On Site - Art Austin

Nicholas' two gallery shows, TIDES / An Installation, and Presence / Absence are all part of ON SITE, an innovative series of art happenings in Austin. Several galleries in Austin got together and decided to put together a new event. It is extremely exciting that Nicholas is part of two different shows at the same time.

ON SITE is one of many art events in Austin during the month of April. Check these out:

Art City Austin April 2-3

play me, i'm yours

Texas Biennial

Fusebox Festival

Presense / Absense

Nicholas has another show opening next week at the University of Texas Advanced Computing Center. This show is also sponsored by the Gallery at Shoal Creek and will be open to the public April 7th and 9th.

TIDES / An Installation

I mentioned way back when that Nicholas picked up gallery representation at the Gallery at Shoal Creek. Well, the April show I mentioned in that post is upon us. The show opens next Friday, April 8th and will up all month long.

This is Nicholas' first show as a represented artist, and as such, is really big deal. Hope to see you there!

It's Official

I was officially cleared by my doctor on Monday. Lil' D is 6 weeks old, and we are officially no longer postpartum. That being said, here are some things I am looking forward to doing now that I am no longer pregnant and officially healed from birthing my beautiful 10 pound baby boy!

• EXCERCISE!!!! I exercised while I was pregnant, but I have missed a serious high-cardio workout. We have been taking walks around the neighborhood, but right now I am walking about a 26 minute mile!! Oh My!!
• Regaining a little muscle definition.
• Sipping margaritas. I am nursing, so I will not be drinking much, but I have missed a little margarita with my Tex-Mex.
• Bending over. Okay, I have been able to bend over since the baby was born, but that last month of being pregnant I couldn't bend over. Now I can tie and put on my own shoes, shave my legs, and reach the spare toilet paper in the powder bath!
• Painting. I know it is hard to believe that there are still surfaces in our house that need painting, but there are. There are some touch-ups I want to do and some trim that needs repainting. AND...I want to finish the nursery. The nursery needs freshly painted trim and DECORATIONS! Hopefully we can get that all together in April after Nicholas finishes working on his gallery shows.
• Enjoying my closet full of shoes---I was pretty much down to only two pairs of shoes towards the end of the pregnancy because my feet were swollen. I am in denial that my shoe size changed, mostly because I like my shoes. :)

Hmmm...

And you thought pacifiers were only for the mouth...

Spring Has Sprung

Parade of Visitors--Days 16-30

Mark Dellagiacoma

Ashley Dellagiacoma

Uncle Jeremy

Cousin Mini-J

Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jeffrey

John Turman IV

John Turman III

Little Miss Huebner

Garrod Huebner

Adrienne Huebner

Great Uncle Steve

The Slow Lent Movement

I am joining Andrea at The House of Sprout in the Slow Lent Movement during this season of Lent. "We are dust, and to dust we shall return."


I was looking for a little inspiration for Lent since we have been spending a lot of time at home lately and not a lot of time at church. The idea of the Slow Lent Movement is to slow down to in this busy world. We are not so busy these days, but I still like the idea of practicing moving slower and reflecting.

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There are five basic principles or disciplines for a Slow Lent. Each discipline first introduces the traditional thought and then adapts it to the new way of thinking. Enjoy!


#1. Traditional: repentance
Slow: speak less, listen more

So often we listen to someone talk while already thinking about how we will respond, never really hearing what the other person was saying. This discipline asks you to listen more carefully with your full attention.

#2. Traditional: forgiveness
Slow: let go of one grudge and one "should"

Letting go of grudges will be good practice for the begin of my parenting journey. It is also important that I let go of a lot of my "shoulds" now that I have a newborn and don't really have time for them all anyway.

#3 Traditional: catechesis (explained as preparation for religious service)
Slow: re-learn one basic of the faith

This could be as simple as focusing on prayer or rereading a section of the Bible. Make it work for you to help you build your understanding of your faith.

#4 Traditional: fasting
Slow: choose one way to "unplug"

A technology fast as opposed to a food fast---a little hard for me right now since most of my life is spent on the couch nursing. But I will take a few of those daytime nursing sessions to read and sing to Lil' D instead of watching tv or playing on my phone.

#5 Traditional: almsgiving (tithing)
Slow: simplify

Hmmm...

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Borrowed from Bishop Margaret G. Payne of the NewEngland Lutheran Synod

On Napping

When I was in kindergarten, we had nap time...you know way back when there was full day kindergarten? I remember laying on my beach towel with the lights off, absolutely not napping. Then in first grade, I wished we had nap time!
The truth is I love sleep, but I hate napping. I can sleep with the best of them, and I slept many a Sunday away my freshman year of college. My experience with napping is that I never wake up feeling refreshed. I always wake up feeling groggy and dazed with a slight headache. I have tried varying the length of naps, but to no avail.
I tried taking naps when I was pregnant and feeling oh so fatigued. Still no luck feeling refreshed. I felt much better when I went to bed early and/or slept in in the morning. Of course, I knew this was a luxury I would not be afforded with a newborn.
Remember that Seinfeld episode where Kramer forgoes sleeping at night and instead sleeps every three hours? It's a lot like having a newborn, without all the free time to accomplish "stuff." (As an aside, I had a friend from college that tried out this method shortly after we graduated. It's a little difficult when the rest of the world operates on a different schedule.) This was the inspiration for Lil' D's blog "Falling In Love With Naps." I am not sure that I will ever really LOVE naps, but I do love Lil' D. Sleep deprivation (and lots of sitting on the couch to nurse) just comes with the whole package.
Oh, and people are funny! No matter what stage of life you are in, there is always "a question" that people ask. When you have been in a relationship for awhile, the question is "When are you going to get married?" When you get in engaged, the question is "When is the big day?" After you get married, the question is "When are you going to have kids?" When you get pregnant the question is "Are you going to find out the gender?" Then the question is "Have you decided on a name?" After you have a baby, the question is "Are you getting any sleep?"
I answer that question here---The definition of sleep changes after you have a baby. Some would define the sleep I often get with a newborn as "napping." Technically, I was sleeping this morning while I was listening to Lil' D grunt and stretch himself awake for 30 minutes. Yes, I do get sleep. Sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. We are blessed that our baby knows the difference between night and day, and that he sleeps for several hours at a time (sometimes 6 straight hours!). I pray that he continues to be a calm, happy baby!

Christmas Projects

A long overdue post! My hands were busy this Christmas. 

I made this for my niece, BaiBoo.

This was for my mom, and Nicholas made a nice frame for it.

Some ornaments for the Sprouts.

And a Christmas chef for our favorite baker!

Three Weeks

We are now parents of a three-week old, and what have we been up to? We just made our fifth visit to the pediatrician's office and as long as Lil' D continues to eat well we will stay away until our two month well check appointment. He hasn't actually been sick, just stubborn in the weight gaining department and has still yet to climb back up to his birth weight.
We are enjoying watching our little boy change and grow everyday. I am amazed looking back at the pictures of him the first few days to see how much he has already changed.
We are blessed that Lil' D is a pretty good sleeper (although he has been fighting take a nap this afternoon!) which means that I am not as sleep deprived as I could be. I seem to be getting enough naps in at night that I really don't need to nap during the day. So far I think that Lil' D uses sleep as a coping mechanism. That is what he did during all his testing at the hospital, his vaccination and blood test last week, and while there were screaming babies in the nursing room at Babies 'R Us.
We took Lil' D on his first outing last night to Babies 'R Us to find some high contrast stimulation toys for tummy time. It went pretty well, and there weren't many people there so I didn't feel bad about having my newborn around others.
Lil' D likes going for walks in his stroller. He is super strong and has way more control over his neck than a newborn should. He likes to have his hands near his face when he is nursing and when he is sitting in his car seat. One of his favorite pastimes is to try to free his hands from his swaddle blanket so he can put them near his face or in his mouth. He loves his pacifier and sticking his fingers in his eyes. I have to constantly work on trimming his nails.
Nicholas has been back working in his studio for a few weeks. He has two gallery shows in Austin that open in April, and has a tremendous amount of work to do. He is a little stressed about getting it all done and will need lots of help from family and friends. BUT everything is going well, even though he would really like to be spending more time at home with Lil' D and I. He will be finished just in time for me to go back to work (but I am not thinking about that right now).
Please pray that everything goes well, and he still gets to spend time with our baby!