WE'RE HEADING EAST!

we're heading to my parents' house in princeton, new jersey for a week-long visit. there will be lots of food, wine, and kisses for huck. well, at least the kisses will be for him.

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 16

12-12-12

huck got weighed at the doctor's office today and at 12 weeks old he weighs 12 lbs. 12 oz.!

ooh, i just realized that today is march 12th, and that huckleberry was born in the 12th month of december. also, todd's favorite number is 3 and the number 12 is made up of a 1 and a 2, and 1+2=3. ok don't worry, i'm done.

MY COUSIN LUCIANA

todd and i started this blog as a way to share some of the small, everyday things that are happening in our life with our new son, huck. but last week something happened that didn't feel at all small or everyday. last week, my dear cousin luciana died from cancer at the far-too-young age of 39 years old.

luciana is one of my three cousins from brazil. she has two younger brothers, raul and marcelo; her mother, vera, is my mom's sister; and she and i share a grandmother, our vovo zilda. luciana lived most of her life in brazil, but in her mid-twenties she moved to santa cruz, california. there are a lot of brazilians in santa cruz, and not long after moving there, she established a group of incredibly sweet, incredibly supportive friends. she also met an australian, james, who eventually became the father of her two children, joshua (6 years old) and lucas (3 years old).

lu and james moved to australia with josh about five years ago, and a couple of months after lucas was born, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. eight months after her mastectomy and first round of chemotherapy, the cancer came back in her spine. she endured another round of chemo, but eight months later, there was more cancer found in her liver; and this time, it proved to be too strong for her body to resist.

lu died a couple of days after lucas' third birthday. she was in the hospital and slipped away in the middle of the night. because she knew that her condition was very serious, she reached out to her friends and family in her last few days. she spoke to her son josh about her illness, told him the hopes and dreams she had for him, and let him know how much she loved him. she wrote letters to her friends, saw her family on a skype webcam, and told james that she wanted the kids to scatter her ashes under a tree that they could visit and water regularly.

in oregon, we are about 18 hours behind australian time and as i am writing this, people in australia are gathering at a sailing club by the beach to attend lu's memorial. my mom spoke to james a few hours ago and he had just come back from buying the boys some new shirts. james told her that the venue was just what lu wanted, that the songs being played were the ones that lu chose, and that lu did not want anyone attending to be sad. this is so incredible to me, and so indicative of luciana's personality: she was always - i mean always - positive. in fact, every time i think of her, i see her smiling, laughing, and moving around happily (she had an adorable figure and was always dancing and talking in an animated way).

i really miss her. we all really miss her. and because it was one of her last requests, i am trying to not be sad about her being gone. instead, and for our version of her memorial, we are lighting a candle and thinking of all of the reasons why we admire her, appreciate her, and are grateful for the time we had with her. lu, we all love you so much. xo.

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 10

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 9

'MAN ON WIRE'

is an AMAZING movie.
go see it. or rent it.
just get your eyes on it asap.

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 8

check out my made-for-babies headphones. i'm all ready for the concert tonight. we're seeing m. ward at the aladdin theater. i hope he plays duet for guitars #3. i like that one.

COCONUT MATE LATTE

this morning we went to townshend's tea house for a roasted coconut yerba mate latte fix, which made two us very wired and one of us very tired.

TODD'S HOME . . .

. . . and, thank goodness, he's back in the kitchen. he's been baking up pao de queijo and whipping together yummy salads, which means i haven't had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or over easy eggs all weekend.


oops. how did that happen?

DADDY, MOMMY, AND BABY BEAR

i got my wool aviator hat in the mail this weekend and none of us can stop wearing them. thanks tami! we're a bona fide family now. xo.

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 7

TODD IN THE 197Os

what do you think? does huck look like his dad? if so, i hope he gets the kind of hair that todd had in the bottom right photo. though i hope he keeps it up there a little longer than todd did. oops. don't tell him i said that.

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 6

SCRIMSHAW SHOW

todd's and tj's art show is now up at legare's and will be there until the end of april. the artist opening will be on friday april 3rd, so if you're in town, you should definitely come join us!

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 3 (round one)

DAILY PHOTO_MARCH 3 (round two)

QUESTION #1

Q: is this our dog, olive? the girl we refer to as 'little one'?
A: nope. it's my sister's and mark's (relatively) new dog lingo, the boy they refer to as 'ding-dong', 'lingo dingo', 'dingo dog', 'brown dog', 'brown buddy', and so on and so forth.


and with a new dog and a dissertation in the works, i can't believe tricia had time to make and then send us these delicious canned items. but who cares? thank you so much and yum yum.


p.s. doesn't tricia have the cutest handwriting? as you've probably already guessed, i save her notes too.

QUESTION #2

Q: what makes a good sister-in-law and an even better friend?
A: someone who does your food shopping for you when you're not feeling well.

and that's just what taunia did for me today.
so thank you thank you thank you, taunia!
i owe you one, for sure. xo.

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY!

well, the past 10 days have been pretty tough around here. i've been out for the count with a wicked sinus infection and todd's been working full time during the day and then going to the studio at night to produce work for an art show that he and his brother, tj, are having at legare's in march and april.

so needless to say, the blog has been sorely neglected. and while i cannot make up for lost daily photos (mom), i can show you the images that are on the camera from this past week. here goes:

1. this is a current photo of my countertop and the lunch i made today. as you can see, it is high time that i blast this sick/flu/cold thing out of me!


2. there was a lot of braid-grabbing this week, a reunion between a dad and his son, and some serious mama-baby napping with the red blanket.

3. spike and grandma b stopped by to pick up some old photos of grandma donna and grandpa jim, and spike was able to get the little guy to crack up. which, of course, made spike crack up. and then that made me and grandma b crack up too.

4. spike wanted to take some photos, so i set him up with the camera and off he went. here is what i found when i downloaded it this morning:

5. then, before he left, spike wrote this on the chalkboard:


it says "spike's cousin huck", or, "spix kusin uhkc," either way.

6. tj spent the night on saturday and he and todd burned the midnight oil getting things ready for their show. i might add, here, that there is no other love like the love huck has for uncle tj. our little boy has fallen hard and fast for that guy.


7. and finally, i got a sample of this fabric for huck's windows:

i got these $400 cydwoq boots for $50:

and huck's vovo sent him this sexy little number to take better (and more frequent) videos of His Cuteness. yeehaw!