10 little fingers, 10 little toes... boy or girl? Nobody knows!

We didn't find out N's sex before she was born, and the excitement we gleaned from that decision was twofold: first, I feel to this day that it was a huge motivating and calming factor in my labor; and second, I will never forget the moment when my husband looked down and announced that she was a girl. It was so incredible to really meet the little one I had been carrying for the past 41 weeks, and it made for a great announcement to our loved ones.

But I didn't put much thought into the coming home outfit, or really any "first" outfits for the little guy/ girl in advance. In fact, here's a picture of the pre-birth closet. There are literally two tiny-sized outfits in there, neither of which was very appropriate for a freshly baked babe. And, on another thought, why were most of the gender-neutral outfits we received size 3 months+?

We also had FAR too many receiving/ swaddling blankets, or at least far too many of the "wrong kind," but that's another story.

Back to the clothes. I wish I would have bought a kimono style outfit-- with a hat, crossover top, and pants with the feet attached because damn it! I don't know of any socks that stay on newborn feet! And to the white naysayers-- if your child is going to breastfeed, his or her poop is water soluble and does not leave stains-- except for perhaps meconium, but my experience was that blowouts start post-first poops. Trust me. We tested out this theory for MONTHS (until she started solids, at which time our relationship with white changed).

Baby Gap is making my ideal gender-neutral first outfit. When it's time for baby #2, this is the route I'm going unless I decide to go organic. But I'm definitely going white.

Once at home, bundlers and tiny booties are a great route to go during those first change-the-baby's-diaper-ten-times-a-day days. This version is actually gender-neutral for once (I don't believe for one minute that making an item in yellow or green is at all) and I love it:

Can you tell that I have baby fever like whoa?! Good thing real life is keeping me from acting on my clearly irrational impulses-- I want my kids at least two years apart from each other.

XO,

Weekend Planning: What I accomplished

It's hard to believe that the weekend is over-- for me, it feels like it's hardly even started-- but at 11:15pm on Sunday evening, I suppose it is. Thankfully, I accomplished nearly all of my weekend goals. I still have two loads of laundry to put away, but every last sock in the house is clean. I even got an hour of quality alone time to myself this morning when the Mister slept in and N woke up early but went down for her first nap soon thereafter. I spent it super productively, as you can see from this snapshot:

Ah, bliss. Say Yes to the Dress, Triple Berry-O's, and hot coffee. Side note: I didn't go out and buy this coffee, but I absolutely love using the leftover hot cups from N's birthday bash. It feels like a splurge, like I went out and bought an overpriced but awesome drink from [insert favorite coffee joint here]. This was a good hour, although once the bowl was empty I forced myself to fold laundry as I half zoned out to the television.

I also finished a blanket for a friend's baby, and since I had extra fabric, went ahead and made both a toddler-sized and a doll-sized blanket for N. Stupidly simple "tutorial" to come.

Here's what I'm thinking for dinners this week. We're eating from what we have and it's the Mister's birthday on Wednesday, so it's not exactly the most innovative menu in the world:

Monday- oven-baked chicken and baked sweet potato fries

Tuesday- crockpot southwest white chicken chili + corn muffins

Wednesday- out to eat with friends + funfetti cake for dessert

Thursday- crockpot asian chicken + rice

Friday- out to eat with friends

I am really excited to up the ante on his traditional funfetti cake this year. More on that after Wednesday. Now on to this week.

Cheers,

Weekend Planning

I feel like my to-do list is endless. Every time I get a little bit caught up, I slack a little bit, and end up a little bit behind. It's nothing Earth-shattering, but I would love to start getting ahead and making time and space for my projects. That being said, this is what I'd like to get done over the next few days.

Saturday-

1. finish to-do list at work

2. put away two loads of laundry and wash at least one more

3. empty and re-load dishwasher

4. finish baby blanket for my friend's new addition & make N2 a mini-version for her doll

5. put all items that have made their way to our guest room back in their appropriate places

6. run one car load of trash to a dumpster

7. decide what N2 is wearing in upcoming pictures

8. hang out with a friend

Sunday-

1. church

2. N2's one year portrait session

3. finish all in-process laundry

4. meal plan for upcoming week

5. order a wedding gift for my sister (via Amazon for two-day shipping perks!)

6. work on ABC wall items

7. paint nails

8. organize pots & pans in kitchen

Can it be done without neglecting N1 & N2? Completing this list would put me in an excellent position for the upcoming week. We shall see.

XO,

N's Mini Meal: Friday Breakfast + Lunch

I'm back again with toddler meals, and linking up to With Two Cats for the new Mini Meals feature. I should probably preface this post by acknowledging that I'm a bit obsessive about N's eating habits. I have read too much about the ill effects of hormones and chemicals on the human body, so I do my best to make her food and/or buy organic as often as possible. This means that sometimes I have to dig deep in order to come up with the new and creative, and I often come up with super strange combinations on her plate.

Breakfast-

She had half a banana, sliced, and a multigrain waffle topped with strawberry yogurt and a freeze-dried blueberry (added just for artistic flair). When she was a bit younger I topped pieces of waffle with the fruit purees that she no longer would eat, and the random toppings have continued.

Lunch-

Clockwise: sliced strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and tortilla strips topped with black beans cooked with shredded veggie "cheese" and a little bit of garlic. Yum! Not only did N finish this whole plate, but she also managed several Annie's cheddar bunnies + some multigrain cheerios for dessert.

Anyone have a suggestion for incorporating more calcium and protein into a toddler's diet without using cow's milk or too much meat? So far N is basically a vegetarian...

Cheers,

Valentine's Day: revisited

I heart Valentine's Day, actually, and I always have big dreams of making it a special day for my family: flowers, balloons, activities, heart-shaped food, the whole nine yards. I draw the line at BUYING cards for the day-- just to be a little subversive-- but I love making them.

This year we were just a sorry Valentine's Day family. On the actual day of, I barely scratched out a half-hearted message to my Mister from N. He brought me three semi-wilted white roses that the grocery store. But we got a second chance when N was invited to a belated Valentine's Day party, and we needed valentines for her friends.

This is what we came up with:

N and her friends range between 10 and 15 months, so they can't exactly indulge in the candy I saw over the web: lollipops, chocolate-dipped marshmallows, Fun Dip, banana runts, etc.. But they LOVE yogurt melts like these ones, which became the inspiration for our sweet message.

It was the simplest thing in the world-- I filled disposable pastry bags that I already had on hand with yogurt melts + some cheerios and cut the tops down. Then printed out a simple red + pink message on card stock, bent each piece in half, and attached one to each bag. The backs got a "love" sticker, but my Mama brain forgot to take a picture of that part. Oh well.

They were a hit!

Feelin' creative,

Dining room ch-changes

You know that thing (or, perhaps more likely, those things) that you have wanted for years? It may not be the most expensive thing in the world, but it's something nice, and something beyond your everyday purchases. My list is fairly endless. But one of those items has been a rug for our dining room. Our (tiny) house has a decently open layout, and I've always thought that a rug in each designated area (living room + dining room) would anchor the space. I got this awesome rug from West Elm for our living room a little over a year ago, but the other area has always been bare:

Until now:

Disregard the purple pom-- it's a still remaining leftover from N's big birthday bash.

XO,

Sugar + spice

1. Newborn Gift Set

2. Pink Bird Mobile

3. Puff Sleeve Kimono One Piece

4. Newborn Lounger in Daisy Basket

5. Botanic Garden 2-Piece Set

6. Rosette Blossom Night Sack

7. White Moroccan Pouf

8. Pink Flower Headband

9. Safari Blanket

XO,

P.S.- Next up in this series: what about when your upcoming lil one is a SURPRISE?

Snips and Snails

1. Organic Owls Sky Playsuit

2. Chenille Lollipop Blanky Boys

3. BPA Free Feeding Set

4. Red Bird Dream Ring

5. Organic Merino Drawstring Booties

6. Footed One-Piece: Gray Zebra

7. Happy Elephant: Capri Blue

8. Glass Baby Bottle

9. Organic Cotton Sleeper: Orange Star

XO,

N's Mini Meal: Wednesday lunch

I'm linking to Mini Meals at With Two Cats here; I've never done a link-up before, but I love this idea and I can't wait to be inspired by other moms' real meals. I have been racking my brain to come up with varied and healthy meal options for my daughter ever since she could eat, and especially since she weaned to all solids & milk at her first birthday, and here's what we had for lunch today:

Clockwise from upper left: "fruit salad" with strawberries and freeze-dried pineapple, star-cut slice of organic bread with Horizon brand cream cheese, and two broccoli-cheddar nuggets (adapted from here).

She ate one full broccoli-cheddar nugget, a third of the bread, and all of the fruit. Yum!

:)

Sweet dreams

I don't have a son (yet, maybe someday), but I'm a to-be auntie to a nephew, and so I've been in search of all things adorable and boy recently. This line of organic sleepers-- a marriage between Serena & Lily and Hanna Andersson-- top my list.

Sleep tight,

Stuff I actually made!

I would discover Picnik only two months before it's due to implode. Bummer, because I looove it already. But more to the point-- I made stuff! Eezy, squeezy stuff. One stuff that's very young toddler-friendly, and one stuff that's very Mommy and Daddy and Older Kid- friendly. So on we go! :)

If I had my wits together I'd have made the background of this bad boy white, and titled it "I Made Stuff!" instead of "Oh-so-simple." So pretend like I did that, and we're cool.

Crescent Roll "Pizza":

-8-ounce package of cream cheese

-1/2 cup sour cream

-1/2 packet dry ranch dressing mix

-pepper, garlic powder to taste

-1-2 tubes of crescent roll dough

-raw vegetables of your choice

Since I make this with both myself and my 12 month old in mind, I got freaky and bought the natural/ organic versions of the above ingredients. But if you're making this recipe for a rowdy room full of sports-loving people, go normal (or even generic) all the way!

-preheat the oven to 375

-roll out the dough on a baking sheet or a baking pan, it doesn't really matter- no need to grease it

-bake the dough for about 15 minutes and then let it cool completely

-in a separate bowl, mix together the first four ingredients (soften your cream cheese first)

-finely cut your veggies-- as you can see from my finished version, I cut mine tiny. This is both baby friendly and works well with my taste buds. Certain recipes will suggest certain veggies to use here, but it's really up to you. Carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, cauliflower, celery and cherry tomatoes were what I used in this case (leftover from a veggie tray = multi tasking)

-spread your "sauce" lightly but completely over the cooked and cooled crescent roll dough, and then sprinkle veggies on top

-ENJOY! This is a recipe that I think tastes awesome as leftovers, when the flavors have melded together a bit more, but it is also delicious right away.

Rice Krispies Crack:

This is another "recipe" that is totally tweakable. You've seen cake batter/ peanut butter/ chocolate swirled/ sprinkled rice krispie treats all over the blogosphere. But if you're a little dense like I was, you may not realize how freaking easy it is to customize these guys. Here's how I did it.

-Follow a standard Rice Krispies Treats recipe like this one.

-As my marshmallow mixture and Krispies came together, I added about 4 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder (or maybe a little more, I did it until the mix was a definite light brown color).

-As the mix started to cool off a bit, I added in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips, which melted but not quite completely so they left little chocolate clumps throughout my treats. Then I spread them out into a pan per directions.

-I immediately topped them with an excessive amount of sprinkles as well as 5-6 chopped chocolate-peppermint sticks:

You can find these in lots of random places. I didn't use this brand, but the one I used looked almost exactly the same. These have intensely delicious flavor.

-I used wax paper to press the sprinkles, etc. into the treats.

-After they cooled a bit, we. ate. them. all.

Yum.

XO,

Creative Geniuses of the Internet, Share Your Secrets!

I am in love with the creative life: I am in awe of the women (and men!) I find and meet both in the blogosphere and in real life who basically wake up, look at the sun, and are inspired to knit a gorgeous sweater/ take gallery-worthy photographs/ create the perfect early childhood education environment right in their homes. I want to live on their shoulders so as to soak up a little bit of their genii (not genii as in the little dudes who live in lamps and grant wishes, although I'd take it-- but genii as in the incorrect plural of genius), and often, thanks to creations such as blogs and Pinterest-- I basically can. So I choose a few of their projects, aspire to complete them, and then I'm smacked in the face with. my. real. life..

In real life, I know that I should set my coffee maker at night so that I'm basically smacked in the face with my daily caffeine as I wake up, but that rarely happens and so I spend the first hours of the day zombie-like as I feed, dress, and play with N while mostly neglecting myself. By the time she goes down for nap #1, I rush to get myself pseudo-ready and then "reward" myself with a few minutes, then an hour, then until she wakes up of internet/ television/ lazy time. And I feel guilty when she does get up, so I invent stupid little games to keep her somewhat entertained as I attempt to do something, anything, productive around the house i.e. do a load of laundry (I'd say "catch up on laundry," but that would be an outright lie as I never catch up on laundry), maybe empty the dishwasher that I could have emptied the night before (again with the procrastination!), and if I'm feeling especially motivated or have guests who may pop in, clean the toilet (we have two but I basically ignore the downstairs one unless we're hosting a significant get together). Yes that was a run-on sentence but it was also symbolic of the reality of my day-to-day life. That's a day when I'm home. On the days that I work, I rush around all morning making things and myself look presentable while only attending to the basics of Motherhood, and then I work all day, feel like I only half-ass my job, and get home around 9:30pm. Which is just in time to eat dinner, zone out for an hour or two, and then go to bed. I rarely get to even start the projects that I dream.

The point of the above rant? Is not to complain, as I know that I bring it on myself. The point is that I wish I knew what the creatives of the internet world do better than myself to make their days so pretty and successful and pleasant and productive. Because I'd like to harness it, and DO what I DREAM. Doesn't everyone? So tell me your secrets-- I'm all ears. :)

XOXO,

P.S.- In direct opposition to the above rant, today I am DETERMINED to get some Valentines made with my girl. And this will be a challenge, as 12 month olds are not known for their hand-eye coordination, but I'm up for it. :)

Tuesday Newsday

We celebrated a first birthday in our home this past weekend... our little girl turned ONE and we no longer have a baby, but a toddler. At 12 months old she weighs 20lbs 2oz (with clothes and a diaper on, so probably more like 19lbs-something), is 29.8 inches long (juuust under her infant carseat's length limit), and has two teeth (bottom, center) through the gums and two teeth right there and ready to pop through the gums (top, center). Despite her limited teeth, N will eat anything, and easily transitioned to sippie cups and milk over the past weeks. Oh, and she had a huge first birthday party, and I am chomping at the bit to see some of the pictures. Until that time comes, here's proof of her cuteness. The benefit of being born on a Friday means that your first birthday falls on a weekend, so we celebrated on the actual Big Day:

But now that the party is over and my related projects are finished, I can't wait to find my next one. I have lofty dreams of an ABC wall in the play room, updated throw pillows in our living room, and a full(-er) deep freezer. We'll see how I fare in the coming days/weeks. What have you been up to with your time?

:)

P.S.- I settled on not just one, but two new rugs for our house:

Uno

Two

And thanks to our awesome gift card, spent less than $100 on these two biggish guys (6'x9' and 5'x7'). Woo. :)