Somebody is One Year Old!

Today was Mother's Day.  It was also Pippa's 1st birthday.  What a great way to celebrate being a mother--by sharing it with your sweet baby girl.



The Cake...

The Birthday Girl...

The Presents...

The Mess....

And The Aftermath...

It was perfect.

Happy Birthday, My Little Angel.

Fabric Birds On a Branch Tutorial

A few months ago, I saw a cute blog post that had a picture of little hand-sewn, stuffed birds perched on a branch. It was a decoration for her baby's nursery. Well, wouldn't you know it, I have a bird theme in Pippa's room, so when I saw a wall that needed a little sprucing up, I decided to try this idea. Originally (the post I saw said) it was a bird mobile, with rows of birds rotating and dangling above the baby's crib. But she changed it up to be a piece of art on the wall, with the birds perched on a branch. I liked this idea better and so I set out to make my own version, based on the Spool Sewing website's pattern. Unfortunately, none of the blogs I searched out who tried this project gave many details about how they did it. So I decided to make my own tutorial on how to make your own hand-sewn, stuffed birds on a branch. Just so you know, I'm not much of a do-it-yourself-er when it comes to sewing; I'm a fairly inexperienced seamstress. I'm more of a have-your-mom-do-it-er. But I do know the basics of sewing. So when the sewing machine itself doesn't foil me with tangled thread, loose bottom stitches, or the bobbin having to be reloaded (all of which always happen to me, dagnabbit), I can usually manage to sew something simple. And seeing as how my mom is several thousand miles away, I just had to buck up and try it. Surprisingly, it turned out great! So if you're not terribly confident in your sewing skills, don't be intimidated. My tutorial is really clear and detailed and easy enough for even a not-so-brilliant seamstress.

Here's how it looks when it's finished...

And here are some close-ups of the sweet little birds...





So cute, don't you think? Pippa loves it. Every day I point around the room to the birdies and say "Tweet, tweet, tweet," she tries to copy me. But it comes out more like, "Tee tee tee!" since she's only 10 months old. It's ADORABLE, I tell you. I wish you could hear her. Anyway, I'm sure you're wondering when I'm going to get around to the tutorial part. Well, I did a guest post on my sister's blog Beehive and Bird's Nest with the entire tutorial. So rather than repeat myself here, I'll just link over to her blog for the how-to portion of making birds on a branch. Don't you love how Ive just added one more step?

Hand-Sewn Birds On a Branch Tutorial by Arianne

Have fun!


Here are some pictures of her room, in case you want to see how it all came together...

Her crib and wall stencil (designed and made by Big Daddy):

Her bedding, which is what inspired the bird theme (sewn by my mom):

The birds on the branch art, as well as her alphabet letters:

And finally her dotted bird/flower hooks, which used to be on the wall where the bird branches are now, and which are now relocated to above her closet.

It's Time For a Pipdate!

5 months old. How is that possible? I'm pretty sure 5 months of pregnancy feels like 5 years. And five months of your first child's life feels like at least a year. But for some reason 5 months of your 3rd child's life feels like 3 weeks. Yet here it is.

Pippa is:

GORGEOUS. Something about her is different than my other two kids. I think they had my coloring. So they looked...normal. But Pippa is golden. And pink. And fair. Her skin is so pale, her eyes are still blueish-grey, her hair is so strawberry blond. And she is sooooo plump. She is just different looking than my other babies. And I LOVE to stare at her. She is breath-taking.

BUSY. That girl. That girl! She cannot hold still! She is on the go, she is looking around, she is turning from one side to the other, stretching to reach what is just beyond her hands, above her head, behind her back. She can't quite roll over, but she's close. And trying ALL THE TIME. She's too busy to eat. Any sound makes her head whip around, away from her bottle. She's too busy to sleep. My once easy sleeper wants to roll and turn and grab and look. Sleeping is so passé. Even her binky is so passé. She puts everything (but not her binky) in her mouth. Every gross thing you hand her or she finds near her. She sticks it in her mouth (by way of her eye or nose or cheek, because her coordination isn't quite honed yet). But baby food? Oh no. That makes her face squinch up like you just fed her something crazy. Dirty socks? Acceptable. Sweet potatoes? No way lady.

BIG. 16 pounds big. 9-12 month clothes big! I've never had a big one. I remember my babies both being fat at one point or another, but Daphne was always several sizes behind her age, and Beck was lucky if he was on target most of the time. Pippa? She wears a size 3 diaper and a size 12 jammy. And the rolls on her arms and thighs are delicious.

SWEET. When I kiss her neck and shoulder really fast, when her brother jumps up and down in front of her, when her sister sings her a song, when Daddy throws her in the air, she laughs this sweet laugh, like water trickling down a pebbly stream. Like a small pop of firecrackers. It's perfect. And when I hold her in my arms, and she drinks her bottle, and she looks up at me with this look like I'm the most beautiful, wonderful person in the world....ahhh, then my cup is full.

Five wonderful months.

It's Time for a Pipdate!

There was bad news and good news at Pippa's 2 month appointment today. But on a side note, can I just scream this out loud: "TWO MONTHS??? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!?" I seriously can't believe it. I love newborns. ADORE newborns. I love when they first come out and they are just this helpless puddle of sweetness and softness. They lie on your chest, they love your warmth, they occasionally sigh in contentment, and you might see them crack half an eye open now and then. I just love it. But it was WAY too short-lived. Now she is awake for long periods of time (well, 1 1/2 hours seems long), she smiles, she is beginning to coo, she looks around and has a definite personality. Where did my tiny newborn go??

Ok, so back to her doctor's visit. The bad news is that she is to be yet another short child of mine. None of my kids have made it past the 20th percentile for height. Pippa is in the 19%. The good news is that she is a fatso! 60th percentile! Daphne was below the charts...still is. Beck's fattest weigh-in put him at 25%. So I'm pleased to say that Pippa is a big fat porker!

She is also sleeping 11 hours a night (on good nights. Some nights she only sleeps 8 or 9, eats and then sleeps 3 more). That's really amazing for a 2 month old. She eats like a champ (clearly), she's very patient, and she loves to look at me and smile this big, open-mouth, squinty-eyed smile at me. She hardly ever cries. She squawks when she is hungry or sleepy and only breaks into a real wail if you ignore her squawks. She has the most monstrously chubby thighs you've ever seen. Her belly button is an outie that has a swirl to it like a galaxy. Her bum is so round it looks like a goose-egg stuck to her back. Her eyes are actually getting lighter and less muddy (come on, blue eyed child!). They are currently blue-ish grey but with a definite greenish tint to them. Her eye lashes are very long but nearly white. Her eyebrows are all white and so they're pretty much invisible. Her hair continues to be a sort of strawberry blond or pale auburn. It'll be interesting to see what color it turns when it grows in.

All in all, I'm very pleased with this baby. I can hardly find a complaint at all. (Other than that she blows out nearly every diaper. She's not a very lady-like pooper!) I think if I was a teacher and she was in my "How to Be a Good Baby Class," she'd get an A+. Or maybe an A. Points might have to be deducted for the number of times I have to wipe poop off her back. Otherwise, Great Job, Pippa!

Oh, and she has a big head. 85%. But then, all my kids do. Due to the massive brains they inherited them from me, no doubt.

So that's the update on my short, stocky angel baby.

Pippa's Room

I finished Pippa's nursery a few days before she was born, but I never got a chance to post pictures. So I thought I'd do it now since my life is too hectic at the moment to do much of a real post.

This is how the nursery looked before:

World map on the wall, tan paint color, no valance, no style. It was our general purpose room--Big Daddy's closet, book case full of my travel mementos, extra boxes, ugly 2nd hand recliner, etc. So I had my work cut out for me, turning this into a girly nursery. I also didn't want to make it like Daphne's room, which is pink and green and yellow with flowers and butterflies. I wanted girly, but in a whole new way.

First came the beautiful bedding. It started with a swatch of fabric I saw online at a fancy (i.e. expensive) nursery design website. : It became the inspiration for Pippa's nursery. So I bought a few yards of that pricey fabric and then bought coordinating fabric from the local fabric store (i.e. WAY cheaper), handed it over to the capable hands of my seamstress mother, and this is how it turned out:

The birds and the polka dots became the theme of sorts for the rest of the decor.


Next I had Big Daddy print me a giant wall sticker. I got the idea for the tree from this picture I found online:
I made some changes and Big Daddy found some birds to put in the trees instead of the flowers.


Cute, huh? Pippa loves to stare up at the tree while she lies in bed.

By far the biggest project (for me, at least--the other big projects were done by everyone else!) was the alphabet wall. I saw the alphabet frames idea on a blog called Design Sponge. Hers looked like this:

So I spent a week or so collecting various sizes and shapes of frames from the local thrift stores.
I think I only spent bout $45 for all the frames! Then I took them all apart, ripped off the stands if they had them, cleaned the glass, and spray painted them. While they were drying, I measured the holes, found fonts online, and had Big Daddy print the inserts for me. Then I cut them down, put them in the frames, and laid them out on the floor so I could rearrange them 600 times. Finally, I put them on the wall. What do you think?


(Pippa absolutely LOVES to stare at the letters on the wall while I'm changing her diaper. The contrast of black and pale pink is so fascinating to her.)

Then I just had to add a few more touches. Once again, Mom came to the rescue and made a slip cover for the 2nd hand reclining rocker to match the trim on the bedding.


A lamp and some wall art finished it off. I still have one or two more things I want to add, but I felt good enough about the way things looked to put the baby in the nursery and not stress. I guess there were a few advantages to Pippa coming late.

This is the final product as it stands...

If I have a few spare hours over the summer, I may get the gumption up to paint the tan walls. The tan doesn't do anything for me. Maybe a pale blue? Or a soft yellow? Or maybe they'll end up staying tan because I'd rather be at the pool with my kids, working on MY tan. At any rate, there is a beautiful, one of a kind nursery where a modge-podge room used to be. Hooray!