Surprise

It seems like the only thing I've had time to sew lately are Diapers and Wipes cases. This one was for Baby Eller and it seems plain enough from the outside...

But what's that peeking out from behind the black and white polka dots?

PINK! The Ellers are having a baby girl!

Flossing

For those of you who might be worrying that I will find myself aimlessly drifting without a specific goal, I've got good news. My new goal is to floss my teeth everyday. It's something I've never been very consistent about doing and it's a easy goal. I need an easy goal. Life with a newborn is not a time for grandiose dreams. And yes, I am serious. Flossing my teeth daily is my new goal. I know my dentist and my father will be happy.

12FOR2010: Just Kidding!

Okay so I know I've been MIA from this blog for a long time. But first I was sick. Then I went to London. Then I had a baby. And then I got really busy. I forgot how much work newborns can be! And did I mention that I was still sick? Until around mid-May?! Ugh. But now I'm back. And I've got a new focus!

Remember the main goal that I set for this year? It was to "get my priorities straight and serve others." I wanted to work with diligent hands to serve my husband and children. Well, I've been better at doing this but honestly, to blog about all of it here takes away from my time to serve my husband and my kids.
I read plenty of blogs where the women seem to have their whole act together -- they can set huge goals, they can take care of their family, they can keep their house clean, they can love their husbands, all while maintaining a consistent string of posts on their adorable blogs. I figured that these women were just naturally more focused and driven than me and thus their lives were perfect. Well, perhaps it is true that the majority of the world is more focused and driven than I am. But I've also learned that the writers of two of my favorite blogs (here and here) have hired help for either childcare of household cleaning or both. Reading that made me feel a lot better about just not being able to keep up.
And leave it to me to turn a goal of serving into a goal of self-promoting. I thought if I could just show the world that I am as put together and cool as the writers of every other blog, I would become the bees knees and everyone would love me. Ew. Sometimes I disgust myself with how selfish I can be! This is exactly why I set this goal -- to get my focus off myself!

So, I'm giving up (ouch it hurts to write those words!) on my original 12 month/12 goal plan. Instead I'm going to continue to serve my family as best as I can and not worry so much about telling you about it on this blog. I hope you aren't offended by that! The 12 goals are all present in my head so I won't forget them. I'm just going to forget about trying to keep up with them here. Again, don't take it personally.

I will continue to reflect on Proverbs 31 and if I get motivated, I'll throw in some other mini-goals based on my original plan for this year. But, it takes a huge load off my shoulders to back away from trying to do it all and blog about it all!

That being said, I did carry out my goals for February and March (April and May passed by with no goals in place) and I'll be posting about those in the near future so you can know how I faired. So stick around if you are still interested and I'll be back soon.

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.