A New Week
May 13, 2008

I'm so glad last week is over and we're onto a new one. It just continued to get more interesting as we went into the weekend.

Forest caught an early flight home from NY to take care of the baby since his mom was now sick and I would be shooting all Friday and Saturday.

Baker stopped throwing up Friday which was good, and which also made me certain it was a reaction to the antibiotics I was on. Everything seemed to be better and since I had a large storage of pumped milk I was not worried about him anymore. Then Saturday morning came...

I woke up with an upset stomach. Two hours before I needed to leave for a very long day. Wow, what else could go wrong this week. I feel like I've had a very mellow first three months of motherhood and this week was like a big "catch up" dose of all that is hard about being a mom.

The wedding went wonderfully and I will post a few photos very soon. We weren't done yet though and on Sunday (Mother's Day) Forest woke up not feeling well as did his sister and he spent the day in bed. We had planned to go home that day, but Forest needed a day to sleep. I don't know what was going around in that house, but whatever it was it made me want to come home and wash EVERYTHING anyone might have touched. And I did. Viruses are so nasty.

Baker seems to be doing better, but I have to feed him in very small doses or his stomach does not take the food well. My doctor asked me to feed him again to see if it really was the antibiotics. So scary! To know that you might potentially make your kid sick again - I did NOT want to do that. We've pretty much determined that he had a bug since everyone in the house had a day of the similar symptoms. Yikes...but glad It wasn't me that was making him sick. Talk about mommy guilt.

Sorry for all the gory details, but I just needed to get that out there. After lots of tears and questioning my skills and judgment as a mom, things are on the mend. Hope all you mothers who are reading this had a better day than we did. Here's to next year!

Posted by raya 7:26 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life

Hard Week
May 8, 2008

*sigh* It's been a hard week over here, so sorry I have been absent on the blog.

First, I got sick and tried to kick it with natural methods (rest, Echinacea, Advil), but that didn't work. So I went and got antibiotics since I have a wedding this weekend and need to be at 100% for that.

Then, B started throwing up this morning around 4am and hasn't stopped. Maybe a reaction to the antibiotics, I don't know, but he didn't even keep down the frozen milk I had. It breaks my heart to watch him be sick - poor little guy.

To top it all off Forest is at a conference on the East Coast so I am missing him through all of this : ( Thankfully I am down at his family's house and they are giving me lots of help.

On a happy note, B rolled over all the way for the first time on Tuesday, yay! Everything pretty much went downhill after that.

Hope to be back next week with a healthy body and baby, and maybe some wedding pics from this weekend.

5/9 UPDATE: Forest's mom is now feeling sick with the flu! Lord help us. Thankfully Forest caught and early flight home and will be here in a few hours.

Posted by raya 10:12 AM 4 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Jena + Ryan's Rehearsal
May 1, 2008

Posted by raya 10:12 AM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, rayaphotography

My Favorite
April 30, 2008

This is my favorite photo of little B recently. I took it for my "365 days of baby project" and man, I just can't even handle the cuteness.

Yeah, so whatever happened to that project anyway? Hasn't it been like a month and a half since you posted anything?

Right. About that. I'm still taking a picture every day, it's just the posting that I'm having problems with. But I'll get to it soon - being a mom has made me face the fact that I just can't do everything all the time. Priorities you know?

BTW, my brother's rehearsal and wedding were beautiful and I'm also working on those photos right now. I didn't get sick like I thought so I was able to shoot a bunch at the rehearsal and just a few at the wedding. They had two photographers so I just enjoyed the day and let them do their thing. Hopefully Josh will send me the slide show he made so I can post it here!

Happy Wednesday from B and me!

Posted by raya 8:42 AM 2 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life

Wedding Prep
April 25, 2008

We are up in Santa Cruz for my little brother's wedding this weekend. He's marrying a cute Southern Belle who is quite the DIYer even while working all the way up until yesterday - she's amazing. My parents are turning the house inside out to prepare for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner they are hosting tomorrow, and I am trying to help though I am not feeling well and really hope I'm not getting sick.

The decor for the rehearsal is Martha Stewart lovlieness and I look forward to photographing all the little details that are going to make it pretty! I don't have the energy to take any photos right now, but here's the inspiration courtesy of marthastewart.com:

Posted by raya 4:14 PM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, She's Crafty

Saturday with Diana+
April 16, 2008

Posted by raya 10:16 PM 10 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, places, rayaphotography

Slipcover
March 10, 2008

My mom was in town for a few a days (yay) while my dad and Forest fly-fished in Mammoth. Mom visits are always fun, especially this one because it involved a lot of fabric and sewing talk.

While she was here she made a slipcover pattern for the yellow chairs:

As much as I love my yellow chairs, they really need to be recovered. Maisy attacked one about a week after we got them (thanks, Dog) so one half is permanently covered by a blanket and the other is starting to rip now too because the fabric is old and worn thin. I thought about having them reupholstered in leather or another fabric, but leather is out right now due to budget concerns and with our lifestyle slipcovers really are the best option.

I have said this before, but do you know how awesome it is to have a mom who sews professionally? It's awesome. I am determined to learn slipcovers myself so I don't have to bother her, but I'm starting small with some pillows for our couch.

Part of our weekend involved a trip to LA's fashion district. I have been wanting to take my mom there for awhile so we packed up the baby and went for it. Little B did great in the Moby Wrap for 2+ hours (I CAN have a life and a baby!) and we were successful in our fabric search despite only covering um, 1 of the 90 blocks that is the fashion district. I think we had more fun taking pictures and I'll show you my favorites scenes from Maple Avenue in an upcoming post.

So now, pillows with zippers. My mom says they aren't as scary as I might think. We'll see.

Posted by raya 11:11 AM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, My Home, She's Crafty

Meet My New Best Friend
February 14, 2008

I can't believe he is already a week old! Everything went really well and he is a healthy, healthy baby boy.

Thanks for all your thoughts and well wishes on my previous post It was so fun to come home and read all the comments you left - and very hard to wait until now to post a photo, but I needed to rest and recover. Adjusting to motherhood is, well, an adjustment but I am feeling much better today than I was at first. I will probably be light on my posting for the next few weeks, but I am starting a fun new daily post that will hopefully start soon so at least I will be doing that. I have lots of other projects I'd like to start, but know that my most important project is getting to know this little guy. He owns me right now, which is just fine.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

Posted by raya 1:36 PM 36 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

365: A baby's first year
February 7, 2008

Posted by raya 9:36 AM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: 365: A baby's first year, Family Life, With Child

Baby Time
February 6, 2008

The Paper Pony is going to take a short break so Raya can HAVE HER BABY! When she comes back she'll be a momma. Have a great week and look forward to posting some good news soon.

xoxo

Posted by raya 7:25 PM 21 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Fitting
February 1, 2008

Well, not really fitting me that well anymore, but I thought this shirt was fitting for our current situation.

Posted by raya 11:18 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Happy Birthday Forest
January 24, 2008

Posted by raya 10:52 AM 4 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life

2008 :: Goals
January 18, 2008

On a drive home from LA last weekend Forest and I were talking about our goals for 2008. Not necessarily "resolutions" - I am never very good at making and keeping those - but rather long-term goals for the year.

Since we're having a baby this year we, especially me, know to set the bar low. I have no idea how being a mom and running a business is going to go and want to be realistic. So, with little fanfare here is my very small list of goals for 2008:

1. Grow my business by 50%. This might seem like a lot, but it's a really small business and this should be totally doable.

2. Open an Etsy shop. I want to keep it pretty focused - selling my paper on canvas collages and paper products printed with my Gocco. So many people do it and...I wanna play too!

3. Start a compost pile. Just because every time I cook and throw away scraps of vegetables I feel horribly guilty. We could reduce our waste by so much if we composted and maybe this would finally get me to learn something about gardening and stop my plant killing spree.

So now I've written them down and made them official. Scary. And now you know about them . Feel free to harass me if August comes around and I have still not announced the opening of my Etsy shop. I will thank you later : )

Posted by raya 5:30 PM 9 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, Nice to Meet You

Warmth

I think Maisy is starting to appreciate the hard wood floors. She's figured out they get a lot warmer in the sun than the tiles did. She now follows the warmth around like this throughout the house. The girl loves to sun bathe.

I'm still feeling lousy, but one can only lie on the couch for so long - even if it is in the most comfy, cozy robe ever. My brother gave me this robe for Christmas and being sick has given me an excuse to live in it these last three days. And then when the baby comes I'll have another reason to wear it for weeks! Yes.

Happy Friday to you all. Looking forward to feeling better by tomorrow and getting back to cleaning, sewing, decorating and feathering the nest.

Posted by raya 2:10 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life

Sick day
January 16, 2008

Despite my belief that when you get pregnant you also get a force field around you for 9 months that protects you from all disease, I managed to wake up this morning with a sore throat and a stuffy nose.

I had planned a different post today, but apparently I need to chill out for a bit. So I'll be unplugging for the rest of the day and lying on the couch, gargling salt water and drinking plenty of tea with lemon and honey.

Hope to be back tomorrow : )

Posted by raya 1:11 PM 5 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Creeping into 2008
January 3, 2008

After a nice long break from work and blogging I am finally ready to accept that it is 2008. This is what I did a lot of during the break - cuddle with my puppy on the couch. She doesn't like the hardwood floors, so the little princess has found her way onto the couch to snuggle..and in my weakness I don't stop her.

I know 2008 is going to be a landmark year - first baby, second year of having my own business, Forest turning 30...Lots of good things happening and lots to look forward to. It's hard to believe that all starts in a few weeks. We are just 5 weeks away from our due date!

I have many things to blog and am working on some fun things for this month...baby room decorating ideas, new cards printed on my Gocco, and some fun sewing projects with my NEW sewing machine (thank you Forest!). I wish you all a wonderful start to 2008 !

Posted by raya 10:53 AM 0 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life

32 Weeks
December 21, 2007

Posted by raya 1:37 PM 5 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Christmas Wrapping
December 18, 2007

Last year I went with a gold/snowflake doily theme for our gifts. You can see photos here on our family blog (this was pre-paper pony and I was just starting to post fun stuff like this). Sadly that blog has been much neglected since, oh July. I'm sure when the baby comes we'll start posting again - I will spare you all the posts with 10 photos of Baker doing something only the grandparents will care about.

Sorry, I'm off topic. Back to wrapping. This year I'm in more of a "use what you got" mindset. So this is what I've got:

Posted by raya 9:37 PM 2 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, She's Crafty

Baby Shower
December 10, 2007

Saturday we had a co-ed shower at our house given by our dear friends Amy & Lindsay (who both have good blogs btw, they just need to post more. Maybe if they weren't spending all their time planning parties for us they could - sheesh).

The decorations were so fun - grays, oranges & blues & dots. Very chic and a good balance of masculine/feminine. Lindsay and Amy thought of everything - even matching the desserts to the theme - mochi balls in shades matching the rest of the decor.

I think some of Forest's friends were freaked out about attending their first baby shower, but when I told them there would be beer they seemed okay. And we did crafts - who doesn't like crafts? I am not huge on shower games, so instead the girls set up tables with paint, stamps and brushes to decorate onesies.

They are all hanging around the house and I need to take some photos. We have quite a creative group of friends I will say. Some inappropriate, but creative nonetheless : ) On top of everyone coming over to celebrate and hang out with us for the afternoon we received so many generous gifts. Our baby is going to have the biggest shoe collection! Which is just fine with me.

Posted by raya 12:09 PM 6 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, With Child

Christmas Tree
December 7, 2007

This year we drove down the road a bit to Santa Paula Christmas Tree Farm and got our tree the old fashioned way. Well, it wasn't quite hiking up into the woods in the snow and carrying our tree all the way home, but it's as close as we could get here in So Cal.

It only looks like we're carrying it. In about 3 minutes a flat bed truck is going to drive by and we are going to let them take our tree the rest of the way. I am 6 mos. pregnant. No need to strain myself.

Posted by raya 7:55 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, My Home