embroidary hoop wall decor

it's done and this project was actually really easy. the hardest part was choosing fabrics. i am never satisfied when it comes to my own projects so i am regretting my fabric choices but oh well. i like the colour scheme but i am wishing i had gone with bold teals, oranges and reds instead. the thing is that when i was at the fabric store i had NO idea what colours i wanted to do. i found a michael miller coral damask print and fell in love....that ended up being my jumping off point for the whole project. so colorally-pink, pale green and grey became the scheme.

my mom-in-law found me a bunch of hoops at the value village in abby (8 for $3.99!!) and then i scoured the second hand stores in langley and found 1....and it was plastic and colourful....not what i was looking for. so i ended up getting the others from michael's craft store.

it didn't take much longer than an hour or so to cut and glue the fabrics into the hoops.

steve is trying to love it....haha, as am i. it's a little "out of [his] comfort zone" but then again most of my design choices are. ;)

yay for pinterest and purlbee for the idea!!

baby brands: pronunciation

are you unsure how to pronounce some of those baby brands out there? or do you feel pretty confident when naming those brands? i felt like i have a good handle on it but it turns out i have been saying "anais" from aden + anais wrong, medela wrong and chicco wrong! wow....not so confident now. follow this link to babble's post on how to pronounce a bunch of baby brands.

3 months

little man jacob is now 3 months old and he has changed SO much in the past few weeks. here are some milestones he has reached:

• standing. he LOVES to stand. if you are holding him in a squatting position he will push himself up into a standing position and wobble around for a while with his knees locked until he gets tired then he drops down for a minute or two only to stand up again.


• rolling onto his sides. he has only rolled from tummy to back 4 times and it doesn't seem like a true, intentional rool just yet. however, he rolls from side to side a lot when he is on his back.


• he has found his hands and he chews his right one all the time.


• grabbing dangling toys. he does this only with his left hand (since his right hand is busy being chewed on).


• cooing. he coos at us and as of yesterday he now coos even when he is alone playing on his mat.


• laughing. he giggles and it's absolutely adorable.


• sleeping!!! this is my favourite! he has decided to have a long nap every afternoon (lately 2-3 hours long) PLUS he is sleeping longer at night (last night he slept from 11-5:45 with a brief cry at 2:30 when he decided that he wanted his soother).


• sitting up. he sits up in his bumbo now, not for long but for 5 minute increments without being too wobbly.

this stage is really fun!! it's kind of crazy to me how much he is growing up already. life with a 3 month old is SO much easier (and much more fun) than life with a 1 or 2 month old.

"i think i'm cute"

looking at himself in a mirror is so much fun!

faucet DIY complete

i am super happy to have this project done and up in jacob's room. watching paint dry really is boring and takes forever! the garage has been my 'retreat' for a couple evenings this past week. many coats of spray paint on faucet knobs, painted a board to attach the knobs to, many trips to home depot for replacement knobs and proper length screws ....and it's done!! (i may have been slightly loopy from breathing in all those fumes, but it was worth it)

watching paint dry...

the finished product!

pretty cute eh?

bookshelves

we were given the above bookshelves from my aunt and uncle (along with a lot of other furniture) when they moved right before our wedding. we were SO thankful to have furniture for our first home...especially free furniture! over the past 4 years we have replaced the couch, coffee table and bedroom set but we are still using the kitchen table and bookshelves that they gave us. we want to eventually replace those items with furniture that is more "us" but it just hasn't been in our budget since we moved into our townhouse 2 years ago.

i have a love/hate relationship with those bookshelves. i love that we have them, that they are tall and can hold a lot and that they were free. i don't love the open sides....i hate the open sides. these bookshelves are completely full now (the above pic was taken 2 years ago and i have accumulated many more books since then) and that means that books are always falling off the shelves on either side and between the 2 shelves. i could buy bookends for all the shelves but they are either huge and take up too much room or they are ugly. plus i feel like if the shelves were enclosed on either end the room would look a little less cluttered than it does now. also, i love decorating and i would love it if each room in the house would reflect us a bit more. this is the dumpiest room in our home and every time i go in there i feel the need to tidy up because it always looks messy.

solution? i am thinking that a relatively cheap way to solve this problem would be to get new shelves from ikea (or maybe even some shelves from an antique shop) and paint them. if i get white ikea shelves and paint the backs similar to the photo below (probably not in yellow since the room is a tanny/yellow colour at the moment) it would mean only buying 1 paint colour. i brought this up to steve yesterday but his problem is that ikea doesn't "quality" furniture. he doesn't like spending money of furniture that isn't quality. i get that. i can appreciate that. but we don't have the funds to purchase quality right now....or anytime soon. cheap is in our budget. :) (plus we have an bookcase form ikea that we use for DVDS and 2 cabinets that we use as our pantry and we love those pieces.)

do i wait for quality or go for cheap? i kind of feel like the shelves won't get a lot of wear and tear so they don't need to be solid wood. it's not like a kitchen table. i don't want to buy a table that will scratch and get dinged up and have to live with that for a long, long time (which is exactly why we haven't purchased a new kitchen table yet, we are waiting until we can afford to get what we want). i feel like these shelves hold stuff and that's basically all they are meant for. hmmmm......another dilemma is if we are still living here when kid #2 comes along (if i can ever actually get over my fear of having another baby) then our den becomes a bedroom and the bookshelves can't be in there....then what?? cross that bridge when we get to it?

shoot! i am gonna lose the bet

if you read my post from yesterday you know my guess for jacob's weight. well according to a couple moms i know i over estimated a 12 week old's weight. so today i weighed myself, then picked up jacob and weighed us together so that i could see how much he weighs. approx. 14lbs. dang. steve is gonna win this one. i suck! i need to come up with another bet asap so that i can win the opportunity to shop for jacob. ideas anyone?

just one of my recent fave pics of my little guy. this was taken at the mall when i was changing his diaper. he LOVED looking at himself in the mirror. good thing i always have a camera with me.

yet another bet

bets, bets and more bets....innocent bets, not gambling bets here folks.

okay, a little bit ago i blogged about how steve and i like to make bets with one another. in that post i mentioned that i won a massage at a spa....well i was wrong. he said that he thought he was betting to give me a massage himself...even though that is very nice he doesn't give spa-like massages. anyway, we made a bet on when a helium balloon (that we were given the day after jacob was born) would deflate. we hadn't put a wager on it so we did a few weeks ago. the deal was that if it deflated by august 7th at 11:59pm then i get a spa massage and if it deflates anytime after that steve gets $$ to spend on whatever he wants. steve and i had 2 girls (who i used to babysit) over for a sleepover saturday night and when i came down yesterday morning one of them said "you get to go to the spa". i quickly went over to where the balloon was only to see that it had in fact deflated!! YAHOO!!! great victory for me.

now we have another bet. we are betting on how much jacob will weigh at his appointment on thursday. he weighed 8 lbs 13ozs at birth. his lowest weight was 8lbs 2 ozs. he was back to birth weight at his 3 week appointment and at his 6 week appointment he weighed 11lbs 7ozs. steve and i each wrote down our guesses and revealed them to one another. steve is guessing that jacob will weigh 14lbs 9 ozs. i am guessing 15lbs 0ozs. whoever is closest wins!! COME ON JACOB, BE HEAVY!!!! if i win i get to go and buy the next size of onesies for jacob (steve thinks that the 4 we have in that size will be enough...i say that that will mean me doing laundry every other day....and that is just annoying) and if steve wins he gets that $$ he didn't win on the balloon bet. wish me luck!

baby advice from a gr. 5 boy

today i finally decided to pack up the pile of baby cards i had accumulating in my den and i came across some cards i hadn't read yet. when jacob was 3 weeks old i took him to see my grade 5 class and the kids all gave me cards. i read a few of them while i visited with the kids but couldn't get through them all because so many kids were asking questions about jacob. so i brought them home, put them in my den and just never got around to reading the rest. today i sat down and started going through them and i came across 2 gems! one of the more vocal, curious and interesting boys had written me 2 cards. 1 of them said this:

"Congratulations on your new baby boy. I hope he grows up big and strong. I hope no harm will come to him. God bless your child. May be do extraordinary things. As you take him through life's struggles you will be strong. God bless your child. Good luck."

very sweet. :)

the next card said this:

"Baby Advice

your baby will grow quickly. over the years he will learn more than you expect. your baby will seem to get a rash from the diaper, use a different diaper or rash cream. soon your baby will learn to crawl, let him do it himself, he wont need help. your baby should be encouraged to talk. say simple words to him slowly. when he tries to walk, help him and stay by him. your baby will probably bond to you. don't give him everything he wants when he gets older or he will overpower you. put a monitor in his room in case he wakes up late at night crying. when he won't stop, play music. in the morning let him nap for some time. when he is awake give him his soother. as he gets older he will get into stuff. when he is young don't give him small toys! or he may choke to death. no ice cubes or small things left out. if you have dogs don't let them near the baby. he will tell you stuff with actions (picture of a baby holding his arms out and a thought bubble saying "pick me up". also a picture of a baby crying and a thought bubble saying "soother, bottle or diaper".) or they will mostly poo or pee. tuck your baby in. don't leave him alone, you never know if there will be a fire or a flood. if he hurts himself check on him. constantly check on him when he is asleep. when he is awake don't take your eye off him. warning: don't scare your baby, he will have a fit. if he has a temper tantrum give him a time out. don't spank until he is four if what he did was bad. be careful with your baby. don't bring your baby to crowded places, you might lose him. don't worry too much. your baby may go through things. call your doctor, your baby will need needles soon. don't be mean, listen to what your child says when he is older. if you are worried phone someone who had children you know. don't force your baby to do something. feed your baby veggies and berries and things like potatoes if you don't want to spend much. buy the baby things on TV, maybe a bouncer to help him learn to walk. when your baby is getting older don't sneak his soother. say stuff to him like it is a conversation. get ideas from friends for others things i didn't write."

how awesome is that??

pinterest

pinterest is my newest online obsession. it feeds my creative side with ideas and excitement for new projects. i LOVE, love, love doing DIY projects/crafts and this site is amazing. (plus it has TONS of blog links for more ideas on the site and i love reading blogs.) here are 2 projects i am working on thanks to pinterest.

a smaller version of this is going to go in my upstairs hallway. i can't wait to choose all the fabrics! i bought my first two embroidery hoops yesterday. if you have any old hoops you are not using and would like to donate them to me i would LOVE them!

this has been a super fun project that i started 2 days ago for jacob's room. i purchased faucets knobs and spray paint, plus i bought a piece of 1 x 6 to put the hooks on so that i can easily move it to a different room or a different house in the future. (this idea is from this spanish blog)

update on jacob

many of you read my recent post about how hard of a time jacob has had lately. it's time for an update.

i wrote that post 8 days ago and so much has changed since then! although we were nervous and rather skeptical we took jacob to fort family chiro on the same day as i wrote that post. i know many people suggested this whole chiropractor thing to us and even though i had been there once before with a friend and her kids i was still nervous to take MY child there. he is so little and i just wasn't sure how i felt about it. steve was especially uncomfortable with it. after many conversations, steve and i decided that we had to try something else and so we made an appointment. well we were beyond thrilled with the visit. dr. patterson was so great with jacob. he even showed us the amount of pressure he would apply to jacob before it did anything. he was super thorough and asked us a TON of questions. he ended up saying that there wasn't anything major that he noticed with jacob but he was very tight at the top of his neck and across his forehead and he said that it's possible that he has been having headaches every day. he massaged him a bit and asked us to come back in a week. we left expecting that if there was going to be any change it would be a small change. jacob was grumpy that evening (nothing out of the ordinary for him) but the next day we had a different kid. i can't not even explain how much he has changed!!

jacob now takes LONG naps. no more of those 15-20 min cat naps. he has been taking two 1.5-2 hour naps each day. he also takes about two 30 min. naps. he likes to lie on his playmat and look at his toys and kick his little feet. he will lie on a blanket in the eating area when i cook and just look around and coo like crazy. he will sit on my lap and look at his surroundings or look at books. i can rock him for 5 mins, put him in his crib (still awake) and he will fall asleep ON HIS OWN! we have had some car rides without any crying. we went to a restaurant with some friends the other day. we got there at 6pm (an hour after he ate). he sat on our laps contently and when he got fussy we swaddled him on the bench and left him between us and he fell asleep for 45 mins! WHAT IS GOING ON??????? we were at the restaurant until 9pm. that is THREE hours, and he was AMAZING!!! i seriously can not even believe that this is happening. total answer to prayer! i couldn't go a day (sometimes not even an hour) without crying due to being exhausted and overwhelmed. NOTHING was working prior to seeing the chiropractor. now, he is doing great. steve's line "version 2.0 of jacob is a significant upgrade from version 1.0". we feel like we have energy again and we don't feel as trapped as we did for the weeks and weeks before he had that appointment.

thanks for all of your suggestions, prayers and encouragement! we appreciate our wonderful family and friends who have been trying so hard to help us lately!

my starbucks

i have found my favourite barista! there is a new starbucks in willowbrook mall and after stopping in there a few times over the last month+ i found the barista for me. it's a guy (and i know i know him from somewhere....he may even had been a student at LCS when i worked at the high school in 2006) and he is great at his job! he now knows that i will either order a decaf mocha frap without whip or a passion tea lemonade with light ice. i love that! what i love even more is what happened last time i was in that bucks. i decided to get a little treat because i was beyond starving and steve was spending his sweet time in the source while i attempted to entertain jacob in the stroller. i was going to ask for one of their mini chocolate peanut butter cupcakes then i saw the salted caramel sweet bar and thought that it looked rather yummy. i asked my fav barista which one is better. he said "i HATE the salted caramel bar".....shoot i thought. i replied with "i guess i will get the cupcake then". then the best words came out of his mouth "why don't i just charge you for one and give you both and you can decide for yourself?" ummmm.....can't say no to that! super excellent deal. steve and i enjoyed sharing the treats and it's a good thing i got both because i FOR SURE like the salted caramel sweet bar better. ;)

oh and treat receipt is back. if you don't know what that is....shame on you! buy your morning drink before 2pm and come back after 2pm for a cold summer drink for only $2! :)