Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom!

Photobucket


Today is my Mother's birthday, (Happy Happy Happy Birthday Mom!) and in case you're keeping track, my new baby is one week old today. I promise a new baby post soon, but as this is the first time I have sat down at the computer since coming home from the hospital and I have a very small window of time in which to do so, I am reposting a blog from Mother's Day last year, in honor of my lovely, kind-hearted, selfless Mom's birthday.

The drawing/painting above was a gift for her last year, and the entry below describes what (and who) inspired it.

{{As with all good crazy people, my story involves both my mother and my childhood. When I was little I had a lot of bad dreams. Terrible horrible no good very bad dreams, nearly every night. I still have a lot of them, actually, just with a fraction of the frequency. But when I was just a wee thing, my sainted mother taught me that more often than not, I could be in control of my dreams, partly by thinking of lovely things as I was falling asleep,and partly by making myself aware I was only dreaming and since it was my own mind, I could make it anything I wanted to. (Did I have a choice but to become an artist with that sort of wide-open creative encouragement, come to think of it?)

Anyway, we would play a little game at bedtime where my mom would say something like, "I'll see you in Dreamland... I'll be wearing a pink dress with white polka-dots and butterfly wings and a lime green tiara. I'll meet you at the gum-drop tree. How will I know you?" And I would describe in great detail my dreamself and her attire. It was never quite the same from one night to the next, but my mom nearly always wore pink with white polka-dots in some form or another, and I was always one for tu-tus. Sometimes I was a mermaid swimming in a purple sea, sometimes some sort of winged creature but it was a delightful little tradition and it did the trick.
From time to time in my adulthood we have talked about it, and once at a family gathering when my nephew was telling us about his bad dream I engaged the whole extended family in a very elaborate Dreamland reunion which sort of unlocked a lot of really wonderful memories for me of whispered fairytales and enchanted dream meetings with my Mommy, the person who taught me what love and beauty and magic were.

So for Mother's day, I did this little drawing for my mom, of our grown-up(ish) idea of how we'd look in dreamland. Of course, in our dreams we're both seven feet tall and weigh about ninety pounds, but what I think its really about is how we'd look if we looked on the outside like we feel on the inside. I guess that means I'm a fairy-CanCan dancer with an affinity for Jane Austen, horn-rimmed glasses, pearls and tattoos (I'm a complicated creature) and
my mom is femininity personified, the queen bee and a nurturer of all living things, an angel in an apron with whom I share my sense of whimsy and my love of beauty.

Hope you like it, but mostly it was a labor of love and the target audience was my mother who is admittedly easy to please, so if you don't, well, I just don't care. That's what Mom's are for. }}



And now, here's her real birthday present:



F i o n a L i l l i a n R o s e

7 pounds, 14 ounces ~ 19 1/2 inches ~ June 9, 2009


Thank you for being everything you are, Mom. We all love you so much. The role you had at her birth was more encouraging, empowering and precious to me than words can possibly describe. Hope your birthday is wonderful, in the midst of the busyness.


Love, Elizabeth, Justin, Christian and Fiona

p.s. If you'd like to wish my Mom a Happy Birthday, leave a comment here, or over at her blog.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Nursery Vignettes

More from my mom's impromptu photo-shoot. These are all from the nursery, which is still very much a work in progress. In fact, the furniture isn't even all in place yet, but I've been working non-stop for the last couple days, since little Fiona should be here any minute. Or so they tell me... she was due a week and a half ago! But we'll be SO ready for her when she arrives.

A corner of the crib.

Luggage, because a girl has to travel in style.

Just a few pretty things on top of the dresser, waiting to find homes.

Some little boxes I painted and her silver rattle, a gift from Grammy and Papa.

The beautiful piece of furniture I snapped up. We're working on temporarily converting the fold out portion of the desk into a changing station. It has sturdy pull-out supports. Its a little hard to tell in the picture, but I painted the inside of the top portion pink, with white polka-dots. It turned out very sweet.

A sweetly colored set of blocks I couldn't resist embellishing.

I just noticed that in this post and the last, most of the pictures include something I painted. Admittedly, you'd be hard-pressed to find a room in my home without one of my paintings or painted things, but that's also what happens when your mother is your photojournalist. I think she loves me. The feeling is mutual.

I fully intend to post a TON more pictures when the nursery is completed, but I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the room's occupant arrives before her nest is entirely feathered. Indeed, it is my great wish!

P.S. The best place for baby updates when the time comes will still be my mom's blog: Debbi Thinks Deep. We hope to have big news very very very soon.

Vignettes

This isn't exactly a full-scale "after" photo shoot, but my Mom had some fun while babysitting and took a few pictures of some of the finished areas in the new house. Actually, everything is really coming together, and I hope to post more soon, but I will very soon (like, within the next hundred hours) become a mother of two, so we may have to wait on another Grammy-photo session.



A small sampling of the trichromatic color scheme in our master bedroom. It was originally just black and white, but I decided to paint the walls yellow.... and I love it! Every morning when I wake up I appreciate the sunny, clean, graphic quality. I should really post more pics of this room, it might be my favorite so far.





A small scene from my living room. All of these sign letters are vintage, except for one. I'm hoping to collect lots and lots more, so keep your eyes open for me.



A painting from my son's room. The two small flags on the mast on the right are the signal flags for his initials. His room was probably too messy to get any other pictures, and truly, I still have a lot to do in there. I've been promising a "tent" for over his bed since we moved in. It's probably a 2 hour project, max, so I will deliver on that promise as soon as I can after the baby. It should be really cute.

This should give you a tiny idea of what has been keeping me so busy lately, other than springing back into action and trying to make the most of my time once the Doctor took me off of bedrest. The house is so nearly finished (on the inside anyway) that I can taste it. Can't wait to show off more!

You can call me Betty

My photo
Modesto, California, United States
I believe in God and truth and beauty and love. I dance in my kitchen and cry while I do the dishes.