Livvy Lara Turns Two.

Tomorrow this angel turns two. It was just yesterday that I was throwing up in my hair and giving birth to her. But anyway, here I am and here she is, in all her toddling, babbling new-two-ness. 

Speaking of Livvy's birth, and of our first few days with her, there's a memory that returns to me: While we were in the hospital after her birth, no one brought or sent flowers. After we had Tessa, there were at least six vases to load into the car when we left the hospital. I remember worrying they'd tip over on that first already-precarious ride home with my new baby. Of course, I worried about everything then. After we got home with Livvy, I confided in my mom that the fact of it--petty or not--made me sad. The second-baby effect, I guessed. Mom was over with roses before I could think another thought about it. There are pictures of three-day-old Livvy laid across our kitchen island with a swarm of roses behind her. To me, those photos are emblematic of how those of us who love her have always endeavored to make her understand how loved and how worthy she is. 

A few words about Livvy:

Don't leave her alone with a chapstick. She will eat it.

She has started throwing tantrums. About ridiculous things only.

She goes to a Mother's Day Out program four days a week--the same one Tessa goes to. Tessa will be in kindergarten next year so I relish their short-lived togetherness, my knowing that they are safe in one place.

She has started speaking in short sentences, stringing new words together every day. Words that reveal her personality in the most exciting way. (Spoiler alert for the big reveal of her personality .... She's the absolute best.) But she still talks in full-on "baby talk," which I would prefer her never to outgrow. For Livvy, there is no such thing as the letter "L." Ask her her name: She is "Ivvy," and she "uffs" you.

Ask her how old she'll be on her birthday, she'll tell you "two" but hold up four fingers.

Her hair is now long enough for stubby powder-puff pigtails, which she wears so well. See photos throughout this post.

I still carry her around on my hip as much as I can, even though my arms ache sometimes. I love the feel of her weight and her warmth and the way her head tucks toward me to rest against my shoulder blade. I love the velvet of her forehead on my cheek.

Even though this post is fragmented because it's at the end of my work day and it's her birthday tomorrow and Thanksgiving the day after that, the most important thing to know about Livvy, if you've made it this far, is that she's a mesmerizing spirit with a sweetness and tenderness that runs deep. All babies are. This one speaks straight to my heart, and my heart is better for it. I will spend the rest of my life bringing Livvy flowers.

Livvy Likes:

• Chapstick.
• Her sister/best friend Tessa.
• Babies.
• Oatmeal.
• Baths.
• Garlic knots (and all the marinara) at Five Points Pizza.
• Cupcakes, icing only.
• Baby bottles filled to the top with milk. 
• Swigs of beer, all kinds. (If left alone with a bottle, I feel confident she'd pound it.)
• Books.
• Puzzles.
• Shaking her booty. 

Livvy Dislikes:

• The car wash.
• Electric hand-dryers. Thus, public bathrooms in general.
• Having her hair combed.
• Most Halloween costumes and decorations.
• The suggestion that she should start pottytraining.
• The suggestion that she is too old for a bottle. 
• Anything to drink out of other than a bottle. 

What I Love About Livvy:

• The way her breath smells. 
• The shape of her teeth. 
• Ah, hell, let me just cut to the chase: Every single thing.  

Guest Bedroom/Office Redo.

This past month I've been focusing all my home project enthusiasm, efforts, and budget into my office-slash-our guest bedroom. Since I work from home (and from Ugly Mugs, a beloved coffee shop two miles from here), this is the probably the room I spend the most waking hours in. I think I also devoted attention to this space in honor of starting to write my novel here (and probably also to procrastinate from doing so).

This room had been feeling dark and gloomy; it was painted a deep blue-green that I didn't hate but that wasn't doing this space any favors and was sucking some of the energy out of it. And I need energy here, since this is the room in which I have to decide to write rather than, say, deciding to take a nap. Also, the old paint had been given to me years ago by a girl who I once thought a good friend who then blew me off fantastically for the craziest reason that I could never possibly blog about but for which you will have to trust me. Anyway, bad connotations with this old color. Had to start fresh.

There are four things I had been wanting to try:

1) Paint a ceiling blue.
2) Stripe a wall.
3) Use the famous, dreamy Benjamin Moore color, "Palladian Blue."
4) Make pompom trim curtains.

I did all four, over a period of a few weeks. Started by painting the walls "Alabaster" by Sherwin Williams, which I've used in other places around the house. It's also the color I'm slowly starting to paint all of my trim. (For the record, it is apparently exactly the same color as Benjamin Moore's "White Dove.") It took three coats to cover the green. The ceiling was actually easier to paint than I imagined, especially because I used this tool to tackle the edges. It is now "Palladian Blue" by Benjamin Moore.

After that was done, I waited a week and then went back to add the stripes to one wall. I taped them off to be 12 inches high:

I did that trick where, before painting the stripes, you roll the whole wall with the base color (the Alabaster) to "seal" the tape so that the stripes don't bleed. It worked great and I had really clean lines and barely any touchups to do once I pulled the tape off. The gray paint color is "Wickham Gray" by Benjamin Moore (the same color of my living room and hallway, which are right outside the door of this room.

Plus I got to take down the old metal blinds we've had in here since we moved up and hang some curtains I love. I went with the Ikea Lenda panels, which I have in almost every room of my house because the quality is so good, they come in the 118"-long length that you can do floor-to-ceiling curtains with, and they're so inexpensive (about $17 per panel for the longest length). We don't have an Ikea in Nashville, but I get these from eBay. I always just cut off the top loops and attach them to clip rings, so they look more fancy-like. I recommend washing, drying, and ironing them, even though it's a pain in the ass, before hanging or hemming them since they shrink by at least four inches in the wash. This time I trimmed my Lendas with pompom trim from createforless.com. This trim isn't usually cheap in large quantities, but I got the smaller pompoms from this website and was able to pay $18 for 36 yards of trim (I did two colors, so paid about $40 for all the trim I needed for four panels). The time it took to sew two kinds of trim around all four corners of four panels? A lot. The curtain rods and clips are Martha Stewart Living from Home Depot.

I'm not showing you the "office" side of the room yet because there are still a few things yet for me to do over there.

Because the Alabaster was flat and the Wickham Gray was semi-gloss, the difference in sheens makes the gray paint look silver, which is kind of a happy accident.

The new room is a hit with the whole family.