Baby Bub is 6 Weeks Old!

Time is flying as usual! My sweet baby bub is growing like a weed, just like her equally sweet sister. Here is Madeline's first month photo:

I feel like she looks different everyday! Sometimes more like mom, sometimes more like dad, and occasionally I see her and think she looks like Avery did when she was a baby. Overall though, I think she looks most like I did as a baby.

At her one month appointment, Madeline had gained almost a pound and a half and weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 oz, what a big girl :). She jumped from the 10th percentile in weight to the 15th, whoa!! haha, I think she is going to be jumping up to 50th% in a matter of months, because this girl CAN EAT. Boy, I am SO not used to her total unquenchable thirst...with her big sister, I basically struggled the entire first year of her life trying to get her to eat consistently after all those stinky brain surgeries.

On top of eating like a champ, she enjoys a number of other things as well. Number one I think would be the bath!

Girl can't get enough! She'd stay there all day happy as a clam,

but I really don't want a prune baby :)

 This sweet girl also enjoys her "bug" pacy...

And sleeping on her tummy, for sure

Her hair has gotten a little longer (almost bow ready!), and I still can't believe how blonde it is-- kind of strawberry blonde actually. Her eyes are the prettiest dark blue, and I totally melt when she looks up into mine...she really likes when I sing to her, and gets very quiet and calm. She likes to sleep in our arms, rather than on her back (we're working on this :). She already holds her head up like a champ, and I can't believe how strong she is at just one month! She enjoys riding in her car seat, and goes with me everyday to take and pick up her big sister from school.

We are still getting used to life with two precious girls, but taking it one day at a time. We already can't remember what it was like without her! Big sis is also getting used to having a baby around, but so far so good. At a check up the other day, Avery measured in at 41 inches!!! This girl is going to grow past me any day now! Here is the long legged beauty :)

The New Nursery: Part Two

Finally. I know --you don't need to tell me-- it's definitely been more than the couple days I promised. If I thought that finding the time to blog with one munchkin was hard, finding it with two is infinitely harder. I have to be tricky too...if I even dare to plan, or really just THINK about blogging, then a blowout/meltdown/accident WILL surely ensue. It's all good though. Family comes first :)

Back to the new nursery. It makes me so happy! Everything turned out exactly as I imagined or better! I MUST give some thanks though: mucho appreciation to Bub the hub, Nana Patterson, Aunt Kay, bff Allison, friends and family from two amazing showers, my Cricut machine, TJMaxx, Target, BabiesRUs, IKEA, Graco, Pottery Barn, Etsy and Amazon  for coming together to make this happen. 

SOOOO HERE IS THE TOUR~

From the door, you walk in and notice that the nursery

is also a guest room! two in one! an amazing feat for

such a small room, I assure you.

as you walk in, straight ahead of you is the daybed

and drawers that we repainted

those beautiful blue polka dotted curtains were lovingly made by my

uber talented Aunt Kay Little and they are perfection!

immediately to your right is the changing table and shelf

closer up...

found some cute canvas bins and decorated them with birdies and butterflies

from my showers... they hold the essentials: diapers, bibs, blankets

and the most essential-SHOES!

Avery is being a very sweet sis and letting Madeline borrow all her baby shoes!

Allison gave me this awesome shelf that just happened

to match the room perfectly :)

I found the name blocks on Etsy and they were made to match

the crib bedding- the birdie next to the "M" is actually a tooth fairy pillow

from my sweet friend Tarryn, she also got me those

adorable socks on the other side!

lots of goodies hanging from the shelf:

from the left are monogrammed baby shoes, a gorgeous dress (it was the

very first thing I bought when I found out I was having another girl :),

her birth certificate from the hospital, a butterfly bow holder,

and a pack of good stuff on the far right, needed for changing baby

look at the precious shoes my wonderful friend Lindsay

sent for Madeline! I love that they have her birth date

back to the blue drawers, they have lots of friendly animals

for Baby Bub and more cute socks, can't have enough of those!

up close, the knobs are also from Etsy,

and also made to match the beddding

the day bed has a beautiful white shabby chic comforter

with patches of different fabric

found these shabby chic ruffle pillows that I love too!!

looking at the opposite corner of the bed, there are shelves

that hold books and furry characters from each story

here's a close up:

from left we have Olivia the pig and Runaway Bunny,

Peter Rabbit (from my nursery when I was a baby),

and The Very Hungry Catepillar...I just love all these

books, they make me happy :)

Here's another view from that corner

On the left is one of my favorite components...

♥the birdhouse side table ♥

(swoon)

On the far wall I framed four newborn photos that I took

of Baby Bub for her announcement...

precious girl :)

I call this corner the reading nook! I am an avid reader, and

will do everything in my powers to mold avid-reading daughters!!

absolutely adore this glider I bought off Target.com,

and the book rack I found on Etsy as well

up close on the glider

actually found this lovely bird cloth bag and decided to make it a pillow

last but not least, the crib wall!!

I did the wall mural with branches found at Marshalls

and flowers/leaves/birds made by my Cricut machine

and the lovebirds bedding I always knew I needed

a close-up of the branches

I thought these fun bird houses from Pottery Barn really

made it all POP :)

and that, my friends, brings us back to the door

hey Madeline, what do YOU think of your nursery?

I think that's a smile!!

But seriously, I hope she loves it as much as I loved creating it for her.

Now I think it's time to work on Avery's new big girl room!!!!!! (poor Bub the hub)

The New Nursery: Part One

I don't mean to be super dramatic...but I'm going to go ahead and be super dramatic and break this into two parts. It IS a lot of photos to share! And more fun to be dramatic. And I'm trying to be in bed by 8pm tonight in preparation for a very hungry baby. SO, initially Madeline's nursery was our guest room:

nuthin too fancy...

Then it was converted into a little study...

and plans for a craft room were initiated! Dreams of my perfect work room looked like any of the following examples..you might have already seen the first on my sidebar:

LOVE!LOVE!LOVE!

this showroom at IKEA would totally work

as would this storage dream

But alas, these plans would not be realized, and my future craft room would have to be put on hold. Only for the best reason though! Planning a nursery is still pretty fun I'd say, and I already had some ideas, of course. Y'all remember how this bedding set that used to be on my sidebar made me really (irrationally) want another baby a couple years back?

well, I didn't change my mind!

I knew that I wanted Baby Bub's nursery to be really bright and colorful and just plain happy :) So the first decision we made was YELLOW--Martha Stewart's Haystack to be exact, and boy did that do the job for bright! Then I decided that I really wanted to do a cottage-y look, and wouldn't it be perfect if we did the Cape Cod sideboarding around the whole room (cue Bub the hub eye rolling).

I think there is a possibility that I may tend to get a lot of great DIY project ideas in my head and poor Bub the hub suffers a bit...or a lot...or almost breaks his wrist/back/marriage contract trying to make my dreams come true. The man deserves a huge pat on the back because he did all this for me (and the baby, right!?) just using a hammer and a hand saw!!!! The guy deserves some props-- BEHOLD the transformation:

just yellow paint and wall

the first piece of baseboard is attached!

and he slowly but steadily...

takes it around...

the entire room-- what an amazing bub!

All pretty and touched up, it looked so good:

Then it was time to add the furniture, but it is way past my new bedtime, so more photos in the next couple days :)

The New Nursery: Preface

Well, this nursery reveal is about a month later than I thought it would be, but good design takes awhile, my friends!! I've really been trying to work on this post all week, but snatching those little bits of time has become very tough lately. So here it is late Sunday night, September 11th, and my eyelids are much too heavy to post all the photos that I planned. 

My thoughts are really elsewhere, remembering this day ten years ago, when I woke to my alarm radio that was broadcasting news instead of the usual country station that I was used to. I couldn't believe my eyes when I turned the t.v. on and saw what was happening in Manhattan. Selfishly, I cried tears thinking that my own world would now never be the same...thinking this meant war, and that meant potentially losing friends and family among many other terrible things.

Now I look beside me and watch this precious girl, fast asleep, and I can't help but feel enormously grateful. I am grateful for the men and women who fight everyday so that I have the freedom to have the family that I always dreamed of. And I think about the families that lost loved ones on this day ten years ago, and I can't even imagine their pain. So I am sending love and prayers and healing thoughts to them, and hope they find peace in their hearts...peace like this sweet little angel brings to me.

 

Nursery photos to come tomorrow, I promise. Super duper promise :)

Madeline's Showers

Kelly's Korner is having a blog hop about baby showers so I thought it would be a perfect time to post the photos from Madeline's showers. They were both really fun, not to mention gorgeous, and I really couldn't ask for more generous and loving family and friends!!

The first shower had a sweet little bird theme, just like Madeline's nursery...which I will post next week :) It was hosted by my Aunt Kay (my mom's twin) and cousins Kingslea and Alysia, who are pretty much professional shower throwers, so don't be afraid to take notes!!

Alysia designed the adorable invites!
And they all know how much I love baby clotheslines as decor...

Madeline has already worn everything on the line you see here :)

Here I am with the beautiful hosts, and a one of me with mom and Aunt Kay

These hostesses know the fastest way to my heart = candy buffet!! Isn't it gorg? There were rock candy sticks, gumballs, taffy and sour watermelons, my favs! and little baggies so everyone could take candy home. The flowers were amazing too, looking especially cute in wrapped boxes with ribbon and birdies.

oh, did I mention they are all great cooks? We had fruit salad with poppyseed dressing, shrimp salad in endive lettuce, gorgonzola and pear crostinis and roquefort cheese puffs. YUM-O. Am I making you hungry yet?
And the hostesses gave me my crib bedding!!

 ♥ A few of the cute party guests  ♥

  Here I am opening a couple presents...and that's a frog wastebasket that
"ribbits" when you open it...if you were wondering

My fabulous and lovely friends Allison, Tarryn and Stephanie hosted a shower with a Bee theme, which you probably already knew is one of my favorites. These girls blew me away with the cuteness!!

fun invite :)

Me with hot hostess Allison,

she made this amazing "Mama Bee" paper corsage for me to wear,

here's a close-up:

isn't it the cutest?

she also made these DE-licious and exquisite bee cupcakes:

and close-up

those are fondant bees, y'all

Me with lovely hostesses Tarryn and Stephanie

some of the decor...what I didn't get a photo of were the amazing flower arrangements that Stephanie put together--the vases were filled with lemons on the bottom and looked really elegant!

My very favorite part of the shower: everyone made a bib for Madeline

by cutting out iron-on fabric in different designs  :)

 

here I am very seriously considering how to decorate mine

and here's how a bunch turned out! I adore them

we already use them every day!

Here I am loving my new baby bag (thanks momma!)

and a precious ballerina dress from Allison

SO excited for the name blocks for her nursery (etsy rocks)

and Madeline bloomers!!! those get triple exclamation marks (thanks Amy :)

And since this is turning into the longest blog post ever, might as well provide a link for the shower I threw for Allison...the photo of the invitation is one of my most popular blog images. See it here.

Also, two words: CAKE BALLS...

...make every shower amaze-balls.

this is the dessert table I did recently for my cousin's shower

AND for a little shameless self promotion, I LOVE making invitations for baby showers, so check out my design site: Sugar Bee Designs, where you will see the invite I made for the shower above, an adorable jungle theme!

yep, I think that about wraps it up.