My Oh My You're So Good Lookin

Drew is 7 weeks old and growing bigger every day. He finally had his one month check-up on the 15^th, and he was 10 pounds, 14 ounces, and 22 inches long. He is gaining more control of his head, although it’s still pretty wobbly at times. When he’s awake, his eyes are wide open, and he is taking in everything around him. When he hears his sister, he looks for her and loves listening to her voice. He's smiling more and more, and it’s the sweetest thing. He stays up for longer periods throughout the day, often times taking several bottles before finally taking a nap. (I suppose we should work on that.) He has slept a few times here and there in his crib, but only during the day. He mainly sleeps in his bouncer at this point; the batteries in the swing have been dead for awhile (and the ones in the bouncer are about to croak as well). He has been waking up a couple times to eat throughout the night and then usually around 7 or so in the morning. Chad normally takes the first shift or two, and I have the later shifts, but he told me that he’d like it if we switched. (I don't know about that.) He no longer cries during his baths. He is still in size 1 diapers and takes 3 ounces every couple of hours. We'll try to give him 4 to spread out the gap in between feedings, but it’s rare if he takes all four, and he even so, he still prefers to eat a couple hours later. He went to his first Flirtini Friday on the 18^th (it was St. Patty’s day themed, and he had the cutest green sweats on). I also took him and his sister to a friend's baby shower on the 19^th. Everyone thinks he is so adorable and loves how cuddly he is. 

I can't believe it has been 7 weeks already!

Personalized Wall Art

This afternoon I finally got around to making Ally's name art for her bedroom. I've been meaning to do this for awhile. Projects like this are fun and easy, not to mention inexpensive. The overall project is so much cheaper than buying pre-decorated letters, and it's also more rewarding. Everytime I see little things like this around the house that I took the time to make I appreciate them way more than had I just bought them from a store. Anywho...

Here's a tutorial on Ally's personalized wall art:

I bought these letters from Hobby Lobby for a couple bucks each.

First I painted the edges with some craft paint I had lying around.



Then I picked the paper that I was going to use.

Next, I used Mod Podge and a foam brush to apply the paper.

Make sure you put the paper on the right side the first time... (unlike me! I always mess up at least once when I do projects like this).

Took a break to feed the baby.

Used an exacto knife to cut around the letters, and then sanded down the edges.

And last but not least, embellished!

I wanted to keep them pretty simple so I only used a few embellishments.

Random Ramblings

my favorite coffee cup

Why is it that my daughter insists on waking up before the sun every morning? Her internal alarm clock is set at 6/6:30, and every single morning she wakes up at this time, comes out to the living room (already whining, by the way), and asks if she can watch “cartooms.” I don’t mind her waking up early as much as I mind the whining. I cannot stand the whining…

somehow she got Drew to watch Little Bear with her...

Chad is on shift today, and tomorrow and Wednesday he’s working at the Urgent Care from 9-5. Drew’s one month check-up (that he was supposed to have last week but had to reschedule) is tomorrow (I have no idea what time), and Wednesday is my 6 week postpartum check-up. So of course I will have to rush to get myself and the kids ready and out the door on time for the next couple of days. I also need to run by my dentist office sometime this week as well as remember to go in for some lab work at my doctor’s. Oh, and I also have a baby shower to go to on Saturday. Busy, busy. I guess it’s better than sitting around all week at the house, although I do love my down time…

I miss the gym. For some reason, I had it in my head that I was going to be able to go pretty regularly once Drew was born. Unfortunately, Chad has started up at his second job again and isn’t able to watch the kids at the time I would normally go. I would definitely take both Ally and Drew with me if that was an option. Our gym does have a daycare and Ally loves playing with the other kids, but of course they don’t take babies less than 6 MONTHS OLD. This means I won’t be able to go while Chad’s working until August – the middle of stinkin’ summer. Boo. Maybe I’ll take him in sooner and just say he’s 6 months… I know I wouldn’t be the first desperately out of shape mom to do this.

Drew is 6 weeks old today. He has upgraded to size 1 diapers. He is sleeping better through the night; however, he still sleeps in his bouncer 99% of the time while one of us (if Chad’s home that night, otherwise it’s me) is on the couch next to him. He has started taking about 4 ounces at each feeding, although lately he’s decided he is going to sleep midway through and then wake up an hour later ready to eat again. I can’t tell you how much formula we’ve (he’s) wasted. He’s really starting to focus on the faces around him, and he definitely recognizes mine and Chad’s voices. We were able to get some video last night of him smiling. It cracks me up every time because he makes the goofiest little face, it is too cute. When we put him on his belly for tummy time, he does this little squeal that’s adorable. I just can’t get enough of him. Compared to Ally when she was a baby, he is so mellow. Somehow I doubt this will last as he gets older.

I still have pregnancy brain. I am constantly misplacing things: my phone, my keys, my camera… The other day while doing laundry I washed a letter that my mother-in-law had found that I wrote to Chad when I was 13. I had it in the pocket of my jeans and completely forgot about it. The worst part is that it was black paper and written with gel ink pens. Yesterday morning while getting dressed I noticed that I had several large, black stains on the butt of my favorite jeans, and I also found a huge black stain on the front of one of my college sweatshirts. Argh… Not to mention, no matter how many times or how well I feel I’ve organized some part of the house, I can never find what I’m looking for in a timely manner. This spring, other than cleaning, I’d like to really do some serious organizing. It’s bad enough I can never find anything but the fact that I am constantly having to ask Chad where things are and him giving me “the look” just makes me that much more motivated to get things under control around here.

I am waiting on this to get here:

It’s a case for my Nook. I've been meaning to get one and this one just happened to be discounted 75% on the Barnes & Noble website. Niceee…

I have been really itching to buy both of these Project Life kits by Becky Higgins (one for Drew and one for Ally):

I am forcing myself to wait though because I feel like I’ve been on a bit of a spending splurge lately. And there’s nothing I hate more than spending all of my husband’s hard earned money… ;)

Happy Monday!

More Craft Space Makeovers

Here are some other little makeovers I did the day I cleaned the gameroom, as well as a few repurposed items I use to store craft supplies.

Ugly mirror we got from Chad's grandma:

I spray painted it with some paint the previous homeowner left in the garage (it's actually more purple IRL. Oh, and sweet reflection, I know..):

Used scrapbook paper to make these lame plastic bins nice to look at:

They coordinate with the wall art I also made-over:

I previously decorated this plain, supply holder I got from some scrapbook store, but I was over this paper:

So again I used paper that coordinates with the wall art. All I did was mod podge over the old paper:

Turned a frame into a memo board:

The container of flowers was actually the container for some really cute ice cream bowls my mom got us for Christmas from Pier 1. The shoeboxes hold photos and miscellaneous cards from birthdays, anniversarys, etc. The little basket with my glue gun is something I found from Goodwill for $1 or less, and I just spray painted it Antique White.

This basket was originally a fruit basket sent to us when Ally was born from Chad's grandparents. Here it's holding some albums:

The two cans here are actually soup cans I decorated with ribbon and twine, and the "Happiness" frame has a letter Chad wrote to me in the beginning of our relationship on some scrap paper as a background.

Cheap & Easy Wall Art

If you Google "DIY Wall Art" you can find a ton of cute and often cheap ideas. This is just one of them. I first came across this idea at our previous home and knew it was something I could do in a very short amount of time. I bought some foam board from my local craft store, had Chad cut 6 squares, each 12 X 12, found some cute scrapbook paper, picture hangers and spray adhesive. This is what I originally came up with and had hanging at the other house:

I didn't have any place to put these particular colors in our new home and while I was cleaning the gameroom I decided to give them a makeover. Luckily for this project I had used the spray adhesive so I was able to remove the old paper easily. (Had I used something like Mod Podge I most likely would have just started from scratch.)

All I did was find some new paper I liked and adhered it to the foam board by using the spray adhesive once again.

Here's how I hung them:

My finished product:

Very cute and very girly! And in the event that I ever get a real craft room and these colors don't coordinate, I can easily give them another makeover or hang them in Ally's room.

Playing Catch-Up

The next few posts are most likely going to be things I did back in January that I just haven't gotten around to putting on here. I'm afraid it's nothing too exciting but I took these pictures with the intention of blogging about them so that's what I'm doing!

Our new house has an add-on from the previous owners. At the moment, it is referred to as the "gameroom", although it is actually more of an office, craft space, storage, and gaming room. Whatever it is, it's sole purpose shortly after we moved in was a sort of catch-all for the junk we just didn't have a place for yet. Well, if anyone is unsure about whether or not "nesting" is for real, the following pictures should be proof that it is. Two days before I went to the hospital to have Drew, I cleaned the gameroom from top to bottom. It was literally an all day project, and you better believe my whole body was sore the next day!

This is what I was working with:

It may not look that bad, but trust me, it was. As you can see, the closet was mine. I kept all my stuff for scrapbooking in there but really couldn't be productive in this sad spot, so while cleaning I decided to move my things elsewhere, whether the hubs liked it or not.

After several, grueling hours bending over to pick up all this junk with a 9 month, pregnant belly constantly in the way, I have to say I was pretty satisfied with the results.

my new scrap space:



Seeing as how it's been about a month and a half since these pictures were taken, it's not exactly this tidy anymore. Being more organized with my scrapping supplies always gives me the urge to actually get some layouts done, and lets be honest, when I'm productively scrapbooking things can get more than a little messy. I've also been moving things around the house (I'm still trying to figure out where I want decorations, etc., to end up) so it's also going strong as a storage space once again; however, it's nowhere near what it was in the top pictures and that's good enough for me.. for now.