Officially grown ups:

So, a week ago, we finally bit the bullet and did something we've been just talking about for a long while now: we bought a new car! And not just any car, a mini van! We're officially grown ups because, you know, graduating from college, getting married, buying a house, and having kids weren't enough. I've finally accepted my fate as a potential soccer mom and you know what? It feels good. That van is nice.

We said goodbye to our beloved Escape. I'm not going to lie, it was hard. That car has been there for us through so many milestones. We dated in that car. We literally got engaged in that car (it was January and I was too cold and stubborn to get out). We brought Max home from the hospital in that car. So many memories and adventures. I get a little teary-eyed just thinking about it. We loved that car but with another kid on the way, we just needed something with a little more room. So, we said our thank yous and goodbyes and drove away knowing that our dear friend still had a long life ahead of it with someone new.

So, here are our new wheels. Nice, right? And so. much. room. We're loving it. I don't even care about my soccer mom status. I'm having a lot of fun driving it. Now, who wants to go for a ride?

Eight years:

Yesterday we celebrated our eight-year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe it's been eight years already! And yet, at the same time, it feels like we've been together forever.

Happy anniversary, Andrew! There's no one else I'd rather travel through this crazy life adventure with! 

While you were sleeping:

Baby M is having his one-year photos taken this afternoon. I whipped up this cute little crown last night, in celebration of the event, between painting the kitchen and showering.

I had used this pattern and tutorial but I didn't like that the crown was only in the front and the back was just elastic to I went rouge and did my own thing. I couldn't measure M's head because he was in bed so I guestimated that his head was roughly 18 inches. I cut the pattern piece from my felt and augmented it a little so that it was 20 inches instead of 16. I followed the rest of the directions but instead of just attaching elastic in the back, I fed it through the entire circumference of the crown. I got to try it on M this morning and it fits really well. Now if we can just get him to leave it on his head.

An update:

After our garage sale this past weekend, we were finally able to get into the dining room which is something we really hadn't been able to do since we moved in. When we were unpacking, we set aside everything that we no longer used, needed, or wanted -- all the stuff from college, past apartments, things that had been handed down to us, and other miscellaneous items that somehow found their way into our hands. I had been planning to have a garage sale to clear it all out since last spring but things kept preventing me (a huge belly, a newborn, cold weather, etc.) and I just never felt like I had the energy to tackle it until now. But it finally happened. All that stuff is finally gone. And we finally reclaimed our dining room.

Here's what it looked like when we moved in. A whole lot of wood paneling and a whole lot of gross. It stayed this way for a while. And we made it work, although I tried hard not to notice.

And then it only got worse. You can see the start of the accumulation of stuff. After a while, we finally picked a date for the garage sale and got ready but as with most things, it had to get even worse before it could get better. My parents decided to throw some of their stuff into our garage sale and as it got closer to the date of the sale, you couldn't even see this room. It was completely packed with stuff. There was even overflow into our living room.

But then the garage sale happened and our lives improved infinitely. It all got cleared away and we are finally able to enjoy our dining room.

So much better! My mom helped me paint the wood paneling although I'm not sure how much of a help I was since I was super pregnant when we did it. And the few boxes stacked on the left are getting picked up for donation this week. This room is no where close to being done yet but it's already come such a long way and I am very pleased with the progress.

Here's what we're still planning for this space:

1. Clean brick on fireplace
2. Paint mantel
3. Remove ceiling fan and replace with large pendant light
4. Remove other light fixtures
5. Paint paneling
6. Paint trim
7. Add chair railing?
8. Replace laminate wood flooring with hardwood
9. Build built-ins on both sides of fireplace
10. Add sconces above built-ins
11. Find art for above fireplace
12. Build wall with wide doorway to space?
13. Window treatments
14. Find rug
15. Upgrade furniture (farmhouse table + buffet + chairs)

While you were sleeping:

One of the traditions I started this past Christmas, my first as a parent, was homemade gifts. I loved the idea of having something under the tree that was lovingly crafted by me -- something that represented all the time and energy I put in to create a unique thing for my child. It's something that they will have forever as a symbol of my love. My plan is to do this every year so that each child has a few special and unique things from their childhood to look back on with warm memories. This was my first year to do it for Baby M. After brainstorming, I decided to make a stuffed turtle for him. Since we lovingly referred to him as the turtle before he was born, this seemed appropriate.

I found a free pattern on the Purl Bee blog (I love pretty much everything they put out) and some fabric that I already had on hand. I only needed to pick up some fiberfill. That's how much this project cost: a bag of fiberfill (that I got 30% off because I used a coupon).

I started by cutting out my pieces using the pattern and laying them out. That's one main body, two shell pieces, two tail pieces, two heads, two front legs, and two back ones.

Then I pinned all the pieces together and sewed the seams using a 1/2" seam (or maybe it was 1/4", I don't really remember).

Once I had both pieces completed, I pressed the seams to make sure they were nice and flat so it would lay right. Then I pinned the two sides together.

I had a little trouble making sure it was all pinned correctly (that little tail is tricky!). Once I had it right and was happy with it, I just sewed it up (leaving a small hole to turn and stuff), pressed the seams again, clipped the curved seams, and turned it right side out.

I was left with a sad, deflated, little empty shell of a turtle. It started to come to life once I started stuffing it, though. Then all that was left was to sew up the hole and add some eyes. I decided to embroider the eyes since it was for a baby and I didn't want to have to worry about buttons or anything like that.

I also embroidered M's name and the year on the bottom of one of the feet (flippers? paws?) so he will always know that his mom made this just for him on his very first Christmas.

And come Christmas morning, there he was -- waiting so patiently to meet his special new friend. 

M was pretty excited to meet him too. I get kind of teary-eyed just thinking about this kind of thing. I have such great memories of sharing special Christmas mornings with my childhood stuffed animals. I love that this may be that kind of relationship in the making for M and his little turtle. 

I have already started making a few special things for M's first birthday. I can't wait to share them with you.

Books:

If you know me even a little, then you know that I am a reader. Reading is my thing and books are my first love. They are my oldest friends (see here). I am a book nerd and proud of it. So, now that my darling friends are resting in their permanent home, I finally got to organize them. 

Over the past few weeks, I have spent time in front of our new built-ins, shelving and re-shelving them in an attempt to create the perfect arrangement. I think I may have found it. 

The far left section is reserved for nonfiction. Essays, short stories, memoirs on the top two shelves, reference/parenting in the middle, science and nature on the shelf below that, and design books on the bottom.

The middle two sections are for fiction. Classics are grouped together and everything is arranged by author. 

The right section is young adult/children's books. Picture books on the bottom shelf, small chapter books and poetry above that, and books for young adults and older readers are on the top three shelves. 

So far, this system is really working out for us. It lets me find things quickly and easily. It's not an alphabetical system or anything too strict -- things can kind of float around -- and I don't have to worry about messing it up. It's nice and stress-free. 

As I fill this space up over the next few years, I plan on editing my collection and weeding things out until I'm left with a carefully-curated collection of my very favorite books. It's something that has me very excited. Weird, I know, but that's a book nerd for you.

Built-ins:

Our built-in bookshelves are finally done and I'm so excited to get to finally share them with you.

This past fall, we reached out to a local cabinet maker about some built-in bookshelves for our living room. After a few discussions, we reached a deal where we got our built-ins in exchange for Andrew building them a new website. 

So, around Christmas, our built-ins were installed and things went from looking like this:

to this:

Instead of hiring someone to paint them for us, we decided to do it ourselves. So we pocketed the $500 we would have shelled out to a painter and got to it. It took us a while to get things painted because we pretty much only got to work on them during the weekend evenings. So, on a typical Saturday night, you could find us looking like this (the headlamps really help painting in the dark, fyi):

We had a really great system going: put on the 90s jams, get into some gross painting clothes, and split up. Andrew tackled the doors and shelves on the ground while I got started on the actual cabinet. 

Pretty soon, things started looking like this:

And then, once the doors were finally finished, we put them on, loaded it up and officially declared the bookshelves done!

So good, right? I am beyond excited to finally have them finished. I can't stop looking at them. I creep into the living room at night and just stare at them in the dark. They have increased the amount of storage in our house by about 100%. There's plenty of room for all my books (and then some) and the cabinets are perfect for housing all the stuff that we want to keep out of the way. 

So, that's the story of of how we got our built-ins on the super cheap -- just a website and the cost of a few gallons of paint (which were on sale, coincidentally). I have a very special shelving system for my books that I'll explain later. It requires a whole separate post. Look for that later this week. And in the meantime, feel free to continue lusting over those beautiful built-ins. 

The inside story:

Remember our new filing cabinet in the office (see here)? Well, here's the inside story (pun intended).

With the number of projects I've been working on lately (see here and here), my fabric stash has been growing and I needed somewhere to house it all. Previously it had been sitting in stacks and I was unable to see what I had. I needed a different solution. Enter the new filing cabinet. We use the top two drawers for paperwork so I decided to use the bottom two for fabric and other sewing supplies. In order to see everything all at once, I decided to file my fabric. I took file folders, cut them in half, and draped each fabric over the metal hanging part. Now, when I open the drawer, instead of piles of fabric, I see this:

Nice, huh? It's very pleasing to my eye. I love being able to see it all. I love just opening the drawer and looking at it. Sometimes I sit around and reorganize it: by color, pattern, etc.

The drawer above it is reserved for miscellaneous items: batting, interfacing, pins, scissors, scraps, thread, etc. I love having it all in one place, organized and out of the way.

Finally having a place to store all of my goodies makes me feel like such a grown up. Having it all in such close proximity to tax documents and medical bills probably helps -- makes it feel much more formal and important.

Storage solutions:

True story: our home office was in serious need of some storage and organization. We had a closet that was severely under-utilized but no real plan for how to use it. I had my eye out for a filing cabinet but didn't want to shell out the cash for a new one and my search for a used one kept coming up empty. 

And then last Saturday morning, I looked out the window and noticed that our neighbor had put one out on the curb. So, I made Andrew go out there in the cold to get it and haul it home. I clean it up and dragged it to the basement where I took some spray paint to it.

A few rounds of sandpapering, a few cans of spray paint, and a little love was all it took.

It's a subtle change but makes a big difference. Over two weekends, A and I took turns with baby duty to sand and spray. We chose white for the cabinet because it's clean and neutral and gold for the drawer hardware because, well, we're classy like that.

Once it was dry, we moved it into its new home in the office closet and set it up. And because I'm a super nerd, I got all excited about organizing the drawers and filling it with all our stuff. I love it -- it solves so many of our storage issues. But my favorite thing is the fact that it only cost us a few cans of spray paint and a few hours. 

Look for the post on my genius organizing job later this week. And in the meantime, if you need me, you can find me organizing my cabinet.

While you were sleeping:

As part of our first Christmas in our new home and M's first Christmas ever, we all needed new Christmas stockings. So, I made some, naturally. I picked out fabric (see here) but when it came in, I didn't like the fabric for Andrew's stocking. It was weird and metallic so I went in search of a different option. After scouring the internet and local stores, I picked out a different plaid (actually apparel fabric) and after getting A's stamp of approval, I got to work.

I laid out the fabric and mapped it all out. I borrowed my mom's stocking pattern (all of our family's stockings are made using it) and gathered the rest of my supplies.

I cut pieces out of each coordinating fabric and the batting, which I used to give them a little weight.

I did the same with the cuff, sewed the ends of each side together to make rings, put the right sides of both pieces together, and sewed it up (while drinking tea, as you can see in the photo above). Then all I had to do was turn it right side out and bam, cuffs were done.

Then I basted and sewed together both the outside and the inside. I put the lining inside, added the finished cuff, and sewed around the top. Then I just flipped the cuff over and it was finished.

I brought the finished stockings to a friend to have them embroidered since I don't have a machine that does embroidery. They turned out lovely and were a hit come Christmas morning! I am looking forward to incorporating these into our Christmas traditions and seeing them hang on the mantle for many years to come.

A year in review:

As 2014 draws to a close, let's do a recap on what may have been the most monumental year of my life thus far:

Tillie celebrated her sixth birthday in style.

We found out baby Sever was a boy.

We finally bought a house.

We moved.

We decorated a nursery.

We had a baby.

We started our cloth diaper journey (and fell in love).

I reignited my passion for sewing.

We celebrated our first Halloween with our baby Yoda.

Other items of note:

1. We did lots of home improvements.
2. We officially became adults with the purchase of our first washer, dryer, and fridge.
3. We got to introduce M to all his family members.
4. M tried solids for the first time (and hated them).
5. I took a 3 month vacation from work this summer to hang out with a newborn.
6. Andrew got a promotion and sort of killed it in the freelance department.
7. M experienced his first Christmas.

We have had such a great year, it's hard to imagine anything ever topping it. Here's to 2015 and all the adventures it's sure to bring!

While you were sleeping:

Today we're having M's six-month photos taken, even though he won't technically be six months until Saturday. We're doing it early due in part to the Thanksgiving holiday and in part to having to fit into our photographer's schedule. She's always very busy. Apparently, she's the celebrity photographer of the baby world here in central Arkansas.

For his shoot, I wanted to make something special for him to wear. After a search, I decided on this cowl. I picked up the yarn last week, before heading out of town for work and managed to find an hour or two to work on it while I was away but really got down to work this past weekend.

I followed the instructions pretty closely. There was one part where it says to crochet the button flap on the front, but seeing as how I suck at crocheting, I decided to go rogue. I just picked up a few stitches, knit a small flap, and secured it with a button. Looks good and saved me the grief of having to figure out that whole crochet thing.

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to see it on his little face in his photos. For some reason, dressing babies up as animals makes them even cuter -- something that does not work with adults.

While you were sleeping:

This year, for M's first Halloween, we decided to dress him as Yoda. This decision came after much discussion and brainstorming. I wanted something that I could make but wouldn't be too labor intensive or demanding. I wanted to make his first costume but have fun doing it, too. So, Yoda it is.

I didn't really have a plan for how to go about this. After searching online, I found a knitting pattern for a Yoda hat that turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. I think I finished it in just two evenings. As for the robe, I found a pattern but after looking it over, decided it was too difficult. Not that I couldn't do it, I just didn't want something that had so many steps. I didn't need it to be an actual garment because he'd only be wearing it for one evening. Finishing didn't really matter to me.

After scrapping my first attempt, here's what I ended up doing:

I laid M down on top of some tracing paper and drew around his body. I made sure to not follow too closely so the robe would be nice and loose. Then I cut out my pattern, pinned it onto some muslin, and cut it out. I went rogue on the sleeves and cut it even wider so the sleeves would be nice and wide -- sort of a bell sleeve thing going on.

After I cut it out, I just stitched up the sides, finished the edges, and added a tiny little hood. I picked up a plain brown long-sleeved shirt and brown pants to go under his robe. Baby costume done.

We went to a friend's Halloween party and M did beautifully. He was up past his bedtime but didn't fuss or cry. He just took it all in (and looked insanely cute while doing it).

I may have already said this but having a baby has really reignited my sewing. I have been having so much fun making little things for him. It's exciting and fulfilling. I am enjoying it immensely.