Catching up

Wow, it's been a while. Bad me!!! Let's catch up.

Natalie started preschool. She loved it at first, but then hated it. She screamed and cried twice when I left her. This morning she stated how much she didn't like school and didn't want to go all morning, but when we got there, she seemed resigned to it and didn't cry at all when I left. Thank GOD!!! I had a really hard time leaving her there when she was so hysterical.

Milo is doing really well. He has finally made my dreams come true. He loves a stuffed animal! I have always loved stuffed animals, and I really wanted Natalie to have a "lovey" but she was always so indifferent to her dolls and stuffed animals. Milo was too, so I was just resigned to having strange kids. Well, Milo has finally decided that he loves his bear. He carries it everywhere, and when he doesn't have him, he calls out, "Bay!" It just warms my heart!! Now we need to go buy another one, so we don't have a crisis if this guy gets lost. :)

Third kid - well, the big news with the third kid is that there's going to be a third kid!!! We found out we're pregnant, which is unbelievable because we were actively preventing getting pregnant. Guess not even a condom can stop this kid! We had our first appointment on Friday the 12th and saw a heartbeat and everything. Due date is 04/24/09. Exciting!!

So far so good!

So far so good with the challenge. Of course, I didn't REALLY need those crackers from Target...but hey, they are food so they don't count, right?

Here are some new pics of the kids. Doesn't Natalie look beautiful with the new haircut?

Ahhh!!! Tempted already!!

I was checking out a seller whose banner I designed and saw she had wooden soap dishes. I've been looking for one, and hers are gorgeous. I added it to my cart with the thoughts of getting some new soap to go with it. When I added it, I saw this super cute hippo that I had added a few days ago. Of course, seeing that reminded me that I'm not allowed to buy anything for myself. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! Now I can't get the hippo or the soap dish! Man, I don't know if I am going to be able to last with this challenge. Sigh...

Natalie's hair cut

We took Natalie to get her hair cut yesterday. She hadn't had one since September of last year. It was getting very long, but also scraggly. She has such thin hair, and it was so wispy at the ends. She was constantly getting it in her mouth and in her face. She did so good at the salon! We went to one that had cute car and boat chairs and toys for them to play with. It was different than the one we went to last time, and I didn't like it as well. The lady that cut her hair did an okay job, but her fingernails were like 3 inches long. It was ridiculous watching her trying to handle the scissors. Natalie's bangs are shorter than I would have liked, but they'll grow fast enough. She looks like such a big girl now!! I was getting teary afterwards...just seeing how much she's growing up!!

Here's my scraggly little girl


And here she is at the salon. The lighting wasn't the best in there, so I had to keep it BW. I'll get some better pics up soon. Doesn't she look so grown up????

Personal challenge

I've decided to challenge myself. After reading a post on my message board about it, I thought it would be a good thing for me to try. The challenge is to not buy anything for myself other than the necessities for 1 month. I buy little things here and there all the time, and I'd say 99% of them are completely unnecessary. Plus, if we are going to be starting Natalie in preschool soon, we need to start cutting spending. I tried to bring it up to Arnel, but of course he wanted nothing to do with it. Well, I'll just have to keep trying to convince him.

So today is day 1. Of course today is going to be the easiest day of it. LoL Actually, I already signed up to buy something, but I don't think it counts, since it was an Alchemy request on Etsy that I put up a week ago. I can't go back on that now or make them wait for 30 days. Ah well, hopefully the rest of this will go smoother than today. :o)

New logo packages!

I finished up two logo packages, which I am very excited about. I loved the butterfly one the best, until I finished the mama and baby bird one. I hope these do really well!!

Goofing around

Natalie was goofing around with some plastic toy glasses at Lola's house last weekend. I had fun goofing around with the picture. Here's the results:



I used Fee's Yummy Color Actions on it. Turned out pretty cool, I think!

Not much else going on over here. Working on a few banner orders and customizing the Little Brown Bird logo.

Redesigned my logo

I decided to redo my own logo. I didn't put enough detail in the original henryrabbit. It was cute, but too plain. I also didn't like how it faced left. Visually, it should face right and have the name to the right. I also decided to base it more on my plush henryrabbits. Which is funny because the plush henryrabbits were designed after my original logo. Funny how things evolve, huh? I am very happy with it. Now I just have to go around and change everything I've ever done. Sigh...

Hop along

Arnel was out working in the garage today and he saw a bunny hop into the front yard. We brought the kids out and Natalie was fascinated. Milo kept trying to run after it, so we had to hold him back. I think it might have been someone's pet, because it didn't seem too skittish around us. I hope he makes it back home. He was very cute, with one ear up and the other floppy.



Did I mention Natalie came home finally? She was at Lola's house for two weeks. That's two weeks with not much discipline and fun and games all the time. She was ready to come home...until we got here. Then she cried and cried because she wanted to go back. Typical! That was Saturday night. Today, Sunday, she was better. She is excited to see her friend, but they weren't home today. Hopefully they will be there tomorrow and she can get her M fix.

18 month check up

Milo had his 18 month check-up today. He weighs 21 pounds 6 ounces, and is 31 3/4 inches tall. He's slipping a bit on the weight chart, but I am not too worried. The kid doesn't sit still long enough to put on any weight. He got one shot today and has to go back after the 7th of August for another. Poor thing!! He actually was crying even before the nurse came in because he bonked his head on one of the cabinets. So you could barely tell when the shot went in. He stopped crying quickly though and even waved bye-bye to the nurse when she left. By the time we got to the car, he was fine. Of course, the fineness didn't last long. A few hours later and he was completely miserable. He kept coming over to me and pulling at the leg of his shorts. Also DH went out to go pick up another arcade game, so Milo was very sad about that. He would walk over to the front door and just moan, "dada..." I gave him a bit of ice cream, which worked while he was eating it. Then he just laid on me and we watched Wipeout together. OMG, such a funny show! Finally, around 7:45 I just went and laid him down to bed. He cried for a minute or two and then was out. He was really tired. I just hope he sleeps all the way through.

Blocks!

I got a banner request for some blocks. Rather than searching for some royalty-free images, I figured I should just take my own photo. We had some blocks hidden away in the closet. They had to be hidden because Milo still throws everything, and wooden blocks are not fun when they fly at your head top speed. I found the A and the C in the bag, but of course there was no B. Luckily it didn't take me too long of digging through the toy box to find the B. I set up some different backgrounds and did a few shots. I am really happy with how they turned out. I really love the colors in the one with the paper streamers. So bright and fun. Now it's just up to the client which she prefers. If she doesn't like any of them, that's cool too. That just gives me another opportunity for taking more shots. :o)

I uploaded this one to the Flickr


This one is cropped close to banner proportions...

Soul searching & decisions

After much soul searching, I have decided to keep my graphics under henryrabbit. I know, I know, I feel so wishy washy now. But I have a reputation as henryrabbit. I have relationships and a history there. I don't want to throw that all away. I'll keep my photography as Sweet Lime and my graphics as henryrabbit. I think it will be okay to separate the two. Maybe there will be less confusion that way.

So forget the post before this...just visit henryrabbit.etsy.com for great graphics! LoL

Sweet Lime Graphics is up!

I put up my first listings in the Sweet Lime Graphics shop. I had the bird logo mostly done, but in different colors. I was never really satisfied, so I went back and redid the colors. Now I love it! I am going to get cracking on some premade banners and some more logo packages to fill the shop up. Wish me luck on getting some sales!!

Go see the shop!! Sweet Lime Graphics

A new edit

This was one that I took back on the 9th of June, but never edited. I really like it! It's Milo's feet, showing reflections on the stone paver in Y's backyard.

I am so glad he got his dad's feet!

"California Extreme" Road Trip

Myself, Arnel, Natalie, Milo, Cyndy, Gary and Eralyn just got back from a road trip up to San Jose for the California Extreme arcade expo. The kids did really well in the car, which we were in for about 6 hours. We had the van, so they were able to watch movies. They both got a little fussy on the way up because they were hungry, but once we got dinner, they were fine. I was very surprised, as I thought Milo would be climbing the walls.

The hotel was very nice. We stayed at the Hotel Montgomery, which was right around the corner from the convention center. Still too far for me to walk, but we were able to keep the car parked at the hotel and we didn't have to pay twice for parking. The kids and everyone except me had fun at the expo. I had fun while i was there, but I couldn't stand or walk around very much, so it was a bit disappointing. The pinball machines were great. I wish we could get one of those!

I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I would have liked, but I did manage a few. We stopped in Monterey on the way back and had lunch at a great restaurant. I thought it was great because we were sitting next to a large window and the overcast day provided great light. LoL The food was good too, but that's not important! Here are some photos from the restaurant:

Intro

Welcome to The Sweet Lime Tree!! This is my life, and my business ventures. I am Amanda B. a 31 year old wife and mom of two adorable kids. My husband Arnel and I met online, though we lived only about 30 miles away from each other. We were married in October of 2003 and have been happy ever since. Natalie was born in November of and Milo followed in January of 2007.

I started henryrabbit designs in November after my love of graphic design led me to Etsy. I've been very successful there, and have enjoyed my work greatly.

My other hobby, photography, has been a learning process. I am hoping to start a professional business soon, but at this point, I am still enjoying taking awesome pictures of my own children.

I recently started Sweet Lime Designs with my sister. We're not totally established yet, but so far it's been really positive!

The name Sweet Lime has grown on me so much I've decided to create a group of all my businesses under one "roof," so to speak. So was born The Sweet Lime Tree. This will include all the branches of me, Sweet Lime Graphics, Sweet Lime Photography and Sweet Lime Designs. I hope to include some sewing crafts eventually as well. It's been so hard to blog cohesively with everything all over the place. I hope this can be a central place to showcase everything!!