Thursday, April 29, 2010

April snow brings May sunshine?

       After a weekend of amazing weather and with the snow finally melted (for the most part), winter is back. We knew it was coming, it just seems like this year we are getting more Spring storms then we can remember in the past. And these are real storms. The wind has been howling. The snow has been falling. And instead of flip flops we're still in our hats and gloves. 
A glimpse of our street today.

       We're crossing our fingers that this is the last taste of winter for the next 7 months or so. 

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

7 months

       7 months down, 12 weeks to go, which still seems so far off for us. Jon asks me every night when I'm gonna let "that kid out to play" with him. Considering he's coming in at about 2 lbs. right now, I'm hoping he keeps stewing for a bit longer. I've gained 19lbs so far and the belly is coming in at 26.5 cm. No crazy cravings here. Although my love for donuts has grown even more. I'm tossing and turning more at night, and sleeping in is more appealing then going to the gym but otherwise things go on as normal. 
       In other Milam news, Jon graduates from the academy in less then a month now! Which means I get to meet all of these cadets I've been hearing about. I've got just a few weeks to finish the nursery and some other projects and then summer fun begins for us. Baby Showers. Camping. Some "man weekend" that Jon has planned. Hiking. We can't wait!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Project Nursery: Plush Pillows

       Spring has arrived in Tahoe. That means glorious sunshine and no crowds. The lake looks oh-so-tempting, dogs are frolicking, bikes emerge, walking paths are cleared and its silent outside. Spring and Fall are when we get Tahoe back. No crowds. No tourists. No traffic. Its one of our favorite times here. I feel a bit guilty for spending any time inside with this amazing weather outside, but projects need to get done. 
Luckily, I did get outside this weekend with Blue for some long walks. Its not bad waking up to this.
or this
or this
       But back at the house I had projects waiting for me. This week I received everything in the mail that I needed to create my mobile for the nursery. Look at this beautiful little package of felt that I received from a seller on etsy. 
       Yes, thats felt people. Felt. No it isn't first grade craft hour. This felt will soon be turned into a mobile. I was able to hand pick the colors and they arrived looking oh-so-inviting. I wanted to jump in immediately but needed to wait until I had some weekend freetime. 
       This Saturday I also worked some pillow magic. And for very little cash. 

Here's what I started with:
      Fabric scraps. Lots of fabric scraps left over from other nursery projects. While these scraps are nice to look at and Jon loves it when my craft supplies pile up all over the house, I figured I'd put them to work. Now, before this weekend I had never made a pillow. Not-a-one. But I figured the process must be pretty basic. 
Here' just a sampling of one of the fabrics that I was working with. 
       I had bought this fabric for another nursery project originally but the color was a bit brighter then I had intended. And behind it, that's some white backing that I recently picked up at the fabric store, with this project in mind. 
       Well, making pillows proved to be very simple and took hardly any time at all. 
And remember these ugly pillow hand-me-downs that I ripped the stuffing out of:
Well, I used the remaining stuffing to fill these pillows. 
Drumroll please....here's what I ended up with.

and here they are... ready for the babies arrival.


I'm happy with the outcome and the fact that it didn't put a dent in our budget. The white backing cost me about $10.00 and I got not 1, not 2, not 3, but 6 pillows out of it so far. And there's one more in the works today...

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

3 years together

       Jon and I met 3 years ago this month. The time has gone by so quickly and it seems that we never have enough time to spend together. We've packed a lot of bliss into 3 years and we know that there's lots more to come with our growing family.
      Jon has sacrificed a lot over the last three months to attend fire academy. He's up on the weekends before 5:00am to get ready for school and he's tucked away in our office studying 7 nights a week after I've gone to bed. We're counting down the weeks until he wraps up class....before the next round of classes begin. I'm so thankful for everything he does for me and our growing family. 
Ode' to Jonny














Yes, how lucky I am. 

Monday, April 19, 2010

Project Nursery: What are those, flags?

       I fell in love with bunting when I saw it some odd months ago and since then, I've seen it everywhere. And every time I've seen it, I've loved it all the same. I'd been itching to try my hand at fashioning my own bunting but wasn't quite sure if I had the skill needed with the thread and needle. After I succeeded at a few other sewing projects and in the spirit of a hand-crafted nursery, I thought some baby bunting would be a perfect little addition to my list of projects. 
       I debated over different prints and took to the fabric store to find a good fit for our little one's room.
A charming and simple green and white stripe fabric seemed to be a nice balance between being appropriate for a boys room and not too bold to conflict with other prints in the space. 

I trimmed up some extra cardboard into the desired shape and size flag that I was looking for. 

I ended up with ten pieces, two pieces each for my five flags. 
After running them through the sewing machine I had a perfect little collection to begin assembling. 

They were ironed and pinned and ready to be joined together. 

Our fish Stick looks on with excitement for the finished product. 

And Ta-Da! We have bunting. 

Bunting, Bunting, Bunting. 


For less then $10.00 and an afternoon of work, I have a little more decor for the babies room.
 And I'll be using the remaining striped fabric to fashion myself a little pillow for the room. 

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Burger Me

       Spring has actually arrived in Tahoe. About a month later then the rest of world, we actually enjoyed real sunshine and flip flops (gasp) this weekend. I spotted not 1 but 4 people in shorts today too! Sun oh, glorious sun. Luckily for us, an impromptu BBQ came together this evening, meaning we enjoyed our first burgers of the season. I'm certain there will be many more burgers to come. 







    
       The dogs swam. The boys grilled. Burgers were eaten. 
Welcome Spring. 

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Project Nursery: Done and Done

   I dread going to Reno. I don't like Reno. I avoid Reno. Ugh Reno. It takes an hour to get there, and as hard as I try I cannot make it to and from in less then 5 hours. But, Reno trips are necessities for us mountain folks. This past weekend I tackled Reno, and came home with lots of ammo for my nursery projects. 
       First off, I picked up some paint to finish off a little storage project for the nursery. I adopted this little red tool box from my sister, after she decided she didn't need it in my niece's nursery. 


       I chose a green paint that I had used on other projects from the nursery, which ran me a whopping .59. 

 It took 2 coats of paint and several touch ups to make sure I got every nook and cranny. 
Now I have a much needed spot to store some of babies small supplies.




      Wah la! My .59 project. 
 I think an underlying message here is don't hand over anything to me unless your okay with it being painted. 
       Next up, was a glorious little money saver of a project. When I started browsing crib bedding online I was shocked to find that a lot of bedding sets out there cost $300+. That just seemed ridiculous to me. Especially when you realize that a set only includes 4 crib items (skirt, bumper, fitted sheet, and comforter). After, of course, only falling for sets that were on the pricier side of the spectrum I knew we would need to improvise. And in walked Project: Crib Skirt. 
       I had found a seller on etsy that I could custom order a crib skirt from for $45.00, but I was reluctant to part with that much. Luckily, right about this time, my favorite blog younghouselove.com posted a great tutorial on making your own custom crib skirt. Thus, with a great fabric picked out, some velcro that I already had, and some ironing tape, I was able to create a skirt for less then $10.00. 



Here's a fabric that I hunted down on Etsy. I used about a yard of it, which cost me about $7.50. 

I followed the easy instructions step by step, 
and in about 1 hour I had a crib skirt fit for a King. 
Or a Milam. 





Even Blue seemed pleased with the outcome.

       I still have a handful of projects left for the nursery, and I'm really excited to get working on some of them. Bunting and a homemade mobile are on the top of my list! 
       

Monday, April 12, 2010

6 1/2 Months

       This week Jon and I have reached the 6 1/2 month mark - bring on the third trimester and the swollen feet. Both of us are beginning to feel like I've been pregnant forever. Considering we got a dog together after 5 months of dating, were engaged after a year, and married 4 months later, 9 months is a short eternity for us.      
      The past 2 weeks my appetite has grown, along with the belly. Between a fireman-in-training and a pregnant lady, we are going thru food at our house like nobody's business.
Here's the belly at 26 weeks in all its glory. 

    
And here's our resident cadet, on his way off to academy. 

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Project Nursery: Placemat Magic

      Sewing Task #2: Whipping some Target placemats into some pillows. 

       While I was at Target a few weeks ago, I was browsing the home goods area, oogling over some pillows and such. I came across some placemats that had a pattern on them that I liked and thought would fit great in the nursery. The placemats were only $2.99 each so I decided to pick up two and transform them into pillows. 
       I had two old pillows lying around that I had, of course, adopted from my mom when she didn't need them anymore. They were some pretty ugly creatures but I figured I might be able to put them to use. 
  Here's one of the creatures as I was removing its insides. 
       After slitting the placemats and filling them with the stuffing, I just needed to sew up the 4th side. After just six dollars, and some change I had 2 new pillows for baby Milam's room. 
       A good rule of thumb with my sewing projects is to never look too closely at the seams. They always look pretty good from a distance!