I know this post may be shocking to those north of the border, but whatever, this is where we live. We ordered a USA map from These Are Things for the girls' room and put it in an Ikea frame which has been hand spray painted by yours truly. The metallic makes all the difference expecially since the mat matches up a little too closely to our "designer beige" walls. It's a big upgrade and I love it! We also have this world map from These Are Things (we custom framed that piece) and we love it. These prints come highly recommended by the Muirhead family!

PS: if anyone knows of any Canada or Alberta art that's equally gorgeous please let me know. I've had a really hard time finding some, although I think I recently found a perfect Alberta print. I would love to find an afforable painting of Alberta's farmlands and mountains.

I don't really care for Holly's comforter with the color of our walls. It's kind of harsh. (see reference photo here) To be truthful, I hate the color of our walls. Designer beige is still beige and it's still yucky. I miss our palladian blue like none other. But since I can't paint our walls, and since I wanted to make a zig-zag quilt anyways, I made Holly a quilt. Remember the stack of fabric? Well here it is all made up. And I love it. It brings a needed measure of modern and whimsy into the room. The quilt itself was a pain in the neck. I don't know why I kept making so many mistakes! So I'm extra glad it's done and on Holly's bed. And she loves it. The girls' room is slowly becoming everything I want it to be.

Greta is 9 months! The most exciting thing is that she took her first crawl-step last night and today, she took a couple wobbly crawl-steps! We're very excited to have a soon-to-be crawling baby in our home. Greta has continued to pull herself around via her arms a toes (she's going to be great at the butterfly when she learns to swim) and figured out that she can follow me around our apartment and get to places, not just to things. She gets very sad when Holly and I are in the kitchen and she works so hard to join us. Greta does not like to feel left out. I think that she's grown a lot in the last month. She's longer and bigger. Her hair is getting really thick and it's starting to get longer. Sometimes, after a sweaty nap, Greta's hair has a little bit of wave to it which deepens my hope that she'll have curly hair one day. Right now, poor Greta has croup. She cried all night last night and while I wish I could say we enjoyed some cuddles, she was inconsolable and did not cuddle up to me. She's very sad and there wasn't much I could do for her. Greta is a sensitive little baby. She has a tender heart just like her Dad. Greta has 4 teeth. Her two bottom middle ones, and two on the top, but they aren't the middle ones. They're the two to the right of the middle of her mouth. Does that make sense? She has another one, the middle left tooth, working it's way out. Greta is a very good eater. She loves cheerios and this past month, she learned to feed herself her bottle. She's pretty pleased about that little accomplishment. We love our Greta so much!

Greta at 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 months. Can I just say that I'm so glad I've stuck with this monthly photo? It's been really fun.

Last weekend, we drove out to Half Moon Bay to walk up and down mainstreet and spend a little bit of time at the beach. It was a lovely trip. The beach was such a highlight. The sunset was amazing! Both our girls were thrilled to be at the beach again! Holly took off her shoes and socks instantly and her sweater and coat were quick to follow. She was running around the beach and was completely happy. She came home covered in sand! And as soon as Greta had the opportunity, she was eating sand! She was laying on her stomach and it was almost like the sand had her in a trance as she lowered her head. It was hilarious! We love the beach so much. Our next move need to be to Europe or closer to the beach.