Bon Temps Beignet

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2012-02-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

I'm not sure if Charlie is throwing up gang signs or wants a hug, but either way, he wishes you the happiest, loveliest, sweetest, most chocolate filled Valentine's day ever.

Seriously, gang signs or hugs... I can't tell.

And because we've been MIA for 2 weeks, here's a picture from Super Bowl Sunday. Charlie had to represent, even if the Saints didn't make it to the big game.

And one more of him a cuddled up in his snugabunny bouncer.

Have a great day y'all!!!

Baby Charlie

2012-02-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

Please allow me to introduce the newest member of our little family, Charlie.

Charles Dominic was born Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at 11:03 AM via c-section weighing 9.3 pounds and measuring 22 inches long. Yes, he's a moose.

At just 5 days in, I can say that life with baby is definitely not easy, but the sweet snuggles make it worth every bleary eyed, exhausting minute of it.

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments and encouragement.

11 Days Overdue + Time to Induce!

2012-01-26T07:59:00.000-08:00

Never in my life did I think I'd be ELEVEN days overdue.

My last OB appointment on Tuesday showed no more progress than the last two. Still 1cm, still 50% effaced, still not dropped. On Monday I went in for my first non-stress test, which showed perfect results. They basically hook you up to a doppler that records the baby's movement and heart rate. When you feel the baby move, you press a little button and it marks when their heart rate should match the burst of movement and then go back to normal with a certain amount of time. We passed with flying colors.

I've been asked soooo many times why the Doctor would let me go this long. There are a few different reasons. First of all, she's very conservative. Not in the Republican kind of way... just in the "let's not rush him / do anything invasive to drag him out' kind of way. She also understands that I might be exhausted and a teeny bit miserable, but she also sees that I've only gained 26 lbs, my blood pressure is usually in the 105/65 to 120/75 range, and my amniotic fluid has leveled out and the little man seems to be perfectly content inside me. So, there's not much of a reason to rush him except that he's getting BIG.

I knew he would be. I was a whopping 10 pounds at birth and hubby was 9. Plus we also have abnormally large heads. My last appointment revealed that Baby BTB is about 8-9 lbs and has a large noggin, just like us. I'm just praying he doesn't try coming out with the Super Man arm out first. The arm + head combo is no bueno for the lady parts if ya know what I'm sayin'!

via

I'll have another non-stress test today and most probably be induced tomorrow afternoon, so if you don't hear from me for a while, you know what's going on!

Belly Bump Weeks 18-40

2012-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

No broken water, no insane contraction pain, just an update for my weekly pics. I'm hoping today will be the BIG day. The 20th tends to be a recurring number with us. My birthday (11/20), our wedding anniversary (3/20) and our 'when we first started going out" anniversary...not to be confused with the big "green" holiday or God forbid... Hitler's birthday (4/20).

It could be any minute now, I guess! Practicing patience!

Three days overdue + My word(s) of the year

2012-01-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. As of now (3:30 on 1/18/12), I am still with child. It's officially 3 days past my due date and, after some very uncomfortable inspection, my doc told me yesterday that I haven't progressed any further since last week's appointment. Boo. Hiss. Going past your due date...even by a day... makes you feel like you'll be pregnant for the rest of your life.

My bags are packed, the nursery is ready, the camera is charged, the floors have been swept within an inch of their life, the dust has been wiped off of nearly every surface in our house, the dishes are done, and the only laundry left to do is whatever hubby and I wore to sleep last night. Our nest has been feathered to death and I'm about to loose my mind....up in here, up in here.

I keep thinking that maybe I still have something left to do. Like maybe the little guy is waiting for me to finish that one last task before he says, "Finally! What took you so long? I'm on my way". Maybe he wants us to paint the exterior of the house, or cut the ~~grass~~ weeds, or put in a new window in his room, or maybe he wants us to give Gus a bath so he won't smell like Frito's when he meets him for the first time. Who knows.

As Mitch drove us back home from my appointment yesterday I started to Google. Well, we all know how that goes. Google any sort of medical question and you get slammed with the worst-case-scenario answers.

Q: "What are the risks of an overdue pregnancy" A: "DEATH."

Ok, it's not that bad. But it's all you can think of when you read dozens of responses and one of them is "greater chance of baby being stillborn". Other lovely possibilities are as follows:

"When pregnancy exceeds 42 weeks gestation, the perinatal mortality rate (stillbirths plus early neonatal deaths) increases to 4 to 7 per 1,000, which is double the rate seen for deliveries at 40 weeks gestation. As more time passes, more calcium is deposited within the placenta (calcification), which can markedly affect its function. This may be one explanation for the increased mortality rates that are seen in post-term pregnancies. Post-date pregnancies are associated with an increased risk for umbilical cord compression, fetal distress, meconium aspiration, as well as newborn complications, such as hypoglycemia and seizures." souce

Besides all that fun stuff the baby might come out with flaky skin!

"As a baby develops in the womb, a waxy substance known as vernix coats his skin. Secreted by the baby’s oil glands, vernix protects against amniotic fluid. ..... A newborn that comes into the world after 40 weeks often has no trace of vernix, because it has already absorbed into his skin while in the womb. As a result, dryness and flaking can occur, but it's common and not a serious condition"
source

When I read that, I turned to Mitch and said "HE MIGHT COME OUT WITH SCALY SKIN!! I DON'T WANT THE BABY TO COME OUT LOOKING LIKE A SNAKE!" To which my sweet, understanding, loving, comforting husband replied "Well, babe, it IS the year of the Dragon"

Men... I swear.

All of this brings me to my word... or words... of the year. You might have noticed this idea floating around blog land. The idea is to choose a word in January that you can focus on throughout the year. The word should be something that motivates you, or brings you peace, or makes you stop and think. Layla from TLC has set up a "This Little Word of Mine" link party that explains everything you'd need to know.

So, I thought about it for a day or two and came up with two words. Patient & present. Both have more than one meaning. 'Patient' to me will soon mean being a patient in the hospital and giving birth to our son. It will also be the virtue that I'll have to reach deep (deep deep deep) down inside of me while I wait for his arrival and also the thing I'll need most in becoming a good momma for him.

via

And 'present' will be what he is to us. A tiny little gift from God, who we'll have to be ever so patient and to be present (mentally and physically) as we raise him.

via

So, there you have it. Patient and Present.... PP.... And we're sure to see lots of it ;)

Have you chosen a word for this year? Maybe you have a resolution you wanna share. Lets hear it!

Belly Bump Weeks 18 Through 39 -and- Will This Baby EVER Come Out?

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well kids, it's official. I am one day past my due date. I have a feeling that Baby BTB is gonna make us wait til the 42 week mark. My OB says it could be any day/minute now but, baby won't officially get his eviction notice til then. I'm getting restless.

At my last appointment (last Tuesday) I was 1 centimeter dilated, which doesn't mean much. We'll see if I've progressed any further tomorrow at my next appointment. I've read all of the "how to induce labor" suggestions online. Some of them I tried and they didn't work ...eating super spicy foods, walking, bribing the baby with candy... ok, not really. some have the potential to be very embarrassing.... drinking caster oil ....which can cause horrible diarrhea. I definitely don't want to up my chances of 'pooping the table"!!! Yuck! But, some of the suggestions were just plain wrong. I actually read one site that suggested you "borrow your friend's newborn baby" to try and nurse them. The nip stimulation (at least 1 solid hour) is supposed to cause extreme uterine contractions causing you to go into labor. No thanks!

I thought FOR SURE that this game would've induced labor.

Those last 2 minutes killed me.

MAJOR sad face.

Oh well, home field advantage at the Super Bowl will be nice next year ;)

The good news is that I haven't put on any weight since my 35 week appointment, so I'm not any more uncomfortable than I was a month ago. I've gained just under 25 lbs (normal for my starting weight) so I can't really complain.

The only problem I'm having now is that I've had 2 separate but looooong colds in the past 6 weeks. It started with a clogged nose/sore throat thing and now I have a disgusting phlegm-y cough. It's the kind that sneaks up on you when you're in a crowd of people and tickles your throat and sends you into one of those hysterical coughing fits where you can't stop hacking and you can't catch your breath and you sound like a howling dog and everyone around you thinks you're dying. I've been coughing so hard and so often that I feel like I got drop-kicked in the ribs.

I'm just hoping that it goes away before I go into labor. I certainly don't want to go into a coughing fit on the delivery table!

Anyone have a guess at when little man will arrive?

Nursery Source List

2012-01-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

No baby yet! Believe me, y'all will be getting an update!

THE FURNITURE AND ACCESSORIES

-The grey dresser is called the EDLAND from Ikea.

-The crib is the Delta Sedona Classic from Babies R Us

-The lamp was one I bought from Marshall's a while back and repainted with zebra stripes.

-The momma and baby sheep were from a second hand store in Point Loma called Great Curves on the corner of Lytton Street and Barnett Ave San Diego. They mostly sell clothing, but there's also a section full of retro kitchen accessories, childrens' toys and a ton of other cool stuff.

-The mirror, most of the picture frames, wicker basket and chest piggy bank are all from my FAVORITE thrift store, Amvets at 3441 Sutherland Street, San Diego.

-The silver bucket inside the wicker basket was from Target's dollar bins.

-The small wooden stars were from Michael's and the big one on the upper right was from Joann's Fabrics.

-The tins that the small stars are sitting in are just cookie tins from Christmas that I painted to match the dresser.

THE ART...

This sweet deer couple is from my all time favorite Etsy seller,http://www.etsy.com/shop/vol25?ref=seller_info

This customizable carved tree print is also from Vol 25 and was a gift from a friend of ours who knows my love of Jessica's prints. The original background was a soft cream color, but I cut out the tree and backed it with a piece of dark grey craft paper from Michael's

This little elephant was actually a picture of a clock that I found online. I loved the design, but didn't need the clock (have I ever mentioned that I HATE repetitive noises? No tic-tic-ticking clocks in my house please! Thankyouverymuch.) so I saved the picture and removed the hands of the clock in Photoshop, then changed it to a faded black and white to coordinate. Here's the original...

The "I love you like biscuits and gravy" postcard is from YeeHaw

This map is one I found through a google search, then played around in Photoshop to put little hearts over New Orleans, Rhode Island, and San Diego. I also painted the mat to match the dresser.

The "You are My Sunshine" piece is one I made with a faded map of New Orleans in the background.

The "Babies Don't Keep" printable is from Lay Baby Lay and can be downloaded RIGHT HERE.

I just tweaked the colors a bit in Photoshop.

And of course, this is a picture of our first baby, Gus.

We used this picture in the BIG BABY ANNOUNCEMENT.

Above the crib is this print with the lyrics to "Dream a Little Dream of Me".

It's available HERE for just $10 as a printable in my etsy shop.

Next up is this frame/wooden star/love collage thingie.

The frame is one I found in a thrift store that was originally a hideous shade of red with white trim.

Again, I painted the inside to match the dresser and other frame matting.

Then I just hammered in a ton of finishing nails around the inside like this...

...and wrapped twine around each nail to make a web to tuck stuff into. For now it's holding up a wooden star (also from Joann's) and "LOVE" cut out letters that I found at AMVETS.

The wall paint color is Behr's Perfect Taupe.

And last, but not least, is a chalkboard decal the I wrote the lyrics to "Make you Feel My Love" on.

The Hanging Pieces

The big paper lanterns are from Ikea. They were a "last chance" sale for $5 each (normally $9.99 ea) so I'm not sure if they're available any more. I couldn't find them online : / so they might be discontinued.

And of course, the cloud mobile was a little craft project that you can read about RIGHT HERE

THE CURTAINS

The white curtains and black rods are cheapies from Ikea.

You can find them here BESKÅDA curtain rod VIVAN Curtains.

And the beige curtains on the outer edges of the closet are just painter's drop cloths ( $9 each) from Home Depot. I hung them on the Ikea curtain rod with little clips and hubby hung the whole thing high up inside the closet.

I'm still hoping to find an affordable rocker that isn't heinously ugly. I actually had a dream last night about finding one at a thrift store. It was gorgeous! But... just a dream. This is the one I'd really like to get and it perfectly matches the decor. It's the Klaussner Lacey Glider in Slate from Babies R Us and costs $399... that doesn't include the cost of the matching ottoman which is an additional $199!

Sigh.

I better save up my pennies!

Cloud Mobile - How To

2012-01-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

After many (many, many, many) unsuccessful searches for the perfect (affordable) mobile for our little man's room, I finally decided to just make my own.

The first time I posted this little how-to, I COMPLETELY forgot to mention where I got the idea from. Can I blame the lack of brain power on being 9 months preggo? It wasn't until I got a comment this morning that I remembered that I had forgotten. And now, I'm kicking myself for that, because it's happened to me before, where I've shown a fellow blogger something I made and they copy the step-by-step tutorial that I wrote and passed it off as their own to their readers. Ugh, very frustrating. And while I didn't copy a tutorial for the cloud mobile, I did find the design through another blogger who bought hers from an Etsy seller.

So I would like to apologize to and thank the lovely and EXTREMELY talented Kelli Larson for showing off her drop dead gorgeous nursery and setting the wheels of creativity and DIY in motion. AND the Etsy seller, The Butter Flying, who created the original mobile which you can check out RIGHT HERE.

So, here we go.

First up: What you'll need for the project...

All items were purchased at Michael's for just under $10. The 3 sheets of felt were $0.64 each, the glue was about $5, and the 5 inch wooden ring (which is just the center piece of a embroidery hoop) was only $2.99. The mobile would have only cost about $5 if I owned a sewing machine.... or the patience to sew it all by hand. The only other items I needed were a bit of silver craft paint, thread, and pillow filling fiber, all of which I already had on hand.

First, I sketched out the shape of the cloud on paper.

Then cut that out to use as a template.

Next, I laid the template on my white felt sheet and traced around it.

Then cut that out.

You'll want an even number of cloud pieces.

(I realized after I cut out my first 2 pieces, that I could've fit more on one sheet and saved $0.64. Oh well!)

So, if you'd like 3 clouds, like in my mobile, cut out 6 pieces.

Next, you'll match up the sheets so that the edges are lined up and glue them together.

I bought a glue specifically made for felt. But you could probably use any sort of fabric glue. Again, I would have just sew the pieces together if I had a sewing machine.

When you glue your pieces together,

make sure you get a good, solid bead just inside the edges.

Be sure to leave a small gap so that you can stuff it with fiber fill later.

Once you've glued all of your pieces together, make sure you leave it to dry for

AT LEAST 24 hours.

Trust me, it won't completely dry before then, and even though you think it's been plenty of time and the dang glue must be dry because it's been at least 8 hours, you'll go to stuff it with the fiber fill and the edges will start to pull apart and you'll have to re-glue everything, and you'll be mad. mad, MAD, MAD.

So just be patient, ok?

Now that those 24 hours have finally crept by, you'll want to save a little extra cash by being ~~a cheap ass~~ resourceful and cutting a teeny tiny hole in one of your pillows (I used one from our bed) and pulling a bit of the filling out. Don't worry, your head will never even notice the difference.

Now, find the hole in your cloud 'sandwich' and fill 'er up.

I used the blunt end of a pen to get the filling into all the little nooks and crannies.

Then you'll have to put another bead of glue along the edge of the gap.

And hold it closed with... something. I used bobby pins. But, you could used paper clips or something similar. Once again, if I had a dang sewing machine, I would've just sewn everything.

Let those bad boys dry for at least 8 hours (12 would be even better)

before you pull off the bobby pins.

Once your ring has been painted and dried, run a piece of thread through the tippity top of each cloud and tie the strings to ring. Try to keep the strings at equal distances around the ring, or else it will be side heavy and you'll have to adjust their placement.

Now, run another 3 pieces of thread up to a center point like this...

These HAVE to be exactly the same length, or the ring won't sit level.

Next, tie a single thread to those three pieces

and pin that to the ceiling with a thumb tack.

Please pardon our ugly popcorn ceiling! From a few feet away, the pin and strings are nearly invisible, so all you notice are the clouds and ring.

See, it's very easy.

Hope y'all enjoyed this little tut! Have any of you made a mobile before?

The Nursery Reveal!!

2012-01-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all! Well, it's finally done.... for now. If you're new to BTB, here's how the room looked just a few months ago. Yikes! It's come a looong way since then and is quickly becoming my favorite room in the house. There are still a few things I'd like to add in, like a nice upholstered rocking chair and bookshelf. But, for now, we're considering the room ready for Baby BTB's arrival. Welcome to our little man's room...

This printable poster is available here.

Sorry for the overload of pictures! I hope you like how everything turned out. We're super happy with the way everything came together. I'll be back in a few days to show y'all how I made the cloud mobile.

Weeks 32 through 37 & A Nursery Sneak Peak

2011-12-31T11:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve kids!

I hope you all had a great Christmas. I've been working like crazy on Baby BTB's room throughout the whole week. There's been multiple trips to Ikea and my hands have been COVERED in craft paint for days. Before I show you the sneak peak of little man's room, I thought I'd update my weekly pics. Not too much has changed. I've been holding steady at 23 lbs gained for the past 5 weeks. My OB says this is completely normal, especially towards the end.

I can tell you that I feel about 40 lbs heavier. Plus I pulled a muscle in my upper, inner thigh and I can only describe the pain as "sledgehammer crotch". Yea, it's that fun. Besides all that fun stuff, we've been getting ready for the little guy's arrival. I ordered this travel system this past Monday and it just arrived yesterday. It took all of 4 minutes to put together. Hubby approved of the build quality and coolness factor.

And for the sneak peak...

I hate to be such a tease, but it isn't complete and I want y'all to see the big reveal all at once!

It's coming soon, I promise!

Until then, have a safe and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!!! + Last Minute Custom Gifts

2011-12-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Wishing all y'all...

(yea, I really do say "all y'all")

a very Merry Christmas

and the happiest of holiday seasons!

Love,

Liz, Mitch, Gus, and Baby BTB

PS: See you next week with nursery updates! And if you're still looking for a last minute CUSTOM gift, check out this post and my Etsy store!

No Baby Yet! Just an Avalanche of Etsy Orders.

2011-12-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

I've been busy. That's actually an understatement. I've been under an avalanche of Etsy poster orders and I'm just now finding my way out. Within the last two weeks I've had 29 custom orders. TWENTY NINE. That's an average of two per day. I'm beyond grateful for all the extra work, but it seemed to flood in and not let up. It was a bit overwhelming!

This has put a total hault on my nursery decorating plans. Plus my sister and brother-in-law came in from Seattle last Thursday and just left yesterday. We've had guests stay in the baby's room since the guest room is filled with office stuff. Now that the guests are gone we can finally get started (or get finished?) on the baby's room. Baby still doesn't have a name yet, btw. We'll get it figured out soon enough! I'm currently 36 and a half weeks and I feel like it could be any day now. Actually, I'm hoping it'll be any day now. I can't take much more!

So, this is why I'm writing to all you lovely people. Since Baby BTB could be here any day, I'd like to get my Etsy orders wrapped up before he makes his big debut. If you're looking for a last minute, CUSTOM Christmas gift, please check out the designs in this post and my Etsy shop for examples of the printable posters I've been making.

If you aren't familiar with the way my Etsy shop works, here's a little bit of info:

Each custom printable poster design is just $25 regardless of size, wording, colors and fonts. Once the design is completed and given final approval by you, I send the digital file to your email address. You can either print it at home or save the file to a memory card and bring that to your local print shop or any office supply store like Kinko's or Office Max to have it printed.

Ladies and Germs, please let me know soon if you'd like a custom piece! I'd love to make one for you. And don't forget, I also have premade printables of the designs below for just $5 and $10 each. The price includes a size change so the design will fit a frame that you already own!

The Business of Naming a Baby

2011-12-07T07:16:00.000-08:00

Naming a baby is serious business. As of right now, our little beignet is nameless. Mitch and I just cannot agree on anything that we both absolutely love. Here are our individual picks...

The only names that we agree on are Charlie and James. But Charlie (Charles) has been used in Mitch's family dozens of times. One of the Charlies in his family even had a dog name Charlie... it's that bad. When my OB asked if we had picked a name yet, I told her about our "Charlie" situation. And do you know what she told me? "Our dog's name is Charlie too!" Oy vey. Then there's James. We both like it, but I don't know if we're in love with it. Maybe it'll take some time to grow on us.

All of the other names on our lists get responses like this:

----------------------------------------------------------------

Me: "Hey, what about Jackson?"

Him: "As in Michael Jackson? I don't think so."

Me: "No, Jackson... from Steel Magnolias"

Him: "Who?"

----------------------------------------------------------------

Him: "How about Daniel?"

Me: "Oooooh Danny booooooy, the pipes, the pipes are caaaaaaalling. Um, DEPRESSING"

----------------------------------------------------------------

Him: "Do you like Wyatt?"

Me: "You mean as in Earp? NO."

----------------------------------------------------------------

Me: "How about Max?"

Him: "Too short"

Me: "But James and Josh only have one syllable"

Him: "Yea, but Max only has 3 letters...that's not enough"

Me: : : rolls eyes and begins ripping hair out : :

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ugh, so frustrating. Why is it so much easier to name a girl? Our girl name was picked out and agreed upon from the get go. Wanna hear it?

Little Ms. Lillie Collette. I can just picture her sassy little self right now.

Lillie was a nickname given to me in high school by a good friend of mine and it just sorta stuck. And I've always liked the French sound of Collette. I also like that the double "L" and double "T", especially since our last name, Cogswell, and my maiden name, Martello, both have a double "L". It just seemed perfect for a baby girl name. Too bad Baby BTB is all boy.

So, we're still stuck.

Any suggestions on how we can come to an agreement?

I'm dying to give this poor kid a name.

Baby BTB's Shower!

2011-12-06T07:16:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't popped this kid out yet. I got distracted when my parents came in town right after Thanksgiving and then got slammed with a ton of Etsy orders. I've been pumping out at least 5 posters per week! Anyway, here's part of the reason I've been MIA. I've been sorting through all the baby gifts we got. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my sister-in-law, Brandi threw us a surprise Mardi Gras themed baby shower! I... well, the baby... got completely spoiled with gifts. I seriously had no idea how much loot we got till I unloaded everything to take pictures.

Did that picture hurt your eyeballs?

I wish I had more pictures of the decorations and food, but I was too busy to take any good pics. Here's the only one I got of the set up. I'll have to post more when I get copies from my mom & dad.

We got a ton of diapers, which were the buy-in for the poker game that they guys and Mitch had during the shower. I plan on using either g-diapers or Bum Genius when the little man grows out of the new born diapers.

Baby BTB got a TON of Saints gear....

...and New Orleans themed clothes

Beign-YAY! Perfection.

He also go a Twilight turtle that projects stars onto the ceiling.

I got a boppy and a Mommy-relaxation kit with pajamas, slippers, soaps, lotions, scrubs, and a hospital bag for the big day.

Brandi made him the adorable vest and tie onsies.

More NOLA themed clothes.

A hip shrinker belt! Woo hoo!

a baby sized speedo, blankets, and toys

a football sleep sack and MVP outfit

diaper cake, stroller/car seat snuggler

shoes like Dad wears

and flip flops like his momma loves

Converse look-a-like socks...too cute

More Saints stuff!

a Snugabunny bouncer... the ears kill me

We also got the Snugabunny swing which is all set up in the living room already.

And, probably the most useful thing we could've received, a wee block... yea, it blocks the 'wee' from getting everywhere... especially in the face/mouth region.

We're beyond grateful for all the gifts the little guy got. He officially has more clothes than me!

Baby BTB -Weeks 18 through 31 Belly Shots

2011-11-22T15:33:00.000-08:00

Here's chubby cheeks at 31 weeks...

And since not everyone is a pro at recognizing body parts via ultrasound pics,

here's the labeled version...

Technically I'm in my 32nd week, but I haven't taken my belly pics yet. I usually do that on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons. Here's the full collage of weeks 18-31.

YOWZAH.

I've measured big since the beginning. Apparently I'm short waisted... 2 inches shorter than average... which means I've measure 4 weeks ahead (2 inches = about 4cm, 1 cm = 1 week of gestation) since the very start of my pregnancy. Well, I jumped up about a month ago to SIX weeks ahead. I'm so full of fluid that my OB said I'll probably get to experience a big "gush" if my water breaks naturally. One problem that comes with excess fluid is that with the big GUSH, the umbilical cord can flush out with it. Then it gets lodged in the cervix and cuts off blood flow to the baby. Yikes. She told me if my water breaks to go straight to the hospital... no stopping to shower or pack if I haven't already. Oh joy. The other issue is that my uterus doesn't know the difference between the weight of the baby and the weight of the fluid, so it might think we're "ready" before I'm full term.

At my last appointment (last Tuesday, 11/15) I was 31 weeks along but measured in at 36 weeks. We had another sonogram just to be sure that little guy wasn't getting too big, but the Doc said everything looks good, I'm just still full of fluid.

I've been super uncomfortable lately. I feel like how the Kool Aid man looks.... just not as smiley. Sleep is no longer something I think of fondly. I sort of dread it. I wake up every hour or so with surging pain that shoots through my hip bones. And sitting at my desk at work is putting some sort of strain or pressure on my vertebrae. I get this numb spot on my stomach under my right boob and a burning hot, stabbing, pain that feels like some one's putting a cigarette out on my back. I kinda can't wait to have this kid out. Only 7 and a half more weeks!!!

So to all the mommies I know, do these pains go away once the baby is born? Or am I suck with cigarette back and numb tummy for life?

Nothin' like the impending arrival of company to light a fire under your...

2011-11-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

...hiney. You thought I was gonna say yule log, huh? Wrong.

Since I'm as big as a blimp and not supposed to be traveling, my parents decided to make a trip out to Sandy Eggo to see us this Thanksgiving. It isn't their first time visiting the city, but it'll be the first time that they'll see our house live and in person and not just through blog pictures. Ahem... bout time.

When I told Mitch that they were going to be flying in I certainly didn't expect him to put "finish the house" at the top of his "to do" list. I figured we'd clean up and make the place as presentable as possible, but he's gone into full Daddy nesting mode. "We need new windows and doors! We can't bring the baby home to a cold house! Maybe we should build a fireplace!" We should paint the house! We need to finish that back splash! We've gotta go buy and install a wall mounted microwave! We need to hang that oven vent!" Now, I'm certainly not complaining that he's put a rush on getting all of this stuff done, but my parents wouldn't give two poops if we had a fancy wall mounted microwave as opposed to the $60 one we've had sitting on our counter for the past year+. Still... I'm not complaining.

As you can see from the pictures we got a couple of those things done.

The back splash is up.

And the fancy wall mounted microwave has be purchased and mounted.

I have one of those odd husbands who is very particular about microwaves. He sent me off to Sears and Home Depot to find one. "Nothing cheesy! No plastic inside walls. Make sure the door isn't flimsy!" I had two requirements. 1) It had to be stainless steel and 2) the "beep BEEP BEEP" couldn't be louder than our current microwave which was so freakin loud that you could probably hear from our driveway. It was insane. So I found this Maytag beauty. It was in our budget, but wasn't cheap. But, you get what you pay for.

Anyway, here's the whole "hurry up and get it done before Mom & Dad get here" list:

Hang oven vent
~~Install back splash~~
~~Buy/install new wall mounted microwave~~
Buy, stain, size and hang new entry door (our current one looks like it's made out of wet paper)
Buy and retrofit new windows for nursery and guest room
Set up room for mom and dad
CLEAN HOUSE
Wash windows
~~Shampoo carpets~~
Clean the floors in the living room and bath
Wash all blankets and pillows for couch and guest room
Clean up the front yard
~~Clean out bathroom cabinet and drawers~~
~~Organize hall closet~~
Do something about the ugly ceiling fans in the guest room and nursery
DECORATE FOR CHRISTMAS

And we have a just a few days to get all those uncrossed off items done! I did manage get my snowflakes up in the window. Hard stuff, I tell ya. Paper and tape. Sheesh.

This is my favorite flake from this year. Go Figure.

And I bought this little nativity set.

The wooden manger was $2.50 from the dollar bins at Target and the figures came in a set from Big Lots for $10. I also bought this super cheesy garland pack from Big Lots for $8. I'll have to figure out something to do with it.

Hopefully we'll have a few more things checked off the list by Monday! What's the one thing you do to make company feel comfortable? Super comfy cozy bedding? Special treats in the guest room? Let's hear it!

Faux Sneaux Flakes

2011-11-15T07:21:00.000-08:00

As a person who always seems to get scammed out of a good birthday (November 20th) with one of those combined birthday/Christmas gifts, I know how poor Thanksgiving feels to be overlooked every year. But this year, I have to say "Sorry Sucka!!!!" to Thanksgiving (well, the decorating part at least) to make way for some fun, wintry Christmas decor. That's right kiddos, I'm startin' early. And what's the best kind of seasonal decor? The FREE kind.

Last year I showed you how to make 6 point and (those non-anatomically correct) 8 point snowflakes, and I'm back again with a more detailed tutorial. Because, 1) I've misplaced most of my flakes from last year and have to stock up again, 2) I've been getting a TON of google search hits for paper flakes, and 3) cuz it's cheap as all get out and don't we all like that? Yes, I thought you would agree. See, that's why we're friends. Cheap people unite!Here's how ya do it...

Take a plain ol piece of printer paper (8.5x11")

...and fold it in half.

On the folded side, find your center mark...

...by folding it in half again and pinching the bottom corner.

Just pinch the corner, like this (see on the lower right?)...

I drew a little line so you can see where the center mark is...

Now fold the bottom corner up from that center point so that your bottom right corner is now pointing up near the top left corner

Press down to create a fold.

Then do the same with your lower left corner.

Fold that up to meet the top right edge.

Then fold that in half.

It will look like this...

Now you'll want to trim the excess.

See that short piece in there? You want to cut off everything that's past that edge.

Like this...

So you're left with the triangle piece (on the left in the pic below).

You can toss the extra bit that's on the right

Now draw your design. Try not to cut to far into the smallest angle (over there on the left in the picture below) because that will be the center of your flake. If you cut to far in, it will tend to fold in on itself. Keeping the center in tack will give you a strong flake. That's an oxymoron... but it's true.

I penciled in the areas that will be cut away.

Then cut, cut cut.

Once it's cut, slowly and carefully unfold the paper.

Be sure to press down on the seems as you open it.

It tends to want to fold back up on it's own.

Once it's open, you can place each flake in between the pages of a big, heavy book to get them super flat.

Then string them along a piece of fishing line or floss across the ceiling or tape them to your window.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wondering what designs I made to get the flakes in the collage pic up top?

Well wonder no more!

Here's the folded, cut piece (above) along with the open design (below)...

Now that I've completely overloaded you with paper cutting, go make some flakes and decorate!

Looking for a very inexpensive Christmas/Haunaka/Holiday gift?

Check out my Etsy shop for $20 custom printable posters!

*****CLICK HERE*****

Adding some boy-ish whimsy -Photoshop fun-

2011-11-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I showed y'all the crib/dresser situation. I've been wanting to ad some whimsical features to this room but couldn't figure out where to start. I'll be the first to admit that I have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to putting an entire room together. So, the thought of having less than 70 days left to complete baby BTB's whole nursery scares the breast fed baby poop out of me. Because of this irrational fear of decoration, I rely heavily on Photoshop to visualize things first without having to shell out all that cash only to find that I totally hate my ideas. So, this is what I came up with...

I have always (always always) loved the look of paper lantern clusters. The only problem is that the pretty ones look like this...

via Under the Sycamore

And this...

Via Martha Stewart Crafts

Or even this...

Via The Canterbury Place

...which are totally gorgeous, but not in the least bit fit for a little man's room. So I decided I should just "boy" it up a little with a less frill, a lot less pink, a bit more manly in the colors and textures and a whole lot of hot glue. i found some examples of what I hope to be making on Pinterest. And in the effort of giving credit where credit is due, I included direct links to every one's projects, which is a huge pain in the patoot, if you ask me, but it's only fair to credit the right person and not "Pinterest" or "Google" cuz they don't make crap... just lots of money.

First up is what I like to call "book page fish scale balls" ... sounds gross, looks beautiful and easy.

Via Cathy of California

Next up.. twine lanterns. There are a ton of different tutorials for this on Pinterest. Most involve wrapping glue soaked twine around a deflatable rubber ball. Seems easy, but very messy.

via West Elm

And then there's this crazy awesome lantern covered with strips of paper.

Via Instructables

Mixing these three types of lanterns with some plain white/cream ones from Ikea should do the trick. I'll also be adding a string of pennants throughout to keep it fun and colorful. now I just have to decide what side of the nursery the piece should live. If I put them to the left of the crib, it will make the most impact from the doorway.

But, I'd really like to put a chair to the left of the crib under the window (not shown) for feeding and reading. So the cluster might work better over to the right side of the crib. Plus it'll give him something to stare at while we change those lovely diapers.

And speaking of lighting near the chair, I was hoping to use this industrial style pendant light from (where else) Ikea. It's called the OTTAVA and only costs $29.99. Can't beat that with a particle board stick!

Layla from The Lettered Cottage has the same one in her reading room. She and her hubby Kevin shortened the wire length, covered it in twine and sprayed the glass with Valspar's frosting spray paint to cut the harsh glare from the exposed bulb.

Via TLC - Layla's Reading Room

So ladies and germs, now you know what's on the agenda for baby BTB's room.

Do you have a little boy? How did you add whimsy and fun into his room?

An Ikea factory exploded in my living room -AND- how to smuggle a watermelon

2011-11-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

Last Friday hubster and I braved the pouring rain, idiot drivers, and freaking fa-reezing cold (hey, 50* is cold for SoCal) to drive to Ikea to buy little man's dresser.

I'd been putting it off for a few weeks because I wanted to exhaust ALL other possible stores and Craigslist ads to be sure we were getting exactly what we needed. I *hated*the idea of paying $299 for an Ikea dresser. Let's face it, they're not known for having the highest quality pieces. But after searching Craigslist every single day for 2 weeks and checking out all the other local furniture stores, I decided to pull the trigger and go with the Ikea dresser. Everything from CL was either too far away, too expensive, or needed way too much work. And after checking all the other local stores' online pricing, I realized we'd be spending over $400 for something the we just kinda liked.

Mitch lugged the 2 boxes inside (a combined 130 pounds) and I started to pull out all of the parts. We decided that there's some person who works for Ikea who gets paid A WHOLE LOTTA money to figure out how they can shove 1000 pieces of pine and particle board into a cardboard box the size of a shoebox. It's insane. I realized I had a challenge ahead of me when hubby plopped a 5+ pound bag of screws, wooden pegs, and Allen bolts down on our Ikea coffee table. It looked like this....

via

....times ten.

Here's the hardware parts page directly from the 32 page instruction booklet

That's 370 pieces. Lord help me.

I started by separating all the different pieces into Mardi Gras cups. TWELVE cups later, I had everything sorted and was ready to start. I have to say, I used to despise Ikea instructions. There aren't ever any words, just pictures like this...

But when I compare that 32 page instruction booklet to the one page instruction sheet I got yesterday from Staples for my new office chair I praised the creators of these silly drawings for dumbing it up for me. Thank you Ikea!

I'll spare you the step-by-step pictures of the building process.... mainly because I didn't take any, but also because you would be bored out of your skull. Instead, I'll just show you the final product.

The drawers are already filling up with gifted clothes and hand-me-downs from friends who have had boys.

The room is 10x12 and has one Southern facing window

that lets in a ton of light all day long.

Because the light from the window is so bright, I thought it might be better to put the crib as far away from it as possible. So I used these handy dandy furniture mover thingies that I bought from Harbor Freight for $3.

Gus thought it was his box of raw hides, so he turned into a rabid psycho trying to get what he thought were his chewies. Crazy mutt.

Then Bob came in when he heard Gus howling.

...and they had a major sniff fest...

...til I dumped all the disks out onto the floor and he realized they weren't edible.

He was majorly disappointed.

Poor fatty.

Anyway, I was finally able to rearrange the crib and dresser and snapped a few pics to show how it would look.

I like the dresser on the long wall, but I'm not loving the crib in the spot.

It's a lot deeper than the dresser and looks a little awkward from the door way.

Here are the two different layouts side-by-side.

So I switched it back.

Eh, I don't know.

What I do know is that there's a whole lot of baby in this belly.

Actually, it's a whole lotta fluid. The doc checked last week to be sure I wasn't having a 15 pounder and I'll be going back again next week to have another sonogram to check his size. So, for the next 9 and 1/2 weeks I get to look like I'm smuggling a watermelon. Ahh, the joys of motherhood.

Halloweenie Pumpkins & Party

2011-11-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty relaxed Halloween. We carved pumpkins at my sister (in-laws) and her hubby whipped up a fresh batch of de-freakin-licious baked pumpkin seeds.

Jack Skelington is mine, Hello Kitty is Brandi's and the Jack-o-lantern is my niece, Madison's.

She really got into the cleaning and carving ....supervised by Gus, of course.

Those are his "I'm watching you!" eyes. Not to be confused with his "I'm falling asleep sitting up" eyes.

Mid-way through carving my pumpkin, I remembered that I had already done Sally from Nightmare before Christmas a couple years back. Husband made the pumpkin skull, of course.

The year after that, we didn't buy pumpkins, so I carved an "J-apple-lantern"

And last year I did a fancy pants monogram "C".

The Saturday before Halloween, our friends, John & Lindsey had a little party at their house. Mitch went as himself. Cue the womp womp sound effects. I tried so hard to help him come up with something. He swears he's gonna dress up next year with the baby. We''' see! I went as a hippy, which I discovered, isn't far off from how I normally dress. I really wanted to dress up but after scouring 3 costume stores, I couldn't find anything that would fit my belly (and that didn't cost $50+).

We were completely upstaged by everyone else's costumes.

Brandi and Nick (SIL&BIL) went as a box of popcorn an a Redneck.

Sid and Jackie had totally tubular 80s rocker costumes.

And John & Lindsey went as a pirate couple. Adorbs.

Any way, I hope y'all had a fun & safe Halloween!

Tomorrow I'll be buying Baby BTB's dresser. Here's hoping I don't go ripping my hair out while trying to follow Ikea's crappy instructions!

Baby BTB: the crib .aka. baby jail -AND- What are your baby essentials?

2011-10-31T08:32:00.000-07:00

Poor little dude will be going straight from the smashed confines of my ever-growing belly straight to baby jail.

Delta Sedona Classic
PS: I Photoshopped the crown and base boards in so you and I can get an idea of how it will look...someday.

We plan on having him sleep in his room from the start. Besides not wanting to get into the habit of having him in our already too small bed, we just don't have enough room in our 12x14 bedroom for a bassinet. And this situation WON'T be happening.

Plus mama needs her sleep. I can hear you laugh/yelling at the computer screen "HAHA! YOU DUMB GIRL. YOU WON'T BE SLEEPING WHEN THE BABY COMES!" Well, guess what? I don't sleep as it is! I wake up an average of TWENTY times a night. Yes. T-w-e-n-t-y. A combination of leg cramps, bruised hip bones (from only being able to sleep on my sides), plus occasional heart burn, and crazy dreams that lead to night sweats have me waking up anywhere from 10 times on a good night, to every 15 minutes on bad nights. I would pay good money for a mattress that had a belly sized hole carved out of it.

Anyway. I bought the crib from Babies R Us last weekend. It had everything I was looking for. White, clean lines, no curves, convertible, good ratings (it got a 4.5 out of 5) and CHEAP. It was only $113 (with tax)after a 20% off coupon. And it also looks a heck of alot like this crib from Pottery Barn Kids for $399.

PB Kendall Crib

MUUUUHAHAHAHHA. That that PB!

Every time I go into the nursery Gus rushes in and thinks it's play time. I'm just praying that he handles the new addition well and doesn't eat the kid.

Fatty will eat just about anything.

Tha't not a rawhide.... it's a sock.

Sigh.

Now I just need:

-a matress

-bedding

- dresser/changing table (which I'm buying this week/end)

-changing pad

-diapers

-monitor

-wipes

-bottles

-clothes

-car seat/carrier

-stroller

-blankets

-burp cloths

-boppy

-bouncer

-swing

-books

-toys

-hooter hider.

Soooo, yea... as much as I say that I'm ready and want this guy out NOW, I'm not prepared. What were the items you couldn't live without when your little one arrived??

HELP!

PS: Happy Halloween!!

27 Week Bump Update, Crazy Cravings & Disneyland Photo Dump

2011-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's up again. Last week it was out and down. I swear this thing has a mind of its own.

I'm getting more and more strangers asking when I'm due. They usually say "How many months are you?" Which, oddly enough, is a hard question to answer. I think most pregnant women will tell you how far along they are in weeks... not months. It's a bit confusing because people think that if you're 9 months pregnant, you should be having the baby any second, when technically you're pregnant for 40 weeks which equals TEN months. So, when I tell people that I'm 27 weeks, they usually say "oh, so your about half way down" UM...NO.

Yesterday I went to the lab for my glucose tolerance test. It's tests for gestational diabetes...which I hopefully do not have. They make you drink this little bottle of sugary crap, which tastes like orange cough syrup that's been watered down. Nasty. I figured I'd just get it over with, so I chugged it like a frat boy doing a keg stand. Maybe that was a bad idea, cuz it hit my stomach like a ton of bricks. Three minutes later I had a baby somersault show going on in my gut.

While I sat in the waiting room for my blood to be tested I started talking to this cute little old-er lady. She asked me if I had any cravings and then proceeded to tell me about the cravings she had when she was pregnant 30-something years ago. First she told me that she wanted bananas. But she didn't want to eat them, she just wanted to stare at them. She also said she would have her sister cook her flank steak and she would set it in a drawer in her dining table (yea, a drawer...in the dining table) and would just stare it. She wouldn't eat it... just look at it. The one craving she had that she would actually eat was LIVE SHRIMP. She liked the way they felt wiggling around in her mouth. GAH!!! I just kept saying "Wow (smile/nod) wow" ... I don't think there's much else to say when someone tells you that.

Anyway.... on to the Disney pics.

Last week I left off with this little picture of hubby, me, my SIL & BIL Brandi and Nick and my niece, Madison. at the last minute our friends Kevin and Malan came with their kiddos, Luke and Scarlet.

I seriously didn't stage this picture. We were waiting in line for the Haunted Mansion and I just happened to turn around to see them all staring up at the Halloween decor and snapped the pic.

This girl seriously has the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen and a natural tan... like cafe au lait. She's such a pretty baby.

I find that when you blog and you don't have kids, you tend to be the designated picture taker. Therefore, no one ever seems to get a picture of you, so you have to take these weird extended arm pics to prove that you were actually in attendance.

Here's the first official pictures of baby and Madison...

COUSINS!

I really wish our faces hadn't turned out so blurry in this picture.

The balloons are kinda psychedelic

And here's the first official non-silhouette picture of the bump.

Totally weird.

Madison, Nick and Brandi

In the days prior to leaving for Disney, I realized that walking around the park ALL DAY LONG would probably put a strain on the back and belly. So at 8:45 the night before, my SIL and I ran to Babies R Us and bought one of these really attractive belly support thingies.

Pretty sexy, huh?

I'm still confused by the top strap. I'm not too worried that the belly will pop up and it's optional, so I just leave it off. Here's this week and last week's pics. You can really see how much higher it is.

This weekend I'm going to buy the crib... finally!

Hopefully I'll have some nursery picture updates.

The best thing you could say to a pregnant woman + Disneyland!!!

2011-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

What's the best thing you could say to a pregnant woman besides "Here Sweetie, I brought you this chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream" or "Let me rub your back for an hour!!" Well, it would have to be "You don't even look pregnant from behind". Why, thank you!

It never gets old. Who knows how long it will last, but I'm soaking it up while I can. People are just now starting to ask if I'm pregnant and when I'm due. You would think that with a profile like this...

...that people would've been asking a long time ago.

I went to the bank on Tuesday and when I approached the teller she asked "How many months are you?" It was the first time a stranger had asked so I was a bit confused. For some reason, it just didn't register in my head what she meant. "OH! I'm 26 weeks!" duh. Then she went on for at least 5 minutes about how "Labor doesn't hurt, it just feels like really bad cramps, but once you have the epidural, its SO EASY!!"

I stood there listening to her ramble on while giving her my best "are-you-crazy-or-just-some-freak-of- nature" eyebrow. When she finished I just said "Maybe you're one of the lucky ones. Hopefully that'll be me too!"

I mentioned the "it doesn't hurt" speech on facebook. These were the responses from some of my friends:

-Don't believe they hype!!!

-Yeah.....it hurts.....but look what you get!!!!!

-How many kids has SHE had?

-I have a feeling you'll let us all know with kind, colorful words about your labor experience :)

-She's lying!!!!!

-Just keep telling yourself 'it is almost over.'

-I wonder what kind of drugs she was on.

-I did it twice with no drugs!! Just don't hurt Mitch!

We will see!! I'm beyond ready for this little guy to be out. I can't sleep at all anymore. I wake up at least 6 times a night -WIDE AWAKE. I figure that if I'm already up 6 times a night I might as well be doing something productive. I haven't been able to sleep on my stomach comfortably for months. Sleeping on my back is now impossible because I wake up short of breath with a racing heart. The only way I can rest is on my sides, but I wake up with an aching hip. "Ready" is an understatement.

Oh and this weekend we're going to make a day trip to the greatest place on Earth. Wait, make that the second greatest place on Earth. New Orleans will ALWAYS be my #1. We're going to Disneyland!! It'll be my niece's first time. I really hope she loves it!!

(CLICK TO ENLARGE!)

Have a great weekend!

Recycled Cup Holder Wall Decor

2011-10-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Yup, you read that right. And if you caught yesterday's teaser post, you might already know that this whole project was funded by 20-something trips to McDonald's for coffee.

I'd been collecting these for about a year before I actually got started on the project. I'm not sure what made me think of doing this. I guess I just got used to looking for interesting shapes in every-day items and knew these would look pretty dang cool grouped together.

I went with a diamond shaped pattern for this project.

The square pattern would have been much easier to work with

and required a lot less trimming.

I also added a bit of white paint to bring out some detail in the shapes.

You could just attach these to the wall with small thumb tacks, but I wanted this to be a movable piece, so I used a large sheet of black foam core.

I bought this board from Michael's for about $7 (I had a 40% off coupon) and used it to display some Etsy posters at a craft fair. It was the perfect size for this project and the wall space I wanted to cover. You could use any sort of poster board or cardboard.... preferably recycled :)

Once you have the piece of cardboard backing cut to the right size,

just lay out all of your cup holders on top.

Then take one piece at a time and super glue each one down.

Try not to shift your pieces around too much!

You're edges will be all wonky if the pieces start to get a little crooked.

(PS: DON'T buy one of those cute, mini-sized hot glue guns like in the picture above. They are WORTHLESS and use a TON of glue. Stick with the old school, ugly black guns. Their worth their weight in gold!)

If you're using Mickey D's cup holders, you'll want to put the glue on these spots.

This will give you the best surface to surface contact.

If you're using the diamond shaped pattern you're going to have to cut some pieces up. It's not too hard. Just place the cup holder along the edge and either draw a line that matches up with the edge of your backing or use scissors to make a small starter cut. Then trim off the excess.

Once all of your pieces are glued down, you might want to add some support to the back side of the board. I just glued two wooden dowels to keep the tri-fold board from bending. Then I poked a strand of Christmas lights through the board so that the cup holders were lit from behind.

I still need to cut one holder to fill the four corner pieces.

Here's how it looks at night with the twinkle lights on.

And with the lights on...

I still need to get a day-time shot. I finished this really late last night. When the hubby saw it up on the wall he actually said "Looks good, babe....You should just do the WHOLE wall"

Yep... it's Earth friendly AND hubby approved!

Recycled Cardboard Cup Holders - The Teaser

2011-10-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

I wanted to give y'all a sneak peek of a little recycling project I've been working on. It won't cost you a dime to make this.... just 20-something trips to McDonald's where you'll have to ask for a cup holder (or two).

I've been collecting these for almost a year now.

You can see my stash in this picture from the nursery clean up.

I've saved up about 25 and just painted some accents on them last night. Tonight I'll put everything together and show y'all how it turns out!

::Fingers crossed:: that this ends up looking as good in real life as it does in my giant head.

We were supposed to go to Vegas, but I did something much more thrilling instead...

2011-10-10T10:56:00.000-07:00

...I painted the baby's room.

Like I said; MUCH more thrilling.

We were supposed to drive to Vegas this past weekend to meet up with my mom and dad. They're in town for dental conventions til Wednesday. Our plans to meet up & hang out fell through when we realized we wouldn't have much time together.... just a couple hours over the course of 2 days ::major sad face::

This left my Saturday wide open for painting Baby Beignet's room. I stuck with the plans I made a while back and went with a greige-y color called "Perfect Taupe" by Behr.

Hubby still hasn't cleared out all of his crap from the closet.

(I photo shopped the crown moulding right above the door just to show how
crisp the new wall color will look against the future white crown)

The husband swore up and down the new color was identical to what was already in the room.

Ugh. Men.

Does this look like the same color to you?

I didn't think so.

Reminds me of this picture from Geek In Heels

Except there are about a million more distinguishable shades in between the ones listed on the female side.

Did y'all do anything fun this weekend?

What pregnant women don't tell you...

2011-10-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

I've recently discovered a TON of those secret little things that pregnant women don't/won't tell you about. Some are scary. For example, most people have heard that while your pregnant, your hair grows like a weed and gets super thick and healthy. Well what they haven't told you is that after you have the baby, your hair starts falling out like crazy. You end up looking like one of those mangy dogs with big bald spots all over your head. Ok, it's not that bad.... but close. Then, some of these secrets are totally gross. Hello, mucus plug. I won't even go there. But this one I recently discovered (thanks to my pregnant friend, April) is pretty dang weird. If you flex your abs, your stomach morphs into a crazy cone shape.

freakiest. thing. ever.

What the?!?!

Mitch keeps yelling "Quit doing that, you're gonna give our kid a cone head!"

Do you have any crazy pregnancy secrets to share?

Baby Beignet - Belly Pics Updated - Weeks 18-25

2011-10-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

I just hit week 25 on Sunday. I'm not sure what's up with this belly. One day it's up, the next it's out, then it's down. Little man can't make up his mind.

I keep having strange baby dreams. Last week I dreamed that the lower half of the baby's face was all long and stretched out like a monkey. Then a few days later I had a dream that my mom had the baby for me and I woke up feeling so relieved that I could finally sleep on my stomach again. Then a few nights later I dreamed that I could see the baby squirming around in my belly. But not just the pokes and jabs that I normally see.... in the dream, there wasn't a protective bubble for him to swim around in. It was more like he was just wiggling around under a thin layer of skin. I could see his head, legs and bum rolling around across my stomach.

See what I mean about the belly being up/down/out?

Pregnancy is a very odd thing.

I seriously can wait to get this little man out. I'm already up all night anyway, we might as well be hanging out in his room getting to know each other!

Dream a Little Dream of Me - New in the shop

2011-09-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

I just whipped up this little printable poster.
It's the lyrics to one of my all-time favorite songs.

Originally, I planned on it just being a piece of art for our nursery, but I thought y'all might want one too. So, now it's available in these 4 different color schemes in my Etsy shop. $10 buys you the digital file and a size change if you need it. It's currently set to print at 8x10 to fit standard sized frames, but I can change that to any dimensions you might need.

I just got an email from Canvas People (who I've used before with great results) with a coupon link for a FREE 8x10". Talk about perfect timing!

--------------------------------------------------

I've also added "The Story of Us" themed customizable poster. I had a request from a friend of mine to make one for her anniversary and she and I love how it turned out. $20 buys you a custom tailored printable poster with the story of how you and your love met and fell for each other.

How freaking sweet is that?

Have a wonderful weekend y'all!

Our Junk Room -aka- The Future Nursery

2011-09-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

This poor child.

He has no idea that he's being born into a family that's eligible for an episode of hoarders. Most people have a junk drawer (or 2), well we have a junk room. It didn't start out that way. I blame my husband. Sorry babe! : x

It was originally a room we rented out to our friend, Phil, for the first few months that we owned the house. Phil painted the room RED with black trim. He said he was going for a "Zen" look. The day after he moved out, I painted over the blood red walls with the only paint we had on hand, which happened to be the same awful color we used in the living room. Then I moved all of our office stuff in there. Then the computer broke. Then we bought a laptop and pretty much never went in there except when hubby and his friends would come over to 'jam' aka play guitars way too loud.

Then, my friend Tyra came to visit and I cleaned out the guestroom closet and tossed those items (a few random craft project materials) against one wall...

YIKES.

Here's the breakdown of each pile-o-junk...

About an hour later it looked more like this...

Donations, donations! Name that movie!!

Another 30 minutes later, our supervisors (Bob & Gus) came to check on the progress... and hold the carpet down.

Poor fatty.

He's lost weight, but you can't tell when he's sitting next to skinny Bobby.

He tends to look like a beached whale.

We're almost done clearing out the room. I disassembled the desk and pulled everything off of the walls. The only things left in there are the closet full of plastic storage containers and the over vent.

I'll post more updates as we move along!

Well that was quick -Vol. 25 Prints

2011-09-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

I ordered 'em on Monday and they're here already!!

Fastest Etsy purchase & delivery time ever!

If you missed my post about Volume 25's big 40% off sale click RIGHT HERE to get the details. Or just head on over to Jess' Etsy Store and get your deal before the sale ends on Monday!

I'm so beyond in love with the deer couple print. The worn/scratchiness kills me.

And she even sent a little lagniappe, too. I LOVE lagniappe in any form. Whether it be an extra bite of food, a chalk stick and a stinky candle, or frameable postcards, I can't get enough.

So, thank you, Jessica! I hope you're one step closer to your dream home!

Shabby Chic Baby Shower

2011-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

I know I promised pictures of our friend's the baby shower from this past weekend days ago, but I'm pregnant and I forgot my camera at my sister-in-law's. Being pregnant makes you forget a LOT of things. I don't remember why. There's a logical/scientific explanation for it that I read on some baby website, but that was a few months ago and I've already forgotten that too. hmm.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the decor we made/bought/borrowed.

The dessert table...

With the little "It's a girl" flags and the "Sugar & Spice" banner I made for the cupcakes...

And the banner my sil made out of square doilies from the dollar store.

I swear the table cloth (just a fitted sheet over a painter's tarp) didn't look nearly as wrinkly in person.

And here's a bit of the food table. The light coming through the window cast a weird greenish color on everything, so I couldn't get a good picture of the set up.

And, of course, you can't have a party these days without a pom or two showing up. I made the grey pompoms from tissue paper that Brandi found at the dollar store and the small white ones out of coffee filters that I had left over from last year's "A Cheap & Lazy Girl's Quick & Dirty Winter Wreath".

And the banner (probably my favorite decoration) was made by the both of us. We made little bibs, onsies, dresses, a bathing suit, booties and a diaper out of fancy craft paper, then glued it to a ribbon.

That's all folks!

I'm 23 (and 1/2) Weeks HUGE

2011-09-21T18:38:00.000-07:00

This bump has a mind of it's own.

I can only imaging how ginormous it's gonna be in the coming months. Yikes.

YOWZAH.

My belly and chest seem to be getting bigger by the day.

I actually watched Baby Beignet's foot/elbow/hand/knee/who-knows-what glide from my hip bone up to my ribs. It was seriously freaky. According to The Bump, this lil guy is the size of a papaya... 10.5 to 11.8 inches and about 12.7 to 20.8 ounces... and just got his nipples! Isn't that crazy?

In other news, I've perfected my belly roll technique. Mitch still tries to stop me whenever I do a new 'trick' with the bump. Also, I can't sleep. At all. I wake up once an hour every night. My heart is racing and I'm instantly w i d e awake. It's driving me crazy. Any suggestions on how to stay asleep?

40% off EVERYTHING from Volume 25

2011-09-19T16:18:00.000-07:00

Y'all know if am a huge fan of Etsy and buying handmade. Jessica, who runs one of my all time FAVORITE Etsy shops, Volume 25, is having a mega sale. All prints are 40% off with code "SAVE401" til September 26th. That means you have just ONE week to stock up on some pretty amazing art. And best of all, the money is going towards the down payment of Jessica's adorable family's future home. If that doesn't light a fire under your tush, I don't know what will.

I just purchased these 2 prints:

Deer Couple

Live Simply

I've loved the deer couple print for a while and the "Live Simply" print hooked me because those trees remind me of the huge cypress trees that line the bayous back home.

If the artwork looks familiar it's because I've mentioned ordering from Vol.25 before. Remember this print that I bought for my sister?

And remember when I mentioned all the fun freebies Jessica offers up on her blog?

Like this camera ID tag:

And these recipe cards:

So go dress your nekked walls and get an early start on your holiday gift purchases!!

It's a Girl!

2011-09-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

Did you think for just a second that maybe the ultrasound tech got it wrong? No, the lil guy is still all boy. Our friend April is pregnant with their THIRD baby girl! My SIL, Brandi is hosting her baby shower this weekend and I offered to make the invites and other little decoration type pieces for the party. She wanted to stick with a shabby chic/damask theme, so this is what I came up with for the invitations:

(click on any picture to enlarge)

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And I made a few dozen of these to stick in cupcakes or use as swizzle sticks

Yes, the bike is still in the dining room. And yes, our ugly coach is PERFECT for sticking bamboo skewers into without worrying about messing up that funky fabric. Some people have craft rooms.... I have a crappy craft couch. Don't be jealous. God don't like ugly.

Lemme tell ya, after you see the word "girl" written out about 50+ times, you start to question whether or not it's spelled correctly. I literally typed "girl" in a google search just to make sure my brain hadn't fried. Seriously.

I also made these to print out and frame for the favor table and for the 'wish' jar.

And this little banner for the dessert table

(which looks totally weird propped up on that black chair, but you get the point)

And of course I'll have to throw the "Babies Don't Keep" print in there somewhere.

Other than that, we've been working on a tissue paper pompom cluster and a banner of baby clothes made out of craft paper (which came out SUPER cute). We started working on both last night and I, of course, totally forgot to take pictures. So, you'll have to wait till Monday to see how everything came together.

Anyone have suggestions for fun baby shower games?

We'll be playing the "Dirty Diaper Game" aka "Guess the Chocolate" game, and the belly measuring game, and probably some sort of "guess how many jelly bellies are in the baby bottle" type game. I'm sure there are a million more fun games out there but, we haven't had much luck finding them! Help!!

Babies Don't Keep Printable

2011-09-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

I had a few emails come in asking me where I found the "Babies Don't Keep" poster that was in my little guy's nursery design board from last Friday. I originally found the poster design on Pinterest and just tweaked the colors in Photoshop to go with a more boy-ish theme. But, I knew the download was somewhere on Lay Baby Lay... I just couldn't seem to find it. Well, today I finally tracked that sucker down and discovered there was a blue version of the original pink one found on Pinterest. So, I thought I'd share the links to each of the downloads.

Pink Poster Blue Poster

(click on the "Pink" and "Blue" links above to go to the .pdf download page)

PS: I've been working on a few baby shower items for a friend of mine who's having her THIRD baby girl in December! The shower is this Saturday, so I'll show you some of the crafty projects I've been working on with my SIL, Brandi tomorrow.

THIS BOY'S ROOM- Nursery Moodboard

2011-09-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Dreams of a lovely little girl's room filled with soft creams, pinks and turquoises and Eloise inspired items flew right out the Health Imaging Services window the second the ultrasound tech passed over this little guy's privates and he flashed 'deetel-eet' for all the world (well, just the few of us in the room) to see. What's a 'deetel-eet' you say? Well, that's grown up talk for 'wiener'.

A few weeks ago I started putting together a mood board for a boy's room. I am not claiming to be good at this... AT ALL. I've always dreaded making a mood board cuz honestly, I just can't ever seem to pull a room together and have it look cohesive. And if I ever did, it was by complete and total accident.

Here's what I narrowed the design down to...

Colors: Greige walls, charcoal greys, whites and neutrals with pops of turquoise and a teeny bit-o-burnt orange.

Decor/Theme: I hate to say I have a 'theme' because once you do, people tend to overload you with a million butterfly/sports/car/frog/polka dot/rainbow type items. I'd rather keep it eclectic and non-specific. So, I guess you could say my 'theme' is a mix of typography (numbers and letters), handmade mobiles and an assortment of animals. I'll call my theme "TyMoMal"

Ha.

Here are the numbered items from the mood board:

1. Twine mobile

2. Double drum shade

3. Paper mobile

4. Cardboard Safari elephant trophy

5. Various prints found on Pinterest

6. Ikea Edland dresser or similar secondhand dresser to use for storage and changing table

7. Black dog, polar bear, and fox prints via Native Vermont's etsy shop

And the breakdown:

m o b i l e t y p e i t e m s

1. A super simple paper mobile in shades of teal and turquoise strung on fishing line. I'd like to make one that's more 3 dimensional. I might use a small embroidery hoop to hang the strings from.

2. Twine or yard mobile. I've seen this done a million times on Pinterest. It seems easy. Just dip twine or yard into Elmer's glue and wrap around a balloon or ball. Let dry, pop balloon/deflate ball, remove and hang.

3. I'm in love with the shades of turquoise blue and the raindrops. I just have to figure out how to make those adorable little cloud poufs.

a r t a n d p r i n t s

1. Count Your Blessings Letterpress poster

2. Babies Don't Keep print (color tweaked by yours truly)

3. All three of these prints are from an Etsy shop called Native Vermont.

4. Cardboard elephant head trophy from Cardboard Safari

f u r n i t u r e a n d r u g

I like this rug is from West Elm.... but I ain't rich, so I'll either paint a zebra rug on a big drop cloth or steal Mandi's zebra rug idea.

Super simple white crib sans curvy sides.

Ikea Edland dresser

And these are some other ideas I'd like to incorporate.

I love the big pouf and barn door in this pic via Noosh Kids

These funny prints via Sycamore Street Press

Elephant mobile via Traveling Mama

AWESOME rope handle dresser via Me & Jilly

Is that enough nursery overload for ya?

I don't think you're ready for this belly -Week 18-21

2011-09-07T07:43:00.000-07:00

Yea, I went there. Now that song is gonna be stuck in your head all.day.long. You're welcome.

Any who, I thought I'd show the progress pics I've been taking since week 18. I kinda wish I had started sooner, but I really didn't look too pregnant before week 18. I just looked like I spent all day at the buffet. So, it wasn't impressive.... just sloppy.

Week 20 and 21 look nearly identical , but I feel sooo much bigger.... like can't bend over and buckle the strap on my flip flops without getting really uncomfortable and breaking out into a sweat. Ugh. I can only imagine how insanely uncomfortable I'll be in just a few months.

And the odd thing is that my butt seems to be morphing just as much as the belly. One week it's a mini JLo and the next it's a pancake, then the next it's high, and then it's low again. Maybe it's just the angle of my hips in the pictures, but it sure does look weird.

Stenciled Damask Wall - Royal Design Studio Stencil Review

2011-09-06T07:15:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Royal Design Studio was super close to where I work and that I was thinking of ordering a stencil from them. Then a couple days after that they contacted me to see if I would like a free stencil to review. Abso-freakin-loutely! So I requested the large fabric damask stencil and planned to use it in the nursery if baby beignet turned out to be a girl. No dice... baby BTB is most definitely a boy. So, our guest room was the second choice spot for it.

The wall above the bed had been blank for a months and it was looking more than a little sad in there I just couldn't ever seem to find something that filled up the space without it looking too busy or too sparse, so the stencil idea seemed perfect.

So hubby moved the bed out of the way while I gathered up all the supplies I'd need to start stenciling.

Here's the basics of what you'll need to stencil a wall.

Painter's tape, a paint roller, measuring tape, and a level. I also needed a carpenter's square and a pencil to fined a level line on the wall since our ceilings are vaulted.

To find the level line I just measured from the floor to the ceiling on left side of the white painted area. Then measured the same length on the opposite side and marked it with a pencil. Then used the carpenter's square and the level to make a perfectly straight, level line.

Once I had that level line, it was much easier to find the center of the wall space and paint the first design. The instructions suggest starting the stencil at the top center of the focus wall and working out from there.

Once I had it level and taped down, I rolled a thin (thin thin thin) coat of Ralph Lauren's "Evening Slipper". It's a metallic paint that's been discontinued but is nearly identical to Martha's Precious Metals "Bone". Ask your paint specialist at Home Depot if they have any left over RL paints. They'll usually sell them for half price.

And the moment of truth....

It looked nearly perfect!

It's a bit hard to see with the glare of the window, so here's the view from the other side.

Ok, so now what? You can move either to the side or below to paint the next piece. I chose to go down since I was worried that the edges of the stencil would lay on top of the still wet painted areas. Royal Design Studios came up with the nifty little idea of cutting guide marks so you can match those marks on the sides of the stencil with the floating marks you see in the picture above. They've also cut small marks on the top and bottom of the stencil so you can match the top of the stencil with the bottom of the already painted piece to move on to the next section. You can (barely) see the small cuts in the picture below.

Once you've matched them up, just check the top and sides with the level and press down on your tape.

For side to side match-up, you just place the stencil over those 'floating' pieces and check to be sure it's level

Then just fill up the wall.

I moved around quite a bit to keep the back of the stencil off of the wet areas.

This is about the time when hubby came in the room to watch. Then he started pointing out all the faces in the design. To which I replied, yea, just these little elf headed lookin' guys that are staring at each other...

Then he pointed out the huge face that I couldn't see looking me right in the face.

...and the smaller animal (cow?) skull right above it with the star/flower on it's forehead.

Yikes! Kinda freaky. But it just made him like it all the more.

Men are weird like that.

Anyway, as I worked toward the outer edges of the white area, I just taped along the line with the painter's tape.

The only real problem I had was that I used a little too much paint a few times and it seeped onto the back of the stencil. Which, of course, I didn't notice til I pulled the stencil away from the wall and saw this...

Ugh, so after a few sections, I dabbed the back side with a cloth. That seemed to do the trick.

Once the majority of the wall was filled up, it was on to the top and bottom edges. I was totally dreading this part. Getting a crisp edge, probably wasn't going to happen. Plus, painter's tape doesn't stick well to ugly popcorn ceilings.

So, I winged it. I matched up my markings and pushed that sucker as far as I could up into the corner.

You can see the top edge doesn't exactly go all the way up to the ceiling in some spots. I don't mind since we have plans to put up crown molding. The bottom edge was much easier than I thought it would be. I just lined up the stencil and painted right up to the quarter round molding. Easy peasy.

The nice part about stenciling is that it takes all of 5 minutes for the paint to dry. So, putting the room back together right after I cleaned up my supplies was a nice surprise.

And from the other side of the room...

It's pretty crazy how the RL paint nearly matches the wall color from this angle.

But, I really like the shine from the doorway :)

All in all, I'd have to say that Royal Design Studios knows their stuff. The hardest part of the whole project was finding my first level line and keeping the stencil straight. That's it. The rest of the project was a piece of cake. Plus, you can't beat the impact that a stenciled wall creates for the price of a reusable piece.

Here's a just a few more ideas to get your creative juices flowing...

Chez Sheik

I wish I had somewhere I could use this gorgeous floor stencil...

Skylar's Lace

Springtime in Paris

You can even use em on fabric.

Small Chez Ali

Does the last pic look familiar?

RDS's design was featured on the cover of Better Home's and Gardens in July.

Please go check out their website for more ideas!