11 Months

Before I even started typing this, I started crying.  Only one more month until my baby isn’t a baby anymore.

How do parents do this, watch their babies grow up, and not lose their shit?

I know the next stage is going to be great, but I’m really going to miss this baby thing.  I was telling my mom the other day that the only memories I have of him as a tiny (ok, he was never really tiny) baby were only from pictures and videos we have.  My memory is so foggy from all the super awesome depression and anxiety in the beginning, not to mention the lack of sleep for the past year.  And to think, I used to be the one who remembered EVERYTHING.

I have been savoring every single moment with this guy.  Every noise and movement he makes is forever embedded into my memory.  The little coos he makes when he’s nursing, the monster growls, the squeals of joy, the mama’s dada’s and uh-bah!’s.  He hi-fives, low-fives and waves bye bye.  The crawling, on one or both knees, the army crawl, the kneeling and standing, and cruising.  Soon he’ll be walking, something I’m truly not ready for.  Cause that will mean he’s really not a baby anymore, he’ll be a toddler just toddling around on those fat legs, getting into everything I think he can’t get into.  I told Katrina I was going to break his kneecaps so he couldn’t walk.

These were taken after protesting an afternoon nap, which seems to be the popular thing to do these days.

Aside from naps he’s been sleeping fairly well (except for this last week, which I blame on him being sick and throwing him off.  THANKS COLD.).  One night, he slept 13 hours straight!  I don’t think I’ve ever slept that long, and I didn’t that night because I don’t think I’m capable of getting a full night’s sleep evereverever again.

Oh, that face.

I’m in the party planning mode, which is a lot of fun because I love playing hostess.  But, there’s so much going on this month, especially the days before his birthday that, as Rob said, I’m setting myself up for a shit show.  While that may be true, his party is going to be the greatest first birthday party of all time, hands down.  And I will be crying into my wine glass all day long.

Crafty Times: A Birthday Bunting

Well, there’s only 33 days left until Max’s first birthday (OMGHOLYWHATTHEHELL), which means there’s a party to follow that.  I’ve been brainstorming this party for some time now and I’ve been trying to find some DIY projects to do for decorations.  One of the projects I wanted to do was a bunting.  There are a million tutorials on Pinterest for these things, but they’re also pretty self explanatory.  Here’s how I made mine.

What I used:

-1/2 inch bias tape

-fabric of your choosing

-cutting board and rotary cutter

-pinking shears

-thread

-sewing machine

First thing I did was choose my fabric.  I went to Fabric Depot a couple of weekends ago when they were having their 30% off everything sale (AWESOME) and chose my fabric.  The first one I picked up was the multi colored with the starbursts, and I from there I chose the others.  The blue dots and the brown wood grain were fat quarters (which I was hoping to find all my fabrics in).  I like the main multi colored one so much, I bought 1/2 a yard so I can include it in the quilt I’m (hoping to) make for Max for his birthday.

The first thing I did was iron my fabric so that when I cut and measured, it would be accurately done.  Although, this project requires very little sewing, and exact measurements aren’t important.

Next I measured a 5×5 square and marked it with a dressmakers pencil.  Then I cut out my square and folded it in half.  I marked my first cut on my first square, just diagonally across.  I used my pinking shears for this cut.  I cut all of my triangles from each of my fabrics, 22 in total.

Next I stacked my triangles in the order I wanted them sewn.  This is probably the easiest part, I mean the whole thing’s easy but cutting out all those triangles was more tedious than this.  All I did was slip each triangle into the fold of the bias tape, and sew.

When I was done sewing, I ironed each triangle again to get the crease from folding it, out.  Then, done!

This took a grand total of about 3 hours total, but only because of a sick baby.  Sick babies are the worst, and by that I mean that it’s the worst when babies are sick.  He’s getting better, thankfully.

I just love the finished product.  I think this is going to be one of those party staples for each of Max’s birthdays growing up.

New, Old Furniture

When Rob and I think about buying a new piece of furniture, the first place we think to look is estate sales, Craigslist, then the Goodwill bins, then maybe Ikea or someplace like that.  Usually we have pretty good luck with the first two.

When I was unpacking the kitchen I realized we needed a little more storage.  I tried to think of a piece of furniture we already had that might work in there, and the only thing that would do the trick would be my Grandma’s teak buffet, and there was no way I was going to run the risk of it getting knocked into with all the hustle and bustle of the kitchen.  So, I started imagining a hutch of some sort, and I went to Craigslist.  It only took a few days to find this gem:ONLY $50!  Rob did have to go to Vancouver to get it, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a friggin’ steal.It has some dings and what appears to be paint smears, and this.That’s the biggest issue with it, and to me, it’s no big deal.  Eventually I’ll sand it down and re-stain it, but for now she’s sitting pretty in our kitchen.

Before I found the hutch, I found a pair of end tables for the living room.We had one end table in the living room at the old house, and the coffee table (which is buried under many, many things in the basement right now), so we needed end tables.  I snatched these up for $40.

Next up is the blue chair.  We were estate sailing earlier in January and came across this chair and ottoman.  They priced separately, the chair for $65 and the ottoman for $50 (which is just silly), I believe.  We left the sale without buying, but Rob went back later (as a surprise) and bought them.  He also managed to talk them down to $40 for both!  It was Sunday, the last day of the sale so they needed to get rid of it.  Estate sales FTW!I love this chair sosososo much.  I love how deep the seat is, and the wood is beautiful.

This last Sunday we went to an uh-mazing sale in a fantasy home, a 70′s ranch.  The light fixtures, and woodwork were original, and the living room had a wall of windows and sliding door.  This house was full, literally full, of books, books, t.v.s from the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s, books and more books.  In the basement underneath, I think, some books I found this stool.I know it doesn’t look like much right now, but just wait.  I’ve got big plans, people, big plans for this thing.

It didn’t have a price marked on it, so I carried it upstairs and the cashier asked what I thought a fair price would be.  I offered $10, and she accepted.  I should’ve offered less.  Still happy with it, especially because at the very next sale we went to there was anohter one and they wanted $35 for it, so I win.  I’ve wanted one of these for a while now.  I remember my Maw Maw had one in her kitchen when I was growing up.

This next piece belonged to Rob’s parents.  It was in their bedroom, and they were going to get rid of it, and I was all AREYOUF-INGKIDDINGME? Of course I wanted this!It’s in pretty good condition, a few scratches here and there.  Eventually I’ll re-stain it, but man isn’t she pretty?

I certainly have my work cut out for me with all of these furniture facelifts, but holy crackers I am so excited!

The Green Stripe

I’m not sure why it took me so incredibly long to get around to getting this done, but it did.  And now it’s done, and I loves it!

I did some research on what the best way to go about doing this would be.  I came across this blog post on Pinterest, and it was such a huge help.

First Rob and I decided what size the stripe should be, we decided 6 inches was it.  Next I decided on where the stripe should be on the wall.  16 inches down from the ceiling was where it would start.  The next step was to mark the wall.  Now, let me tell you, this was the part I was most worried about, making sure it was even all the way across.  I had my ruler, my level and a pencil and got down to it.I’m also pretty damn good at eyeballing things like this after having worked in the photo/lab industry for 10 years, fixing crops, trimming edges.  So, needless to say my lines were sheer perfection and I can now be hired for line drawing work.

After the lines were drawn, it was time for tape.  I taped on the lines, then double-triple checked the levels.  Then, PAINT.  But not green-yet.The most helpful tip I got from the Centsational Girl blog was to put a layer of paint of the original color along the tape line before painting your stripe color to help prevent bleeding.  So that’s what I did.  I let it sit overnight, and the next afternoon the green happened.

I did two coats while the kid napped played in his crib.  I removed the tape while the paint was still wet to prevent peeling.  My lines were PERFECT.  There were a couple of spots where there was a little bit of bleeding, but overall it looks fabulous, dahling, fabulous!The walls are painted in Bright White in satin, by Sherwinn Williams, and the green wall and stripe are Green Envy in satin by Sherwinn Williams.

Max’s Room

It’s done.  Finally have things hanging on the walls, books on the new bookshelf (or on the floor in front of it), and toys in their respective places (spread across the floor).  It’s the one room I wanted to be completed first so Max would have a place to play and make a mess, without having to worry about getting lost amongst the boxes.

Let’s take at look at what I’ve done, shall we?You’ll remember that we painted the walls before moving in, the blue and the chalkboard.  The chalkboard wall is a big hit, if you can’t tell.  I’m so glad I chose the black chalkboard paint.

This chair.  I LOVE this chair.  It swivels and rocks.  I prefer it to the rocking chair, especially for those middle of the night feedings, I actually fall asleep in it.  It was in the basement, and Rob’s parents didn’t want it anymore so it became ours.

This room is a little bigger than his last room, and allows for much for play space for throwing toys and books and socks and clothes.

I hung a lot of the artwork above the changing table, where I thought it looked good, but it turns out to just be one more distraction and one more reason to not use the changing table anymore (That is in addition to the fact that diaper changes quickly turn into acrobatic displays of attempted base jumping and parkour).  I have a couple of crafty projects in mind for more artwork for here.

The two cross stitch pieces were made by my BFF Joy Bush.  You can, and should, check out her Etsy shop here!  The painting is the Mother’s Day gift from Rob, and the photo of Max and Rob on the wood plaque is my Father’s Day gift to Rob.  I took the photo of the M at the Portland Children’s Museum.  Rob constructed it at the giant Light Bright installation.  And of course there’s the Rob and Erin baby photos, where we’re posing similarly, and the photo of Max also in the same position.

The closet doors were ugly, and not very stable so I took ‘em out.  The curtains are the brown ones from the living room at the old house.  I don’t think they’re permanent, but I can’t find anything else I’d like to put there.

The shelf above the bookcase houses the vintage lunch boxes we bought before Max was born, the vintage toys (the fire engine and Cookie Pig) Rob gave Max for Christmas, Rob’s old Ernie doll, the Precious Moments figurine that topped the cake at the shower my mom threw us.  You know, the ruin-able things.

We had to get an actual bookcase (a Billy Bookcase from Ikea) because his little library was growing quickly.  In fact he’s inherited my books from when I was a kid including some of my favorites There’s an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, Rotten Ralph by Jack Gantos, my series of Pudgy Books, A handful of Roald Dahl books, and the Beatrix Potter collection of books.  Oh yeah, and my card collection, in that Lion King Trapper Keeper.  I totally collected Lion King, Ren & Stimpy, and Beavis and Butt-Head cards.

We did anchor it to the wall, and it’s a good thing we did, because he is already attempting to climb it.  This is the age where that helmet would come in really handy.

On top of the bookcase sits the frames my mom got us/Max with some of my favorite photos, and the little book my mom made of Max’s first week of life.  When I want to make myself cry I look at it.  The photo of Rob and Max was taken at Kenilworth Park by our old house when he was 8ish weeks old.  The photo of Max and myself was taken on our second wedding anniversary at the Kennedy School.  The photo on the cover of the little book is the picture Rob took on his phone right after Max was born and sent out to friends and family announcing his arrival.

My only issue with this room is that it gets pretty cold.  We’re not sure if the insulation has deteriorated, or if that’s something that can even happen, or if the heat vents are blocked up a little.  In an attempt to seal the heat in I purchased one of those plastic over the window kits from Home Depot.It was super easy to put on (as opposed to the  tinted window covering we used at the old house), but didn’t do what I had hoped it would.  It definitely stops the draft, but the room is still cold, especially at night.  Now, I know you’re thinking But what about poor Max?  Isn’t he cold?  No, he’s not.  Thankfully he is his father’s son, and the kid holds heat like an oven.  He’s always warm.  I check his fat face and hands throughout the night and they’re always warm.  Eventually we may look into new insulation for the room, but not before we cross off all the other possible causes first.

I had a lot of fun putting his room together.  I wanted it to be a space where he could spend his play time, and also be a room that will grow with him.  I mean, what kid doesn’t want walls he can draw on?

The Continuing Adventures of the Sleepy Mom and Baby

It’s finally happening, he’s sleeping, better.  In the last week he’s gone from waking an average of 7 times to 4 or less. One night he only got up once!  One time!

The night he got up once, he slept 10 hours straight.  That’s the longest stretch of sleep he’s ever had in his tiny little life!  I, on the other hand, did not sleep so well.  I kept waking up thinking Why isn’t he getting up?  Is he OK?  Should I check on him?  He was totally fine.  Just sleeping.  He got up at 5:00 am to nurse and went right back down until 8:00.

Every night is different, but overall he’s sleeping better, and now so am I.  I sleep deeper now, so much so that I have to have the monitor on to hear him when he gets up.  Rob has gone in to tend to him a few times because I’ve slept through his cries on the monitor.  In the morning when I wake up to squeals of delight and babbling of ma ma ma, and da da da, I walk in to find this:

Not such a bad thing to wake up to, is it?

Favorites

These two guys are my favorite things evereverever.

I love my little family more than cheese.  And that’s a lot.

The Bathroom

So we’ve been here almost two weeks and things are falling into place.  We still have groupings of boxes here and there, but it’s starting to look like a home, and not a storage unit.

As our belongings find their place, I begin imagining what I should do to make this place ours.  Let’s look at the bathroom today:This is the bathroom door. This bathroom is on the main floor, next to our bedroom (the doorframe to our room is on the right).  I hate this door.  HATE.  It’s ugly, it’s loud when you open and close it, and it doesn’t hide bathroom noises if you catch my drift.  Thankfully, we have a second bathroom downstairs.  This is on the priority list for replacing.

This bathroom is a time capsule.  It’s got a lot of charm, and quirky-ness, but even with that I’m going to gut this thing-Except for the claw foot tub and toilet (the toilet is new and fancy and has buttons for #1 and #2).  That panelling.  Oh, the panelling.  It’s going, and I can’t wait to tear it down.  Now, the wallpaper.  A part of me has always wanted some sort of original foil wallpaper, and I like this wallpaper.  But it’s old and dingy, and warped.  I am going to cut a piece and frame it to keep in there.

Also, notice that there’s no shower head.  There’s a stall shower in the bathroom downstairs (more on that some other time) but I want a shower head put in here.  That’s high on the priority list, only for reasons having to do with the other shower, and it’s terrifying nature.

Now, how about the macrame shelf?  Yeah, that’s going.

This is the sink.  In a sewing table.  I think this actually a good idea, but just not my style, but I appreciate the creativity.

MILK GLASS SCONCES!!!!!!!  Have I told you how much I love milk glass?  These, right here, are the design inspiration for this room.

About that, I think I have an idea of what I’d like to do, thanks to Pinterest.This is the color pallet I think I’d like to work with, but replace that creamy white with a white white.  You know, to match the milk glass, or just a less yellow white.

I would also like to paint the outside of the tub like this:Right now the outside of the tub, well just the front of the outside, is painted black, so this shouldn’t be too big of a deal.  As for the rest of the bathroom all I want is counter and cabinets.  The old house had a pedestal sink, and some built ins.  This bathroom needs storage.  And light.  It’s really dark in there right now, and I’m going with white with teal accents to brighten it up.  Who knows when this will actually happen, I think I’d like to redo the kitchen first, then the bathroom.  We’re planning on doing this all ourselves and with the help of my brother (who is in school for construction and just finished a course on bathroom and kitchen construction).  I’ve never remodeled a room before, and now that I have the redesign itch I want to get going.

This is the wall across from the tub.  The large photo is of Rob’s Great Aunt Collette, who I met a couple of times before she passed.  She was a 90 year lady, full of piss and vinegar, who played piano.  A part of me is kind of going to miss the hodge podge mix of things in this bathroom, but I’m ready to make it ours.

Future Home is now Forever Home

I was driving Max home from swimming class, mentally preparing myself for what I was about to see at my house.  My stomach was in knots, my mind was racing, I was anxious.  I was thinking about that bottle of Ativan I have packed away somewhere, and how I wished I knew where it was.

I turned onto our street, SE Francis st, and very quickly I could see it; the 26 foot long UHaul.  My heart hit the floor.  My stomach jumped into my throat.  My eyes welled up.  As I got closer I could see just about everything we owned packed tightly in there with care by our good friends.  I took a deep breath and told myself ‘This is it.  It’s happening, and there’s no turning back’.

It wasn’t long after I had gotten there that the UHaul was all packed up, and our hard working friends were in their cars ready to go.  I stayed behind with Max to wait for my mom to come sit with him until everything was moved in.  I stood on the front porch holding my baby while Rob in the 26 foot long UHaul led the caravan to our new home. When I went back inside I didn’t know what to do.  The rooms were empty.

After leaving Max with my mom, and picking up pizzas for everyone it was time to actually move in.  Again, it went quickly.  And it only went quickly because of all the amazing help we had.  THANK YOU TOTALLY AWESOME SUPER FRIENDS!

Once everything was moved in, it was nearly impossible to go anywhere.

And a week later it still kind of looks like that.

A couple of things about this move:

1) I never want to not have the internet or cable ever again.  We went for four days without both, and I felt so disconnected!  I had no idea what was going on in the world, I couldn’t read my celebrity gossip, I couldn’t hate-read some of my least favorite blogs, and worst of all I didn’t get my daily dose of Roseanne or fall asleep at night watching Friends.  But now, they’re both back and I feel complete.

2) I really expected to be more emotional about this, and maybe when we’re fully done with the old house (Finally sell it, burn it to the ground, whatever), I might be.  Or maybe I won’t.  The night before the move Shauna came over with wine and we reminisced about all the amazing, life changing events that took place in this house.  It was so fitting that she came over because Shauna lived with us for two years (was it two years?  I really don’t remember).  She told me that while we’ve made a lot of memories here, we’ll create even more at our new house.  And that we’d die there.  My first reaction was Um, what?  But then I thought about it and realized that this new place was going to be our forever home.  We’re going to raise our kids there, and grow old there.  And maybe we will die there, or in whatever retirement home our kids throw us in.

Right now, I feel really good about things, about our new life in our new home.

10 Months Old

It wasn’t until last night that I realized that today was the 30th.  We’ve been so busy with moving the last few days that I forgot what day it was.  Today my boy is 10 months old.

The last few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about how quickly the last 10 months have gone.  He’s hardly even a baby anymore.  Except for the whole still being a baby thing……or some sort of evil creature.

Some new things happening in the life of Max: Swim class!  Man, he loves swim class.  I think it’s safe to say that he’s the loudest, and simply the most vocal in class.  Then there’s all the crawling.  This guy is fast, useful as far as cleaning goes.  I don’t sweep nearly as often as I should, but I’m considering attaching Swiffers to him to get the job done.  And let’s not forget the pulling up.  He’s like a little monkey climbing all over everything and getting himself up onto his knees, and as of this very morning getting up on his feet.  He’ll be running away from me screaming in Target in no time.

Last month I mentioned his visit to the pediatrician and how he was concerned about the lack of weight gain in the boy.  Since then I’ve started taking fenugreek, and drinking Mother’s Milk tea (which tastes like 4 day old diapers), both of which have totally worked.  Which is great because Max hated the formula, and goat’s milk we tried giving him.  So, I took him into see the doctor on Thursday, and while he’s gained some weight, he’s still just above the 50th percentile.  He’s eating solid foods like it’s his job, and he still nurses more frequently then most babies his age do, so I know he’s getting the nutrition he needs.  The Dr. mentioned that some babies will do this and it’s just them ‘evening out’.  Basically, he’s fine.  He did gain a little bit in the last month, but he is now hovering just above the 50th percentile, when he’s typically above the 90th.  He’s hitting all the milestones on time, so needless to say we’re not too concerned, and neither is his doctor.  He’s a perfectly healthy, growing monster.

Getting the monthly photo is becoming increasingly difficult.  I’m lucky I got a decent shot to share with you.  

In just two short months he’ll be one year old.  I’m planning a really fabulous party, with a performance by my friends hodge-podge band, crafty-homemade decorations, and a homemade cake.  It’s probably going to be ridiculously huge, and completely over the top for a one year old, but I don’t care.  It’s more for Rob and I for realsies.  It’s like a reward, a ‘Congratulations!  You did it!’ type of thing.  I feel like I should get a friggin’ metal for surviving my first year of parenthood.  But I’ll accept a party instead.