Sorry!

I am still alive. I'm sorry I haven't been posting more. But it's taken me a little while to adjust to life with two kids. I will be getting more posts up here in the near future. In the meantime... Is this not the ugliest bathing suit you have ever seen? Seriously Urban Outfitters?! Ew.

Hospital Gown

About a year ago, I was looking at some newborn pictures on a high school friend’s Facebook page when I noticed that his wife was wearing a super cute hospital gown. I read on and realized that she had sewn it for herself! So, when I got pregnant this time, I decided I wanted to do the same thing.I looked around a lot of places, but the only pattern I could find (for free) was from Lazy Girl Designs. After using it to make this gown I would highly recommend it. That being said, I did make a few alterations…Instead of the recommended velcro, I used snap tape on the closures on the sleeves. I also added about 4 inches to the length and sewed a sash (not attached to the gown) to belt around my middle -- just above the baby bump. Also, the pattern says to serge/zigzag stitch the edges and fold them over to finish but I made my own contrasting bias 'tape' and used that instead. I also made the neckline a little deeper as it felt too high -- like it would bug me during labor clutching at my neck. And the original pattern includes a pocket to hold wires for a heart monitor or something but since I knew I wouldn't use that, I didn't make it.It was plenty big on me so next time I think I’ll move one of the back ties to the side of the gown so I can close it tightly around my middle. I also recommend painting your toenails in a shade to match as that made it extra fun to look down to my feet while I sat around having contractions 5-10 minute apart. ALTHOUGH, in retrospect, I should have waited until after delivery as they placed my sweet baby girl on my belly right after she popped out and the gown got quite messy.My mom took it home and washed it but I didn’t get a decent picture of it the next day. I think Louisa liked staring at the contrasting pink and white pattern.I also made this matching headband (same fabric as the trim around the neckline/hem) but I didn’t wear it until we took Little Lou home.

Room for Two

Besides the closet, we made a few additions and changes to Rock’s room to make room for his little sister. My original plan for the room included much more red than we ever put in there for Rock. So, many of the new touches (like the nightlight below) bring in this color.Rock’s big boy bed was made by a friend of the family and we added the drawer pulls to match his dresser (just out of sight to the left of this picture). The “R” pillowcase is from Urban Outfitters of all places. I made both the duvet cover (still needs buttons at the top to keep the duvet in place better) and the lumbar pillow is from the upholstered rocker that used to sit in this spot. The 1 2 3 bins are from IKEA and are perfect for hiding random toys.This new print hangs on the wall above Rock’s pillow and is very securely attached to the wall because I am convinced he will try his hardest to bring it crashing onto his head.Rock book collection was rapidly outgrowing the size of his bedside bookshelf so we added this shelf from IKEA next to the door and moved his library there.Across from Rock’s bed is his old crib which will now belong to Louisa. I kept the same bumper and crib skirt that I made for Rock. The curtains are also a relatively recent addition – given to us by Juju from her stash of random treasures.Rock thought she would love this police car so he added it to her crib.The artwork above her bed is also from Urban Outfitters. What can I say? They were having a sale right when I started transforming the room and adding red girly touches! Finally, the Wheel of Responsibility now hangs on their doorway. I bought this before Rock was born but never got around to hanging it.Bring on Baby #2! This room is ready!

Closet Transformation

Way back in January, I began to organize the contents of Rock’s closet and changing table. Up until this point, the closet has been plenty big enough for one kid so I never really organized it. But I knew with a baby girl on the way, we would need a lot of room for accessories/dresses/shoes/etc.If you can look past all the clutter in the picture above, you can see the old shelf. Instead of a bar, these weird shelves with a lip are in all of our closets. This means we can only hang our hangers one way and we can’t use any hanging organizers that loop around a bar.Needless to say, the bar had to go. Using a gift card at Home Depot, we were able to purchase this fabulous closet system.Thankfully I had these two carpenter to “struction” work for me. And thankfully Rock had good outfits for each of them to wear. After many stupid mistakes and frustrations, we finally finished this project! The drawers in the center hold Shin’s current wardrobe. The grey tub holds the outfits she will wear in coming months. Likewise, the blue tub in the center holds Rock’s future wardrobe.On the right hand side of the closet are Rock’s hanging clothes (or should I say costumes?) and a shoe organizer that holds Shin’s shoes and accessories and small toys and extra wipes. The other blue tub holds Rock’s wooden trains and train tracks. Someday soon I want to find a new spot for this and put a laundry hamper in it’s place. On the left side, her hanging clothes are organized by size.The top shelf is actually the original shelf without the front lip (turns out it was really easy to pry off!). We used iron-on stripping to cover the front edge and I was super impressed with how easy it was to apply! So, there you have it. After months or planning, the closet is DONE!

Dipes and Wipes

Using some of the scraps from Shin's quilt, I made her a Dipes and Wipes case. We got one of these from Target when Rock was born and I really liked having it.
When the baby is little, it's nice to have their diapers and wipes and diaper cream all stored together inside their diaper bag. That way, you never have to dig around for these items and if you need to change the baby in a public place like a restaurant, you can just leave your diaper bag with your friends at your table and carry this into the bathroom.

Later on, when you don't need a big ole diaper bag, you can just throw this into your purse and you have all your diapering needs together in one place. Anyway, I'm really pleased with how it turned out and that I got it finished before she arrives!

12FOR2010: Pantry Part Two

The Pantry and has been organized! Sorta. As I look at these pictures, I realize that it doesn't look all that different from before. And there are a few things I still want to add. But for now, this will do and I'm glad I went through it and threw out the old stuff.

These shelves might not look organized, but they are much more organized than before. On the door it's dishtowels on the top, followed by random grains and breast milk bags (I'll need those real soon!) on shelf two. Shelf three is stuff for PB&J's and Nutella. Shelf three is for snacky things. Shelf four is more snacky things and the bottom shelf is extra plastic bags and plastic forks.Then moving inside, the top shelf of the pantry is devoted to cook books and candy. I put the candy up high to keep it away from someone's little hands!

Moving down, shelf two is for spices and cans on the left side. The middle section is for nuts and rice and grains. The right side is for tea (front) and dried fruit (in the back since we don't access it as much as tea).Shelf three is baking central. The one exception is the plastic container of fruit snacks (can I get an witness for the awesomeness of Fruitabu?).

I love these jars from Ikea. They are from the SLOM collection and they are just $3.99 each. I might purchase some more for other food storage in the future. For now, they are labeled for sugar, bread flour, whole wheat flour, white flour, and powdered sugar.

Shelf four has cereal on the left. Behind the cereal is our liquid storage -- for our very small 'liquor cabinet' and our extra olive oil, vinegar, etc. The right side is full of pasta, canned and jarred tomato products, and a big ole bag of rice.

The bottom shelf is for drinks on the left and paper/plastic products on the right.

In front of that is our extra ZAZZ (world's greatest fizzy water!) and juice boxes. And that's about it!
I'd like to get a wall organizer for the extra parchment paper, ziploc freezer bags and craft paper hiding behind the ZAZZ, but I can live with things as they are. And my label maker is out of label tape at the moment so the areas are not as labeled as I'd like it to be, but again, you can go crazy trying to hyper organize. For now, I'm just glad I can see everything that's in there and I can say "A sorta place for everything and everything sorta in it's place."

Katie's Advice!

My friend Katie nicely put up a post on her blog all about this blog and my New Years Resolution for this year.AND she offers some great tips on menu planning and food preparation! I particularly love the idea pictured above -- a dry erase board to list everything that's in your fridge/freezer. That way things don't get lost and turn fuzzy! Here's the link to check out all her great ideas.

Cool Mom or Design Disaster?

Quick question.

This is a rug/play mat from IKEA. I think Rock would enjoy playing with his cars and trucks on it. And I would love to have him close at hand while I cook/do things in the kitchen. Meanwhile, our kitchen rug is pretty small and I have wanted to update it with a bigger model for some time.
So my question is would I be a cool mom if I bought it and used it as kitchen rug or would that just prove that I no longer have any design? I'd really appreciate some honest feedback.
p.s. I'd especially appreciate the honest feedback of my husband.

Christmas Album

I come from a long line of Christmas-card-picture-displayers.Okay so I don't know if anyone else before her did it, but my mom always kept her Christmas card pictures up on the fridge until the next set of cards started coming in. Then she put them in an album.

Although my pictures are on this wall instead of on the fridge, I decided to follow her example and make my own Christmas picture album.

Here's the outside. I got the album on sale at Target and bought some extra pages so it will last for a few more years. The card in the window is an old one from my friend Stephanie. You can't really see it here, but it says "Merry Christmas."

The earliest pictures I had saved were from 2005, but the bigger collections start in 2006.

On some of the pages I cut out designs and words from Christmas cards past but I am no scrapbooking genius. And I have no time to make myself one.

Now we'll be able to look back in years to come and see how we've all aged. Aged gracefully that is.

What's Wrong with Maryland?!

Simplicity and Project Runway are doing a cool new pattern design contest and I was thinking about entering. But you can't enter if you live in Maryland. What's up with that?!

Okay, okay, I know! This year is about focusing on my family. Not winning contests. So I'm okay with not entering. But still I want to know why Maryland residents can't enter.