Baby Swim Lessons and the Perfect Swimming Suit

Ever since Norie was born I have been pumped about swimming lessons. They were the BEST when I was a kid and so far she seems like she'll be a super water baby too. Last summer she was too young to go to the city pool (there are cooties in there you know), but she did get some kiddie pool action in at day care. From all accounts she LOVED it. She also loves bath time. Like a lot. Once she was squeaking and splashing so excitedly Austin came upstairs to make sure I hadn't smuggled a dolphin into the house. Okay, maybe he just wanted in on the fun times he could hear, but he claimed dolphin patrol.

So anyway, I hear parent led swim lessons (because that's what you do with super tiny babies like mine) are quick to fill up in my small town and I've marked the day sign up begins on my calendar so I can make sure Norie gets a spot.

I'm pretty excited. Almost as excited as she would be if she had any concept of what swimming lessons are.

Then today I was in Target shopping for coffee filters and teething tabs and I happened to walk past this.

Source: Target.com

It is just about the cutest thing I've seen in a long while. Well besides Norie. She's pretty cute. And her cousins are pretty freaking cute too. But in terms of swimming suits this is super duper cute.

Unfortunately it doesn't come in my size. Damn.

Sleeping Through the Night

I'm about to share something that makes me feel totally anxious and conflicted.

My nine month old still doesn't sleep through the night. She's slept continuously between 10pm and 5am a total of twice. Ever.

I was lying in our guest bed nursing her and snuggling a couple of nights ago when I realized I don't really want her to sleep through the night. Not like I'm making an active effort to keep her from sleeping through the night or I'll cry my eyes out when she does, but I haven't made it my mission like everyone in the entire world seems to think it should be.

I like cuddling with her,

just the two of us,

while the rest of the world 

is asleep. 

It's nice. It's this perfect, warm, relaxing time we get to spend together when nothing else is going on besides us being together. If she didn't get up in the middle of the night the only time we would get to nurse is before bed and first thing in the morning when I'm thinking about all the things I need to do to get ready for work and out the door.

Okay, so there's that. There is my fondness for the time we get to spend together and the bond I have with my middle of the night nursing infant. Then, there is the message I get from the world that if my child isn't sleeping through the night at this point I am doing something wrong and my goal in life should be to correct my behavior so I can fix the problem.

The message is clear

If your infant sleeps through the night, 

you are a good parent and 

you are doing everything right. 

If your infant doesn't by 

almost nine months of age,

you have failed in some way and 

not only are you not as good a parent as you should be 

you are creating a situation which will have horrible consequences 

if you do not change your bad parenting ways.

So there's that too.

And then there is the feeling of jealousy when my sister tells me her 4 1/2 month old slept for 10 hours last night. I'm not sure if it's real jealousy from the exhausted part of me or jealousy that she's going to be perceived as a vastly superior parent or my own internalization of this message and wish that I was a "good parent."

I have no idea, but I know thinking about it makes me feel emotionally exhausted, much more than I'm physically exhausted from having slept through the night three times in the last nine months (Norie stayed with Grandma once).

So yeah, sleeping through the night. What's that like?

My munchkin is 8 months old today

That's right. Little Miss is eight whole calendar months old today. She's also nine lunar months (36 weeks), but most people don't count that way so we'll stick with eight. She's growing up so fast I can hardly believe it. She has four whole teeth outside of her gums as of yesterday. She's still not sleeping through the night, but nobody's perfect.

Look how little she used to be.

And what a big girl she is now.

It's crazy.

Oh and she made art last week at daycare. It's hanging on her art wall. I can't wait to fill it up with other masterpieces.

 

That's her little foot turned into a penguin. How cute is that? Have I mentioned how much I love her daycare? It's a lot.

Baby Photography and ShootFLYShoot: How I finally Learned to Use my DSLR and You Can Too

Hey kids. I've been way too busy Christmasing to post recently, but I took some pictures this week that were just too freaking adorable to keep to myself.

Isn't that just the cutest little sock monkey hat you've ever seen? It's even cuter when the two of us where them at the same time, but I don't have that documented.

Austin really wanted to get some pictures of her with he light saber, but really good ones haven't quite happened yet. For some reason they turned out pretty well with her new paint brush toy though.

And then yesterday I took some pictures of Norie practicing her almost crawl while I was working on some other stuff. 

I am so happy I decided to take the shootFLYshoot Photography 101 course and learned how to use my camera.

It only took me 7 years. Yep, seven whole years. Not the actual learning. That only took a couple of hours thanks to Kevin and Josh, but it took me seven years to do something about the fact that I didn't know how to use my camera. Sound familiar?

My husband bought me an amazing Cannon EOS Rebel DSLR as a graduation gift circa 2005. I had never used anything but a point and shoot before, but had a lot of fun with the program settings. They worked pretty well and I liked the pictures I took on vacations of landscapes and flowers and other pretty outside stuff.

Then I started a blog and wanted to take pictures inside. It was a whole new ballgame and my pictures were okay at best. Mostly they looked like were amateur shots taken with the flash in poorish lighting. I knew they weren't great, but I didn't know how to do any better.

One day Layla over at The Lettered Cottage linked to a series of posts by Centsational Girl about blog photography. I read them and got motivated to try my hand at shooting in manual mode. I busted out my camera's manual and figured out how to adjust the settings she mentioned to the ones she used, but since I had no idea what they did I couldn't adjust them to the picture I was trying to take. I was lost.

Then Layla's husband Kevin started a photography website called ShootFLYShoot.
I liked the facebook page and added the RSS feed for their blog to my Google Reader, but I didn't actually sign up and pay for their Photography 101 course. I wasn't quite ready to commit. I mean, it was $69 whole dollars.

The conversation in my head went something like this.

$69? That's kind of a lot of money. Like more than half a week of day care. Can I really justify spending that much?


Then I realized that I wasn't able to use my several hundred dollar camera the way I wanted to because I was too cheap to spend 69 bucks.

I bit the proverbial bullet an paid for their Photography 101 course. It was totally worth it. probably the single best $69 I have ever spent. Kevin and Josh are amazing and I actually understand what all those setting do.

I feel like my own personal photo taking super hero. Not that I'm suddenly a professional photographer. I'm not, but I do know how to take a great blog or baby scrapbook pic.I''m sure it helps that my baby is ridiculously adorable, but I take credit fir that too.

Introducing Norie to Solid Food

When Norie was born I planned on exclusively breastfeeding her until she was six months old. That's what the American Pediatric Association recommends and you know how I like to follow the directions. When I did start her on solid food I planned to make sure it was mostly pureed fruits and vegetables I made myself like smushed up sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas and peas.

Then we hit 23 weeks and Norie was waking up every 45 minutes all night long and wanting to nurse every single time. I was worried she had developed a nursing crutch and just couldn't go to sleep unless she nursed. I don't remember exactly how the decision process went (sleep deprivation had some negative effects on my memory), but we started giving Norie infant cereal a couple of weeks ago. 

It is the most amazing thing ever. For both of us.

The first time I tried it she practically lunged out of the bumbo trying to get it in her mouth and ate like she had been starving to death. That night she only woke up three times. It was glorious. Lately she wakes up once, maybe twice a night to nurse, but otherwise is a full and happy camper. She's also drinking more milk than I seem to be able to produce, but that's another issue. 

I've been giving her fruits and veggies too. She's tried bananas, and apple sauce and peas (don't worry Mom, they were all on different days), but so far at least she's not really a fan. She sticks out her tongue to try to get them out of her mouth and makes a horrible face. As a result, the vast majority of her diet consists of breastmilk and infant cereal. She loves it.

 

Solid food is a misnomer. It's more like soquid food. She is a mess. Good thing she eats right before bath time.

UPDATE: Austin just sent me this picture of her response to carrots. I guess she doesn't like them either. 

I Had Five Hours of Continuous Sleep

If you really know me you know I can, and will, sleep just about anywhere at any time.

Under a row of seats in an airport? No problem.

On a couch during a party? Absolutely.

In a bar while I'm trying to have a conversation with you? At least once a month back when I went out.

Having a baby has been really hard on my sleep needs. I think my sleep debt was near crisis level a couple of weeks ago when Norie had a cold and was teething and waking up just about every 45 minutes all. night. long.

It was painful. I shouted at my husband. I was a wreck.

I'm not sure if it was getting over the cold, her new sleep sack pajamas or the introduction of solid foods. I'm leaning towards solid foods since she wanted to nurse every single time she woke up, but they all happened at the same time so it's really hard to tell what caused this miraculous change.

The first night she only woke up around 10pm, 1am, and 4am. My mom was a bit distressed when I told her the next morning that she had "only" been up three times the night before. It sounds like a lot if you don't have a kid, but compared to the 9-10 times a night we had been dealing with it was AMAZING. The first time was before I even went to bed. I can totally handle that. I felt super well rested.
 
The next night she did it again and the one after that she only woke up twice. Last night she woke up three or four times before 9pm and I fell sleep nursing her in a chair, but when I woke up around 12:15am I put her to bed in her crib and she didn't wake up again until I was out of the shower this morning. I stayed up watching election coverage and didn't go to bed until 1 so I missed out on almost an hour of sleep, but I still got in 5 whole hours in a row. I don't remember the last time I slept that long, but I'm pretty sure it was in March.

Speaking of election coverage, I'm very happy to know that I wasn't the only person fixated on Flag Head Lady. If you didn't notice her originally, please, please go look. If you don't you'll be late to discover an entire internet meme.

So this whole sleep thing is still a pretty recent development and I've spent the last week recovering rather than working super hard on projects after I put Norie to bed. I am happy to report that at least a couple of projects are off the list. I finished the tablescape in time to have dinner although I didn't take any pictures, cleaned up the porch with the help of my family before everyone arrived and delegated the fixing and painting of the coffee table to my parents. Check, check, and check.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Teething

I hate it. This adorable child has become an hourly (if not more) nighttime alarm. She's in pain and so am I. I hope it's through soon.

I slept so little Monday night that I went to bed right after I put her down last night. No project time. Just sleepy time. I was really glad I did too. It was the best half hour of sleep I got all night.

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Instagramming Childhood

I had this (potentially crazy) idea that I would take pictures of Norie each moth to document her babyhood. Clearly, I did not yet have a baby when I came up with this idea.

You see, the thing about taking monthly baby pictures is you have to take the time once a month to take pictures of your kid. Like, not just whip out your fun while you're doing something fun or when they do something cute, but actually set aside time to focus on taking pictures of them.

I'm not good at that. We're too busy doing stuff and snuggling. Not that you should feel bad for actually doing it. More power to you if you actually get it done. its just not our thing. I am, however, really good at whipping out my phone and Instagram-ing our adventures.

I stressed about it a bit. Then I looked at the pictures I had taken of Norie this month. 

That is totally scrapbook worthy. Four month pictures: check.

Oh, and in case you're curious last Thursday I planted the mum by friend Nancy gave me in the dark just so I could claim another day of sticking to my 25 Things plan. I didn't take a pictures (because it was dark) and I didn't find time to post about it on Friday, but I did do something. :)

1. Buy a bracket and rehang the blinds in the bedroom
2. Plant the mum by friend Nancy gave me
3. Write something on my DIY Chalkboard
4. Finish my fall mantel
5. Take Norie's four month pictures before she's five months old
6. Finish the wedding plate wall art
7. Make some bunting for my office
8. Build a pallet bar/wall art to cover up the attic fan switch
9. Make a DIY ribbon chandelier for Norie's room
10. Do something with the shutters my aunt got me last year
11. Put the label plates back on the enormous drawer thing and label the drawers
12. Finish the wall art I started for the Song print I got for donating to Love Without Boundaries
13. Finish my desk
14. Finish the table scape for Campbell Family Thanksgiving 2012
15. Hang the awesome owl latch hook my sister gave me at Norie's baby shower
16. Clean up the porch
17. Finish the October page in my pregnancy scrapbook (yes, that would be last October)
18. Fix the leg on the coffee table and finish repainting it
19. Sell the coffee and end tables
20. Make a coffee table
21. Create a gift wrapping/gift wrap organizing space
22. Start working on fun holiday decorations
23. Finish the other Dream Dollhouse from last year's Make Two Challenge
24. Make some DIY cake stands from wedding plates and candlesticks.
25. Make map mats for vacation photos

Guess who slept until 5am last night.

ME!!!!

And Norie too, but mostly I'm excited about me.

My daughter is becoming diurnal. I'm so proud.

You Have No Idea How Important You Are

I was in the car with my friend, Christa, yesterday and I had one of those epiphany moments about the importance of the little actions we take in life that we don't think too much about.

Our now mutual friend, Julie, told my husband a year and a half ago that he needed to meet Christa's husband, Justin. They're both home brewers and she thought they should talk.

As a result, I met Christa and knew immediately she was my spirit friend (we had the same old issue of a magazine on our coffee tables). A couple of months later, Christa convinced me to apply for my job.

I got that job. It came with health insurance and a reasonable income. For the first time in my life I felt like having a kid wouldn't be completely insane.

Norie rocks my face off.

So thanks Julie. You get a a whole lot of credit for this uber cute little bug.

Infographic Wednesday: Free Birth Control!!

It doesn't have the ring of Infographic Friday, does it?

I could have waited until Friday, but then you could miss out on two whole days of knowledge for no good reason. This is really important stuff. In addition to fully covering birth control, a whole bunch of other important things are now covered too, like pap smears. You shouldn't have to get a pap smear AND pay a co-pay for it too. Now you don't. I have a related story, but that's way TMI.

I'm also pretty excited about the changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act. Did you know that your employer is required to provide you with space and time to pump at work if they have more than 50 employees? They do.And it can't be in a bathroom. Here's to not having to pump while listening to other people pee. I wonder if that has anything to do with the decision to post this story in K-State Today. It's about the new lactation stations on K-State's campus. In case you're curious, they are really, really close to being, but I guess not technically "in" bathrooms. At least they have outlets and chairs (a new development in some locations).

Tell your friends.

Thank you!

I started this post last month, but never finished it.

Whoops. I left the edits I made for your amusement.

I've been meaning to finish up the Thank Yous from our baby shower for over a month almost three months. When people tell you to finish them before the baby is born they're right. The chances of doing anything productive on any given day drops dramatically when you have a newborn baby.

I've been plugging away at them, but I still haven't quite finished. Austin thinks we should go ahead and put the birth announcements in with them at this point. He's got a point. That adds a step though. I feel pretty good about my chances today, but Norie is having a growth spurt and my life is a giant cluster feed so who knows if that means anything. (That was a month ago so I guess it means I didn't get them done.)

She's asleep at the moment though so I thought I'd take the opportunity to say thanks here on my blog. Thanks to everyone who came and to my amazing sister and sister-in-law for throwing us an awesome party and to everyone for the fabulous stuff you gave us. Your handwritten and thoughtful thank you card will arrive some day soon. For those of you who weren't here in person, I assure you it was super cute and vintage-y.

And we got lots of cool presents like this onesie.

And really touching ones like Austin's baby book.

 Apparently Austin was touched and thirsty.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks and I really do intend to get those thank yous out before Norie is in elementary school.

We Skype, a LOT

My parents have been staying with us while they wait to close on their new house. My sister lives in Denver. We like to see each other and Skype convos have become almost daily occurrences around here. I took the opportunity to Embrace the Print Screen Button.

Can you tell I really like this Embrace the Camera thing? It should make Norie's baby scrapbook really, really entertaining. :) She has the best facial expressions.

I did it! And other interesting yet somewhat random facts of yesterday

I jogged/walk 2.5 whole miles yesterday. I figured I could, but I wasn't really sure about just how difficult it would be. I stayed pretty active during my pregnancy, but I certainly didn't run or jog or even think about it beyond staring wistfully at joggers as I waddled about campus. Yes, I'm a little sore.  Luckily, I just need to put in 30 minutes on the elliptical today which should be a lot easier.

Yesterday was Norie's first day of working on furniture with me and Grandma. 

She mostly just supervised. I was impressed with her dedication to the cause. She didn't even get very upset when I used the power sander. Apparently all the time I spent using power tools while I was pregnant paid off.

And perhaps the most exciting news of the day - Kleio seems to be warming up to Norie. That's really good since I'm pretty sure she spent the first couple of weeks hoping one of the people who came by to visit would take Norie home with them. She even joined Norie for some tummy time. 

I also attempted to actually take those photos with my real camera yesterday. That didn't quite happen, but maybe today. Not sure though. I have big plans to finish the Thank Yous from the baby shower AND construct an awesome medal display for the tasting room.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Mostly decisions about cloth diapering.

I tend to get stalled out when there is a decision to be made. Like the whole reason our house is a mess is that the things that are lying around don't have an obvious home yet (you'd like they would after a year and a half of living in The Parsonage, but they don't) and that means I have to make a decision before I can do anything productive with them. In actuality what it means is that I stack things in piles of things I need to make decisions about. Lots of little piles of decisions lying around waiting, hoping that maybe someday they will find a home.

This would annoy the crap out of some people (like my husband). It bothers me, but not enough to drive actual decision making most of the time. I really like to get things right and he likes to hold me to decisions once I make them (why exactly do the plates need to continue to belong in the same place just because I thought that's where they went last month?).

In addition to object placement/home organization issues this is a bit of a problem since parenthood involves lots of decisions. As usual I'm good with the big ones. It's the little things that get me. I've been trying to come to some sort of conclusion about diapers for months and its go time on this one since our shower is coming up and I want to make sure we're registered for what we really want (I say we, but Austin has put me in charge of this decision).

I HATE the idea of using regular disposables since I really prefer not to leave a mass of waste that will be roughly the size of a small iceberg and last for the next 600 years as a result of my child's need to poo and my need to contain it. I just can't handle it. And I'm not judging you if you do. I continually keep things I really should throw away because I feel bad about throwing them away. That and there is a crap-ton of money to be saved by using cloth. Like $4000 for two kids even when you include the water and energy to wash those cloth diapers. One decision down. No big deal.

But that's also where it gets all decision-y. If you just use disposable diapers like normal people you go to the store, you buy whatever is cheap, or your friends recommend, or you try different brands until you pick a favorite. You throw them away continuously so one little decision really doesn't matter. If you pick an alternative you're a little more constrained. Especially if it's a cloth type which generally involves a significant up-front investment and you plan on keeping it for the long haul. And then there are issues around whether or not you can find a child care provider willing to go with your hippy dippy, non-dispoable diapers. Some just won't and I get that. That's the other decision I need to work on and maybe I should get on it first since the result influences this one, but I feel pretty strongly on this one and I think I'm just going to have to find someone who will at least work with cloth.

Well maybe I'll call the suggestions I've gotten and ask them something like the questions thebump recommends for interviewing caregivers, but lets just focus on the diapers for now.

I have a friend with an entire gDiaper set up she offered to sell me months ago when she first found out I was pregnant. I wasn't sure about it based on the aforementioned child care provider-cloth diaper conundrum. But the impending shower has pushed me to make an actual decision. I did some internet searching and found an awesome series on gDiapers call gWhiz - gDiapers 101 written by Emily at Joyful Abode. The very first post on why she chose gDiapers sealed the deal for me.

f

I'm getting them.

My friend has a ton of each size so I'll just get the pants and liners from her, but Emily is helping me figure out what other stuff I need to add to the registry. Hopefully I'll finish that up by the end of the week since the shower is only two weeks from Saturday and I figure people might start checking that out soon. At least the ones who aren't like me and take their first look at the registry in Target 2 hours before the party. Tell me you procrastinate on gifts too.

I also need to pick out a sling so if any of you are baby wearers I would love to get some opinions.

Cribs!

I'm sure you wondered why I didn't post something about the baby yesterday since Wednesday is Baby Day. (What? You're not obsessed with my schedule?) Hopefully awesome cupcakes were a satisfactory substitute. Just in case, here's some baby action for you.

Austin and I are freegan-ing as much of the baby stuff as we possibly can so I haven't done a ton of shopping or registering for big items, but it looks like we are in the crib market after all. (Feel free to let me know if you have one you'd like to sell cheap/donate to the cause.) When thebump.com sent me a newsletter with a slideshow of 10 Cribs We Love I couldn't resist a peek or four. Fair warning though, they have excellent taste, but some are not budget friendly. I think I'll just look at them.

My favorite:

Graco Lauren Convertible Crib ($150 Target)

I am totally registered for this one in case you're curious. It's not super flashy, but it converts from a crib to a toddler bed to a full size bed. Yes, please.

 

There were also a couple I think are totally adorable, but absurdly expensive (sorry if you're into high end baby gear and are offended by that).

Muu Sam ($1775 MuuKids)

That aqua whale design makes me smile.

I also like the design on the PetitNest Alloette Crib ($1490)

Do you suppose there is a place where people sell them on craigslist after their kid grows out of a crib?

Nursery Floorplan

In an effort to structure and use my time effectively this year I've allocated days to each of my major project areas. Wednesday is Baby Day which means I get to spend the whole evening playing with things related to the baby. To be honest, most of things on the baby prep checklist aren't exactly thrilling.

Maybe I'm missing something, but scheduling a glucose tolerance test and filling out paperwork are exactly ideas that have me all excited about Baby Day. I added work on the nursery so I wouldn't go crazy. That and because I can't not decorate. It's just not in my nature. I MUST make things attractive.

Since I'm not exactly in a condition to move furniture around repeatedly and I wanted to visualize the space I decided to try out Pottery Barn Kids Room Planner. They do mention it in every email they send me. Not sure I remember signing up for those. I bet thebump.com sold them my email. I don't mind though. I'm all about nursery ideas these days.

I measured the room so it would be to scale and started adding in the furniture we already have, have been offered already, or probably need to acquire before Little Miss is born. It was fun and now I know exactly what size of rug I want which is super helpful.

I colored in the stuff we have like Austin's family heirloom rocker,

 

the papasan chair and bookshelf we already have, and a huge corn plant I'm going to put in there. I even put one of the placemat throw pillows I made on the chair.

It would look great with that vintage aqua afghan I saw out shopping last week, don't you think?

I also colored in the existing carpet. If Austin has anything to say about it that will be covered up with new, plusher carpet before we're finished so maybe it should look more like this.

For the record, he has great taste and decided where most of the furniture should go. I didn't like the way I originally had it nearly as much. What do you think?

Pregnancy Scrapbook

I've been trying to post more consistently lately, but today when I went to write something I just didn't want to. All I wanted to do was think about how I'm going to scrap book my pregnancy (and Little Miss when she comes along).

During my all afternoon shopping extravaganza last weekend I spent a good hour in the scrap booking aisles of Hobby Lobby looking through materials and trying to decide what to buy. I'm a novice scrap booker although I did have what some would call a scrap wall in high school. (I'll try to find a picture of that to post at some point). I'm really good at the collecting things from memorable events part, not so good at the organizing them beyond throwing them in shoebox part. I've decided I'm going to do something about that so I can better document her impending childhood.

I had no idea there was so much stuff involved in scrap booking. I looked a ton of it and decided on just a few items that I think fit with my style.

Since I have nothing but the scrapbooking paper left over from our wedding placemats, (Which reminds me I need to post about our wedding. I didn't start my blog until after the wedding but it was Country Living fabulous and I have a ton of pictures to share) I went with a page kit. I'm sure that's sacrilage to a real scrapbooker, but I figured it was a good way to get a bunch of stuff all together and not have to find all the individual bits. It also comes with ideas on how to put them together which I like. I've never done this before so I need a little more inspiration than I do with some other creative projects.  I got this one since it was 40% off.

I used a very similar pattern on one of the walls in the original Dream Dollhouse I built for my nieces. I must like it. It has brightly mis-colored animals (see the realization from this weekend) so that's not exactly surprising.

There was another baby girl one I liked too, and some sticker sets I thought were cute but they weren't on sale and I just refuse to pay full price for anything at HB. I'll go back with a 40% off coupon for it one of these days.

Between the two page kits, the Dream Dollhouse wallpaper leftovers, and the wedding placemat paper I think I'll have enough to create a sufficiently adorable yet not quite obnoxiously baby girl themed scrapbook.

I picked out this bright, Barbie pink cloth album after about 20 minutes of debating between it and the same one in aqua. There was another one in pink with white polka dots, but I wasn't super keen on the vinyl cover.

I'm going to write her name on it with these awesome pea green letters with white polka dots. I loved them the moment I saw them.

I'm also thinking I'll add a couple of other elements like the three dimensional lion sticker from the kit and something else to spice it up.  Since I'm not a hardcore scrapbooker I'm thinking this will be a pregnancy/baby book not two separate ones so her name makes more sense than "Pregnancy" or some other title.

All of this is, of course, is at home along with all the bits I would scrap rather than in my office where I am on my lunch break. No scrapbooking for me. Just fantasizing about scrapbooking.


I searched the internet for inspiration instead. I found advice on creating a pregnancy scrapbook. Hint: I'm already WAY behind. Not a single picture to my knowledge of me from the last several months. Ooops. But seriously, how many pictures of me expanding does the world really need?

I also found some lovely page ideas. I'm sure I'll spice it up Amber style, but I like a little creative inspiration. 

Beer Bottle Lamp How-To and a Color Choice

I've been spending all my free time busting my butt to finish up projects around the house lately. I had the day off yesterday and I seriously considered spending the whole thing working on the house, but reason kicked in and I decided a mental health day was a much better idea. I went to lunch with a friend, ate some frozen yogurt, and did a couple of easy little projects instead of trying to conquer any massive ones.

The lamp was actually my husband's idea. He thought the pink would be perfect for the nursery. I couldn't argue. I love the color and it meets the sentimental value criteria for nursery decor. We visited Rogue's Portland Brewpub and Voodoo Doughnut on our honeymoon. I recommend them both if you're planning a trip to Portland. It's probably not the memento most people would use in their nursery, but it's perfect for us and I think Bump will love it.

Making the lamp was a pretty easy project. I cheated a bit on the hardest part. My how-to for that goes something like, "find a friend who knows what they're doing and ask them to drill a hole in the bottle for you." I'll see what I can do about getting her to provide a how-to on just that part. You can also just leave the cord hanging down from the top if that doesn't bug the crap out of you.

Once the hole is drilled it's a cake walk. Head down to your local hardware/home store and ask where the lamp repair section is. Someone in an apron will probably point you toward an endcap full of packages that look about like this.

There are several options that would work, but I chose the Make-A-Lamp Kit that comes with several adapters to turn a bottle into a lamp. Then you just follow the directions on the back. Since you're dealing with electricity here, I recommend you read and follow them.

When I got done it looked like this.

 

Add a lamp shade and voila.

After I finished the lamp off I picked the color for the nursery. I was originally thinking a very pale yellow. I even spent a good half hour trying to decide between four shades that most people (including Austin) would argue were the same color.  After I picked my inspiration piece I had a change of heart (it was those little giraffes).

I wanted a really pale color, but I still want color. I'm going with True Turquoise from Glidden mixed at 25%. Thanks Miss Mustard Seed for the tip!

Did you notice that timer in the first picture? It's counting down to my due date. I got it from Santa and it's kind of like a cross between the timer on a bomb and an Advent calendar. Nothing motivates a pregnant woman like a reminder to "Make Every Minute Count" and a reminder of roughly how many she has left to nest.