Unfinished Projects vs. Progress

I can't believe how July is just slipping away. I've really intended to post more often! What have I been up to (aside from normal life )? Well, I've either been dabbling in a number of projects ADD style, or I've been making progress in multiple areas... depends on how you look at it!

Dresser turned kitchen island taking shape - I began sanding a few nights ago, in the precious 1.5 hours I have to myself every day, between 8:30pm & 10pm And my neighbor only yelled at me once. Sigh. I guess I can't blame her... I was using a fairly loud power tool on my back porch at 9:45pm on a Thursday night. I was going to quit at 10:00, though, I promise! She probably doesn't realize that I have a baby who doesn't nap, and an EXTREMELY active/demanding toddler who doesn't give me a moment of peace all day. Night is the only chance I get to do things like this! I was mad/upset for a few minutes, and then I got over it. She was probably right.

messy work!

Now it's mostly painted... just a few finishing touches, and then a new top, and it'll be ready to show y'all!

Sewed a couple 20 minute pillows - no zippers, welting or adornment. (Although an attempt at a short-cut turned them into 90 minute pillows! Should have just done them properly the first time... sigh.) The striped ones are new... I already had the red & floral pillows.

The striped fabric was a remnant I found in a clearance bin a year or so ago... picked it up for some unnamed project. The back is leftover brown corduroy from M's nursery.

They're not the most amazing pillows in the world, but just a little pick-me-up for the couch, which it's been needing for a while! And I'm currently really loving yellow - so I like this little splash of yellow mixed in with the reds & greens in my house.

Made matching shirts for baby & bro (tutorial to come!):

Mostly, though, I've been hanging with baby M & big brother Finley. Today we had a family outing at Evergreen Lake with Daddy. We escaped the heat & spent time together as a family - win-win!

Baby Album - only 3 years late!

I was really excited to receive this in the mail today:

It seems natural for me to have an album of baby pictures around the house since I have a 3 month old baby, right? Well... yes. But this is a picture album of my almost 3-year-old when he was a baby! Can we say, "a little behind?" Yes. Quite. Party I simply haven't had time. But partly, I couldn't reconcile how to combine all these amazing photos I have of my firstborn with this:

a bag of all those important first-months mementos. You know, like his first hat from the hospital...

and birth announcement...

and footprints, etc. All important things, but they were keeping me from doing anything! The pressure of doing it "right" crippled me. I couldn't bring myself to start compiling photos or mementos, because I wanted it to be a perfect scrapbook/photobook for him to pour over with his children someday. Silly, I know. But a typical problem for me. The perfectionist in me turns into a procrastinator. Ugh. Then I just feel depressed because I've accomplished nothing.

The pending birth of Baby #2 helped to kick me into gear, along with an email from Shutterfly , with a 50% off coupon. I admitted that doing something with all the baby photos was more important than doing the perfect thing. So I decided to do a 12x12 photo book with pictures from his first few months, with plans to fill up a scrapbook with all the other mementos sometime in the future. I got the book 95% assembled before Baby #2 made an appearance, and I finally printed the book this week!

It's not perfect, and I've already though of a few photos that I forgot to include... but hey, if Baby #1 ever does look at this book a few years down the road, he won't know! And in the meantime, I will enjoy it immensely. What sweet memories of those first few sleep-deprived, colicky, overwhelming months of being a mom!

How do you compile your memories and photos of your children? I could use some inspiration for future endeavors!

"Magic Tape"

Velcro on baby clothes? Brilliant! A friend sent a gift to baby Emerson a few weeks ago: a 3-piece set of Japanese clothes, which fasten with velcro. Super cute! And the ease with which I change diapers when he's wearing these clothes has gotten me wondering why we don't have velcro baby clothes in the US?! So much quicker than snaps! And who doesn't desire speed during a 3am diaper change?

Cute baby not included!

My favorite part: In Japanese, "velcro" is translated "magic tape!" Thank you for the gift, Katy, Craig & Kai!

Owl Therapy

Although I didn't think so at the time, looking back, I realize that my first pregnancy was pretty easy: minimal nausea, plentiful resting, part-time job, no children demanding my attention... I had lots of time to dream & nest & plan. Heck, I even took a 3 week trip to Europe days after learning I was pregnant! General life chaos was at a minimum. Pregnancy #2, however, was a completely different story. Here's a snapshot of the chaos in our lives during those 9 months:

• I spent my days occupying and caring for a precocious, extroverted, extra-verbal 2 year old - which takes an incredible amount of energy.


• I was working part-time at our church (where my husband is a pastor), and there is always plenty of chaos behind the scenes at a church! Staff transition, money issues, disgruntled parishioners...


• We had recently moved into our "older home with character" (read: "100 year old money pit"), with unforseen & serious plumbing issues.


• 8 weeks before my due date, we embarked on a double-bathroom renovation/waste line re-do, which couldn't wait.


• As part of the renovation, our master closet was temporarily moved into the nursery, and was unfortunately still there at the time of baby's birth. We literally had to step over gigantic piles of clothes that had no home.


• I was sick. Nothing serious, just pregnancy aches and pains... migraine headaches, nausea, back & hip pain, general exhaustion.

However, I was still delighted to be pregnant with this new life, and cherished those months getting to know my new baby before anyone else. Because I had spent the first three months sipping ginger ale, nibbling saltines and taking deep breaths, completely opposite from Pregnancy #1 with my baby boy, I believed that this baby was a girl. Although I wouldn't say it out loud, even to myself, I was dreaming of tutus, headbands and dark little curls. So you can imagine that I was feeling a bit shell-shocked when we saw this image mere moments into our 20-week ultrasound, and heard our cartoonish Russian ultra-sound technician say, "You vant to know sex? (we nodded) Eeees boy."

We were definitely surprised. And my husband doesn't do well with surprises. Although I generally love them, surprises during these hormone-ridden, chaos-laden months weren't part of my plan. So in those seconds, I was bracing for a few difficult weeks adjusting to this news. However, miraculously, by the time the ultrasound was over, I had adjusted my expectations. I was excited to have a second little bundle of boisterous, house-wrecking energy... and most importantly, I had decided to decorate his nursery with owls. Why? I have no idea. I'd never considered owls before. In fact, I generally don't like children's rooms based on animal themes. But somehow the tangible idea of owls - stuffed owls, hanging owls, owls perched in trees - was helping me to cope with circumstances out of my control and outside of my expectations. I spent most of that afternoon looking at various owl fabric and owl paraphernalia online. I remember texting my mom that I had owls on the brain (she was delighted). Then I spent the next months creating a room just for my baby-to-be. Here are some pictures of the nursery that was birthed, with much love and creative energy, in preparation for the arrival of my precious little Emerson Reed. The stolen moments that I spent dreaming for, planning & creating this simple nursery with hand-made, budget-minded things and hand-me-down furniture, were my haven during those tumultous months. Little Emerson is only 9 weeks old, but he clearly loves his nursery - it's his favorite room to be in, and the owl mobile will stop his crying every time. I like to think I already knew him, even from within.

More on the details of Emerson Reed's nursery in an upcoming post!