Custom Toy Portrait Giveaway

Oh. I love today's giveaway. Jennifer Maher is offering custom toy portraits for a lucky winner — one 8"x10" and one 5"x7" — a total value of $165. Isn't that fantastic? Two original works of art — they could inspire a whole gallery wall. How does it work: snap a photo of your child's favorite toy and Jennifer will magically transfer it into high art. For reals.

I love Jennifer's style and I love the idea of capturing one or two of my child's favorite objects — capturing a snapshot of their childhood — in a painting. Talk about an heirloom! You know you'll be handing these pieces of art down to your own children as they put together nurseries for your grandkids. And Jennifer's prices are totally reasonable for custom art. Take a look.





To enter the giveaway, leave a comment below. The winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

Bambizi

Oh my goodness. We're down to less than two months till my due date. So creating a space for this new little baby is on my mind. I found gorgeous nursery inspiration at British company, Bambizi. I don't think we're in the market for a new crib, but this "cot" made me smile — absolutely fantastic for a little prince or princess.

On Kirtsy This Week

What is it about this week? Every morning I wake up and think it's Friday. At least today, I'm only a day off. : )



Here are some of my favorite kirtsy links from the last week or so. (Kirtsy is a site where anyone can share cool links — I'm one of the co-founders).

-It looks like a real, actual house. And it's gorgeous.

-A great article on getting kids off the couch and into the great outdoors.

-Do you rsvp — or have you abandoned the practice?

-A post written by a mother who is observing her baby-loving toddler while knowing this daughter is infertile. Heartache!

-Why teenage girls are awesome.

-Photoshoot of a soldier coming home and meeting his baby girl for the first time.

-The best films you've never seen.

-Want to receive a fun postcard from all 50 States?

-Does owning less stuff equal having more time?

-The New York Times published a piece about mommy-blogging and the reaction hasn't been great. Here's one well-written response.

-I am enough! An invitation from Tracey Clark.




-Yummy. Anthropologie has a new sister brand called Leifsdottir. (That's where all these neato images came from. Do you like the washed out photography?)

Anything fun you've seen on Kirtsy lately? Any links you've added to Kirtsy?

Spring Clutches

It's so warm today that I'm browsing swimsuit sites and dreaming of summer handbags. I think accessories with wooden accents (like bamboo handles) are exactly right for warm weather dressing. I like these little clutches by Pistolstitched.

Martha Stewart Encyclopedia of Sewing & Fabric Crafts

Friends. If you adore fabric — or anything related to fabric — I highly encourage you to pre-order your copy of Martha's new Encyclopedia of Sewing and Fabric Crafts. It covers everything I love about working with textiles. Dyeing, printing, stamping, embroidering, quilting, etc. With the gorgeous photography and clear instructions that are trademarks of anything Martha. 150 different projects are featured. That's right. One hundred and fifty. Like the companion volume, the Encyclopedia of Crafts, this volume is a heavyweight. It's the size of a major textbook.

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy and I've been reading it like a novel. I think the first thing I want to try is a project featuring some ribbon embroidery. Wouldn't it be lovely to embellish a little hat and blanket for this new baby?

Adoption Gift from Katie Mohr

For Mother's Day I got a painting. It was an original. It had custom framing. It was expensive in many contexts. It cost years of tests, shots, co-pays, pregnancy tests, adoption fees, postage on paperwork, airline tickets, country fees, and international ATM fees. It cost tough conversations, tears, long runs to clear my head, eight months of my "real life", strong hugs, several hard Mother's Days, thousands of prayers, and rolls upon rolls of cookie dough. If I gave you a real dollar amount we might all throw up. However, this painting is worth it. It's that good. I would pay that "price" all over again.

It was made by two little hands. Two perfect hands. Two brown hands.

The same two hands that offered me part of his waffle on Sunday morning when Russ told him that it was Mother's Day. The same brown hands that rise in the air when he hears his new favorite song because he wants to "dance" with me. The same little hands that search through my hair to find which earrings I'm wearing each day. And the same hands that have to sign "more" because he's giggling too much to talk. The same sweet hands that blew me a kiss after I said good night to him while he was already tucked into bed tonight.

I'm in love. I'm in love with Eliot, I'm in love with being his mom, I'm in love with the Lord for creating him and "us", and I'm in love with his painting.

From Katie of More From The Mohrs.
Image via Fresh Art Photography.

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting advice, memories and stories about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here. I'd love to hear your story or memory or advice, feel free to submit it to gabrielle@designmom.com.

Birth Video from Jarica

I'm just now sitting down at my desk after my morning prenatal visit. All is well. I was encouraged to add more pineapple and dried apricots to my diet — apparently both are high in iron. Who knew? Plus, I got the "all-clear" for a quick trip to New York next weekend.

It wasn't exactly a St. Patrick's Day celebration, but it was still fun to be out and about and see everyone wearing green. Are you doing anything special for St. Patrick's Day? Did your kids wear green to school? I'm thinking it would be fun to pick up a box of Lucky Charms for an after school snack today.

In the meantime, I've got some great posts for you. Starting with this beautiful birth video (nothing graphic, I promise) from Jarica Madsen.

An Amazing Miracle from Jake Madsen on Vimeo.

Granted, I'm 32 weeks pregnant, but I cried the whole way through.

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting advice, memories and stories about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here. I'd love to hear your story or memory or advice, feel free to submit it to gabrielle@designmom.com.

Bonpoint — Now For U.S. Shoppers!

Great news! Bonpoint just opened a site for U.S. shoppers. Gorgeous things for newborns, toddlers, boys and girls. Mmmmmm. I will take one of each.

Book of the Week — My Book About Me

Did you ever have this book as a kid? I loved my copy. It's a fill-in-the-blanks journal with all the cleverness of Dr. Suess. It's called My Book About Me and it covers everything a kid would care about in their kid-sized world — favorite color, how big your foot is, how many steps from the front door to the mailbox. Oscar received a copy for his birthday and he adores it. It is a daily read.

Train Token Necklaces

The girls at Blue Poppy Jewelry have been working on a new necklace using authentic train tokens. Wouldn't one of these make a cool gift for your wanderlust-addicted friend?

Ask Design Mom — Curly Hair

Ask Design Mom Question:
I have to know about your hair! I have naturally curly hair as well and I NEED to know what products you use in your hair. (Shampoo, Conditioner, Gel or Mousse... seems so personal but all of these things affect the result.) I have wasted tons of money on so many products and they all give different results. Also, do you air dry or diffuse? Thanks, Missy

Design Mom Answer:
Thanks for the question, Missy. I actually find this question in my inbox frequently. And then I totally nod my head in sympathy because as a fellow curly headed person I totally know the frustration of figuring out a hair process and knowing how to deal with curls in all sorts of situations (like humid New York vs. bone dry Denver).

Here's the basic process that works for me: In the shower, I shampoo lightly and then heavily condition and let the conditioner soak in for a few minutes while I'm soaping up. I'm fairly relaxed about products — something luxurious from the salon is always a treat, but I'm equally satisfied with a variety of drugstore brands. Right now, my favorite is Infusium because the conditioner is really thick.

After the shower, I gently(!) towel dry my hair. I don't run my fingers through it or brush or comb it — the key is to not separate the curls. Next, I fill my palm with a mix of leave-in conditioner and hair gel — again, I'm not too particular about brands — and work the combo through my hair. (Note: don't brush or comb or pull your fingers through your hair to work in the product, just kind of moosh/scrunch it in everywhere.)

Then I let my hair air-dry till it's about 75% dry — while I put on my makeup and get dressed. Finally I flip my head upside down and use a hair-dryer with a diffuser to finish drying the roots. Diffusing with my hair upside down gives more lift at the roots so the curls don't look like they're dragging.

Last two tips: 1) I only get my hair fully wet every 3rd or 4th day. For showers during non-shampoo days, I just pull it up into a bun so it doesn't get wet. 2) At hair appointments, I make sure to keep my layers trimmed — especially around my face. Otherwise the curls get too heavy and my hair forms a gigantic triangle.

And that's it. The book Curly Girl helped me quite a bit in how I approach my hair. I don't follow all of its guidelines, but it's definitely a great place to start if you're frustrated with your curls (or your child's curls). In fact, if you like it, you could totally give a copy to your hairdresser.

What about you Fellow Curly Girls? Do you have any favorite haircare products or haircare tips?

Images of curly haired peeps from Bumble & Bumble.

Ice Milk Aprons

Good morning, Friends! I couldn't post yesterday due to some technical difficulties. My apologies to those of you who checked in hoping for some new content. Happily, the technical stuff was resolved this morning and I've got some fantastic posts to share today.

First off, what are your thoughts on aprons? I tend to favor waist aprons versus full aprons — and I adore these straightforward, really beautiful options from Ice Milk Aprons. (Although, right now, I'm happy for anything that covers my giant tummy.) Something about the change of seasons seems to draw me into the kitchen. In the fall, I crave pie making. In the spring, I like cake.

Do you use aprons in the kitchen?

spotted on SimpleSong

A Few Things

Hello Friends! This Spring weather has me in such a good mood. I hope we will spend the entire weekend out of doors. And I must buy some cut flowers for the house. What are you doing this weekend? Anything fun? I think we will be seeking out a steakhouse — my midwife says I'm slightly anemic and need more iron so I want to feast on steak on creamed spinach. : )

Here are some links I've been meaning to share:

-The Egg Print above is by Abby (seen on Unruly Things). It's wonderful and it reminded me I'm excited to make Easter Eggs. Any particular Easter Egg methods you're looking to try this year?

-The third issue of (online magazine) Lonny is out. I'm hoping to read it over the weekend.

-Did you see the Chanel Iceberg?

-It's a diaper and carrier in one. What do you think? Would this work for you?

-The man in your life has questions. Find the cleverly written answers — a new one written each day — here: The Rules of a Gentleman. (via UpsideUp)

-I want to make a shamrock badge.

-If you wanted to, you could add a cheery ruffle to your corkboard.

-It's called Ikea Heights. And it's a melodrama filmed entirely in an Ikea store. Except. Ikea doesn't know about it. (Warning: apparently some episodes are NSFW. Yikes.)

-For lunch today, let's just eat an entire tray of these blondies.

P.S. — Don't miss the 5-Strand Pearl Necklace up for grabs in my Leslie Lewis Giveaway. You can enter till Monday. I hope you win!

Hand Printed Wallpapers

Do you have wallpaper in your home? I think the hand-printed offerings from Grow House Grow are pretty. Plus, each design has a story.

Leslie Lewis Designs Giveaway

A beautiful giveaway today. From jewelry designer (and fellow Colorado girl), Leslie Lewis. You could win this gorgeous Not Your Mother's Pearls necklace. Five perfect strands. And then you could wear it out on the town. Or to the grocery store. Either way, you'd look lovely sporting such an elegant creation.

Go to Leslie's site to see more of her jewelry. Earrings. Bracelets. Necklaces. At lots of different price ranges. Some of my favorites? The Classic Bali, Precious Metals, and Posh. But really, my favorite is the one up for grabs in this giveaway. Isn't it beautiful?





To enter, leave a comment below. A happy winner will be announced on Monday. Good luck!

Congratulations to Through the Looking Glass! You are the lucky winner. Enjoy your pearls.

We Are Fast

The weather has been lovely and all of the outdoor toys have spilled out of our garage. The jumpropes. The longboard. The ride-on jeep. And especially the bikes. Have you noticed all the pretty bikes available these days? I like these custom bikes by We Are Fast.

My kids have bikes, but Ben Blair and I don't. We think this summer is the summer to get them. Do you bike?

American Science & Surplus

Have you browsed the wares at American Science & Surplus? It's a fascinating place. You can find these pretty pushpins for less than $3. Or this clock for your math-whiz friend. Or you can find robot partz.

Via Wee Wonderfuls

Headbands by Blue Eyed Freckle

Maude's hair is at a great length for headbands and we've been searching out pretty ones far and wide. Like these lovely felt creations from Blue Eyed Freckle. Do you wear headbands? Do you like a wide or thin band? I've never been very good at wearing them, but I think they're adorable.

VBAC story from Jodi Mockabee

Redemption: How I got my VBAC (and so much more)

My story starts back twenty-plus years. Lots of young girls dream of their wedding, their dress, the flowers. Not me. From as far back as I could remember, I dreamt of my births. I dreamt of the miraculous way each body would enter the world, I loved everything baby-related.

Fast forward to February, 2006. My husband and I were giddy with excitement over our home visit with my midwife. We were planning a home birth, which was, of course, a part of my childhood dreams... somehow this stemmed from the inspiration of my mother giving birth to my oldest brother on the kitchen table (which has been graciously handed down to me, thank you, and if you're shocked, well, you wouldn't be if you met my mother). Everything was in order, sanitized, prepared. I had candles set everywhere as naturally, a pregnant body looks much more elegant birthing in candlelight. Two days later I was given the devastating news that our firstborn son was breech. Devastating may be an intense term to describe the moment, but being that this birth was what I had dreamt of for as long as I could remember, I was devastated. My midwife would not deliver a breech baby. We tried every possible action to get our son to turn. Acupressure, chiropractic, massage, stretches, handstands, swimming, floating, and our favorite: smoking mug root on my pinky toes (the best part is it smelled like pot, so we were pleased to circulate rumors in our neighborhood). March 7, 2006, our son, Carter, entered the world via-c-section into a bright, cold, and sterile room. It was far from what I had dreamed.

Regardless, he was there, with us, and he was beautiful. Two years later, we had moved from our country environment to the "big city"... our new insurance would not allow me to have personal midwifery care, but I was informed that I could try for a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean). This news was exciting to me as it is a growing trend in the medical community to ban VBAC's. As the due date approached, I sadly felt a very familiar sensation: a head... in my ribs. My second son was breech as well. Again, devastated. I also knew this blew my chances for a VBAC in the future as two cesareans usually means your chances to give birth like a normal woman would are gonzo. March 21, 2008, our son, Everett arrived. The not-so-good news? His lungs were filled with fluid, a very common side-effect of elective cesareans...he spent four days in the NICU in which I had to sneak in like a ninja just to breastfeed him. The only word I could use to define the entire situation was unnatural. Everything about the process was completely unnatural.

We recovered, though, and eventually had two healthy, busy boys. One year later, I found out I was pregnant. From the beginning things were much different with this pregnancy than the previous two. At the end of my first trimester, we had a scare and thought we lost the baby. Come to find out, we had lost one, not both of them...that's right, I was pregnant with twins! What a shock it was, but what a relief as well to know we had "fighter" in there. We found out weeks later that the fighter was a little girl. As my pregnancy progressed, my body did as well, in a way that was foreign to me. My hips spread, wide. The pants I wore all through the pregnancy with both boys wouldn't even fit past my thighs. Something within me knew that my body was doing what nature had intended it to do, and a spark of hope stirred within me. This is when I decided to do all I could to fight for a VBAC. I'll spare the details of my journey, but in the end, I was granted the opportunity to birth vaginally. I was elated. To add to my joy, my daughter very much cooperated with my new wide hips, had nestled head down and stayed there for the remaining time of my pregnancy.



We hired a doula as my husband and mother were quite nervous about me laboring at home (there is a slight risk for uterine rupture with VBAC's). I wanted to labor as long as possible at home because I knew I would be on close watch at the hospital if I didn't progress on their standard timeline... February 23, 2010, six days past my due date, had found me a miserable, tired, and grouchy mother and wife. I did what everyone advised against... I drank castor oil. I'll refrain from all of the lovely details, but what I will say is that, by surprise, my beautiful daughter, Scarlett, was born near my bathroom floor (out of my very capable vagina, I might add), into the hands of her daddy. I held her on my chest, looked into her eyes, nursed her, talked to her, all while leaning against my husband. Her cord remained attached, her and I, still joined together for 20 minutes. My mom used chicken scissors to cut the cord, the doula delivered the placenta (which remains in my freezer to be planted--yes, you can gag, but at least we didn't' eat it), and we all sat shocked at the beauty of the VBAC that took place. Even though it took two very medical births to get there, we got the home birth I had always dreamt of...except this time, it wasn't planned by me, it was given from her.

From Jodi Mockabee of The Bee Hive
Image via Design Crush

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting advice, memories and stories about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here. I'd love to hear your story or memory or advice, feel free to submit it to gabrielle@designmom.com.

Adoption Thoughts from Sarah Buttenweiser

Written for Mother's Day 2009

Just over a year ago, we adopted a baby. Already parents to three children, our family grew in a new way: we became an adoptive family.

Mother’s Day is not a holiday I have ever observed (beyond sending a card to my mother, stepmother and mother-in-law). I dislike the holiday’s marketing aspect, including the sense that “mom” does a job and deserves a day of pampering for her trouble. Being a mother, Barbara Ehrenreich wrote, is not a job (although it involves a lot of work); it’s a relationship.

It’s my second Mother’s Day since Saskia was born, and with her arrival, the holiday got more complex, because she brought another mother into our fold, her birth mother, Caroline.

The English language doesn’t possess satisfying words for “mother” in our situation. Caroline, as the woman who gave birth to Saskia, is her mother. Biology tells us so. I stood by Caroline’s hospital bed while she pushed Saskia out into the world. Giving birth is one critical way we define mothers, it being the one thing only a mother can do. But to say giving birth describes motherhood is incomplete. Caroline isn’t raising Saskia. In terms of all those things mothers do—hold you when you’re upset, kiss you countless times a day, smile at you for no apparent reason, feed you, wipe your nose and bottom, take you to the pediatrician—I am it. Saskia is too small to appreciate how two women share mothering her. The language surrounding adoption offers some words to qualify mother, such as birth mother, or first mother, or adoptive mother. At the same time, these qualifiers sound like apologies, as if there’s something murky or not quite certain about mother, herself. Add to the mix that each situation is unique and that each definition is dependent upon the mothers and the child.

Qualifiers may be helpful to Saskia as she navigates her identity as an adopted child—and if that’s the case, I’ll be very glad for them—and yet it’s also possible that she’ll choose her own words to name her reality.

After Saskia was born, Lucien, my second child, then nine, said to Caroline, “I can see you on the floor, playing a game, eating chocolate with us. You’ll be like the fun aunt.” This appealed to Caroline at the time, the idea that she’d have a role to play and would occupy a special spot in Saskia’s family. We haven’t reached games and chocolate, yet. As Mother’s Day approaches, I’m aware that Caroline revisits her decision about Saskia’s adoption—struggles with having ceded that plain-old, unqualified mother—far more often than I do.

After an extended and heart-stopping legal odyssey, and once the finalization of Saskia’s adoption occurred, relief slowly seeped into my body. If the relief had been dye, my color would have changed because it saturated me. I was exceedingly grateful to move past any need to worry that our family constellation could be changed by the birth father’s protestations. Saskia was ten months when the adoption was made legal. Cherished baby of the family, Saskia had been our daughter for what seemed practically forever (from birth).

Whether Caroline’s second-guessing her decision or reassuring herself that she did the right thing, whether she’s reminding herself that Saskia’s happy in order to feel more settled about the decision, I can’t say. Part of motherhood—her motherhood—is going to have to do with how she makes peace with her decision. I can’t make her make peace. I can’t force the “fun aunt” role upon her nor any other. For my part, what I hold as part of my peace is that in adoption, the sense of loss is greater for the mother ceding the baby and the baby having to grow into the complexity of having felt rejected by—to whatever degree, less, we hope with an open adoption, even barely at all—a mother than for the adoptive parents, because as adoptive parents, we gained a daughter. We gained this murkiness, too, these losses and our job—my job as Saskia’s mother and Caroline’s chosen mother for her daughter—is to be willing to hold this, whatever this will be. Mine’s not to judge or force my will. At the same time, mine is to somehow remain as open as possible while respecting boundaries and while remaining certain—not apologetic—that as Saskia’s adoptive mother, I’m Saskia’s mother.

So, this week when making cards to send to my mother, stepmother, mother-in-law and two sisters, I also made a card for Caroline (and sent some chocolates, too). I didn’t say much—there’s so much and nothing to say—but I couldn’t let the day go without telling her how appreciative I am. On the second mother’s day as an adoptive mother, that’s where I am.

From Sarah Buttenweiser of Standing in the Shadows.

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Note from Design Mom: for the duration of my pregnancy, I'll be posting advice, memories and stories about pregnancy, childbirth, adoption and growing a family on Wednesdays. You can find them all by clicking here. I'd love to hear your story or memory or advice, feel free to submit it to gabrielle@designmom.com.

Girl+Guy Party at SXSW

Are you going to SXSWi this weekend? (What is SXSWi? It's an enormous conference that covers the interactive/new media space. It's held every March in Austin, Texas. And it's followed up with a legendary film and music festival as well.)

If you're going, you will totally want to seek out Kirtsy's Girl+Guy Party. This is the second year Kirtsy has teamed with Guy Kawasaki to host this awesome shindig. And I promise, this is the ONLY girl event at SXSW. I'm not even kidding. It is a male conference through and through (and sometimes feels like a week long series of frat parties).

It's too late to RSVP online for the Kirtsy party — it's actually full to the brim. So if you want to get in, here are your options: 1) Follow @kirtsy on Twitter so you can track down one of the Kirtsy girls at the conference. They'll have some party passes on hand. 2) Volunteer to help out for a couple of hours with party set-up or take-down or registration, etc. You can let the party planners know you're a willing volunteer by reaching out through the facebook event page.

Hope to see you there!

Book of the Week: Mathilda and the Orange Balloon

Jen Corace's illustrations make me happy. And they go so nicely with this sweet story by Randall de Seve called Mathilda and the Orange Balloon. Little lamb Mathilda can imagine herself in a million wonderful ways — it's all about the power of possibilities.