Everything and Nothing

The last week has been this whirlwind of craziness. All good but just nuts. I had two jobs last week and have another next week. I know that doesn't seem like much but photo jobs are pretty time consuming. The shoot is the quick part but the post work usually takes hours and hours and since its editorial work there is usually some sort of time crunch. I was so lucky to have my mom down to help out. I was able to do my shoots, get all my post work done and not stress at all which is such a wonderful feeling. Blake left for Canada on Wednesday to assist on a photo job. He's just chilling on some little island right now with some friends moving a few lights around, getting fed fancy meals, you know living the dream. I'm only kidding, it is work. We haven't been able to talk much. He has tried calling me a ton of times but the service there is really crappy. Yesterday on a break from the shoot we were able to facetime chat which was really nice. The entire crew got to meet Olive and she was so happy to see his face and hear his voice. He comes home tomorrow and I can't wait. When he worked freelance he was gone all the time for days and sometimes weeks at a time. It wasn't that big of a deal pre-baby but I think now with Olive I'm pretty thankful for him having a full time job. That and a really laid back job that let him leave for Canada for a few days.
I spent the last few days at my parent's house since Blake was gone. I had my mom come back with me today so I could finish up hours of retouching and didn't have to do it all night since it took me almost all day. Plus this way she can stay and watch Olive on Wednesday. I feel so bad, I've totally dragged her back and forth the last two weeks so she can help with babysitting. The life of a Grandma! She has been amazing and has basically put her life on hold to help me out. I'm a lucky girl! Olive will be a happy little thing to spend more time with her. I can remember how much I loved being with my Grandma when I was little. Grandma's just have that special ability to make you feel really special.
So besides work I've been going crazy with spring cleaning. I decided I wanted to make Olive a playroom so with the help of my mom we went crazy and moved around a lot of stuff. I usually spread Olive's toys all over the place and it's fine but there are so many places for her to go and some are kinda dangerous. Of course I will let her roam around but I thought it would be nice for her to have a little space to play. I think having a safe place and be independent is healthy. So furniture was moved and we pretty much played musical chairs with my house but I think it is coming along. I grabbed some furniture from the garage and got some paint to freshen it up so tomorrow I will go crazy and paint away. We'll see what happens but I'm excited for a room for her.
I introduced a few more foods to Olive and so far she is loving zucchini mixed with apples. I thought it was kinda weird but pureed zucchini is kinda bla so I added the apples and it was super yummy. She loved it. I also mixed some apples with spinach and she was a fan. I'm so happy she is excited about eating. I'm still being cautious cause she is pretty sensitive. Last night I ate a cheese enchilada which I hadn't done since I was pregnant and she was so upset all night. I thought since she was older the dairy thing would get better but that was not the case. In small doses its totally fine but straight cheese is a big no.
I wish this post was more exciting but I'm so tired and I must try and sleep for a few hours before Olive wakes up again. Since she isn't sick anymore sleep has gotten a little better but she is still up 2-3 times a night. It isn't perfect but we'll get there.

Here are some cute photos of Olive and my Dad that my mom took........






and also some photos my mom took during our 7 month shoot....

7 months

A few days late on my 7 months post. Finally took a few photos today as this week has been nuts but more on that later. This has been such a great month with her (besides sleeping) but she is getting to be so fun and her little personality has really showed itself. She is crawling around like a mad women, getting into everything possible. Her toys are kinda whatever now and crawling all over the furniture is her number one mission. I haven't officially baby proofed as I'm in the midst of making her a playroom but I'm trying to teach her to stay away from things. I don't like to say "no" to her so I try and explain to her "don't touch" or "that's dangerous." I know it seems silly but I want a reason with things not just a quick no. Obviously there are times when a sudden NO needs to be said but for now we'll see if this way works. She is pretty responsive most of the time and if I call her name and tell her not to go over (to whatever dangerous place she is headed) she turns around. I think it's more the tone of my voice. Of course it doesn't always work but we'll get there. She loves pulling herself up on the couch and dancing around. She can move around pretty quickly on her two feet when holding on to something. She loves chasing the dog. Sierra is finally kinda starting to show an interest and for the first time yesterday played with her.
She talks and talks but still just mamma and dadda and babba. I think she says "hi" cause I always say that to her and I think she has figured out how to copy me. Copying is such a big thing. She will watch something I do and immediately try it. Pretty much the cutest thing to watch those little wheels turn in the head. She just started doing this thing where she shakes her head back and forth. She thinks its the funniest thing in the world. She can throw a ball and she is favoring her left hand. I know they say you can't tell at this age but she mostly throws with her left. She loves pounding her fists down and banging toys down. I think its the noise? She is obsessed with grabbing my face especially when nursing. Oh and the hair pulling. Totally brutal. Wearing my hair down isn't an option anymore unless I want chunks to end up in Olive's little hands.
We've introduced a few more foods like apples, pears, and zucchini and she still seems to love them all. I want to start trying two meals a day but so far its been kinda tricky to get used to that but we'll get there. She still loves the boob and eats every 3 hours. I can't believe how fast she can eat now. I remember in the first few months when she would nurse for almost 45 min to an hour at a time. Now its literally like 2 min and she is done.
I love to dance with her and she gets so excited and laughs when I get goofy and dance around the house while holding her. She is always up for a game of peek-a-boo and will use any toy she has to cover her face.
I just love her to pieces!!!





A few silly videos......

Easter

Yep I just did a Passover post and now a Easter post?? It's confusing I know. Like I said, I'm a half jew so the other half gets to decorate eggs and get baskets full of chocolate for a day. No complaints here. More important it was Olive's first Easter. She was still a little under the weather so she wasn't in the best of moods but she sure enjoyed her Easter basket from my mom. Ok she mostly enjoyed the plastic wrap but once she realized there were toys inside she was pretty happy. Oh and best part was the assortment of Barry Manilow shirts and onesies. I know its a little weird but its kinda a family thing. My mom is a huge fanilow (yep I just wrote those words out) so Barry has kinda been part of my life growing up. I know its weird but I actually like the music. It's probably more of a nostalgic thing. Anyways my mom found these onesies and shirts on the Barry Manilow website and there were only a $1. There were also other goodies non Barry related that Olive loved. Grandma Rosie got Olive an amazing pair of Toms which I'm thinking might look pretty good her her new Barry shirt?? I had no idea Tom's made so much cute kiddo stuff. I was checking out ohdeardrea and she had a photo of her Easter basket from her mom and it included these Toms. Pretty sure I need these right now.



Besides Easter baskets we had a yummy brunch and decorated Easter Eggs. My dad usually doesn't decorate eggs but this year he went nuts. He busted out a sharpie and highlighter. It was hysterical. Now what to do with 2 dozen eggs??

Olive is finally recovering from her cold but really slowly. The poor thing is scared shitless of the nose frida but its the only thing that clears her up. She still has a cough but I'm hoping it will be gone soon. It just feels awful to watch her get all stuffed up and not know what to do with it.

Oh and Blake and I just watched a sign language video and we're thinking of trying it with Olive. I've been making the sign for milk and all done when I feed her but otherwise that is all. I don't know if it will stick or if we'll do it enough but I think it would be awesome for her to learn a few signs just to be able to communicate with us. I dunno we'll see.



A few Easter photos. Thanks Mom for taking photos since I was a lazy ass.



Microwaving Peeps. Yummmm

Snap Yourself

Everyone loves a photobooth and I think every party needs one. These were a few shots from Snap Yourself. They were at the photo show last night. I love the idea of taking the photo yourself. There were also a TON of silly props but we had a baby which is pretty much the cutest prop ever.

zombie

We just got back from the gallery show where Blake and I were both showing work. The party is probably really starting now but we wanted to make sure and get our sick little baby home. She was actually having a great time watching people and I swear she was looking at all the photos. I would just watch her little eyes scan the walls up and down. Pretty amazing. I was looking forward to this show for months now but I was just way too tired to enjoy it. I know bummer Jenn time but we've had a rough three nights here. Olive has a cold so she refuses to sleep in her crib. She wants to be held the entire night. I don't blame her, I'd want to be held all night too if I felt like shit. So the last few nights has been spent playing tag team of sleeping. Blake will spend a few hours with her on the rocker and couch then I will take her in bed for awhile and it goes like this all night. Last night was probably the worst. We were in bed and she woke up so I tried to feed her and she had a crazy coughing fit and threw up all over me. Then as we sat up she did is again but this time all over the bed. Poor little thing. I should be sleeping now but I don't even feel tired because I'm so tired. Does that even make sense? I so wanted to enjoy my show tonight but I felt so gross. I hated what I was wearing cause I was too tired to put together a cute outfit (I know so so lame but when you don't feel cute it can ruin things) and I felt so antisocial. I was so excited to meet the people I was showing with but I was just blank. I'm usually so social and love to talk and be around people but tonight I felt like I had nothing to say. Ya I was having a feel bad for me kinda night but whatever it happens. Oh well I'm sad that I probably missed everyone who came to see us tonight at the show cause we left so early but I'm sure they will understand a sick baby and sleepy parents. I hope the little one feels better. I feel so awful that I wasn't able to keep her well. I thought my milk had super powers in it!

I am so happy tomorrow is friday which means weekend which means Blake is home which means hopefully some family time. I have two shoots next week which I'm thrilled beyond belief but one has proved to be a total fucking nightmare and so far has taken up the entire week of stressing, emails, phone calls, and trying to figure out an answer. I still don't have a solution but maybe it will come to me in my dream or while I'm rocking Olive to sleep at 3am. Either one is fine.

Today wasn't the best of days but lets hope tomorrow will be full of good things.

This is one of my prints. You can see it better here.


And also this one (girl on bike)
The other one is Blake's photo.
Matchy match

Olive's art show outfit.

Vloggin’ Vednesday_10 years ago

Excuse the grubby clothes. Sick baby means pj's all day.











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Passover

So excited Passover was a success! It was so much fun making food and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I overcooked the brisket a tad bit but since I put a ton of liquid (aka beer) it wasn't that dry at all. Lessons for next year. I LOVED the recipe I found for matzo ball soup. I've never used onions in the balls before but it made them super delicious. I also made chocolate matzo just for kicks. It's super simple and tastes delicious. The last sweet I made was a sesame candy. I was trying to recreate what my great grandma made but I never really ate it as a kid but it was one of my dad's favorites. He seemed very thrilled. We had a ton of other food from gefilte fish, chopped liver, kugal, salad, and a bunch of dessert treats. SO much food! Olive ate Pears but I'm pretty sure she wanted to get in on that chopped liver. I have to say my favorite part was decorating the table. It was an assortment of mismatched this and that but I was quite pleased with it. It was a really fun time and I look forward to next year!

I haven't really had a chance to recover as we were on the go all day yesterday. Olive and I went up to LA to drop off prints for an art show on thursday. Luckily she slept the whole way there. We made a little stop on the way home to say hi to Tamar which was super fun. Olive gave her quite the workout since she constantly wants to be bounced. Once I got home I had to try and plan my shoot for this week which wasn't an easy task. Olive was in play mode so it was quite interesting to try and entertain her while filling out permit forms and trying to plan a shoot. I just needed like 20 min but she was super interested in helping me type. Its days like these where I wish she took 2 hour naps so I could attempt to work but she has other plans I guess.

She is now passed out on me. She has been fighting a cold and this morning I think its all coming to a head. She is snotty and coughing a ton. She doesn't seem upset by it but we're gonna be on pj rest mode today. I put her in moby, sat on the couch and rocked her while singing a Tears for Fears song and then a Beach Boys song and she was out. If you know my child this is not normal. She is such a snuggle bunny with the sick. Hopefully lots of naps on mom and milk will get rid of this right away. Lets hope this explains the shitty sleep the last few days.

As usual I'm blabbing. Here are Passover pics.

































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