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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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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Nursery natterings (part two: what we’ve planned so far) (aka: a whole lot of cuteness!)
Little by little we’re starting to put a nursery plan in place. With only fifteen-ish weeks to go until my due date (eek!) (seriously – where did my second trimester go?) we’re at the point where we need to start making decisions and purchases and moving forward with this space that’ll one day be home to someone so completely and utterly adored.
A couple weeks ago, I mentioned that the nursery will be a light teal-ish colour (which I see as very gender neutral – once baby is born we can add a bit of coral and yellow if we have a little lady, or navy and green if the bump is currently housing a little gent.) Here is our (ok, well, my – Sweetie has sorta given me free-reign on this whole nursery decorating project) inspiration pic (from The Farmer’s Nest)…
Happy sigh. Prettiest nursery ever.
And here’s what we I have planned to date…
Rocker
Remember the rocker from our staged quasi-nursery at the last house?
This chair once belonged to my grandparents, and my mom (hi mom!) has sweetly offered to have it reupholstered for our nursery here. The room that’ll be our nursery is quite a tiny little space, and this rocker is small but super comfy. And I love that it once belonged to my grandparents who, while no longer here, were such an important part of my life growing up. Having this rocker in the nursery is a little like having them be part of Baby’s life, and I absolutely love that. :)
Mobile
Have I ever mentioned that I love sheep? I love sheep. Weird? Likely. But there’s something so awesome and peaceful about those grass-munching field-frollicking balls of white fluff that makes me insanely happy. So when I stumbled upon this mobile (courtesy of Etsy-seller GiftsDefine) I was sold.
Oh, lamby sweetness. I love everything about it. I haven’t yet hit the purchase button, but I plan to very very soon.
Bunting
Yep! I may fall into the whole mobile-PLUS-bunting (how decadent for baby, eh?) category, mostly because (surprise surprise!) I can’t decide between the two. The mobile will likely float above the crib, and the bunting will likely hang above the change area.
This one is my current fave for a little girl…
And I love this option should we have a little man…
…both from the awesome Etsiers at The Spotted Barn.
Pretty little things
Have you ever noticed that Chapters has the absolute best stuffed animals? They really do. I’ve adored the super soft, squishy stuffed creatures from Chapters since way before Sweetie and I had baby-thoughts.
My favourites are the ridiculously adorable bashful lamb…
And the ever so sweet bashful bunny…
So much cuteness. So much. Like, an immense amount. (I’m seriously swooning over here.) Here’s hoping that Baby loves them as much as his mom does.
And then there’s all the other (far more important) stuff
And then there are the bigger, scarier, expensive-er, non-decorative purchases: the crib, the dresser (that’ll double as a change table), a bookshelf of some sort for stuffies and books and such… THESE are the items that I need to make decisions about soon. Very soon, in fact. I have a couple of friends who’ve had their babies far earlier than their due dates over the last few weeks, and I’m starting to get a wee bit nervous.
Let the nursery decorating frenzy officially begin! :)
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Nursery natterings (part one of… several) (since, well, I’m awful at making decisions) (and also because baby stuff is just so darn cute!)
I am officially 22 weeks pregnant today. Twenty-two! How the heck did that happen? It seems like I just finished a very nauseous weeks 8 through 12, and now, all of a sudden, I’m over half way to the finish line. It’s so exciting! But, honestly, so overwhelming at the same time. There are registries to prepare. There are maternity leaves to schedule. There are no fewer than a gazillion cloth diapering systems to decipher (yep – call us crazy, but we’re going to give the wild and wacky world of cloth diapering a shot!) And there are strollers and baby baths and car seats and boppy pillows and cribs and carriers and all sorts of foreign (to us not-yet initiated future baby-club parents, at least) stuff to research and plan and obsess about.
But my favourite pastime at the moment? Nursery planning. I know: swoon! The colour options. The decor. The accessories. Where the crib will go. Mobile or bunting or both. Sigh. There are so many happy possibilities for the room that will one day contain someone so tiny but so important and so very very loved. With about 18 weeks (insert panic attack HERE) left to go until my official due date, here’s the nursery inspiration pic (from blogger She Walks in Beauty) that I can’t stop looking at…
So peaceful and lovely. I absolutely adore this colour scheme. A-DORE it. We’re still undecided on whether we’ll find out the sex of little Baby in advance of the big day, but this soft teal-based colour scheme fits perfectly for either a little girl or a little dude (in my humble opinion, at least.)
Once baby makes his or her arrival, we can then add in some gender-specific colours to the mix, if we want. Maybe a little navy and/or some bright lime-ish green if the bump turns out to be a boy, like this nursery from Spearmintbaby…
…or some coral-ly pink and yellow (like in this gorgeous nursery from CraftinessIsNotOptional) if I’m currently housing a baby girl.
Either way, I can’t wait to get started. Can’t wait! And that’s probably where Part Two of this (likely drawn out due to indecisiveness) nursery natterings series will go. Regardless of everything else that ends up in the nursery (and all the decisions yet to be made), teal is one of my absolute favourite colours. I’m hoping that Baby (boy or girl) will really like it too. :)
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