Category: Uncategorized

A walk in the park.
What was originally going to be a quick dog walk turned into four hours in Stanley Park.

The guy the Cup is named after.





Up at Prospect Point.


Sharing a seat.




Stroller naps.





Critters down at Lost Lagoon.

Stroller naps are followed by stroller stretches.

Some interesting plaques on benches by Lost Lagoon…

“I am wise and will warn you of danger.”

“I have the ability of foresight and am an indication of good days ahead.”

“I am the ruler of the night and seer of souls.”

Belated birthday.
It was Taylor’s birthday while we were away in San Francisco so I got him a cake this weekend. I’m notoriously terrible at making cake so I just bought a plain one and covered it in skull & bone sprinkles because he’s so old.




That’s really 34 candles, on there, btw.

Brunch with baby.
We had brunch at a Black + Blue for the first time. It was really nice, they do their brunch of the roof and you get A LOT of food. A lot. Gwen hogged all of the banana bread.

Tonight it’s back to work for Taylor and tomorrow it’s back to school for Sym, but for me and Gwen it’s still summer vacation.

No links today, instead you get pictures from my trip to San Francisco.

First plane ride, followed by…

… first car ride! Me trying to install this carseat in my friend’s car outside of the airport was comedic, to say the least. I’m like, 70% sure I put it in properly, and nobody died, so I’ll call it a success.


Hotel baby loved crawling around on the bed but required constant supervision as she would try and dive off it headfirst whenever possible. I think that was one of the hardest things for Gwen this trip, the constant supervision I mean. My apartment is pretty well baby-proofed (it has to be) so we just let her roam around. In a hotel room with unsecured cables and exposed outlets? Not so much.


On the flight down she discovered the joy of tearing up napkins, something she also delighted in doing during most of our meals out.





Practicing to get her tintype portrait taken at Photobooth SF. I was a little worried she wouldn’t be able to sit still, but in the end, she was a consummate baby professional, and her portrait turned out beautifully.

outfit details on Tiny Buttons

Gwen with Margaret, our airport chauffeur and babynapper.

Little Joaquin, a fellow Tiny Button. He was pretty grumpy but there does exist somewhere a video of Gwen grabbing his hand so like… :3


Gwen and the Painted Ladies.

Taylor giving her last bottle before she and I headed back to the airport.

Hotel hallways will never not be creepy and weird.

After a 2+ hour delay with a increasingly fussy baby in the worst airport ever, this was the best thing that could have happened.


The second best was this one falling asleep on my chest and staying that way for half of the flight.

And finally, HOME. YVR is SUCH a better airport than SFO, plus it smelled like cinnabons.

Gwen has been pulling herself up onto her knees for a while now but this week (just in the last couple days since we’ve been back from San Francisco) she’s become especially adept at pulling herself into a standing position.

DIMPLES!
I’m proud of her development, sad to say goodbye to another part of her babyhood, but also frustrated because she’s grabbing all my stuff now! I was working on a banner this morning and she pulled herself up on the couch and started snatching things off my craft table. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET ANYTHING DONE???? She’s actually frustrating herself as well because while she can pull herself up, she’s not very good at getting back down. She gets stuck a lot, or falls down and hurts herself.

I guess the next step is… taking her first step. Seriously, where did my tiny baby go?

Last Thursday, on my first day of being back off of work, my family went for a walk. I actually convinced Sym to go without much whining and complaining on her part, which was amazing.

The purpose of this walk was to show Sym where the Nine O’Clock gun is, but it was also to clear my head. I’d been so unhappy and twisted up for the whole of August, I just needed… something. Air. Water. Blue skies and trees. To recharge my soul or be able to breathe again.

Before we’d even entered the park properly we saw these three wild otters swimming through Coal Harbour. I’m taking them as a good omen.


It’s easy to see Taylor in this picture, but can you find Sym?

It’s kind of terrifying how much she doesn’t look like a little kid anymore.

When I was in high school my best friend Danielle had this car, I want to say a Toyota Tercel? that just had a tape deck in it (I mean, this was in like 1993). One day when we were thrifting she bought this disco compilation record and for some reason we got like, TOTALLY OBSESSED with a couple of the songs on it. We taped them off the record and we’d listen to them in her car over and over. We’d sing along and we had like, choreographed car-dancing we’d do at certain parts. It drove everyone else crazy but we couldn’t stop, even when her tape deck stopped working properly and played everything at high speed. We’d just sing and dance faster.

Just a quick post today as I’m leaving for the airport in about an hour! We’re going to San Francisco again, Taylor has a conference for work and Gwen and I are going to hang out for the weekend.

Fun body systems posters.

You’re it!

ZARA HOME????? ZARA HOME KIDS????????????

My friend just reopened her vintage shop, check it out!

Thinking I should sign up on diy.org, I deserve that shoemaker patch!

What Gwen is wearing for her first plane ride!

Gwen is super in to old receipts right now.

Sooooooo I guess I’m not working anymore? The family decided to change childcare providers and idk, it’s a little sad (I really liked the kids) but mostly I just feel relieved. I REALLY didn’t want to be back at work yet (ya think?) and I was so depressed about it that I cried every night. I think a lot of moms have feelings of sadness and guilt about going back to work after having a baby, and even though I work from home it was still a huge change. With Sym it wasn’t an issue because I didn’t start working again until she was three, so I didn’t know what to expect and honestly, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it would have worked out if I had started work in September like I’d planned, maybe I would have been more emotionally prepared. Who knows. u live u learn, igss.

… the mangled edition.

Essie Mint Candy Apple + Set in Stones glitter gradient
I painted these nails last week but never got around the taking a picture until they started chipping/getting worn down on the tips & sides. I’m actually impressed they held up as long as they did since I made a lot of banners last week and started sewing Gwen another pair of shoes on the weekend. Miraculous!