clementine art

Now that I am an active user of the baby aisle at Whole Foods, I'm discovering all sorts of cute ways to spend even more money there.



Like Clementine Art supplies. Admittedly I'm being 100% sucked in by the packaging, but I think a company should be rewarded for spending time and money on good branding. And this is majorly cute branding, if you ask me. Dashiell isn't quite to the crafting stage yet, but soon enough. Perhaps he will be a little artiste!

I am slowly emerging from my vampire-like existence of the first few weeks. Which means we now walk every morning first thing (morning light is supposed to help set your baby's clock) and yesterday I successfully made it to the Pump Station for the procuring of (surprise surprise) a breast pump and Whole Foods for the stocking of the fridge and the discovering of the aforementioned product. With the baby. I felt accomplished and strong and independent!

And then I retreated back to my cave before the spell was broken.

scones from the cheeseboard

Made by dear friend Carol.



Meyer lemon blueberry. Yum. I looooove love love The Cheeseboard and Carol has a special way with all things relating to flour and butter and sweetness. She's the baker behind our wedding cake, which was absolutely delicious, even after a year in the freezer.

I'd also like to report that despite a rather trying day of fussy baby and exhausted mama, I managed to make dinner for the first time in four weeks. Which is a serious testament to how awesome our friends have been about making sure we're well taken care of. I'm going to echo Jora's rec when I say, if people want to bring you food, LET THEM. We're now going to dip into our freezer reserves that I stocked up before Dashiell was born. And hopefully by the time those run out, things will be a little more settled around here. If not, there's always more take out.

squeaks & beeps

I had all sorts of nice things I wanted to post this week, but it's already thursday and I'm guessing I have 1 hour at the computer until you know who is needing attention. I'm sure I'll eventually return to normal posting but for now, thank ye kindly for cutting me some slack.

Amanda's super super sweet nearly sister-in-law Michele, sent me this at the beginning of the week:



Actually she sent the package to Amanda to pass on to me. She makes custom baby burp cloth onesie bib sets and sells them through her blog Squeaks & Beeps. These would make such great pressies. She needs an etsy store B.A.D. don't you think? I love my little grey elephants.

NEVERMIND! She has one! Squeaks & Beeps on Etsy

I mistakenly thought that bibs were only for babies who eat food. They're actually kind of handy for milky spit up too. Every day you learn something shiny and new.

We're embarking on a big adventure today. Shopping with baby. Mama needs something to wear to a bridal shower on Sunday. Something that allows me to nurse and look somewhat put together. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Here I thought I was going to glide through breastfeeding in the same way I did pregnancy... ie. buying no appropriate clothes and just making due with what I already have. NOT.

the weekend/last 5 days

Weekend, weekday... they all kind of blur together into a patchwork of semi sleep right now. And sometimes I just can't/don't want to get to the computer. I'm reminding myself that it's okay if I don't check my email every day. And that what I'm supposed to be doing right now is spending time with my baby, letting him be naked on a blanket in the backyard, shower and sleep when he's sleeping and wash diapers as often as possible. It's a nice break from what my life has been up until this point.

We're still in the early stages of venturing out of the house, not longer than an hour or two at a time, and we haven't attempted to eat a meal out yet. But we have officially taken advantage of all that take out has to offer. Including AXE's 9 grain pancake mix that you can buy by the quart on weekend mornings. It's like eating out at home!





I'm attempting to decode the 9 grains so I can make it myself. I've only identified 6 so far.



Good.



I made the scones myself because now that I've been spoiled with a few batches from Melanie, I realize that I can never eat the ones from the actual bakery again. They are so much better when you make them at home. I froze a dozen so I can treat myself whenever I please.



Someone had a bath,



which resulted in a mohawk. Cannot resist posting pictures. He is my full time DIY project at the moment.



And we celebrated the first eve of daylight savings with cold lemony Hoegaarden and Stacy's pita chips. 2 perfect foods if you ask me.

I'm working on my birth story, for those of you who are curious. Initially I wanted to write it down for myself, just so I wouldn't forget all the unbelievable little details, but then I decided I should post it. Everyone else does after all. And I found other people's births extraordinarily fascinating as I moved closer to my own.

I think someone's about to wake up from the morning nap. Bye for now.

More baked goods

But I didn't make these. Melanie brought over a batch after we'd settled in at home with Dashiell. They are soooooo good. For those of you in LA, these ginger scones are the Rockenwagner/3 Square recipe. But I must say that Melanie's are actually kind of better. I think she's perfected them since the recipe was printed in the LA Times a few years ago.



SOOOOO GOOOOODD. Definitely encourage you to try them yourself, especially if you're in love with ginger like we are.

Definitely encouraging myself to eat whatever I want until I feel like I'm ready to start exercising again. Including 2 ginger scones per day if opportunity presents.

Banana chocolate walnut cinnamon sugar crumble bread makes things better

Things like recovering from childbirth and getting over the trauma of your son's circumcision (the second being much more intense, if you ask me). Yikes. I am going to sit on the couch and eat pieces of warm sweet cakey bread all afternoon. I polished off the chocolate chip cookies from our neighbors last night.



A combo of two of Molly's recipes. Plus chocolate, because I wanted it all in one loaf.

One last belly shot

These have been hanging on our refrigerator door for a few weeks now and every time I pass by I am amazed that my baby used to be so small and round and tucked so perfectly inside my belly.



Also, they were taken by Jose Villa which is like winning the accidental belly shot lottery. Last month Amanda and Danielle and I (hugely pregnant) trekked up to Santa Barbara for a little tablescape project for 100LC, shot by Señor Villa himself. (So so lucky we are!) At the end of the day, he had a few shots left on his last roll of film and snapped these pictures of my largeness.

Let me say that my uggs, hoodie and ponytail were NOT exactly the most perfectest outfit for the occasion, but we make do in such dire situations, don't we?

And look who I have instead of a belly:



(shameless posting of cute baby alert)

Now that I'm on the other side, I realize that pregnancy and birth fade quickly when you spend the day staring at your newborn. Which makes it really neat to have a visual reminder of the mysterious amniotic sea you carry for so many months. I was so super lucky to have Jen take photos at our house and then ended up with these extras too. What I'm trying to say is in retrospect, it's so worth it to have pretty pictures taken during the final weeks of pregnancy. Any of your out there on the fence about whether or not to spring for the maternity sesh should just do it. You're only pregnant with your first baby once, after all.

(PS. You can see the whole tablescape project on 100LC here.)

spring heath

Let me start by saying that I need more Heath like a need a giant hole in my head. And I'm sure you're sick of me posting about them. I try to resist, I do. But seriously, how perfect is their spring line?

Pretty sure I shan't be able to resist when it becomes available. Just one teeny little piece for me?







It's just oozing Palm Springs and pool side and outdoor party.

See? I can post things unrelated to baby. I can.

Birthday number three

Brock's birthday was yesterday. Which puts Dashiell right smack in the middle of us. A yummy baby birthday sandwich.

We celebrated with:



A late morning in bed. You can actually get 7-8 hours of sleep if you get in bed at 10 pm and get out at 10 the next morning.




Our first trip out in the Moby. We walked to Peets for celebratory lattes.




And french toast for breakfast at 2.



I made Molly's recipe and added cinnamon. I cannot have french toast without cinnamon.




Followed by a delicious dinner made by Melanie and Sky (pictured above, sorry should have mentioned that earlier) in our own kitchen. It was a good day. Except that Brock had to go back to work today. Starting a new job 1.5 months before your baby is due does not allow for ample time off. Poo, is what we say.

And thank you all for your super nice comments and wishes. It's amazing how normal this all feels, having our baby with us. We love it. Even though I could srsly use a nap today. Coming soon, I hope.

You can draw a line in your life

Our line has been drawn.

He's here. He's a boy. He is so perfect and so beautiful it's impossible to describe. Which is how all new parents feel, I hear... but now I like, really really get it.



Dashiell Donald Meltzer

Born February 24th at 12:03 pm.
7 lbs 9 oz of pure yummy blonde baby.

It's amazing that after only a few days you can feel like you've known this little person your whole life. That you were just waiting to meet. So here we are, all together now.

On the name... Dashiell we just like. It's old fashioned and uncommon... at least we thought. But at our first pediatrician appointment this morning, they were like "another Dashiell!" um. What? But that Dashiell is a girl. Anyway, like it matters. And Donald was my uncle's name. I will be so so happy if our boy has a spark of my uncle in him.

All for now. Back to the baby vortex. I wish we never had to leave.