Flying in soon are these four amazing Bird Prints all the way from Mexico. We wrote about Gennine's amazing home awhile back on our blog. We really fell in love with her lovely bird prints and asked her to do an exclusive set for Three Potato Four. They will be available in our shop the next coming week.

Today...
- was Otis' expected due date - he came 3 weeks early.
- the three of us (me+holly+otis) enjoyed a lazy afternoon nap.
- we're having fish for dinner.
- I took this picture of Otis and I think he looks like a little old man.
- Stu was busy all day packing up orders.
- we promised Holly we would go out for ice cream.

All of us (except Otis, thank goodness) were hit with a nasty summer cold. I think something is going around. We're just coming out of the haze and feeling a little better. Today we all ventured out and brought Otis to his 2 week doctor's visit. The four of us fit pretty snugly now in our station wagon. Both Holly and Otis fell asleep on the way there and Stu and I looked back at them and were just amazed that we are now a family of four. When we started this shop and named it Three Potato Four, we really just loved the playful rhyme but ironically it kind of defines how our little family has grown into four.

p.s. be sure to see this week's shop update for many interesting finds... (like many of these vintage enamel french letter/number signs)

Like most babies our Otis is wide awake at night. I'm slowly starting to adjust to this schedule. I think myself better than Stu. Otis is a week old today. He's a really good baby and only cries if he needs something. The only tricky thing Stu an I are trying to get used to is getting peed on by this little guy. It's like a race against time, during a diaper change.

And speaking of time, we still managed to fit some in to do a shop update this week. Check the shop for some great and unusual vintage items.

Here's for a happy week!

So. Stu and I have been keeping this little secret on this blog. For the past few months there's been a little person growing inside me. It was hard not to talk about it on this blog, but we both didn't want to share it with the internet until he arrived. And yesterday he did! His name is Otis, and he has my nose and Stu's lips. We haven't yet decided on his middle name. He is the sweetest and Holly is super excited to be his big sister.

It was a tough pregnancy for me, so much morning sickness (or all day sickness) for the first four months, trying to find the balance with Holly and working with Stu on the shop all the while finding it harder to carry around my ever growing body, and for the last month I was stuck on bed rest in the hospital. A month of bed rest was tough! Luckily, since Stu and I have an online shop, I was able to continue to do shop updates with him via my laptop, keep up with customer emails and post on our blog. As I write this I'm still here in the hospital, but I think Otis and I are going home tomorrow or Thursday. I cannot wait.

Will post pictures soon, but for now this is my belly at 8 month and Holly.

We were fortunate enough to find more antique wood carpenter letters & numbers and have just updated the shop with them. I've spoken with a few of our antique friends in the business and some of them feel that this style of wood handicraft dates as far back as the early 1900's. They certainly are unique and really stand apart from the modern day craft store versions. There's a wonderful wood patina to them and I love the use of finishing nails rather than glue. You can really appreciate the craftmanship that went into them, sometimes assembling up to 7 individual little pieces for one single letter (as in the "S"), all the while ensuring that they can each stand on their own - even the "P"! I also have a great affinity for these because I once stumbled upon a "J" that I bought for Janet when we first started dating...many years ago.

The newly redesigned surf magazine Foam just came out. We are excited to have been included in this super cool issue. See our vintage PUNK alphabet blocks in the spread below.

When Stu and I first started dating in college, he made me a mix tape. (aww..) On it was the song After Hours, by the Velvet Underground. It's been one of my favorite songs since. Now, Stu and I sing it to Holly every night during her bedtime. It's cute hearing her sing it to herself sometimes when she is playing. You can listen to it here, on this sweet youtube video i found.

1 - 2 - 3 ...


P.S. We've updated the shop today too, see what's new!

Saw these on Poppytalk,
Beautiful little houses by mummysam, get yours in her etsy shop right here.

We have small bathroom in our bedroom that we've never used. Not once. Maybe because our main bathroom is bigger and that's also where Holly has her baths, brushes her teeth, etc. and we're always together anyway. But no more. I've made it my mission to make this bathroom so appealing, so enticing so....awesome, we'd be silly not to use it. My mission: Submarine-themed bathroom.

I'm taking my inspiration partly from the movie, The Toy, with Richard Pryor (one of my favorite movies) and partly from what I think a submarine-themed bathroom should be (and yes, Janet does get worried sometimes that she may have married a 5-year old boy).

There is a scene in the movie that takes place in the Bates mansion bathroom (where Richard Pryor takes a bath with Eric Bates with their clothes on) and the bathroom is outfitted with amazing model ships behind museum glass display cases. This bathroom is, of course, gigantic, but it's a good starting point and I'm going to work off of that. Here are some pics of the blank slate bathroom as it stands today, crisp and clean. Please definitely post with any suggestions you may have. Currently I'm on the lookout for a periscope.