As of yesterday, Daphne is 19 months old. It’s been fun to watch her development over the last month. She’s talking more. New words almost everyday. She pretty much feeds herself with her little fork and spoon, as long as I cut up any large pieces of meat. The only thing I won’t let her eat by herself is YoBaby yogurt, since it’s so liquidy. She loves dipping things, like tortilla chips in salsa. She’ll lick off the salsa and every two or three dips she’ll actually bite the chip. Now she just needs to get some teeth!!! Daph is holding steady at 8, and there would be so many more things she could eat if she just got some molars!

She’s 23 lbs and 32 inches tall, so her growth has been pretty steady. It’s weird to see my husband hold her. She looks so big in his arms. Definitely not the little peanut that could fit right underneath his shoulder. I kind of miss that little peanut, sometimes:

Daph at 3 weeks

It’s also weird to be thinking about potty training. Daphne does a pretty good job of telling us when she needs to be changed, even if that means handing us a clean diaper as she drags us to her room then tries to climb up her changing table. I don’t want to rush things, but I have been letting her sit on her potty chair while I’m in the bathroom.

She’s still just as active as ever. I think we’ll log many hours at the park this summer, burning off energy. Which will be good, since I’m pretty sure Daphne could live outside.

Daphne is also very affectionate. A few days ago, I wasn’t feeling well and she’d climb up on the sofa, hug me, rub my back and give me kisses. So sweet!

I hope to get some new pics of her this week, so stay tuned!

I needed a new profile picture for Facebook, so I asked Chris to take a few pics of me before we left for church this morning. And Daphne got in a few too. Really wish I had worn a pinker lipstick, I feel a little washed out. Anyway, here’s a super rare picture of me in my sassy nerd glasses. I hate Photoshopping glare off lenses, so I always take them off when the camera comes out. Otherwise, I wear them every waking second.

And with Daph:

We got the chance to try out a bow and clippie from Etsy seller, bittybowsandclippies. They matched perfectly with her Gymboree Tennis Match shirts, and would be really good for babies/toddlers with very little or fine hair. Here’s Daphne, modeling the bow for the Etsy listing:

I’m sure you saw the “best gift ever!” Lexus commercials around the holidays. I admit, I don’t get those. If I woke up on Christmas morning to a fancy car with a ginormous bow on the top, my response would not be, “It’s perfect! Best present ever!” Instead, I’d probably say, “Oh, thanks. But why did you get me a car? My old one works just fine.” Because I really do try to eek out every penny of value in my cars before retiring them to the junkyard. And when you buy Toyotas, that’s a long time! I’m just not a car person.

So, I started to think about what my “best present ever!” would be. Hmmmm… A maid? Totally organized and stocked craft room? Fancy lenses for my camera? For someone to finally take all my charms and have them soldered onto my charm bracelet (I haven’t had that done for the charms I’ve collected in the last 15 years or so). A trip abroad? Those would all be good presents.

I think the present I would like most is a family portrait session with one of my favorite photographers (who all seem to be located in So Cal) and enough $$ to buy whatever pics I wanted. Even a $400 gallery wrap. Or $1000+ for a CD of hi-res images of the entire shoot. That would make me jump up and down. And cover my surprised, open mouth with my hands. And probably cry. And I never cry.

That being said, one of my favorite (So Cal) photographers is coming to Houston at the end of May and is currently booking photo sessions. I don’t think it’s in the budget right now, but dang I’m tempted to contact her.

What is your idea of the best present?

With Daphne rapidly approaching the 19 month mark, we have entered a new phase- tantrums. The terrible twos starting early, I guess.

I noticed it a few weeks ago. When you’d go to grab Daphne’s hand to redirect her, she’d cry and fall limp to the ground to wiggle out of your grip. Then she’d start fussing whenever you tried to feed her. Previously she’d eat anything you put in front of her, and now she only wants yogurt, Cheerios, applesauce and cookies. And she only wants to feed herself. Great.

This week she has had some really fantastic freak out moments. In the mornings, Daphne usually wakes up and after getting her diaper changed immediately wants “out” (of her room) and “chee” (which is her word for both Cheerios and cookies). So today I went to grab her a bowl of Cheerios and she threw down on the tiled kitchen floor, crying hysterically. She wanted cookies, not Cheerios. Well, excuse me. This isn’t Let’s Make a Deal. No cookies for you. I tried to pick her up, let her see the Cheerios I had put in her Cinderella cup. She didn’t want anything to do with it. So I walked away. Eventually she came into the living room and when she noticed I was eating HER Cheerios, decided that maybe she’d have some after all.

Later in the day, I made the mistake of heading through the toy department at Wal-Mart. Daphne has just about as many babies as the Octo-mom and I had no plans to buy her another baby doll. She started to scream and cry as soon as I walked past the doll aisle. Then I made the mistake of giving her one to hold, thinking I could do the distract and get it out of the cart thing before we actually checked out. And, you guessed it, there was no way in hell Daphne was going to let go of that doll. In the checkout line she screamed at the top of her lungs as I pried the doll away for just a few seconds so the cashier could scan it. After that, she wouldn’t let go. Not through lunch. Not in the car. And she squawked at anyone who even came close to the stupid doll.

So, what a fun new stage, hahaha!! And I’ve heard other moms say that things only get worse at the 3 year point. Oh crap. I need the Supernanny, because I don’t know what the heck I’m doing.

What a cutie! This is a shot from one of Chris’s recent photo shoots, post-processing done by yours truly. I’ve been trying to play with textures and I think it works with this photo. I am also totally in love with MCP Actions. In particular, the Magic Skin set. Wow! Worth every penny. In the past, I had either cleaned up the skin myself, or used Totally Rads Pro-Retouch action, which didn’t always work the way I wanted it to. Oh, and speaking of textures, I know you can find a bunch on Flickr, but did you know that Pink Ink Studios has a free texture every Tuesday?

Latest Daphne project- Criss-cross halter dress from youcanmakethis.com

This was a stash buster, since I purchased the Joel Dewberry Aviary fabrics last year to make a mei tai and an Amy Butler bag. I made a few changes, such as cutting the skirt and bottom band fabric in half so there were two side seams, instead of just stitching together a 45 in. width and only having one side seam, or a seam running up the back. Because that’s just weird. And I should have cut the elastic a little shorter, the back band gapes a little, but I’m ok with it. She’ll be able to wear it this year as a dress, and in the future as a top over capris.

You know, there is something weirdly satisfying about finishing seams and topstitching. Luckily, I’m getting better at it. My topstitching on the knot dress bodice is pretty wonky in a few places. Practice makes perfect I guess. If nothing else, I’m making friends with my seam ripper.

So, guess who broke my laptop this week? Yeah. It’s my fault for leaving it where Daphne could reach it. Let’s just say my internet time will be limited until Chris can dig out one of his old laptops and clean it up for me.

BSG series finale tonight. I can’t say I’m excited about it. Was anyone else really irritated at the last episode? I kept thinking to myself, “We have one episode left and we are wasting precious screen time on Roslin’s sister’s baby shower. WTFrak?” Hopefully tonight’s episode goes out with a bang.

Yesterday, I decided to do our first mommy/daughter craft project. Tissue paper “stained glass.” I actually thought Daphne would be all over it. Tearing up tissue paper, applying glue with a glue stick, placing the torn tissue bits on a thin sheet of clear plastic (that I cut into a circle). No, Daphne only wanted to be in charge of the glue stick. Go figure. It was fun, though, and Daphne played with the finished product for the rest of the afternoon. She kept trying to put it in the window so she could admire our handiwork.

Other than a well baby visit for Daphne (a few weeks late!), we had a pretty boring week. It was spring break for the schools in our area, and I generally try to avoid malls, parks, stores, etc. while the kids are out.

This weekend is spring cleaning, editing photos from several different shoots, finishing up a dress for Daphne, maybe a night out (sans Daphne). What do you have planned?

It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without my annual Leprechauns in Mobile YouTube post. I know I post it every year, but I still think it’s funny. Especially the amateur sketch. Bwahaha! Did they get Joan Walsh Anglund to do that? (And does anyone else, besides my mom, get that reference? On one of the decor blogs I follow someone found a charming “vintage” book by Joan Walsh Anglund. And I’m pretty sure I had that same book as a kid. It’s awesome when things you had as a kid are considered retro and vintage. Uh, yeah. Ok, back to leprechauns in the ghetto…)

And the rap version-

And I realize as a mostly Irish girl I should be able to come up with a better St Pats post… Maybe one about how my aunt in Chicago always sent us St Pats cards with $1 to buy a green milkshake, or maybe how my dad’s mom would take them downtown to see the river dyed green. Or perhaps I could whip out some facts from the two Irish history classes I had at OU. Nah, too depressing. Or find a clip of The Quiet Man (I hate that movie, Chris loves it and makes me watch it every year) or Darby O’Gill. I think these videos are more fun.

I downloaded this for Daphne’s room today. For free. Free, people. I love free. Check out Feed Your Soul for more downloadable art.