Monday, July 14, 2014

Pictures

     We recently had pictures done when Emmett was a week old.  He has already changed so much since then, it's crazy!!! I'm just sharing a few or i'll overwhelm this post with pictures! :) The pictures are absolutely breathtaking!






















Pictures were done by my AMAZING friend Brianne Serrano! She is on facebook and blog also. 

My Little Pony Birthday Party

       This was a small birthday because I had just had a baby two weeks earlier and I wasn't up to doing a big party this year. I still wanted her to have a special day and to know her mom still made an effort even though her hands were full with a new baby.  She chose a Pinky Pie toy for the top of her cake and I just fell in love with the look of the rose cakes you see all over pintrest.

     When I went to do the roses I was using store bought pink lemonade frosting and it was super runny.. Rather than thickening it with powdered sugar, I just put it in the fridge and hoped it would set up enough to get roses to form.  It worked but I was running out of frosting fast this way.  Two cans of it and I still had empty spots.  I improvised best I could and then she also picked out pink candy pearls to use on her cake.

     The name banner is just two cardboard decorative straws, some twine and cardstock/scrapbook paper triangles with letters drawn on.  Ta Dah!! simple, but cute!


    For decorations I just got a cheap walmart My little Pony birthday banner and got some balloons.  She LOVED helping put the balloons up and hanging he banner.  We even left it up for a week!


She got a new bike (my husband wanted a blue one because our son can use it after she grows out of it. We can't have him ride a pink bike! :) Besides, she loves blue!) 

She also got some clothes and sunglasses! Look at this beauty rock em! 



Saturday, July 12, 2014

Blessing Day

    I have a hard time seeing my son is growing so fast already! I want him to stay little but he is a tank!! He weighed 11lbs 2oz at his 6 week apt. crazy! But he is so stinking Adorable that It's hard to not want to see what he will look like as he gets older too.

I am obsessed with baby feet! I could kiss them all day! 

... and kiss his sweet face all over! I can just hear my 8 year old little boy saying "stop mom! your embarrassing me!" :) He can't stop me now! 


This is the blessing outfit I made for him! The blog post about it is found here
Doesn't he look so SOOOO handsome?!!! I sure think so! His daddy does too!

   

                  His blessing was so Beautiful and sweet! I love the Priesthood and the special men who hold it. I love that my little boy has such an amazing father too look up to! I have been so blessed!


My parents came for a quick visit and were able to be here for this special day! My children have loving grandparents and I'm so grateful for that! 




Introducing Our New Baby Boy!

 

          Well, I disappeared again because I just had a baby! He is a month old now and I have been so preoccupied with this sweet perfect boy and trying to find the balance between housework, being a wife and mother two my now three children. It's been a really rough recovery from my csection and now I'm getting into the emotional tired phase. In short, I'm wacko!

         The last month I was on medication to stop contractions and on limited bed rest.  It didn't work. After 4 trips to labor and delivery that month they decided they better call the doctor in and get him out!! Thank goodness! He was 2 weeks early and weighed 8lbs 2oz still!!!!   My recovery with this csection was terrible and it's probably because my body was trying to get him out for so long that by the time he actually did come, I was exhausted.

      During my pregnancy I have had people terrify me with comments or stories of babies dying or unwanted advice. I think everyone should avoid talking to pregnant women at all! Lol! Just kidding. But most moms know what I mean. The other day at the dentist, the hygienist was just weeks away from having her baby and we had a wonderful conversation. This is her first baby and she was feeling scared and asking me questions because I JUST went through this at the same hospital with the same doctor. I assured her she would love the hospital and staff and the dr is amazing too! With all she was asking, I gave what to me feels like the best advice ever.

          "Don't go in there with any set expectations as best as you can. Go with the flow. If u need an epidural, get one. Don't worry about anyone's opinion but your own. Don't stress about nursing. If you are tense and upset, nursing might be a bad experience. If you find nursing is making life unbearable, it's ok to do formula and it doesn't make you a bad mom. (With my first I stuck with nursing through months of tears and anxiety and pain. I remember bawling to my husband about how I am a terrible mom if I bottle feed. But nursing was so bad it's all I wanted to do. I stuck with it but wished I would have done what was less traumatic) I also told her ..if you have visitors and want to sleep or have a break, say so. It's ok to kick people out. Basically, do what feels good for you and just go with the flow. Having set plans suddenly change like they do just leaves you freaking out. I always freak out with the arrival of a new baby anyway, but additional freakage can be avoided. ;)


         Now, I just soak up this little man and LOVE every min I get to be with him! He is so sweet and calm. My girls never were, and I was constantly stressed because they both had colic and reflux and just screamed for hours on end. I'm so grateful that baby #3 has been perfect for our family and I KNOW my Heavenly Father put this special boy into our family for a reason.  For me, going from the first baby to the second was the hardest adjustment with all the emotional junk you deal with.  We all made it though and now baby #3 has not hardly been an adjustment at all.  he is AMAZING!!!!

       What also makes having this baby so special is that his sisters just ADORE him!! Six weeks later and they still fight over who gets to hold him and every time he makes a fuss they come running to me! Mom he's crying!! (yeah, probably because you just poked him in the eye!) 

      
Emmett xoxoxo

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Boy Blessing outfit

    You may have seen in earlier blog posts that I sewed my daughter a blessing gown out of my old OLD wedding dress and my niece the same with her mom's dress. For my son, I wanted him to look cute and not wear one of those all in one things you always see.  I LOVE the vest and tie combo, so I went with that.  I hoped I could find some fabric that was white that wasn't a weird texture or just plain cotton.  I had no luck and then remembered I still had satin left over from my dress.

    I found a little button up onesie from children's place on sale with free shipping for under $8 and thought it would be dumb to NOT get it.  less work for me! I bought this vest pattern on etsy that is reversible, has nb-5t in the pattern I got, and she also sells a 6t-? size next. I KNEW I would use the pattern again so It was a no brainer to buy it. YAY! my first boy pattern! lol!
 
     The pattern was easy to follow until you get to the almost done stage when the back bottom is still open.  Yes, I used my seam ripper and did it wrong the first time.  NOW that I know what to do it will be easy and fast to make more. Don't look too closely, my pockets aren't on straight and the buttons aren't perfect either.  I made a nb size and just hope he isn't a huge boy that won't fit!

     I quickly made a little bowtie referencing several bowtie tutorials online I could find.  For one this tiny I just eyeballed the size and went with it.  it is just a velcro in the back kind.  I may need to adjust it once I try this on him.


      When it came to doing the pants, I had hardly any fabric left and started to panic.  I found this easy pattern online that is free and used every piece of satin i had left that was big enough. The pants were unfortunately short so I needed to add length to them the only way I could.  I added a cuff on the bottom.  I HATE the way it looks, but it works and I don't think anyone will honestly notice.  :) I often hear i'm too hard on myself and it's true.  I need to just chill and admire that I can make stuff! :)  
    Now I can't wait to see him and his daddy on his blessing day! :) I'm sure he will be one proud papa! 


Diaper bag

   
 Yes, ANOTHER diaper bag! It seems like with each baby I want a new better one. One that is more fashionable, more practical, bigger, smaller......and I have not loved one yet. I fell in love with bags on etsy that cost 100.00 and up, but thought I could try and make a similar bag with less zippers and things. I bought some fabric that cost around $13.00. I had fusible fleece already, then went to Joann's with two coupons to buy magnetic snap, big metal rings and some stiff interfacing. I spent about $11.00 there. THEN I needed more fabric for pockets. Sigh, another $4.00 later I had everything I needed.

    I used this pattern to make it found on etsy. I did the strap a little different because I could not find the sliders anywhere!! It is a set length and I also widened it to be 1 1/2" wide finished.  It also has stiff interfacing in it as well as the interior of the bag.

   On the inside I did my own thing as far as pockets go.  I love having lots of pockets and am happy with how much I can probably fit in here.  It will be a great and cute bag to use.  I'm just so afraid it will get filthy dirty fast! oh well! :) I love it! 

My little BOY's nursery

I am so in LOVE with this little room! 
    Since my last post about making the crib bedding and quilt top, I have been hard at work making my vision of this room come true! I think I got it perfect! I started by picking a wall color that would go well with the tan we already have throughout our house. My husband and I picked a grey color that wasn't necessarily in the crib bedding or anything, but it works and is perfect.  It ALSO makes the room feel twice as big.  It is a pretty tiny room and I was afraid it would be too dark if I went with a darker color.

    Next I painted the garage sale dresser the same blue as is in the bedding and re-stained the top of the dresser to match the crib. I then Asked my husband ... more like begged (lol) to attach my antlers to the drawers to act as drawer pulls.  that turned out to be more complicated than I thought.  Thank goodness for men who know tools and stuff.  That's one of those things I want to learn so I don't have to ask for help.
   

The Scentsy warmer just fits in this room better than I hoped.  It was in my husband's office but he won't mind. :) It is the angler warmer. 
Along with painting everything I tracked down an old school projector, and printed off some silhouettes I Googled off the internet. I cut each tiny silhouette out carefully and ceran wrapped them onto the top of the projector.  Then I traced the shapes on the walls and painted them on.  Sure sure, and easier way is to just buy vinyl and have them put on the wall, but each silhouette would have cost a lot of money.  I was trying to do all of this on a budget, and I succeeded! 
This bear reminds me of my Montana middle school mascot. He just looks like a cute little bear cub! 


      I wanted a cool deer laying down under the window, so I went with the only picture I could find online. After it was all painted on, my husband came in and said that's one of those tiny African deer. My heart sank.  I just spent FOREVER painting the wrong type of deer on the wall!!!?! his antlers were so tiny I ended up using my makeup brush to paint them in. After ALMOST losing it, I just said oh well and left it alone.  

     The next day I kept wishing I had included a moose in the mix, so I did a moose too.  I added extra big knees just because I think of moose as being silly, big, awkward and gangly.  :) 

     The "Our little man" picture on the wall was just an etsy purchase that you can print off on your pinter at home.  I got it here. The woman was awesome to work with and made a dirt bike just for me. :) I took an old frame we had laying around and painted it with acrylic paint then scuffed it up with sand paper a little.  Perfect! 


I also made a valance to go in his room.  I had some navy fabric already and an old white sheet I used to line with back with.  I figured chevrons on back too would not look very cool once the sun came through it. 

    I did end up buying some vinyl and am so happy I did. It was the main thing behind the design of this room.  It was one of the last things to go up and it just pulled everything together. LOVE IT! Thank you Ashleigh for helping me out! 

    Some other touches I added to the room were: 

        To make this little arrow pillow, I just took some scrap fabric I had after making the bedding and hand painted some arrows on with acrylic paint.  It looks like a 5 year old did it, but that is what makes it look cool.  The color is also the bedskirt color and in the crib bedding. I used navy and white to do a little edging, and stuffed it full! Ta Dah! 
   I sorta fell in love with the Bearfoots figurines, but can't justify spending $35+ on a decoration that is 5" tall, but I did love this lightswitch cover and HAD to have it. I got it on amazon for under $10.00 

   I had a boppy pillow that I made a cute girly cover for with my last baby and felt like making a cute boy one too.  I just traced the original cover and added 1/4" around for the seam allowance.  I didn't have any velcro or zipper long enough, so I just made it a slip cover type that you would do for a little square pillow cover. That is a terrible explanation! It is basically like a pillow sham cover. All the fabric was just left over and so It cost me nothing extra and took me no time at all to do.  While cutting, I somehow managed to cut though the chevron fabric (AHHHHA!!!) so I decided to just do a quick applique to cover it up and keep it from falling apart and having a hole.  Those are big buck tracks! :) 


One of my biggest ideas for this room was an antler mobile. I picked up a few antlers from friends and with a LOT of help from Arnold in my neighborhood, he helped me create the center hub out of a log and get the antlers to stay in. After days and days of waiting for epoxy to dry, my daughter managed to bust two of the antlers out of the holes in seconds. sigh.  My husband just glued them in with gorilla glue and it held. 
     The metal animal cutouts are from etsy.  I special requested they be double sided with the rusty type finish. I purchased a moose, elk, deer, bear and trout. The shop I got them from was amuzemee on etsy. 
     Yesterday I had my husband help me hang it up. There were only certain places it could go because it had to be hung from a stud in the ceiling, and it is quite heavy so I wasn't sure I wanted it hanging over the crib (just in case it fell apart or the glue gave out) We decided on a spot over the dresser. I'm too short to have it even near my head, but my husband walks right into it. oh well.  I'm still not 100% sure I love it, love it, but it fits. I just feel like I and everyone else worked so hard on it, it's GOTTA work. right? I'm just feeling insecure about how it looks hanging there. ???


      I have been soooo busy and everyone has been pestered non stop with pictures of this in progress, I appreciate everyone humoring me. :) it's been a lot of fun and I am now looking forward to being done with it. :) I can go back to being lazy and growing this boy. two months to go and I feel like if he came right now, I'd be totally ready for him!! ok... maybe after doing dishes, and laundry.... and vacuuming..... lol! I don't think i'll EVER be ready. :) I may be a little bias, but I think this is the best looking baby nursery ever created! If not the best looking, at least the most original! :)