Happy To Be Three

About 7 months ago, give or take a few days, Arden turned three... And about 7 months ago, give or take a few days, Jameslyn was born.  Both were very special moments, and both of them involved me being tired, huge and pregnant/not pregnant.  Arden definitely got the short end of the stick on his birthday.  We just got a grocery store cake, had over our parents, sang and called it a day.  It was totally a legit birthday, but it also could have been better.  For the next 7 months, I talked frequently about the party that I was going to have for Arden.  Themes, food, people, etc.  Well that talk never materialized into an actual party...

Guilty mother that I am, I decided that I just needed to have the damn party and that no matter who showed up or what decorations I actually managed to make/buy that the party had to happen.  It was a nice party and he was happy to be three, because, well because he doesn't have a say in the matter.  We got a bouncy house, I made a cake (I think that's sorta my thing now...) and we ordered food.

The day started off with a knock on our front door at 6:45 am; the bouncy house was in da' house!!!  (Or really the back yard)  Despite being 3 hours early, we were all like: awesome and there was bouncing and sliding before 7:00 am.  The party ended when the birthday boy laid down on the couch and fell asleep; party over.  I know it wasn't over the top, or jaw dropping, but it was legit fun, something that cannot be overlooked and certainly the number one priority to a three year old.

Pictures Have Never Been Easier

When I was pregnant with Arden, Jim and I decided that we needed to get a "good" camera.  Sorry, rinky-dink point and shoot, but we wanted "profesh" grade pictures of our kids.  We did minimal research and found a camera that we love(d).  Naturally, we ran to Target that very day and plunked down our benjamins and walked out with a camera that was more expensive than my wedding dress.  That camera is amazing.  The photo quality is impeccable and I absolutely LOVE the moments that have been captured, like these:

But as time goes on, I'm reaching for our big,  good camera less and less; these days, it's all about my iPhone 4s and as it turns out, I don't think I'm alone.  I've been reading on a few other mom-blogs about the camera phone replacing a professional grade quality camera and like these women, I'm not feeling bad about it.  I'm sure each of them have their reasons, mine is two-fold: first, I'm trying harder to capture more organic moments and lugging around a two pound camera with a big, dangly strap isn't conducive to that and second, I'm lazy; obviously, laziness is more of a factor than I care to admit.

Lately, I've been feeling a little guilty.  After capturing hundreds of moments with the good camera during Jameslyn's first week, the dslr camera has been sitting on the counter since then, staring at me.  However, my phone, which is in my hand more than it should be (tisk, tisk), has been snapping away.  One day, I'm very sure that I will be glad that I've heard the apple-camera-snap more than the authentic dslr click and I've all but resigned myself to the fact that these pictures are going to make up the majority of my children's photo documentation.

Despite my acceptance of my phone replacing my dslr, I wish that phone pictures were better quality.  But wait, there's hope for people like me and it goes a little something like this: photo editing apps and basic photographic skill, both of which Kelle Hampton has helped me explore.  Recently, I read her how-to tips and I'm glad that I did, these are all useful, practical ideas that can be used with both a dslr and a camera phone.  After a few days of being conscious of her tips while taking pictures, I think my point of view behind the lens has changed... for the better.

Don't get me wrong though, photo editing apps like Afterlight are still my jam and for good reason, the quality of the iPhone will never hold a candle to the dslr (check out the before and after below).  These days, with a little luck and the right exposure, I'm pleased with the photos that I'm taking; although, I think it helps that the subjects of my photos are beyond cute, because there ain't no app for that!

A Pink and Green Nursery

Since we found out that we were having a girl, it was all sorts of pink and bows and girl stuff.  I'm not "overly" girlie; however, I can hold my own when it comes to shopping for little girls.  When we moved, we immediately knew that we wanted Jameslyn's room to be the closest one to us, walking the extra steps in the middle of the night is not fun!  The room has two windows so it gets lots of natural light and was as plain as could be- white walls, white carpet, white closet doors.

I decided that I wanted to get a nice crib; read: expensive.  I searched for weeks until I found one that I liked and that was on sale.  Then I decided what bedding I wanted and the bonus was that it was on sale.  The rest of the furniture items and decor touches (not many) were all purchased either on sale or on a budget.  I haven't added up the total amount we spent on the nursery, but I will keep a total as I go along.  I will also give links to websites and specific products as much as I can. 

From day one, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted, something beautiful, chic and vibrant.  I Google image searched the heck out of "girl nursery," "baby girl nursery," "Pottery Barn nursery," "Pottery Barn baby girl nursery,"and found one image that I really liked:

The Pink and Green Pottery Barn Nursery

This nursery is beautiful, chic and vibrant; check, check and check.  The Pottery Barn Kids website explains all the reasons that this nursery works, but one of the most meaningful reasons that I was drawn to this nursery was that my wedding colors were pink and green and so it seemed like this was the perfect room to welcome our first little girl home to.


Here's the deal, I want the Pottery Barn nursery on an Ikea budget, so I used that as the inspiration and we went from there.  Here's our little girl's room (please excuse the lighting):

Branch mobile- $0, I made this myself, sure did!

Pink shelving unit- $89.99, Ikea: EXPEDIT Shelving unit.  Please note, this line of shelving is being discontinued April 1st!  I know, anyone that is an Ikea fan is probably crying right now, these shelving units are a staple in our home (we have four) and the homes of millions, maybe even blillions, of people all around the world.

Baskets- $14.99/each, Ikea: BRANAS Basket.

Wooden rocking horse- $30, Michaels.  I tried to find this on their website, but had no luck, whomp, whomp...  We found this in the unfinished wood section and I plan on painting it some day, but I like the natural look, so I'm in no rush to do that.  I'm estimating that we paid thirty bucks, but honestly it's been a while since we bought it, so I can't really remember.

Monogram Decal- $37, Vinyl Thingz (Etsy).  No joke, we've gotten so many compliments on this decal, so it's definitely worth the money.

The crib- $399, This is all Pottery Barn, baby!  The Kendall Crib  I love, love, love this crib and the price, which I feel is competitive.

The chair- $199, This is the EKTORP JENNYLUND chair from Ikea and it's pretty amazing.  It's featured in a lot of nursery pictures throughout the internet and I know why, it's reasonably priced, it's sturdy and the slip cover is... wait for it: WASHABLE!  We have two little boys who really like chocolate and we've already washed and removed stains from the white chair cover.  We love this chair; however, the seat is pretty narrow, so be skinny if you're going to buy this or it may not be very comfortable.  I know that I feel like a giant when I'm sitting in it.

The dresser- $229 & some change, I found this dresser on sale on amazon.com during the holidays and I snapped it right up.  It's a great dresser and notice that the lines match the crib almost perfectly.  The matching dresser for the Pottery Barn crib is $569, so that's a significant savings and I love me some savings.

The pillow and pouf- $19.99 (pillow) and about $30 (pouf), I searched the Target website and I can only find the info for the pillow, which is real annoying, because the pouf is comfortable and great solution for an inexpensive ottoman.  Another good feature of the poof is that it can be thrown all around the room by older brothers and isn't going to be destroyed or cause very much destruction.

The branch mobile is a total DIY and I really should've documented the steps to making it.  Here is what you will need:

A branch

Paint samples (we legit did need the paint samples to figure out what color we wanted to paint her room, so we didn't just five-finger-discount them)

String

Glue

A circle punch like this one, which I didn't use so please either read up before you buy it or go to your local craft store

Ceiling fasteners

Here's how: I cut out circles and numbered them according to colors so that I could easily make double sided hanging pendants.  I put a large dollop of glue on the back of four circles and then placed the string in the middle.  I put the corresponding circles on top of the circle-glue-string "thing" and placed about 10lbs worth of books on top for a few minutes to make sure that the glue adhered to both sides.  I repeated this until I was bored and then assembled everything.  I know that it's not perfect and that it can never be hung over a crib or actually any surface where a baby might be, but I really like how it turned out and I'm hoping that one day Jameslyn will be happy to say that her Mama made it especially for her.

We Totally Made This Christmas Garland

It's not everyday that I can think of a pretty inexpensive craft that my kids can help with; usually inexpensive stuff equals not toddler friendly.  But this, this is different.  As I was flipping through the latest issue of Better Homes and Gardens (don't knock it, that magazine is cheap and has some good ideas in it), I spotted this garland; it may not be the prettiest, but it sure looked easy.  I tried to find a link to the actual garland that was pictured, but gave up after searching various things, so if you click on the link, it's just gonna take to the plain old main page, feel free to 'search it up'!

Here's all that you will need to make a pretty spectacular, easy, keepsake Christmas garland.

Paper Straws (I got mine in the dollar bin at Target a while ago)
String of any kind
Scissors
Wooden beads

Approximate cost (if everything is bought new)- $10.
Difficulty Level- Easy

Start by laying everything out and then telling your kids not to touch anything so that you can snap a picture for your blog, that will go over well:

Next cut each straw into small pieces, I cut each of my straws into thirds.

Then I approximated how much string I would need to fill, knotted one end and let the kids go to town; alternating between a bead and a green and red straw. Of course, I had to assist to the point that they could actually help, which really means pulling the string though the bead or straw.  That lasted for a few minutes, evenutally they both decided that they'd had enough and quit half way through, but it was fun while it lasted.

Once you reach the end of the string, and may or may not still have kids helping, tie off the other end and snap another picture, 'cause look at y'all, you just made something pretty awesome.

Hang it up.