a little bit of me.

{Wordless Wednesday: 52 Weeks Ago Today}

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((subtitle: I can't believe that my baby will be ONE tomorrow.  xo, n))

{About a year ago...}

Sometime it just hits me how much has changed in the past year.

This was me (AND MY BELLY) almost a year ago.  Insane.  ;)

We didn't know whether we were going to be adding a baby boy or a baby girl to our little family of three (+ a poodle) --- we just knew that we were excited that a new "something" was arond the corner...

and now - a year later-ish...  this was us on the same beach yesterday...

(also snapped by eric) - xo to eric for taking some of my favorite photos ever.

;)

{introducing...}

…We are so thrilled to welcome our brand new SON...

Noah Grayson into the world.

He arrived this afternoon at 3:32pm, weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz, and measured 19 inches long.

We are all doing great & have fallen in love with baby Noah.

(so much more to come when we get home from the hospital this weekend)

:)

{a look at the nursery.}

Such a relief that the nursery is finished pre-baby... :)  In my crazy-brain i just needed it done to feel at ease before the birth...

& I have to admit I was a little nervous about creating a gender-neutral nursery, but once i decided on a yellow & aqua color scheme (which was highly influenced by a couple of gorgeous nurseries on oh-dee-doh), everything else just kind of fell into place.

ok - so here we go.  I am going to try my best to link as much as possible to the source as i go...

if anyone's been reading the blogg-o *that* long, you'll remember that we used a similar paint treatment with evan's first nursery (in MN), and created a big stripe around the room.  I loved that look so much, that we did it again in ev's room here, and the nursery, now.  :)  I also went a little bit crazy with monkeys in his first nursery, and decided that the animal of choice for this baby would be a giraffe... ;)  and then some elephants got thrown in too.  (just for good measure!)

all of the furniture was "upcycled" ;) from evan's nursery - except for the nightstand - which was a clearance purchase from Restoration Hardware.  Because we weren't spending on furniture, I definitely had more room (financially) to have fun with decor ;)

taking a tour around the room (which is a really nice size compared to evan's first nursery!), and starting with the bedding...

...i had the bedding custom made by this fabulous etsy shop (i highly recommend emily - she was great to work with!).  I choose the fabric (aqua with yellow polkas for the bumper and yellow bumblebees for the sheet) and sent it to her, along with the solids - but she also has a great selection of coordinated prints in her shop.  The sunshine squares quilt was made by me last month... ;)  oh, & the baby's name will go over the crib once we know JUST what the baby's name is....  hehe.

To the right of the crib is a tall bookshelf that i stuffed with toys in order to add even more color to the room.  The sound machine and video monitor will eventually go here.  The abc print is from this etsy shop - and the giraffe lamp was a cheapy Homegoods find.  I think this is my favorite corner of the room.  ;)

To the left of the crib is the window, and we had a little bit of space left over, so I was able to fit in Evan's rocking horse, and this cube (from Target) which turned out to be the perfect place to store a BUNCH of baby books.

The giraffes are wall decals purchased from this etsy shop.  The curtain topper is super simple & was made by me for less than $10.

Moving past the window, is the chair corner with the nightstand...

thought it would be nice to have someplace to put stuff when i'm feeding/rocking in the chair at all hours of the night ;)

The fact that the chair we already had was BROWN, was probably the biggest color issue that i had > but i love the chair, its super comfy, and there was nothing wrong with it, so we made it work.  I had the crazy-talented crafty-crochet-lady who made me a large afghan last year, make a similar style baby sized one out of yarn colors that i choose to match the room.  (this is her online shop, i'm sure that there's contact info on it somewhere if interested!)  i ADORE how it turned out, and somehow know that there will be many baby photos taken on it!

Above the chair is a peg shelf...

...and hanging from one of the pegs is a dream ring that i'm pretty sure eric hates, but i love.  ha ;)

There's another target cube in between the chair and nightstand - perfect for more book storage...

The illuminated egg lamp on top of the nightstand was definitely one of my splurges in the room - but it is SO fun, and shoots out little stars of light all over the room at night.  ;)  The music box next to it is something that Evan has decided that he loves, along with the orange monkey!

The bottom bin of the nightstand is now full of a whole tin of burpies - I made like 15 of these at the beginning of the pregnancy, and am SO glad that I did - they were great to have with evan (so much more durable than just a prefold dipe).  I used lots of hard to find favorite fabrics on these, bc i just thought that it would be amusing at some point to me, to be wiping up burps in the middle of the night with really pricy fabric.  ha ;)  Sophie the Giraffe is hanging out with the burpies - ready to be chewed on!

To the left of the chair corner is the changing table / dresser...

...this ended up being my little 'ode to the elephant' wall.  :)

the multi elephant "print" is really a piece of matte gift wrap(!) that i've had for over a year, the elephant mirror is from petit collage, the elephant sunshine artwork is from this etsy shop - Freya Art, and the elephant embroidery hoop was done by this etsy shop.

(the cute little bunny is a brush/comb set)

Finally (almost done!) is the last wall with the doorway on it, not a lot going on there, but it helps you see the room as a whole.

& We did "recycle" 2 little IKEA prints from evan's nursery right by the door...

Love that we were able to make so much from his nursery work in this one too, and yet they both totally have their own "look".

So that is about it.  ;)

Now i guess all we need is a baby...

:)

PS -  i'm going to upload larger images to a "nursery" set on Flickr this weekend - will update the post with a link to the set when i do...

{a few more SNEAKS! & what's happening at 38 weeks}

my blog post title rhymes.

i kinda LOVE that ;)

i can't believe that i hit 38 weeks today...

(well actually i can when i look at my naked belly in the mirror >> Hello stretch marks, you have not only returned, but you've brought along friends, too.  awesome.)

i've been wrapped up in baby prep this week.

why do i keep thinking of random things that i need?  or things that our house needs that i want to mega-stock up on so i dont have to worry them about right after the birth??  enough already.  i just want to sit on the couch... ;)  maybe this weekend.  heeee.

and so, at 38 weeks, i...

...am so far from any state of "comfortable" that it's hilarious.

...am REALLY READY to find out if this baby is a boy or a girl ;) >>> REALLY READY!!!

...am trying to organize our house and prepare everything that i can think of.

...am so NOT interested in food, for the most part.  Altho fruit and fruit smoothies STILL appeal. ;)  (and the papa john's pizza we just ordered!)

...am having random contractions.  fun fun.

...have to pee every 30 mins at night.  awesome.

...am making lots of last minute lists.

...have one swollen hand and one swollen foot.  and a huge appreciation for my wrist brace at night!

...have ordered a TON of goodies from etsy and other newborn-ish crafty sites over the past couple of weeks.

...am sad that evan seems to have a little cold and fever and possible ear infection right now - and HOPING & PRAYING that the baby and i dont get it...

...need to photograph the nursery tomorrow, in order to blog it.  ;)

****************

And since i don't have any 38 week photos right now (maybe this weekend?!), here are a few more sneaks from the Studio Calico June Kit: Partly Sunny!!!!  and Add On #1 Rec League - that will be available tomorrow night at midnight... ;)  (and at noon for subscribers!)

DONT MISS IT!!!! it's a good one ;)

There's that FABULOUS new photo label punch showing up on the sneak above...  hehe.  ;)

YUMMY!  :)

can't wait to share the actual pages...

oh, and PS - CHECK OUT this punch (click!), i am totally hoping that it will be back in stock so that i can snag one too.... ;)

{Aqua & Yellow Wonky Stars}

#1 - both eric and i are LOVING all of the baby guessing - so thanks for entertaining us - and be sure to enter a guess if you haven't already ;)

#2 - thanks to pregnancy-related insomnia, here i am at 2:30am+ >> blogging.  :)  and i figured what better to finally blog than the aqua and yellow wonky baby star quilt...

so here it is...

 

not sure i'm loving the way the colors photographed, so you will have to take my word for the fact that the color combo looks much nicer IRL.  k?

and just to recap - its much like the yellow and grey stars that i made for my friend melanie... :)  just a different color combo, and a fourth row of stars!

i used this tutorial, which was super easy to follow!

the giraffe in the center of one of the stars was hand embroidered prior to cutting that center block - you can find the giraffe embroidery pattern in this etsy shop...

the aqua solid is a kona cotton fabric, & the rest of the prints are mainly from my newly acquired yellow stash of prints - that have been used on lots of baby projects during this pregnancy...

and the backing is a yellow and aqua polka (same fabric that i used on the bumper in the nursery) with some other scraps mixed in...

& i have to thank eric for being the official "quilt-holder-upper" on this one.

;)

{let's guess!}

we had a "mini" baby pool set up by eric's parents when evan was born...

and it was SO much fun to see what everyone's guesses were.

(i just found the sheet of paper with the pool guesses when i was putting together ev's baby book this past weekend, and it was still amusing to look back on now!)

So...  i decided to set up another pool online this time, so that everyone could easily "guess" again.

plus - there is more to guess this time around.

heeeee.

& really it's all about entertaining me while i'm feeling huge and tired these last few weeks... ;)

soooo....

what do you think?

Humor me & Enter your baby pool guesses here... click the 'enter a guess' button on the upper right hand part of the page....

& here's a little info about evan's birth in case it helps...  he was born 1 day "early", weighed 7 lbs 9 ounces, & measured 20.25 inches... ;)

andddd... this is what i'm looking like at 36 and a half weeks...  (taken by eric yesterday) - ps this is our neighbor's trellis which sits in between our houses - you can see it from the new nursery... (i'm completely jealous of it!!!!)

:)

oh, and PS - eric has requested that you leave a comment on the blog with what you think our baby's name (boy or girl) will be.  So do that for him please.  ;)  He deserves some amusement too - for dealing with a crazy preggo wife these last few weeks!

{tuesday}

so photo'ing the aqua & yellow wonky baby stars didn't happen yesterday...

...but i DID get to it today.

problem was i didn't get around to it till like after 5pm, and the color in the pics is not-so-nice.

& so i'm not sharing those.

hehe.

i'll try again tomorrow ;o)

AND......

so, right at 36 WEEKS (tomorrow!)... i'm trying to get a handle on everything I still need to figure out / order / clean / organize pre-baby...

*** i made a dent in evan's baby book over the weekend.

>>> which i kind of find hilarious.  (nice to finally fill it out / finish it up when he' almost 3, and #2 is on the way...)

*** i'm forcing myself to organize & print all of ev's pics for his 3rd year to date - i use a month by month organization schematic - works best for me...

*** i FINALLY located my vera duffel so now i can BEGIN packing for the hospital.  just.in.case. ;)

*** i'm dealing with the nasty carpel tunnel (sp?) pain that has set in to my hands bc of the crazy amount of swelling my body is doing this time around >>> and praying that it leaves VERY quickly post-baby >>> and also praying that the wrist splints that i picked up this afternoon actually help out with the whole concept of sleeping tonite...

*** i'm still LOOKING for a cd player / nature sound-esque noise machine for the nursery.  evan refuses to part with his...  any suggestions would be AWESOME.

*** i'm wondering if we want to give G-diapers a test drive after the initial newborn phase wears off...  such mixed reviews online....

*** i'm annoyed with myself that i didnt buy the vintage baby scale that i saw on etsy a few months ago (that was virtually rust-free AND an amazing price), and now can't find one i like on either ebay or etsy... :(

*** and i'm trying to enjoy these last few weeks with 'just ev' - as crazy uncomfortable as i've become... he's still getting cuter by the day (telling me to "put the cap on momma!" here) ;)

:)

{Sunshine Squares}

I thought I'd start the week off right...

...with a quilt.

;)

I'm def getting to the point in the pregnancy where all i really want to do is lie on the couch and eat cupcakes - :) - butttt....

there are still a few crafty projects that i want need to get done for the nursery...

...so i craft on.

this quilt started a few weeks ago bc i didn't think that there was enough yellow in the nursery (after we painted the walls and set up the crib bedding)...

i'm really happy with what it adds to the room - which I'll be sharing in a few weeks when all is done!

but for now - here's just the 'sunshine squares' themed quilt...

(complete with a few wandering giraffes!)

...each block was assembled with a center square of pattern, and then strips of the same fabric (or white kona cotton) around.  I overcut, then trimmed each block down (some more wonky than others) to 7 inches square.  36 blocks total.

...the backing is almost all kona white cotton with a few scraps thrown in.

...quilting was just simple straight line along either side of each block seam and then around the outer part of the center pattern of each square.

...binding is a shade of yellow kona cotton, and fabrics are a mix from my stash...  the giraffes in particular are from australia and can be found here.

:)  happy monday everyone.

{if it's a boy...}

there is a quilt ready.  :)

i just finished the "official" if-it's-a-boy quilt...

lots of aqua + green + grey.  yum.

but honestly i love the color scheme so much that if it's a girl, she's getting it too!

there is probably a much easier way to go about making a quilt like this, but this is the way my brain figured it out...

i started by cutting 6x6 inch blocks of a BIG stack of fabrics.  then i cut each in half diagonally.  i arranged how i liked then sewed together square blocks, so that i was sewing the diagonal back together between two triangle "halfs" - to make a block again.  after sewing the block together, press seam in one direction, then trim each block down to 5x5 inches.  Assemble quilt top and quilt quilt-lines as you like.

i tried so so SO hard not to buy anything new for this quilt - bc really my stash of fabric is PLENTY....

(...& bc i know someone will ask - fabrics are a HUGE range from my collection, lots of flea market fancy, some wee play pez monotone prints, japanese import elephants, katie jump rope, amy butler prints, kona solids, some liberty of london that i've been hoarding, and more!)

the backing was pieced with big chunks that i had in my stash...

...and i pretty much succeeded in not buying anything until i ran out of the aqua thread that i was using to quilt the quilt-lines with.  and not wanting to randomly change thread colors mid-quilt, i broke down and bought another spool ;) - still i consider it a success at making something with what i had ;)

:)

ps - the binding is a Kona shade of aqua that i had extra from bc i'm using it throughout the nursery...

and just for the record - i am still thinking that this baby is a boy!

*******

pps - been cleaning out my closet of 1/2 finished craft projects and added a BUNCH TO MY ETSY STORE - check it out here - lots of CUTE QUILTED PATCHWORK BIBS TOO!!!  (the link is now in my sidebar too!)

:)