Sweetie & Joy » Joy

Celebrating my favourite little human (who isn’t so little anymore)

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 10:00:13 +0000

My baby turned one a couple weeks ago.

Yep. It happened. Cue happy/wistful/omg-stop-growing-and-please-stay-little-forever-but-omg-look-at-all-the-amazing-things-you’re-learning-I’m-so-proud-of-you tears.

He’s not a little baby any more. He can almost walk, he can say Mama (or, rather, MomMom, which is so ridiculously cute and makes my heart happy every single time those two syllables escape his lovely little lips), he can play independently and clap and wave and do all sorts of things that seemed so impossible a year ago when he was this small squishy helpless little being who merely slept and ate and pooped (and filled my heart with so much love.)

Sweetie and I celebrated his first birthday surrounded by close friends and family. There was cake and singing and so many amazing gifts and lots of happiness. Patrick was admittedly a bit overwhelmed by all the people (I may have a budding introvert on my hands… he might be just a tad like his mommy and daddy like that), but he had lots of smiles for people too (from his secure perch in my arms) and loved his birthday cake (and scattered it around for the kitties to sample too.)

It was such an absolutely lovely special wonderful day.

And where did I go to find touches to make his birthday extra special (and especially cute?) Etsy. Of course.

Patrick’s bowtie onesie came from an awesome vendor out of BC called Handsome Baby. And he did indeed look handsome!

I have big plans for follow-up bowtie onesies. I foresee a Handsome Baby Christmas bowtie onesie in his future. And maybe an Easter one too. And a second birthday onesie for sure. And, honestly, he might need something with a green bowtie for St.Patrick’s Day (because of course he does.)

Yep. Me and Melissa over at Handsome Baby are going to become really good friends, I think. :)

And then there was Patrick’s first birthday board…

I agonized over birthday boards (there are, admittedly, a gazillion of them available on Etsy.) I fell in love with this one (put together by amazing Etsier MsFit Designs) because of the colours (which I then turned – loosely – into the colour theme for Patrick’s party – red, yellow, and pale blue.) (Or, I suppose, for those of you who support Captain Obvious, primary colours.)

And, with a few quickly fluffed tissue paper puffs here and there, that was about it for my party planning. This was not a Pinterest-worthy party, I’m afraid. I had big decorating plans that I’d planned to execute in the days leading up to Patrick’s party. Patrick, on the other hand, had big playing with mommy plans. The latter won out (and I wouldn’t change that for a thousand carefully made colour coordinated Pinterest-inspired birthday bunting flags.)

Nope. It was a simple party with just a few simple decorations and a whole lot of celebrating Patrick’s first year. And it was perfect for my little guy.

Although next year there might be bunting.

Because I do love me some bunting. :)

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I took a risk (surprised? Me too!)

Mon, 25 May 2015 10:00:19 +0000

Remember when I chatted a bit about painting my bedroom (here)? That seemingly simple project took weeks. WEEKS. Truthfully, months. Not because it was a particularly difficult project. In fact, due to the coved ceilings and (rather obnoxious and eventually to be removed) faux fireplace and the various doors/windows in the room, there wasn’t a great deal of actual wall-space to be painted. And, the delay wasn’t due to my (admittedly notorious) indecisiveness either. I boldly chose a paint colour lickity-split-ishly and rushed out to buy the paint before I could question my colour choice (since, once paint is purchased, you’re committed) (because if you buy paint from the good Mr Benjamin Moore like I do, painting is a bit of a financial commitment.)

Nope. The delay was caused by this…

Yup. An adorable squishy active smiley drooly nine month old.

Best reason for a delay ever. :)

However, the lack of painting progress seriously started to wear on me a bit. You see, that same ridiculously cute little man isn’t a particularly predictable napper. Sometimes he naps for a glorious two hours. Sometimes he barely shuts his lovely long-lashed eyelids and – poof! – he’s well-rested and ready to play again. This lack of predictability made it super difficult to get much done on the painting front. The days where I’d predict a lengthy nap were the days that I’d dip my virgin paintbrush into the paint and – bing! – he’d wake up. On the days that I assumed he’d take a quick little cat nap, he’d sleep for hours.

Yup. It’s hard to paint with a baby.

So, defeatedly, I called in the reinforcements: my parents. Mom (happily!) looked after Squishy while dad and I tackled the paint job (thanks mom and dad!) And I’m thrilled to have this project done. Thrilled! And I’m (almost) equally happy with the results!

Here’s what I started with…

And here’s the room lovelied-up with a wee bit of BM Copley Gray…

A full gallery of after shots is pending (there are curtains to go up and a mirror to hang and a few other to-do’s that I’d like to to-do before officially announcing the room DONE) but for now the painting part of this bedroom mini-reno project is complete (can I get a big ol’ yay for progress?) (Yup – YAY!)

What’s that you say? You thought I’d decided on Revere Pewter? I thought I had too. But it just seemed a little too predictable. I painted our bedroom at our last humble abode, our happy little 1940′s house, in Revere Pewter and I loved it, but I wanted to try something different. I’ve been eye-ing up Copley Gray for a while now, and I decided to take the slightly bolder paint-colour plunge.

So am I happy? Mostly. Admittedly, it’s greener on my walls than I’d hoped. At some points in the day, depending on the light, one might even call it (cringe…) sage. But at other times (and, really, most times) it’s a lovely gray/brown/green that is super cozy and warm and rustic (can a colour be rustic? If so, this one is definitely rustic.) And it’s far (far!) better than the poop-ish brown that adorned the walls when we bought this house, so I’m a happy girl for now.

And if, in a few years, I decide to repaint, hopefully Little Squish will be old enough to help? Or at least stay occupied for a bit while mommy paints?

Wishful thinking, I know. :)

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My triumphant (albeit slow moving) return to painting (aka the colour in our bedroom is driving me bonkers)

Thu, 19 Feb 2015 11:00:19 +0000

When we first came to look at this old mauve-coloured house nearly two years ago, I walked away thinking that the master bedroom was painted black. In fact, it’s not black. It’s brown. But it’s a dark-ish brown and the blinds were continually drawn in this room during showings (theory: the home owners were really vampires), and the colour appeared even darker and more awful than it actually is (although it is, indeed, pretty awful.)

For your viewing pleasure (or, perhaps, disbelief), here’s what our master bedroom looked like the first time we saw it…

Ack, eh? Yes. Ack indeed. Flowers and nic-nacs and tiny lamps with tiny lampshades and stuff everywhere. Ev-ver-ry-where. Once again, I think it’s worth noting that we bought a house with rooms that looked like that. We’re very very very brave, my Sweetie and me.

(And yes, the two pictures hanging above the bed are indeed hung at different heights. Because lazer level be damned, willy-nilly picture hanging is how the previous house owners rolled. Those crazy loveable crooked-picture-hanging vampire-esque rebels.)

Of course, when Sweetie and I moved in, all that stuff (thankfully!) went away (and, miraculously, the room suddenly looked a gazillion times larger.) But that didn’t change the fact that the room is brown.

Icky brown, to be exact.

Here’s another look at that wall colour, minus all the clutter and with a wee bit of natural light…

Well hello there, ridiculously cute little man! :) Behind all that squishy adorableness are my ugly brown walls. A (temporarily) comfy black cat is also lounging somewhere back there. In fact, this picture was taken mere moments before I had to intervene in feline/infant interactions and declare “No, we don’t chew on the cat.” (A statement I never ever thought I’d have to make prior to having a baby.)

So what colour am I going with? Alas, I’m not being particularly original or daring with this project. Instead I’m falling back on the reliable, always lovely, Revere Pewter. I painted our bedroom at our beloved little 1940′s house this colour and I loved it.

It’s peaceful. It’s serene. It’s an actual colour and dark enough to be impactful, but not so much so that it’s overwhelming. Some have called Revere Pewter the perfect paint colour. I call it lovely and soft and well-suited for a bedroom. (And, particularly, for my bedroom.)

Now all I have to do is find the time to paint this aforementioned bedroom. With a small boy who doesn’t nap predictably (or, oftentimes, for very long), this might be a project best suited for the evening hours (once that same small sweet little man is fast asleep for the night.) Assuming, of course, that I can stay awake long enough to attack those ugly brown walls with my trusted paintbrush.

But, ahhhhh… Yup. It feels good to return to home renos, even if I now move a whole lot more slowly than before. Slow progress of any sort is still progress nonetheless. :)

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A post about thank yous. And tardiness. (Tardy thank yous, to be exact.)

Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:00:36 +0000

So I’m late for everything. Ev-ver-y-thing. I have really really good intentions and I strive (oh, how I strive!) to be punctual. It just never (ever) happens. I habitually arrive late for appointments. I’m almost always late for gatherings. My baby was born five days past his due date (although I might be able to blame Mother Nature for that one.) I did manage to make it to my own wedding on time, but only thanks to the army of amazing bridespeople I had behind me, gently pushing me to keep me on track.

Yup. I’m one of those people.

So it’s hardly surprising, I suppose, that I just finished up the thank you cards for my baby shower (um, the one I attended BEFORE Patrick was born) (in July) (early July…) Embarrassing? Yes. But, in all honesty, the past few months have absolutely flown by. FLOWN! And – poof! – suddenly it was December. And I suddenly realized that Christmas cards needed to go out. And it seemed in poor taste (actually, downright tacky) to send Christmas cards out to the same people who first deserved thank yous for their very generous and wonderfully thoughtful baby shower gifts.

Which, given the (embarrassingly long) time that had passed between the shower and the thank yous, makes me really thankful that I took the time (during the early days of my maternity leave, pre-baby) to carefully record what everyone had given me. Like this…

Yup. I took pictures of all the gifts I was given, along with the accompanying cards. Clever? I thought so! And, if not clever, practical at least, since five months out I would have never, in a gazillion years, remembered what gifts I was given and by whom (despite being unbelievably thankful for all of the super generous gifts I received.) (Mommy-brain is a bit of a bitch like that.)

Plus I think it’s pretty neat to have pictures of all the gifts we were given. Yup. I’m all about preserving memories with my little guy. Every single memory. Every one. Even the tiniest. Mommy is a little OCD like that. (Although I prefer to call it “organized.”) Patrick is currently trying desperately to crawl, and I’m sure having the ability to run away from my camera makes mobility particularly appealing. (I have all of his crawling attempts videotaped, of course.)

So there. That’s my little piece of advice for any soon-to-be mommas out there who are headed to their baby showers shortly. Take pictures of your gifts. It’s actually quite a lovely keepsake! And, if you’re a bit tardy like me, it’ll be a huge help when you go to write your thank you cards. Several months later. :)

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Seeing red (and green and white) (and maybe a few sparkles too) (because everyone loves sparkles!)

Mon, 24 Nov 2014 14:00:42 +0000

So I recently saw this image from the lovely folk over at Ikea…

…and I got really (like, insanely) excited for Christmas. I don’t normally start planning for the holidays weeks in advance (I’m a bit of a last minute holiday girl, truth be told) but that red? Against that white? And all that merriness? Yep. It got to me.

So off we went (poor Patrick gets toted around a lot these days) (I think he’s developing an appreciation for shopping!) (or just a high tolerance for mommy) to HomeSense (of course.) And I wandered around the pillow aisle for far far too long. Did I emerge from all that soft and squishy loveliness triumphantly waving beautiful new red pillows in the air? No. But, as I’ve learned, that’s all part of the HomeSense experience. It’s the thrill of the hunt. It’s the glory of the chase. And I, like a throw pillow stalking tigress, will be returning shortly to HomeSense (with my cute little kitten in tow, of course) to continue chasing the ever elusive perfect festive red throw pillows.

BUT, in the meantime, I’ve found even more Christmas inspiration on Pinterest. Like this super festive living room…

…from HouseToHome.

And this pretty room…

…from SandAndSisal (omg I want that chair!!!)

And this beautiful and comfy looking living room from Four Generations One Roof…

Yes, I’m completely obsessed with finding the perfect new red throw pillows now. And perhaps even a new red throw. Patrick just rolls his tiny little eyes over the whole thing. In his three long wise months, he’s become accustomed to mommy’s obsession with all things pretty.

But really, in this particular case, it’s all Ikea’s fault, you know. :)

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My first post in about a month, and it’s all about paper (the pretty scrapbook-ish kind of paper!)

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:00:50 +0000

I should really be far craftier than I am.

It’s true. I love yarn. I love painting stuff. I love making things pretty (oh how I love making things pretty!) And, most of all, I love (love!) scrapbook paper.

You know that aisle in Michaels with all the pretty, perfectly stacked piles of colourful papers? I get lost in that aisle for hours and hours. HOURS. Combining different patterns. Swooning over prints. Marvelling over all of the potential for serious prettiness. Yep. It’s really rather silly considering I’m in no way a scrapbooker (since, honestly, I’m far too lazy for what appears to be a very finicky and fussy – albeit lovely! – hobby) and since (as previously noted) I’m not particularly crafty.

During my most recent trip to Michaels I picked up no fewer than fourteen (yup – fourteen) (see? I’m obsessed…) sheets of gorgeous paper. Did I have any particular plan for all these beautiful papers? Nope. I just really liked them. I also bought a few super inexpensive (they were three whole bucks each, I think) ready-to-paint (or ready-to-leave-in-their-lovely-unpainted-state, in my case) picture frames. And then I came home and started looking at the fireplace mantel in my dining room.

(Aside: I find it important to clarify that this particular faux fireplace mantel is located in my dining room, since we have no fewer than three faux fireplaces in this house. The previous home owners were indeed faux fireplace fanatics.)

And then the wheels started turning. And then I realized that the sheets of lovely coordinating scrapbook paper, and those unpainted frames might look sorta rustic-ish-ly cute on my dining room fireplace mantel.

And so began the rearranging. (Does anyone else get a little OCD when it comes to fireplace mantel decorating?) And the fussing. And the tweaking.

And here is what I finally came up with…

It’s not done yet. It needs something… more. Perhaps a few miniature pumpkins in honour of fall. Or some Christmassy bobbles and doodads (but not for a few weeks – I adore Christmas, but it’s a little too early for that at the moment, even for me!) For now, and until I get around to adding additional adornments to the mantel, those lovely papers are making me happy.

That all said, there will be more faux fireplace fussing to follow, I’m sure. And definitely more frivolous scrapbook paper purchases made in the not-at-all distant future. (I just can’t get enough!) (It’s weird, I know.)

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All typed with one hand (aka a certain little boy loves his mom) (and that’s ok with me)

Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:00:16 +0000

So this happened about five weeks ago…

…and I haven’t had much time for blogging since. My days are now spent nursing, diaper changing, and cuddling a certain little boy. Which all doesn’t sound particularly eventful, but the days and weeks are suddenly flying by indescribably fast.

Yep. Life is suddenly very different. And very wonderful.

Little Patrick is perfect and squirmy and squishy and he makes me so happy, even on his grumpiest days. My world revolves around his needs. Renos can wait. Meals have become a lot less complex and a bit more premade. And I’ve mastered the art of accomplishing all sorts of daily tasks using only one hand, while carrying or cradling a small human in the other.

So I apologize for my recent absence. And I apologize if posts are a tad scarce over the next few weeks. Me and a certain sweet little mister are still adjusting to life with each other.

And life with only one free hand. :)

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Note to self: complex passwords are important (aka blog hackers are big meanies)

Mon, 25 Aug 2014 08:50:06 +0000

So last night a post that really wasn’t ready to go out into the big wide beautiful world was inadvertently posted. Not by me. Not by Sweetie. Not by a rather curious black kitten. Nope. Apparently a hacker found a way into my blog (ehem… complex passwords are important…) and decided that a (rather emotional) post that I wrote last summer and had saved in my drafts folder was ready for general consumption (with a few additions, of course – since, obviously, readers come to this blog specifically looking for ads to gaming sites, you know.)

That post has now been taken down. Not because I don’t want it read. And not because I don’t think you’d all like access to gaming sites. But mostly because that post doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at this point in time and definitely needs a bit of explanation.

Cryptic? Yes. My apologies about all that. Suffice it to say that the post was about some of the challenges that Sweetie and I have faced in our attempts to have a family. And, given recent events (that I haven’t yet had a moment to blog about because I’ve been too busy being mommy to a squirmy and rather adorable tiny little man!), it no longer makes a whole lot of sense without a bit of additional tweaking.

Yup. Of course the hackers went for that post. Not the post that I’ve drafted about the ridiculous number of faux fireplaces in this house (because everyone needs three faux fireplaces, right?) Or the post nattering on and on and on about my search for the perfect paint colour for my loo. Nope. They went straight for the nitty gritty super personal post that I wasn’t sure I’d ever publish.

Figures, eh?

So, for any of you who subscribe to me via email or RSS, my sincere apologies for what I’m sure is a rather confusing and strangely timed post about infertility (given that I just posted our DIY maternity pictures in my last post, and nursery pics in the one preceding that!)

And for those of you who just drop in occasionally and are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, I promise to repost that inadvertently posted post shortly, just with a wee bit of tweaking to make it a bit more relevant to life as of August 2014 (which is very very different from life in August 2013 when I originally drafted that post.)

Except I’ll spare you the gaming ads. Unless you really want links to gaming sites?

No? I didn’t think so. :)

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Our DIY maternity session attempt (a few trees, a couple of fields, some humidity and a whole bunch of mosquitoes)

Sat, 09 Aug 2014 10:00:51 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I attempted my own DIY maternity session. Armed with my snazzy new camera, a tripod, the nursery and rather ambitious and self-assured me-myself-and-I, I attempted to document (via the handy-dandy self-timer function) my bump. Sadly, it didn’t go so well. Of the seemingly gazillion pics I took, I ended up with one that was semi share-worthy. One. And even then it wasn’t particularly spectacular (or, really, in focus.) I was a little bummed.

Then Sweetie lovingly offered to take me out to try a two-person approach to maternity shots (he’s pretty awesome, that Sweetie of mine.) With our trusty camera in Sweetie’s capable hands, off we went to a local conservation area where we knew we’d find trees and fields and all sort of pretty areas to serve as a lovely backdrop to my ever-growing belly.

What we didn’t anticipate? Humidity. If it was a tad humid when we pulled out of our laneway, it was a trillion percent humidity (possibly more) at the conservation area. Positively tropical, you could say. Rainforest-like, perhaps. My hair? It wasn’t at all impressed and immediately turned into a massive ball of frizz (as my normally-curly-but-oft-forced-into-straight-submission hair is apt to do.)

And, as one might expect from a humidity-laden area, we also encountered mosquitoes. Lots and lots of them. Swarms and swarms and clouds of (rather ravenous) mosquitoes. It was unbearable at times, but we plugged right along until we couldn’t stand it any longer.

Yup. Sweetie and me? We’re troopers.

Here are a few of my faves…

(And, yes. I’m holding a flower in that last one. A bit cheesy? Perhaps. Hence the “Sweetie, I love you, but I’m not so sure about this” look on my face.)

All in all? I’m happy. I could have done a professional session and possibly ended up with somewhat better (and maybe more plentiful depending on the mosquito-factor) results, but with money a bit tight at the moment (with me off on maternity leave and a few items left to purchase for Baby), this seemed like the far more sensible solution for bump-documentation. And it was fun! In between hair-obsessing and mosquito swatting, Sweetie and I had a lovely evening out in that tropically humid, bug infested (but pretty!) conservation area.

Which, I suppose, with our time as a two-some quickly waning, is nearly as valuable as the photos themselves. :)

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Nursery natterings (part four: the grand-ish tour of our sweet little nursery)

Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:30:16 +0000

Today is my due date. TODAY. It’s wonderful and unbelievable and crazy and scary and exciting all at once. As of last week’s OB appointment, Baby hadn’t yet made much of an effort to join us out here in the real air-breathing world, so I’m guessing that he or she is still feeling comfy cozy in there. Which, truthfully, is rather fine by me. That said, I’m very aware that time is now ticking away quite quickly and that Baby could make an appearance at any moment.

And I’m also very aware that I’m ridiculously ginormous…

Crazy eh? I’m still not entirely sure how I manage to stay upright.

Last week, with nesting instincts in overdrive, I put a few last minute touches on the nursery. Curtains were hung, art was placed up on walls, the more-complex-than-anticipated baby monitor got installed, and I fussed over silly little details (would bashful bunny look better here? Or here?) And, with Baby overdue as of tomorrow, I’m happy with the rather peaceful teal, gray, white and mustardy yellow space that this nursery has gradually morphed into.

My dad found this metal wall hanging at a street art fair. I added the ribbon and hung it from the door. It’s perfect in every way.

We’re using Ikea’s Hemnes dresser as our change table: it’s a good height for both normal-sized me and super tall Sweetie, it has lots of room for the change pad and diaper related stuff, and (most importantly) it’s rather lovely-looking.

(Unfortunately it was also rather difficult and time consuming to assemble. But that’s a whole other blog post for a whole other day.)

The Celebrate Everything canvas was a HomeSense purchase (on clearance, no less!) made a couple of years ago, long before Baby and nursery planning had ever started. Again (and again and again): I heart HomeSense.

And this trio of friendly stuffed animals will eventually be relocated to a shelving unit of some sort (I’m still in search of the perfect bookshelf for this room.) I’m hoping to find something fairly small, but still very functional. Until then, these three will bravely stand guard over the change table.

Because the nursery is fairly tiny, we didn’t want a crib that felt large and bulky (as so many of them do.) Enter: Ikea. Of course. We fell in love with Gulliver (and hopefully Baby will too!)

My friend Nadia (we’ve been friends since Grade Nine) (which means we’ve been friends for… um… many many years) made Baby this gorgeous yellow and teal baby quilt.

And the small vintage rocking chair, that long ago belonged to my grandparents, was reupholstered by my mom and dad as a gift to Baby. It’s the perfect size for this little space. And I love knowing that I’ll be rocking Baby to sleep in a chair that once belonged to people who, while no longer here, were such an important part of my life growing up.

Keeping watch over everything from beside my beloved rocker is the ever adorable bashful bunny (along with his good friends the happy hedgehog and hilarious hare.)

But my absolute favourite part of the nursery? This sheep mobile from amazing Etsier (and fellow Canadian) TheMemis…

Each little sheep has a different expression on its face. It’s absolutely perfect, and I can’t say enough good things about Emi at TheMemis. :)

So there you have it. Our sweet and peaceful (and gender neutral) little nursery. I’ll likely continue to add to it as time goes on – I have lofty gallery wall plans for the wall opposite the crib, I still need to find that bookshelf for stuffies and books and toys and nicnacs and such, and I’d love to add a little more coral (if Baby is a girl) or greens and navy (if this belly-wiggler is a wee boy) once Baby arrives. And my friend Shawn (who I’ve been friends with pretty much since forever) has commissioned a baby blanket for me as a gift for Baby from another mutual friend (Sheilagh) who is an amazingly and incredibly talented quilter (you can see some of her work over at her site, Lay it on Me Baby) – I’m so excited about planning the blanket with her once Baby is born!

But for now I absolutely adore this serene little space, just as it is.

Let’s hope that Baby does too.

Whenever he or she decides to make a big appearance.

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