baby on a plane: the last of the photos from phoenix

Posted on 26. Jan, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Last week, Dave, Alice, and I went to Phoenix to stay for a week with my grandpa and his wife and take a little break.
We didn’t do a ton of sightseeing.
We didn’t do much shopping.
We did a lot of eating, visiting family, and relaxing.
(And we spent some time in traffic.)
Here are a few pictures from the plane and a few more from our stay in Phoenix.

We hope to go back to Phoenix next year and check out the vintage shops that I heard so much about. It was a beautiful trip and we loved the city.
See all photos on Daily Alice.

xo
meg

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Happy Trails With a Toddler: What I packed in Alice’s travel bag

Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

Who: Alice, 20-month-old toddler
What: A 2.5 hour flight to visit my grandfather in Phoenix
Where: On my lap in the middle seat of a packed airplane, 40,000 feet in the air
Why: I do not want to be one of those parents.

1: Pets Sticker Book (I have a “Getting Dressed” one for our return flight) 2: Pipe cleaners 3: “At the Zoo” wipe-off book 4: Noise-reducing headphones for toddlers 5: Crayons 6: Bee Backpack from Skip Hop 7: Ugly Doll bat keychain 8: Gallop! by Rufus Butler Seder 9: Silly Putty 10: Applesauce in a squeeze packet 11: Lemur stuffed animal 12: Cool wooden puzzle 13: Hello Kitty Band-Aids 14: Travel Kleenex

Not pictured: Empty sippy cup (to fill up after security), peanut butter granola bar, Annie’s fruit snacks to help her popping ears

When my brother and I were younger, our family traveled a lot. On each trip, my mom took care to pack a special airplane bag for each of us full of new treats and distractions to keep us content on a long trip. Sitting with a nearly two-year-old on my lap for the duration of a packed flight was my idea of hell, but the backpack helped a lot.

The biggest hits with Alice were the pipe cleaners, snacks (of course), and band-aids. We’ll save the rest of the stuff for the ride home on Sunday!

What do you take on long trips to keep your kids happy? Is there anything I should grab for next time?
xo
meg

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emma and pie’s british treehouse wedding: flowers and photos

Posted on 12. Jan, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

When Emma contacted me last year to create the flowers for her wedding celebration with her husband, Mark (nicknamed “Pie”), I was really eager to get started on the project because I recognized her name as a regular commenter on Princess Lasertron. It’s an amazing feeling to be trusted with the honor of making something so treasured and special for one of the biggest milestones in a person’s life, and because Emma and I already had a little familiarity just through the blog, it just felt that much more personal to me.

Emma and Mark’s small fall wedding at dusk (with their sweet children in the wedding party as well!) was held in a tree house set in a castle garden in England–an absolutely picturesque location straight out of a storybook if you ask me! She wore a tea-length dress and made flower girl bouquets with one of our kits as well a billion tiny acorns and pom poms for her decorations! As I said, creating keepsake flowers for Emma was a joy. She recently sent me some photos from her photographer, Lillian and Leonard, and I would love to share a few of my favorites, plus the photos I took myself showing her bouquet.

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Photos from Lillian and Leonard Photography

Thanks again to Emma and Mark, and especially to Lillian and Leonard for capturing this beautiful celebration! Lillian and Leonard is based in Scotland and I know I already have a handful of Scottish brides already in 2012, so I urge you to check them out! You can see more photos of the flowers I made for Mark and Emma in their Flickr set.

xo
meg

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Sunshine and accessories are all a girl needs. Alice’s headband.

Posted on 11. Jan, 2012 by Princess Lasertron.

It was another gorgeous 55-degree day in Omaha yesterday. Alice and I celebrated the weather by sharing a milkshake on the loading dock outside my office, and I took these photos of her wearing the Valentine’s Day headband I stepped out for an easy tutorial. (Click here to see the DIY!)

xo
meg

Alice: Harajuku Lovers coat, Carters leggings, Pediped shoes

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radvent day 22: promises – one year and seven months with alice

Posted on 22. Dec, 2011 by Princess Lasertron.

Promises kept are one of the truest expressions of love because keeping a promise is a responsibility. It takes unfailing devotion and commitment. “I love you” is a promise. “I won’t give up” is a promise. And anything you say to yourself–”You can finish this,” “You can do better,” “You are enough,” “You are a beautiful, radiant beacon of positivity and magic”–can become a promise, too. Do you believe your promises to yourself? What about the promises you have made to others? What can you do to revisit those promises and reinforce your commitments? Show a friend or a loved one–your lover, your parent, yourself–that you are thinking of them throughout the day. That you remember what you promised.

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Every month, I write a letter to Alice about what she did that month, how she has changed, and the wishes and hopes I have for her as she continues to grow and learn. It’s sort of a promise to her, to document her childhood and my own life as a mother, to honor these memories and try to use my words rather than just photos or video to remember this time. Each post feels like a big deal, and no words ever seem right to tell her how proud I am of her and how much I wish for her and how much beauty and adventure the world has promised to her. But once in a while when I read through my past letters, I feel like I said the right thing, and when I compile them all someday in a book for us to read from the beginning, it will be such a treasure to have these words preserved.

This month, I asked Dave to join me in writing a letter to put into Alice’s book. It’s not only a gift to her, it’s an important way to preserve our thoughts in the present–to remember what we did in 2011, what bothered us, what our relationship was like. Although it can be mentally challenging, journaling and letter-writing is something no one ever lived to regret.

So with a little guidance (“What do you want me to say?” “Anything.”) and prodding, Dave added his own letter to our collection. His comes first, then mine. Happy month nineteen, Alice.

Alice:

Nineteen months ago when you were born I made a promise to your mother. I promised that while you were young I would write you letters so that you would have some record of how our life together was before you could remember. Well here you are at 19 months old and this is one such letter.

Yesterday I tried feeding you something wonderful I made. You were not amused. It seems like nowadays you only like to eat things you can feed yourself, things like fruits or beans or chunks of tofu. This does not include the rice and lentil pilaf that I had made just a few minutes earlier. Try as you did, I am just too mean of a dad to let you dig your hands into the food and haphazardly guide the fistful of pilaf into your mouth. You cried. I cried. We both cried together (I was louder).

After the dust settled I had an idea. I promised you that if you let me fork-feed you my succulent rice dish, then I’d let you stay up a little bit later and hang out. You don’t speak much but I could tell you understood what I was saying as your eyes lit up and you squealed “ooooooh!” which is usually reserved for when you see yourself putting on awesome fashion sunglasses, or when I come home from work and you see me for the first time since the morning. “Oooooooh!” you said and we shook on it and we had a deal.

There you ate all your delicious food. Forkful by forkful you chewed and swallowed, making me a happy dad for cooking a meal that my daughter seemed to love.

An hour or so later your normal bedtime approached. I remembered the promise I had made, but I don’t think you did since you fell straight asleep in my lap in what looked to be the most uncomfortable position imaginable. One arm was under your body, the other was behind your back. Your mouth was agape and drool was flowing steadily out. Your face was mashed against two of the buttons of my shirt, no doubt leaving a buttony imprint on your precious little cheeks.

You didn’t get to stay up late that night. Going to sleep on time was your idea, not mine. That doesn’t mean I won’t remember my promise to you. One day when you least expect it I’m going to hold my end of the bargain. One day when the day is winding down and the sun is setting behind the trees, I’m going to grab you out of bed and we’re going to do father daughter time extra long that night. I promise.

Love
Dad

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Dear Alice:

Today you are nineteen months old, and it’s getting to the point where saying the months isn’t really meaningful in terms of development–you’re one and a half, you’re a toddler, you’re becoming more and more independent and self-sufficient every day. I have a big framed picture of you at about four months old in our living room. Sometimes when I think about the way you look and visualize you in my mind, I picture that tiny baby, with no hair, no teeth, big wide blue eyes, button nose. But you just keep GROWING and you are getting so BIG and you are a TODDLER now. Do I say this every month? How astonished I am by how fast you grow? One day this month, I put your shoes on your feet just like I do every morning and they didn’t fit. You wore your snow boots instead every day for over a week until some new ones from Pediped arrived that Grandma bought you.

Your other cool grandparents who live in Palm Springs are here this week visiting for Christmas. They don’t get to spend a lot of time with you so it’s been a bit of a reintroduction in the last few days. We show you pictures of them and talk about them a lot. I’m excited for you to get to know them better.

My mom, your other grandma, usually takes you all day once a week and this week she is too busy, so it’s just you and me all day. We’ve been actually spending a lot more time alone together this month. One of our babysitters has been unavailable, and grandma has been busier, I’ve accepted that I’m a parent now, and you are super fun and cool to hang out with. Easier to communicate with, calmer, just growing up. I like you a lot right now. You are fun to talk to, just cool to hang out with. I appreciate your company and our time alone.

You’re really great at my office–you’re polite, calm enough, and you know your way around everything. Some of your favorite things to do at work include running in the hall (which is GREAT), playing with pop beads, sweeping with a crumb sweeper, drawing on your easel or on a roll of paper, sitting on my desk typing in notepad, watching shows, and arranging. Arranging soda cans, arranging fabric, arranging pens across the floor in a straight line, arranging your baby zoo animals in rows. I think you have a very orderly mind.

What else is new?

• You get into bed when you want to go to sleep.
• With a little stool you can reach the sink and wash your hands.
• In stores, you love trying things on in the mirror. Sunglasses, hats, necklaces, scarves, shoes, all modeled and scrutinized from every angle. I don’t think you have seen me do that but I’m sure you have.
• You can say “banana,” “mama,” “dad,” and “grandpa.” (naaaa-na, mama, dah, ba-paw.)You can put your coat on.You can fasten the snaps on your coat.
• Turbo, our cat, is becoming more and more fond of you. You love to hug him and he often sleeps on your bed.
• You are great at putting stuff away–your boots by the door, your books on the shelf, your clothes in the correct drawers. We didn’t teach you this stuff, you just learned it though observation.
• Yo Gabba Gabba! is the TV show you are just obsessed with. We watch about an hour a day, usually in the morning while I steal a bit more sleep.
• You wait to hold my hand in the parking lot when we get out of the car.

I’ve also started a time out for you this month. I don’t call it time out. It’s not really a punishment. It’s just that sometimes the world gets overwhelming and life gets frustrating and we have trouble using our words and it’s very important to just take a calming break. It starts with “Alice, look at me.” You meet my eyes. “Let’s sit down and take a break.” At work, you sit in a special seat next to my desk and fold your hands in your lap. At home, you sit in a green plush rocking chair. You are pretty quick to relax. I hope that is a personality trait that you can take with you into your childhood through your whole life, because keeping your wits about you will really serve you well.

Babyhood is so short and so full of magic. Rocking you in my great-grandmother’s chair in front of the Christmas tree at night makes me so delirious with love that I can’t believe this is realy my life. I think I grew up expecting to become a mother, but I feel so lucky, like it was so unlikely that I’d be chosen by a baby with such a sweet, kind soul. So loving and communicative. So generous with affection and funny and happy. I am so proud of you and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow morning, and every morning.

xo
mama

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Are you writing your own radvent responses in your journal or blog? Feel free to share the link–they are awesome sources of inspiration for everyone!

xo
meg

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