Lola, 1 year, 3 months

Dear Lola,

Your cheeks and chubby legs are vanishing before my eyes. That makes me sad. I hope you at least keep some of that chub just for a little while longer. But probably not since you are basically running now. It's more of an extreme baby power walk and you usually stumble all over the place but you are doing great. I just know you are going to have hair like me.

It got cold-ish last week and your hair stayed flat against your head instead of in a curly tangle in the back. You are getting taller because I can no longer walk over you. 

You are becoming quite the explorer and absolutely love going outside and walking around in circles. Your Grandma and I brought you to the park the other day and you had more fun just parading around in your super cool shoes to care about any of the playgroud equipment. 

You are unlike any kid I've really ever seen. We have toys galore in our house for you, but you gravitate to all the book shelves and books in your room or the living room. You will sit there for quite some time and flip through pages, babble and tell us the story through and through. You even have favorite books already, you're mommy and daddy's little bookworm. You love wearing shoes now and are constantly bringing us your shoes or socks to put on, thank goodness. I thought you would want to be a bare footed monkey for the rest of your life ;) 

Within the last week you have took up a whole new form of independence in eating. We can no longer feed you anymore you decided. So you feed yourself, and...the floor...and your clothes, but you are getting better at it. You've almost mastered the spoon and the fork is tricky but you're getting there. 

The holidays are coming up and we're so eager to do all the fun holiday related things with you (aka trick or treating, mainly because we are still kids at heart...always and forever). 

September in Photos

KnickNaxFabricStax

phew.
September flew right on by after our vacation ended. I haven't really updated in here for quite some time, but I'm still here and the world is still spinning!
As you know, I opened an etsy account in April-ish trying to sell candles of all things. I love candles, I love smelling them, I love the feeling of a brand new candle jar in my hand. I love how a little flicker of light can erupt a whole new feeling of emotion to one small room.
I do not love making candles.

It's not like I hated it, but I surely didn't have  an aspiration to keep moving on with selling them, but I kept the few candles listed for about a month and got super inspired in the midst of things to sew Disney princess dresses for Lola.
Ever since she was teeny tiny I repeated over and over in my head that I would NOT buy those itchy scratchy cheap-o fabric Disney dresses for her as she got older.
I played around with some different styles, bought a pattern, and plunged in head first.
It was possibly the best decision I ever made.
I listed a few dresses here and there and slowly but surely started removing the candles one by one until they became nonexistent in my shop.
Before I knew it, I was no longer making candles and my shop name transformed from "KnickNaxCandleWax to KnickNaxFabricStax

I found a passion that wildy grows every time I sat in front of the sewing machine. Ever since I can remember I always loved to "make." Making things, creating things whatever the medium. From paintings to snapping timeless shots with my camera to baking beautiful food.
None (not even photography) compares to this though. I've never mustered up the courage to sell the things I've made, until now.

The reason I have been so absent is because my shop in the last 4 weeks has been soaring. I've been getting about 4-5 orders a week on average. Which is blowing my mind and I love every minute of being paid for something I thoroughly enjoy. I even love taking the long trek to Joann's to sort through fabric (It's actually my favorite part). I'm slowly making a profit, and my ideas for the future are endless. I've always admired people that open up Etsy shops and sell their creations, I never thought that I would be one of those people.

Once the craziness of the next few weeks dies down I will be revamping the shop to make it prettier and I will also be updating more in here as well, including many updates of the shop.
Click the link here to go buy some dresses ----> My Shop

Really Late, but here is August in Photos

33/52 - 36/52

33/52

*Stray Cat searching.

34/52

*The Seven Dwarves Part II.

35/52

*Anticipating Mickey Pancakes.

36/52

*Painting for the first time.

Vacation 2014, Part II

The contents of our week at home on vacation were quite different than a normal week here. Our fancy shmancy hotel vacation and our trip to Orlando transformed into a "STAYcation," over night. So not only was it a vacation for Ryan away from work it was absolutely grand having Ryan home all week helping me with the stay at home mom stuff (this also means sleeping in advantages).

We switched off mornings being able to stay snug in bed while the other did all the morning stuff with Lola. 

^ A perfect example of our Staycation. Sleep, Sleep, and lots of sleep!

This also worked wonders because Sims 4 just released the Tuesday of our vacation and I was getting antsy about staying up late some nights building mansions and becoming a master chef via Sim world. So it totally worked out and we got to pretend we were kids again, feeling like rebels staying up as late as possible AND sleeping in till' noon.

We also took a trip to SAM's to get some bulk shopping done. We went a little crazy, but our house needed re-stocking in stuff we use daily, so it was nice to get it all done in one shot and (bonus) it will last us for quite a while (green tea and cereal heaven). 

So the rest of the week we vegged and vegged some more, and prepared ourselves for the weekend ahead. We were taking our first overnight trip as a family! A while back we scooped up Frozen on Ice tickets because even at a very young age Lola adored the movie and Ryan and I had just visited our first Disney on ice event and loved it. So bringing Lola was a nessecity. We incorporated our vacation around that time and decided that getting a hotel the night before would be the best option for our busy baby schedule (and because we still think it's super cool to stay in a hotel, it also gave us an excuse to spend all of Saturday roaming Orlando.)

Which we did. We explored Seuss landing and went on the few measly rides that were 1 year old accessible, it was still a blast. We took Lola on the Hogwarts express and brought her to Diagon Alley because we just couldn't get enough, but Lola had enough. And after like 3 hours she was pooped, starving and ready to crash. Too be expected bring a 1 year old to an amusement park, how do you pro parents do it?!

Our hotel was smack dab in downtown Orlando which was pretty nifty since the Amway center was right down the street. Our hotel was super nice, and Lola had a blast (minus Ryan dropping us off to get dinner and Lola and I being hotel-less because I forgot the hotel number). Oh boy...that was a story and don't get me started on burger 21 burgers with a hefty scoop of guacamole....ew and our exhausted attempts of pulling out the futon from the couch... AND forgetting our frozen tickets all the way back at home and not realizing it till the night before....our evening wasn't the best, but it's pretty hilarious to think about now. 

The next morning we found a small place for breakfast, ate our bellies full, and arrived in the parking lot really early to let Lola nap before the show. I was so nervous that she was going to be a typical one year old...and she was. But luckily we purchased club seating which meant we had our own little zone and swivel comfy chairs. It made the whole process a gazillion times easier. We were able to stand up and bounce Lola when she got antsy and fussy, and the chairs kind of enclosed her in when she was actively watching the performance and enjoying it. So worth it, and she adored watching her favorite movie unfold with real life characters and real ice! (Well sort of real...). 

Lola, 1 year, 2 months

Dear Lola,

You decided to start walking about a week ish ago which was around our vacation week. I suppose you thought that you didn't want to see us resting TOO much since you are now exploring all the places our apartment. Seeing you walking is super surreal, you're starting to hold the features of a toddler and it's adorable but freaky that you used to fit snug on one of my arms. You're starting to become familiar with using a fork at meal times, you can feed yourself but still haven't mastered the art of poking food, soon enough. You still eat just about everything and with our vacation week, we ate pretty terrible and you did NOT like that one bit. Apparently eating healthy is number one on your  priority list and that's fine by me.
Your constant jibber jabber is starting to sound like real words, or maybe mommy's just crazy and thinks so. We usually will count things together and you pretend like you are counting, but really it's just some monster jabber, either way I love it. You got to see Frozen on Ice and olaf on ice skates made you over the moon. You also got to explore universal and islands of adventure and stay in a hotel for the first time with mommy and daddy. It was a total blast and we are looking forward to more family vacations when you're older.
You throw quite a few tantrums throughout the day now. We are working on those slowly. It's a bit difficult for you to express yourself and we understand that. We are in the process of trying to form an understanding bond with you, especially when you are upset and frustrated. I think it's working and you're starting to cope with the tantrums and get over them quickly. Needless to say, I can't wait until you can talk it out with us because these mood swings of yours have been a doozy.
You still are taking your morning nap all the way through and same with your bedtime. Not much has changed there, you love to sleep (thank goodness).

I can't believe in one month how much has changed, I know I frequently say that, but it's always mind blowing to me. Our lives are going through another motion and it's so much fun being your parent and living in the world you are creating for yourself.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much.