Mission Accomplished

Ceiling light fixture has been ordered, but that one detail aside, the peanut's room is finished.

Clearly, this little boss is pleased with the performance of her intern.

The peanut inspected her new digs with a critical eye...

And was most impressed by this TGIFridays-inspired gallery wall...

This display ignited a string of enthusiastic oohs.

More photos of the space to come.

Father of the Year

Le huz feeding le monster her breakfast (who happens to be perched on her princess-themed potty). 

* aww *

Mine

Text exchange with le huz this morning.

Me: Did it hurt?
Him: Huh?
Me: When you fell from heaven.
Him: Omg

Le huz is away for Valentine's Day this year. Come to think of it, he was away for Valentine's Day last year as well. No worries. Olive's baby daddy will be back in a day. In the meantime, I've got her and Beans to cuddle with. Love overload! Wishing y'all a Valentine's Day as full of cheesy-goodness as mine...

On a side note, Olive's Uncle Jon and Auntie Lil have been in town, so we've been hard at work showing our guests around town. Yesterday we dropped by the Brentwood Country Mart for a weekday brunch at Farmshop. The monster was super pleased with her mornings eggs (dining in the company of gorgeous star Allison Williams aka Marnie from "Girls") and even more impressed by the banana split we shared at Sweet Creamery afterwards. This photo was taken after we destroyed our sundae...

Be Still, My Heart

                                        

                                        

Olive is secretly planning her escape. 

I've never seen her so happy.

*sniffle*

Berry Berry Frightening

Mother nature can be a real witch. 

East Coasters, stay safe.

Happy Halloween!

Escape Artist

The monster hates hats.

She removes 'em milli-seconds after I place them on her fat head... 

Thank you, Auntie Tiff, for this adorable topper!

Supermodels

my husband and i are supermodels. 
you laugh, but i am serious. (rofl, snorting as i do so.)
find us here.

Issues

My daughter enjoys plucking her father's leg hairs.

I know she's at it when I hear my husband screaming from another room.

Nuts o' Nuts

Olive begging for pistachios. 

Look at that pathetic gaze.

Just like our dog, Beans.

So Close

                               

Ermahgeeeeeeerd!

(Olive crushing me with her baby fat.) 

I'm presenting my thesis before my advisors next Friday.
Animation is all done. *mother-daughter woot*

Rendering, compiling, and color-correcting is taking an eternity, but the little one has taught me that baby steps are always the way to go.

Ah-CHOO.

I'd been successfully shielding her from harm for as long as I could... but last night, mommy-the-protector failed. The munchkin has caught a slight cold. (I blame the A/C.) Watching her in discomfort makes me sad. To think... this is just a runny nose!

Poor chublette. Because her nose was running (note: only from one of her itty-bitty nostrils), she wasn't able to catch a good shut-eye. Which means neither did I. Check out our early-morning "party" at 4:30 am.

Top: My mini-me being needy. She's like a baby sloth... clinging on.
Bottom: Olive sneezing. I know it's wrong to enjoy them, but I do. Baby sneezes are so cute.

Feel better, little one.

Au Naturel

Seen Lee of Australia (AP Images)

She didn't leave the summer Olympics with a medal, but she definitely made an impression.

I want to braid that shit.

Kohei Uchimura of Japan (Reuters)

Power pits going for the gold.

They match his 'do!

Kohei Uchimura of Japan (Reuters)

Too good to share just one.

Another shot of the armed and dangerous winner.

I am obsessed with the display of arm pit hair in the Olympics. 

Don't know what I'm going to do with myself once the summer games come to a close.

Spider Girl

My munchkin turned 7 months-old yesterday :)

A month ago, we hired Monica of Shoots & Giggles to shoot Olive, and here's one of our favorite shots (paired with a bonus shot of her baby feet). Yeah, she's topless. But Olive insists that she'll do anything for the sake of art. Oh dear...

Anyhow, as you can see, my baby girl is growing up to be quite the monkey. Or spider. Whatever. She's very active.  Crawling, standing up with support in her crib, babbling nonstop...
I love that she is growing up to be such a funny little person.
A complete 180 from the angry amoeba she was at birth! 

I can't believe it's all going by so quickly.

Quick. Someone get me a tissue. I think I'm gonna cry.

Ongoing Projects

"boo hoo baby" 

the title of my work-in-progress thesis. 

i'm constructing props and characters out of cardboard and animating the pieces using flash and after effects. 

i say that as if i'm an adobe software wiz. 

so not the case. 

luckily i have wonderful friends who are, and they're going to pull me through the fog. 

like pack of selfless sleigh dogs. 

woof.

when not cutting or painting up a storm, i can be found messing around with my other ongoing project.

raising a human being.

here i am with my munchkin in the wee hours of the morning.

she's an early riser.

5am, to be exact.

she's not up for the worms.

she's up for the "yo gabba gabba" clips i pull up for her on youtube.

happy baby, happy mommy.

Ganbatte*

Le husband and I have decided to get fit together. It's been 5 months since Olive's birth, and I've still got 13 extra pounds to spare. Dude, I've watched that episode of Oprah in which she wheeled out a wagon of fat. (Watch HERE.) Not pretty. So yeah. In a desperate attempt to combat our mush, we joined a Crossfit. (Learn more HERE.) I had my first workout today and I survived the insanity! Well. Barely. I felt like puking my guts out towards the end of the workout, but hey... no pain, no gain.

Next body battle happens on Wednesday. I'm strangely looking forward to it.

* Ganbatte = Japanese for "Do your best"
Pictured: Brad Pitt as a tot. See? Even he came around.

I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt

Yo. 'Sup Internet stalkers. It's me. Olive. I'm now 3.5 months-old and a real riot. Mommy says I'm a lot more fun now that I'm laughing and stuff. To be perfectly honest, I think she's just gotten used to my grumpiness. *chuckle* Yes. I still get grumpy. Ironic, given the fact that "Olive" branches are associated with "peace", no? Hehe.

Seriously. Check me out. I'm now clocking in at 24.5 inches tall and I'm 14 lbs 14 oz heavy. I know you all think these stats make me obese, but apparently these numbers mean I'm perfectly normal. babies are meant to be chubby. That said, quick, someone feed me!!!

Went out for brunch this weekend with Mommy and her biz-school friend, Ivana. I was incredibly well-behaved. Saw Mommy having a frisee salad topped with bacon and a poached egg. It looked so good that I reached for some. No success. Man, I can't wait to grow some teeth.

World Domination

Olive and her cousin Aiden plotting to take over the world. Or Disneyland.

Pooped

Thank you, Fisher-Price.

Boy Oh Boy

It's 3am. Do you know where your child is? I do. She's on YouTube gushing over the Biebs.


Olive: "Omigosh, Mommy... it's Justin Bieber!"


Olive: "Ahh... I think I'm in love."

Boy oh boy. Unlike normal babies, Olive does not spend the majority of her day sleeping. She eats. She poops. She cries. Or better yet, she "parties" (my new code word for Olive when she cries). Here she is at 2 months and 1 week, NOT sleeping at 3am. I played infant-appropriate music for her, but none of it had the silencing effect of Justin Bieber. As you can see, she is mesmerized by his "Baby" video. She also likes "One Less Lonely Girl." My little demon is growing up already...

Expecting the Unexpected

It's been a while since my last post. Little ones are adorable, but they are also emotionally and physically draining - even with help. Moms who convince you that the child rearing experience is otherwise are liars. That, or they are freaks. Freaks with freak babies. So I like to tell myself.

Not one to sugarcoat, I'll be the first to admit that I'm no model mother. I actually sit in my bed and have a good cry nearly every other day - out of sight from the nanny and Olive. It's not because I don't love my new little monster. For the record, I adore her to bits and will do anything for her. I mean it. Anything. (I'm holding and hugging a sleeping Olive as I type this.) But since her arrival, it's been difficult adjusting to all things new. Life postpartum is not what I expected. For every immense surge of joy I feel when interacting with Olive, I experience an extreme dose of sadness. I'm a passenger on a roller coaster of emotions and I've been riding this coaster for two months to date. I feel good three-quarters of the time, but the other quarter is spent having panic attacks about a wide spectrum of things. I'm constantly anxious - be it about the baby (obvi), home cleanliness, my career, my weight. I have to consciously not-freak-out, and I'm pretty sure that this new me (whom I'm not fond of) scares the hubby. Josh, I am so sorry. I just don't feel like myself lately... and am having a hard time getting out of my slump...

On a brighter note, Olive is exact 2 months old today. *big grin* Rather than highlighting how adorable and bright she is (parental bias!), I think I'll just spend the neck paragraph highlighting how huge she is. Our freakishly strong baby girl is already putting her neck muscles and Michelle Obama-esque arms to use. Check her out! Next thing you know, she'll be busting out her father's P90X videos and doing push-ups. *teehee*