"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
Every night before I go to bed, I sneak in and take a peek at my sleeping babe. I've been doing this since he moved from our room to his own when he was a few months old. If it won't disturb him, I tuck him back in but mostly I take a few seconds to stare at him in awe and smile to myself at the funny positions he sleeps in.
Many nights he looks so sweet and so peaceful that I just want to snap his photo to remember the moment, but the only way to accomplish that would be to use a flash and likely wake him, so obviously these moments exist in my memory alone.
The other day, Avery took an extra-long nap and for fear of him sleeping until dinnertime, I went in to gently wake him. When I opened his curtains he didn't even flinch, so I grabbed my camera and took a few minutes to snap some shots of this sweet, peaceful face before he rolled over and growled at me. He looks so much like his long-gone tiny baby self when he sleeps.
8/52 Starting to realize what this whole 'big brother' thing really means...
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
I found this book on Amazon for Avery to have once baby brother comes, but realized it would be better if he got a chance to read it before baby actually came. I don't know that he realizes what the book actually means for him, but he sure loves to point out the baby on all the pages. :) The other day, I was folding laundry in his room and glanced over to find he had crawled up in the chair and was reading. I ran for my camera and he let me click away while he perused through 4-5 books (the boy LOVES books so much he didn't even notice me!). His face in this one was so priceless given the book he was reading. Maybe it's actually starting to sink in what's about to happen around here... or maybe not. Either way, we're as prepared as we can be!
I think my favorite thing about this photo is how similar it is to the photo below that my mom snapped of me when I was almost exactly Avery's age- the book I'm reading being equally fitting to the look on my face.
7/52 Beating the winter doldrums with lots of bouncing, somersaulting and dodging balls. Happy days!
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
Something about this week made me realize just how big my baby boy is becoming. He's adding all kinds of words to his vocabulary, he helped me bake numerous times without a huge disaster and I swear he jumps higher and runs faster than he ever has. (I also pulled his newborn clothes out of the closet to wash up in preparation for his baby brother and it blows my mind that he was ever that tiny.) I chose this photo over the MANY other ones I took because of the hint of that happy magic Avery gets in his eye when he's in the midst of his crazy bouncing time. If only for a second, he forgot I was holding a camera when he glanced my way and I caught the look before he turned on his get-that-camera-out-of-my-face scowl. We were finally able to get outside and take a couple of walks on warm(er) afternoons this week. We're anticipating an even bigger warm-up coming up in the next few days!! Splish splash!
Finally! With only a month to go until baby boy is due to arrive, his nursery is finished! (with the exception of missing the glider rocker, which should arrive on Wednesday)
Avery's nursery theme came so easily and there were so many different options available, but I struggled for a long time deciding on a theme for this room. I went back and forth with 2 or 3 different ideas for months before deciding on a 'Giving Tree' theme (the book by Shel Silverstein) If you haven't read the book, I highly suggest it. It's about a tree (a personified 'mother') and a little boy that she loved so much she gave literally everything she had to him to make him happy. The only reason I didn't stick with this theme originally was because the message the book sends can be a bit of a downer (the tree gave and gave and gave to the little boy but nothing seemed to satisfy him) but in the end, I think the overall message is one of unconditional love and that along with the simple drawings in the book sold me. (Thanks to my awesome sister for helping me decide ;)
The new nursery was our old guest room (Justin's office now serves as both his workspace AND a guest room) and although we kept the paint color the same, Justin and I spent a lot of time in the beginning adding a board and batten look to the bottom half of the walls, which we think really makes the room pop. I'm SO disappointed that we didn't get a 'before' photo, but sometimes we just get so excited to start, we forget to stop for a second and take a quick photo. (Imagine a pretty dark room with a bed in the middle and a side table, that's about what it was)
Here are a few shots of the nursery now:
Side 1: We ended up purchasing another crib because Avery isn't quite ready to transition out of his and when he is, it's a convertible style so we will just remove one of the rails and it will become his toddler bed eventually. This crib we bought for baby #2 is the same style and will grow with him.
I made the bed skirt out of 1 yard of home dec fabric using this tutorial (it took me about 1/2 hour and cost about $10 - perfect!)
I also madethe quilt and will be reusing the same sheets and bumper pad that we used on Avery's crib. That gaping space on the right will be where the glider will eventually be. Since we still use the one in Avery's room daily, we ended up purchasing a new one of those too and it will be in our room for a few months while baby sleeps in there with us (isn't it funny that I feel a need to FINISH the nursery before baby arrives knowing full well that he won't actually spend much time in here until 4 or 5 months later? Silly nesting...)
When Justin was away for a conference in Florida a few months ago, I filled my alone time in the evenings with this tree painting project. I just free handed a tree in the style of the ones in the bookand painted them with the same paint that we used for the board and batten. I made some 3D apples out of heavy cardstock and hung them from the ceiling (they hang over where the glider will be)
The book shelves on either side of the crib were an idea I found on Pinterest using these spice rack shelves from Ikea. They are a little more functional and hefty than the ones in Avery's room and will hold plenty of books! :)
The framed prints are spreads from the book that I scanned, spliced together and removed the words from. Then I printed them out on green cardstock, matted them, and hung them in frames I painted to match the rest of the white in the room.
Side 2: This dresser that I refinished a few years ago has been in this room since we moved in and with its wide top and spacious drawers, it's now a perfect changing station. The white walls really make the dresser and the mirror (that was already mounted on the wall) look EXTRA awesome :) I painted and bought a new shade for an old lamp we had, bought a cheap changing pad from Ikea and attached another Ikea shelf to the wall to hold lotions, etc. and this whole changing set-up ended up costing us less than $10! The shelf on the right was made by Justin and will hold the baby monitor, fan for white noise, and maybe a basket for toys.
Side 3:The
curtains are blackout curtains from Target, the frames to the left and
right of the window will hold baby's name collage and a baby photo, and
the little window seat underneath was also made by Justin and has
baskets filled with baby toys and stuffed animals (Avery has really
enjoyed finding these little treasures!)
A view of the whole room (from the doorway) There are a few more 'personalized' things that will be added once baby is born but for now, it's a very peaceful space just waiting for a little wiggly boy to make it complete :)
6/52 This little rascal... the face of a boy who was trying really, really hard NOT to smile (mama won)
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
In the last week, Avery got his very first haircut ever and has fully transitioned into 24 month/2T clothes. This combination has my baby boy looking all too grown up and his independent nature seems to have blossomed in the wake of it all. We have given in to the crazy cabin fever we all suffer from and have successfully turned our home into a jungle-gym that would rival any fast-food joint around, complete with a trampoline, tunnel and ball pit (some days the trampoline also doubles as the ball pit), a toddler swing mounted to the ceiling, and a 'car' (a playground steering wheel that Justin mounted to a stand) that Avery has free rein to customize as he sees fit (so far he's plastered it in doodles and Sesame Street stickers.)
Spring can't come soon enough, although I know that along with spring comes baby boy #2 and these carefree days spent alone with my sweet Avery will be changed forever and that is so bittersweet.
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
Before the bitter cold
hit this week, we were able to spend some time outside playing in the
snow. Avery found his dump truck in the porch and decided to take it for
a spin, using his snow shovel to fill it up with extra heavy snow and then plowing it through the drifts. He may have been born in Indiana, but he's got a Wisconsin love for snow :)
Who are we kidding... I can never choose just ONE... ;)
4/52 Watching his imagination come to life brings more joy to my days than I can describe
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
Long, cold days indoors this last week have brought out the creativity in all of us; building forts, playing Play-Doh, baking muffins, playing in the sink, and running rope lights around the house after dinner. We've even become avid watchers of Wheel-of-Fortune before bath time. After dinner, Avery grabs our hands and leads us to the couch ready to watch the wheel spin. As the contestants shout out letters, Avery shouts them right back at the screen. It's an alphabet learning game! He loves it!
I just wanted to pop in and share a couple photos of baby boy's finished quilt! I've been spending most of Avery's napping hours working on it over the last few weeks and although I'm glad to cross one more thing off my list, I will miss the therapeutic time spent working on it.
My second quilt not only went much more smoothly than the first, but it's also much more straight and square. (Avery's quilt was quite a learning experience...) I used the same pattern (pattern found here) but chose a very different color scheme, one that matches baby's nursery perfectly. Here's a sneak peek of the quilt in it's new space, more pictures to come (hopefully it will be complete very soon!)
As my list becomes shorter, my belly certainly continues to grow and baby boy is making himself much more of a presence. Avery finds it very funny that my belly button is more of a real 'button' these days and he takes every opportunity to press it and giggle :) Beep beep!
2/52 Giggles... I'll never get enough of his giggles
3/52 Avery does tricks!
"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2014"
Let me start off this post by telling you that once baby boy #2 arrives (in less than two months... what?!), I am going to be focusing on one thing: simplicity.
I'm not going to overwhelm myself with projects I can't finish and I'm really going to focus on living in the here and now. That said, there are a couple of projects that I'm going to hang on to and hopefully stick with over the next year. They revolve around documenting and archiving those everyday fleeting baby (and toddler) moments that fly by at a ridiculously fast pace.
When Avery was born, Wednesdays became 'photo shoot days' and I took a photo of him every Wednesday for his first year of life. I LOVE the 52 pictures that show my little baby's crazy fast grown so much that I will be beginning that project with baby boy #2 come March. I really believe I learned a lot the first time around and became much more efficient in the 52 weeks of photos, so hopefully it will be a low-pressure project.
Recently, a friend introduced me to the 52 Project and at first I was reluctant to get on board with it (simplicity, simplicity, simplicity...) but I realized that it is essentially exactly what I'll be doing with baby boy and the 52 project would be a great way for me to continue to document Avery's growth and development during this time of great change and transition. It will help me to take a few minutes every week with my first baby and help me to keep my blog more updated. I'll also be linking up to the 52 Project on this website to hopefully keep me on track. Notice that since I'm three weeks behind in starting this project, I've posted 3 pictures all taken in the same day. I'm giving myself a free pass this time, but plan on keeping up weekly!
This project with Avery will definitely be a challenge for me because he is anything but
Did I mention Avery is becoming much
harder to photograph these days?
Believe it or not, this was taken
AFTER his nap!
sedentary and therefore very hard for me to photograph (especially indoors in the dead of winter). He has become VERY aware of the camera and our photo shoots usually consist of him either whining to hold the camera himself or wanting to only look at images of himself on the screen. Hopefully this challenge will make me a better 'mama photographer' and give me 52 priceless images of my big baby that I know I will treasure at the end of this crazy year.
Once baby arrives, I plan to make photography and blogging more of a priority. For now, I'm in full preparation mode over here finishing baby boy's nursery, filling my freezer with meals, finishing up loose ends around the house and doing silly exercises to get baby to flip around to be head down for his delivery in 2 months! I am thisclose to finishing his baby quilt (I've made this my main priority during naptime and after bedtime this last month, and am having a blast with what may be my last 'creative outlet' project in a while.)
Thanks for hanging in there with me, here's a recent belly shot at 28 weeks. I'll be taking a new one tomorrow as I will be at 32 weeks! This pregnancy has flown by, I still can't believe in a couple of short months I will have a wobbly, wiggly, cuddly little boy in my arms again - we just brought Avery home last week, I swear!
On Saturday morning, we woke up to a winter wonderland here in Indiana! It was a beautiful 32 degrees outside, so much of our day was spent outside making snowmen (and making up new verses to "Frosty"), crunching our tracks in the snow and sliding down the driveway.
It was such a beautiful, peaceful day - exactly what our little family needed.
Avery had a blast in the snow, playing until his little cheeks were rosy and he was out of breath from falling and picking his bundled-up self up time and time again. He even worked up the courage to take trips down the driveway in the sled all by himself- practicing up to spend some time on Grandpa Jim's sledding hill in a week! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!
Avery is quickly becoming quite the little boy. It's hard for me to believe that my baby is already a year and a half old. How he's changed in such a short amount of time!! He's still the sweetest little guy ever and brightens my day every day, but has started showing many 'toddler' behaviors for which he has now learned what 'time out' means and often knows that's he's done something bad before he even does it... He's learning so many new things every day- it's such an amazing thing to watch. His speech is starting to blossom, his imagination is in full force and he's
How he greets me after his nap ;)
already showing some interest in potty training (crazy!). He naps/sleeps at night like a champ (something I'm so grateful for and am taking full advantage of for the next few months while I can!) and runs us both ragged during his waking hours :) I still don't know if he's ready for his world to be turned upside-down by a little brother in 3 months, but his sweet temperament tells me that even if it does take him by surprise, he'll still be such a good little helper to me and a great teacher for baby boy. Until then, I'm going to snuggle him extra tight, read him anything he crawls into my shrinking lap with, and teach him to be as independent as possible in the process.
Avery's favorite things:Music & dancing, using his step stool to be a big helper in the kitchen, playing in the sink, running, reading books, cleaning things, hide and seek, playing with the vacuum, 'talking on the phone' ('phone' being a calculator, remote, piece of tinsel, his hand - whatever he can find), hearing the garage door open knowing 'dada' is home, chasing Bella, hugging Bella, 'helping' Bella eat, (pretty much everything about Bella), snack time, coloring, vehicles of all kinds, Sesame Street ('B-Elmo' is his favorite), getting his way, bouncy balls, hammering things, climbing, flipping through magazines, hearing the doorbell ring, hiding under blankets, flashlights.
Taking photos of this rascal has become quite the challenge. I tried four different times to dress him in cute outfits and put him in front of a background to take some photos to document this fleeting age. Fail x4. The day I took these shots, he had just gotten up from his nap and was so happy just playing that I just took advantage of it. Pirate t-shirts are just as cute as striped button-ups, right? ;) Plus, this pretty much sums him up at 18 months!
I often miss the days of sitting him in the perfect light and shooting away while making funny faces and rattling things. These days, it's more of a workout for mom and a funny game of keep-away for Avery ;)
I'll leave you with a couple of cute videos from the last couple of months - excuse the bad lighting, sometimes I just grab the camera and start recording so as not to miss the moment :)
Avery's very serious (and apparently, private) phone conversation - one of about 40 a day:
And Avery at the pool - being brave and exploring the 'deep'!
I've been seeing so many 'thankful' posts on Facebook and such lately and although I'm not one to make daily posts, I thought I'd collect my thoughts and write a little list here of some of the things that I'm insanely grateful for and thank God for every day.
I'm thankful that I've been granted the title of 'mama'. It continues to be the single most rewarding experience of my entire life. There are no words to explain the power of motherhood.
I'm thankful that 'mama' is also my current job title.
I'm grateful I get to be the one to see my baby's smiling face when he wakes up every morning, read him stories before nap, and kiss him goodnight every single day. I'm grateful that I get to be the one to make him breakfast, lunch, and dinner and we get to enjoy them together at our own pace every day. I'm grateful that I see and hear every giggle, new words and discoveries and kiss his tears away every day. I'm grateful that I get to be the one to teach him things and watch the outcome of those teachings every day. I know not everyone is able to experience these things so I'm forever grateful that we are in a place financially right now that makes it possible. The job doesn't come without its long days and daily struggles, but it's totally worth it.
I'm thankful for my crazy awesome husband. I'm still not sure how I'm so lucky that I get to spend my life with Justin, but every day I'm reminded of what an awesome choice I made. He is seriously a rockstar at his job (I can't even explain the awesome asset he is to his company...he's a true natural at what he does) and he works so hard every day so I'm able to stay home with Avery. He's hands-down the best father I could ever imagine and Avery adores his 'dada'. (The excitement that fills this house when the garage door opens at the end of the day is absolutely priceless.) Walking
into Pizza Hut for that job interview six years ago has turned out to be
one of the greatest decisions I've ever made - who knew?!
I'm thankful for my happy, healthy, tender-hearted little Avery. I
know not every parent is blessed with a healthy child, so I thank God
every day for Avery's health and pray that he continues to grow and
develop as well as he has been. I love everything about him and his
blossoming personality, I'll never get enough.
I'm thankful for the healthy baby that's growing inside me. With all my attention on my attention-loving toddler all day, it's easy for me to forget that baby's even there sometimes but his strong movements lately have reminded me he's growing ever bigger and stronger daily and continues to be healthy. The process of baby-growing is a pretty amazing thing. I'm thankful to have vision in my left eye. I was driving yesterday and thinking about just over a year ago when I got smashed in the face with a baseball and how scary it was to not have any vision in that eye for about 6 hours. Having and using our senses is something that we all take for granted every day, but having one taken from you - even for a short time - is a humbling experience.
I'm thankful for the love and support of an amazing family. It's really hard being so far away from all of our family. But, even though we aren't close geographically at the time being, we manage to make the best of the situation and take the time to stay close. I'm thankful for the technology that allows us to do this and for the ability to share photos of the rapidly-growing Avery that they all love so much. I'm thankful my teacher training. Being an art teacher is the perfect fit for me and although I'm not currently using my degree, I don't regret the blood, sweat and tears that went into becoming an educator. All my college training and hours spent with kids have helped make me the person that I am and the two years I spent teaching 7th graders gave me an invaluable set of skills that I use every single day in my 'mama' role. I can't explain how crucial those two years were to my personal development and the profound impact they had on me, and I look back on them fondly often. I'm thankful for our amazing friends who have become our 'Indiana family'. We moved to Indiana not knowing a soul and were on our own when it came to making connections and meeting new people. Luckily for us, moving into our home in this neighborhood turned out to be a God-send. We have met some of the most warm, friendly people that we are blessed to call our close friends and they have welcomed us into their families with open arms. We are all raising our babies together and have created a very strong circle of support - truly like a family. We love them all so much and can't imagine doing life without them.
Of course I'm always thankful to have our health, food on our table, an amazing home in a safe neighborhood and reliable vehicles to drive. We have more than enough and are so blessed in so many ways. Life is good. I hope you take a minute to count your blessings this season too :) Happy Thanksgiving!
