Traveling. Baby. Family

I use to fly to Chile at least once a year, even after I had my first 2 boys. Nico's first time in Chile was when he was 6 months, Joey 7 months. William had not been there until this past December, we had not been able to fly as a family so we decided (with lots of encouragement from my husband) I should go and take just him to meet the rest of the family, he was 8 months old.
My mom, dad and brother had already met him, but my sister, grandparents and extended family had not. To say I was nervous is an understatement, I had never traveled without my kids, every vacation we've taken had been with them and I knew I would miss them terribly.
It took me a couple of weeks to finally commit and purchase a ticket, my husband had to re-assure me a million times that they were going to be OK without me, he knew I really wanted to go, but it was hard for me to ask him to take care of the kids, house and still go to work while I was gone.
I made a calendar with all their activities with very specific instruction including "they must do their hair and have clothes that match before they leave in the morning". I know, I know I'm a control freak, but it gave me comfort to know that at least I had asked.
Traveling with a 9 month old was not too bad, the flight to Chile is long, I had a 14 hour flight and I had to change planes in Lima. Once I got to Santiago I had to wait another 4 hours for the flight to my home town of Copiapo, 1 1/2 hours later I was there with my family.

Here are a few highlights of the first couple of days, I was there for 12 days.

I had to ask this Pilot if he would take a picture with William, wouldn't you?
He said: You want ME to hold him? I said: yes, I have to take the picture, I can't hold him and take the picture (there was almost nobody left on the plane). He seemed a little nervous holding a baby, but he was really nice and it didn't hurt that he was also tall, cute and wearing a uniform ;)

Here he is with his Tia Gaby, my little sister. I should say, my younger sister because she is actually about 3 inches taller than me. She is also beautiful, sweet, smart, almost a nurse and the best sister ever. She didn't want to give me baby William back, she wanted to feed him, change him, nap with him. They got to be best friends very fast.


Here are my parents and brother, this is the day my little brother graduated High School, that's another big reason why I went. We call him Reny, short for Reynaldo, he is so funny and also helpful and kind. I miss him.
My parents are the best looking grandparents ever, people always think my kids are their kids when they take them places. I will tell you more about them some time, they are interesting people.


Here are my grandparents, grandma is 89 and my grandpa I think he is 82 (he's not sure). He still thinks he is 50 and rides his bike everywhere he goes. They have a little store in their house where they sell everyday necessities and treats, my grandpa still runs it and they are very independent.
My grandma has awesome hair, my dad is jealous (you can see above that he's starting to loose his). Grandpa not so much, he's been wearing a hat since forever, he does not show is bald head very often.

More about my trip soon, have a great Sunday!

Please stay small

I love taking pictures of my children and I also love having their picture taken by people that know what they are doing. I'm still trying to figure out the camera I got for my birthday or was it Christmas 2009?
Anyways, I was looking at our 2010 Holiday pictures, Heather Telford took our pictures at the Griffith Observatory (one of our favorites places) and then some at our house. I love how they all turned out! She was amazing, so patient and fun, I specially love this picture of my 3 boys:

As I looked at this picture, I thought: please stay small!
Their skin is so soft, they still want to snuggle with me, they think I'm cool (please don't tell them the truth), they say the sweetest prayers and they dance with me until they are tired. I know a lot of these things won't last much longer and it makes my heart hurt a little, OK let me be honest, it actually hurts a lot, it feels like someone is sitting on my chest and my heart is about to stop. Is that crazy or do you know what I mean?
I use to always ask Joey to please stop growing, he would smile and say OK mom, then one day he said:
Joey: I'm sorry Mom
Me: sorry for what Joey?
Joey: I'm really trying to stay small but is not working
If I hadn't been laughing so hard I would have probably cried at how cute that was.

So tonight after looking at the above picture I started looking at older pictures and found these and Oh my goodness! I spent about 2 hours looking at pictures from 2006. Where is time going?! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy each stage of their lives, but seriously look at them, PLEASE STAY SMALL!!

I don't remember why they were crying, but for the record I was not torturing them... I think

Tonight Baby William is not sleeping on his crib, he's staying right here next to me, he's not going to be 9 months much longer.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from The Kearls!

Edith Head

Since my kids were toddlers we've been going to the library regularly. I let them pick out their own books and I usually bring a few home for myself. I've always loved books and magazines. I read a little of everything, a while back I picked up a book in Costume Design and was fascinated by the costume Designer Edith Head.

As you can see in these pictures, she has a very unique and unforgettable look. Later on when I saw "The Incredibles" I thought she looked a lot like Edna Mode, right?

Edith was "The Costume Hollywood Designer" for decades, from the 20's to the 70's she was very influential, successful and awarded. I really admire the incredible amount of beautiful costumes she created throughout the years, she was nominated for 35 Academy Awards, including every year from 1948 through 1966, and won eight times, that's more Oscars than any other woman. I think that's pretty amazing.
One of the most interesting things I found about her was that she was never trained as a designer, she went to school to be a Spanish teacher!? For her first job she actually borrowed her friends sketches, but in the end she proved to be the best at what she did.

Here are some of my favorite Edith Head's creations:




She is also credited with the fashions Audrey Hepburn wore at "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but most of the dresses were designed by Hubert Givenchy (who I also love!) under Edith Head's supervision, I hope to write about him soon.

Fashion finds

I like fashion, I don't have the time or patience to shop very often. Plus, I usually have little William attached to my front with a carrier, so trying things on is a little difficult :)

I do really enjoy reading fashion blogs/websites, magazines, watching shows like "What not to wear" and I looooove project runway and I wish I was on it :)!

But I digress, I wanted to share with you a few things I found at this awesome site called ASOS, it's new to America (it started in the UK I think), but now they sell in the US and they have free shipping both ways!!

Here are a few of my favorites:

This is cool, edgy but sweet, I love this biker jacket.

I'm not a big fan of Capri pants,
I think they make legs short and they age women,
but these are young, hip and stylish, I want them!I love a nice blouse that doesn't look matronly,
this one is perfect!

This top is a stylish option to a sweatshirt,
it looks so comfortable but not frumpy at all.

Which is your favorite?

How to get that thing out of your kids nose

Every night we have homework. I say "we" because it's not just the boys that have to sit there and do it, Matt and I have to supervise, help and correct the homework. They have lots of homework and they get bored and distracted, I mean they are 6 and 7 they have so many other things they'd rather be doing.

The other night I was helping Nico while Joey was across the table doing his work, the baby was in his play pen and Matt was on the phone. All of the sudden I look over at Joey and see that he's about to start crying.

Me: Joey what's the matter?
Joey: I did something really dumb (crying now)
Me: what did you do Joey? Tell me, I can help.
Joey: I put the Orbeez up my nose and I can't get it out (crying harder now) BTW Orbeez are little gel like balls that grow when you soak them in water, he got one from a friend at school.
Me: It's OK Joey I'll get it out, don't worry (very worried inside, but I faked being calm really well)
Joey: I'm I going to die?
Me: No honey it will be OK (trying not to laugh and cry at the same time)

I looked up his nose and couldn't see anything, to top it off the Orbeez was clear and it was way up there! I remembered that one of my friends had something similar happen and that the solution at the ER was pretty simple, something like blowing your nose while you cover one nostril and keep your mouth close. I asked him to try that a few times, it did not work! It was not good, I really didn't want to go to the ER.

I told him to stay calm and I ran to my computer and googled it, I found an answer right away at this blog and I went to work following the directions.

First, I asked him to lay down, then I covered the open nostril and put my my mouth over his as if I were going to perform CPR, I then blew into his mouth as hard as I could and voila! the Orbeez literally shot out of his nose and hit my leg (along with snot). I was so relieved, Joey was so happy he couldn't stop laughing. Actually Nico and I couldn't stop laughing either, I think it was because we were relieved, nervous, surprised and amused by the whole thing.

In the meantime, Matt was still on the phone and never even knew what happened. Lucky him!!

Now you know how to get that thing out of your kids nose, I hope you don't have to use this knowledge :).

isn't he sweet?

Inspiration

I save pictures and clippings of things that inspire me, not just clothes, but flowers, paper, furniture, toys, etc.

Here are a few things that I used for Spring 2011 that helped me with the design process: