Introducing Lady Paloma

Amazing to look and see that my last post was 2 months ago. It seems like time has flown by. The last few weeks of my pregnancy I really started nesting and preparing our home for the arrival of baby girl. My actual due date was April 8 so I wanted to make sure all of my "to do" items were checked off in plenty of time. 

My due date came and went and at 41 weeks and 1 day my labor began. As the day and my contractions progressed I finished up preparations around the house for our home birth. I baked a yummy Apple Cake for our birth team and Mr. Ramon and I made a baked pasta dish for everyone to enjoy once baby had arrived. The labor tub team arrived and filled our tub in the living room. 

About midnight our doula, Brenda arrived. My contractions were about 6 minutes apart and strong. About this time I started to not remember the details of my labor. I was working hard. When my midwife arrived about 2am she confirmed I was headed toward the arrival of baby girl. I spent the night laboring hard - doing stair lunges and other positions to try and get baby girl to move down into position. 

Thursday morning - Mr. Ramon, Brenda and I walked the neighborhood and did lunges up a hill. I labored some in the birth tub, more lunges and tough positions to move baby. She seemed super content to hang out where she was even though my body and the entire house were ready to greet her. My contractions were slower and less intense - my body seemed to know that baby was in no hurry to arrive. My midwives pulled some tricks out of their tool bag and got my labor started up again - we wanted to get things moving to see if we could get baby girl to come on down! 

Thursday night - whew. My midwives and I had the big talk about what was next. I had been working for over 30 hours and baby had not made any progress. She was very happy in there and I was feeling pretty good though of course tired. I took Mr. Ramon aside to let him know that I could continue but I felt that we were not going to make any more progress doing the same things we had been doing. I wanted to make sure that any decisions I had to make would be with a clear head. I felt that it was time to explore other options. 

The tough decision was made. We were going to transfer to the University of Washington hospital. This was my ideal place if I had to go to the hospital. They work well with midwives and I knew that they would respect my birth plan. My midwives made the call and had me pre admitted. We gathered our bags and headed over. The goal was to get me some pain relief and then start some Pitosan to get strong contractions going again and push this little girl out. 

I was admitted and had an amazing nurse team to care for me. I received my epidural and was able to rest for the first time in 42 hours. I had been in labor for about 33 hours. The Pitocin was started and I was having contractions off the charts. The doctor came in to check my progress and baby was in the same position she had been in for the last 20+ hours. She sure was happy in there! 

After much discussion with the medical team and some more time to see if the contractions would do any more for my situation we knew there was only one way to get baby out. The medical team had no idea why baby was not moving. They were stumped. It was decided that our only solution was a c section. Boo. This was not what I had planned - but clearly baby girl had her own plan. 

I was prepared and taken to the operation room. Mr. Ramon joined me. The entire team was fantastic through the entire procedure. The moment baby girl was here she was taken over to be wiped down and Mr. Ramon cut her cord. She was then returned to me for some skin to skin on my chest. She was beautiful. Such an amazing moment. 

Welcome to the world Lady Paloma Josefina Alvera Vasquez! Born Friday April 18 at 6:33am weighing 8lb and 21 inches long. 

Mr. Ramon and I were over the moon in love with this little girl. After 3 days of recovery we headed home to begin our life as parents. Our lives are forever changed!

Valentines Brownie Hearts

I had quite a few orders for baked sweets come in for Valentines Day. One client lets me decide which type of goodies to bring and I decided to bring them an assorted box of cookies, cupcakes and these adorable frosted brownie hearts. Perfect for the sweetie in your life!! 

The great thing about these is you can use any brownie recipe - even a box variety if you are short on time and ingredients. You want to bake your brownies in a 9x9 pan so they are thinner and you get more hearts. Choose a cookie cutter that is the size you like for your brownie cut outs. I used hearts since its Valentines Day but you could use any shape for any occasion. 

I lined my brownie pan with parchment so when the brownies were fully cooled you could pull them out in ine sheet and easily cut them with the cookie cutter. I save all the leftover brownie pieces for someone in the house to snack on! 

These are fun the way they are but an easy frosting and some toppings make them really special. I made up a quick "buttercream" in a pretty rose color and frosted all of them. Some I added sparkles to and the others I rolled in toasted coconut. Yum!

The possibilities are endless. Pretty much any sprinkle or topping canbe used. Have fun. This is a great thing to do with your children. 

Easy Buttercream Fosting

4 tablespoons cold butter cut into pieces

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all ingredients into the bowl of your mixer. Blend all ingredients until smooth. 

Should be a nice smooth texture. 

Add food coloring if desired

Celebrating Wedding Anniversaries

I have always loved celebrating milestones. Growing up my mom took birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones very seriously. Our birthday parties were always something to remember - from surprise parties to large gathering of friends. I can't remember when I was first aware of my parents wedding anniversary, but at some point I knew that this special day existed. These moments were filled with tokens of love from flowers and cards to jewelry and other gifts. I knew that these anniversaries were important moments and something to be treasured.

Mr. Ramon and I are celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary this year. From the beginning of our marriage I knew I wanted to find a neat way to celebrate our anniversary. I thought of the universal list of wedding anniversary gifts and knew that we could use that as the basis for any gift giving when our anniversaries rolled around. 

The history of giving certain gifts for certain milestones dates far back to medieval times when milestones of 25 and 50 years together were celebrated. The list became even more popular during the Victorian era when additional gifts for certain milestones were added. The gifts start off with modest materials like pottery and paper and over time the value of the gift material increases to the likes of silver and diamond. 

There are two versions of this anniversary gift list - the traditional list with items like paper, tin and fruit on it and a more updated list that replaces some of these items with modern gifts like clocks, appliances and desk sets. We settled on the tradional list for our anniversary gifts. 

For our first anniversry paper was the tradional gift on the list. We both suprised each other with art for this anniversary. I had been eyeing an amazing poster from this great design site - Super Rural for some time and it was perfect for my gift to Mr. Ramon. I framed it in a big white frame and we hung it over our first floor landing. 

When our second anniversary came around we both embraced the theme of cotton. Mr. Ramon chose a cotton canvas bag from Seattle company Filson. I was starting a new job around this time and it was a practical and beautiful gift. Mischa thought this bag was for her!

For Mr. Ramon I tried to find something reallly unique that would celebrate our special day. I found someone on Etsy that makes cotton knit infinity scarves with hand printed wording on them. I chose to have the lyrics of the song I walked down the isle to - Radiohead - All I Need printed on it. I was really excited about this gift and it looks awesome on Mr. Ramon.

This year the list prompted us for leather gifts. There were a lot of "normal" leather gift type items Icould have picked up for Mr. Ramon - wallets, watch, key fob etc. He has some really nice leather items already that do not need upgraded or replaced. So I opted for a ver nice pair of leather boots that he can wear often and get some gret use from. 

Mr. Ramon was a little more practical and I was super excited about my gift. He chose a pair of fancy leather LL Bean slippers. I have been wearing the same worn out, ratty slippers for several years. This gift is going to be great at keeping my toes warm in our cold house!

I look forward to many more anniversaries with Mr. Ramon and using this list to guide our gifts. Would love to have you share how you celebrate anniversaries and milestones.  

Happy News!!

Mr. Ramon and I recently announced some very exciting news. We are having a baby! This little bundle of joy will be arriving in April 2014. We are both over the moon!! 

Here is the adorable announcement we sent out via Facebook. 

Spring love

Spring has sprung here in Seattle. The sun is out today as I sit in a small cafe on Capital Hill and catch up on bills, writing and emails. In fact it might hot 70 today. Beautiful. This is one of my favorite times of year in Seattle and after a long grey 6 months it is a welcome change. Everything feels fresh and new.

Later today I need to get out in the yard and weed the rose bed. The dogs will love hanging out with me sunbathing on the porch. This is a perfect day off. I hope you are having a wonderful spring!