they love to tell you stay inside the lines

my newest little stack of vintage (50's & 60's) bookish goodness (the bottom one is The Secret Garden)

a little toybox bench for Sloane, skirt for mommy & cup for the nursery

isn't it precious?

Lately I've been fighting my urge to join pinterst, as I know I will get addicted to it and I don't have enough time as it is...but it's oh so lovely there. 

Browsing a few new blogs I <3

• aiming low
• studio calico
• lunch break

• oh happy day

Doing a little scrapping in honor of my sister's graduation.  So proud of her.  She will be attending nurse practitioner school next fall to earn her doctorate (I am jealous as I used to be the sibling with the most education). I thought she looked adorable in her little old school nursing uniform.  Isn't it a great tradition that they still take these photos.  Apparently the little hat indicates the degree of BSN and the white scrubs indicate her being an RN.  Her little nursing lapel pin is on her left shoulder and they said the pledge of Florence Nightingale at her pinning ceremony.

I did a little arrangement of candy in apothecary jars with handmade Rx labels for her table.  I didn't snap a picture but I did snap a pic of the sample bottle I made to show my mom (those are yellow mini m&ms).  It turned out pretty cute, I will have to track down a photo.  The Rx labels were things from my sister's life.  One of them was an Alice in Wonderland theme "drink me" and one was a Breakfast at Tiffany's homage: "to cure the mean reds".   We did get a pic of my mom's amazing nurse cake though.  Too cute.  (the bottle collection is right to the right of the photos of my sister and her friend (they had their reception together at a hotel). 

So ready for the weekend.  Can't wait to see what the days will hold, hopefully some relaxation and lovely weather. Hope your holiday weekend is all you want it to be!

title courtesy of John Mayer: Real World

in the wee small hours of the morning

Not the best photo but some great little finds this weekend at yard sales.  3 vintage books (A Tale of Two Cities, Works of Voltaire & The Secret Garden) some books for Sloane including A Bad Case of Stripes (which is about a girl who loves lima beans, had to have this book as that is the only thing we called Sloane until after she was born), the Xyron 500 & a brand new cartridge (for a mere 5), pretty blue polka dotted H&M dress and a NY & CO blouse for work, plus the photo of the Golden Gate Bridge for Keenan (he owns another bridge in the series of 3 created for Target) oh & there are two ink pads on top of the stack of books-- for scrapping of course, I can't pass up ink for 50 cents. 

I also bought a chicken costume (not pictured) for Sloane-- it's adorable and I am already planning a photo shoot for it with my step-fathers gaggle of baby chicks (are chicks a gaggle or are only geese a gaggle?). 

I also spent some time at the thrift store buying some art in ugly frames that I am going to get framed for father's day for K. 

My sister is quite honestly the funniest person I know, so when she thinks something I say is funny I feel uber-important.  While we waited for her take out sushi inside the restaurant my mother waited (impatiently) in her car in the parking lot.  I suggested to Taylor that we should walk out dead pan to mom in moustaches bought from the 50cent machine in the restaurant.  We bought them and did it.  Mom found it hilarious and it seemed to dissolve her impatience and put us right back into her good graces as she snapped a picture and sent it to our brothers with the text "taking Shan & Tay for a wax".  There were about 10 styles of moustaches and only 1 was grey...Tay got the lucky little egg that held a grey moustache, which I appreciated because I love looking like the younger one. 

no make up, ponytails, hoodies and facial hair...awesome

In other news Sloane has been sleeping in her own room for about 2 weeks.  That project is done-- turns out it was more our anxiety dictating that her little cradle needed to be parked two inches away from us while she slept.  She sleeps better in her nursery and has been lying down awake for naps and soothing herself to sleep- major WIN in our house. 

The next hurdle is getting her out of her cradle and into her crib before she outgrows it...also we I would love for her to be able to make it through the night without nursing.  She did it for 3 glorious nights of 8 hours of sleep in a row(!) while we were at my parents house last weekend.  Turns out she was just showing off for her grandparents (they now are certain she is a perfect little specimen of human life). 

We got home and suddenly she is still waking up at 1:45a and 4:45a and 6 am, as if to say to both her father and I: "I do what I want and you two fools have to live with it!"  I try to settle her without feeding her, but it seldom  never works.  What's up with people always saying "slept like a baby" and meaning they slept well...they obviously don't mean slept like my baby.

this garment is called a "sleeper" (sleep is sold separately)

Not sleeping isn't too troublesome, it's sort of what we signed up for, it's just that sometimes in the middle of the night it's hard to remember that, especially at 4am.  I am hereby convinced 4am is the worst time of the entire 24 hours of a day. 

title courtesy of old blue eyes: in the wee small hours

lima bean lima bean does whatever a lima bean does

She lives with two parents who have a penchant for nicknames

Sifting through old photos I'd yet to scrap here is one
from the birth announcement of my bff's first son: Maxx.
I'm a little behind, he was born Feb 29th 2008

My bff's second son: Quinn was born January 28th 2011
(we are already planning their eventual wedding)

 more of the little champ: how great of a name is Quinn!?
I love it!

In other news:  so the nursery is complete.  My baby is 5 months old. My excuse was that she was born early, although she was only born 5 weeks early not 5 months... (fail).  Finished the last DIY project (at least until we move this summer) Pictures and post to follow!  (Of course I will have to remove all the baby stuff that is actually awesome but looks well, like baby-stuff and that will allow for all my shabby-chic and DIY gloriousness to shine).

tutorial here

Speaking of DIY...here's one I've had on my favorites bar forever (over a year) to try.  I must find a foot board I like now that it's yard saling season again (HOORAY!). 

Sloane turned 5 months old over the weekend.  My baby sister graduated from nursing school.  And I celebrated my first mother's day...all of these things made me feel a little bit like time was flying. 

I know this was a boring post, but I really wanted to update, even though I suppose that is as banal as speaking just to hear your own voice. 

title courtesy of Keenan (the lima bean's father) who adapted the hit song "Spider Pig" sung by Homer Simpson.

If you love it when it's wet and cold and raining

I find myself so overwhelmed with life lately. 

There are one gabillion things (exactly) that I want to be doing at any given moment.  I realize suddenly why parents break into their children's Ritalin supplies (I kid, I kid).  Because we do not have to have day care (HOORAY$!) our schedule is VERY specific and what it is missing is time for me.  Time for me to do really anything without a baby attached or right next to me (i.e. her bouncy seat lives in our bathroom so that I can shower and get ready with her near) and if she is near me then she is thus not crying--I suppose I should get over it a bit but I loathe the crying, physiologically I cannot do anything other than listen to the crying if it is within earshot.

The issues:

• not enough sleep
• not enough hours in the day
• not enough motivation to overcome the desire to procrastinate

Things I would rather do: (prompt 25 on 30 days of lists blog)

• stage a cute photoshoot with Sloane's huge straw hat (it's the Kentucky Derby this weekend)
• scrapbook (I guess I did do a tiny bit of that lately)



evidence of further procrastination

• watch mindless TV on my DVR (I almost wrote VCR, yep I'm that tired)
• do little home improvement projects
• buy this birdcadge photo holder and alter the clothespins for it
• thrift store shopping (even grocery shopping would be welcomed)
• lounge lazily and listen to Mumford and Sons while I analyze their lyrics

Instead I must:

• quit blogging and get to work!
• pay bills
• send bills
• grocery shopping
• figure out mother's day presents for all the mommas in my life
• find a graduation gift for my sister (YAY TAY!)
• figure out a new nighttime routine and get Keenan on board
• look for a new place to live (lease is running out soon and we want a kid-friendlier neighborhood)
• take care of kiddo
• deal with all things babyfeeding/pump cleaning/bottle sterilization/milk freezing and thawing la la la
• remember to eat

At least I remembered to:

• send out a thank you note and photos
• pay rent
• send out mother's day photo cards to Sloane's grandmothers (thank you tinyprints sale)



my mother's day shot for grandmas

lyrics by Oscar the Grouch: The Grouch Song (a classic, in my humble opinion)

wish it was Sunday.

Our weekend was lovely, and lovely weeknds seem to go the fastest.  Did the 4 mile AIDS walk pushing this little gal in her stroller then caught a baseball game (yay Royals beat the Twins!)

Ready for the AIDS walk (note the red hightops)

 

my favorite thrift store find of the weekend ($1.99)

I even squeezed in a little craft time...

my nephew T on his 2nd birthday (12/5/10)

We read a little prayer out of one of Sloane's book every night: Bedtime Prayers by Bonnie Rickner Jenning.  My friend Dustin's family and friends have been on my heart and in my prayers all day today, as I handed the book to Keenan to choose the prayer he flipped it open and it fell to this perfectly appropriate prayer: "The Shepard knows that we need help to get us through our days.  He's faithful to encourage us in big and little ways.  He sends a friend to cheer us on or lend a helping hand.  And when we feel like giving up, He'll be our strenth to stand!  Dear God, thank You for giving me paitence and encouragement."

My heart swelled as Keenan read this to our daughter.  Just the words I needed to hear.

The book also puts a little Bible verse (in little words) for tonight it was Romans 15:5...Which is "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Jesus."  So be it.

title courtesy of Ms. Cyndy Lauper (Manic Monday, it's a blog favorite)