It's Fall Y'all!

I love fall! It is by far my favorite season. I love the smells, the colors, the change in the weather and the clothes. It is also really fun to decorate for fall. A few weeks ago my friend and I got together to work on a few projects. A lot of laughs and a spray painted dog later here is what we had...

"Trick-or-Treat" Banner

"BOO Pumpkins"

Both of these projects were fun and simple to complete. For the banner, we started with Halloween themed scrapbook paper and a "flag" template.

We then traced 11 flags and cut them out. (See my Lily in the background?)

Next, we arranged the patterns in the order that we wanted them to be in the final product. We cut circles out of card stock, stamped the letters with acrylic stamps, "cat-eyed" the edges of the circles and the flags and glued the circles to the flags. We also used Halloween stamps to add a little detail.

Finally, we cut slits on each corner of each flag and strung a ribbon through the slits. I hung mine in front of the mirror in my dining room.

The pumpkins were much less time consuming.

3 pumpkins...

plus a little chalkboard paint (applied 2 coats with a foam brush)...

and a little twine and ribbon...

provides a festive touch to the front porch. (Max loves it because he can "read" "BOO")

I have a few more unfinished Halloween project to finish tomorrow. I will be back soon to share!

Lily's First Month

Lily turned one month old today. I can't believe it! Over the past few days we have really been able to see differences in Lily. She eats like crazy and it is showing in her newly chunky cheeks and legs.

It's my plan to take her picture in this chair and outfit on the 14th of every month so that I can see how she grows and changes from month to month.

In so many ways she looks just like Max, but she also has traits that are hers alone.

Her hair is light and thin and I think it may be a little curly.

I think her skin is going to be a little darker than Max's.



At first we thought her eyes were going to be brown, but they seem to be getting lighter every day and I think Marcos and I may have produced 2 blue eyed children. Only time will tell.

I love how she folds her legs into her stomach and presses her feet together. I know this must have been her favorite position when she was inside of me.

Those lips melt my heart.

Max loves her so much and is so proud to be a big brother.

Her first month of life has been a little chaotic. The first week Max was still in school so we were able to sleep in and snuggle. I loved those moments when we were getting to know each other. She would sleep all day and at about 10 PM she would wake up and want to stay awake until about 3 AM. I can't really complain because she was awake, but she was not crying. She just wanted to eat and be loved on by her mommy. For the most part we stayed at home for the first week and a half, but we did venture out to go to the Post Office, grocery store, Max's school, a birthday party and I took her to visit my school. She is such a good baby and I was proud to show her off.

We had to have our floors refinished when she was about 2 weeks old (perfect timing, right?). We took this inconvenience as the perfect time to take a mini-vacation. We moved everything out of the bottom floor of our house, packed our bags and headed to a hotel on the Isle of Palms. We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn in Wild Dunes and it was beautiful. We rested, visited the beach and spent a lot of time by the pool. It was the perfect time for her to sport her new swimsuit.

2 Things I Learned:

1. An infant swimsuit with no snaps to change the diaper is not a good idea.

2. We NEED a king size bed!

After almost a week in a hotel we headed home to a house that was full of dust and completely out of order. Instead of cleaning and getting the house back in order we spent most of our time snoozing and snuggling on the couch.

We did venture out of the house to cheer on the USA in their first game of the 2010 World Cup.

Although we have loved our lazy days, we realize that the Big Brother needs to get out and enjoy the summer. So we will be venturing out a lot more this month. I also need to get the house back in order since Max told me tonight--"We need our house back."

A Few Things I Want to Remember:

1. Breastfeeding hurts and it only starts to feel better between 3-4 weeks into it.

2. Lily's belly button fell off really early--they left the clip on--are they supposed to do that?

3. She wakes up two times at night to eat.

4. She grunts a lot.

5. At her first doctors appointment (5/19/2010) she was back up to her birth weight (7 lbs. 7 oz.). She was in the 25th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height.

6. She loves bath time.

Lily's Room

Okay, so let's forget about the last post since it has been over two months and many of the things on my list have yet to be completed--so much for keeping myself accountable! Some how those things no longer seem that important. I did manage to complete Lily's nursery. It is fun and pink and I love how it turned out!

This used to be Max's room, however, we didn't paint or do much to it since we knew that he would eventually be moving upstairs to make room for a new baby.

After moving Max's stuff upstairs we moved all of the baby stuff downstairs. I was determined to use what I had to complete the baby's room. This is what we started with.

BEFORE

BEFORE

When I found out I was having a girl I had no idea what I would do in the nursery. I originally intended to use this fabric as inspiration, but eventually decided against it. After searching Google images for far too long I decided on stripes for the nursery. My inspiration came from this, this and this. I originally wanted to paint the stripes on the ceiling and the walls white. Marcos reminded me that I was, in fact, 7 months pregnant and that it would not be reasonable for me to paint stripes on the ceiling. I also originally planned on painting the stripes in my favorite color, but then decided that nothing says "girl" like pink. I found a tutorial here and altered it a little to fit my room.

First, I had to paint the walls white.

I then spent several hours with tape and a level.

The actual process was not that difficult. The hardest part was the fear that I would tape and paint everything and it would end up not looking good. The best advice I can give when painting stripes is to take the tape off as soon as possible. This makes for a clean, crisp line.

After the painting was complete, I moved on to the glider. We've had it since Max was a baby and it was in need of a makeover. I don't have any progress shots, but I used this tutorial and it was much easier than I expected. It was my first experience with piping and it turned out great. I love gaining new skills--you can learn how to do anything on the Internet!

I also needed to refinish the armoire. I decided to paint it the same pink as the stripes and distress it a little bit. Again, I was determined to use what I had.

Here's the after shot of the armoire in the room. I still need to figure out what to do on the top.

And here is the nursery after:

See my recovered chair?

The white rug has led to a "no shoes in the baby's room rule". I picked it up at Target with a gift card--SCORE!

The chair turned out pretty good, right?

I decided to save money by skipping out on the $300 crib set I originally wanted. I purchased the sheet and bumper at Babies-R-Us for a total of $45. I picked up the pink blanket at TJ Maxx and it is the best blanket ever--super soft and fuzzy! I also decided not to have a bed skirt and to use the space under the bed for toy storage instead. The crib is the same one that we used with Max.

Lily's first baby doll. It was a gift from her big brother.

Piggy from my baby shower--it holds everyone's guesses on Lily's birthday and weight.

I also had to refinish the once red side table. I painted it using the same white as the walls and replaced the knobs.

I purchased the lamp at TJ Maxx--I love lamps!

Did I mention that we welcomed our "Little Lily" on May 14, 2010?

"L" is for Lily

I've had this "Prayer for a Little Girl" since I was little and now I am passing it on to Lily.

Toy Buckets: Target

My babies!

I still need to work on the storage and organization in the nursery. I want it to be simple and functional.

The reality is that this is what the nursery looked like 2 weeks ago before we had our floors refinished. Today everything from the nursery is crammed upstairs and in the bathroom and the room is covered in dust. Once I get some motivation I'm going to work on getting it back in working order. That could take awhile since all I want to do lately is be lazy and snuggle with my baby all day long...

Keeping Myself Accountable

It is the Friday of my Spring Break and I have gotten way off track. By now, the baby preparation is supposed to be well under way and the reality is that things are far from ready. I thought that maybe if I write down what I need to accomplish and then publish my accomplishments then it would motivate me and help me to stay on track. Here's the list for today:

Getting the kitchen ready!
1. Finish organizing kitchen cabinets and drawers
2. Clean oven
3. Clean (degrease) stove
4. Wash light fixtures/dust recessed lights
5. Clean stove hood
6. Wipe cabinet fronts
7. Polish counters
8. Clean windows
9. Polish stainless steel
10. Report back here!