3/52

 WHAAAATTT???!!!!

My funny girl.

I'm going to be sharing a couple extra photos today because...these are just too good.

She's always the happiest in the morning.

OPPOSITE of me. I'm kind've one of those super crabby morning people. Like, don't talk to me until I get my coffee type. Except I don't drink coffee so...

We'd been going through a bit of a rough patch for the past month or so as far as sleeping goes. Rough as in last week got to the point where she was waking up EVERY HOUR during the night. AAAHHH the hubs and I basically became the walking dead. Zombified.

But after she got over a cold she had caught, and we figured out that the baby soap we were using for her was irritating her skin, and who knows perhaps there was a growth spurt somewhere in there too, we are finally back to her normal schedule of only waking up only once or twice per night.

I think.

I hope against all hopes.

Do you know what a (close to) full night's sleep can do for a mother and daughter?

It makes them have super fun days together instead of driving each other crazy days, that's what.

I'm sure that the teenage years will bring plenty of driving each other crazy days, no need to start yet!

Wedding Invites

I've been meaning for a while to post these wedding invites that I designed for my brother and sister in law. They wanted something fun and colorful, with little cartoon depictions of themselves. I really enjoyed putting these together.

There were more pieces in this set than usual, which was just more fun for me!



These were sent out last summer and the happy couple has now been married for a few months, so I'm a little late getting these up. BUT. Anyways. Here they are!

2/52

Trying my best to keep baby girl entertained today. It's not always easy - turns out babies bore very quickly. I'm thinking (hoping!) she'll be more easily distracted when she someday becomes mobile and can plan her own adventures on her hands and knees.

Of course having a mobile baby creates the totally different problem of trying to keep track of said baby and of trying to keep things out of said baby's mouth. But if it means having a baby who is happier and more content for longer periods of time, then awesome.

Right now we are calling out birds of prey noises to each other as I quickly try and type this post.

On that note, if you ever need to hear some pretty powerful birds of prey noises, come to my house. My girl is a pro. And I'm not so bad myself.

But do me a favor and call first. I gotta clean up around here yo.

Shelves are the best.

Progress on the basement! Just look at those beautiful shelves, designed and built by me very own hubster. I know we are both dying to get our organization on and start filling those beauties up, but we both agreed to wait until we can do it together so no one feels left out. Besides, we should probably get the rest of the room painted first, anyway.

That tiny little window is one of the ones I'm planning on sewing curtains for.

What??! You haven't started sewing at all yet?? You ask.

I heard you.

Welllll no. But I HAVE measured all of the fabric so I officially know how much of it I have. The next step is figuring out how long and wide I need to make the curtains, and then somehow figuring out how to cut and piece it all together. Which seems sooooooo hard. (whining.) But once I can force myself to do this horribly difficult task I think the sewing part will go quick.

At least lets hope so, for goodness sake.

1/52

I've seen some other bloggers doing this 52 weeks project and thought I might join in. A picture a week of the little girl - it should be fun to see how she grows. Jolly good fun, in fact.

The cheeks! Will they stay round and plump? Or will they shrink? When will she have teeth? And when will she walk?

And what will her hair look like a year from now? And will she still love to have her neck om nom nomed?

I sure hope she will.

We've all gotten the sniffles over here this week, including the little lady. It's been booger city, folks.

And that's all I have to say about boogers.

The hubs had a sudden and crazy urge recently to watch all the Harry Potter movies in order. So we've been snuggling up on the couch some evenings (snuggling just happens to be one of my very favorite things) and doing just that.

How cute is teeny tiny first year Ron Weasley?? Every time his little face scrunches up we just want to squeeze him.

ye olde basement

The hubs and I made a little goal.

Perhaps a New Year's resolution, but who really knows.

We are finishing the family room in our basement, in a month. And now we can't back down since the internet has been informed.

We've been working on finishing off our basement for awhile now. When we moved in it was all unfinished, rocking the cement floors and creepy insulation (did insulation scare anyone else as a child?). We've since put up walls and ceilings, laid carpet and laminate flooring, painted, put up shelves and doors, and even added an egress window. (And when I say "we" please know that I mostly mean the hubs and his dad, although I have done my fair share of painting and valuable opinion giving.) Our once barren basement now includes a laundry room, storage space, a family room, an art room for me and a bouldering cave for the hubs. And a room that is  someday meant to be a second bathroom but for now we just call it "place where we keep a bunch of crap."

Here's the family room now. First steps include painting the trim and the walls.



The hubs is making some built in shelves for this wall.



I'm getting excited to reorganize and decorate the room so that it becomes a more cohesive space, rather than a pile of mismatched stuff. I think one of the biggest challenges will be to find a way to inexpensively cover the couch and futon so they are at least somewhat matching each other and the rest of the room.



My job, you ask? Well I'm sure I'll get to do my fair share of painting again, but I also have curtain duty. We really want to get them up quickly since the window is at ground level. I've only ever made curtains with the help of my dear mother in the past, and have never come to the conclusion that I am talented in the sewing department. This will be the first time that I'm doing it all on my own. And while I'm not really looking forward to venturing into this uncharted territory, especially when the only time I have to do it is after 8pm when the little miss goes to bed and all I REALLY want to do at that time is....also go to bed, I am excited to have nice curtains.

First step of washing and ironing the fabric is done. I bought a TON of fabric (I had no idea how much I needed) and it took me an entire episode of Parenthood to iron it. That's an hour, in case you were wondering.

And I be like "WOAH. I hate ironing."

For real, I never iron. I have one of those mini ironing boards from Ikea.



Not the best for a very very large piece of fabric. I ended up spreading a towel under the fabric across the table.

Nonetheless. I am DETERMINED to succeed. Take that sewing.

I'll let you know if we make it! We really want to have everything finished by the time Brian's family comes out to visit in mid February. Go us!!!

snow critters

Here's some pics showcasing some of our recent winter fun.

Paisley seems to like the cold. Just like her daddy. Opposite of me.

We went sledding!

And by sledding I mean that the hubs wore himself right out as he tied a rope to the sleigh and dragged us ladies around in the snow in the park across the street from our house.

Then he rested.

You can't tell from the picture, but I have kitty ears on my hat, too!

Crazy cat ladies, the both of us.

You know that thing where you are so desperate to entertain a baby that you just start doing whatever comes to your mind first, no matter how ridiculous it is?

Well the other day that was me shouting out the first song I could think of while trying to entertain the little miss long enough so that I could finish putting away the laundry before I snatched her up. That song happened to be Cher's "Do You Believe in Life After Love."

Not my finest moment but it as it turns out baby girl loves herself some Cher.