I want to be the kind of mom who . . .

I've come across so many things on blogs lately that have really inspired me and given me some ideas about the kind of mom I want to be. I thought I'd share a few because it gives me a chance to share some great ideas and some of my favorite blogs.

I want to be the kind of mom who makes some handmade gifts for my kids birthdays and holidays that will help them use their imaginations like this darling wooden family from Gemmielou's Etsy shop. You can also buy plain wooden people there or pick some up at your local craft store. There a whole post about wooden dolls here on Design Mom's blog (one of my very favorite blogs to follow). Wouldn't every kid get a kick out their very own wooden family modeled after their real family? I want to be the kind of mom who keeps a photo booth album like Jordon Ferney does (she also has a great blog and she just happens to be Design Mom's sister). I've tried to find an old school photo booth in Columbus and alas, I have not discovered a single one. At least there are several in Utah, another thing to look forward to!

And speaking of family portraits, I want to be the kind of mom that has frequent family portraits taken that capture the spirit of our family, not stiff and posed, but just us being us. Tara Whitney is a great example of this. Larry and I both heart this family portrait. Good thing I have a professional photographer in the family. Now I just need to work on learning to use my own camera or move to CA and become Tara Whitney's best friend.I want to be the kind of mom who provides a comfortable reading nook for each member of the family. Ok, it most likely won't be as extravagant as this one spotted on Apartment Therapy (there is a round mattress with lots of pillows inside), but a want a comfortable spot for reading to be a special part of our daily life.

I'm thinking more along the lines of this cardboard rocket playhouse they used to sell at MOMA, but I think it's no longer available. Do you think I can talk my dad into helping me make one? I think this would be so cosy in Creed's room with some comfy pillows and a light inside.I want to be the kind of mom who makes every holiday special and magical and full of traditions the whole family will look forward to. I think I spotted this on Apartment therapy too, but I'm not sure. Sorry if you know better send me a link and I will fix it. This is nest of hot chocolate with a marshmellow peep in it is someones beautiful Easter morning tradition. For other great holiday tradition ideas, try checking in with the uber fabulous Kristi of Everythingispink.

I want to be the kind of mom who helps my kids come up with inventive activities and helps them find little ways to serve others and support the community. One of the best posts that I've read recently did both. Andrea of Hula Seventy gathered her daughter and friends and helped them write secret wishes/fortunes for other people and then they walked around town finding little spots to leave them for other people to discover. What a wonderful way to spend the day. I wish that I could have been there to see people discover little slips of paper with "read me" written on the outside and things like, "Don't listen to the mean things people say" or "You will always be beautiful" in a child's handwriting on the inside.
I want to be the kind of mom who encourages her kids to be original instead of following the crowd, which includes dressing them a little differently (while I still have the chance to dress them) and encouraging the idea that it's fun to be different and boring and impossible to be just like everyone else. I recently discovered the blog to two sisters-in-law who among other creative endeavors, create the most wonderful clothing for their kids that I have ever seen. Oh would I love to be the kind of mom who could just whip out any clothing that I could dream up. Sewing clothing scares me so I'll have to work on getting over that. Check out the Sugar City blog for more amazing children's clothing like this (and some cute doll clothing too!)

I want to be the kind of mom who find ways to bring fun and cheer into the details of everyday life. I don't remember where this photo came from (sorry I just saved it a while back because it made me happy), but you can bet I will be drawing faces on the fruit in Creed's lunchbox some day!So now it's your turn. What kind of a mom/wife/friend/dad do you want to be? What are your favorite blogs? And what has inspired you lately?

BPA Blues

Larry must think I'm crazy because every time he leaves me and Creed alone for a few days, I've turned the house upside down while he was away. Usually it's a big creative mess, and I wish I could say that it was this time. No, this time I read the latest reports on BPA and decided to sort through everything in our kitchen.


For those who may not know, BPA(Bisphenol-A) is used to make polycarbonate plastic, which is commonly found in baby bottles, sippy cups and all sorts of household items. Recent research shows that BPA may be harmful to developing children's brains because BPA harmed animals who were exposed to the same amount of BPS found commonly in humans.


I didn't really follow the BPA debates. I knew that Creed's favorite sippy cup was BPA free and I didn't have to worry about bottles since he wouldn't use one so I didn't think about it much more. Then this weekend BPA seemed to be all over the news. First the US National Toxicology Program expressed their concerns about BPA, then Canada made the decision to label BPA products Toxic. Now comes the announcement that even Wal-mart has decided to stop carrying products made with BPA in the future. I used to think if it was really that harmful, the US government would do something about it, but it's already not used in Europe, and now Canada and this latest news is good enough for me to take some action. Although the research is inconclusive so I may just be a paranoid mom, why wouldn't I do something about BPA when it could be harming Creed and it's so easy to eliminate?


So Saturday night, with the help of this helpful site, I went through our kitchen and got rid of anything that might be made with BPA. BPA leeches out of plastic overtime, especially as items are scratched and worn or heated (a big concern since we're always sterilizing things for babies). An easy way to identify polycarbonate plastic is to look for the little recycle symbol on the bottom. In the middle of the three little arrows is a tiny number, if the number is 3, 6, or 7 it probably contains BPA. If you can't find the symbol, you can call the company that makes it or check the FAQs on their website, which often lists it or you can check the Z Recommends site and search for the brand name and they have reports on baby products made by most of the big brands. Luckily I didn't find a lot; one sippy cup that has a straw so Creed has never used it, the Nalgene bottle Laryr and I use for water, and all of Creed's bottles (yep, those expensive Avent brand bottles all contain BPA).


But after looking around the Z Recommends site, it occurred to me to check Creed's binkies. If you know Creed, you know he's very attached to his binkies. Our doctor thinks they help him keep his reflux down so we haven't fought it and he loves them. And just one in his mouth is never enough. He can often be found like this.So I checked online, and yep, you guessed it, made with BPA. And the report on the company that makes them, MAM, is even more alarming. I'm ashamed that I paid for these products and supported such an irresponsible company! To be perfectly honest, I didn't know anything about binkies and just picked several and let Creed try them and figure out which ones he would take. I was happy he picked MAM brand because they are so cute. Now I really regret it.


Since I discovered all of this late Saturday night and we do not shop on Sundays, I tried to make it through church without a binky on Sunday, which caused a complete meltdown and I gave in. Today I headed to the store to pick up new binkies, but it was pretty confusing. I ended up buying four brand and bringing them home to check online and it looks like only two of the four are ok so we will be returning some of them. Frustrating! At least that's done and now we will move on to checking our teething toys and bath toys. Oh what fun! Sometimes it's not easy to be a responsible parent.

Columbus Corners - North Market

As I'm thinking about the places that I'll miss, I'll be featuring some places around town that may be a little more familiar to some of you, but I have to recommend them because I'll miss them and this way I can think about all of you visiting them. The other day I had two of my favorite people up for a lunch adventure so we decided to head to the North Market.
The North Market is in an old warehouse right in between downtown and the Short North. Unlike a lot of downtown lunch spots, the North Market has plenty of space for parking and a discounted rate as long as you remember to bring your ticket in to be validated at one of the booths. I generally avoid the lunchtime rush if I can, but after about 1:00 things really slow down and it is be a bit easier to roam the booths. Saturdays are also busy, but worth it if you want to go to the Farmer's Market there on Saturdays throughout the summer. I usually don't go on Mondays because many of the vendors are closed on Mondays.It's one of my favorite places to meet friends for lunch because there is so much variety and everyone can get what they want in one places. There are delis, Chinese, an amazing Pasta place, great Japanese at Nida's, and beautiful desserts like these in the case at Mozart's.
Jess opted for Indian, and I wish I had noticed the sign for fresh ginger lemonade because that sounds wonderful.






I like to be adventurous and used to try something new every time I visited, but since Larry introduced me to the Vietnamese at Lac Viet, I can't resist it. Larry and I usually each order a number one (a sandwich I don't need to be able to pronounce to enjoy, and it is my very favorite sandwich in the whole wide world) and then we split one of the noodle bowls. Great food and it's cheap!Per tradition I ordered the number one, but skipped the noodles and opted to visit my other favorite North Market vendor, Jeni's Ice Cream! I suggest you do the same!

boys and their toys

I haven't been shopping lately because I cannot get Creed to sit properly in a cart. It's been nice to save some money, but at some point there are some purchases I have to make to support Creed's goldfish habit, etc. Finally the other day, we came to a happy compromise as Creed sat through a round of Target perfectly content like this.That evening we met Larry at the hospital garage for dinner since Larry was on overnight call and I wanted Creed to have a chance to see him (the hospital built a little food court in the garage so it's not as shady as it sounds)Is Creed already preparing for the future?With all of the nice weather, we've been spending a lot of time at the park. Creed usually ends up taking along a favorite toy, like this spatula that he carried all over the playground (on the swings, on the slide, . . . ) Inevitably, he ends up ignoring the playground and checking out all the bikes left circling the playground while kids play. He pats their seats, runs his fingers through the streamers on their handles, spins their wheels, and tries to climb on or push them around. How do you explain to a one year old that the bikes are not part of the playground equipment, they belong to other kids and he cannot play with them? It's becoming quite a problem.
Which is what prompted me to order this, and oh does he love it!

It's just his size and it doesn't have petals for him to get caught up on. He hasn't quite figured out scooting, he walks with it between his legs, but he loves to push it around and honk the horn.

There is beauty all around . . .

Taking down some of our personal pictures and putting up other art work has got me thinking about some of my favorite prints available that I might like to use in our next space. I thought that you might enjoy some of them too.

This one is a reproduction of a WWII poster. My friend Cristin has one and I've been wanting to order this one for ages, but Larry has convinced me to wait until we move before I do because it comes in several different colors.

I think this historic copy would fit right in my library.

Jenn Ski on Etsy has a trio of A, B, and C that I would love to own. Here's the A.And as long as we're talking about Etsy favorites, I have to mention John W. Golden. I love his whole By Order of the Management series. You should also check out his critter series if you have a chance because it's pretty cool too.I love the bold graphic nature of this one.

And my current favorite is this Robin Rosenthal Counting poster. I love the cute birds and the typography.

And thanks to Candice, I do actually like something other than graphic design. Due to her influence, I've fallen for the work of Rodney Smith. Every photo just seems to have such a story to tell. I would love to surround myself with them.

I actually checked Rodney Smith's Hat Book out from the library and Creed has looked through the whole thing with me several times so even he can't resist it.

Going, going, gone

Ok, technically our home is not sold, it's just in contract (so I hope that I'm not jinxing things), but after two days on the market, we got a bid on our house, and after a little more negotiating we are in contract. If all goes according to contract, we close on June 10th and we move out on June 20th.

I know that I should feel happy or relieved, but I would be lying if I said that tears that I shed last night were tears of joy. I'm feeling very melancholy today. It's just hard to let go and move on.

On the bright side, I guess all of this means that we won't have to move in with my parents while we try to sell our house this summer. Now we need to find a place to rent in Salt Lake. Does anyone have any advice? Larry will be working at the University of Utah Hospital and several friends have told us to look for a rental in the Avenues or Sugarhouse, then others tell us those areas are really expensive, but they don't have any other advice. Even though I lived in Provo, Utah; I haven't ever even driven in Salt Lake by myself so I'm feeling pretty clueless. I'd also love to hear any recommendations that you might have about moving companies. What companies have you used and have you been happy with them?

Need a House?

I know where you can find a really cute one that just officially went on the market! Keep us in your prayers!

A Walk In The Park

We've been shuffling Creed around with our friends to work on the house and since the weather is beautiful today seemed like the perfect day to take a break and do things Creed enjoys. We went to storytime at the library, played at the park, and took a long wagon ride around the neighborhood. I made him wear a hat since it was so sunny The only one I could find was a bit too big, but he kept it on and he looked so grown up, even if he insisted on wearing it sideways for a good portion of the day.

Doesn't he look a little like Spanky?

He would have been content outside all day and I felt bad making him go in for an afternoon nap. To make it up to him, as soon as Larry got home we went back to the park for a picnic.

Swings were swung.

Drinks were ordered.
And promptly splashed in our faces.

Funny faces were made.

And we went home all smiles.

Creed's first boy/girl party

The night before Audrey's party Larry asked me, "What should Creed wear to Audrey's party? He's got to look GOOD!" I told him that I had no idea, it didn't matter to me what he wore. The next morning Larry told me that he had a plan, we should dress Creed up in a dress shirt, bow tie, and sport coat and give him flowers to bring to Audrey. The next morning Larry did just that. He even slicked Creed's hair to the side. He looked so adorable. Here he is on Audrey's front porch looking like he has the first date jitters.

And here is a blurry picture of the whole ensemble. I thought he looked like such a cute little nerd, but Larry has informed me that he did NOT look like a nerd, his outfit was based specifically on Indiana Jones (his professor outfit, not what he wears on his adventures).He warmed up when he saw Audrey.

Audrey wasn't sure what to think of the flowers.
But she loved the cake. Check Nikki's blog later for more photos.

Thank you Nikki and David for a wonderful party for an adorable girl.