Put into Perspective

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Daddy in the world.  There are many reasons we love you, and here are just a few:

• You carry us everywhere.  Bounce us on exercise balls, hold us as we go to bed. We love Daddy's hugs!
• You change all of our poopy diapers without too much complaining.  You are the one who takes us to the small bathroom in the airplanes and clean us up after blowouts.
• You are patient even after we spill soup all over the table, and you pick up rice from the floor.
• You wake up in the middle of the night to comfort us when we cry even when you have work the next day.
• You do not complain about the spit up you have on your shoulders, just laugh when Mommy points out you had it there all day for your co-workers to see.  
• You tote Mommy's camera everywhere so there are cool photos of us.
• You take good care of Mommy when her back hurts after we are born, and she cannot hold us.
• You hold both of us on the bouncy ball when I (Jonathan) am jealous that you are holding baby sister.  
• You let us climb all over you when you take a nap on the couch.  And you let us sleep up against you when we are napping in bed. 
• You help to bathe us and keep us nice and fresh and clean.
• You brush my teeth every night and make sure Mommy comes to read me a story.
• You take us for walks and to the park after work to make sure we have family time. 
• You pray with us and for us to make sure we grow up big and strong. 
• You talked Mommy into having us! 

We are grateful for being blessed with the World's Best Daddy!  And Mommy said to tell you that you are not a bad Husband either! 

-----------And for our Grandpas-----------

We have not forgotten you, Gong Gong and Ye Ye!  We know you both live far, far away from us, so we try to visit as much as we can.  But it is hard because there are two of us now, and it is hard to get on a plane with all of our stuff. Mommy and Daddy show us pictures of you all the time to make sure we remember with you.  And we talk on the phone a lot (though little Bethany does not exactly do much other than babbling). 

You guys are great because you take good care of us.  We know you are not big on the potty training and diapers, but your songs and stories are the best.  And you are both very fun.  We look forward to seeing you again soon. 

Warehouse sale + RAK winners!

Checkout our latest warehouse sale!  Caroline and I came up with the virtual warehouse sale when we were brainstorming one day.  We were thinking of having a traditional sale where people could come into our actual warehouse, but then only people living near it in Dallas could stop by.  So we started our virtual sale to make sure everyone had the same access. We pay all of the shipping costs for you, and you don't even have to get into the car to get your Maya Road stuff. 

And <drumroll here> the winners of our RAK are:

That is so interesting to know how the entire process works.

I have two "go to" stamps, the metric ruler and Noah alphabet.

Posted by: Christie Weist | May 28, 2009 at 08:43 AM

My favorite stamp is the journaling stamps as I can easily stamp wherever on my finished page.

Posted by: ginger | June 01, 2009 at 12:30 PM

i really love all the stamps but I enjoyed your owl or the clocks the most.
Thanks

Posted by: Lana Day | June 09, 2009 at 08:43 PM

Thanks to all of the entrants.  Go to Maya Road Contact Us and email me your address.  And wait for your package to arrive. 

And thanks to the last RAK winner who sent me these awesome photos of what she did with her package from last time!  Cathy A  has been super busy with all of her goodies. Check our her blog here:  http://catscraftcupboard.blogspot.com

I am 4 months old!

I am 4 months old already!  Cute, ain't I? Big brother always comes up to me and says "She is SO CUTE!"  I think it is because he hears other people saying it. 

• I am keeping Mommy and Daddy busy. I was stressing out Mommy because I was on bottle strike when she went back to work.  Turns out, I just liked fresh Mommy's milk, not that frozen or refrigerated stuff. Now I am okay with the less than fresh stuff, but still... fresh is best!
• I did a lot in May.  Another plane trip to meet my Grandpa for the first time!  He is cool.  All four of my Grandparents wanted to hold me all the time.  We spent a lot of time hanging together.  
• I like to play with my brother.   Or more like he likes to play with me. During tummy time, he comes over to lie down next to me.  
• I am a happy baby.  I like to smile and laugh and just be with people.  I like people a lot. Please pay attention to me!
• I hate tummy time. Today I learned to flip from my back to my tummy, but I cannot flip back!  So I am there in my crib on my tummy all upset and frustrated.  Help me!
• I like to scoot in circles.  I scoot, scoot and soon I am turning into a clockwise rotation.  It is fun. 
• I sleep with my eyes open still.  Mommy thought it was Daddy's quirk, but it turns out it is hereditary.  I like to see while I am sleeping.  :)
• I had a bad case of eczema, but it has finally cleared up.  It was not pretty for awhile there, and I was all lobster red and itchy!  
• I can turn on and off the Aquarium Seascape on my crib.  I just use my foot to turn it on and off, on and off.
• I am a good eater and sleeper.  I am 99th+ percentile on height and 85th+ for weight.  Mommy had to give all of my clothes to Noah's little sister to be and buy me a whole new set of 9 month+ sizes. 

Until next month, take care!  It is getting late, and my bedtime just passed.  Mommy said I have to get off the computer or I will be grumpy tomorrow.  Checkout Mommy's RAK!  Ends Saturday night. 

Anatomy of a Maya Road stamp

 Ever wonder how we make Maya Road products?  Well, here is a peek inside the world of a Maya Road through steps of making a new small stamp.  Imagine this for the 100+ products we release each show... :)

1.  Determine what we want to make - Each release we put together a list of what we want to put together.  For example, we want may do 6 coaster books, 9 rubons, 8 small stamps, etc. 
2.  Get an idea - C and I are never short of ideas.  We keep a huge spreadsheet of backlog ideas which we maintain from release to release.  There are some gems in there we just have not gotten to yet.
3.  Research the idea - Let's use one of our best sellers - the Owl Singleton stamp.  I may look at photos of owls, search our old design archives, and do some doodle sketches. 
4.  Create in a design program - I try several of each design in the program.  For our owl design, I may make 5 or 6 of them until I get something I like.
5.  Share with C - I send it to C and the fun begins.  We argue, discuss, and decide on our favorites.  Sometimes, we ask our DT to help break ties. :)
6.  Redesign for production - I refine the design and clean up the look and feel. 
7.  Review with C - I send final to C.  Sometimes she gives feedback like "the owl looks sad".  I am not sure what to do with that and sometimes I redesign it.  Don't tell C, but sometimes I just leave it as is, wait a few days and resend it.  If she says "Looks great, let's do it!" I am home free! :)  If not, it is back to the drawing board. :(
8.  Prepare for production - Resize, redefine, and set up for production.  This could take hours if you want to get the maximum number and size of stamps in the smallest area.  I fix, resize, reset and so on.  Over and over until I get it just right.  We like to give you the most for your money, so I am careful to fit the most in the smallest area to ensure you get the little extra stamps on the side. 
9.  Submit for sampling - Put together and send it in to sample.
10. Receive and review - Sometimes it does not come out as you expect, and it is back to the drawing board yet again.  Or there is an issue with size or style.  So you have to clean and fix.
11. Create packaging / UPC - Once the product is finalized, we make sure the packaging fits, and the UPC is set up.
12. Send to DT - Send the samples to the and wait for them to create some amazing things with it!
13. Release - Put that puppy in the catalog and release to the world. 

The last but not least step -
14. Wait and see what people think - Monitor the sales, check out the posts of folks using the stamp and more!

When I designed Mr. Owl, little did I know he would become so popular!  He was one of 10+ owls I designed, and we ended up releasing some of the owls as mini sheers.  So the work was not wasted.  :) 

I am hosting another Maya Road giveaway!  So post a comment what your favorite stamp is, and I will pick 3 folks to send out RAKs to.  I have a large sample stash I want to share with you! 

By the way, one person from the last RAK did not claim it.  If I missed you, email me again.  Thanks!

I am 3 months old!

I am 3 months old! It has been another great month in my life -- the third of those I have had in a row!  I guess I am on a roll...  A few things about this month.

• I got my first passport stamp.  I went to Asia with Mommy, Daddy, and Big Brother.  It was also my first plane trip since I was born.  I went to Asia twice in Mommy's tummy, but no passport stamps for me those two times. 
• I met my Great Grandmother.  She is sick and in the hospital, but when Mommy held me in front of her, she nodded for the first time since she had the stroke.  Everyone was really amazed.  I am glad I got to see her even though she could not say anything to me.
• I like to laugh and laugh and laugh.  I think everything is funny.  I especially like to be held and talked to. I always try to smile back. 
• Mommy and Daddy now dress me in pink.  For the first month or so, I was in all blue and everyone thought I was a little boy.  But now the hair and my pink clothes really give me away.  My Mommy's friend from Hong Kong gave me these cute little hair clips she made.  I cannot wait to wear them. 
• I hate bottle feeding.  Unlike my big brother, I cannot stand the whole glass and plastic contraption to get my nourishment.  Why do babies like that thing? 
• I am getting bigger now and am nearly 14.5 lbs.  Yeah!
• My favorite place in the world is in my Daddy's arms when he is on the bouncy exercise ball.  J sometimes joins us by climbing on the back of the ball and jumping up and down. 
• I still hate my crib, but the Seascape screen and Night mobile keep me entertained. But when they turn off, sometimes I get a little upset.  Okay, very upset!
• Everyone tells me I have fluffy hair.  What are they talking about?  I am not sure I see it.  My Auntie C said I could dress up as Kim Jung-Il for Halloween.  I saw a photo of him, and again, I am not sure what she is talking about. :)

This is a photo of me in Hong Kong.  Look at my neat travel digs.  Daddy wore me all over the place, and he got a lot of comments and compliments.  I do not think a lot of babies in Hong Kong go out since we saw very few of them.  And even fewer whose Daddies wore them around.  I am very lucky.  Until next month, this is Bethany signing out!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our household.  We took a few photos of our little ones after Good Friday service.  J is kissing his little sister and playing with her.  She takes his touching and playing pretty well.  A toddler's idea of play is very different than what a baby's is though.  He likes to pat her lightly (now that he knows what lightly is) and kiss her.  He also likes to push her on her baby swing, but we had to tell him to not push too hard.  When she cries, he says "No crying!  Daddy go pick up little sister!"  We play Chase the Big Brother together.  One of us holds B and chases J around the house.  He always falls down to let her catch him. I think he has definitely has gotten used to her now. 

Thanks to the winner of the RAKs and everyone else who entered.  After I put together the 4 packages, I found I had enough for 1 more. So I packed that one and picked 5 winners.  Then I found that I still have two huge boxes of MR stuff left one if which I discovered just yesterday when looking for something else. So I will run another RAK in a couple of weeks for more chances to win. 

Get your Maya Road dancing monkey!

Want a dancing monkey for your blog?  I redesigned our CHA Winter giveaway sticker to do the funky monkey dance!   Check out the Maya Road Company blog for more information on how to put this on your blog sidebar and a cool new contest for you. 

 Wait till you see our CHA Summer sticker... :)

Easter Surprise

We are preparing J for his Easter celebration at pre-school next Friday.  Here we are packing eggs for the hunt.  While J is very good at counting out the stickers, he was too busy pretending to cook to really stuff the eggs.  I guess he sees us cracking eggs, so he pretends to crack eggs too.  And then he opens them up and tries to cook with the stuff inside.  We put in Backyardigan Stickers and some felt flowers for his friends at school.  Lots of fun!   Looks like he needs another hair cut though... :)

 

Here is a glimpse of one of the RAK packages.  Each one had a couple books, some fun ribbons from my stash, some chipboard and/or sheers, rubons, metals and more!   Three of the 5 winners have emailed me, so I am still missing 2 addresses.  You know who you are.  As for the other 3 of you, your packages go out tomorrow!

I am 2 months old!

I am 2 months old. Time flies when you are a little baby.  I have grown up a lot already, and I have a long way to go to catch up with big brother.   Life is good at our house.  I eat, sleep, eat sleep, stay up all night and drive Mommy and Daddy crazy, and then go back to eating and sleeping.  This is the life!  A few thoughts from the front lines of babyhood:

• I am very tall.  Today, the doctor said I was above the 95% mark for little girls my age.  I guess I take after Mommy and Daddy since they are very tall too.  Mommy hopes I will be at least as tall as she is.  Too bad, I will probably be uncoordinated like my parents, so no basketball for me!
• I have curly hair.  Like Daddy, my hair is pretty curly.  This is rare for a little Chinese kiddo like me.  It sort of stands up like I am in shock, but my parents think it is adorable.
• I love to smile.  I smile and smile and sometimes even laugh.  I am a happy baby, and I do not cry much except when I do not want to be in my crib.
• I like to kick off my socks.  I kick and kick and those things just fall right off.  It is a hobby of mine.
• Mommy and Daddy call me little 'may may' (little sister) or 'zhen zhen' (my chinese name meaning real).  Jonathan calls me little sister, though he does know my real name too.
• I like to fall asleep when I am eating.  It is just a habit of mine.  I like to sleep eat.  But recently, I am more alert.  Mommy has to blow a little on my forehead to wake me up.  Works every time. 
• I do not like the crib, but I am getting used to it.  There are all sorts of fun toys in there, so sometimes Jonathan comes to visit to play with them.  But he is not allowed in when I am in there. 
• I am ready for my first plane trip.  Jonathan is very well traveled (he has been all over the place) so I am just catching up.  I have been to Hong Kong twice, Chicago and North Carolina, but the sites are not as good when I am in Mommy's belly.
• My big brother likes to play with me.  He still doesn't like Daddy to hold me, but most of the time he lets is slide.  He does come over and pat me and sometimes give me his milk.  He also sometimes "borrows" my bottle and my pacifier. 
• I love being bounced on the big bouncy ball in Daddy's arm.  If I am upset or crying, that is the only thing that will calm me.  

I got my vaccinations today, so I am sort of tired and fussy.  But I only cried for a minute and then just fell asleep.  I will see you guys next month! 

And the winners are...

Thanks to everyone who entered.  I had my DH pick out times of day so there is no disadvantage to being first or last. And the winners of the RAKs are:

I love all the Maya Road products...very hard to choose just one... I especially love the stamps the most if I had to really choose. I live Fremont, CA, which is in the San Francisco Bay Area
Posted by: Jean Shen March 25, 2009 at 10:37 AM

Everything!! Your rub on are fantastic, your ribbons are sturdy, your mist is effortless..the list just goes on. If i really have to choose one, it would be your chipboard. They are so versatile, sturdy and value for money! Keep up your good work! And Congratulations to you and Caroline
Posted by: Carmen March 26, 2009 at 09:05 AM

Everything is a favorite!!! The chipboard books are always a must for me and your stamps. Representing Portland, Oregon!!!
Posted by: ginger March 27, 2009 at 02:31 PM

Congratulations to both Caroline and you for having such cute kiddos. I'm from Singapore. My favorite will be the clear stamps and chipboard albums.
Posted by: Lydia Kwek | March 26, 2009 at 10:24 PM

My favorite Maya Road product would be the chipboard. For a number of reasons. . . it is very reasonably priced, you get a lot for your money, and it is absolutely TOP NOTCH quality! I just started playing around with it and I am now totally addicted to all things Maya Road --- thanks to Wendy Vecchi! Thanks for the opportunity to win goodies and a BIG thanks for such great products! Cathy in Escondido, CA
Posted by: Cathy Arenzana March 27, 2009 at 07:31 PM

Please go to the Maya Road website and use the contact us link to email me your address.  I expect to see something cool made of out the fun RAK stuff I am shipping. :)

And check out the little dancing monkey. That was a sticker giveaway from the CHA Winter show.  I made a little animated gif with it using Photoshop.  We will be sharing something fun about it in our next consumer newsletter.  So stay tuned.