My pregnancy leave is almost over and I’m so sad about leaving my boy in the hands of another.



It breaks my heart that someone else will see his gummy smile and big, curious eyes when he first wakes up. Someone else will dry his tears. Someone else will play with him. Laugh with him. (And oh how he likes to laugh!) Someone else will snuggle with him. That he’ll pull someone else’s hair. Someone else might be there the first time he rolls over, crawls, walks, or even speaks. Someone else will change his shitty diapers, get spit up on or coax him down for a nap.



Someone else won’t love him the way I love him; there will be limits.

It hurts; just writing this is making me weepy.


And yes, I know, I’m not the first mom in the world to have to go back to work.
And yes, I know, I’m lucky I’ve had the chance to spend so much time with him.

And I’m so grateful that I have such a beautiful, happy little man.

But.

That doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to miss my little baby.

If I twittered I would tweet this

I really loved the movie Milk.

The other day I was in San Jose visiting my friend Jane and her family.  Before heading back home, I stopped off at my folks so they could see the baby.  Ollie needed to eat so I sat in the kitchen and nursed him while my mom made her lunch for the following day.  My dad who was watching WWF* in the other room, came into the other room, to grab an apple.  He grabbed a Gala apple. This might not seem like a big deal, however it is. You see, my mother has only kept Red Delicious apples in her kitchen for the last 32 years. Seriously the woman has been loyal to the Red Delicious for my entire life.  Probably longer. I'm not a big fan of the RD apple. It's texture is a bit too grainy for my tastes.

Photo credit

 As we sat there, my mom started packing herself a lunch for the following day.  She grabbed a Red Delicious and started cutting into it.  The following conversation ensued:

Me: Mom, are Red Delicious apples your favorite apple?

Mom:  No, not really.

Me:  They're the only apple I've ever seen you buy for 32 years.

Mom:  Yeah, I really like the color.

The fact that my mom chooses her apples based on aesthetics is hilarious.  It really seemed like she'd not given this much thought.  I'm curious to see if she will continue to buy the RD apple or if she'll explore other apple varieties.  (I know, my world is so exciting, can you stand it?)

*My dad likes fake wrestling.  What can I say?  Makes me laugh.

Loving Paper-cuts

I love Los Angeles based artist Elsa Mora. In addition to her main blog, in which she chronicles her various artistic endeavors (and holy smokes the woman does EVERYTHING well), she has a blog devoted entirely to paper-cutting.  Elsa includes links to resources and books about paper-cutting on her blog. 

Here's an example of Elsa Mora's paper-cutting.

The elaborate and teeny tiny detail blow me away.  Note the feet and beaks on the birds-they're so little!

Another favorite is Robert Ryan.  His works are amazing. Get a load of that nest!

Here's one from Fables and Foxes.  I love the lettering included in this one.

Fables and Foxes

A popular paper-cutter is Nicki McClure.  One of my favorite books of Ollie's is Awake to Nap.

It's available on the Buy Olympia site.  McClure made the book during her son's naps.  Her paper-cuts are amazing and I love her use of color.

If I twittered I would tweet this

Check out Todd Selby's site, The Selby.  Go on, get lost.  

Beautiful photographs of interesting people who live in neat homes who do cool stuff with fun Q&A + links at the end of each profile, too  I can spend HOURS here and I bet you will, too, yes? 

Jewelry

Searching the web for jewelery is like window shopping on the couch. Behold, pretty jewelry finds!

This ring, from Supermarket is similar to a ring I had as a kid:


I'm loving these earrings from Etsy seller Masaoms:


This necklace from Mayerain's Etsy Shop is fun:


Bijou Girl Designs has a sweet leaf ring:


Michelle Chang's Etsy shop has some neat pieces, like this ring for instance:


Melissa Joy Manning's Diamond in the Raw is both gorgeous and out of my price range:

Melissa Joy Manning's jewelry is made in Oakland, California, by metalsmiths who earn a living, working wage.

I saw these pieces by Sarah Graham at a gallery over the weekend. At $7,000 plus, they're way (way, way, way) out of my league. But so pretty:

Academy of Sciences

Today Ollie and I brought some friends to the California Academy of Sciences.  Ollie slept the entire time we were there, blocking out the sound of screaming kids and grown ups. (Funny that creaking floorboards in our house wake him up but he was dead to the world there.) My girlfriend's little guy is 2 1/2 and he LOVED it.
  

We started off by walking through the 4-story rainforest.  Each level represents a rainforest from a different part of the world.  Here there were frogs, bats, tall trees and beautifully colored butterflies and birds flying around.  Upon leaving the young man who was working the elevator asked everyone to make sure that none of the butterflies were stuck to their clothes.  And, "that there were no frogs in your throat and ants in your pants." 

Next, we walked through the impressive Steinhart Aquarium.  There's a 25-feet deep Philippine Coral Reef, a recreation of the Nothern California Coast, a Water Planet and more.  There were sharks, and piranha.  There were fish that looked glittery.  I can't remember what they were called but they were so very disco.    There were fish that looked like tree branches.  

I took some shoddy pictures with my camera phone:



It was really neat to be there with a two-year old.  I can't wait to take Ollie when he's older.

There were several (like 8!) old ladies sitting on a bench, across from what you see above.  It's so pretty and calming I totally get why they hang out here.  I plan on joining them again next week.  

Finally, we hit the African Hall, and here we saw the real live penguins. This was the highlight of the day for my girlfriend's little boy. He screamed with delight while watching the penguins, eliciting smiles from the adults around him.  

I still have yet to check out the Morrison Planetarium, which is the largest digital planetarium in the world.