Sharing Life

Mason was an only-child for the first 27 months of his life and I fully expected at least some sort of regression or retaliation in response to welcoming a new family member who will be taking up some of his space and time away from Mommy and Daddy.

But he's done really well and there have been some tiny hints of jealousy for Mommy/Daddy time, but he's only whined for our attention a couple of times and is still nothing but proud of "MY Baby." YAY!

Of course there's been no shortage of making him feel "special" {aka SPOILING} lately. Daddy created a cool mini-water park setup with 3 different pools including a slip-n-slide, big wading pool, and an adjacent smaller wading pool with slide. Scott breaks this out on the weekends to spend some father-son time with him and Mason loves it!

The newest toy has been an iPod Touch...seriously. A 2-year-old with his own iPod. You'll just have to remember that his Daddy is an IT Engineer though and Mason has been exposed to all sorts of computer technologies already. The iPod has also been a lifesaver for me when it comes to nursing Dakota Kate, keeping him content and allowing me to feed her.

Thankfully he still enjoys his "regular toys" and even chooses them over his fancy electronic ones on his own.

But then again there are times when I catch him multitasking...like here, with both his laptop game running AND his iPod!

I think I've had a harder time than Mason dealing with the fact that he's no longer the littlest baby. Mason hasn't skipped a beat!

Dakota Kate's Nursery Sneak Peek

Everything has been coming together nicely!

The first weekend of this month I had been sourcing materials for a DIY Board & Batten project for the nursery walls. To my dismay, the trips to Lowe's had me very disappointed in both the selection and the lack of customer service. The second trip, I asked Scott to accompany me and he witnessed firsthand the lumber staff flat-out tell me that my project just wouldn't work and I couldn't really do much unless I purchased a skill saw because they don't do project cuts anymore. I've seen DIY Board & Batten projects all over the Internet/blogs and just couldn't believe that everyone else had been able to tackle this project, but that apparently I couldn't.

So per Mom's suggestion {who is a big-time DIYer/Renovator anyway}, the following weekend I headed over to Home Depot...and I should have started there first! They were FANTASTIC! From the initial trip where I had 2 people jump in to help me, to the employee who helped me figure out how to save $65 on the lumber alone. I ended up with 2 best-buds: Eric & Walt who helped me get ALL of the lumber for the board & batten project for $10. Yep, you read that correctly...TEN DOLLARS! They were so helpful and did all of the project cuts for me. They also had suggestions on how to put it on the wall safely, securely & most efficiently. {for instance, using non-toxic wood glue rather than liquid nails...using thinner luan plywood so I could use my nail gun with 5/8" brads rather than have to individually nail by hammer}. So after adding 2 gallons of Behr premium paint {again for a pregnant woman, so they were low-VOC}, some odds & ends supplies and my lumber, the total cost came out to $65 for the entire room to be redone!

Here's a sneak peek after putting the battens up...

And as to the Nursery theme that I've been keeping "secret"...well since we're having a little China doll {haha-watch her end up looking more like Daddy than Mommy now!}, I decided on a Chinoiserie-themed nursery. Check out these incredible hand-painted canvases my Mom created for the nursery-see the pink pagoda! Doesn't everyone wish they had a GIGI?!?!?! LOVE THEM!

Alright, here's the revised Mood Board too...slightly altered to incorporate the Chinoiserie theme. And the palette is softer too with the palest of colors {I decided on light pink Foo Dogs, rather than hot pink below}. There's the hint of exotic mixed in with Palm Beach preppy in pink & green...hello Lilly Pulitzer is my mostest favoritest designer so this was fitting!

More to come soon!

Dakota's Growing Wardrobe

Here they are...

Black & White Itty Bitty Dress...

{If you recognize the fabrics, it's probably because it's from HERE}

An Altered Itty Bitty Dresss:

{I made this a larger size 3-6 mos and adjusted the pattern to have shoulder snaps rather than ties. Oh & this was leftover fabric/trim from burp cloths that Gigi sewed for Mason 2 yrs ago}

Twirly Skirt Onesie:

{I love that I can re-use Mason's old onesies by simply embellishing or adding a skirt}

Absolutely Adorable Girly Dress:

{It's a pillowcase dress! Only with 3 rows of fantastically feminine ruffles-all zigzagged. Yes it took a while, but was sooo worth it!}

Tres Chic Dress:

{This is another pillowcase dress but I added a ruffled ribbon flower. Tres chic...non?}

What's been so fun is being able to use remnants, Mason's old onesies, and trim I've had on-hand. I feel much more confident sewing and experimenting with different ideas.

Double Take

I was fairly certain I didn't want a side-by-side option as I've seen the horrible struggles some moms have gone through trying to maneuver a bulky stroller that often won't fit through doors, narrow aisles, and with limited options to accomodate both a newborn and a toddler. A tandem stroller was the way to go for me! I've been drooling over this Baby Jogger City Select stroller for months...

With more than 16 different configurations, it's a great "grow with me" stroller and wasn't made available until last year 2010. According to all of the reviews {last year's and 2011 so far}, this puppy has incredible versatility with the doubles option, but still handles like a single stroller. Guess which Mommy was in "Stroller Heaven" this week?

I took these photos of the stroller in 2 toddler seat mode. We have the car seat adapter already but we're ordering a newer car seat {we'll be selling our old travel system...figure we could make more off selling it as a system rather than piecemeal and that will help subsidize our double stroller purchase as well as upgrading to a Chicco Keyfit30 which can accomodate DK past 2 yrs}

Man oh man...I took my dream stroller out for a walk the day it came in {with Mason of course} and even took it out to Target just yesterday. I *heart* this stroller!

Sewing Binge

I mentioned yesterday I've been quiet because the sewing machine was calling out to me all last week. Here are my completed projects over 6 days...not too shabby!

Embellished Onesies:

{Panda Onesie, Ruffled Bib Collar Onesie, Ninja Baby Onesie-that one's for Daddy since he's into anime and geek stuff, I added the black ruffle butt for extra cuteness}

Newborn Cuddle Sack:

{this thing is so tiny, it's possible she may not be able to use it but I bought the onesie super cheap/secondhand and figured that if I messed anything up that it wouldn't be a loss anyway...I think it turned out adorably}

Pillowcase Dress & Scrunch Flower Headband:

{Betty generously shared this pattern twist-the pillowcase dress with a sweet ruffle bottom trim}

Itty Bitty Dress & Ruffled Headband

{this was from the Made By Rae tutorial I've seen floating around the blogosphere}

Mini Dress:

{this was also a pattern graciously shared by Betty-thank you so much again! it probably took me the longest to construct, but it was definitely worth it and the finishing details make it a nice quality too}

Onesie Dress:

{this one is similar to the cuddle sack found on 2 Giggle Boxes, only I kept the bottom part attached so it still snaps underneath. the size is 6-12 months, but I figured DK would be cruising by the late Fall/Winter so I kept the skirt long and added a cute pleated collar to coordinate. it looks a little French, non?}

Meeska Mooska Mason

Mason's 2nd Birthday Party...Mickey Style!

If a picture's worth 1,000 words, here's 46,000 for you {sorry, we just had too much fun!}