Recently, we went to my friend Janice’s birthday party for her little boy Kai who turned 1. The party was filled with little packages of popcorn for everyone to help themselves with, party favours in blue packages filled with their favourite teas, water bottles with custom labels, cupcakes and other yummy treats. I like how everything was cute and on-theme. It was lovely how it all came together. With a little imagination, it’s not really that hard to do. It’s mostly finding readymade packaging and re-imagining it by dressing it up with some ink jet stickers and nice simple designs. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Janice is a professional graphic designer (we both worked together at Kevin Louis Design before we went on mat leave). Kids birthday parties are a fun way to make and experiment with DIY projects. And, it’s also an excuse to treat yourself with all the sweets you wished you could eat everyday. Happy Birthday Kai! Thank your mom for a lovely party.

Photographs taken by Jason & Lena from Jaylena Photography.

Aside from jumping at home in her jolly jumper, Luna has found a new favourite activity – swinging! I take her to the park on our daily walks to give her a little play time. She loves being pushed quickly and giggles every time the swing comes close to me. Then, she’ll put her feet up and just hang out. This is what summer is all about in Luna’s world.

We spent a full day at the beach yesterday as it’s been scorching hot! I really love summer. The days are longer, the smell of bbq surrounds the air, birds chirping away, ice cream everyday and long days at the beach. It always feels like I’m a kid again. Hope everyone is having a great summer too and not melting from the heat.

Back at Little Nest today for a nice summery lunch with Stacy and her little guy Cohen. Luna and Cohen are only 2 days apart. Though, they still don’t know how to play together yet but hopefully soon they will. Summer is finally here and it is hot outside! A nice lunch at Little Nest and wandering around Commercial Drive made for a perfect day. Hello sunshine – we’ve missed you!

Life is so interesting from my little red chair.

Luna’s new friend – Ralphie! I spent the day with Nicole today and we had a fantastic time chatting away. Luna seemed to have also enjoyed her new friend. She’s not used to seeing dogs as we don’t have one at home and I was surprised how good she was with Ralphie considering how gigantic he is compared to her. I think Ralphie likes her too.

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Another note:
A great little feature of our Weekend Art Project over at How About Orange.

Luna is now 6 months old! A lot to report this month. Luna has started her solids 4 weeks ago and is now eating carrots, organic whole grain rice cereal, sweet potatoes, broccoli and banana. She likes them all except for broccoli. Although, she didn’t give up right away. She tasted a few spoonfuls with a nasty look on her face until she made up her mind that it’s not a taste she fancies. Perhaps it’s not sweet enough? I think she gets her sweet tooth from me.

Luna also started rolling a month ago and is so proud of herself and likes to show it off. She rolls from her tummy to her back and is able to do it on each side. Amazing! We are so proud of her. She has also had a few giggle fests which she seems to only do with me in the room. Peter hasn’t really seen it yet (not the full blown one anyway). Perhaps she’s practicing with me first before she goes public with it.

We also go to the library on Fridays for Mother Goose where we sing nursery rhymes while sitting on the floor in a circle with other moms and babies. Luna loves it! She loves being sung to, loves the dancing movements I teach her and just loves seeing other babies. I think Luna just loves being surrounded with music as we always have music playing throughout the day at home (we listen to some of my favourites like Jeremy Jay, Cut Copy, The Juju Orchestra, Tender Forever, Nouvelle Vague, Carla Bruni, Pheonix…) and when Peter gets home, he sings to her with some James Brown classics. I’m also starting to re-learn some of the nursery rhymes I used to know which we sometimes have it playing at home. I find that I have the song ‘twinkle twinkle little star’ on loop in my head!

Luna has also started her swimming lessons a few weeks ago. As soon as I put her in the water on the first day of class, I was surprised to see her so content in the pool. She wasn’t scared at all and started kicking her feet right way. It’s a half hour class on Saturdays and babies are taught to float on their back (with me holding her at all times of course), float on their tummy, submerge their whole body completely and just feel comfortable splashing in the water. We’ve been to a few classes and she’s never cried once!

Lately, I find that having her sit in one of her chairs or lie on the floor with a few toys isn’t enough entertainment for her. She really likes to play and loves the attention it brings. So we finally bought her a jolly jumper which we hung on the ceiling of our dining room/kitchen area and she loves it! As soon as we put her in, she’s so happy and starts jumping right away, screams with delight and doesn’t stop jumping until I take her out. It’s such a joy watching her so happy. Jumping on her own without anyone holding her up must be such an amazing experience for her.

Luna is such a joy and we now look forward to see and experience what month 7 brings.

Another note: I’m a big fan of Readymade magazine so thank you for featuring our Glass Pill Bottle Mini-Centrepiece in your blog!

Luna likes to play with her stuffed animal friends. She likes to be surrounded by them. She’ll pet their faces, give them baby hugs, jostle them around and…bite their ears. Come to think of it, Luna might only be friendly to them because she gets to chomp on them and they don’t fight back.

Aoi, daughter of our friends Doni and Genevieve, celebrated her 4th birthday today. We wanted to get Aoi something creative for birthday gift. We found a wood box at Rudy Dog’s Art House and filled it with various activity items from the store such as letter puzzle pieces and sticker sets. One door down from Rudy Dog is Collage Collage where we filled the rest of the box with crayons, necklace beads and little toys. We glued some of the letter puzzle pieces to the front of the box spelling out A-O-I in a crossword pattern. The box was tied up with a red ribbon and we attached a wooden gift tag to the ribbon with a mini-clothespin. We love the wood box. It’s only $3 which is cheaper than a sheet of wrapping paper and it’s reusable!

It’s never too late for an Easter greeting. Hope everyone had an awesome Easter celebration filled with lots of chocolates & yummy food!

We’ve been on a lookout for a high chair for Luna the past weeks. Instead of buying a brand new high chair, we decided to go for a used one and customize it. I found this wooden high chair on craigslist for $25.00. It had a nice shape to it so I bought it, sanded it, primed it then painted it red. A small can of paint was $20.00 so all in all, her high chair only cost us $45.00! It’s a great looking high chair for a small price tag. And, it was customized especially for her.

We like to leave Luna on the floor so she can feel free to do whatever she wants. She can roll, babble, chew on her toys or just put her arms behind her head and relax. Life is so good in her world.

Another note: Hello to GrassrootsModern. Thank you for including our Weekend DIY Project in your blog.

Our little Luna is now 5 months old and growing! She is now very curious to see and hear everything that surrounds her. Even when she’s all tucked inside her ergo baby carrier as we go for our walks, I see her head popping in and out wanting to see all the lights, colours, movement and noise around us. There’s so much for her to see and she’s taking it all in. Anyone who talks to Luna is treated with the biggest smiles and baby giggles. Luna also loves sitting in her bumbo chair and feels proud to be sitting up by herself like a big girl. When she’s by herself and wants some company, she has learned to call out to us with her super loud high pitch baby sound that can be heard all the way in the back of the house. Luna has also been treating us with what we call her ‘happy dance’. When she’s really, really happy, we find her lying on her back wiggling her shoulders and legs while bobbing head from side to side with a grin on her face. This always makes Peter and I laugh. As of today, Luna has also started her solids. I fed her with her first organic whole grain rice cereal and she happily ate almost a whole tablespoon with no complaints at all. That’s our girl!

Luna spends a bit of each day playing on the floor. She really enjoys herself, now that she’s able to grab onto her toys and rattles. Amongst her favourites are these stuffed cubes that my sister made for her. The cubes are super soft, squishy and light as a feather. Luna likes to grab them and jostle them around. She also likes anything that shakes, rattles or squeaks.

A few times a day, we’ll turn Luna over on to her belly. She’s been trying really hard to roll over. She’s now able to hold her head up high and kick her feet around. For the first few minutes, she’s so happy and proud of herself for trying new things. She tries every maneuver her young mind can think of but she just isn’t able to find the right combination of body mechanics to rollover. After about five minutes, Luna starts to get frustrated and we turn her over. We clap our hands, tell her she did a great job and she’s all smiles again. One day soon, she’ll figure it all out and she’s going to be really proud of herself. And, of course, we will be too.

Dinner last night was at Munch in North Vancouver. What a fantastic place! I had a nice creamy seafood risotto with a glass of Malbec and Peter had a bison burger. I could have seriously had another plate of that risotto but was too embarrassed to order another one. Well, I’m going back with my friend Sisi for lunch next week so I could have my second serving then. It’s nice to have a place like this in the city where Peter and I can enjoy a really good meal and not have to worry if Luna cries. How many places have a play area for kids and a full bar for adults? Yippee! We’d definitely recommend this place to other young families too.

Four months, already! Lots of developments to report this month. Luna still loves to smile and has added cute silent giggles to her repertoire. Very recently, she’s added a tiny baby laugh to her giggles but that’s only happened twice so far. Luna likes to babble with anyone who talks to her. We call it “conversating”. I know that’s not a real word but she doesn’t speak real words so it fits. Luna has outgrown her bassinette and moved into a crib. Luna can’t do a full belly-to-back roll, yet. She can manage a 3/4 roll but if we put her flat on her stomach she gets frustrated that her body can’t accomplish what her mind wills it to do. Maybe next month, Luna. Even though Luna can’t roll yet, she can travel quite some distance by wiggling and kicking around. When we leave her on a mat for a few minutes it’s quite surprising where she ends up. In month four we’re using a Baby Bjorn baby carrier for the first time. Luna enjoyed being carried snuggly through Vancouver while we checked out the Winter Olympic sights. Lastly, Luna really enjoys being sung to. Her favorite songs in month four are James Brown’s “I Feel Good” and Lionel Ritchie’s “Say You, Say Me”.

Toys don’t really interest Luna in this stage of her life. She prefers human interaction and we’re happy to give her lots. However, we can’t be with her every second of the day so we got her a baby gym so she can entertain herself. Friends also tell us it’s good for hand/eye development. Luna seems to really enjoy it. She took to it right away. It’s definitely the best $25 we spent this week.

I love our mornings! As soon as Luna wakes up, she calls out to us with her cute baby sounds. And when I hear her, I lazily get out of bed with my eyes half open to grab her and lay her beside me. But I’m usually woken up to find myself giggling as I see my little Luna somehow wiggled herself out of her blanket and out of her pants laying sideways at the top of the crib with no pants on. Amazing, how did she do this! Then I grab her to lay her beside me as I watch her slowly look around still half dazed observing what’s around her. Then it’s followed with a few stretches with the sounds of her limbs cracking away. Then she stops, looks at me, and gives me the sweetest morning smiles and giggles. These are the little special moments we share together. A start of another great day!

Luna is now three months old! She is such a happy baby and entertains us with non stop smiles and laughter. She has a daily routine now where she naps at certain times of the day, then has her play time for about 1.5 hrs before yawning starts again and she’s ready for her next nap. As soon as she wakes up from her naps, she cries for milk and once she’s done feeding, we are treated with the loveliest smiles from such a little person. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that little head of hers as she seems to find everything so utterly amusing. It’s a joy to see our little Luna so happy in her environment. It makes us realize even more that we have created such a lovely environment where she feels so safe & loved.

I spent an afternoon at Little Nest with the girls (& Peter). We had a lot of catching up to do so the afternoon was filled with non-stop chatting, laughter, entertaining Luna, coffee and munching on food. I love this place. It’s casual, kid friendly and has great food too. I could spend everyday here if I lived on Commercial Drive.

I was checking out Bloesum Kids the other day and there was an article on this wicked café called Moomah in New York. It’s like a gallery/studio/café/shop all in one. This place is stunning, you have to explore the site yourself to know what I’m talking about. It’s a creative café where parents and kids can hang out. It’s a similar concept as Little Nest but Moomah offers a little bit more by having some classes for kids & adults. Oh, do I wish we had a Moomah here in Vancouver…

Just chillin’ in her rocker contemplating what to do today… should I play or should I sleep? Mmm… tough life.

Girls day with my neices Sarah-Jane and Isabelle meant a chance to spend quality creative time together. We took turns making throw-pillow covers. It was fun, easy and they both get to bring home something memorable to decorate their rooms with. See you soon, Sarah and Izzy.

Our little Luna is now two months old! She is now a lot more active, always smiling and demands for play time. In her first month, Luna’s favorite activities were breast-feeding, cuddling and napping. Breast-feeding and cuddling are still in her top five but napping is now precluded with crankiness. Her new favorite activities include listening to singing or clapping, being held up while pretending to stand like a big person and, now, she loves baths. That’s quite a breakthrough since she absolutely hated baths in her first month. Now, she just closes her eyes, stretches out and enjoys her spa time. The sweetest new development in month two is that Luna has learned to smile. It’s so special to wake up to a grinning baby or to be surprised with an impromptu gigglefest. We’re looking forward to the new adventures month three brings along.

The prettiest baby Kimono I have ever seen. Luna receives her first mail last week and inside the envelope was the most gorgeous baby kimono that was sent by Jonathan & Anita. Thanks guys! It’s the prettiest thing, it makes me want to frame it rather than let her wear it! The Kimono is from Redfish Kids.

Staying at home means having a lot of time to do fun stuff with Luna (well, sort of…she’s been wanting to be held all day lately though which makes it more difficult to do anything). For as long as I can remember, I have always been obsessed with fabrics and patterns. When I find a fabric that I like, I always end up buying it for future projects.

As I lay the fabric flat on the rug and layed Luna on top of it, she suddenly had a burst of energy moving her eyes around, flapping her hands and kicking her feet. I then realized that newborns can only see in black & white and shades of grey. She probably had a visual overload as she was surrounded with this black and white pattern on the fabric. It was fun to watch seeing her so excited and SO WIDE AWAKE!

I plan to make Christmas stockings with this fabric to hang on our white brick fireplace in the tv room. It might be a project for next years Christmas though as I seem to be busy putting Luna on different poses on top of my many fabric collection!

Luna’s first time sitting on her lounger chair and looking kinda scared. As soon as I strapped her in, she puts her arms together as if she’s protecting herself in case she falls. It’s not a good way to protect herself but she probably figured she can just roll over like a ball in case the chair collapses. This photo was taken a week ago and, since then, she’s learned to like sitting in it. Though, I wish they made big ones for big people too! Looks kinda comfy don’t you think?

Finally, the three little ones meet for the first time. Chloe, Kai and Luna all born this year and only a few months apart. Luna being the youngest of the three. Their play day consisted of Luna being asleep all day, Kai rolling on his back on the floor sucking his soother and Chloe on her chair munching on her snack. They were all in their own little world yet together in one space.

It was a great bonding girls day for the moms as well. Janice, Eliza and I all worked together at Kevin Louis Design. There were 5 of us designers in total (all women) and Kevin (principal) being the only guy in the studio. A few years back, all of us girls used to joke around that we would all end up getting pregnant at the same time (we are all around the same age) and nobody will be left at the studio. Eliza was the first, then a few months later Janice, then a few months later me!

So now, the three of us are in maternity leave enjoying ‘the sweet life’! Since our babies are only a few months apart, I hope for them to be friends and have lots of future play days to come. But it’ll be interesting to see how they will interact with one another as soon as they all start talking. Chloe is only spoken to in Chinese at home, Kai in Korean and my little Luna in English. And, to not complicate things, Luna’s favorite music is French! This will be interesting…

It’s only been a month and I’m totally loving this new domestic life of mine. Sleeping in, having girl days (in the middle of the week), lunch with my mom & sister, staying home, baking… I’m so loving this! One year maternity leave doesn’t seem to be enough now…

Luna is now one month old and growing! So far, life with Luna at home has been pretty easy (easy compared to some of the stories I have heard…). Though, every time I think it’s “easy”, she suddenly wants to stay up for a portion of the night or wants to be held all afternoon as she sleeps soundly in my arms. She’s probably thinking, “hey mom, stop with your baking and play with me instead!”.

Our activities daily hasn’t really changed, except for the past few days, Peter and I are trying something new with her. We read in a book, my sister gave us called ‘What To Expect The First Year’, that babies today are developing some motor skills later than they used to because they are spending less time on their tummies. So for a few minutes each day, we lay her on her tummy but this usually only lasts for a few minutes. It’s a new feeling for her and she easily gets frustrated not knowing what to do with herself in this position. As she lays on her tummy, we see her trying to do a crawling movement and tries her best to lift her head up to look around. We encourage her by clapping and telling her she’s doing a great job. But all of it ends as soon as she starts screaming as if she’s telling us “give it up guys, just put me back on my bassinet and let me rest!!”.

Aaahhh… the life of a baby…

Luna seems to love listening to Carla Bruni. When she was in my womb, I used to put headphones on my tummy and play Carla Bruni to her before going to bed. Mmm…does she remember hearing it inside my womb? I wonder. Her favorite song seems to be Déranger Les Pierres. Even in the middle of a crying frenzy, Luna will pause and relax for a little Carla Bruni.

Today is a special day as it’s Yuka & Paul’s wedding. But sadly, I am unable to attend. We are thinking of you guys on your special day!!! I may not be there physically but in spirit I am.

I started a Flickr set for family & friends who have been asking for more photos of Luna. There’s few new snapshots and a couple videos up. Have a look and bookmark that page if you’d like to follow along. The neighbours tell us to that kids grow up really fast and that we should take a lot of photos. Good advice. Point well taken.

P.S. The dancing duck in the video above was part of a gift package the fine folks at work FedEx’d over to our place (thanks, guys!) and the music in the background is Lullatone. Luna must have been trying really hard to beatbox along because she spits up some milk at the end. ;)

Two of our favourite friends, Jonathan and Anita, gave us a few CDs from Japan for Luna to listen to. Thanks guys! We play them to her most of the day but Peter and I enjoy listening to them so much that I wonder if we play it for Luna or for our own enjoyment! The CDs are from Lullatone, a husband and wife duo, who’ve invented their own whimsical musical genre that they call “pajama pop“. Listen to some their songs below.

We really appreciate seeing indie creativity in the kids scene, so we’re happy to know that there are artists reinventing and re-imagining the lullaby genre. You should totally check them out. You can read an interview with Lullatone here or check out their website.

Every day we see Luna getting more active and learning new movements. Little things impress us such as seeing her progress from lubberly sucking her fist to developing the dexterity to hone in on a single digit (i.e. her thumb). Plus, there’s all the random cuteness that we find so adorable. Just now while napping, we caught Luna in this gem of a pose. Aw…what’s on your mind little Luna? It’s a hard life, we know.

When Luna is hungry, she makes sure it’s known! She cries and cries and screams loudly until milk gets put into her mouth and suddenly, life is sweet again.

Day four! So far, Luna’s favorite activities include breast-feeding, cuddling and napping. Luna dislikes baths, nappy changes and anything that makes her cold.

We are so happy to bring our little Luna home. First day at home and adjusting to her new environment. Born October 26, 2009 at 6:37 AM. More photos to come in a few days!

Welcome to Luna’s nursery. We wanted to create a playful and creative space where she can grow, learn, be nurtured and dream – a room where her imagination can roam freely and memories are to be made.

We also wanted to surround her with pieces that Peter and I love and have inspired us. Most of the pieces on the walls are things we’ve collected throughout the years. The illustrations on the walls are from one of our favourite illustrators – Charley Harper (It’s actually an alphabet card game that came in a box with other letters but I just picked out letters from her name – L-U-N-A – and framed them individually). The Black & White ABC Neutraface type poster is from House Industries, it creates a visual pattern that is classic but playful at the same time. Also from House Industries, are the wooden alphabet Neutraface slab blocks sitting on her night stand. The large canvas you see on the wall is a Marimekko fabric remnant we purchased in Seattle years ago. We stretched it onto a canvas to create a large piece of art to hang on the wall. The white mobile above the twin bed was a present given to me by Peter 8 years ago; it was made by a local artist. We also love the wooden bowling pins sitting on the ledge of her window. We saw it at our favourite home interior store called Habitat in Paris (they have stores all over Europe). They were so cute, we had to take them home with us.

We hope the space we’ve created for her will make her feel at home – a space where she can create her own memories as we watch her grow.