The Look of Progress

Boy, time flies when you're having fun. These pictures show the progress we've been making over the last few months! If I call it progress, it might make me feel better about the way the scale is going.



I'm so happy to finally be in month 9 of this pregnancy! Only about two weeks left to our induction date. So, I guess we better find a name for this little one quick!

Everyone Needs an Expert

If I had to pay my mom for all the consulting time she's been providing lately, I'd be deeply in debt! I know some of you think I can sew, but I'm really just a beginner compared to her impressive skills.

So, when I looked at our well-loved baby carseat and started daydreaming about recovering it, I was smart enough to realize my limitations and go begging for help. While I sewed crib bumpers and curtains (all rectangles) she took our old cover apart and remade it in a day and a half! It looks way better than it ever did brand new. Thank you, thank you!

Big Girl Room

We've been working on a new "big girl" room for Eleanor, which means quite a project for the biggest girl in the house. Switching her to the room next door also gave us the chance to do some long-overdue de-junking!

She wanted her room to look like outside, so we started with the tree idea. When I told the guy at Sherwin Williams I just needed a little bit of brown paint to paint a tree, he thought I was talking about a real tree trunk outside! I sewed the canopy and used Gavin's engineering skills to hang it.



The most important phase of this project was really the closet. There is very little space because of a vent going through it. Gavin took out the one shelf and rod and made the space much more efficient with a double rod and shelves. We took the doors off and made curtains that slide open so
she can get at everything more easily.

I started really questioning my sanity while making these curtains. For some reason, my vision for the room included an Austrian shade because it would be soft and pretty and look like the "sun" in the room. Do not try this at home. It works, it's lovely, but I'm still deciding whether the loss of many hours and brain cells was worth it!

We found the cute wooden bird cut-outs which I painted and stuck around the room. It's a fun big girl space for her and best of all there is a place for everything! Hopefully that means it will be easier to keep everything in it's place, right?

Happy Valentine's Day

I was inspired to take a few Valentine's still life pictures yesterday. It feels good to get into my creative box sometimes.

My friend Kristen inspires me with the "flashback" pictures she posts on her blog. It made me think of this fun one we took of Eleanor when she was 10 months old! That's a blast from the past. If only we had started collecting those quarters then... we could have a college fund by now! :)

Some Field Work

I was tempted by the snowy/frosty/foggy morning to take my camera outside and do some "field work." It was lovely out there. Very quiet with just a few birds to keep me company. Enjoy!

An Announcement

I really wanted to get some pictures to capture this miraculous pregnancy. So, I sweet-talked my friend Carli into taking some for me! She was so game to come play and translate some of my ideas into reality. She has a great creative eye and did a fabulous job.

We were outside taking some of these in the cornfield behind my house when my neighbor jogged by. He had no idea we were expecting - so that made for a pretty good announcement!

Although I prefer being behind the camera, I have to say it is such fun to have pictures of me to play with in Photoshop. I don't have to be quite as conservative as when I'm working on client's pictures. Course, it won't be for another month or so that I'll be looking for the slimming techniques.

Thanks Carli - I love these!