Celebrating my favourite little human (who isn’t so little anymore)
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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A post about thank yous. And tardiness. (Tardy thank yous, to be exact.)
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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All typed with one hand (aka a certain little boy loves his mom) (and that’s ok with me)
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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Nursery natterings (part four: the grand-ish tour of our sweet little nursery)
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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A quick update (I’m still here!) (and yup, I’m still pregnant!)
Many apologies for my MIA-ness over the past couple of weeks. I’m now off on maternity leave (which makes baby-day seem really really crazy close now!) and you’d think (logically) that this would mean tonnes of extra time to relax/sleep/enjoy sanity pre-newborn, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with me. I’ve had family to visit, friends to catch up with, a hospital bag (Sweetie refers to it as my “bug out bag”) to pack, projects to finish, a thousand obstetrician appointments (or so it seems) to attend, last minute baby “essentials” (ie: cute little onesies and sleepers) to buy, cloth diapers to prep, and (seemingly) a gazillion other things on the go.
So, in short (or, rather, long): I feel like I’ve been super busy, despite my currently newborn-pending, work-free status.
Although I did manage to fit in a quick DIY mat session the other day. For the record, I’m really quite awful at using the tripod + timer approach to self-photography. This was a rather challenging little project! For about an hour’s effort, I ended up with one image worth sharing…
…and even then, it’s out of focus. And my hands are all gross and pregnancy-vein-y. And I’m not sure if I look serene and contemplative, or sort of annoyed. Needless to say, Sweetie is taking me out later this week to try again, with an actual person (Sweetie) on the other end of the lens. Guessing (and hoping!) that we’ll have much better results with a two-person DIY mat session approach. I’ll keep you posted!
The good (and rather timely) news: I’m nearly finished with the nursery (finally!), so a big (likely long-winded) update/grand reveal will be coming shortly. In the meantime, if you need me, I’ll probably be marveling at the size of my belly while hanging/organizing/baking/shopping for something. At 38 weeks, I’m starting to feel really large. But I also feel amazing. And with only a couple weeks left before my due date (and, really, knowing that Baby could arrive at any point now) I feel so lucky to be a mommy-to-be. Can’t wait to make that transition into simply being “mommy”.
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