An Eve of Excitement

   It seems that the hardest events to write about are the best ones. The ones for which no words can do justice. And so I put it off waiting for just the right moment. The right mood. That strong desire to do nothing but write for hours and hours because that is how long it would take. But those moments are as rare as the perfect days themselves. And so....

   This Christmas really restored the magic of the holiday for me. It gave me faith that it can be as wonderful as an adult as it was as a child, if not more so. This year the shift that I was expecting last year finally took place. Christmas as parents. New traditions. New family dynamics. A new level of autonomy as individuals and as a singular family unit just Jason, Bastian and myself.

   Some traditions stayed the same. We spent Christmas Eve with my extended family (mom's side) whom I do not get to see as often as I'd like through the rest of the year. We all gather for an afternoon service at my Aunt and Uncle's church where I am surrounded by their familiar voices singing along to the Christmas hymns in perfect harmony. Bastian was visibly as in awe of this as I have always been in my heart. Wide eyes looking around at all the mouths moving in unison, all the voices intertwined together forming the same words in complementary tones. This trend continued on throughout the evening once we gathered around for food and gifts back at their home down the road from the church.

   It has become a standard now that my cousins and I are all older that we exchange "family gifts" instead of drawing names or giving gifts individually (since there are a ridiculous number of us), and so I have taken to using it as an opportunity to gain leverage on myself in terms of my crafting aspirations. Oh, self imposed deadlines... how I both love and hate you!

I made these guys, one for each family (tutorial in near future for those as crazy as me):

   We celebrated in the way that we always do with laughter, conversation, hugs, singing and food. Lots and lots of really good food. Things that sound redundant when written in plain text, but in actuality never cease in their healing and nurturing powers. It was a year of much sentiment. Meaningful items of heritage exchanged as gifts. Passed from one generation to the next. Ornaments collected by my deceased Grandfather given to each of his grandchildren now that we are all grown and are either already decorating our very own trees or will be in the near future. Handmade gifts created with love for the recipient. Treasures found and passed along to the ones whom the finder thought of in loving generosity upon discovering the perfect present. Dishes of nourishing food prepared with patience and skill by one another as an offering of our hearts. The connection between generations, parents and children, Aunts, Uncles, Nieces and Nephews growing deeper each year. Equals in a new way. More alike now than different. Humor understood and appreciated by all in the room rather than a select few.

   Of course the sweetness of the event was only multiplied, exponentially, by the excitement and joy of our little guy. No way to not be mushy about it. Plain and simple sweetness right there. 

Photo by Beth Iverson

Have you ever seen a happier baby? 

I didn't think so.

...Next up Christmas Day. Stay tuned. And, in the mean time if you would like to browse more pictures of The Eve of Excitement click here to view the whole album on my Flickr page.

---

Schizophrenic Style: Mini Hoops and Mad as a Hatter

   This Christmas was not only the best I've ever had in terms of experiences, atmosphere, company and spirit... it was pretty darn amazing when it came to gifts too. A lot of things with high sentimental value and some just plain fun stuff. All in all I'd have to say that I'm spoiled.

   More Christmas recap posts will be coming soon but since I just can't put these new mini hoops down I thought I'd show them off before I got to the more serious stuff like craft tutorials and a novel on what an amazing thing it was to not only host Christmas at our house this year but to have a special Christmas morning celebration just the three of us for the first time ever. To see the excitement and recognition in the eyes of our son... I'm doing it already....

   Before I get too carried away, here are a few pictures Jason caught of me testing out my new hoops (c/o my awesome in-laws) in some new clothes I got as a gift from my sister. She knows that I love corduroy, baseball tees, Alice in Wonderland and mustard yellow... so if you're reading this LindsaBEAR thank you again. Seriously. LOVE them!

So there you have it! Me making a total fool out of myself, not having a clue what I'm doing, but loving every minute of it.

Cords - Thrifted

Baseball Tee- Thrifted

Tank and Shoes - Target

Hoops - HipEHoops (I believe)

---

Too Much Love for Just One Hug

   Motherhood, in just the last few days has reached a whole new layer of sweetness that I was not expecting. It caught me off guard in the best way possible. Like falling in love. A different kind of love than you see in romantic comedies... but still an overwhelming, heart expanding, walking on air kind of feeling.

   Then he pulls another ornament off the tree and we're back to normal... But still, that new dimension is there even though in that moment it's not flooding over me in a wave as it had before.

   What is this new stage of development you may ask? How is it so different from the ways he has been changing so quickly all along? Well, honestly it's simple. Couldn't be any simpler actually... it's hugs. Enthusiastic, all-out "can't-express-enough-love-with-my-arms" hugs. Seriously. I have seen him marvel at some mighty interesting things. I have seen my baby boy go from crawling to climbing in what seemed like days. I have even sat in bewilderment when it finally hit me that he was not only saying "nigh-nigh" but he knew exactly what it meant. He was initiating it. On his own. No mimicry. No response to something I first said or did beforehand. Just plain and simple understanding.

   Perhaps the same things that keep me so intensely spellbound by these hugs. These hugs are intentional. These hugs are not simply his arms around me because mine were already around him.... These hugs are new. These hugs are "see-you-across-the-room-and-come-running" hugs.

All photos c/o Lindsay Iverson

...and I cannot get enough of them.

---

The Best of the Rest

   As mentioned in my last post, Christmas Letters in the Information Age, I am putting together a roundup of all the things that happened throughout our year that didn't get written up in detail here on the blog, over on either of our Facebook profiles or pages (since we now have both) or on Twitter. To make this more organized and well, chronological (because, that's just how it has to be) I am going to do the majority of it formatted under the calendar month headings.

   A decent amount of the major events that took place in our lives this past year have been well documented here and can be accessed by month in the archive section to the right of the screen. Things like our big move from a one bedroom condo to a three bedroom house in a small town. A house with a garage and a laundry room (swoon). But some important details did escape in the hustle and bustle... things like how grateful we were to Jason's parent for letting us stay with them for the few weeks in between. Things like our house warming party. Things like pictures of all the adorable decorations I worked so hard on for Bastian's first birthday party, and him enjoying his first ever bite of cake!

   Yes folks, this is going to be a mighty long post so if your interested go ahead and view the rest after the jump:

---

Christmas Letters in the Information Age

I read a tweet today that, while sarcastic and saddening, was quite true. When we broadcast our lives on the internet throughout the year on social media platforms and blogs what can we say when asked those inevitable "What's new?" inquiries at holiday get-togethers that isn't entirely redundant. And what's more what are we to put in those already slightly awkward Christmas letters of ours? I always feel obligated to write a little bit on our year for those who are interested to know but don't always get the readers digest version day to day throughout the year by way of tweets, Facebook statuses, blog entries and countless other cyber connective routes.... but I also feel strange writing so matter-of-factly about our lives. Like it is in some small way egotistical and presumptuous. I remind myself that I don't feel that way about other people's cards that I receive, but the notion remains in the back of my head and makes it a very tedious letter to draft.

This year instead of re-writing the things I've covered already in the archives on this here blog I am going to provide a post in the near future of the highlights that I may have just never gotten around to posting about in the mix of day to day life. A sort of "Best of the Rest" feature if you will. That solves the dilemma of repeat information, as well as removing the burden from my shoulders of trying to determine who on our card mailing list really wants the updates and who is secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) annoyed by those "tacky" letters. And yes, I worry about things like that. Too much.

Also for the record I love Christmas cards of all kinds, but have a particular fondness for those that include lengthy letters. It may be the writer in me.

This also solves the issue I discussed in my Chronically Chronological. Perfect excuse to write about all of those things I really meant to, that felt off-topic or irrelevant due to how much time had lapsed between the event and point at which I was ready to write about it!

So, for those of you on our mailing list you will be getting a card soon (hopefully) with the link to that post included. For everyone else, we truly do hope that you have a fantastic holiday and while your at it enjoy what's to come over the next few days here at Taxidermy Worms!

God Bless,
Cat

---

Anniversaries Before Birthdays

Tomorrow is my birthday. Tomorrow I am twenty five. A quarter century has passed by. But I am not sad... not for the passage of time anyway. No quarter life crisis for me. In fact this year I have been more excited for my birthday than in these most recent years.

Today, though is not a birthday. It is an anniversary, not of a beginning but of an end.

Today, the one that is passing as I currently type, not the calendar date as it comes every year, has been good... but it would have been naive of me to think the sting was entirely behind me. Death is always hard. A tad bit harder so when it falls so close to a day of celebration that will continue on happening for the rest of your life. Because from that point forward the two are invariably tied.

Then comes the guilt... when the celebration it's tied to is your own birthday... the guilt over the fact that you mourn yearly, you remember everything so much more clearly, for the grandparent who passed the day before your birthday than you do the ones that left long before him. Sure, it was more recent... I hardly knew what death was when the two that went before him departed. My Nani and my Grandpa. I also didn't know them as well... I had more time with Papa. And yet I didn't take advantage. Knowing from the early losses you think I would have learned. I would have made more time, for the man who told me stories of frogs that ate hot ham sandwiches and of the inner workings of cheeseburger factories. The man who always laughed. Who used his hands to create the most intricately detailed things from paintings and drawings of landscapes and architecture to models so lifelike of trains, planes and boats. The man who always insisted we have a twirl ice cream cone after every meal we had together at the local burger joint. It wouldn't be a treat without it.

I remember how intensely he watched performances on TV. Not sitcom acting performances... actual shows put on by performance artists that just happened to be made available on television... sometimes ballet, sometimes opera, some musicals and concerts. Of course there were plenty of old westerns too... but what stuck with me was the curiosity. The history as well as the art. Shows on war, yes, but also on the innovations that came out of it, the advancements of travel and infrastructure. He was also intensely curious about us, his grandkids. Nothing thrilled him more.

Yes, today is a good day. Sad, yes. For the world is without an amazing man... but also happy for the blessing he was, and still is to me. In loving memory...

---

Pushing Through Plateaus

Sometimes we need to push ourselves, even though it hurts, to break free of routine. The dreaded plateau. Nowhere is this more evident than in the realm of physical fitness and weight loss.... but even in this arena that on the surface appears to be all about the body (what we put into it, what we do with it, muscle development, calorie deficits, rest days, etc) it still really is all about the mind. Our beliefs dictate our progress and lack thereof. And sometimes we don't realize we've even hit a plateau until we're faced with an obstacle or forced to stand face to face with someone further along than ourselves.

I have recently had quite a bit of success in my journey to losing weight, getting fit and improving my overall level of health. I eat better than I've ever eaten in my entire life, I get more exercise than I ever have, I feel better when I'm in a resting state, and most importantly I can keep up with my son. I used to overheat at the drop of a hat it seemed. A little too much physical exertion, a little too high of a temperature or a mixture of both literally sent me spinning. It didn't take much. At 18 years old (if I remember correctly) I wound up needing a wheelchair ride from one of the parks in Disney World back to the bus so we could go back to our hotel halfway through the day because walking from ride to ride in the heat had me so lightheaded I couldn't stay on my feet. It was pathetic, honestly.

Now? I run... and breathe AT THE SAME TIME!

Not very often mind you, and not for long periods of time. But I can do it. And without fainting or panting like a dog. Most weeks I work out at least an hour five times a week! And on top of all that I have lost 16 lbs in two and a half months!!!

Why then am I talking about plateaus? Well, because plateaus aren't always a complete lack of progress. Sometimes they work more like the concept of a the glass ceilings you hear about in corporate worlds. Sometimes your routine is moving you forward... and in a similar direction to where you originally decided that you wanted to go, but your internal GPS has to keep recalculating because you repeatedly miss your off ramp that gets you from the road you're on to the one that connects to your final destination.

The one you're on will get you close. It's not going in the opposite direction... but, if you keep traveling much longer you will have to backtrack in order to reach your goal.

A huge aspect of my fitness and weight loss goal has been to be able to use my body as a means of self expression. Sure being healthy, and feeling confident in my shape and level of strength is important... but when I set out on this path I determined that I wanted to dance. I wanted that outlet back in my life. I wanted to become proficient at a physical activity that doubled as an important aspect of my personality, not just a chore I performed solely to achieve a desired result.

So, not long after I began working out I bought a hula hoop and started hoopdancing. It took some practice until I felt comfortable dancing while keeping the hoop rotating around my waist but once I got it it was smooth sailing. From there I feel into the rut of using it as a check mark in the cardio box on my fitness to do list. I forgot about the fun of it, the challenge of it... and my goal to be able to learn all kinds of tricks and dance moves to round it out into a real artistic expression. I hooped on my waist and hips and left it at that... until today. Today I am bruised and tired and sore as all get out... but today I learned something that required a suspension of my disbelief. It was harder mentally than physically... and though it may seem silly, I can officially transition from waist to lasso and I am so, so excited about it!!

How have you challenged yourself lately? Did you recently break through a plateau of some kind? How did you push through? I'd love to hear your stories! It doesn't matter if they're fitness related, for example my husband beat his personal reading best and completed nearly 6 books in the month of November! Got to say I'm a little jealous of that one... no where near that level of commitment in my reading and I am SO proud of him!

---

Schizophrenic Style: A Girls Best Friend

   For some time now I have been contemplating on whether to include make-up looks as part of my Schizophrenic Style features since I wear it so infrequently and am by no means an expert. In debating back and forth with myself on the issue I finally came to the conclusion that it is in essence no different than any of the topics I write/post on in terms of my level of experience. I am not a fashion designer, stylist or working personal shopper (though that is one area I do have a little bit of background in) yet I post pictures of my outfits on occasion and write out excerpts on why they were particularly noteworthy to me. I am not an expert mother and many of my entries revolve around not only my reflections on the motherhood journey so far, but also my beliefs on parenting and raising children. I am not a musician and on rare occasion I share a video or audio track for your listening pleasure. 

   When it comes down to it, this is a place for all of the things that make up (no pun intended) me.... and, well... I love cosmetics. I love experimenting and learning by trial and error, watching tutorials online, getting tips and tricks from friends. Color is something that has always permeated my life in almost every area. Even during my goth phase back in high school (that truth be told, I miss dearly) I had to sneak in color somewhere. Usually bold, sometimes deep and saturated, and on the rare occasions a pastel or two... very, very rare occasions. It only makes sense that I would love make-up. It is after all, completely about color.

   So for my very first post on make-up I decided to showcase some of my current favorite products and share a few photos of the finished look instead of attempting to create a tutorial, as my methods are far from meticulous or detailed.

   This look was for date night with the huz. As part of his anniversary gift to me last month he gave me a coupon to re-do our first date, which was so fun to redeem. And I've got to say that although it wasn't entirely historically accurate (because theaters are no longer showing Team America World Police thank God), The Muppets movie was fantastic. Puppets are puppets right? Personally speaking, much better date movie anyway!

   Products Used in this Look:

• Make Up For Ever HD Foundation (115)
• Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion (original)
• Sugarpill pressed eyeshadow in Poison Plum from the Burning Heart Pallette
• Lime Crime magic dust in Medusa
• Fyrinnae loose shadow in Winter Again (as highlight / inner corner of eyes and dabbed on lips for dimension)
• Fyrinnae Glow Blush in Seduce
• Lime Crime lipstick in Chinchilla
• OCC (Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics) Lip Tar (clear)
• Maybelline NY Stiletto liquid liner
• NYC HD Volume mascara
• Fyrinnae Fluff (as finishing powder)

   The concealer I used is not worth mentioning, I've had it for years and am not at all happy with it's performance but haven't taken the time to find a good replacement (suggestions??) and though it looked good at the beginning of the night I do not recommend mixing the Lime Crime Lipstick with OCC lip tar, it helped add a bit of shine and worked great for adding the loose shadow, but after a short time the tar sabotaged the opacity of the lipstick (first picture vs. last for comparison sake). Best to keep separate in my opinion... still two of my favorite products on their own.

Any questions about application feel free to ask and I will do my best to explain what worked and didn't work for me.

---

Christmas Kickoff

   I have been contemplating, since well before Bastian was born, what Christmas traditions we would create  for our new family unit.... What unique to us customs we would take on as part of our shared history. Things our kids would look back on as essential parts of their holiday experience.

   Today we implemented the first of many. A new tradition starting this year that I like to call Christmas Kickoff. It is roughly based off of the St. Nicholas Day festivities celebrated in other countries and by a few families here and there in the U.S. The goal of our particular version of this celebration is to exchange gifts that are best enjoyed leading up to the holiday itself. Things ranging from Christmas movies and books to Santa socks, red and white reindeer clad pajamas, house decor, holiday themed treats and music. Things that when received on Christmas Day bring on that slight tinge of disappointment you can't help but feel knowing that they won't be fully enjoyed until next December.

   Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE getting and giving these kinds of gifts on the holiday itself, but why not add to the merriment by having some pre-festivity festivies?

   So today when Bastian woke up, after attempting to dispel his trepidation over the fact that we had moved around the furniture to make room for our tree, we then guided him to the front door where earlier he had hung up an empty bag.

Things were a little touch and go at first...

   ...But after the eye crusties and cranky 'just-woke-up' tears subsided, much fun was had. His bag contained three Veggietales DVD's all Christmas related of course, the classic Golden Book "The Christmas Story" and a pair of socks that he received as a gift last year that were too small to wear at the time. We also set out How the Grinch Stole Christmas for good measure since we were unpacking our many, many boxes of holiday paraphernalia.

   Once he realized that they were gifts for him he was pretty stoked. He hugged them, carried them around while making mischievous backwards glances at us, and even mimicked Daddy by saying "DA DA DA DA DA" every time he would quote the Cindy Lou line from the Jim Carrey flick "the, the, the... THE GRINCH!"

    It's been pretty amazing as a new parent transitioning into this stage where he is learning so rapidly, and interacting so much more. The spark of recognition in his eyes over silly everyday things like the suggestion that maybe he may like a banana is purely miraculous. I mean every person at one point in their life went from not recognizing the connection between a word and an object, to understanding... but witnessing it take place before your eyes, happening in the little body that you gave birth to?

   ...I am getting super sappy here. But, really, days like today are what life is all about. How can you not get even a little sappy about that?

Merry Christmas Kickoff to you and yours!

 

---

Schizophrenic Style: Pumpkin Minus the Muffin

This Thanksgiving I spent time with family, ate some tasty food, watched parts of the parade on TV, listened to some good music, and I wore shorts.

Shorts aren't normally on my list of things to wear outside of the June-July time of year when it becomes an absolute must... but these. Well these just screamed Thanksgiving to me... or at least autumn.

I found them recently at Forever 21, when stopping in looking for something else and I left with them instead. I had been (am) quickly running out of clothes that fit and even so was I quite shocked when the size small I grabbed off the table slipped right on in the fitting room.

It's been quite a journey and it's definitely not over... but I'd have to say I'm pretty excited by how far I've come. The morning of the 23rd I hopped on the scale for my weekly weigh-in only to discover that I had finally reached my first major goal. Beat it actually by half a pound!

I gained a lot at the end of my pregnancy with Bastian, and though I did lose a decent amount afterwords naturally (without trying) I hit a plateau pretty quickly, and stayed there for quite a long time. The little lifestyle changes I had been making did make a difference, but it really took an overhaul of my eating habits and major increase in my activity level before any noticeable change occurred.

Now? I am nearing a point where I may feel comfortable posting a before and after in the near future. Though I didn't document my "before" until I had already been on the journey for a while, and as such it won't display the full loss. It's still pretty darn exciting!

I feel stronger, and healthier and better able to enjoy my active little boy who insists on climbing everything in sight. I feel more comfortable in my own skin. Stretch marks and all. I am a mom. And I am fit!

---

The Fabric of Life

Photo by Bela Kalman

   Today we are preparing to attend our fourth annual Day Before Thanksgiving Chili Cookoff. It started off with just (somewhat) immediate family members of the band to which my mother belongs... and of course the band itself. As many things do it has grown over the years to include more of our extended family as well as some friends. It's one of those things that started not long after Jason and I became a serious couple and it has since grown into a great tradition that somehow signifies our transition into a family unit of our own. Each year since, it has reminded me that families grow and shift and form anew every day without so much as an announcement. No ceremony or pomp and circumstance... just bonds forming, people connecting, babies being born, couples moving from dating singles to interdependent people. A new creature. A new freedom, a new comfort, new dysfunction in some cases. But always, even as some bonds are severed, new ties are bound, new memories made. There is always room in a family. It is not a static thing that is created then kept the same.

   On this eve of Thanksgiving I am reminded of one of the most important things that I have to be thankful for, the connection and bonds of family, friends and people to which I can relate. Those I don't know, and may never know personally... the people I connect to in person and online. The ones with whom I share this thing called life. Because that's what life really is all about. At the core is relationship. With our creator, with our surroundings, with animals and objects... but also with other people.

---

My Gripe With Gratitude

Most days I don't think about the fact that having things like indoor pluming, heat, air conditioning, a refrigerator, freezer, stove, microwave, my own car, a cell phone, internet, and thousands of other things that may be even less obvious, are not merely conveniences that I am lucky to have because so many in today's world don't... but also because in terms of time these things have only been available at all for what wouldn't even constitute as a blip on the radar. And yet, I was born into a time and place where most of these are considered a given.

I admit, a lot of this "today I am thankful for fill in the blank" social media status updates rub me the wrong way. Not because I am in any way against giving thanks... but because it is so very unnatural to me that it seems that it just must be insincere. Even when I know the person well and know that what they are saying is truthful, I still get that twinge. Because it points me back to my own heart as a reference, before I have a chance to guard it, and then there I sit forced to face the cold hard reality that, while I try, I am not currently a thankful person. Not automatically anyways. The opposite is too far ingrained. It takes a lot of intentional thought to be thankful, and habit forming is hard work... especially thought habits. Heart habits.

I do believe that thankfulness is a habit. Gratitude is a muscle. Not a physical one obviously, but it works in much the same way. My gratitude muscle is currently weak, but like all muscles it has latent potential. Every day that I use it it becomes stronger. Each day this month I have become less annoyed by the posts. My heart is warming up. Becoming more open, willing to see things as a blessing, less cynical and more... well, thankful.

So I wanted to thank you. All of you who have been sharing your grateful spirit with me without even knowing it. Today I am thankful for you.

---

Under My Skin

   So it turns out that piercings can move! If your body decides that it's not a fan of the jewelry (size, shape, material) the placement, or even the simple fact that there is suddenly a foreign object trying to make a new home amidst your flesh. It may also be a mind over matter situation like many other things in life tend to be. Honestly, I'm pretty convinced it's the later despite many logical arguments in support of basic body functions sabotaging my previously mentioned new nose piercing.

   The thing is that from the beginning I was not sold on the placement, and ever since things have been happening that pushed me toward the decision of cutting my losses and starting over. First there was the keloid, then two days after I had the jewelry changed it got dislodged in my sleep and began to close up on me, then... well, it started to move. It began slowly, and almost unnoticeably creeping even farther away from where I would have originally wanted it to sit. Further down towards the edge of my nostril. This went on until, to me at least, it looked like I was wearing a clip on ring that was falling off.

   Still I sat wishy washy about voicing my concerns, and possibly inconveniencing someone to help me fix what I knew was really only a problem to me. Asking myself  "Am I crazy?" "Is is really moving?" "Will the piercer look at me like I'm an idiot for coming in this long after the fact asking for a placement correction?". Then it nearly got ripped out of my face by a silly accident on my part (that involved a decorative pillow and a dramatic collapse onto the couch in exasperation). That was it! I was tired of being secretly unsatisfied with something that was supposed to be a personal reward. I was tired of being self conscious about something I got for the sole reason of it being aesthetically pleasing. It was time to get out of my comfort zone and voice my concern.

   Not just voice my concern, flat out admit that I was unhappy with a service I received, and ask for it to be rectified. This does not seem like a big deal to most people. It probably shouldn't be a big deal... but this is coming from the woman who would rather take her chances puking or peeing herself than to politely ask if I could cut in line for the bathroom when I was 8 months pregnant. The same woman who when asked by the stylist "What do you think?" at the salon she just shelled out $130 for service at, said "It looks great!" even though she asked for fire engine red and got brassy orange. The one who winces whenever anyone she is with lets on in any small way that they are unhappy with the service they are receiving, no matter how insanely polite they were about it or how horrifyingly bad the experience actually was.

So yes, definitely outside my box.

   But also, so very, very worth it! I now have a piercing I am pretty darn happy with and I was pleasantly surprised how willing to help the piercer was as well as how unoffended he was by my being honest about my dissatisfaction. In fact he came right out and said that he would rather do it all over again and have me happy with it that have me just put up with something I was less than keen on.

   So there you have it. It may be an insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things, a silly little nose piercing, but I find these little experiences to be symbolic. What are big things made up of, except for all those little, tiny, seemingly unimportant things?

Here is the end result, one little change has made a big difference for me:

What? That's the best picture I've got!

---

A Boy's First Room

Well here we are four, maybe five... has it really be five months?? I guess so! ...Five months after moving into our first house, and not a single room is "finished" yet. Honestly this doesn't surprise me in the slightest. While I love decorating, it is not top on my life's priority list right now.

There is one room though that is closer to being done than all the rest. The room that is a symbol of the biggest reason we moved in the first place. My son's room. His very first room. I had been dreaming about what his room would look like even before he was conceived... truth be told LONG before he was conceived. I had folders on my home PC, my work PC, endless emails sent to myself with file after file, picture after picture depicting options, themes, tiny details and basic color schemes for the room my one-day baby would live in. Lots, and lots of pictures!

Funny for a girl who once, angrily, informed her mother that she would never be having kids! She would never bring a child into this world!


She must have been extremely self-deceived, because let me tell you you are reading the blog of a baby-crazed fanatic who is completely obsessed with all things baby related... you know except for dirty diapers, feedings of any kind, and lack of sleep... but that is for another day.


Today is the day that she is finally sharing nursery pictures of her own. Though it's not so much a nursery as a little boy's room. What is the difference anyways?

Right! Pictures! Have a peek:

Owl prints are from Parada Creations 

Bedding, curtains, mini fan, mirror, diaper changing pad cover - Target

Hanging toy cubby - Ikea

Crib - Thrifted (and lovingly stripped and repainted by my mother) 

Bunting - Handmade by my sister

Yarn Monogram "B" - Handmade by myself, tutorial soon.

Anything you see that is not notated above was likely a gift or thrifted... feel free to ask if you're curious about something in particular!

---