My Favorite Things

Yup, just like Oprah. I interrupt these posts about Lylah, to bring you my current favorite things. Well, they are about Lylah because I use them with her.

1. ItzBeen

A friend recommended this, and I love it! You can put in what time you started feeding, and it helps you keep track. You can also track how long baby has been sleeping and how long since the last diaper change. I use the feeding one the most. When we first got home from the hospital we used the star button for my pain medication. Great invention!

2. My Breast Friend

I first saw this on TV. Bethany Frankel was using it on Bethany Getting Married. (love!) I googled it, and thought it looked interesting. At our Breastfeeding class at the Hospital, the lactation specialist recommended it. She said that many women had told her it made the difference for them being successful with nursing. And I have to say, I love it. It stays on your waist if you need to stand up while nursing (holding baby of course). It has a little pocket on the side to hold your ItzBeen, and snacks. I usually have some candy stashed there. I love it. If you are planning to breastfeed, you need it and it is worth the price.

more info



3. My Babywise Book

Yes, I'm one of those. I love Babywise. Ryan got the book when I was pregnant and made me read it. It's awesome! It has helped Lylah be able to sleep 7 hours a night, which is beyond amazing. You can read more about Babywise here: www.babywisemom.com

4. Little Einstein Piano toy 

A church friend gave us this toy at a shower and it is Lylah's favorite. She has even started pressing the keys! So cute. I need to video it. Absolutely love this toy, love the music and Lylah loves the flashing lights and colors.

5.  Woombie

Uh, this is not Lylah, btw.

Lylah sleeps in a woombie allllll the time. We started out swaddling her, but she always broke out, no matter what we did. Remember this? My friend Susan had used this with her daughter, so I went and bought one at the Nappy Shoppe. Then I bought another. It's great because she can move her arms around because it is stretchy, but she can't wake herself up with her arms. And saying "woombie" is just plain fun.


So there you go. No one asked, but these are my current favorite baby things.

Nursery Reveal

HOORAY! I finally finished the nursery. It's really been done for a few weeks now, but I was finishing up my bowholder project. The other project I mentioned fell through. But regardless, the nursery is finished and all we need now is a baby!

It has been SO much fun putting together this nursery for Baby Lylah. I love green, and Ryan and I both really like tans and browns. We wanted it to be classic, but fun. We wanted it to be girly, but not ridiculously girly. I wanted her bedding to be bright and fun, and I love how it turned out. Take a look at my labor of love and let me know what you think :)

Main wall, to the right.

Curtains are from Target (my friend Susan encouraged me to get them and she was right, I do love them), the paper lanterns are from World Market, and the rug (so soft!) is from JCPenney.

To the left...

Glider is from Babies R Us, Hutch/dresser (and all of the furniture) is from Buy Buy Baby, comforter made by Angela, cute owl pillow and lamp are from Target, and various craft projects are by me. :) Except for the amazing plate on top...that's by my friend Laura. She rocks!

Very proud of my cord cover (took me 2 minutes) that I stole from pinterest.

North wall..the door is to the right in this picture.

Bowholder is by me, L art is from Hobby Lobby, as is the plague above the doors, and the outfits were shower gifts from Susan and Lindsay. (Her coming home outfit was up there, but it's packed now.) And yes, the brown one from Susan says "My Mom Doesn't Want your Advice". Haha!

Wonderful bedding made by Angela Morton! The crib skirt was also beautifully made by my Mother in law, Paula and Ryan's Memaw! They all did a great job. It's exactly what I wanted.

The hutch was my big project....It got a little full, but I couldn't seem to get rid of anything!

Closer look at a few projects:

Wreath on her door! The chalkboard will be where we'll put her stats. This will go with us to the hospital. 

(Poor quality, sorry. This is with my phone)

There it is...feel free to "Pin it". :) 

I just keep getting larger and more crafty

It's true. As my belly grows, the trips to Hobby Lobby grow. Here I am at 28 weeks. I am actually 29 weeks, but my 29 week picture is not so cute. (Not that this is PRECIOUS, but you know what I mean)

Hobby Lobby had a 40% off one item week just in time. You can print coupons and go once a day for 40% off one item. Or take a friend or your husband and use two. It's awesome. Here's today's project: 

I learned how to do the flowers from The Lettered Cottage's magazine. 

Here's the link: How to make the flowers (it's on page 21)

The nursery is coming along. We have furniture now! We ordered our glider, and we are on our way to being finished. I want to do a little more before I post pictures. So, that will keep you in suspense. Ha. 

I've been asked what I do all day (nicely) and the answer is teach piano, take pictures, edit pictures (and edit some more), hang with friends, work out (and get frustrated when I can't be hardcore) clean out closets, watch the Real Housewives, swim (ahhhh) and craft, obviously. So there you go. 

If you haven't checked out my Photography business, it would make me incredibly happy if you did! 

My website/blog, My Facebook page. (Click "like" on my Facebook page and make my day!)

Nursery Progress

My amazing Mother-in-law came this last weekend to paint our nursery. She is a crazy good painter and has done it professionally. Lucky me! To see my inspirations, click here. You will notice that the pictures from my inspirations and what she painted are exactly what I described. 

So here's before....our guest room minus the furniture. 

And here is after.....

Drumroll please....

Be prepared to be amazed....

(This wall is where the crib will be.)

It is even better than I imagined! I keep going up to the room to check to see if I dreamed it. I am so happy! It's exactly what I wanted, and I can't wait for our furniture to arrive, so it can start looking like a nursery. And I especially can't wait to put Lylah in there, play with her and watch her grow. What a blessing!

Nursery Inspirations

Two blog posts in two days? Don't fall over cause you can't believe it. I can't really either. Just wanted to share some Nursery inspirations....

I loved the walls in the Reading Room on The Lettered Cottage. If you have never checked out www.theletteredcottage.net, prepare to become addicted. They are so talented!
I had originally planned for one green stripe around the whole room, at about waist level. But I kept finding more inspiring pictures....and I fell in love with the tan stripes:

I love this, but NOT pink. :)

So I considered this, but decided I would rather do an accent wall, so that we could always change it out, or easily change it from a nursery to a little girl's room. 

So here's what we're going for (pending tan color choices, and with thicker stripes)

I found some wall decor that inspired me as well...
(Again, not pink, but LOVE this)
This is NOT painted on the wall. Can you believe it? It's gorgeous! I don't think I'd do the tissue poms (not that small or that many any way) but I love the name plate.

Love that this a chalkboard, and I love "You are my Sunshine" because my Mom always sang it to us. :)

Cute mobile and I love scriptures in a baby's room...

The neutral-ish walls would be great with our fabric:

So there you go...We'll see how it turns out! My awesome mother-in-law is on her way to help Ryan paint it tomorrow! Yay!