I recently made two 2T peasant dresses for a couple of teachers at Sophia’s school. I modified the pattern by Prudent Baby just a touch, but it’s a great guide – and they have a great tutorial.   These dresses have short sleeves (different lengths) and pockets.  Sophia loves pockets, so I figured other girls would too! One dress is in flannel and the other in woven cotton.

I can’t wait to see more little girls in fun dresses~

I carved out a little nook in our bedroom for Jon – so he could have a space to call his own.  He can use the airstream as an office if the noise level in the house gets too loud, but this way he has a space just for him, inside the house. I think we may put a shelf up above the desk for him to store papers and whatnot. I know we need to install shelves on my side of the room above my dresser for all my random hats & scarves that will be coming out of the baby’s room.

In with the baby stuff… I’m thinking of leaving the twin bed in the room. Mostly because I don’t know where to store it and it’s nice to have a guest bed ready-made.  Or a place for a tired Momma to collapse after middle-of-the-night feedings.  Panda agrees – he likes the bed in this room.

I was going to paint the changing table. But after sanding the dresser (it took two hours of work!), I’m still exhausted, days later. I’ve decided to just change out the fabric on the foam pad instead of more sanding & painting.  Thanks for the dresser Mom & Dad!

Now to look for nobs!!!

Where we’re going to store Jon’s old desk is unknown. It’s too small to use as a dining room table…and I don’t think we want to get rid of it (well, Jon doesn’t).

Speaking of fabrics, I found a couple of nice fabrics – but am not sure what to use them for. I was thinking I might make some curtains out of this fabric -

But – does it clash with the rug?  I really like the addition of the yellow in the fabric. Sunny and cheerful. Then again, simple white curtains would be lovely. I love birds…again. Not sure why both baby rooms have bird themes…

Instead of painting the changing table, I’ll use this yellow flannel for the foam pad cover. When leads me to think I will use the bird fabric for curtains…when means I need to go get more quick while it’s on sale!

This cotton flannel is destined to become a receiving blanket – as AMH suggested, using cotton voile and cotton flannel.

Scrumptious! I made a test blanket – using some leftover AMH cotton voile from my stash and some blue flannel from SAS.

Simple. Lovely. Perfection.  I adore it.  So much that I’m making a couple as gifts for friends who are expecting their little girl any day now. I’d really like to make one using these fabrics by AMH – but don’t feel like spending money on this when there is more stuff to pick up or find for baby right now…but I may be tempted to. I just love the colors!!

Can you tell I don’t decorate according to what sex the baby is? Yes, we’re not finding out – something I actually struggled with a bit this time. Not because I wanted to know for decorating purposes, but simple because I think we’re having X, which means we’re having Y…or are we???  I cannot figure it out. This pregnancy has been so different – it leads me to believe we may have a different result this time…or maybe not! Guess we’ll find out in late April for sure!

It was short weekend – Jon had to leave Sunday afternoon for a fieldwork scouting trip in Nevada. We made the most of it, exhausted from the week, but determined to have some fun family time. What could be better than roasting smores using my new smores forks in the fire pit made by my Dad?  How about eating the smores? Or maybe playing “chase Daddy…or Lucy”?  Or getting a full night of sleep! All of the above!

{this moment} – A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

After the most recent week or so of little sleep, I broke down and called her doctor to see if there was something I could put in her milk (like rice cereal) to help fill her up to get her sleeping through the night again. Our doctor listened to the long story of everything we were doing, asked a few questions about our weekend routine, and told me that Sophia had just developed some poor nighttime sleep habits.  We were going to have to use some tough love tactics to get her to to understand that nighttime was for sleeping, not milk-drinking, playing, or anything else.

Oh.

If I had enough sleep, I would realized this myself. We were training her to keep waking up, asking for milk.  Sound familiar??? When she’d wake up at night, we’d rush in, try to sooth her, and get her back to sleep…because we were so exhausted, all we wanted at that moment was to get back to sleep ourselves.   Pregnant momma does need sleep, but in the end, we have only ourselves to blame for the latest sleep misstep.

So, we instituted “operation tough love” (again) last night. After our usual routine (and a pre-bedtime snack of berries!), we put Sophia to bed. No going in to her room, unless she opens the door to come out. Which happened about twenty minutes in… She can read her books, turn on the light, whatever, as long as she stays in her room.  After putting her back in bed and watching her fall asleep a half-hour later, I thought we might have a chance for a full night of sleep! Fingers crossed!

Sophia did, in fact, sleep all night and woke up howling at 6 am.  I do mean howling…for milk. We did not go in to soothe her, since it was not time to get up just yet. After she opened the door to come to us, I told her it was still sleepy time and that she could go back to her bed or cuddle with us. She elected to throw herself down on the floor and howl some more. Jon put her in her bed and shut the door. Ten minutes later, she was back to sleep… We stayed in bed a bit longer and then go up. Sophia heard me in the bathroom and realized it was time to get up(she came running out – telling me – momma, time to get up!)

I thinking about getting Sophia an alarm clock to help her understand when she can get up – something like this clock.  It’s a little pricey…has anyone used something similar? I think she’s not ready for a real clock yet…

I’m hoping we can retrain her relatively quickly. Last night was a pretty good night. Here’s hoping this pregnant momma can get some sleep…before the next baby comes and is up all night!

Other books that are rather popular right now are Princess Peepers, Goldilocks and the Three Bears (by Lauren Childs), and an assortment Elmo & Abby books  – all borrowed from the library. What your book routine?

winter sunrise

{this moment} – A Friday ritual inspired by Soule Mama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Last night they made cinnamon & sugar butter popcorn. After it was ready, we bundled out and ventured outside in the cold. Jon and Sophia ran laps around the yard (what can I say, we’re trying to tire her out!), tickled Momma, and ate popcorn. Momma read the last of her book, cuddled beneath two blankets. It was a perfect winter evening.

taking lucy the dog to the beach at night was a blast!

running from the waves

a foggy afternoon

the sunsets were worth the foggy days...

campfires, smores, and sand...what more do you need?

sand angels

just so you can see how big this belly is getting - i haven't been sick since Christmas!

Sophia just loves the ocean…we can’t wait to go back again soon! Maybe spring break in March before the baby comes in April…