenly started using the crib ledge to full-on cruise! i love when i manage to get any of poppy’s ‘firsts’ on video (i captured her first real belly laugh and her first time reaching for toys, so many months ago!) so it was awesome to have lucked out on getting another milestone event on film. here’s the moment p decided to tackle independent mobility:
i love how casual she was about it, like, “it’s cool ma, i’m just getting over here!” within a few minutes she was really getting the hang of her new talent, and over the next hour thoroughly enjoyed scooting from one end of the crib to the other all by herself:
as she practiced, she got more and more comfortable and as of today she is really motoring! i’m thrilled for my little peanut that she has found a way to get herself around, considering her enthusiastic refusal of crawling. and although i know that a mobile baby will inevitably mean extra work for mama, i’m still so proud of my little one and all her great new skills. she is really blossoming right now, and entering a whole new stage of babyhood. and as if i wasn’t already perfectly aware of this fact, this morning during breakfast p was sitting in her high chair eating, and david came upstairs to join us. when i said, “poppy, it’s da da! can you say ‘da da?’” she looked up with her bright blue eyes catching the morning light and proclaimed, “da da.” then she resumed happily stuffing her mouth with bits of banana-pear muffin…
all i can say is, at this moment i have no shame in taking a moment to reflect on the fact that i must, on at least some level, be doing something right.
;D
cheers!
first word and teef!!! January 28, 2010
omgomgomg!!! i can officially say that poppy said a real-life deliberate WORD this morning, no doubt about it (i have a witness and everything – my mom saw it too!)
for a while now p has been babbling a handful of sounds – brbrbrbrr, mamamama, babababa, and dadadada. she seems to love imitating, and will often recite these sounds on command if you say them to her. but it’s been obvious she wasn’t using them as real words, but rather as more of a little game, because she does them all in a row with intermittent raspberries, growling and other silly noises mixed throughout…
since she seemed to be interested in imitating and using sounds to express herself, i’ve been working with her lately on associating words with people – asking where someone is and pointing her in the right direction (e.g. “where’s dada? there he is!” with lots of clapping and praise when she looks as the correct person.) and of course i always refer to myself as “mama” and speak frequently in the first person while hanging with biscuit. poppy definitely knows her own name and seemed to be catching on well to everyone else’s titles too. well, this morning after her bath i asked her, “mama take you down for a nap?” to which she exclaimed, “mama! mama! mama!” it was the first time she ever sounded it out that way – as a word and not just a babble. then a little later, i asked her, “give mama a kiss?” she looked straight at my face and clearly said, “mama.”
it’s 100% safe to say i’m absolutely melting at the preciousness of it all. also beyond excited that my wonderful girl is on the verge of really communicating! i can’t lie – i teared up a little when i realized for sure that she was saying a word with meaning, and of course it’s a million quadrillion times more thrilling that she’s chose ‘mama’ as her inaugural statement!
what a freaking thrill.
another exciting baby poppy breakthrough came last night, when i realized quite by accident that p has two big fat front toofers chilling under the surface of her top gums! those suckers look like friggin’ chicklets – no wonder she’s been so sensitive the last couple of weeks! my girl has probably been in some serious pain with those bad boys making their decent. i’m glad to know that biscuit is indeed capable of growing teeth (at nine point five months she’s a bit of a late bloomer in that category.) i’m also glad to know that’s happening so i can keep the frozen teething toys and baby tylenol close at hand (hate away, sanctimommies – hylands tablets are tasty and all but they don’t do jack for teething pain!!)
oh and and and, another cool new thing i’ve been meaning to mention is that poppy has been doing sooo much better in the sleep category lately! i’ve talked about my troubles with getting popsey through the night in posts like this one, and since it was brought up last i’ve been working really hard to make some changes to help p sttn. i’m happy to be able to say that as of this week p is now going all the way through the night without any feedings – a belly fully of oatmeal and a 7-ounce baba right before bed really do the trick and she no longer wakes out of hunger! she does still have one wake at present, because i always put her to sleep in her crib and at some point she inevitably decides she’d rather come hang with me and daddy. but for now i don’t mind at all, because she spends the majority of the night in her crib (usually 10pm – 5am) and if she wants/needs some comfort and closeness with me after that i’m happy to oblige!
ok so, thank you darling readers for putting up with this horribly written ramble of a post! all the excitement is making me a little wonky and distracted! so um, here’s a picture of poppy being cute to make up for the shotty writing:
(@ mandy – i still love this little top on poppy! she’s got a long, skinny torso so it still fits her. talk about a hand-me-down WIN! thanks again lovey! ;D)
cheers!
things i made tuesday. January 26, 2010
hello friends! how are you? it’s been another crazy week here in the bilbrey home. miss poppy continues to amaze us with cool new tricks (waving “hi” and “bye” started the other day, and she’s super close to actually cruising on her own!) my big girl is extremely busy/mobile/sensitive/goofy/cuddly these days, which keeps me on my toes to say the least. but lately when i am able to lock down some baby-free time, i’ve been making it a point to practice on my sewing machine or at least make something by hand. this weeks results are:
finishing up the first dress i ever banged out using my machine instead of hand-stitching. the super cute jay maccarrol owl fabric does a fantastic job at distracting from the fact that the construction of this dress is a little, er, pathetic. but it’s lined with super soft, thick fleece which is perfect for poppy to wear over the next cold wintery months. and i guess it’s not the worst first-attempt ever… although it’s admittedly not the best. so, on to the next!
this dress turned out much, much better than the first one. it actually gives me a little hope about my abilities! i found this fun butterfly corduroy at joanne’s, and used their weekly 50% off one item coupon to get 4 yards of wonderfully soft knit jersey in bright aqua to line it with. my plan is to take advantage of those weekly coupons to stock up on fabrics i’ll be using a lot of, so that i can afford to make more as time goes on. but might i just say, working on a machine is seriously SO MUCH harder than i had anticipated!! even so, i’m trying to keep up a good attitude and just stick it out. it has to get easier at some point, right?? (sweet bride of jeebus, i hope so!!)
here are a couple of burp cloths/cloth diapers i made to practice my technique. the stitching isn’t perfect if you look up close, but they are still cuter than they were in plain white. and since poppy has far outgrown the burp cloth phase, how about this: i’ll send these little guys to the first person who leaves a comment saying you want them! ready, GO! ;D
and finally, i’m really excited about this one – here is poppy’s birthday tutu! i’ve been thinking up details about p’s first birthday (which is 2.5 months away) and i knew i wanted her to wear the increasingly traditional party outfit of a onesie and tutu. upon scanning etsy for one to buy, i got to wondering if i couldn’t just make it myself. so i bought some tulle (who knew it only costs $1.95/yard?! f’n SCORE!) and googled “how to make a baby tutu”. i’m not even kidding, it was sooo easy! any folks out there have an interest in learning how? leave me a comment letting me know – if there’s any interest i’d be happy to post a photo blog/tutorial, and the finished product could be another giveaway! plus, your kid could end up looking something like this:
which let’s just face it, is almost unbearably precious.
(whoops, i just crapped a rainbow.)
**ahem**
this week i also put finishing touches on a handful of felt hair clips i’d had partially done for ages, and only semi-successfuly learned how to use the button hole setting on my machine (“automatic” my lilly ass! that shit takes FOUR STEPS, and only works half the time! grrrr.) i figure that locking down a day to post crafting updates might be a good way to keep me motivated, so hopefully there will be more to share on tuesdays from here on out!
oh and pssssst to any more secret friends out there – HI!!! ::waves furiously:: please don’t be shy about commenting if you haven’t done so before! i’d love to know who you are so that i can say hi and read your blog too! (;
thanks for reading, deastests! much love to ye.
cheers!
oh so random! January 22, 2010
hello dearests! i realized today that i’ve been neglecting my blog a tad lately. so i wanted to check in and assure everyone (like, all 14 of my readers) that all is fine in bilbreyland and there’s no need for concern! i’ve just been kept busy with a few things the last week or so:
1) i finally got my long-owned sewing machine into operating condition, and have been spending a most of the scant, baby-free time i come up with practicing my ass off to come up with a fabric creation that doesn’t resemble a garbage pail kid’s bastard offspring. when such a miracle comes forth from my calloused fingers, i’ll be sure to update…
2) i read a whole entire book this week, for the first time in AGES! i had remembered the lovely bones by alice sebold being insanely popular when i was a book store whore at borders back in ought-two (working as a clerk, in fact, where i happily met my wonderful husband so many years ago!) when i saw commercials for the film version i remembered the book and thought i’d give it a read – it was really touching, but tough for me to get though on many levels. i cried real tears during several parts of the novel, but on the whole i’m glad i persisted, and now when/if i see the movie i’ll have true perspective as to the honest roots of the story… literature WIN!
3) miss poppy madeline reese has been going through a rather fussy/clingy phase for about a full week now – resisting her crib during naptime, refusing most solid food and being generally quite sensitive. i would like to say that i think her neediness is due to teething, but frankly i’ve become convinced that my poor little sprout is never going to grow teeth. i swear to christ on a cracker, i’m going to have the only one-year-old with nary a tooth to be found! do they make baby-sized dentures? because it may come to that…
4) despite her newfound whineybaby tendencies, p has actually shared a lot of happy moments and new tricks recently: the other day she pulled herself to a stand from a seated position unassisted for the first time ever. she also started standing without holding on to anything for support for increasing lengths of time! and today she started, er, precruising! as in, she holds herself at a stand facing a ledge of choice (bathtub, large tote box, etc) then turns herself around to grab my collar and snuzzle my neck all on her own! it takes 2 or 3 little baby steps, but she does it BY HERSELF and stays on her feet and everything! after a little mama cuddle, she keeps going the other direction until she’s back where she began. yeah, you can spell it out if you need to – p.r.e.c.i.o.u.s.
5) and, last but not least, some news – friends, pooksville is goin’ on vaycay! not from the internets, but to southern california, next month in fact! mr. bilbrey and i have been trying to arrange a family trip for some time now, but it has been tough to sort out since d started a new job 3 months ago and his vacation hours have not yet matured. just when we had decided that a trip was not realistically in the works, the chance arose for baby and i to tag along on part of my parents’ trip to san clemente during the last week of february. i was initially hesitant to agree to a trip that wouldn’t include my mister, but after checking in with him i was assured it was a grand idea (this was the part where, upon asking d about it he covered poppy’s ears with his hands and said, “hon, i LOVE the baby. but i wouldn’t want to do what you do all day. it’s HARD. you deserve an expletive vacation!”) i’m super nervous about traveling with the baby all on my lonesome, but i’m also stoked to get out of our house and into some new scenery! i’m also possibly unreasonably super close with my mama and step-dad, so i know for sure the trip will be fun for all involved. and david is actually looking forward to some bachelor-esque time alone, so i think we all win!
and so, as it stands i’ve got a good deal of excitement up ahead! a new hobby with etsy dot com in my (far ahead) sights, a semi-mobile, ever-precious baby girl who amazes me with her adorable quirkiness, and a real-live vacation, less than five weeks away!
so, thanks very much for putting up with this incredibly random post. if you’re still interested (and i applaud you if you are!) here is a little poppy cheer from earlier tonight:
happy trails, and love to all!
xo.
loving, tattooed, pottymouthed new mama to an adorable semi-asian baby. lazy vegetarian. lover of movies and rum. while raising my precious daughter and trying my best not to let my insanely awesome husband get lost in the chaos, i craft, take photos and sometimes even wear eyeshadow. this blog is my attempt at documenting each new step that comes my way... welcome to the last train to pooksville!
