Nursery? Check!

Cecilia's room is finally done, done, done! After much obsessing careful consideration about baby bedding, I finally decided on the gorgeous Sophie collection from Pottery Barn Kids. Combine that with the robin's egg blue walls and the butterfly accents, and I'm really happy with how her room has turned out!

This is the best pic of the actual wall color, and I LOVE how her name decal turned out over her crib!!

I learned my lesson the first time around, and got a comfy chair for those late night feedings!

Changing station and a dresser full of diapers and jammies :-)

See?!?!? A drawer full of adorable butt fluff :-)


Toy box, adorable Boppy cover and the great butterfly picture hook I found at PBK!

A closet full of clothes. Thanks to our insanely generous friends, I hardly have to buy anything for Ceci to wear her first year!

And some of the little details that I love:

Butterfly nightlight	Paper butterfly wall decor	Girliest lamp ever!

My dryer has balls... does yours?!?!?

Laundry. It's my nemesis, my never-ending story, my dreaded nightly chore, and oddly enough, something that gives me a sense of accomplishment (however short-lived) with I'm done.

When we started cloth diapering Graham, I really began to pay attention to the chemicals and additives that are in cleaning agents - laundry detergent included. It's amazing how many harsh soaps, fragrances, additives, preservatives, brighteners, well, GUNK is in so many of our day-to-day products. So I started trying to cut down. We try to use more earth-friendly, biodegradable detergents to protect our water supplies. I've eliminated fabric softener, opting instead for vinegar in the rinse cycle, which does a fantastic job (and no, there's no acidic smell when it's done).

Dryer sheets were another obvious chemical-leach that we needed to cease. As an alternative, I made these felted wool dryer balls. They roll around in your dryer, and reduce the static buildup. And They.Are.Awesome! My first load of towels came out so fluffy and soft! The next load, down blankets, were bouncy and downy and snuggly. Seriously. These things rock!

You can find instructions on how to make them here. Probably the hardest part of the whole process was picking out which yarn to use. I would say my first two balls took about an hour each to complete. Once I got the hang of it, the other two went quickly, maybe 25 minutes each?

If you don't fancy yourself a Martha Stewart type, you can always purchase some Fuzzy Wuzzy Dryer Balls here. They'll run you around $12 each after S&H.

Erik even thinks that our laundry smells better now, as we think the wool absorbs any residual skinkies left on the clothes. Or you can add a few drops of essential oils (lavender, almond, lemon and orange) to the balls for some real, non-synthetic frangrance.

Seriously, for $5 each, why not give them a try? Of course, you might become the addict that I am and start scoping out prettily colored wool skiens everywhere you go, but hey, wouldn't three (or seven or nine) more just gorg all stacked up on top of the dryer?

Another perk to having these around the house? The dryer's not the only one happy to have a few spare balls laying around :-)

In and out - a retrospective of the space-time continuum

Nine months, one week ago today:

Exactly nine months ago, today:

And today:


It's amazing to believe that Graham has officially been "outside" as long as he was "inside." The nine months of my pregnancy seemed to last for-ev-er. There was so much to do: researching, registering for and assembling baby gear. Getting the nursery ready. Worrying, wondering, and anticipating. It was a jam-packed nine months that just couldn't go by fast enough, I was so eager to meet my little man.

Then, suddenly, wheter we were ready for him or not, he arrived in typical Elyse/Erik fashion - whining, just a little late, and with a splash of drama ;-) And it only took one look, and I knew - my life was forever changed, and the word "love" took on a whole new meaning. I was smitten.

And now. Now. I cannot imagine my life without this smiley, smart, loveable boy. In fact, I have a hard time even remembering what life was like before he was here. Whereas the nine months of my pregnancy dragged on, these last nine months have flown by. It's been a whirlwind of feeding, diapering, laughing and marveling at the perfect little person who's growing up too fast, right before our eyes.

Graham is motoring around the house now, crawling from room to room, completely fascinated by electrical cords, dog water dishes, and dog bones (ick). It's dumbfounding to realize that I no longer have to pick up my son when I leave the room. Now, he'll just follow along after me, motoring along on his hands and toes - no hands and knees for this boy, he crab-crawls on his hands and toes (I REALLY have to get a video uploaded on here for y'all to see). He's eating more and more solids, and gives himself his own water out of his sippy cups. Graham LOVES him some water - that's my boy, a camel, just like his momma!

We go to the pediatrician on Thursday to get some immunizations and have a height/weight check, and then it's off to Mod4 for his 9 month portraits. I'll be sure to update after that. In the meantime, I've got a little grinning NINE! MONTH! OLD! boy to enjoy:

Tiny Bubbles

"Tiny bubbles (tiny bubbles)
Make me warm all over
With a feeling that I'm gonna
Love you till the end of time"

The Don Ho song may have been about wine and celebrating, but this new detergent makes me just as happy!

Being new to the whole cloth diapering thing, I was pretty intimidated when I saw that I had to have a "special" detergent - no whiteners, no phosphates, blahti blah blah. But then I found Tiny Bubbles - it's made by the same company that makes Graham's Gro Baby diapers. And let me tell you - it's FANTASTIC! It really gets the diapers uber-clean (and let's be honest here, some of them are pretty icky going in to the washing machine, right?!). It smells great, rinses clean, doesn't irritate his delicate baby skin, does the dishes and folds the laundry too (OK, I might have been exagerating slightly on those last two accomplishments. But the rest is factual. I swears!).

But, for all you haters - er, non-cloth-diapering public (hehe), you don't need to feel left out. I would imagine Tiny Bubbles would work wonders on baby clothing, lingerie and delicates, cashmere sweaters(!) - pretty much anything that you want to wash that needs some extra TLC and no detergent build up or residue. So check it out :-) I'm bettin' you'll love it!

http://www.thenaturalbabyco.com/tiny-bubbles-p-732.html

Fluffy butts and scattered kibble

So we (and by "we," I totally mean "I") took the leap and started cloth diapering Graham. It's still too early yet to write on my experiences with the diapers, since we just started, but so far, I have to say, I'm a fan. We're trying out the Smartipants pocket diaper system right now, with our Gro Baby diapers coming in tomorrow's mail. But I mean, really, is there anything cuter than a baby with a fluffy, cloth diapered butt?

And, depending on whom you ask, Graham has started crawling. He doesn't motor on down the hall yet, but he definitely gets from Point A to Point B using a series of jerking forward motions, scoots and butt rotations. It's deliberate enough that no dog food bowl is left unturned....



Edited to add: Yes, I'm aware that the open basement door directly behind Graham is a safety hazard. So, before any comments start coming in, please be assured the Yes, We Do Keep The Door Shut At All Times. It was actually just open because I was hopping back and forth between the doorways taking pictures. Mah babah is safe, worry not, my peeps, worry not....