a few weeks back, i wrote this post and promised a more detailed one here soon. well, here we are. and while i thought ty would be the photographer for this post it was actually yours truly. as i've mentioned, this room was so much fun to do and came out oh so much better than i could have expected. and i am sure those closest to me are also amazed at the execution. for the sake of wyatt's baby book, let's dive in a little deeper than before.

i love this angle of his room. i am actually backed into a corner i never go into because there's a toy bin pretty much digging into my toes as i was taking this shot. by far my most favorite wall in the room is this one - and i think it's wyatt's favorite too. these letters are my pride and joy. i know i talked a little bit about where i got them and the fun i had painting them with annie - but i wanted to talk a little bit more about the project itself. they came unpainted and are made of a super high quality wood. they were actually really beautiful unpainted. i even debated not painting some of them because the wood was so pretty and kind of went with our beachy theme as is. i took the advice of the woman i bought the letters from and painted them with americana acrylic paint and lowe-cornell brushes. i knew i wanted the colors of his room to be teal (obviously), yellow, red, navy and orange. those just seemed like beachy colors so i went onto www.hofcraft.com and bought the paints. i'm sure you can get the paints and brushes any where (i.e. michaels). i bought way too much paint. you probably only need 15 2oz. bottles. i bought more white than the actual colors because i knew i'd be using a lot of it. once they dried, ty sprayed them with americana matte sealer spray so they wouldn't fade - and so far so good. and i have to point out the cute pom-pom blanket hanging on the crib - a gift from lindsay jane. it's made by karma living and it's such a fun detail in the room. love it.

as i mentioned in my previous post, the dresser was bought at www.cymax.com. we wanted a dresser that stood out and could be a focal point of the room. i really wanted to refurbish an old dresser but that just didn't work out. we did buy a garage sale dresser for cheap and we were pretty excited about sanding it and dyeing it. and by we, i obviously mean ty. i was excited for the finished product, but definitely not the process. once ty started it - we realized that while finding a cheap dresser at a garage sale has it's benefits, it just wasn't going to be right for our boy's room. as ty started sanding it he felt like he was widdleing away at it stroke by stroke, and since we needed the dresser to also be a changing table, it just wasn't safe enough. so annie actually found this one for us online. it's obviously super cute, and like i said before, definitely not like the garage sale dresser, but not as high quality as i had hoped. the color is perfect, and the drawers are large and fit a ton of clothes. when it finally arrived (that's another story) one of the drawers was off kilter and ty basically had no choice but to fix it because when they delivered it they basically made him sign his rights away in order for them to leave it with us. it was totally boxed up so there would have been no way for ty to know something was wrong with the drawer. so piece of advice - cute dresser, but if you order off cymax expect a serious delay and ask to open your product before you sign the receipt.

the "welcome to the beach" sign above the door came from a cute shop with a mix of old and new goodies in downtown snohomish. again, we wanted a beachy theme - but just hints of it here and there. so we thought this little number would be perfect. i actually just remembered we bought cute dried starfish there and i have no idea where they are now. damn pregnancy / new mama brain... maybe i will find them and stick them in here somewhere! i think i spoke to the lamp being from land of nod and the cute little w being a gift from annie in my previous post. that dang w makes the dresser for sure.

what about the little jeans you ask? well, ty bought these at nordies a few weeks back. they are the cutest freaking things you'll ever see. i can't wait for them to fit wyatt.

this corner of the room looks at the alphabet wall and the crib and basically has the best view in the room. so let's talk about this chair. not my fave. it's the charleston rocker from pottery barn kids and while it looks really cute and can easily convert into a normal 4 legged chair, it's soooooo not cozy. such a bummer, and totally my fault. you can't just order a chair online without trying it out. and you can't totally count on the floor model because it's so worn in from the numerous booties that test it out on an hourly basis. it slides around the carpet and is so annoying to breastfeed in. it's kind of narrow so having a long baby makes it tricky and uncomfortable. lesson learned. (it's a lesson i learn and re-learn every night when i breastfeed wyatt on the floor in there.) the stool was a gift from my friend jodi. it's seriously the cutest thing. it's his name and the letters are puzzle pieces. such a great gift idea and we'll be using it a lot! especially as he gets older - i can see him standing on it to wash his hands and brush his teeth. you can check them out here.

here's a closer look at the stool and the cute book shelf from lindsay. she got the shelf at a place called good juju in KC. they refurbish old furniture and sell it in there little shop one weekend a month. annie made the cute block letters so maybe i'll have her do a guest DIY post on how she made them! i obviously love them and i know that wyatt will too as he gets older.

the wall clips have a few of my favorite cards from my friends, along with two of my shower invites. both of which were ordered at www.minted.com. cute huh?

this little music box was another gift from lindsay and i couldn't be more in love with it. not only is it super cute, but it plays "hush little baby" and wyatt lights up every time i turn the crank. he waits for it to start playing and gets an instant smile the second he hears it. it's made by tree by kerri lee and she makes them to order. seriously adorable. the turtle you see there is actually a night light and it's shell illuminates stars on the ceiling and wall. we have both the turtle (a gift from my cousin, james and his wife, melanie), and the lady bug, which is in our room (which we got from my dad and linda). they are super cute and let off just the right amount of light - and another great gift that wyatt will love for years to come.

another favorite in wyatt's room is the surf board rug below his crib. i found this rug on www.hautelook.com (seriously, if you aren't getting daily emails from them yet, hop on the bandwagon already!) for a steal of a deal. i mean, like 80% off or something like that. the rug is made by the rug market and was just a lucky find really. the thought behind the striped crib sheet comes from the whole beach towel concept. annie found these as well. she was able to find these online when i couldn't (i swear i forgot how to do a simple google search when i was pregnant, so annie became my search engine). aren't they perfect?! and the flags were made by annie as well - part of the decoration for my girlfriend shower back in august. i kept these up around my house until well after wyatt was born because i loved them so much. the crib is the kendell crib from pottery barn kids. it's a simple crib that isn't an arm and a leg. i'll take it.

wyatt's mobile was a very last minute purchase. i wasn't sure what i wanted to do there, or if i wanted to do anything at all. i just wasn't bought it that it would actually be something the babe would even enjoy. boy, was i wrong. this mobile is definitely one of wyatt's favorite things. we spend quite a bit of time playing in his room and in his crib. he began focusing on these little chevron striped airplanes pretty early on. i originally saw this mobile on my favorite nursery blog and then bought it at the etsy shop they featured on the blog. it's perfect for the room, and even more perfect for my kiddo.

the palm tree wall decals were another last minute purchase. i had been thinking about them for awhile, but wasn't sure if they were something the room really needed. i am super happy we ended up getting them because that wall would totally be missing something. i found these at another etsy shop - they came super fast! we had our friend danny install them - he also owns a kick ass sticker company, www.diecutstickers.com. they look awesome because they were installed by a professional! the picture was another find in snohomish, and the shutters were specifically installed for wyatt. no other room in our house has them and now i want them every where. they are so cute and add so much personality to the room. ty was in charge here and he did the research and ended up going with budget blinds. we couldn't be happier and would definitely go with them again should we decide to do more rooms in our house down the road.

this room has absolutely been worth the effort. wyatt loves spending time in there, and we do too. we wanted his room to blend in with our home's style but stand out in its own way as well. mission accomplished.

now, if only ty and i would put half as much effort into the other rooms in our house.

water baby

this blog has obviously turned into a baby book of sorts for this kiddo. we're 11 weeks in and i don't see myself putting a pen to paper any time soon. i know i have mentioned this in several of my posts, but my most favorite time with wyatt and ty is bath time. ty took some pictures a few weeks back and i just have to post them. again, obsessed with this face. and can we please talk about that top picture. this will forever be one of my most favorite pictures of this baby. he has this look like, "dad - really? now? i'm trying to stand here and take a bath." and can we also talk about how awesome ty did at taking these pictures? my first time photographer did amaze balls. i couldn't be more impressed with today's birthday boy.

mr. personality

there are many faces to our sweet boy and we are just seeing the beginning. this last week was, how shall i put it, a little more challenging than the others. not exactly sure why exactly, but our boy's personality is definitely rearing its head. right now, he's screaming his full head off up stairs because we are knee deep in the crabby time of the evening. we pretty much bring this on our selves every night. we try to get him to 9pm before we start going through our bed time routine. and tonight we celebrated ty's birthday so there was some additional stimulation around these parts.

we've decided he's definitely showing signs of being more like his mama. you know - laid back, easy going, and flexible. um, no. he and i are two peas in a pod, at least this week - and perhaps its the amount of beans "we" ate due to the crock-potting addiction i had (we ate a lot of mexican and i'm thinking if i had gas "issues", my poor baby did too - and of course i think of this now, after the fact).

let's talk a little bit about what we've learned about our guy.

he likes things on his terms. and by things, i mean every thing. sleeping, eating, playing, laughing, smiling. his terms.

he likes small spaces - as in, the smallest bathroom in the house. he prefers to be in there with the fan on blast. he couldn't be more content. he loves his nursery - he seems to be most happy on his changing pad or in his crib post-meal and burp.

he pretty much hates the car. don't most babies fall asleep in the car instantly? yah, not ours. (we've been saying that a lot this week... "didn't ali girl just fall asleep anywhere? yah not ours. doesn't paxton just chill out so easily? yah not ours.") unless he is asleep before we hit the road, it usually ends with me hopping in the back seat on the side of the road or in a parking lot to try and calm him down.

ty and i think he's going to be a worry wort. we can see him being super sensitive about things and having little panic moments about homework, grades, projects, etc. (this is exactly how i was by the way.)

he loves white noise. annie was in our room recently and she called it a wind tunnel. honestly, that is the absolute best description. anytime you walk in the room from the "outside" it totally feels like you are about to blast away into the oblivion. we've got a fan going, a sound machine going, lamby was going with the wave sound on  before we ran it to the ground so now i've downloaded a white noise app on my phone, and we also have the fan going in our bathroom. (all this love for white noise should do us some favors on saturday on our flight to maui.) if we are in dire straights, ty will take him into his favorite room (the small bathroom) and turn the bathtub water on.

speaking of bath water - the kid loves the tub. shouldn't be much of a surprise since he lived in water for almost 10 months before he was born into a warm tub. as he gets older, we are seeing him get more and more confident in the tub - pushing off the sides of the tub, leaning back further and further, splashing a little bit more.

we had a pretty eventful week, weather wise. snowmageddeon hit the scene here and pretty much stopped all of western washington in it's tracks. we had a "snow week" and i have to say, it was such a blast. ty was home for the full week and we enjoyed mid-day adventures in the snow, and be we i don't mean wyatt. but ty and i sure did. our adventures typically ended at our favorite starbucks and one day we were joined by the stookey's for some good old "jenkey" time (this is our two last names combined and the name for our quality time together. love.)

the snow has since melted, and turned to brown nasty slush - just in time for ty's birthday celebrations this weekend. we had our first date night last night to celebrate ty's birthday just the two of us - and it was the absolute best. my mama and cam made the trek up north (from bellevue) to watch our bambino. while i was a bit nervous to start, it only took one text from cam to take that all away. "wyatt's a happy happy baby! smiles, smiles everywhere!" just what this mama needed to relax. got a few (like a lot) of drinks in me and we had some good old fashioned couple's time. some very much needed and long over due couple's time and i loved every second of it. this afternoon we celebrated with family and the stookey's and next weekend we'll be celebrating with our besties, the dumonds, in hawaii. yes please. can. not. wait.

what's weird about this parenting gig is how quickly things can change. i feel like even though the week was a tad rough with our little one, things seemed to turn around by the weekend. he's entering into a new stage with nap time - he's starting to learn how to sleep unswaddeled and with a lovie. seriously - a-dorable. the cutest thing ever to see him hug his lovie and have his binky moving like crazy as he cozies into me and falls asleep. i could hold him forever when he does this. l-o-v-e. i've had people tell me that i need to enjoy every stage because there are good things about each. but i've also heard that there's a reason that each stage is short because there are crappy things too. this week definately spoke to these words of wisdom.

and i loved every second of it.

(not sure i'll be reporting next week from maui. may just do a picture post if i can figure out how to do it from my phone. plus it's just a little mean isn't it? i mean, cold here? couldn't be more paradise-ish there? enough said.)

wyatt's nursery

wyatt's nursery was by far the most exciting room to decorate in our house. ty and i had the best time doing this together. i really feel like our vision for his room really came to life. anyone who knows me well, (annie) knows that i come up with some good ideas, but rarely does the execution align with the vision. for example, my ginger bread houses always suck. i have great ideas when the slate is blank, but when it comes to actually putting it to action - eh. anytime i have tried to make something by hand, it's a total disaster. but much to my shegrin (who actually says that - let alone writes that!?!), our baby room turned out pretty good. here are a couple of the high lights, in no particular order.

lindsay wasn't able to come to our reveal party, but she and i had been talking about my vision for the nursery since the second i told her i was pregnant. the "beachy" theme i had mentioned was best described as a mixture of both old and new. she found this adorable shelf at a shop that refurbishes old furniture in KC and had it sent to annie's house in time for the party. this picture doesn't really do it justice. the collection of books came from so many of our closest friends during my pregnancy. those sweet blocks there, those are from annie, who made those for us as a gift at one of my showers. and curious george came from daddy - one of the very first things he bought for the babe.

these letters were purchased off etsy and decorated by annie and i. this has to be one of my biggest crafty accomplishments. the letters came un-painted, so i took the advice of the woman who made them and bought the paint she recommended. i picked a few colors, and with annie's help we got them done in one evening. annie did all of the hard letters - the D, J, N, U, W... yah the cutest ones, those were all her. ty hung them up and from there, the room really started to come together. i got the dresser here but will say, i don't really reccommend it. it sure looks cute, but the quality actually sucks. i am just being honest. the lamp is from land of nod and the cute little w on it was another decoration annie made for a shower. looks pretty stinkin' cute there doesn't it?

these clip thingies - not sure what else to call them - are actually from cam's old room but are originally from pottery barn. not sure if they still have them, but they work out perfectly. and the cards here are from the showers (invites and gift cards).

i wrote about this picture in this post. it's one of my most favorite things in wyatt's room. love, love, love.

these palm trees came from another etsy shop and i think they totally make the room. the crib is the kendell crib at pottery barn.

ty recently got a new canon camera so one of his projects will be taking pictures of wyatt's room. like, real pictures. not iphone instagram pictures. in that post i will highlight a few more of the actual details - i.e. the rug, the stool, the bed sheets, the rocker (which is cute to look at and not so fun to sit in...) shutters, etc. for now, this will have to do!

more to come!

the lucky one

 

 

 

10 weeks have absolutely FLOWN by. i can't believe i'll be heading back to work in about 6 weeks. see that face up there? ya, that one. that perfectly round head with those two beautiful big eyes on it makes the idea well, tough. ty had to up our cell plan this week. i went off the charts sending texts and pictures to friends and family. surprised? i think going back to work is probably a good idea. i take pictures all. day. long. i want to capture every moment i can with my little love. to say that i'm enjoying every second of maternity leave should go with out saying. i love, love, love being a mama. so much more than i expected. someone asked me yesterday what i am most surprised by. it's so hard to narrow it down to just one thing. here's my list:

1. seriously how much i love this kid. i've never been so obsessed with anything in my whole life.
2. i love boys! i can't tell you why i'm surprised by this really, or why i love having a boy so much, but there are little things that cross my mind that i just love... like, the idea of wyatt playing in the snow with his dad someday, or seeing him as a big brother, or seeing him in a tux for his first prom, meeting his first girlfriend, etc. so much to look forward to.
3. how into his development i am. i love seeing him do something new. i get giddy when he has a first. anything from reaching out to touch the dogs, listening for his daddy's voice, giggling when i do something super silly that i'd never do for any one else, lighting up when i play his music box, watching his hands as they move around. it's the small things, folks. they are big things now to this mama.
4. how fast the day goes by!! i seriously do NOTHING and all of a sudden it's bed time again.
5. how quickly i can find a binky and get it into his mouth in the middle of the night. lightening fast. i'm pretty good.

i could keep going, but i'll spare you. i was just about to write about how interested i am in his poopy diapers (how much, texture, smell, etc.) but i won't go on. instead, i'll end by saying we had yet another great week together and we're ending it with our first snow. love it. i am instantaneously in a good mood when i see a flake fall from the sky. it's supposed to keep up for the next few days, and i couldn't be more thrilled. this little family knows how to cozy up and enjoy it and i love that. again. i'm reminded - i'm one lucky mama.

dear monkey

 

dear monkey,

you are already two months old and this mama is loving every second, every minute, hour, day, week, month of your sweet life. as i write this to you, you are in your daddy's arms doing your "i'm hungry and tired cry". we call this the "warning cry" - the one you do right before you get really pissed. it's breathy and pathetic. it's so cute. daddy is heating up your bottle and walking around with you cozily in one of his arms. you are patiently waiting as your bottle heats up in the warmer. you are about to have your last feeding of your day and our night time routine is about to begin. daddy will feed you your (typically) one bottle of the day, we'll swaddle you up, and i will take you to our room and put you down in your little arm's reach bassinet. i love that we have a routine at night now. you've been doing so good - giving me a good 5 hours of sleep. if only i could go to bed when you go to bed, i'd get as much as you! you wake up around 5 and we do a quick feeding and you're usually super easy on me and are back in bed within 30 minutes. 

you are growing so fast. we had your two month appointment on friday and you now weigh 11 pounds, and are 24 inches long. you are in the 95th percentile for height, 25th for weight, and 70th for head. tall and skinny with a big bed. that's our boy! you had your shots and we decided to not go with their recommended schedule. we just couldn't see pumping you full of vaccines so instead of doing the 4, we only did one prick and one oral vaccine. you had a not so fun reaction later that night - swollen leg and screaming cries which lead to a frantic call to daddy and tears of my own. after a tylenol dose and some rocking, you were soon conked out and much more relaxed. i felt awful, needless to say. 

we had a fun week and obviously took a few pictures along the way! 

 

 

We recently got the full gallery of images from your birthday. jessica at one tree did put together a slide show a few weeks back, but it's obviously really personal and i wasn't quite comfortable sharing it broadly. there are some images that are just so special to me and really capture how amazing your birth was.

i love this one so much because i love seeing your daddy's hand giving me comfort and support. i love your daddy's hands in general - they are strong, and he's got great nail beds. and as far as i can tell, it looks like you lucked out in that department and got his and not mine!

 

i of course didn't see this moment when it happened, but i can imagine there were a few of them. i know how hard it is to see someone go through the kind of pain i went through during labor. i had a moment just like this with auntie's mama when she was in labor. the only people that really get it are the people that are there watching it. you just need to hug someone who gets it. i love that your gramma and auntie looked to each other for that support. 

i can remember auntie telling me in between contractions that my body looked amazing. i also remember thinking she was crazy. i felt anything but in that moment but when she said it, she was genuine and sweet and encouraging. seeing this image now, she was right. i'm amazed at how i looked in the water. as big and as bloated as i remember feeling (among other things), this image is anything but that to me. it's you and me kid, in the last few hours together like this. it's incredibly special to me. 

to me, these four images really encapsulate what it was like on the outside. as i've mentioned earlier, i rarely opened my eyes. i had really no idea what was going on around me. this was what was going on around me. i'm blessed to have such amazing people to support me. i couldn't have done it without them. you, little boy, have the most amazing people that love you.

this picture of auntie is in the slide show jessica made. it's about halfway in. it's the image that just "gets me". i can't help but cry when i see it. i don't know exactly when it was taken, but when i see it i immediately know the emotion she was feeling that day - the same emotion i described in your birth story; the same emotion i felt several times as i watched her bring ali into the world. 

this picture of daddy says "relief" to me. i know this is just when christine is telling me it's time to push. he's so happy that this part of the journey is ending and the best part is just beginning. he's about to meet you. look how excited he is!

this is another picture that just "gets me". it's how your daddy and i brought you into this world. i felt so secure and supported as we locked together like this - both physically and emotionally. i will never forget that feeling and this image will always remind me in case i ever do. 

i love this series of images. it's right when i'm meeting you for the first time. you are the most amazing thing i've ever seen. i was just so elated. i had never felt so happy in my life - happy, tired, proud, relieved, empowered, in love, honored, lucky... the list goes on and on. i was just the happiest i had ever been in my whole freaking life. plain and simple.

 

 

 

and of course i love these - when you and your daddy meet for the first time. i love seeing the way you are looking at him and how happy and proud your daddy is.

 

 

i love seeing this one - it may look like a phone with a text on it. but it's of a text from auntie lindsay who couldn't be there. seeing this reminds me that she was there - rooting me on every step of the way.

sweet boy, i think i'll probably cry every time i see these pictures because it brings back the most incredible day. you are so so so loved. thank you for every day with you and for showing us what life is really all about.

love, 

mama