Half Dot Brooklyn

My little son is one!

It’s been such a crazy and exciting year, watching our little baby grow into a fiesty kiddo with spikey hair, and such a delight to finally fit him in the Half Dot coats that I designed before he was born.

It has also taken one whole year for me to reflect and begin to talk about how I was afflicted with hyperemesis gravidarium (HG) for the eight months I was pregnant. HG often gets misdiagnosed as a bad case of morning sickness, but it is a debilitating and life-threatening disease for both the mother and baby that if left untreated leads to weight loss, malnutrition and dehydration due to unrelenting nausea and vomiting. HG is like morning sickness gone wrong – intensified exponentially with no end in sight.

It’s hard to be a happy mama when you’re that sick, but thanks to the support of loving family, optimistic friends, and careful doctors, I did alright. When we didn’t have visitors coming over to cheer me up, I kept myself busy with work. I was just starting Half Dot at the time, and I really have it to thank for helping me not fall into a hole of misery and self-pity. Each morning I’d wake up hoping to get a few things done. Each completed task – a design drawn, a fabric purchased, a sample sewn – was a small and proud victory. And as Half Dot grew from an idea into real little plaid coats, I started thinking ahead, imagining my first trade show, Half Dot’s webshop debut, and a healthy happy little son running around in a Half Dot coat.

A year has gone by, I am fortunate and blessed, because all these things have happened.

Now I’m thinking ahead again, to next year when I will link Half Dot to the HER foundation to help increase HG awareness and funding for research, to my new line of spring/summer outerwear, and to many more adventures in the city with my husband and little son.

It finally feels like winter here in New York City.

When it’s so cold outside your ears hurt, it’s time to look for things to do with the family indoors: see Beetlejuice, Batman, and the rest of Tim Burton’s original cast of characters, stop by the Bauhaus labs so the little ones can create their own Bauhaus-inspired masterpieces, and if you happen to be downtown, head over to Moomah for warm meal in an arts-and-crafts haven for kids.

It’s been almost a year since mister baby arrived and I started Half Dot. And every day, I’m still trying to better balance my time between family and work.

I remember a talk that Alice Munro gave, where she said that when her children were young, the best time she had to write was early in the morning when it was still dark outside and everyone else was still asleep, and then short intervals throughout the day when her kids were napping. I’m neither a late sleeper nor early riser, so I knew my prospects for working when my husband and baby were asleep would be slim. For the first few months after my son was born, I did manage to get a lot done throughout the day while the baby rested contently next to me in his bouncer, but that came to an abrupt end when I had to be out of the house for three days straight (Half Dot’s trade show debut) and after that the many meetings with suppliers as I put the first season’s collection into production.

From the advice of other working mothers and designers I’ve met, I realized that with a bit of help (an amazing nanny who comes over several days of the week) I can balance my time better between designing and working on my clothing line while puttering around the house to spend time with my son.

When I recently heard Barbara Kingsolver speak, she said that even when she works from home, it sometimes gets really hard to unravel from work – she’s in her room all day writing, conversing with her fictional characters, and then at the end of the day she has to say goodbye to them and go downstairs to make dinner and be a mom. I was nodding in agreement when I heard that. I have a tendency to get really wrapped up with what I’m working on very late in the day, which botches my plans to cook up a decent dinner and give my son and husband my full attention. I’m trying to plan my workdays better now, saving miscellaneous work tasks (filing, admin, etc) for the end of the day when it’s time to wind down. I’ve also found that taking pictures and writing, recording my days here, is a good way for me to record my progress with work while also reflecting and remembering the other things that matter to me.

I recently came across Habit, and it is one of my new favorite places to visit. A glimpse into the lives of other women, mothers, wives, daughters, at work and at home.

Reminded of her illustrations this past weekend during a trip uptown to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

Maira Kalman is one of those amazing people whose work never ceases to amaze and inspire. She’s so prolific, and through her artwork you can always hear her voice and opinions. There are more than just pretty pictures here.

Earlier this autumn, a week spent in Kyoto, Japan. Consumed some ridiculously delicious bento boxes, explored the city on foot, bus, and subway.

Wished we had Tomorrowland, Takeo Kikuchi, and Rabokigoshi Works here in New York City. Photographed some really picturesque temples. And had little son draw water from the wishing well that makes babies sleep through the night (it worked apparently). Hope to visit again soon, Kyoto.

We hopped on the train to our friends’ beautiful apartment in Dumbo, Brooklyn, where they cooked up a storm and we feasted on an amazing breakfast of egg’s benedict, oven-baked pancakes, with fruit and veggie salad. Mister baby giggled in delight when we let him try apple chunks dipped in maple syrup and some Almondine brioche with jam. After brunch, a stroll along the waterfront. We checked out the Brooklyn Flea in search of a writing desk, and we stopped into the newly-opened Trunk where I picked up my new favorite accessory for the season, Samoy-Lenko’s hooded cowl in yellow tweed.

Living in New York City is pretty great – I am able to run a zillion errands, go to Garment District to check out some materials for the spring/summer line, buy a whopping number of fresh apples at the Farmer’s Market, and also be in and out of the house enough times a day to run into the little tike and our super awesome nanny while they’re stopping in to grab a snack on the way to or from a playdate.

But we miss Brooklyn ever so much! The anonymity of the big city may be convenient when you’re rushing from one place to another (and you really don’t have time to chitchat), but I really miss our old neighborhood, Fort Greene, where storeowners knew us by face or name, where the postman and UPS guy knew our son back when he was just a bun in the oven, and no one ever seemed too busy to smile and pause for some really good conversation.

Cheers to good old Fort Greene, and the streets we love strolling on so much that we named the coats in our Fall/Winter 09 collection after them.

In my little son’s wardrobe, besides his obvious rotation of Half Dot Brooklyn’s Felix and Fulton coats, are Amber Hagen hoodies (we own several because I just like them so much), a colorful selection of pants and tops from Miki House (I am such a fan!), and the ever-so-practical Carter’s onesies.

I am kicking myself, I truly truly am, at finding out about and then realizing that we will be on the other side of the ocean and miss this entire event. If we were here, I could quite literally put mister baby in the stroller and mosey on over to Books of Wonder to bump shoulders with some amazing illustrators — ahem, like Maira Kalman, whose work I absolutely adore. In case you’re wondering what all this is about, 18 renown childrens’ book illustrators have donated works of art to be auctioned to benefit the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; they, alongside their peers, will be munching on wine and cheese at the September 10 debut at the Books of Wonder store, with doors open to all.

There is something so insanely picturesque about San Jose.

Some indispensable things that made traveling with mister baby so much more pleasant: the wriggle wrapper for every place that did not have a highchair and for keeping him from jumping onto our neighbor’s lap during the plane ride, the capri that packed up easily and lightly while being so sturdy to transport our little guy in, and the babycook for churning out fresh meals.

We’re making a much longer trans-atlantic trip soon, and these will be amongst the many essentials we’ll be toting along with us.