linda lu

The Jonas Brothers

So, the other day I'm driving myself, my baby and my NOT EVEN FIVE YEARS OLD YET daughter around town.  Maya says in her oh so sweet voice "Mom?"

me: "Yes, honey?"

maya: "I think I'm in love...

with the Jonas Brothers."

me: "oh..... you mean you really like their songs?"

maya: "No mom!  They're real people!  I think I'm in love with them!!"

me: "oh."

Two days later, we're in a public  restroom with 3 stalls.  Maya makes a wonderful discovery.  "Mom!  There's three bathrooms, just like there's three Jonas brothers!"

sigh.

May Day

Hey there!
Originally uploaded by mayakisses

Our little one is here...
I was sleeping when my water broke. I awoke at 5:35 am on April 30th (my sister's birthday). Schon was just getting to work. When I reached him, he had been clocked in for 4 minutes. He clocked back out and rushed home to pick up Maya and I. The rest of the family received early wake up calls to meet us at the hospital. The long journey began... after pitocin, epidural, fever, antibiotics, many attempts of pushing, he just wasn't coming down far enough. It seemed he was a bit stuck. The labor contractions and the pushing proved to be too stressful and after a crazy emotional roller coaster ride, we finally decided it best to have a cesarean. So 20 hours after my water broke and into the next month on the calendar, Lucas was born on May 1st at 1:22 am.
I am recovering well. He's doing great, eating and sleeping. I'm breastfeeding every 2-3 hours. Our nights are fairly predictable now. He's a great baby. Maya is adjusting easily. She's a proud big sister with lots of love, Schon is treating me like a superhero and is home to help for the next few weeks. His recent titles include Super Dad, Mr. Mom and Chef BoyarDad. He's awesome. I don't know what I'd do without him.
The love and support I received from my family during labor was amazing. Beyond words. Many beautiful moments that I will treasure forever.
BTW, if you're ever being wheeled into surgery, I find it helpful to calm your nerves by doing a good parade wave to all the nurses, staff and any open rooms while rolling down the hallway.
Welcome Home Baby Lucas!!

Showered.

  Choo Choo! 
  Originally uploaded by mayakisses

The festivities were ON this last weekend.  My family had a wonderful baby shower for Lucas and I.  I felt very loved.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  And why wouldn't they?  It started with lovely invitations designed and sent out by Angelique.  My mom and my sister, Cindy took care of all the food.  It was a 'ladies luncheon', so there were delicious tea sandwiches, green salads, fruit salad and mom's homemade treats.  My mom makes THE BEST biscotti (no joke).  Along with that was macaroons and the very popular almond square pastries.  YUM! 
My sister, Marisa was in charge of decorating and went all out with table linens, candles and beautiful fresh flowers.  As well as cute little boy touches here and there, such as the wooden train shown in the photograph.  My best friend, Julie and newest friend, Aimee headed up the games.  I have never been to a shower with better games.  We had 'Name that Tune' with techno baby beats.  We had 'The Price is Right' with popular baby items.  AND...... wait for it.........
We had the most disgusting 'Poopy Diaper' game.  This involved cute little newborn baby diapers filled with different candy bars that were then melted in the microwave.  That's right.  They came out on lovely silver platters, warm and squishy and had to be identified by the guests.  Oh, the comments and the faces......  Beautiful.
This being a ladies luncheon, I also invited all of the daughters.  My daughter was in heaven with all of her friends and cousins.  They had their own table and I asked my sister-in-law, Emily to please bring crafts.  I brought some clothespins, markers and fabric scraps for the girls to make clothespin dolls.  They had fun with that.  But Miss Emily brought the craft of all crafts for a baby shower.  She had a bag for each girl and they decorated onesies and bibs for baby Lucas.  There were fabric pens, traceable designs, and even a bedazzler!!!  They had such a good time and we have the best baby onesies and bibs you've ever seen.  I promise to take pictures and share them next time.
A lovely shower.  Lots of lovely gifts.  And the most lovely ladies.  Thank you all.

Her Path

  3/17/08 
  Originally uploaded by mayakisses

As I await the arrival of our next child, I can't help but watch in amazement how much my 'big girl' is growing.  I'm sure I'd be watching in amazement any which way, but this seems to mark a bittersweet turn in the road.  My lovely Maya has had our full attention, good or bad.  She's been my sidekick, my partner in play, my helper, snuggle buddy, my superstar.  Those things will never change, yet I am aware enough to know that things will never be the same when baby brother comes along. 
So with hormones ablazing, I sit here crying.  I look at this picture and it seems to tell me that everything will be alright.  Not just now, but for always.  That she will always be my little girl and that she is independent.  That she is careful.  That she walks softly.  That she appreciates beauty.  That her path is God-given and nothing I could ever create for her.  She is always taken care of. 
I know she's not going off to college or anything.  She'll be 4 1/2 next month.  She's just not my baby anymore. 

Some of my favorite Maya qoutes these days:
* I have a stummy ache.
* (While looking at the clouds in the sky)  My eye is using my imagination and I see a turtle walking on a sidewalk!
* I love Mother Earth, she's so soft and safe and loving.
* Don't worry mom, I will hold your hand when you go to the doctor to get the baby out.
* Mom, I'm sweaty as a donut!  (that later turned into "sweaty as a cupcake")

Oh there's so many more, but my pregnant brain is too tired to remember.  I will definitely post more as they happen.

Happy Easter!

  3/20/08 
  Originally uploaded by mayakisses

Hope you have a wonderful day.  Ours started early with "MOM! DAD! The Easter bunny came!!!!!"
The Easter Bunny had to be creative late last night, as he/she, okay I  left everything for the very last minute.  Running over to Target at 8:30 pm, I found cleared out shelves.  Luckily I found a very cute Hello Kitty basket.  The only Easter candy left was some Reese's eggs and a pack of Cadbury creme eggs.  So I found some Hello Kitty fruit snacks and threw in a light up jumprope and a Hanna Montana CD.  Maya was thrilled.

The picture shown is a bunch of sock bunnies I made for my sister's salon.  It's funny how different socks can create such a different character.  They were a lot of fun to make.

Well, we're off to search for Easter eggs!

Bunnies and Bugs

Found this little guy hopping around in the yard.  If you'd like to adopt him, you can find him in my shop (along with some other goodies).  I'm busy.....  keep checking my shop to see all that I will be adding in the next couple of weeks.

Maya woke up screaming the other night and swore there was a bug on her bed.  I ran in as fast as this pregnant lady can run, but did not see any bugs.  Now, I'm not saying there wasn't one... I just didn't see whatever she saw.  We put her stuffed unicorn on Bug Duty and she went back to sleep. 
Today as I was doing three projects at once (what else is new?), Maya called me from the other room.  "Mom, come see my sign!"  I took my 12th break that hour to see what she was doing.  To my surprise, this is the "sign" she created on her chalkboard, appropriately entitled NO SPIDERS ALLOWED IN MY HOUSE. 

May I remind you, she's 4!!  Of course, I'm her mom, everything she does amazes me.

Out of the Bag

Tote #1
Originally uploaded by mayakisses

I've started making some tote bags. I love the size, the feel, the inside pocket... they're good. I've had the idea to do tote bags for a little while now and finally the day came. The purpose in the beginning was to use up some of the fabrics I have. I absolutely adore this Amy Butler fabric. I made a few girls dresses with this and had a bit left over. It's such a great design. Anyways, I've made a few bags now and sent them over to Escape Salon in Newport Beach, CA. If you're in the neighborhood you can go in and get a bag! lol
Better yet you can get an amazing facial from Marisa. Heaven. Really.
Angelique is busy working on my logo and I received the finals yesterday. It felt like Christmas. This is such an exciting process. So exciting that I had trouble sleeping last night. The ever-growing pregnant belly doesn't help either. I can't wait to show you what she's come up with. We are doing two different logos. One for Linda Lu Designs and one for My Lu. "My Lu" will be for all of my infant/toddler products. The name is a little bit of "Skip to my lu" and a lot of a dedication to my children. So out of the bag, here's a big reveal.... we are going to name our boy Lucas. Therefore, you have MY for our daughter Maya and LU for our son Lucas. My Lu.

The Real Deal

My last post was about change and I left out the biggest change of all... I'm pregnant.  I'm now 5 months along and am excited to have found out that we are expecting a boy!

I have been pretty non-productive (besides growing baby boy, of course) and so haven't had much to show here on my blog.  This pregnancy has had me pretty wiped out creatively as well as physically.  I have recently picked up my scissors and plugged in the sewing machine and am hoping to rekindle this old creative flame.  No expectations, but I have some simple ideas to put some of the fabric I have stockpiled to good use.  Of course, I also have crib bedding in mind as well as some research on boys clothing.  Seriously, I don't even know how to dress a boy.  Who know what kinds of things I will come up with for this little guy.  Sorry son.  I'll do my best. 

So, that's the real deal and why I've been MIA for so long now.  I'll check in again soon.

Love and Lomography

Yes, love.  I've always been a big fan of love.  I love giving it, I love receiving it.  Both are quite an art form.  I'm beyond blessed to have such love in my life.  My husband, my daughter, my parents, my sisters, my in-laws (such a formal word, but we'll use it until I come up with something better), my godchildren and my friends.      

Schon and I are coming up on our 10 year wedding anniversary!  It's so hard to believe.  And we dated for 4 years before the wedding, bringing us to a grand total of 14 years, thank you very much.  We were such kids when we met!  I'm only 35 years old.  How can I have been in a relationship for 14 years?  The great thing is, we still really like each other.  It truly gets better and better.  We've certainly had some rough spots, but the big picture is really quite wonderful.  We accept one another, we respect each other and we laugh a LOT.

A few days ago we celebrated Valentine's Day.  I made a delicious Salmon and wasabi mashed potatoes dinner (secret recipe given to me by a friend).  Schon brought home cards, balloons and chocolate for "his girls", Maya and myself.  He's so cute.  He also gave me a Super Sampler camera.  If you haven't heard of this (like I hadn't), let me tell you a bit about it.  It's crazy.  It has 4 lenses and takes 4 pictures in a .2 second delayed sequence.  All 4 images are on the same photograph!  The Lomographic Society International was founded in Vienna, Austria 10 years ago.  Their guiding motto: "Don't Think, Just Shoot (From the Hip)" I just found this flickr group to give an example of what I'm talking about.  Trust me, you will see many more examples to come on this here blog.  I'm very excited about it.  By the way, mine is magenta with a Dalek design on it.

Maya and I baked cupcakes. Or "pupcakes" as Maya calls them.  She's such a helper.  Okay, cutest thing she said this week.... First off, she had fallen and scraped her knee earlier in the day.  We put a band aid on and kissed it better.  Later she removed the band aid and said it was all better and announced that she wasn't going to fall again.  "Mom, I'm not going to fall again.  I'm just going to fall in love with my mommy."  Oooooh..... kisses, kisses.  Much love.

In other news.... I'm making blankets.  This orange one on the right is an order I have.  I'm in love with the orange.  I'm going to make one for our home.  It is the perfect size throw blanket.  It's 60"x45".  It's so soft and cuddly.  I'm also making more baby blankets and lovies.

Well, it's time to cut up some fruit for the little one.  Have a lovely weekend!

Parenting Adventures

Hello,

Have I mentioned yet that besides a monkey maker, I'm a full time mom to a very active toddler?  The tippy toes above belong to my beautiful 3 year old Maya.  (I feel funny about putting pictures of her on the internet, so bits and pieces is all you'll see for now.  Although some of you have seen some pics on my flickr account.)

I've decided to add a "Parenting Adventures" category to my blog.  It is such a huge part of my life and can be very entertaining.  I also thought it be a great way to connect to other parents.  Share stories, frustrations, laughs and maybe an occasional tear.  Our latest adventure is as follows:

Yesterday we reinstated the afternoon nap.  This was a bit of a nightmare, but well worth it.  It took 40 minutes of screaming and crying.  There was even a bit of vomit involved (she was committed). But, finally she fell asleep and the house was quiet for 2 hours.  And when she woke up, my sweet little Maya was reborn.  Now, I'm not saying she hasn't been a joy to be around lately..... oh, wait, yes, yes I am.  It's been difficult.  You see, 3 weeks ago, she gave up the binky.  HURRAY!!! But with that, she gave up naps altogether too. BOO!!!  Well, that just wasn't working for us.  Today we had crying and screaming that lasted 25 minutes.  And thankfully, no vomit. 

Maya adjusts quickly.  She has with everything... from the breast to the bottle.... from the crib to the bed... from the binky to being a "big girl"... I'm sure she'll lay down quietly for her naps in no time (fingers crossed). 

Feel free to comment with your latest parenting adventure....

-Linda