Bedtime Rhythms

In our little townhouse, we have quite a few bedtime rhythms. I believe that little ones strive in an environment that is calm and rhythmic. I try very hard to nurture an environment full of daily rhythms for our little family.

When it's bedtime, Sienna gets ready by taking off her dress-up clothes. She likes to wear them all day long now! She waits at the bottom of the stairs for Daddy to take the kitties upstairs. Mama then helps her up the stairs while she holds onto the handle.

Going upstairs.

In the bathroom, she gets her step stool ready for teeth brushing, face washing, and flossing. Then when she's ready, Mama starts brushing Sienna's teeth. After they've been brushed for awhile, Sienna takes over and brushes in circles.

Getting the step stool ready!

Checking her hair out in the mirror.

Brushing her teeth with her orange toothbrush.

Her kitty, Chai Guy usually helps her get those teeth brushed!

Sienna's helper, Chai Guy.

Next, Sienna washes her face with water and dries it off.

Washing her face.

Then, Sienna flosses her teeth. Mama flosses Sienna's teeth first and then Sienna practices flossing. The dentist says she doesn't really need to floss her teeth yet, but it is a good idea to get her in the routine. It will make it easier when she gets bigger.

Pretending to floss her teeth.

All done!

Lastly, she puts her step stool back.

Putting her step stool back.

Teeth clean. Face clean. Time for bed!

I also thought I'd sneak in a few photos of our bathroom for the little townhouse photo tour. This is our (upstairs) bathroom. We have a woodsy/owl theme going on in here. I love all the earthy colors!

Grandma Diane made the wood-burned owl for Sienna. We love it!

Grandpa Paul picked out this night light for Sienna.

We are a Tom's of Maine family!

(Daddy's = Sensitive, Mama's = Wicked Fresh, Sienna's = Silly Strawberry)

We like this post card from Sienna's first dentist. We hung it on our mirror.

Now, to finish doing our Monday wash. Yesterday was a holiday, ya know!

Rain Boots

Sienna's favorite shoes to wear are always her rain boots.

Even when it's not raining, she loves to wear them and splash in the puddles from past rainy days. There's always lots and lots of puddles in Washington!

And whenever we go on an adventure, she always gets a compliment on her pink polka dot rain boots. Nana bought them for Sienna at Target awhile back.

So, I thought I'd do a little photo shoot of today's rainy day ensemble...

All ready to go on an adventure!

Wearing her new pink fleece from Aunt Deedy.

Smiling for her Mama!

Being silly.

A close-up of her rain boots and today's choice of music for the car.

We love the song Lille.

The funny part about the rain boots ... whenever Sienna puts her rain boots on, she asks me if I have rain boots. When I say no, she says we need to buy you some.

This Christmas, Daddy bought Mama some rain boots at the farm supply store, but Mama really didn't like them. We ended up exchanging them for a cast iron skillet.

But, Mama would love some cute rain boots like these or these.

Then, we'd just need to buy a house, so we can garden together in our really cute rain boots!

What's In a Name?

Sienna Elizabeth

moments after her "birth" day

Well, I've been thinking a lot about baby names lately.

For a short time, David and I were considering the possibility of a baby #2. But, now with the uncertainty of his position, we have once again decided to put that on hold. We do have definite boy and girl baby names picked out for our next baby. I'm not going to reveal the names just yet.

I do want to tell a little bit why we decided to name our first baby her name. If you know our little family, then you know David and I had a whirlwind romance. We began talking online/on the phone in July, met in person in August, eloped in September, and found ourselves pregnant in October.

We spent our honeymoon camping and enjoying the beautiful Sierras. So, after our little trip we considered naming our future child Sierra. From Sierra the name eventually evolved into Sienna. We loved the way it sounded and rolled off our tongues.

When naming her, we also considered the name meaning and origin. It just so happens that the name meaning of David is "beloved" and the name meaning of Amy is also "beloved."

The name meaning of Sienna is "reddish-orange brown" and the origin is Italian. We both loved earth tones and the named just seemed to fit perfectly! After Sienna was born, her name also fit her personality and appearance (her hair color is a reddish-orange brown).

Her middle name came to us easily. My middle name is Elizabeth. My mom's middle name is Elizabeth. And my great (maternal) grandmother was also named Elizabeth. The name meaning of Elizabeth is "God's promise" and the origin is Hebrew.

I will give you a little clue into our future baby names ... we are sticking with a color for the first name. Any guesses?

Girly Adventures

Phew. We had a long, fun girly adventure today and it's just beginning to wind down.

This morning, we woke up a bit earlier than usual to take Sienna to her six month dental check-up in Bellingham. It's about an hour or so away, but we left earlier to de-ice the car and to drive a little slower than we normally would (there is still some snow on the ground up there!).

This was Sienna's first time with her new dentist, since we switched our dental insurance. She was such a big girl! First, they cleaned her teeth. Then, the dentist took a look and everything is still perfect! They are keeping her on a fluoride treatment plan every 3 months to keep her two front (chipped) teeth strong.

I promised her that after we went to the dentist, we could stop at our favorite toy store in Washington, Fairhaven Toy Garden. Sienna had fun playing with the many wooden kitchens they have on display. She also really liked the Garden Fairies In-A-Box.

After the toy store, we were on a very girly adventure to find a non-toxic nail polish, so we could paint Sienna's toes for the first time. We headed to one of our other favorite shops to go, the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. I let Sienna pick the color and she chose Princess Purple by Suncoat.

When we returned home, Sienna had a yummy lunch and then we continued our girly adventure with a little beauty shoppe play.

Our beauty shoppe essentials.

Sienna soaking in her bubbly bath.

Swimming.

Look how long her hair is now!

Our painted toes. They actually turned out a very girly pink!

Close-up of our piggies.

Of course, no trip to the co-op would be complete without a little indulgence. Sienna chose a very healthy oatmeal raisin cookie and I chose a black forest chocolate cookie. Unfortunately, her cookie fell out of the bag and onto the kitchen floor. Bummer. All that remained in the bag was a teeny, tiny piece. I wish that was true for Mama's cookie, too! I actually broke into my cookie bag before lunch. (Which probably wasn't so good for my tooth that is being checked by an endodontist next week.)

Sienna's oatmeal raisin cookie.

Yummy. She was pleased even with her teeny piece.

Mama's black forest chocolate cookie.

The new co-op bags are cute!

All in all, we had a very fun day and we hope you enjoyed us sharing it with you! We are happy Sienna has such healthy teeth and we will be checking in soon to hopefully finish our little townhouse tour. Hey, it's only been about 3 months since we've moved in ...

A Handmade Christmas

One of the traditions that our little family started last year is creating some handmade presents for Sienna. Today, I thought I would share some of her new wooden toys handmade by Daddy.

A wooden train set.

Trees for around the Fairy Forest Lodge.

One of the things that I love about wooden toys is how simple and natural they feel. It's also wonderful to observe Sienna's creative play with her wooden toys. She's already having her fairy family ride around on top of the train.

There is a plan to paint/stain the wooden trees, so that they will look similar to the Ostheimer trees, which are beautiful. But, they are quite expensive and it's also more fun to present a gift made by hand.

Since, I've mentioned the Fairy Forest Lodge, I also thought I'd share a few close up pictures. It has three stories in all. Father Christmas brought Sienna the lodge and quite a bit of the furniture for the lodge, too. It's a fun present, because it can be added on to at future holidays. Nana bought Sienna the Fairy Family, which are beautiful handmade dolls from Germany. They fit the dollhouse perfectly and Sienna loves playing with them.

Third story - Bathroom

Second story - Bedroom

First story - The Everything Else Room

Brother Fairy sleeping in his hammock outside.

The outside of the dollhouse. The doors really work!

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the wooden toys handmade by Daddy and an up close look at Sienna's toys.

We are looking forward to creating many more handmade gifts for our family in the future!

Goodbye, 2010 ... Welcome, 2011

We've been reflecting on last year a lot at the little townhouse. Especially, as we sort through photos and upload them to our new computer. Last year was a good year for our little family. A year full of growth, learning, and happiness. Each year brings with it new adventures and discoveries.

In January,

Discovering crayons,

and her favorite color, orange.

In February ,

Adventures in bread making.

In March,

Discovering new places,

and little nooks.

In April,

Easter egg hunts,

and beautiful new books.

In May,

Practicing being a mama,

and nursing an elephant.

Eating Papa's birthday cupcake in a creative way,

discovering dress-up,

and being a beautiful flower girl.

Adopting a new friend,

and naming him Chai Tea Latte Sneakers.

In June,

A magical birthday party, and

a little fairy playing with her birthday kitten.

In July,

Watching our garden bloom,

eating chocolate ice cream cones, and

making silly chocolate-y faces.

In August,

Loving our sunflower cozy,

going on summer day road trips,

and hiking in the warm sun.

In September,

First concerts,

dancing with Papa to Bob Dylan,

more dress-up play,

flying kites,

loving pumpkins,

and being our little pumpkin girl.

In October,

Moving on to new adventures.

In November,

Celebrating the first snow, and

taking a beautiful wintery walk.

Keeping warm inside during houseplay.

In December,

Excitedly playing and waiting for Papa to return to our car from the forest with our tree, and

sneaking up on him and taking photos.

Attending The Nutcracker,

and celebrating a magical Christmas.

We are looking forward to see what this new year will bring us ...