8th Finish

I know it's been a while since I've posted a finish. This illustration was commissioned by a dear friend of mine for her newest baby girl. She had purchased the Pottery Barn turtle bedding for the nursery & wanted some art to go along with it. It was a really fun process. The first sketch didn't make it but the second sketch did & this is the finished product.

I found the hardest part of this project was finding just the right papers to use. Once I dialed that in the rest of this illustration went fairly smoothly. I am making another one for the upcoming JDRF Gala. It will have a few variations but I'm keeping it pretty similar. The best part of this who process was the call that I got saying how much she loved what I had sent her. I don't think there is a better feeling than knowing your art has brightened someones day. If you are interested in having an original illustration for you or for someone you love, please let me know.

8 down, 44 to go

1st Hair Cut

She wasn't too sure of the whole process.

Afterward she was tickled pink to look just like sissy.

Little Merris donated her hair to Locks of Love in memory of her grandma Cindy's sister. She died of breast cancer a few years back. She was a little scared to get it cut at first but now she loves it. Me, I'm just glad I don't have to listen to all the crying anymore while fixing her hair in the morning. I was done with it. How is it that one moment she looks so little & the next she looks so mature? 

 While we're on the topic of hair I thought I'd mention this lovely looking homeless child pictured above is actually Mozers. Yep. She doesn't want help fixing her hair anymore. Some days I'm fine with it. Like days when we are not leaving the house or if we are going to places where people know I don't normally let my children look this raggedy shmaggedy.

Allowing her this freedom has afforded her such a sense of self confidence. I'm constantly met with, "I can do it mom. You don't need to help me anymore." I really am trying to let my children have these freedoms. The freedom to choose all those little choices that will someday turn into big decisions to be made. I know by allowing a few bad hair days here & there I'm really giving them lessons in freedom of choice. Kinda funny to think that this is how it all works, but I think I'm on to something here. No matter if I'm right or wrong in my parenting ideas I do know one thing for certain. I love these little people more than life itself. I love how each one of my kids are so different from the next. I marvel at the complexity of it all & rejoice that I get to be a part of their lives.

9 Months

So this is what 9 months looks like?

Where you are the center of their world & mine too.

Where muscles never looked so darn cute.

& the expression, "I slept like a baby!" must have come about because of you.

You love to clap your hands whenever you do something awesome.

You can pull yourself up on everything and you have even started taking a few steps with my help.

We had to lower your crib. Now we wake up to you standing in your crib.

You love music. You play on your little piano as much as you are able & when your sister practices piano you want to be right next to her.

You love it when I sing to you. You sing along in your own sweet way.

You wave hello to people & then when they say hi back you get shy & hide your face in my shoulder while you take peaks to see if they are still watching you.

You also have 2 teeth now. Your new favorite is tiny pieces of bread.

You are by far much rougher than any of my girls. With that being said you snuggle me up like none of my girls ever would.

I love you little Oblio!

On Slowing Down

 First day of Spring 2011. Seriously?

Melted snow 

Signs of spring 

Water on grass in my backyard

We are back in business folks! Computer wise that is. After a few months of Internet problems & a computer that kept shutting off intermittently we decided it would be best to take our Mac in before our warranty ends. Good thing too (more on that later). Before we took it in we even had the Charter man out here over a dozen times trying to fix our Internet. I'm not kidding. The little ones were waking up in the morning asking if they were going to get to see Dan that day. Poor Dan, he rewired our house from the crawlspace to the power poll & things still weren't working properly. Our dear friends backed up our computer for us (thankfully) & dropped it off to be fixed. After 2 weeks & no word on how the computer was coming along I decided to call. The guy was like, "Looks like it's a software problem & we are working on updating it." Really? Software problem? So I asked if software problems would be causing the Internet to shutdown, discoloration on our computer screen, ghosting (where the image stays even when it's no longer there), & a couple of other things. He said they should probably take another look. Good thing they did. They basically replaced most of the inside of the computer including the hard drive. If we didn't have the warranty it would have cost us almost $800 in repairs. So grateful we had it. Everything is working so perfectly now.

To say I didn't miss having the computer would be a total lie. I will admit the first 3 days I found myself walking over to the computer desk. Really! I was like a druggie looking for his fix. Then came the withdraws. The 2 days of sulking. Poor me, lol! Then something magical happened. Silence. A chance to listen to life, children, my imagination. A chance to slow down. I hadn't even realized that my life had been so sucked into this modern contraption. Where had I gone wrong? Why had I allowed this to happen? The best wake up call I have had in years. I got so much work done, spent time with my girls, worked out, organized the kitchen, sketched, wrote out goals, & enjoyed the quiet. Enjoying the quiet is something that I usually have a hard time with. Now I crave it. So thankful I was forced into this realization. I strongly recommend this to anyone who might be struggling with too much media. It will only benefit you & your family. 

So over the next couple of days I plan on posting some fun pictures from the last couple of weeks. I look forward to catching up on all of your blogs too. I'm off to go play outside with my kids. Hope you enjoy the rest of this beautiful day!

St. Paddy's Day Nerds

The 4 nerdos all in a row.

(Nerd #1 is holding Oblio)

Nerdy nerd #2 

Nerdlet #3

Little Man Poindexter

(Nerd #4)

That about wraps up the St. Paddy's Day Nerd update for this year. Now back to your regular shenanigans.

P.S. We've been having some major problems with our Mac. I'm pretty sure something inside has fried. It gets way too hot. I'll be taking it in this weekend. So I won't be around for a week or so. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Can't wait to share pics of all the projects I'm almost finished with when I get the computer back.