Sunday, February 26, 2012

33 going on 34....

We have our 34 week appointment for Baby tomorrow!  Here is Paul and me with our bellies when we went to the bowling alley with friends on Saturday night....

Paul's "bowling ball" baby!

Lunch with Daddy

On Friday we went to have lunch with Daddy at work!  Summer LOVED walking up and down the ramps and in the skyways and watching the cars go "under" her.

Eating PBJ's with Daddy!  (There are no high chairs at Daddy's work, so Summer got to sit in a big chair!)

Watching the cars from the skyway.

Summer's Big Girl Room

Well, it's finally finished!  Our goal was to have Summer into her big girl room by the end of February, so that she would have at least a month in it before Baby arrives.  We just finished our last few projects this weekend.  YAY!  Tomorrow night will be the first night she sleeps in her big girl bed!  YIKES! Our little girl is growing up!!

Tonight as Paul and I peeked in on her sleeping in her crib for the last night, she was all snuggled up, sleeping on her pillow (which we introduced two weeks ago to help center her), and I wished I could take a picture without waking her up!  It is hard not to feel nostalgic, thinking of it being her last night in her crib, so, being pregnant and closer to tears than normal (due to that fact) :) I am choosing to just be really excited about the new room she will get to sleep in tomorrow night!  Here are a few pictures and a little video survey of her new room.  I have had so much fun getting it ready for her and decorating in pink and purple! 



I had a lot of fun making the headboard cover and wall hangings to match her bedspread!  I learned a ton about binding a quilt---the corners are kind of tricky!  I looked up some videos online to teach me how to do it.  We got a new pull shade for her window that has no strings (our old one made me nervous with her sleeping so close to a window).  Because our windows have funny edges, the brackets the shade came with to hang it didn't work.  Paul "invented" a new way to hang the shade by incorporating several pieces of hardware and some creativity.  Go Paul!
Because we are using the headboard for a foot board to start, the slip cover over the headboard makes it look better from the back and helps create a cozy reading/baby doll corner on the back side.
This white shelf used to be mine when I was little.  The pink storage boxes have "big girl" toys such as Little Ponies, paper dolls, and Barbies that we got from a friend whose daughter outgrew these toys.  Summer loves to come in the room and play!

Here is Summer''s reading and baby doll nook.   Summer has already been playing with her dolls in her big girl room since Christmas.  She loves to rock them to sleep, put them down for a nap, feed them, comb their hair, give them kisses, dance with them to music, burp them, and push them in the stroller.  This little rocking chair was Paul's when he was little, and I made a pink chair cover out of some left over fabric from her bulletin board and wall hangings.  I also spray painted an old quilt hanger and painted some flowers and a butterfly on it so it would match her room.

We got the white wicker furniture off Craig's list, and I think it goes well with her bedding and her name, "Summer".  It is in really good shape and helps make the room look girly!  I put a few coats of white spray paint on it to give it a fresh look.  I also spray painted white an old bulletin board I had growing up and covered it in pink fabric.  Right now I have the Valentine's she got from her friend's hung on it.  The light switch cover was one that my mom put in my big girl room when I moved out of the nursery, so it is kind of fun to have it in Summer' big girl room!

I had fun finding decorations at Good Will and Consignment Sales.  My mom found some cute hooks that went well in the room and Paul helped me hang them at Summer's height so she can hang her backpack and coat :)

Her night stand contains her diaper supplies, her blanky and dollie, the Bible we read from each morning, and her favorite flashlight with animals that attach to the end so they can be projected onto the wall!
Summer, when you read this post when you are older, know that a lot of love and care went into this room to make it special for you!  We love you!!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Summer and Baby

Paul peeked in on Summer while she was playing in her big girl room yesterday and saw her sitting in her little rocking chair, with her baby doll all wrapped up in a blanket, saying "rock, rock".  Unfortunately she had moved by the time he got the camera, so I'll just share this picture instead of when he found her inside her baby doll's crib!




Sunday, February 19, 2012

Quilting

My new hobby lately, when I get free time (which is usually on Saturday afternoons during Summer's nap, as I tutor during her week day naps and after she goes to bed!!!), I have been enjoying quilting!  Here are some pictures of a few of my recent projects.


My first projects were presents for Paul's and my moms.  They both have a cabin/trailer on a lake, so I made wall hangings with their lake and marked their spot on the lake with a button.  I got this idea at a craft show and thought it looked like a fun project.   First I traced a picture of the lake their trailer/cabin is on from our computer screen to tissue paper.  Then I quilted the lake together from  fabric squares and quilted the background together from a different color fabric squares.  I used invisible pen to write the letters, and then sewed over them with embroidery thread.  I used fusible web (coolest thing ever!) to attach the lake and letters to the quilt, and then hand stitched around them.
Quilted wall hanger of Shell Lake
Close-Up

West Battle Lake (Poor quality cell phone picture, but hopefully you get the idea!)


 My next few projects are in Summer's big girl room.  We will be moving her to her new room in about two weeks to free up the nursery for baby, and I have been having fun decorating in pink and purple!!!  We bought a twin size wicker headboard off of Craig's list and will use it first as a "foot board" (the other three sides of the bed will be walled off by two walls and a guard rail) so that it will still keep her in bed when she transitions from crib to bed (in about 2 weeks!).  Because the back and front of the headboard will show while it is being used at the foot of the bed, I made a "slip cover" for her headboard as the back of the headboard was not very attractive!

Slip cover for Summer's headboard

I made some wall hangings to go with the theme of her room.

Close-up of the butterfly

Close-up of the flowers

The headboard and wall hangings with her bedspread

I am currently working on a few more projects for her room that I hope to finish soon, and then I will post pictures of her room before we officially transfer her from the nursery to this room.  We have been calling this room "Summer's room" for the last few months and she loves playing in it!   In preparing for the transition, we put a pillow in her crib last week (it is supposed to center her) and it is cute watching her sleep on a pillow!  It is exciting to watch her room come together, and for a person who has never been very "girly", I am surprising myself with how much fun it is to decorate in pink, purple, butterflies, and flowers!!!

Daddy Daughter Date

On Friday, Mommy subbed at the high school, and Daddy stayed home to have a daddy-daughter day with Summer!  They packed a ton of stuff in, and got to do a lot of Summer's favorite things.  They went to the open gym at the community center, went to Target, went to the Burnsville Mall playplace, and went out to lunch!  It is so cute to watch Daddy and Summer together.  In the last few weeks, they have really been bonding in a special way.  Daddy is definitely a "fun" Daddy and there are always lots of giggles!  One of my favorite things in the whole world is watching Summer run up to Daddy and give him a big hug around his legs!  They have a special Daddy-Daughter cuddle moment every evening after bath time, with Summer snuggled up close to Daddy all wrapped up in her towel.  It is so cute it makes me melt :).  Paul is SUCH a good Daddy to Summer.  Just watching him with her makes me love him even more than I already do!!!!  Here are a few pictures and video clips that Paul took on their date.


Breakfast...Daddy sent this picture to Mommy when she was subbing.  Notice how nicely daddy did Summer's hair!  He told me the night before that he wasn't sure how that part (doing her hair) of their date would go.....but he did great!

Playing at the open gym...randomly met up with a friend from church!

Summer LOVES climbing the ramps

Deciding what to order for lunch :)

Drinking out of a straw---so fun!

Enjoying her date with Daddy!

Playing on the "floor" at the Mall: there is a spot where advertisements and other fun things are projected from the ceiling to a spot on the floor.  Summer loves this part of the mall!


Playing at the Community Center Toddler Open Gym

Kicking a soccer ball: She loves kicking balls all over the gym, and was doing so quite a bit, but Paul just caught the tail end on video :)

In case you have never been to a toddler open gym, this clip gives a feel for it!  At the beginning Summer RUNS all over kicking the balls and playing hard.  By the end she gets a lot of her energy worn off and walks around people watching!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Baby Valentine's Day Party

Summer was invited to her first Valentine's Day party at her friend Adry's house this morning.  All the toddlers had lots of fun playing, eating, making a craft, and exchanging Valentine's :-).  Here are a few pictures!

Summer made Valentine's for her friends before the party :)


Sydney
Ms. Bridget and Leyla

Ms. Kaity and Adelyn (and Addison :) )

Ms. Tara and Lily

Summer and Mommy

Ms. Rachael and Adry

Ms. Jade and Brandon

Ms. Joy (our neighbor) who brought her two 19 month twin girls and 2 month old baby Joey whom she is babysitting.....all 3 kids under 19 months!!!....she is amazing!
Summer LOVES babies, and she loved seeing baby Joey.

Summer and Brandon playing

Rachael's amazing snack spread!

Summer and Addison enjoying the snacks

Summer enjoyed eating off of Addison's plate

This picture really captures Addison and Summer's love of snack time!

Snacks

Mmmmm!

Chatting near the craft table.
From left to right, Joey, Faith, Noelle, Summer, Leyla, Sydney, Addison, Lily, and Adry
A few more couch pics....


Summer, Leyla, and Sydney cuddling (or just squished?!?)

Summer :)

This couch picture includes Brandon in the front :)
When we got home Summer and Mommy had fun opening Summer's Valentine's

Thank you for all my Valentine's everyone!  Love, Summer
Thank you Rachael and Adry for hosting such a fun Valentine's party!