Colorful Baby Shower

Last month was my baby shower!!! And of course little creative me planned the whole thing. I know, I know, I'm NOT SUPPOSED TO plan my own shower. But I really really wanted to make the invitations and do the decorations and deserts.

We officially said that my mom and mother in law threw it for me, because we had it at moms house in California, and Mitch's mom {Connie} made all the yummy Mexican food {I REALLY wanted Mexican food, and it was DELICIOUS!}

So this post is going to be all about the colorful and fun stuff I did for the shower.... the pictures of me opening presents, guests, and other fun shower pics will come later!

Here is the invitation!!!

Notice that I used fabric that matches my crib skirt??? I really like that fabric! :o)


I made guest packets for everyone! They included a predictions page, "finish the nursery rhyme" game, an envelope for guests to self address, a pen, and a mini scrapbook paper covered clothespin for the "don't say baby" game.


Here is a closeup of the "predictions" page. Everyone wrote a little message to our family in the 3 circles, and filled out their guesses. Each guest had a different color page in their packet, and I'm going to put them all in a mini album.

I think it will be fun to see who came the closet to guessing correctly, and it will make a wonderful keepsake!


Here's a bunch of the decorations!!!

These bottles were gifts for my guests.

I saved a bunch of Mitch's Newcastle beer bottles. removed the labels, soaked them for several hours and got them REALLY clean. Then I spray painted the bottlecaps turquoise blue. I made cute little labels for them, and after running them through my xyron machine, I stuck them to the bottles, and filled them with Skittles.

They each have one BIG bag of Skittles in them. Yes, I know, that is A LOT of Skittles!!! Everyone loved them though! :o)

I made 20 tissue paper pompoms. I love these things!!!


The rest of the pictures are of YUMMY deserts!!!

I made the cupcake wrappers, and toppers. And I showed my little sister Danetta how to make the marshmallow pops, and she did those for me!! Oh and of course this super Easy Lemon Cream Pie!!! MMMM.

Anyways, that's everything!!! I had fun planning it all, and had a blast spending time with my family and friends!

35 Weeks!

Today I am 35 weeks pregnant!!!

That means I have only 5 more weeks until my due date.

That is barely over a month. Yeah, I'm having an oh my goodness, heart racing, totally freaking out moment!

He could come as soon as right now, to at the MOST 7 weeks from now. I've been wrapped up in absolutely nothing but shopping for him the past 2 days. My list of things I need is getting shorter and shorter.

I am sooooooo beyond excited. Me and Mitch have been through so much pain and loss trying to bring this child into the world, and it seems unreal that in a few short weeks we will finally be parents. I really don't think it's gonna sink in until he is in our arms.

My house has become overrun with baby stuff, in every room. But it's just stuff. The baby is still inside my belly. Kicking, pushing, hiccuping, squirming around. Making sure his poor mommy {that'd be meeeeeee} is inflicted with every possible uncomfortable, sometimes painful, and occasionally yucky pregnancy symptom imaginable. Seriously! But you know what? It's all worth it. I cried the other day thinking about how worth it it really is.

We are taking a 6 week childbirth education class. And last week {week 2} we had to bring along something to use as a focal point during our breathing exercises.

I stressed out the whole week over what I was gonna bring. You really have to understand, I am the kinda person that analyzes every little detail. Everything has to have a story, has to have meaning, has to be perfect. Ordinary won't do. I like handmade, custom, personalized, unique... the list goes on and on.

Everything I thought of bringing was immediately shot down by myself, of course. It was all unmeaningful. How were those items going to help me during my labor??? Then I realized what would help me.

Remembering that it is worth it. Not forgetting that it is my little Riley that will be causing all the labor pain. That sounds kinda bad, but I have been through a lot of pain, both physical and emotional with my miscarriages. And I remember thinking as I was crying and screaming into the pillow, trying not to wake Mitch up, that it was all for nothing. It was hours of excruciating pain, and what I had when it was all over, wasn't a baby, it was nothing. The pain and emptiness I felt was unlike anything I have ever experienced before.

I took months to heal. My second miscarriage wasn't nearly as hard as my first. It was very early, only a week after I had found out I was expecting again. But it made me feel twice as hopeless. Was I ever going to be a mommy?? It really didn't feel like it, and nobody in my life understood. They couldn't. The only ones who I could talk to were the few bloggy friends who were going through the same thing. It was hard.

Do you get what I meant now, when I said that Riley will be causing me all the pain? It is a good thing, because focusing on that fact, remembering that I have been through similar pain, that was all for nothing, and that this time I will have him {my little boy} when it is all over. Instead of feeling empty and hopeless, I will be full of more love than I can even imagine.

I made a necklace after my first miscarriage. It has a tag with my due date, and a butterfly with the birthstone from that month in it. It is my way of remembering my first child that I never got a chance to hold, but that I loved very much.




That necklace and a framed ultrasound picture of little Riley are my focal point items. They represent everything I just wrote here. They help me remember that it is all worth it. That I can handle whatever pain that comes, now and later. Because it's all for him. I love him so much.

$1.00 Shelf Makeover

While Mitch and myself were out yardsaling one Sunday morning a couple months back, we ran across this shelf that I really liked. There was nobody outside to help us, and nothing was priced. Frustrated, we left. But I whined and whined about how I really liked the circle shelf, and thought it would look cute in Riley's room {after some altering of course.}

So, Mitch turned around, went and knocked at the door, and got the son to come out and help him. I told Mitch not to spend more than $10 for the thing, and a few minutes later, he was hauling it to our car, after having paid only $1.00 for it!

I was quite happy. Mitch was annoyed that we had another "piece of junk" that I was "planning" to re-do.

I didn't get to it right away like I planned. But over the past few months I {or sometimes we} have refinished every piece of furniture I have bought for that purpose.

Now Mitch finally not only has faith in my ability to finish a furniture project, but he is also impressed with the results, and is more willing to let me shop for future projects!!! YAY!

Wanna see my shelf before and after??

WaaaLaaaaa!

And here is a closer BEFORE....



And AFTER...



I took the whole thing apart and sanded it down pretty good.

Then I spray primed all the pieces once, followed by two coats of Rust-Oleum Green Apple.

The tops were really water damaged.... and since the circle pieces are all laminate, the water damage created raised bubbly areas, and there was NO WAY I was spending that much sanding time in the hope of creating a smooth surface.

So I did the next best thing {which turned out to be a better idea than painting the whole thing} MOD PODGE!!!

I wanted to use products I had at home already. So I found some pale yellow fabric. And used the regular Matte Mod Podge to glue it on.

But I didn't like just the plain yellow with the green, it was kinda boring, and actually looked a bit dirty. So after brainstorming FOREVER, I cut out circles from some orange paper I had.

I arranged them in a way I liked, and Mod Podged them over the fabric. After I finished one shelf, I was VERY happy with the results. So I cut out enough circles for the whole thing... 19 for each shelf, 5 shelves total, that's 95 orange circles I glued on. NINETY FIVE!!!! WAY more work than I planned on doing. And I coulda got the same effect from polka dot fabric, if I'd taken the time to search for some I liked. But I saved money this way, and in the end it was worth it!

I went through an entire bottle of Mod Podge. I believe each shelf got 4 coats. Then I applied 2 coats of Plaid Patricia Nimocks Clear Acrylic Sealer in Gloss.

After it was dry, I put it back together, and smiled lots, because I LOVE the final results!!! It looks awesome in Riley's room, and now I have a spot to put my water, that's within reaching distance from my chair. Which will really come in handy for the hours I'm gonna spend nursing and stuff in the very near future {about 6 more weeks!}

Here's one more picture before I go! :o)



Hope you like my $1.00 shelf re-do!!