A butterfly mobile for Hazel

I apologize that the blog has pretty much been taken over by my nesting projects - and probably will be for a few more  posts - but it helps motivate me to finish my little projects when I know I can share them with those who take the time to look at our blog. 

So, I was looking around for cute mobile ideas and found this butterfly one that kind of made me pause, it was so pretty. But it is also unavailable (and would've been way out of my budget, anyway). Luckily, I did a little web-surfing and came across this little tutorial, which made my project a home-made, hand-made bit of fun on a Friday afternoon (okay, and late LATE into the evening!)

I modified the diy tutorial a bit to my liking, and at 2am (yes, TWO AM! That is LATE for me these days!) I finally finished my little butterfly mobile for baby Hazel. I didn't want to buy a butterfly punch, so I ended up finding a free font and making my own templates (that way I could vary the species and also the size to my liking) It took me days to find the perfect paper - I keep being drawn to peachy pinks (think peaches and cream or kind of the shade of ballet slippers) and so I finally found one at a scrapbooking store. It was pearlescent as well, which only added to it's beauty! I also used the inside of an embroidery hoop to give the mounting part a bit more strength and shape.

It looked so easy to make...and really, it was. The hard parts for me were that tracing and then cutting out all of those butterflies ended up killing my fingers (haven't used petite metal scissors for a while but definitely needed them for the small details on the butterflies). It took a LONG time to cut out all of the butterflies - luckily I had two little helpers for some of them (ahem, very helpful they were!) Actually, Sawyer and Aspen were thrilled that I was making butterflies so they joined me and we had a cutting party at the table most of the afternoon - they cut all the remnants into teeny tiny pieces that floated to the floor, and begged me in between butterflies for some butterflies of their own to play with - so of course ended up making twice as many butterflies and we now have butterflies all over the house, which is actually kind of nice - very Spring like). I also ended up sewing and attaching the butterflies by hand - it just didn't seem right after cutting them all out by hand to just take a machine to them - so I daintily took my time by hand.

Jacob thinks I was rather crazy to stay up so late for the project - but once I got going I just didn't want to stop until it was done. I hung it over the dining room table when I finally finished so when everyone woke up they had a fun surprise in the morning - butterflies!

I mounted it to our ceiling above Hazel's crib this afternoon - and I couldn't stop staring at it! The pearl paper gives the most beautiful effect when the butterflies dance with the light! It makes the butterflies shine and look like they are different shades, even though they are all the very same paper. 

I know, I'm kind of silly. But I just LOVE this kind of stuff! I love that our new baby will have something pretty to look up at - and I can look right across the room at, too! 

In conclusion, it was a really fun project and anyone who wants to give it a try - should! It cost me about $5 for supplies - the biggest investment was patience and time. Happy Spring!

Hazel's crib bedding

I finished it! This past week I have used every moment of my spare time, for the most part, to make Hazel's crib bedding. We got a mini crib (the same as a regular crib - it's not a porta crib, just smaller dimensions - closer to the size of a pack n play but with a real mattress etc.) to go in our room since we are lacking in space. We have 3 bedrooms but can really only use 2 (2 are on the third floor and 1 is on the first floor and we can't have tiny kids being 2 floors below - so it is our office instead). Anyway, I am a tiny bit bummed that I don't get to do any sort of "nursery" for our new baby, but hello SLAP in the face, we are just so blessed to be having her I feel incredibly grateful for that. BUT I AM trying to make her little corner of our room a special place that feels welcoming and "hers". I started off by making her crib bedding. (I wasn't even sure I would do a bumper because I have mixed feelings about them...but I figured it would be a little protection for the baby when her big sister comes and tries to stick her hands through the slats to give her lots of love - when we don't want her to wake her up or poke her eye out, ha!).

The thing about mini crib sizing is that there aren't a lot of options for bedding, at least that I found. You can get it custom made - but then it's well over the price of making it yourself. Or you can find one option for each gender at Babies R Us, but if you ask me it was pretty darn ugly. So, of course I took the matter into my owns hands and home.

I have been in love with this designer bedding - the Matteo Tat from Layla Grace - for sometime (click here to see it). But who spends over $500 on crib bedding? Certainly not me. So I eye-balled it and studied the pictures and tried to replicate it as best I could. I had to just do it free-hand as there are no patterns or tutorials for this sizing (and I'm too lazy to do the math to convert anything). So, I made the fitted crib sheet (by far the hardest part of the project for me - well, not super hard, just kind of tricky) the bumper and pillow and crib skirt. To ge the "tat" effect, I ripped the fabric rather than cutting it with scissors - I was nervous when I started ripping away at the $60 worth of fabric that I bought, but it all worked out and I love the end result. It took 8 yards of fabric to do all of it, plus the batting for the bumper, and some elastic and thread, oh, and the pillow insert. The fabric was a good deal at $6.99/yard and I got 40% off with a coupon for the batting and pillow insert. It ended up costing me just under $100 to make - a great savings of $400! And the satisfaction of putting in every stitch for the sweet little baby girl who will be sleeping in it :)

And there you have it, Hazel Grace's Bedding. Her Daddy says "it's very girly". I sure hope she likes the ruffles as much as I do! (I am also laughing at myself because before having girls I was never a ruffle-lover myself! Maybe there is a reason God is sending me another girl!)

Austin!

So...I've had this little crush on Austin, TX, for quite a while. Jacob decided to take me down so we could meet in person and decide if it is just infatuation or if this could be a long-term relationship (he he). 

Actually, that is partly true - but mostly, we wanted to escape the gray, drizzly skies and soak in some sunshine. (I have to note that if it was purely vacation - the kids would've been with us. But since we had a lot of varied activities on the agenda, my mom stayed with them the 4 nights we were away - I could've written a whole post about how hard it was to leave them, leaving our will on the countertop, etc. etc., but I'll spare you and just rejoice that we all survived! In fact, we all had a great time - thanks, Grammie!)

Did you know that Austin in late winter/early Spring is like Seattle's summer? Yep. It was about 70 our whole visit - and 78 the day we left. Hello, Sunshine!

We arrived on a Friday night, picked up our rental car, and headed straight towards downtown to meet up with Jacob's college friend and fellow designer - it actually ended up being a triple date with some super cool people who left a great first impression of what wonderful people live in Austin. We met for dinner at a - can you guess? - Tex-Mex place (mmm fish tacos!), and then we walked over to ARTCRANK, a poster show, in which Jacob's friend had a poster up - good stuff - you can check out a slideshow of some of the artist's work here. I kept thinking, mingling with the crowd - 'Austin is just as swanky as Seattle - only I think the hipsters are even better dressed' :)

Saturday, we kept to ourselves to just relax and explore the city. I'm not going to lie - we were surprised how much smaller a city it is than Seattle. Probably at least 1/3 the size. A MUCH slower pace (which isn't a bad thing). I mean - there is free parking next to some great shopping, and if there is a meter it's only $1/hour - incredible! 

I wasn't great at bringing the camera along, but I did take a few pics to document our little trip. We started out by taking note how strange it was to be without our children. We noted that often on our trip - it was like we were missing apendeges of our body or something. A very odd/unnatural feeling to be away from our little ones. But, we were already away - so we tried our best to enjoy it because it won't be happening again.

Getting back to our day - 

We "hiked" up Mt. Bonnell (it is more of a bump than any sort of "mountain" but it surely had a nice view) in the morning and truly basked in the sunshine and warmth - no jackets needed.

We ate lunch at the Whole Foods Flagship Store (did you know it's based in Austin? Yep)

We browsed Anthropologie (Jacob found a book he liked and I made him buy it - he never buys anything for himself) and spent a leisurely hour in Book People picking out a book for each of our kids to bring home to them. 

Then, we walked across the river and took a wonderful stroll along Ladybird Lake - or Town Lake to the locals. It is similar to Greenlake, which is by our home, only the path is more than double the length. Oh yeah, the photo of Jacob with the Statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn - that's for Kimball Carter (Jacob's Dad). We couldn't get over how warm it was!  

After our walk by the lake, we headed over to "SoCo" or South Congress Avenue (which was a bit touristy) and enjoyed some yummy goodness from Amy's Ice-cream. The people of Austin are awesome about supporting local businesses, it was evident, and while I still love some of the chain stores they had there (Anthropologie, West Elm, Title Nine, REI, etc.) I really enjoyed the spirit of Austin (some might call it "Keep Austin Weird" - I think of it more as "Keep Austin Awesome".)

Backtracking here...

In my mind I had envisioned Austin to be flat, dry and like a big desert - like Arizona. Well, it was definitely flat, and more dry than Seattle (we're talking in the humidity factor here) but it wasn't at all as desert-ish as I had envisioned. I was pleasantly surprised by all the trees, green, and a bit of water. True, I'm sure, that at the end of their scorching summer things aren't so green - but coming from The Emerald City, I was really excited to see so much more life than I had expected. Pleasantly surprised, you might say :)

After exploring a bit of SoCo (kind of bummed we're a few weeks too early to see the BATS, but maybe another time?) we headed up to the State Capitol Building to look around. The architecture was gorgeous - and did you know that it is the tallest capitol building in the entire United States (yep, even beats DC)? Well, what can you expect? It's TEXAS! And "everything is bigger in Texas" so the saying goes. 

We were shocked at how much ground we had covered and realized that when you don't have to stop for naptime, you can sure do a lot more! I generally do stop and take a nap when our kids are napping (very blessed they both still nap!) so I was starting to get a bit tuckered out by this time. So, we headed back to our hotel to freshen up and then went to one of the best dinner's I've ever enjoyed...we called ahead an knew there was going to be about an hour's wait until we could get "in" - but really, it was an open-air restaurant with only a few seats "inside" - and while it was nice and warm during the day, it was somewhere in the 60s that evening. I wondered if we'd freeze - but then, if people are willing to wait an hour in chilly temps, we figured it must be worth the wait! And it WAS! They took our names and then sent us to a really nice outdoor fire, with benches and blankets you could use if you were feeling too chilly. Friendly, beautiful, people gathered around the fire for conversation as they waited. We waited and the time went by quickly as we conversed, uninterrupted, and enjoyed the ambiance. And then, of course, the food was to DIE for! So, if you ever find yourself in Austin, definitely check out Contigo. I am still thinking about our food that night (Thanks, Jessie, for the recommendation)! It was an awesome date night and, once again, we were impressed that such a nice dinner out cost half as much as it would in Seattle. (Sad that we kept comparing, eh? But who can help it! I won't even tell you about the difference in real estate prices! Shocking!)

Sunday, we met up with Jacob's aunt, Martha, and her husband and son, who live in nearby San Marcos. We had a nice lunch and visit and then headed to church. There, we met up with some Seattle friends who had moved to Austin (we were in a book club together a few years back) and they very cordially fed us dinner their two cute kids entertained us (and also made us miss our own!) As we were leaving, their 3 year old little girl said "are your kids all in your belly?" I had to laugh. I told her one of them was and the other two are at home - but next time I'll bring them over to play.

After visiting with those friends, we had one more stop to make - another little visit with Jacob's friend from design school and his family (the ones we went to dinner and the art show with on Friday). We visited and they served us dessert (weren't we fortunate? Dinner AND Dessert with friends on Sunday so we didn't have to eat out). We had a good visit and returned again, exhausted, to our hotel. 

This is silly but I do have to say: at the continental breakfast in our hotel, they had a belgium waffle machine, and it was shaped like the state of Texas. Only in Texas! Of course we ate some :)

Monday was our last full day in Austin. It was cloudy that day, and a bit cooler (though a jean jacket and flip flops were still perfect!) We took it slow in the morning and then met up with my old roommate and her adorable 1-year-old son for lunch. It was a good feeling knowing that we were so far from home, yet still we had a handful of good friends. We had a nice visit and lunch and then spent most of the afternoon just chillin' in the bookstore some more. I actually wasn't feeling very well. (Pregnancy even at 25 weeks still doesn't agree with me very well). I think all of our running around had kind of caught up to me. AND remember I usually nap when my kids nap and I hadn't done that the entire trip. So...we went back to the hotel and I took a nap. I was bummed because we had fun plans for the evening and I was afraid my pregnancy-related sickness was going to ruin them. Thankfully, though, a 2-hour-nap later, I woke up around 8pm feeling quite a lot better. Even though we were running a tad bit late, we decided to stick to our plan: Texas BBQ and Live Music.

I mean, you HAVE to have a bit of briskett if you're in Texas, and when you're in the "Live Music Capitol of the World" you just have to see a show, right?

RIGHT!

So, we went to the infamous Stubbs and ate and then saw a show (Katie Herzig - I really really enjoyed her and her band! (Check out what fun she is here.) I was of course the only preggo lady there, but no one seemed to care! I certainly didn't! In fact, little Hazel Grace (yes, we finally decided on her middle name on the airplane ride to Austin!) was movin' and groovin' along with the beats she heard inside my belly. We used to go to see lots of shows before having kids, so it was a treat to be able to do so in Austin). 

Tuesday was our last day in Austin. We drove a bit north to taste the World Famous Round Rock Donuts and they did not disappoint! It was also raining lightly in the morning, and since we had already checked out of our hotel, I lured Jacob into doing a bit of shopping. It is a LOT easier to shop for clothes sans kids, that is for sure! 

Once the temps started rising and it was dry again, we headed back towards downtown and spent the rest of our time at Barton Creek and Zilker Park. It was 78 degrees by now and I waded into the water and it felt like summer. It was a delicious treat at the end of February! We walked a bit around the park and saw the natural swimming pool and then decided to ride the little train around the park. It's kind of for kids, but we were missing ours and we thought they'd love to hear about it, so we went. We sat behind a group of moms who had met up for a "train playdate". We couldn't help but tell them about our two at home, and how much they would love this little train. We had one of the moms take the only picture of the two of us together on the trip - in the little train, of course ;) Not everyone in Austin had a twangy accent - but you could tell who some of the Texas natives were - and it was kind of endearing. 

By the end of our trip - we were certainly ready to come home and see our children - the shuttle express couldn't get us home fast enough! (Only wish we could've brought the weather back with us!) I felt like my belly had grown bigger just by being in Texas :)  Flying was weird (I had never flown while pregnant before) but something to do with the equilibrium being off, I think, made me want to get really sick during taxi and landing. Luckily, I held all my cookies together, but that part of traveling wasn't very fun. 

Overall, we had a great time exploring a new city. We soaked up the sun and gathered a lot of information and I think it's safe to say that my crush on Austin is still in tact. We might just have to go back again someday. Until then, I will just have to have our friends send us sunny thoughts :)  

A huge THANK YOU to all of our friends who were so very lovely and hospitable in showing us your city. You are all wonderful and we hope to see you again sometime!

Now that we're home...come on, Seattle, show us some Spring!

Our cute little monkeys

This is going to be short.

I just wanted to say how much I love my little monkeys!

We have been having such a great time together - I had to capture them in this moment being so cute together. I love that they are best friends. One sure benefit of having scaled down a lot of our play-dates and outings since I've been sick a lot this pregnancy, is that they have had more opportunities to develop their relationship. Don't get me wrong - they have their moments, as do all brothers and sisters. But they also have lots of wonderful moments - and it makes my heart happy to see them.

I have officially been bit by the "nesting bug" and have started in on a bunch of projects...my first project is/was to go through my stash of fabric (scraps, things I never finished) and finish what I once started, or create something out of what I already have. I am not allowed to buy anything new to work with until that is done - and I'm getting there. I'll definitely post as I go along, because sharing my little creations helps keep me motivated to get all this sewing stuff done and out of the way before the weather gets nice -- I want to spend the last ten weeks just playing with and enjoying my two little monkeys - not stressing about things I need to get done before the baby comes. I am thinking of doing 10 in 10 again (10 mini-short-term goals or things to do in the 10 weeks before Hazel joins in on the fun. It is a fun way to count down!) Wish me luck!

AND have a wonderful day! I hope you are enjoying the sun and rise in temps as we are today - after naps we are headed out with bubble wands in hand to the playground!