Archive for March, 2008

Captured

Monday, March 10th, 2008

Here’s a photo I managed to get of Ronin just about to smile.* Of course, she is all smiles with the accompanying gurgly-goo sounds she makes until I get the lens in front of her face; then she clams up and just stares into the lens. The shiny shiny lens.

*Lest one be fooled by this disarming almost-smile, it is important to note that Ronin is still capable of going from Smiley Happy Baby to “I Will Cut You” mind-numbingly fast.


Onesies and Booties!

Thursday, March 6th, 2008

A few months before Ronin was born, I got bit with the crafty bug. You probably saw the baby quilt I made but it didn’t end there. Using bits of left-over quilt fabric in addition to other pieces from various projects I have made over the years, I made some baby booties, a little hat, and then Joshua and I stenciled a slew of onesies.

I didn’t post them right away because the majority of them were gifts for friends who were expecting babies. And then I continued not to post them because I’m a lamer.

***

First off, Baby Booties! Unable to resist such cuteness, I searched out simple patterns online and found some good ones. Of course, the ones I wanted to make I couldn’t find a pattern for so I downloaded a similar pattern and adapted it.

These are made from an old cashmere sweater of Joshua’s that met with foul play (a washing machine incident that totally wasn’t my fault) and got used to make a whole bunch of different things. I had some scraps left still and made this little teeny hat and booties to match (the booties are made from the pattern above, mostly). I was going to make them as gifts but they turned out so wonky that I had to keep them for myself. And then the wonkiness grew on me and I embroidered (if you can call it that) a twee heart on the sole to make it that much more knock-you-down adorable. Ronin wore the hat (the booties were way big) home from the hospital.

Of course, I was still short a bunch of gifts for friends. Onward!

The following are adapted from the pattern linked above:

These are made from scraps of wool, silk, and cotton, with flannel lining on the inside.

Last but not least: the onesies!

“Lefnut” was for our friend Kurt, named after his skateboard in college. “Riot” is a graffiti we saw in Barcelona in 2003.

Both the dummy (pacifier) and the chair are from graffitis we liked in Barcelona. The dummy was one of the most prolific graffiti tags in the city; this guy painted these things everywhere, elaborate ones with multiple colors, plain ones just black and white, and we saw them in other towns: Valencia, Sitges, Tarragona, etc. The chair was a simple stencil that we found in a few places around town; it was one of my favorites for some reason.

This is just a design I made up. I had to go and make it all complicated with three different overlaid stencils (the branches, the flowers, and the flower centers), which of course required multiple paint applications (with dry time between). Whew. Turned out pretty awesome I think though, as modeled by Celine here. I had to go out and buy pink paint for this (alas, no other color would do for the cherry blossoms), which undermined my War on Pink for the most part. I further rebelled in irony by also painting the Dummy above pink.


Super Baby Stretch

Tuesday, March 4th, 2008

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Critics are saying,

“A ripsnorting frolicsome ride!”
“Enchanting!”
“An enthralling nexus of childlike enchantment and whimsical folly!”
“A stellar debut performance; Ronin really delivers.”
“Ronin is the Holden Caulfield of baby home videos!”


Family Photo Roundup

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

A quick photo spread of all the visitors we’ve been having lately. Cousin Jeff, Larry, Earl, and Hans have been here too but somehow managed to stay out of our lenses. We even had a surprise visit from Jerry and Joni, our friends on Lotus who you may remember from the infamous bar crossing at Bahia del Sol.

Grandma Peggy!

Grandma Cheryl!

Great Aunt Cindy!

When Uncle Sage, Auntie Elise, and Cousin Riley came through Riley wanted to see the snow (she just didn’t know it yet). We all piled in their rental because it was bigger than our car and had four doors. Still, it was tight. Those car seats take up a lot of space and it’s pretty inconvenient to travel with 4 adults and 2 kids. We made it but I’m not sure it was legal. The kids were safe at any rate.

We all enjoyed a brief frolic in the snow. Ronin was pretty oblivious and I had to shove a bit of snow down her shirt to get any kind of rise out of her.

I don’t think she’d last too long if she were abandoned in a snow bank. Not even in the Eddie Bauer™ wilderness off-road car seat.

Most recently Michelle spent a few days with us. We took Ronin on her first nature outing up to the gorge.


Smiles

Saturday, March 1st, 2008

We have smiles! SO CUTE! She also makes little gurgling noises when she does it. We do not, however, have photographs of the smiles; I believe this is a milestone that is not reached until at least two months. Her vocabulary is growing considerably too; before her only word was “eh” but now we have added the following: aah, ah, nnnnn-phbbt (explosive sputter sound), nyaaah, and mleh. She picked these up on her own too, genius baby that she is.

She continues to be the biggest burp resister ever. Burping always begins with vigorous vocal and physical protestation. Ronin: “Eh eh eh eh eh AAAHHHHHH eh eh eh eh nnnnnn-phhbbbt! Nnnnnn-phbbbt! Eh eh eh eh.” Me: “RELAX KID! You are not fooling me—the burps must come OUT!” [Pat pat pat pat pat pat…] Ronin: “Eh eh eh eh eh BBBBRRRRRRAAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKK urp urp BAAAARRRRPP!” [Sigh..] “Mleh.”


Cheyenne Weil, Joshua Coxwell