We've been trying to have one more baby for five years & as you all know, that happened at the end of last year with the arrival of our little Lily Ellen. We're quickly approaching her first birthday & it seems like the perfect time to share something that's been a long time coming.
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Marc, my best friend & partner in this hectic life, is a wildly talented artist. For seven years now, he has supported my venture with these bonnets - even before that, he supported all of my wild ideas. Over 14 years ago, our first dates consisted of discovering new pizza joints & visiting every small bookstore we could find to check out the children's book section. I remember thinking then that I was the luckiest girl alive to have found someone who enjoys living such a simple life & would spend hours flipping through the pages of books admiring the artwork, the characters, & sweet stories.
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So, what does that have to do with having our last baby? I think I am speaking to a lot of people when I say your life gets put on hold when you have kids - you do whatever you can to make their childhood just what they need it to be, setting aside many of your own aspirations for the time being. That happened with Marc when we started this business. We needed to stay home to address Elliot's autism diagnosis & this business was going to allow us to do that. Never did we think it would take a span of 7 years to have the three children we always wanted. Our attention has been focused on growing this business & our family, but as we head into 2024, we will have succeeded at both. This means we can rewind 14 years & sit down with each other to talk illustration & writing, but THIS time, it will be about our own children's book, written & illustrated together - one of the many reasons we fell in love with each other.
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I can't wait to share this journey with you; it's going to be amazing. For now, we will be adding digital downloads to the website of our bonnet critter illustrations - drawn by Marc & painted by me. We plan to add more products in the future along with new artwork as well. Our children always inspire everything we do here at Sweet As April & this new venture feels just right.