6 month thoughts {they grow up so fast}

Owen turned 6 months on Sunday.

SIX MONTHS. 

That’s half a year, people.  Half a year is a LONG time. It’s amazing how quickly this past half a year flew by. 

“The days are long but the years are short”. I want time to slow down. I want to be able to soak in all of these moments with Owen – firsts only happen once and I don’t want to miss a thing. 

These past six months have been a combination of joy, a huge amount of love, tears, laughs, hard work, and a sense of accomplishment, pride and love I never knew existed. I think most of the time I have been trying to figure out our little bean, just in time for him to change and move on to a new phase. I need to stop trying to figure everything out, wishing away the current phase, and just be in the moment.

Owen is so much fun – it’s amazing to see him learn – he’s into looking at his hands and you can see the wheels turning in his little head that HE controls THESE things. So cool. And then he invariably grabs something with the utmost precision (usually my hair) and rams it in his mouth. Success. :)

He has changed so much in the past six months, but still looks like the little guy we brought home that sunny day in September. His hair is lighter (and longer, we’ve had to give him 4 trims already!), he’s bigger, and he has a whole array of expressions, sounds and movements. I love seeing his smiley personality shine through. 

I can’t wait to see all the new changes the next six months bring, and at the same time I want to pause everything to really soak it in.

Nursery Reveal - BabyGroupie

The nursery was a long work in progress but we managed to finish it before Owen was 2 weeks old - with many thanks to my mom who came down to help with Owen, and ended up helping huge with the nursery! We had a lot of DIY projects in the nursery - namely the artwork and mirror, the fabric circles, the roman shade, and the chair cover. Here it is in full:

 

The chair was a Craigslist steal – it is a Dutalier glider, and is SO comfortable. I initially wondered whether I needed a chair for the nursery and was told by friends that Yes, I definitely needed one. I can now confirm for anyone wondering – YES YOU DEFINITELY NEED ONE! A chair with a high back so you can rest your head during late night feeding/rocking/comforting is an absolute must. I generally think gliders are ugly, and this one was no exception with cream microsuede cushions when I bought it. My mom is a great sewer so I knew I could ask her to make a cover, but I couldn’t find any fabric that I liked. Instead I headed to Target and bought 2 drapery panels that worked perfectly for the chair! The fabric is heavy enough that it will wear well, and I liked the subtle ikat pattern. My mom used this tutorial for the project and I think it turned out amazing!

 

The bookshelves are an Ikea hack of Bekvam spice racks – perfect size to put low to the ground for a child to have their own library. We’re in the works of building up Owen’s library – any favourite children’s books that you think are a must?

I shared a mini tutorial for the porthole mirror, and more details on this art in my previous post.

I think I came pretty close to my initial moodboards (still on the hunt for an area rug and a footstool for the space!), and I am loving the space. Owen is loving looking around and seeing all the different elements of his room!

 

DIY porthole mirror and nursery art

You know my baby's growing up little by little when I actually have a few moments here and there to blog :)

Here are another few touches from the nursery - full reveal coming next week! I wanted some art over the change table, and had 2 gold frames that I wanted to use. I also had the idea to do a round industrial looking mirror...I looked everywhere for one but I couldn't find one (that was less than $100), so I took matters into my own hands and made one.

 

What kicked off the whole DIY idea was that I found the perfect round mirror at an antique store on Queen St East after a glorious pre-baby massage.  There is no doubt in my mind that it is not an antique given it had a made in China sticker on the back :) 

 Thus, no guilt in spray painting over the tortoise shell finish!

I taped it up and the Mr spray painted it for me since I was pregnant.Once it was painted, I got my glue gun and some large twine, knotted it and got to work.

 I wanted it to look like it was hanging from a knob but knew my glue wasn't that strong (or the plaster walls for that matter). So, I hung it using the notch on the back of the mirror, and then spray painted an extra cabinet knob I had from our old kitchen cabinets. I put the knob on the wall hanging on a nail to use as the fake hanger, then I laid the rope over top (hang the knob first so you know how much twine you will need when attaching to the mirror). Faking this is a reeeeaaalllyyy important step for it to stay on the wall and not crash on the change table :)

The gold frame closest to the mirror is Ikea and has card stock and a heart I cut out from a paint chip (I did the art once Owen was born so I went with blue). The top mirror was a Goodwill find, as was the bottom one.  I did simple blue and coral paint chip art in the bottom frame to finish it all off.

Simple, cheery, and cheap!

Throw Back Thursday - My Pregnancy #tbt

I'm jumping on this #tbt (Throw back Thursday) bandwagaon with pictures from my pregnancy! I was pretty good at documenting my pregnancy with photos of my growing bump every 2 weeks (every week towards the end), but I never got around to posting the series of photos.

Overall I had a great pregnancy - I felt good, had pretty good energy (all things considered...including the fact that I was working 50-60 hour work weeks through my last trimester - does that help explain the lack of blogging?), and don't think I was too crazy (oh, except the pregnancy brain forgetfulness and general impact on measurements, ahem mis measurements, for our bathroom reno...right...).

Here's how it all unfolded (edited down to keep things simple!)::

Good thing I took that last photo in time - I think I took it the day before I went into labour, Owen was born at 39 weeks + 3 days!

Things I have learned in the past month...

My little Mr. celebrated 1 month this week - time flies I tell you, time flies.

In the past month...well really in the first week of Owen's life I realized some lessons:

You actually don't have time to have a shower. When I heard this about new mothers I would always think Really?! You can't just put the baby in a bouncy chair outside the bathroom and shower? Well you can, but when they are really young they will be wailing before you even set them down and you can't let a one-week old "cry it out". Water savings here we come.

People say the first two weeks are the hardest. Yes, they are hard - you have no clue what is going on, but there's nothing magic about the 2-week mark. Week 3 and 4 (and probably many more to come) are just as hard! We are settling into our days, but what has helped me the most is the appreciation that a "schedule" is not attainable right now. For a Type A like me this was / is a really hard thing to adjust to - feeding and sleeping patterns change daily and you just have to role with the punches (thank god for Canada's long mat leaves).

Sleep when the baby sleeps - this is also advice countless people will give. I couldn't understand how you can sleep when the baby sleeps considering you have to shower, eat, and maybe talk to your partner at SOME point. This has gotten a bit easier in that I have realized that if I rest while the baby sleeps - even if he wants to be held - I can rest with him on my chest or in my arms and still get some rejuvination.

Even on the tough days the little one has more cuteness than you know what to do with. Frowns, tears, and wailing can be all be the cutest things you've ever seen...no wonder parents will do anything for their children...they suck you in from day one :) Countless minutes are spent staring at that little face - thinking of how the face will change, and how it will stay the same as the baby grows up. 

And my final lesson learned...a baby demonstrates the strength of your relationship - when your partner is there to give you a break after a tough day, when he makes dinners, cleans up, does the dishwasher, laundry, cleaning all without a comment you realize how good you have it, then you see him with the baby...melt.

I will be back at some point with nursery details and other fun stuff...until then, Happy Fall :)

Introducing #babygroupie: Owen

I've had a really really good (and cute) reason for my most recent blogging absence...

We had a baby boy! Everything is going well, Owen is growing and happy, we are learning and learning and learning and trying to figure him out :) A few other things happened the week Owen was born - we had our contractor in doing our tiling and baseboards (yes, he was the first person outside the hospital to meet our son...), and we celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on Day 3 of Owen's life.

I'll be back at some point with more on the nursery, our flooring project (finished!!), and other news!

Friday faves - What I'm wearing with my pregnant belly!

Happy Friday!

It has been another busy week...each week is ticking by closer to my due date at the end of September (I am 35 weeks right now...or 8 3/4 months...getting up there)! Some things have come together in the nursery but there are some tricky things to figure out (anyone know a good place to take a rug to be cleaned / de-oderized??) and a lot of other things to finish up.

I have been taking photos throughout my pregnancy and looking back the changes are amazing! I'll post a series of photos once I get them organized...until then here are some of my favourite outfits that I've been wearing to work during my pregnancy:

1. Tahari Dress, The Bay
2. H&M navy blazer, H&M Mama white t-shirt; Mossimo striped skirt (Target)
3. Merona Floral dress (Target)

All of these outfits (except the white t-shirt) are non-maternity items. I have found if I go up a size or two and the cut is right I can generally wear whatever I want for stretchy skirts and dresses (which is amazing). I was also lucky enough for a great friend to give me a huge lot of maternity and non-maternity clothes that I can wear to supplement my own finds above. Here's another fun Target mint and gray maternity tshirt (and a shot of my shower curtain!):

Enjoy the last weekend of August!!