babywearing mamas

andrea came to town again and her and josh (nice to meet you!) and hen stopped by our home w the most amazing tamales for a visit. hen had been a champ w all that travelling and was desperate to get to a cozy, quiet bed at his grandparents' so this visit was quick. we gorged on tamales, sipped some booze, and i got some more tutorials on other convenient wraps to try w ramona bean.

her and i posed for photos (or tried to, rather) and showed off our baby-carrying skills (sheesh those things are heavy and cumbersome).

thanks for the leftover tamales, guys! they were gone that night.

***
emily: oooh, sushi. i could definitely imagine going for that after delivering. great blog!
melinda: not sure if "gnom" is how you spell it but it's sure what i picture in my head! maybe it's bc ramona reminds me of a little gnome.

poopie pants -- day six

the following outfit was short-lived:

cardigan: american apparel (thanks nona!)
striped shirt: thrifted zutano
black pants: thrifted
pink satin bow socks: trumpette lucy's (via nona at pacifier. thank you!)

BLOW (wait for it)

 OUT

(please notice empty wipes container [i actually went through two stashes]).

lunch at brasa, cortado and mast brothers chocolate at dogwood, hair styling at chicky's, dinner w bree at crave, feeling of accomplishment on words with friends.

i also stopped by my old jr high to visit my very favorite, most influential teacher, mrs homans, whom i had in 5th and 6th grade. we chatted over coffee and all was affirmed as to why i keep going back to say hello and let her know how great she was in my young life.

***
melinda: my dad is thoroughly wonderful and thoughtful. his example of love is how i ended up with a man like jp -- i knew i wouldn't settle for anything less. i am having a beautiful time here and would stay for much longer if i didn't miss my dear old bubs back home so so so much (or have a job that resumed on monday).

damn you, auto correct

this really did happen.

jana bear

jana and i have been friends since jr. high. this girl is spunky and full of love and life. 

over christmas we were at my friend tara's house decorating christmas cookies. jp and i knew we were pregnant but weren't going to tell anyone outside of our immediate family just yet (not for another week). but being around these girls, as well as my tara's amazing mother, cindy, and my dear friend, shalva, and having such a riot, there was no way i could let them find out over an email or a blog post or facebook. so, while we put red icing on the gingerbread man and after tara, as always, asked me about our plans for kids, i let them know we were expecting a little bean. of course, they freaked out. tara and cindy were besides themselves but i didn't think anything of it as they are two exuberant women.

as jp and chicky and i got ready to leave jana gave me a big hug and whispered, "shhh. don't tell anyone but i'm pregnant too." GAH. that was awesome news but i had to play it cool. turns out, jana had let tara and cindy in on the secret before shalva arrived. she was planning on keeping the news from me too until i let my cat out of the bag. her little one was due three weeks after ramona's due date. and tara and cindy had to continue to play it cool since shalva didn't know and they didn't know i knew. 

july 16th, the day after ramona was born, jana calls me. "when did you have your baby?" 

"yesterday," i replied, "how are you feeling with three weeks left?"

"my baby was born on wednesday!"

holy crap. cullen thomas was born three weeks and two days early. had he been born two days later (on ramona's bday), he wouldn't have been considered a preemie. 

i got to meet cullen and catch up with jana this past august on my trip to minnesota. he's a doll. she's an amazing mother (but i had no doubt about that). who would have thought that these two crazy girls would end up mothering-up so close to each other. not i.

city kids

later that afternoon, after all the good food we had eaten, the three of us met tessa and dorian* at avec. tessa is a fabulous photographer and agreed to take some shots. here are some she snagged of papa and ramona after our fabulous shared-small-plate lunch. 

pre-pacifier (more on that later) ramona would always be a bit fussy post-eating and right before she fell asleep. rarely does she fall asleep on the boob. her routine is more of eat a ton, play a ton, and then get extremely grumpy before she passes out for a good, long nap. jp discovered that his finger is a good way to get her to settle down when mama and the wrap isn't readily available. that's why he has his thumb in her mouth in all of these photos: ramona's figuring out how to fall asleep and jp's trying to avoid a meltdown. the teamwork works!

it's crazy to look at these photos taken only three weeks ago (ramona was eight weeks on friday!) and see how much she has grown and developed. her thighs and arms have more rolls, her hair has lightened, her hands have found her mouth, her eyes track things a bit more observantly (today she discovered [or finally cared about] the mobile above her swing), and she makes noises other than crying (coos and conversational squawks).

*these two deserve a post of their own and will get one. i'm nervous about writing it, unsure if i will be able to convey their awesomeness.

fifty nifty

are you or someone you know getting married in 2012? still looking for a sweet wedding photographer(s)? look no further.

my two college friends (who happen to be married and also be the cutest couple in the world) have a wedding photography company that rocks. jonny and michelle are cute and quirky and savvy and totally concerned about social injustices. that's why they are setting out to operate their business in a way that benefits a cause they care a lot about, anti-human trafficking.

they are looking to book 50 weddings in each of the states of the U.S.A. and donate a portion of the proceeds to she dances. please check out their website for more information and pass the link on to anyone you think might be interested.

going to chicago

we're going to chicago today to see our friend susan marry her beau, robert, here.

we plan on eating here, here, here, here, here, and -- my personal favorite-- here.
we're going to see some great friends, all of whom don't have blogs so i can't link. boo.
we're taking ramona on her very first airplane and hope that it goes smoothly. not so sure about our 8:30AM flight. yikes.

this video makes us extra excited to be going back to the city where we first started our life together.

jp and i last summer in chicago

my lovely friend, amaris, is a photographer. she recently moved to seattle for a doctorate program in art therapy. before she left she found some moments to snap some photos of little bean. i'll post one a day for a while. they are too beautiful not to share!

check out amaris' work here.

holy poop!

yet another creative creation from my friend, zach. screen printed cloth diapers: holy poop!
we've only used the pre-folds a couple of times but these guys still come in handy as changing pads, burp clothes, and cleaning up general baby goop.

thank god for friends.

especially those that aren't afraid to hold a crying baby.

some days are easier than others. yesterday was really hard. i pretty much hid in my room when ramona would not stop crying. a friend was stopping by to drop off something for jp in the backyard. part of me was hoping he'd be scared off by the little bean's wails rocking through the windows and i could continue being miserable at home by ourselves. i figured he'd drop the stuff off and leave without coming to the door. he's a better friend than that, i found out.

he knocked on the door and offered to take her from me and give me a break. it was then that i lost it and just let myself cry. perhaps it was the image of my big, burly, bearded friend holding my little crying newbean or the fact that he did not shy away from the constant screaming of a child not his own. but it was love and friendship and i am so grateful for my community here in denver.

lizzie gets hitched

and she makes a terribly beautiful bride.

bike.brew.america

got a visit from an old wheaton friend. david is on a cross-country brewery bike tour. check out his adventures here.

david and his biking partner, chip, hung out at black shirt brewery and great divide, among others (though those are my favorite), while in denver. jp and i took them to los carboncitos, little man, and the powerdriver farm for some bombers of beer and really wonderful conversation.

happy trails, good men!

ashley and danny do america

my dear dear friend, ashley, is back from 3.5 years in the middle east (syria and israel). she'll be attending columbia university school of social work in the fall. but before she gets down to business she and her boyfriend, danny (an amazing gent she met in israel) are doing a cross country, real american road trip (american meaning it's already involved baseball, hot dogs, and they're on their way to a rodeo as i type this!). 

their first stop was denver (lucky me!).  aren't they the most adorable couple ever? i had so much fun showing them around denver and jp's and my favorite spots. additionally, they are wonderful house guests: game for anything, enthusiastic about life and food, and extremely adventurous -- with a local guide or by themselves (this big mama [me] needed to be picked up in downtown denver when my belly and i had reached our max physical exertion for the day and they kept strolling out and about even finding their own way back to the powerdriver farm).

here's the second of two photos i snapped of the dashleys at dinner at new saigon. see more photos of their time in denver at their totally awesome tumblr,  the dashleys.

what a new family needs

early on in my pregnancy, a dear and thoughtful friend sent me a link to a blog post that sums up what a new family needs but might not always ask for. she explained to me it was her way of committing to help jp and i in a simple but powerful way when little bean arrives -- and in ways that aren't always easy to ask for. this list of things she sent me were things i didn't even know i would want after bean's birthday. but as the day gets closer this list hits it right on the money. and every time i read her email or read this list i get tears in my eyes thinking of what an awesome community this little bean is going to be born into. between our family, our friends and our coworkers, we have some pretty amazing people looking out for us. thank you.

1. Buy us toilet paper, milk and beautiful whole grain bread.

2. Buy us a new garbage can with a swing top lid and 6 pairs of black cotton underpants (women’s size medium).

3. Make us a big supper salad with feta cheese, black Kalamata olives, toasted almonds, organic green crispy things and a nice homemade dressing on the side. Drop it off and leave right away. Or, buy us frozen lasagna, garlic bread, a bag of salad, a big jug of juice, and maybe some cookies to have for dessert. Drop it off and leave right away.

4. Come over about 2 in the afternoon, hold the baby while I have a hot shower, put me to bed with the baby and then fold all the piles of laundry that have been dumped on the couch, beds or in the room corners. If there’s no laundry to fold yet, do some.

5. Come over at l0 a.m., make me eggs, toast and a 1/2 grapefruit. Clean my fridge and throw out everything you are in doubt about. Don’t ask me about anything; just use your best judgment.

6. Put a sign on my door saying “Dear Friends and Family, Mom and baby need extra rest right now. Please come back in 7 days but phone first. All donations of casserole dinners would be most welcome. Thank you for caring about this family.”

7. Come over in your work clothes and vacuum and dust my house and then leave quietly. It’s tiring for me to chat and have tea with visitors but it will renew my soul to get some rest knowing I will wake up to clean, organized space.

8. Take my older kids for a really fun-filled afternoon to a park, zoo or Science World and feed them healthy food.

9. Come over and give my husband a two hour break so he can go to a coffee shop, pub, hockey rink or some other r & r that will delight him. Fold more laundry.

10. Make me a giant pot of vegetable soup and clean the kitchen completely afterwards. Take a big garbage bag and empty every trash basket in the house and reline with fresh bags.

this list ripped off from this blog post.