We’re finally getting around to showing you Leah’s baby room! I took these pictures back in early November, but not much has changed since then… except now we actually get to enjoy baby girl’s room with her! There are still some small things left to do, but if I wait to reveal before every little thing is “finished”, you might not see it until 2017! And I’m just too excited not to share…
Never before has the number 4 seemed so much larger than the number 3. Since Leah joined our family unit just over a month ago, I have learned that little projects (or heck– even just the laundry!) are more tedious tasks than ever before. I have never felt more victorious than when I drove in the car with both girls weeks ago by myself to run errands. Extremely exhausted, yet victorious. Today’s errands consisted of two Leah blowouts, Mya constantly needing “more snacks!”, me not being able to collapse a double stroller in the parking lot, two Leah feedings, and a mysterious something sticky all over Mya’s pants… all within an hour and a half. I might never leave the house again. And yet the number 4 has never seemed so beautiful.
Get ready for picture overload, people! Since I’m having trouble formulating sentences on little sleep, I figured pictures could tell this story better than I could right now. Our little Leah Lynn finally decided to make her debut three days after her due date. I started having mild, regular contractions around midnight on the 27th. We had just gone to bed and I think I was in a state of disbelief/ denial, not wanting to jinx it if labor wasn’t really happening. But we took some deep breaths, gathered our bags, and were at the hospital by 2 AM. I had an epidural and they later broke my water. After that, it was game time. The midwife said I could basically laugh and the baby would pop out. So that’s what I did. Ok, not really. But with just a few pushes, Derek was scrubbed up and ready to catch our second daughter, Leah Lynn…
Sunday, December 27th
10:17 AM
8 lbs 12 oz
19 3/4 in
DISCLAIMER: This is a sponsored post brought to you by Darby Smart. The opinions are 100% my own.
My least favorite part of any project is gathering all the supplies. Don’t get me wrong– I love the weekly outings to the hardware store, but if it takes me more than one store to gather all supplies needed, the project quickly loses its luster. So when I found out about Darby Smart, a company that offers hundreds of creative craft ideas and then delivers the supplies to your door?… I became a super fan! “Yes, I want to make that. No, I don’t want to drive to three stores to get supplies. Yes, I want it delivered to my door like a spoiled warrior princess.” Enter Darby Smart!
I was going to compile a list of maternity items that’ve helped me through this pregnancy. And then I realized that they’re not maternity items at all because I was too cheap to buy much of anything that I’d only be able to use less than 9 months. Especially when I can live in sweatpants everyday. And I’ll probably have stretch marks because I didn’t get a bellyband; and I’ll probably have back problems because I didn’t get a pregnancy pillow. But I got a super soft infinity scarf, a mommy journal, and some other goodies instead. So I think the tradeoff was totally worth it. And I’m hoping these items will bring you comfort too… if not for you, for some other special gal pal. And most are great stocking stuffers, so just drop some hints to your man friend and make his job a little easier this year.
Sorry I lied. I didn’t get my stuff together last night for Mya’s birthday post. Too. Many. Photos! (So, hopefully it’ll come together next week.) Buuuuut, I have some joyous advent calendar ideas for you… because December is just 7 days away. (Insert wide-eyed emoticon here.) I’m here to tell you, “It’s ok. Take a deep breath. Don’t freak out.” Some of these are super easy. If you have some paper bags or toilet paper rolls, you can make something work for you in no time!
Truth: Mya’s napping and I should totally be making food for her birthday party tomorrow or cleaning the house… or sleeping. But I’d rather blog about the silly butterfly snacks we made for her preschool class. Priorities, am-i-right?! Yesterday was Mya’s 3rd Birthday(!) and she had school for a couple hours in the morning. We wanted to bring treats, and her teacher requested something besides sugary cupcakes or cookies to make her job easier. (Hey, I get it!) So we opted for some of Mya’s favorite foods: grapes and cheese (and popcorn on the side.) And since Mya loves herself some butterflies, here’s what went down…
Mya turns 3 in less than a month and she definitely has more opinions in the party planning than the past two birthdays. Whenever I drop her off at preschool, she usually has a request, such as “Please get me chocolate milk and applesauce at the store.” But recently, the requests have been centered around her blue sparkly birthday party theme: “I think I need a blue sparkly bow for my party” or “I want all my friends to dance with me” or “We’re going to paint at my party… but don’t worry, we won’t make a mess” or “Everyone will wear blue!” So yeah. She definitely has inputed some ideas and I love how she’s so into it. I’m also pumped as to the ease of planning a one color themed party!
With little effort, these turned out pretty cool. I won’t lie, though: They sat on our counter for a good month before I finally sanded them down and drilled a hole in each. But hey, they’re done now and oh so colorful. They’re similar to the perler bead bowls that we did earlier this year, except they’re semi-transparent which makes for some great sun catchers!
You know how people put pink or blue balloons in a box as a gender reveal? I totally wanted to do this for Mya because what kid doesn’t like balloons, right?! But when we found out the gender, we knew pink balloons just wouldn’t do it for her…. because they weren’t blue (still her favorite color!) And anything that isn’t blue just wouldn’t be acceptable to our decisive girl. So instead, we just talked about how the baby in Mama’s belly is a girl and this is how the conversation went:
Welcome to Mya’s room. As she is growing up way too fast and her room will also be ever-changing, it’s fun to document her little space. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint a specific “theme” for the room, except that it’s filled with color and feel-good things. Many items are from my childhood and we were able to save a lot of money on furniture. Her crib is from Ikea and the white cabinet/ shelving unit was given to us. Every picture, blanket, and stuffed animal is meaningful to us and probably won’t be to you; but we hope you enjoy the tour nonetheless!
One of my favorite things to find are inspiring kid rooms. Probably because they’re whimsical, colorful, and anything goes. Since my Kid Decor Pinterest board is getting out of control, I thought I’d narrow down some cool kid shelving solutions. Besides the abundant naked dolls on #4, these creative takes on storage are totally winners.
