The Big Event.

Viewing Party Idea, I wish I would have thought of.  How fun!

Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

The Royal Wedding 2011.  A girlfriend of mine likened this amazing televised royal wedding to a woman’s superbowl.  Nicole, I couldn't agree more.  I am so excited!

I'll be watching from home.  It'll be simple around here.  Some homemade sweets and a little bubbly with orange juice.  It would only be proper to celebrate. Chloe will be wearing the miniature crown she got for Christmas this year.  It's gonna be so fabulous.  I can't wait to see the flowers, her gown and all the pageantry at Westminster Abbey.  Prince William is pretty dashing himself.  It can't be missed.  Mr. Locklin set it up to record on several channels just to be sure we get the best coverage and many viewing options.  What a great husband?

In case you didn't know, the happy couple have a website: Offical Royal Wedding.  Anything and everything you NEED to know.

They look so in love and after tomorrow Kate will be a princess.
Who doesn't love a great love story?

Keep Calm and Marry On.

A Few Firsts.

First Eye Roll. Let the sass begin.

 

 

First time in the cart basket.  Grocery shopping with Daddy.

Checking out the produce.

A little unsure about her "big girl" convertible car seat.

Wow, today was eventful.

Good Morning Babe.

Not much to say, just our babe in her jammies.  Every morning I get really big smiles when I say, "Good Morning Chloe."  I know her smiles certainly make my morning.

Easter at Home.

Chloe's first Easter basket.

A little something for Mr. Locklin too.

Pottery Barn egg bowls & plates from my mom.

That face, pure delight.

Grandma Locklin got her those ears.

Decorating for the holidays is one of my favorite things to do.  It is even more fun when there is a tiny babe in the house to create magical moments for.

The Easter Bunny hopped over with a few treats for us.  We enjoyed them over a delicious breakfast cooked up by Mr. Locklin himself. 

Easter with Family.

These two are inseparable.

Wasted no time playing with her gift from Linda and Ivor.

I loved this dress on her.

Kai and Jans.

I adore that silly curl.

Kevin's cousins Jans and Jennifer invited the Locklin family over to their lovely home for an Easter celebration.  I'm sad I didn't catch a picture of everyone.  Someone took a group picture that I'll post later.  We always enjoy relaxing afternoons like this.  We caught up with family and ate all afternoon.  Every time we are all together I wish we were able to see one another more often.  Life gets so busy sometimes.  But boy do we love family.

Mr. Rabbit.

While preparing the Easter decor and treats around our house,  I had the lyrics of Elizabeth Mitchell's Mr. Rabbit bouncing around in my head.  Children's folk music is so lovely especially hers. 

Sunny Day by Elizabeth Mitchell

"Mr. Rabbit, Mr. Rabbit your ears are mighty long
yes, my lord they were made that way,
Mr. Rabbit Mr. Rabbit your coat is mighty gray
yes, my lord it was made that way

every little soul must shine shine shine
every little soul must shine shine shine"

A sweet quirky song about a little rabbit.  The perfect amount of childlike yet not annoying music.  Me and my bloom could listen to this all day.  And isn't the cover artwork adorable?   I'm putting a hint out there for Mother's Day.  wink wink.

Here Chloe is at Fashion Island with Mr. Rabbit himself.  She giggled when she saw him.  We wondered if she thought he looked like a big fluffy stuffed animal.  It was darling.

Time to heal.

Snuggle bugs at lunch last week.

You may remember these posts over the last 9 months.

Prayers of Love.  

and

The Hipster. 

Well, that lovely mom of mine is extraordinary when it comes to perseverance.  Tomorrow she goes in for more x-rays.  We hope and pray the images tell us her hip is repairing well.  The most recent hip replacement she had was in February and since then the hip has fractured.  We've been waiting to see if it will heal on it's own or if it needs a more extensive surgery to really hold together the fractured bones.  Man, the treatment for cancer can put you in all kinds of places that you never foresaw.  And my dear, beautiful mom really could use a break.  She is the kind of woman who makes you realize you can really do anything because of her incredible resilience in the face of trial.  As Mother's Day gets nearer I can only ponder how lucky Kevin and I are to have her and Kevin's mom in our lives.  Talk about strong, beautiful, loving Mothers.  We are pretty blessed they are ours.  And lucky to have them as examples.  Now that we are parents ourselves we realize the love that they have for us their children and how limitless it is.  It makes me love them even more.

Please remember my mom in your thoughts and prayers.  And if you remember send lots of love her way tomorrow morning.

Bouncing back.

I've been working on getting back my pre-pregnancy figure for a couple months now.  Very slowly working on it.  And I'll admit there are days when that seems impossible.  When I try my hardest to get the day rolling, with a healthy breakfast to get me and the babe out the front door and moving.  I've said several weeks in a row I'm gonna be out there walking beachside everyday.  Have I done it?  Nope.  However I am realizing that along with my best intentions, I need to start slowly.  I will give myself props for dropping 40lbs. since baby girl arrived however, I gained 20 more than that while pregnant.  I can't believe it myself.
After looking through my closet at all my favorite clothes that have sat unworn for over a year, (a few items still have tags) and with a tropical vacation to Ohau on the books this summer, I'm feeling more inspired than ever.  I thought mommy and me swim would be enough to get me really motivated, apparently not.

I've come up with every excuse out there for why I'm not really out there giving it my all.  Now I'm really gonna go for it.  I signed up for Weight Watchers on Friday.  I almost didn't say anything because you know those people out there who know you are on a diet and ask, "how many points is that?" as you take a bite of a cookie.  Well, I wanted to avoid that.  Oh well, I guess honesty is the best policy and well, here we go.

Disclaimer:  I'm not perfect.  I will fall but I'll pick myself up and get right back out there trying again.

Any mamas have any tips on how they bounced back post-baby? 

Earth Day.

Yulia Brodskaya

We are trying our best around here.  Organic produce,  free-range eggs, mostly vegetarian meals, cloth shopping bags, biodegradable diapers but I know I can do better.

What can I do to help our earth?

I'm seriously gonna cut back on waste around here.  I have to say since having a baby, I've gone for convenience more than I'd like to admit.  My biggest offense is plastic water bottles.  I'll give myself credit that I've been breastfeeding on demand which makes a mama really thirsty.  So having water in my hand all day is so important.  But I do have enough time to refill a glass or really put my Klean Kanteen to use.  I'm making an Earth Day pact, to do my very best.

I'm also considering composting.  Is this something I can do when I don't have a yard.  I'm going to research.  In the form of a call to my very green east bay sister.

We celebrated Earth Day very simply around here, with an outdoor French class.  It'll take some practice but I'm beginning to learn some really sweet French songs to lull my little bloom to sleep with.  I'm excited to introduce Chloe to a variety of languages and it's great incentive for me to possibly master one.  This class was so fun.  Somehow everything sounds better in French.  

P.S.  Yulia Brodskya's paper quill art knocks my socks off!  It's on my list of things to try.  My very creative aunt just sent me more details on where to begin.  I'll let you know if anything cool comes of my experiment.

Bangkok Blue.

Our friends Phillip and Daniela bought this darling Thai dress for Chloe while on their honeymoon.  It could not have been a sweeter sentiment for them to think of us while celebrating their new marriage.  The vibrant turquoise color is delicious.  Thank you for the lovely gift. 

A few weeks back I dressed her up for a quick photo shoot.  I couldn't help myself.  Isn't it that part of having a little girl?  That night I was still inspired and order Thai take out while Kevin was in class.  Enjoying curry on the sofa while watching my favorite shows of our DVR made for a great night in. 

Random.

We are still rearranging around the Locklin house this weekend.  Clearing clutter, mostly mine, while I'm a crazy cleaner and major organizer I'm also a compulsive stacker.  I'm trying to learn a new way of putting together my "to-do's" without having the inevitable stack.  Since we have no office or even a desk,  the dining room table is where I do everything from serve dinner to sending email and writing letters.  At any one point I have one to a dozen letters to be mailed.  I love sending mail.  And I refuse to eat dinner with a cluttered table so I "stack and stash" when it comes to meal time.  Kevin has no problem with clutter but abhors my stacking ritual.   Tell me other people do this too? 

So to add to the bills to organize and what not, I just printed off an impressive 500+ photos to share with our parents and to add to Chloe's baby book.  But until I get them in the mail, guess where they are?  You guessed it, chillin' on my dining table.  Perhaps, I can get that taken care of today so we can be stack-free. 

P.S.  This is my first post in months without a bouncing baby girl on my knee or rolling near my feet.  And all I have to talk about it organizing.  I guess things are kinda boring around here without her?  She and Kevin went to the Bugs class at The Little Gym.  We love it there.  I'm sure she learned so new tricks to show me when they get home. 

In the meantime the house is so quiet.  I did enjoy a small glass of chilled wine and a soaked in some sun on our grass out front.  This is what I love most about the weekend quiet time and family. 

Decor Obsessed.

Okay, so I have always been decor obsessed.  My sister has teased me about this since I got my first job at fifteen and started collecting items for my once owned home.  Fourteen years and several rentals later, I'm still obsessed.  Yep, I'll be thirty this year.  But who's counting?  So needless to say, I had so much fun decorating our little bloom's nursery and if and when we have another babe, I have so many ideas already brewing.  I am so smitten with this nursery right now.  Should we have another girl, inspiration complete.  I might or might not have names picked out too.  How sweet is this room?  I can't get enough.  I'm planning on framing a few of Chloe's special outfits like the sweet, teeny swimsuit above.

Puree, pretty please.

This little beauty has joined me in the kitchen (thanks to my generous in-laws).  I was so unaware of this baby's speed and quality.  I was naive and thought the rave reviews might be all hype.  You know another "must have" baby item.  Being that we live in 900 square feet, we choose carefully what to take home with us.  I'm so happy this one joined us.  It is my favorite new kitchen accessory and makes the finest puree possible. And Chloe even napped through the process. It's about half the decibel of our food processor and makes my life so my easier. To top it all off it matches our kitchen.  Did they know I loved green or something?   Fresh, organic, homemade baby food in minutes.  It's no wonder it's named Beaba.

Oh and Chloe has been trying so many new foods lately.  Sweet Potatoes, Avocado, Peas, and Pears. So far she loves them all.  There is a little hesitation when it comes to rice cereal and bananas.  She's still making up her mind.

Spring is here.

The weather has been lovely and we've been indoors for a few days because Chloe was sick with her first cold.  It was bound to happen but made us so sad to hear her sniffle and cough.  She is on the mend and broke out a few huge smiles today so I could tell she felt a lot better.  Here are a few pictures we took this afternoon.  She is 6.5 months old now, in case (like us) you're counting.  I couldn't pick favorites, so here are the contenders.    

P.S. I bought this dress while I was still pregnant.  How'd I know it would match her eyes?  Maybe I hoped she'd look like her Daddy?