the project-per-month PROJECT month 4

Here we are with the Project-Per-Month Project, take freaking FOUR! I really love the effect this project of projects is having on my home. Slowly but surely the problem areas are being replaced with tidy, put-together areas and I look around my house and instead of feeling overwhelmed I just like it here more. If I see something I don't like I think I'll get to that! Taking on manageable to-dos and getting them done, go us!

Project-Per-Month Project HOW IT WORKS... If you want to join in the fun, you totally should! Here are the rules...
- Pick a single, manageable project off your to-do list, just one.
- Decide, "I can do it!" ps. You really can. Yes you can!
- Give yourself goals.
- Give yourself a deadline: the end of the month.
- Give yourself a budget.
- Do it. Do it.

I can't wait to see what everyone accomplished in June. I did three micro-projects: replace the pulls on the kids' dresser, finally hang a picture I'd thrifted months ago, and set up a Montessori-at-home inspired tooth brushing station for Otto in the bathroom. I didn't give myself a budget but since almost all the materials were shopped from items already around my house, except the pulls, so the cost of all three came to a whopping $23. That's the kind of price tag I like-a a lot.

Rob and I agree that the new drawer pulls, $1.87/each cheapies, look even better than the originals did (even back before the originals started to crumble to pieces and we lost one). And here's the picture I finally got around to hanging up...

And a few pics of the room and how it's all coming together.

And an awkward one of me thumbs upping a job well done.

The other part of June's projects was setting up a toothbrush station for Otto. I wanted him to have easy access to his toothbrushing supplies and a mirror at his height. The results...

We framed some of Otto's recent art to go with the set up. Yoda, Vader, and Crocopile ♥

June was a handful of quick and easy projects and I love that they're done and off the list. For July I am going to take on a monster, refinishing our kitchen table...

From a distance it is great, but up close...

Everything from nicks and scratches to a big spot where I spilled nail polish remover (yay me!) and the grooves always look dirty even when I've scrubbed them like mad, which, let's be honest, I don't usually do. I've seen a lot of people singing the praises of chalk paint recently because it's thick and doesn't require priming so I am going to refinish this guy. I just can't decide if I want to stick with black, or do something bold. Part of me wants to do a wham bam color like English Yellow. So at this point, color is tbd. Budget is $70 based on hardly any research so far, but I got the inspiration to do my table this way from the before and after post on I Rock So What where Jess refinished a smaller table using one can of paint, one of wax, and she had leftovers so I'm guessing that should do me too.

What projects have you been up to or are thinking about taking on for July? High five, you! ps. What color should I pick? Our house is pretty Torkleson-y so I can get away with anything but is sticking with black better? 

i LOVE having a family bed

Otto goes to bed in his room around 7:30 and then around 1am crawls in with us. i usually lay down with Loretta anywhere between 7:30 and 11:00 and pass out - probably in full makeup without brushing my teeth - while nursing her. throughout the night i change her diaper with supplies kept in her bassinet (<-- handy) so i don't have to get out of bed and we switch sides each time she wakes to nurse. absolutely sometimes i wake up sore because the situation can get cramped and Otto is a ruthless bed hog. and yet, and for reals, i really really really LOVE having a family bed.

see what i get to wake up to every morning? the three people i love more than anything in the world. yes, Rob's in there, see his hand? :)

i don't have deep seated beliefs about co-sleeping. i think everyone should do what's right for their family.our sleeping situation evolved over time. Loretta is *just* about ready to crawl and when she does we are going to have to rethink the co-sleeping for a while. i am a light sleeper but still, i wouldn't want to risk her quietly crawling to the foot of the bed and falling before i noticed.

as of today, we don't have room in our home for a crib, much less a nursery (we have a corner though and it's pretty cute), but we are moving into a much bigger (and prettier! and more light-filled! with a lovely fenced yard! and big kitchen!) space at the end of August and at that time we'll be setting Loretta up with her own room. i look towards this with excitement (decorating rooms IS FUN) and a little sadness because i know i'm going to miss our little family bed that we've settled into this past year.

when we moved Otto out of our bed and into a crib right around this same age (5 months) i slept on his floor for a month. major separation anxiety on my part. him? after a few days of gentle encouragement he rocked the crib like a boss. he didn't know it was weird for mommy to be laying on the floor with her fingers between the slats so she could be touching him. moms do all kinds of weird things. he didn't start crawling into our bed again until after we'd transitioned him to a big boy bed. now it's a 5-6 nights a week guarantee and i love it.

here are some drawings i made of our bed most nights...

it works for us :)

our new house has four bedrooms. we haven't toured but we've peeped in the windows and i believe the 3 main bedrooms are upstairs and then there is a tiny bedroom adjacent to the sitting room on the first floor. my plan is to turn the small downstairs bedroom into a toyroom and then to have the kids' rooms crisp, tidy, pretty, and functional with less fuss and mostly just a bed, bookcase, dresser. here are some rooms i like...

Julian's room from Miss James' Bleubird blog
Any of these Swedish kids rooms from Feather and Nest blog
The bed/chair/suitcase/bookcase area of Isobel's big girl room from Little Big blog

i like the clean, peaceful look of unused space and the delight of fun found objects but all with simplicity and thoughtfulness. each of these rooms has personality, you couldn't just buy them straight-up, they had to be put together over time. also, here is my dream crib from Pottery Barn for Loretta's room i am only hoping i can find it or one like it on Craigslist in the next month!

that was rambling but there is so much going on in my life right now. did or do you co-sleep? did you find it to be a great experience or frustrating? why? do you hate me for co-sleeping? haha! actually if you hate me don't bother telling me. what about these kids rooms? amazing right? i hope i can do something just as cool for my kiddos. i think the toy room will go a long ways towards that by minimizing the clutter in their sleeping rooms.

hope you all have great weekends!

documenting the belly and the 3 week countdown left-to-dos

it's not that i hang out in the bathroom all the time, i just need to get a tripod and/or get over my camera shyness already. every time rob takes my picture for this blog i feel like a huge douchebag (do you guys feel that way, or do you all have tripods? what's the trick?). anyways, when i take my own pictures i can never seem to smile without looking like a scared douchebag, oh and always in the bathroom. super cool! but anyways, i wanted a real, honest-to-goodness belly shot and here's the best i could do. she's large!

the baby's corner of our bedroom is 90% complete which feels so nice to type out loud! just a couple of my mom's vintage baby dresses left to hang on the wall to spruce up the joint and then i'll share real pics. but here are some highlights...

otto's old baby toys and gifted baby toys laundered and ready for chubby hands

clearance valentine frames from target ($1.50 each whoot!) ready to be filled with sweet cooing baby pictures

basket of otto's old socks (were his feet ever that small?) plus gifted and thrifted socks laundered and ready for teeny perfect feet. i just remembered the curling foot reflex, ohhhh heart heart heart! i am actually starting to get past the panic and be excited for miss loretta to arrive.

a little diy decor thanks to a pompom garland tutorial by emily bilbrey which she guest posted at little big blog here. they aren't as scrappy looking in person, but when i do this again i will probably use about 30% more yarn. still, what a cute and free way to spruce up a baby's corner!

still to-do before little miss makes the scene:
- pack a bag for the birth center
- pack an Otto bag for the birth center (activities, snacks, jammies)
- install the baby seat in the van... it's thrown in there for now so rob can install it in a jam, but i'd like him to install it before the fact. it just seems like the "right" thing to do, although when i think about it, who cares? but whatever.
- clean the crap out of this house. it was fairly clean about a week ago but our week of ill plumbing sort of got us behind on laundry grrrrrrr about that! freaking grrrrrr!

omg is that it? it might be. wow. she's almost here and we're almost prepared. that's a pretty freaky thing to think about. then it'll be like, "hello! what do we do with you now? ack!" and we'll have this new person in our house. bizarre. but i'm excited to meet her. i wonder what she'll look like? i wonder who she'll be? it's the beginning of a new chapter. holy smokes.

xoxo,
lindsey