Spring Cleaning

The one thing I don't like about winter ending: the start of spring cleaning.  
I think the fact that I chose, of my own free will, to clean my home from top to bottom classifies me as an adult. It is official.
Gone are the days of "No mom. I'll do it later..." and coming are the days of "No mom, I'll do it later!" lol. 

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Our First Week

Well we made it home with Eleanor :) 

Coming home was wonderful and amazing and phenomenal and all those joyous feelings, but being home with a new baby definitely has its challenges. 

When does a mom even find time to blog?!? 

This new baby takes my productivity down by 80%. Seriously. 

My to-do lists are still in existence, but they need to be toned down significantly in order to be realistic.

We are learning to adjust to life with a baby.
I'm learning to function on a total of 4 hours of sleep (ps - it's amazing how your body adapts!).
I'm learning that I can only plan to accomplish one thing, if even, between feedings.
I'm learning to say "Yes, please!" when people offer to help.
I'm learning to soak up the cuddle time! (Apparently it doesn't last that long!)

Ellis sun tanning :) The day we got home from the hospital!  

So far everything is going great, aside from the fact that Ellie wants to stay up all night, and sleep all day. She's really preventing her mom and dad from getting any good rest. I should've seen this coming since she use to do jumping jacks in my belly at night before she was born, but I wasn't prepared. Not at all! We're trying to keep her up and wake her more often during the day now in hopes that we will get some rest overnight… hopefully… one day… lol. 

And the puppies have been adjusting to life with Ellie as well.
Before we brought her home we sent a blanket home with grandma for the pups to sniff - and they did!!
Now that she's been home the dogs have been great! Just very curious.
Daisy (our big pup) follows her around everywhere she goes, hoping to get a sniff of her.
And Joop (the little one) is sort of indifferent… lol. He likes meeting her, and sniffing her, until she starts to make noise, or cry, or smell, and then he moves to another couch.
Both dogs are doing very well though.
We can even leave Ellie on the floor on her rug and the dogs won't bother her. 

We've been enjoying lots of other firsts too… and trying to capture them on camera! 

First swaddle in mommy's wrap, first bath, first walk, first photoshoot, lol. 

Here are some snippets of us enjoying all our firsts:

Happily enjoying our first week as a family of three :) 

{xoxo}

Warm Tomato Soup Weekend

This past weekend was the exact kind of weekend where you want to make a big bowl of warm tomato soup :) Soup that's even more glorious because the fresh tomatoes were straight from our own garden! 

It was a weekend that made me want to cozy up inside in the evenings and take nice strolls during the day. Baking. Reading. Watching movies. Popcorn and wine with (de-alcoholized of course!). Things that allow me to zone out the rest of the world for a bit and just plain relax.

Now this didn't mean I totally dropped any agenda. Still met with some friends for tea. Still had lunch with our small group. Still visited with family.
But I didn't have an agenda. Having a weekend without any "To-Do" lists floating around my head or any goals that are getting finished is unheard of for me!
I love having goals and agendas most of the time, but every once in a while I would just like to sit down with some warm home-made tomato soup and relax :)

The puppies clearly took the hint from me that this was a weekend to relax.
They had no trouble joining in :)

Now that my relaxing is done, it's time to start my weekly "to-do" list! 

{xoxo}

Craft Organizing

I know it's far from spring, but my strange urge to cleanse led me to organizing my craft supplies. 

You can see some of my upcycling projects from this post and this post in the shelves below too!

Here are the ribbon holders I made. 

I originally only made one, but then I liked it so much, and I had a ton more ribbon, so I bought a second and painted it in a different shade of blue :)

More organized craft supplies: 

Notice the painted magazine holders in the background? Now storing scrapbook paper, sheets of sticker letters, & pretty odds and ends.

My upcycled storage tins have been put to good use too :)

Finally, I can scrapbook & craft in an organized, much more peaceful space :)

{xoxo}

Baby Room Beginnings

Well. We're 5 months in and planning a nursery. 

Can't believe that our lives will change drastically in only 4 months!

You've already seen my decorative ideas here, but now it's time to transform the baby room. 

This is the nursery as it stood a couple of weeks ago - functional guest bedroom:

And now to begin the transformation.
We started by selling our extra guest bed. Then Mr. A ripped out all of the moldings from the room. 
Our plans seem simple... 

Paint. Wainscotting. Crown molding. Closet Organizer.

Here you can see the room in shambles (not everyone shares these moments!), and the splotches of gray paint on the walls. The walls haven't been primed yet, we're just experimenting with colours.

And here (below) is the first wall of wainscoting in place (sort of)!

We made a tentative model to see if we would like it. 

Now Mr. A is hard at work measuring, cutting, and attaching each of the wall panels so we can check the style and the measurements before we begin priming and painting.

Thoughts?? 

We are excited - I'm thinking that it's gonna look great! 

How can I go wrong with Mr. A doing all the hard work - he's the best :)

This little room will be completely transformed by the time we're done with it! 

{xoxo}

Living Room Holy Grail

My living room is looking very complete these days. 

All my orange accents and decorations are there. 

My photo wall has added some nice personal touches. 

There is one elusive piece that I've been looking for forever though! 

I specifically wanted a small cabinet with glass doors to display the few treasures that we own.

I definitely did not want a ceiling high cabinet - it would be far too overbearing for the room. 

We just wanted something that would sit nicely under my photo wall.

So we looked... and looked.... and looked. 

And finally, we found our holy grail this weekend!

Not only did we find a rustic piece we both loved... we also got $100 off the asking price in the store! 

The door wasn't closing properly, and there was a small crack, so my dutch husband asked what they could do for us and they offered this whammy of a discount! 

Then we took it home and Mr. A spent less then 10 minutes fixing their mistake. 

It's like brand new! 

[Good thing I have such a handy husband!]

I'm soooo pleased with our find! 

Now all I need is some decorations for the top, and two matching armchairs - one for each side :) 

Living room is now 90% done/ 

{xoxo}

9. Complete a Photo Wall for the House - Check!

We did it!!! 

I've finished another one of my 13 of 13 goals :) 

We had a number of great opinions and suggestions. 

Thank you to everyone who commented on the post about our photo wall here. 

So... we ended up choosing option E (below). 

We liked this one because I agreed with many others that I didn't want the oval or circle frames beside the "V" (although I didn't think about it spelling a word until Jenny pointed it out!)

I also liked the really ornate frame at the top, the "V" on the right, and the two biggest frames in the top & bottom corners. 

So here we are putting it all together finally: 

AND.... the final product :) 

I am very happy with the finished product. 

We've already gotten compliments from people coming over to visit! 

Now we just need a nice sidewall table to sit underneath it, topped with some nice display vases.

Can't wait to do another great wall! 

Hope you like it! 

{xoxo}