Emery Jane

Emery Jane is here! She was born December 2nd at 6:35pm. I am very late at posting this birth announcement (since she's three months old now) because "two kids."

She is the most perfect baby. So sweet and cuddly, hardly cries, and has just started smiling and laughing a lot. Someday I'll share her birth story here, but it is the least dramatic story ever. Really it could not have been easier, or faster.

Nora loves her. We are so lucky that she has bonded with her so quickly. She has been so great about sharing our time with the new baby.

Speaking of Nora, she is going to be THREE next month! Where has the time gone? I have tons of photos to post from the last few months that I have taken off from blogging. For now, enjoy these few tiny newborn photos.

 

 

Pregnancy Update: I'm Exhausted But Enjoying This

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with Baby #2. Since we passed the halfway point, I thought it might be nice to record an update of how things are going. This pregnancy is much different than my first. Nora was a surprise but this baby was mostly planned. I say mostly because we knew we wanted our kids close in age, but I don't think Madison or I were expecting to get pregnant so quickly. 

Overall, I feel a lot better than I did last time. Of course, there is still the general aches and pains, but they aren't as bad as I remember them being last time. I have more energy and can come home from work and be awake the whole evening without falling asleep on the couch. Now that might be partly due to the fact that I still need to take care of Nora, so who's to say I wouldn't be napping more if she wasn't constantly asking for milk or crayons. 

When I got pregnant with Nora, I was fresh out of college and living on my own with my boyfriend for the first time without roommates, so I was still pretty immature at that point. There's no denying that I took full advantage of pregnancy and ate horribly. That contributed to my weight gain and hypertension, which eventually lead to me being induced early to make sure Nora was healthy. This time I'm trying to prevent that by eating healthier, or trying to at least. I did buy myself a jar of cookie butter at Trader Joe's this weekend so I'm not going too crazy. At this point I have gained less weight than when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Nora which has alleviated a lot of stress. 

Speaking of stress, I feel a lot less of it. I've done this before so I know what we're getting ourselves into. We still have a lot of Nora's baby things, so we aren't starting from scratch. Nora is already sleeping in her big girl bed so there is a crib ready and waiting to be filled with a sleepy newborn. 

At my last visit my doctor asked how this pregnancy was compared to my last one. I told him it was going better than the last and he was surprised by that. Apparently a lot of women feel that their second pregnancy is more difficult, especially because they are taking care of another child at that point. I suppose I should consider myself lucky. That's not to say that it has been a piece of cake. My back is killing me and I have heartburn almost every night, but I feel like I can enjoy this pregnancy more and just can't wait to have a new little baby to snuggle. 

All in all, I feel really good. I know things are going to be difficult once the baby comes and we readjust to life as a family of four, but I cannot wait for that day to come. I know we're up to the challenge. 

Shop Love: Ellie Baby

Via

Now that I have your attention with that adorable baby, I have a new Etsy shop to send some love to. The image above is from Ellie Baby, a baby accessory shop I recently discovered, and am currently loving. 

When Nora was still using pacifiers, we would always struggle with keeping them clean because she would use them for a little while and then spit them on the floor. I wanted to avoid that situation with baby #2 and have been looking for some cute pacifier clips so that her pacifier is always clean and within reach. Etsy is my go-to site for cute baby products, and when I found this shop, they had the perfect item for me: braided leather pacifier clips. These are considerably less bulky than your traditional fabric pacifier clip, plus they are a lot cute. I decided to order a light pink one for our new little lady, and added a tiny leather bow headband to my order as well.

Pacifier Clip // Headband

How cute is this set?! I'm obsessed. The quality of the products is great, and they are just beyond adorable. I ordered the pacifier clip because it seems very useful, the fact that it is also so precious and matches this bow is a major bonus.

I reached out to the shop owner, Rachel, with a special request and she was very quick to respond and super helpful. She shipped the products out to me quickly and they arrived only 2 days after I received my shipping notification. The baby may not be here yet but I am still antsy to get all of her things put away, so fast shipping is always a plus. The packaging is super cute as well, and Rachel included a hand written note on the packing slip. Little touches like that are why I love ordering from small shops. You get a personal experience that you can't get from shopping at big box stores. I love that I can interact with the person who made the product I am going to use. 

This type of pacifier clip works with any pacifier, as long as it has a hole for the end to loop through. Nora was particular to the Philips Avent pacifiers, so I picked up a few for the new baby. Hopefully she likes them too! The bow is on a headband made of very soft and stretchy nylon. There is also an option to have it attached to an alligator clip, which is perfect for older girls. 

Via

The headbands obviously look super cute on. I'm planning on using the one I got in some of our newborn photos. I think it'll be the perfect accessory to add some personality without being overwhelming.

If you're in the market for cute baby accessories, go check out Ellie Baby on Etsy. I'm so pleased with my experience and can't wait to order again. I have my eye on the gold leather bow headband next. Let me know what your favorite item is!

A Blanket for Baby #2: Easiest Patchwork Baby Blanket

I finished by first project for baby #2. It is a simple patchwork blanket with a flannel backing. I made a bunch of these for Nora before she was born. They were the perfect size for tummy time, and I have so many pictures of her laying on these before she could crawl. 

I didn't make anything super girly for Nora, so I definitely wanted to sew msomething pink for the new baby. I used Ann Kelle Girlfriends in blue Mermaids and blue and pink dot remix, plus some old fabrics I had in my stash (which should make my husband happy). The finished size of the blanket is 36" x 36", which makes it a great little blanket to have on hand, as well as a quick project to finish.  

Supplies

1/3 yard of 6 different fabrics

1 yard backing fabric (I used flannel)

coordination thread

scissors

pins

cutting mat

acrylic ruler

rotary cutter

Step One: Cut your fabric to size. You will need 6 6.5" squares of each of your 6 fabrics, so 36 squares total.   

I chose my fabrics based off the Ann Kelle mermaids fabric. I pulled colors for that, and played with scale for each of my accent fabrics. The pink and blue polka dot fabrics are a medium scale, the scallop fabric (which I thought looked a little like scales) is a larger print, and the white on white dot, along with the yellow stripe are very small, subtle patterns. Varying scale in your design will help to prevent the entire piece from looking too visually cluttered. 

Step Two: Lay your squares out and decide on placement. To help my blanket feel "random" I made sure that the same fabric wasn't represented more than once in any given column or row, which is effectively not random at all. Patchwork is funny like that. 

Step Three: Forget to take any more pictures! I was in the zone. 

Step Four: Sew each row together with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. To keep from getting confused, it helps to have a photo of the finish layout so you can reference it as your are sewing. I chose to also write the row numbers on post it notes and pin them to the first square in each row. Iron your seam allowances flat.

Step Five: Once each row is complete, sew the rows to each other with a 1/4 inch seam allowance. I stared with row one, and sewed each consecutive row to the bottom. I know some people choose to sew two rows together, then combine them. Use which ever makes the most sense for you. Pay close attention to match seams. My seams are 100% matched up, but they are pretty close which is fine for me. Part of the beauty of handmade items is that it is not perfect, and you can tell that someone put time and effort into making it. Once all of your rows are together, iron the seams flat.

Step Six: Cut your backing fabric into a 36" x 36" square. Place your patchwork top over your backing fabric with right sides together. Pin all the way around, leaving a 6" opening on one side. 

Step Seven: Sew all the way around the blanket, skipping the 6" opening.

Step Eight: Turn the blanket inside out, pushing the corners out, and iron the sides flat. 

Step Nine: Top stitch 1/4 inch all the way around your blanket. This will enclose your opening. If you want to go to ensure that you closed your opening, go back and use a blind stitch to completely finish it off.

And you're done! 

This blanket is for the new baby, but since her crib is in pieces in our room I laid it out on Nora's new bed so you can see the finished product. 

I love the colors used in this blanket. It is definitely a girly blanket but its not overwhelmingly pink.

I chose to use a light blue flannel for the back of this blanket. It doesn't match completely, but it goes nicely with the colors and I had a left over piece that was just big enough for this project. Again, making the husband happy that I didn't buy something new. 

I showed Nora the blanket and she loved it!

So much so, that when I told her it wasn't for her she got really upset and started to cry. 

I was forced to pull the blanket that I made for her out of closet so she didn't think I was neglecting her. Poor baby. Luckily she liked hers just as much.

What do you think of this quick patchwork blanket? I think this makes a perfect gift for a new baby. Let me know if you try this out!

10 Ways to Decide to Have Another Baby as Young Parents

Vicki Francis Photography

Madison and I have been talking about having babies since we got engaged. We never planned on having children so young, at least I know I didn't. Nora's arrival into our lives came as a shock. I had just graduated college and started my first "grown up job" and all of a sudden here was this exciting and terrifying new adventure right in front of us. 

Although we weren't necessarily ready for Nora when we first found out that I was pregnant, we did everything we could to make sure we were fully prepared for her entrance into the world. Madison and I essentially sprung into action, making sure we had good jobs, a new place to live, and all the baby essentials. I suppose having a baby at 23 isn't so young, but it is definitely younger than I ever planned to have kids. Regardless, it has been the best thing that's ever happened to me. And now, we're doing it all over again! Here we go...

10 Ways to Decide to Have Another Baby as Young Parents:

1.) Do you like your current child? - Yes! She is great. We may be entering the terrible twos, but when she is not slapping me in the face or putting yogurt in her hair, she's fabulous.

2.) Are you ready for the lack of sleep? - Sleep training, what's that? Nora sleeps through the night about half the time so we are prepared to just stop sleeping all together.

3.) Do you have the space? - No! But we can totally be roommates with the new baby if we can't find an affordable 3 bedroom apartment in the Boston Metro West area (seemingly impossible). It actually might make those night time feedings a little easier.

4.) Do you have the money? - This goes under the "we'll make it work" category. Maybe I should start eating the lunches I bring to work, instead of making Madison buy me sides of mac and cheese and filling up on that. 

5.) Do you have the time? - We will make the time! I am fully committed to pushing my bedtime back to 10:30 if I need to. 

6.) Are you ready for 2+ more years of diapering? - ......fine. If we have to. Let's get this first one potty trained so we aren't on double diaper duty. 

7.) Does your current child like to snuggle? - Only her dad! Mommy needs snuggle time too. Bring on the newborn cuddles. 

8.) Does your current child like babies? - Absolutely. She also likes to pretend to be the mommy and puts me to sleep and rubs my back (my favorite game), so I know she will be loving and tender with a new baby. 

9.) Are you prepared for a long life of being parents? - Yes. This is that fact about being young parents that I love the most. We will be able to spend so many goods years with our children. It will be nice to be in the middle of our life when our kids graduate college rather than planning for retirement, or what type of tree we want our ashes to grow into. 

10.) Do you want another baby? - Of course! This is kind of the most important one. I have always wanted a big family, but right now a family of four sounds pretty good. 


What do you think? How old were you when you had your children? Do you think this handy checklist could be useful when planning for your next child? Let me know your thoughts on young parenthood in the comments below.

Baby #2!

There's going to be a baby! Madison and I recently got the wonderful news that we are going to become a family of 4 this Fall. We are beyond thrilled to be growing our family, and Nora is so excited to be a big sister! 

Madison and I want our children to be fairly close in age, so this timing feels perfect. Nora will be just under 3 years old when the baby arrives, which we think is a good age difference. She is currently in the "little mommy stage" where she likes to take care of her baby dolls by feeding and rocking them to sleep, so it will be very exciting to see how she acts with a real baby in the house. We both think she is going to be a wonderful big sister. 

Almost as soon as we found out, I asked Madison if I could make an "irrational purchase" and ordered these adorable matching sister bear and baby bear shirts from maisonwares on Etsy. These shirts have been saved in my Etsy favorites for months, ever since we started talking about having another baby. They are so cute and such great quality. I can't wait for Nora and the baby be able to wear them at the same time! That willl be about a year from now, so I suppose I can be patient. 

I'm am now even more excited to have this space, because I started this blog after Nora was born. It will be so fun to blog during this pregnancy so I can share the process of preparing the nursery, packing the hospital bag, and getting Nora ready to be a big sister. I hope you're as excited as we are to start this brand new journey of becoming a family of four!