dude. /  by jen geigley

They're ba-ack. Does anyone remember these? I used to make these paper tags a few years ago and some of my papercrafting/scrapbooking friends have been asking me to make more. I have to admit, they are fun to use. Stick them on a journal page or a photo or a card or a notebook or what-have-you. Get some here.

a sad day. /  by jen geigley

Call me mushy, but when I heard the news today that MCA had passed it was ... heartbreak. MCA was kind of my favorite. Like so many other people, License to Ill was one of the first cassette tapes I ever owned. I thought it was brilliant that you could look at the cover in the mirror, and the 3MTA3 on the side of the plane said EATME. Check Your Head and Paul's Boutique provided the background music to my teenage years. In college, I got to see the Beastie Boys on tour.  I truly hope that Lo will be listening to What'cha Want in her room when she's in high school. Maybe Bowie will fight for his right to party. We'll definitely do our best to pass down the love. RIP, Adam Yauch. So sad.

7 days of bento on a plate /  by jen geigley

This past week, I've been practicing with my bento supplies. Little Lo starts Kindergarten in the fall, and I've been wanting to get faster at packing lunches. It's an acquired skill. No lunchboxes yet, but soon enough. So here we go again ... bento on a plate. (You can see more lunches like this here and check out the supplies I use here.)

baby life /  by jen geigley

Ohmygosh, how's the baby life, you ask? (You didn't ask but let me tell you anyway.) We're definitely settling in. Bowie is a charmer, smiling all of the time. He's been going with the flow as we run from preschool to ballet to the library. He's fantastic at grocery shopping. He's been sleeping better at night. Usually. He's getting so big already.
He talks to us a lot. Lots of 'ohs' and 'ahs' and we swear that he says 'hi' half of the time. Some of his dark brown hair is falling out, and new lighter hair is growing back in. He has eczema. He smells super sweet. I can't stop kissing his cheeks. I snuggle him as much as I can. I let him sleep on my chest while I watch various shows on Netflix way longer than necessary. This is the baby life. It is good.

instas /  by jen geigley

Life in Instas. So nice. Are you on Instagram? I know you are. You can follow me at @heyjenrenee. (I'd love to follow you back. Let me know where I can find you, too.)  :)

doing this. /  by jen geigley

I haven't done a whole lot of art fun in a really long time, so when I saw this, I jumped. Lucky me snagged a spot in The Mystery Project: make a stranger's day. Art House Co-op is offering this project with Prismacolor as part of their 10x10 Series. I've spent countless hours poring over Keri Smith and Sabrina Ward Harrison books in my day, and I always had this goal to make art and leave it in a public space for someone else to find. But I never followed through. So this is my excuse, motivation and opportunity. Check back soon to see what I did with my mystery project kit. 

Feeling inspired? Signups for this project are over but there are several other rad projects open for participation right here.

pay it forward (and a giveaway) /  by jen geigley

Sometimes, you have a morning that requires coffee. You need it. Maybe it's chilly outside or you're super tired and you just know it will make you feel a little bit better. I needed this cup of coffee. It ended up being free. And it totally made my day. Yesterday, the woman in front of me in the drive-thru payed it forward and treated me (and a few cars behind me) to a free cup of coffee. So cool.
I've never been the recipient of a pay-it-forward-type situation, but I knew I wanted to do something nice for someone else right away. So I'm giving away these three hand-knit newborn hats.
Just leave a comment below and take your pick – let me know if you'd like cream, gray or light blue. These are definitely very small newborn-sized hats, so they won't work well for older babies. Just a little disclaimer. I'll pick three winners at random on Wednesday, April 18 with one catch ... you have to pass it on, pay it forward.  :)

transitions. /  by jen geigley

The other day, Lo came home from school and said she had something bad to tell me. Something really, really bad. (That's a quote.)

My girl has said things like this before and it usually ends up being something pretty minor. Like how she found a preschool classmate's clean-up reward sticker stuck to the sleeve of her shirt and needs to give it back immediately.

But this time, she took me into her room and asked me to close the door (even though the only people at home were me, her and the baby.) And after some hesitation, she whispered into my ear "I don't think I like being a big sister. And I love Bowie. But ... I don't think I like being a big sister." And then she quickly covered her mouth and her eyes opened wide and she looked at me.

And I said "Oh my gosh, did you think I'd be upset with you?" And she said "Yes." And I told her I wasn't upset. At all. That I completely understood and that it was okay for her to feel that way. I told her that when I was five, I was a big sister too, and I remember how it felt.

And the thing is ... she's a fantastic big sister. If the baby cries, she rushes over to give him a pacifier or sing a song or shake a rattle for him. She, on her own, can get him to stop crying. She's a natural little caretaker. Sure, the 'newness' has worn off and she's a little less likely to help every single time I check in to see if she wants to get involved in whatever is going on at the moment. But Bo and I have tried extra hard to roll with it and take things as they come with her feelings in mind. He has taken her to do tons of extra fun activities so that she has that one-on-one time. Not to say that every minute has been easy, because it hasn't. We knew it would be hard, but somehow I didn't expect ... this. Why wasn't I more prepared?

I felt horrible. I felt guilty. Had I expected too much from her? Was I involving her too much or not enough? I had thrown her into this new role and I felt so often that it was impossible to give her the attention and time she needed. She used to have entire days alone with me and we could do pretty much anything she wanted. We'd hang out, have picnics, play outside or watch movies and she would always say with a smile, 'girls only.'

Things are so different for her now.

And then my mind immediately flashed back to this post by Dooce. It's one of those things you read and somehow remember every word, years later. She had written about how five-year-old Leta suddenly looked like a giant next to newborn Marlo. (My thoughts exactly. The enormous hands, the eyes ... the head!) And how Leta wanted her new baby sister to stop crying at her. And how she buried her face into her dad's neck one night and said "I want you to love me." And I was like, woah. Yeah. This is our life right now.

I found myself saying the same things to Lo. Those universal mom things. I hugged her hard and told her I loved her so very, very much. That she was my first-born baby and my one and only most favorite daughter. That she was a wonderful big sister, even if she didn't like being a big sister right now. And that someday things will change and it will get better and easier and more fun.

And then I promised her a 'girl date' to grab doughnuts or fro-yo or whatever she wanted. Just like we used to. Girls only.