grandpa's office

She makes everything alright. Here is the latest of Coral's cuteness. She'll ALWAYS be my sunshine girl.

Taking trips to grandpa's office is our favorite thing to do. She likes to help grandpa on the computer and play with his counting machine. Getting closer to taking those first steps!

An old song

Today....

It's been a ROUGH one. As I rocked Coral to sleep tonight, I started HUMMING a song. She was having a rough day too apparently. She DIDN'T want to sleep. After a few verses of humming, I started to SING the song. I looked down and she was staring at me. I NEEDED to HEAR this song tonight. I needed to SING this song tonight. It was an OLD praise song from my youth. The good old days of singing SIMPLE praises, usually accompanied by a single acoustic GUITAR and the worship leader, leading.

This was MY song tonight...

FATHER, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you
JESUS, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you
SPIRIT, I adore you
Lay my life before you
How I love you

Memories FLOODED tonight. Church bus rides, summer camp, youth group, choir tour, Mexico mission trips, and my bedroom...

...places where I HEARD this song and SANG this song. This song came BACK to me tonight. Appropriate time. I was HAPPY to sing it to my daughter tonight.


OH yes, I was actually somewhat CURIOUS to see who wrote this neat TUNE, back in the day.

His name is Matt Brouwer.  Check out his website HERE. I read his bio. Pretty COOL cat with a great story. I'll leave it to you, to READ it! He has an album out called "Till the sunrise". I totally want to LISTEN to some of his new tunes...but at the moment...this little girl finally went to SLEEP. Actually, everyone is currently asleep EXCEPT for "mama".

Who knows, I MIGHT have found some new music! And I'm happy to HAVE those sweet memories of my youth. And happy to WATCH my daughter grow up, someday singing these PRECIOUS songs to Jesus.

NIGHT-night!


a kiss and a hug,

Lisa


P.S. Does anyone else remember this song? What are some of your memories?

Graco: bans toxic flame retardants

One of my FAVORITE websites to find out information on healthy living for little ones is "Healthy Child Healthy World".  This week I read an article that was REALLY encouraging... 

Most of us mama's own BABY stuff from Graco or know moms that do.  Graco is the nations largest Children's products manufacture. The ugly TRUTH is that lots of Graco's products like strollers and car seats, contain "unlovely" CHEMICALS. 

We have LEARNED that Graco is committing to ban toxic flame retardants from children's products. This is super news! Yay for Graco! Here are a few of the chemicals that they plan to ELIMINATE:

• Tris phospate chemicals. These include TDCPP, TCEP, and TCPP. All three are either carcinogens or suspected carcinogens. 
• Firemaster 550. A toxic mixture of ingredients that are up for review by the EPA due to its potential health risk. 

In ADDITION, Graco is being asked to "disclose chemicals contained in their products and develop an alternative assessment system to ensure chemicals are inherently SAFER and lower hazard."

Orbit Baby and Britax have already been on the BANDWAGON to eliminate hazardous flame retardants. 

Read more about Orbit Baby's COMMITMENT to designing beautifully crafted products, along with keeping it safe and free of harmful and unnecessary chemicals HERE.

More on the article from Healthy Child Healthy World HERE.

I just might have to get an orbit NEXT time around :)

In the mean time....

Here are some pics of our family...with our Graco stroller :)

A TRIP to Redondo Beach, CA was all we needed to GET AWAY for a day!

a kiss and a hug,

Lisa

8 months

Here we are, honey! 8 months!

We had our own little photo shoot. Her favorite props were mama's multivitamins and a spatula. 

a kiss and a hug,

Lisa

to theme or not to theme : inspiration from a tea tin

Okay, let's get going on this again. Five months is way too long of a break, yikes!

Mommy-hood has been such a lovely, crazy, silly, fun-filled adventure. I have a LOVE for this little baby girl that is like no other in the WORLD. She is truly the best. And definitely keeps me on my toes. Like her dad, hehe!

Nurseries, nurseries. I have an obsession. Designing nurseries and kids' rooms is my passion. I believe there is a new movement. A movement that means, we do not have to succumb to the typical old-school nursery anymore. Gone, GONE are the days of going to a baby store, buying a matching set of baby furniture, selecting a cartoonish theme, and depending on the baby gender- decked out in purples, blues, and pinks. This really breaks my heart when I see this. We are much more creative than this now in the 21st century. Oh, it can be eclectic. It can be modern, but not cold. It can be simple. It can be colorful. It can be cozy and soft. And it can certainly be non-theme-y.

During my pregnancy, lots of people would ask me..."so what's the THEME of your nursery?" I was slightly embarrassed the first few times I was asked this question. Especially because I'm supposed to be an interior designer. HA. I must have a theme...right? Of course I had one...it was ever developing on a daily basis. Every night, during those last several minutes before I fell into DREAMLAND, I was designing my baby's nursery. What kind of designer am I without some kind of theme?

My first thoughts when people asked me this...hmmmm. maybe those vintage-y OWLS that are kind of popular? Then I totally decided against this. When things get too popular, it's no longer UNIQUE to me anymore. Changed my mind on that one quickly. I still love owls. But maybe just not the whole nursery.

Do not stress your SWEET little self, if a nursery theme is not coming to your mind right away.

As a designer, I believe it is essential to have something of "inspiration" to get you moving on your space. A book, a color, a flower, an antique chair, or a pattern on your favorite tin-box of TEA!

Look around and you'll be sure to find something that's LOVELY and that sparks a beautiful start to a "nursery theme".

Oh, and if your were wondering at all...

I finally came up with a "theme" to my daughter's nursery! And my daughter, CORAL, is now....7.5 months. hehee.

CALIFORNIA-vintage-sunshine baby

It's PERFECT!

And ever-evolving into a beautiful and sweet nursery

*wink*


More on nursery themes to come!!!

For more lovely, DOVELY nurseries, come over to my Pinterest page.



a kiss and a hug,

Lisa


PS - a few nurseries that I'm swooning over. I couldn't keep them from you. A little inspiration for you from Jute Interior Design.

shopping

Last week Coral and I went on a little adventure! We had our first trip to the mall all by ourselves. She was wide-eyed and taking in everything around her. We shopped around Macy's and visited all three floors. We strolled around in her baby bjorn and she was happy as a clam. The gift card that I got from my parents for my birthday finally came in handy.

She gave me the "yay" or "nay" smile to approve of the outfits that I tried on. It was quite the fun mommy and daughter time!

After three hours, we started to head back down to the car...then I almost forgot I needed to get some socks for Brad! At that point, Coral started to fuss and then broke out in a full on CRY. I debated whether or not to leave and make a made dash to the car OR run up to the second floor and get cozy in our favorite dressing room for a little nursing session. I decided on the second option!

We lost a purple sock on the way...hehehe.

It takes a little bit longer when you're lugging around a stroller, diaper bag, purse, shopping bags...and a little Coral :)

Anyway, we made it through! AND we even found the missing sock on our way back to the first floor, yay.

Admiring her outfit. She has an eye for detail already.

Her new dress that we picked out together.

Mahli wanted in on the girl fun too.

Pooped out. It was a long glamorous day at Macy's!

Coral Mae Gage

Coral Mae Gage

This is my sweet baby girl. She's changed my life forever! She's full of lots of smiles and giggles. Tomorrow marks 11 weeks already!