at 1 year mateo

:: giggles loudly in the market at strangers until they look his way ::
:: fell in love with his great-grandparents and attacked grandma with besos (kisses) all over whenever he saw her, unprovoked ::

:: does a sort of three-legged crawl (on two hands, one knee, and one foot) ::
:: and can stand up on his own when he's not thinking about it (but falls when he realizes what he's doing) ::

:: loves to read the peek-a-who book, and asks me to read it 10+ times in a row ::
:: usually stops crying when we sing him the songs from our library group ::

:: touches his head, belly, and toes when prompted in spanish and english ::
:: and makes an "all done" motion when we say "ya esta" ::

:: calls unica by the name of "oooh" followed by a high pitched squeak ::
:: but still won't say mami or papi ::

:: has a green smoothie every morning with fruit + kale, spinach, or parsley and loves it ::
:: can climb up our 16 steps to the upstairs ::

:: has a few favorite toys: balls, cars, chiqui, egg shakers and books ::
:: helps me by picking flowers as i plant them, and throwing laundry on the floor as i'm sorting ::

i know this is the part where i write how much he means to us and how much our lives have changed, but you all know this already and for me, there are no real words to describe it. everything has changed. our minutes are his minutes, and his minutes are ours. things we thought mattered don't really matter anymore. and we had no idea of all the blissful love and hard but happy work he would bring us. so, so blessed we are with him.

my ride: before and after

can you guess where this is going?

before: my bike, as i've always known it (oops, except i usually have a helmet on):

after: my bike, with a little extra weight and a lot more cuteness:

here, mateo is happy and clapping, but i think it is because his papi is talking to him from behind the camera. the bike seat took a few days to get used to. the first day i took him on 4 separate rides because i was so happy about the freedom of riding again and couldn't get enough. i also had to take cereal, or other snacks to keep him happy as we rode. once he got sleepy and screamed all the way home - can you imagine what a sight we were? i felt so bad. now, most of the time, he likes it.

for me, it's definitely not as carefree as riding once was - i keep an arm around him even though he is buckled in, and my balance is a bit off plus there is the whole riding-with-knees-apart thing to get used to. but it is worth it, i think, to be able to get around on two wheels.

racing (or walking) for the cure

a few weeks ago i walked in the susan g. komen for the cure 5k. i was part of my neighborhood team, and little did i know my friend from the gardenhouse was too! she brought her little one and i put mateo on my back. we rapidly walked the downtown streets through the cold and on-and-off rain. mateo enjoyed the free bananas as we walked, and then soon fell asleep on my back. luke and i had been referencing this 5k walk as "my marathon" for months prior, so i hope that explains the passionate photo above. :)

luke came for the end to see us through the finish line. after the race we ran into some neighbors and celebrated the finish together at mbc.

thank you, craigslist!

for our new (to us) octagonal picnic table! hello to summer picnics and easier potting-up sessions and laundry off-the-line sorting!

number 10

luke and i just went to random.org to see who won the csn giveaway... it's #10!
we carefully counted comments to see who that might be. turns out that the winner is emily!
i'm excited for her! and after my hours of searching the csn websites, i am really curious to see what she chooses.

emily, the csn people will be sending you a promo code to your email for the $40. enjoy!

up north

we are off to do some major michigan tourism this weekend! we're going to check out traverse city, take a self guided tour of the old mission wineries during blossom days (i'm most excited for this one), maybe hit up an asparagus festival and hopefully have time to hike around the sleeping bear dunes before coming back home.

2 years ago we went there to shoot a wedding and afterward we spent two days camping and hiking and driving around the peninsulas and stopping every few miles to take in the views. the cherry trees were blossoming and the skies were blue. it would be hard to beat the beauty of that weekend, but here's hoping.

it's so rare for us these days (um, and for the past few years) to get away on a little holiday that doesn't coincide with a work trip or family visit. and this weekend will be just that: just us, just because.

have a lovely weekend!
and ps., if you haven't already, don't forget to enter our giveaway!

a giveaway!

earlier this week i was contacted by the kind (and generous!) people at CSN stores who asked if i'd like to hold a giveaway or do a review of one of their items on our blog. since we all know how a little generosity was returned to me tenfold recently, i decided on the giveaway. so i took a look at their store to choose something to give away. did i mention they have 200+ stores? from sofas to cookware, home improvement to indoor gardening.

so i took on the daunting task of choosing the perfect item for my readers here. would you want something for your baby? something for you? something for your house? decisions are so hard for me alone, and now i found myself trying to choose the perfect thing for you. yikes. let's just say i explored much of the CSN 200+ sites. seriously. so i thought about what i would want to win.

i've loved the bilabo for awhile now, and plan on getting it for mateo someday. it is 100% recyclable and inspires imaginative play. it could be a turtle shell, a spinning chair, a hat, a sled, or a pool toy. plus, let's be honest, i really like european toys.

but in case you weren't feeling the baby thing, and because fresh, local fruit season is upon us, i thought an emile henry pie dish might be nice for one of you. especially this one in green.

and then for some reason i thought of my aunt debi when i saw this sweet little le creuset casserole dish. and of jess when i saw all of their eco friendly, wooden toys. and of patrick when i saw their pet store. etc, etc.

i expressed my indecisiveness to ashley at CSN, and guess what she said? instead of me choosing, i can give away $40 of credit to any of their 200 stores! so, after all of my deliberating, *you* get to choose what you want.

to enter this giveaway, for $40 of credit to CSN stores, just leave a comment below.
i can't wait to see what the winner will choose!

i will choose a winner at random on monday evening. happy shopping!

outside

this is the view from mateo's window, a few weeks ago.

our tree has turned pink again! we've been taking advantage on every warm (ish) day by eating and playing under the shade.

these photos were taken on the first nice evening of the year. luke pulled out the grill and we threw an impromptu backyard picnic together.

the high chair came out too, when we realized how interested our fast little boy was in the flames.

we had a nice time. and we were so glad we didn't get rid of the tree like the home inspector recommended. i feel like i may have mentioned this before. (oh yeah, i have.)

anyways, we've been enjoying it. it stayed pink for about two weeks. and then, on a windy day, the pink blossoms fell like rain from the branches and covered our backyard. everywhere we looked there was pink. it felt like a wedding.

also: mateo is one! i haven't uploaded photos yet, so i'll save the details of his whirlwind birhday weekend (which was super fun), the cake i made (yummy, from scratch, with chocolate icing), the parties we had (crazy, in a good way) and what we gave him for a later post.

springtime