Christmas

The Virginia Beach Wehrmans had a wonderful Christmas together! We definitely missed spending time with family, but travelling in my current state is pretty much out of the question, and we had a very enjoyable day despite the fact that we missed you all!

We webcammed with my family Christmas Eve so they could see Hunter open his gifts. He got a toddler laptop with educational games from them that kept him occupied the whole day. He loves it! Then, that evening, our church had a Christmas Eve service we attended.

I really wanted to see Hunter's reaction to all the gifts under the tree Christmas morning...so much so that I dreamt (thank you vivid pregnancy dreams) that he opened all his gifts enough to see what was inside before waking us up. I woke up from that dream about 4am, and didn't sleep very well after that for fear that it would come true! I finally got up at 6:30 and both boys were still sound asleep, so I went in the kitchen and made some of Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls. Before starting to tackle the dishes, I checked on Hunter to make sure he was still sleeping so I could be in the living room when he awoke to capture his reaction. He was still sound asleep so I started on the dishes. Not five minutes into washing them, the child comes walking up to me in the kitchen! So I didn't get the initial reaction, but I did get to go into the living room again with him so we could take a closer look...and at least my dream didn't come true! We let him open his stocking stuffers and then we ate breakfast. The cinnamon rolls were amazing, and we also enjoyed bacon and eggs. Here's a picture of the delicious cinnamon rolls! (Please disregard the burnt bacon in the back.)

Hunter had such a fun time opening all his gifts. Christmas morning is SO fun as a parent but in a whole different way. I loved being able to shower him with gifts, and being the firstborn, he really does need new toys every so often since he grows out of the old ones. After gift opening was finished, I went in his toy box and closet to pack up some old toys that he hardly plays with anymore to make room for the new ones. When my pregnant eyes saw the bottom of the toy box with tons of little random pieces that had collected down there, my nesting bug did not like it! I ended up taking everything out, and cleaning the toy box. Greg and I organized everything again, and packed a lot up. I was worried where we were going to stick all his new toys but we definitely found the room, much to Hunter's dismay.

We webcammed with Greg's family in the afternoon and they got to see Hunter open the gifts from them. He got an adorable set of fire truck pj's and a robe, both handmade by Nana. He absolutely loves the robe and didn't even want to take it off to go to bed! Here he is in front of the tree sporting his new clothes.

For dinner, we had Honey Baked Ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, and Pioneer Woman's homemade Parker House Rolls.

After dinner, daddy and Hunter were playing with some of his new toys, and I got a cute video of it. :)


We ended the night with the three of us playing Candy Land, and enjoying cupcakes.

It was a wonderful, intimate Christmas for the three of us. How was everyone else's Christmas?

Baby Girl's Room!

WHEW - it has been a busy week! The creation of the crib set and organizing the bedroom has been in full swing and I'm finally finished!

I have kept the fabric I bought for the crib set a secret because I thought the suspense would be fun and leave everyone on the edge of their seats. Lucky for you, the wait is over. You can stop holding your breath.

(Note: Please forgive me for the awful coloring in the pictures. Her room doesn't get much natural light so the pictures look funky since it's just the light on in the bedroom.)

It took some time, but my husband has totally turned me into a hillbilly. I fell in love with this fabric the moment I saw it, and knew Greg would appreciate it way more than butterflies and rainbows too. Here it is:

Aren't the little tractors so cute?? That tractor square has little polka dots in it too.

My mom had said she would purchase the crib set for me, so instead, she bought me 15 wonderful hillbilly yards of this stuff!

I made a blanket, valance, pillowcase (to cover a hideous pillow I have on my rocking chair,) and crib skirt.

I'm definitely a sewing novice, but that didn't stop me! I will say that this taught me a LOT about sewing, since most of what I know I had to teach myself anyway. How wonderful it would have been to have my mother-in-law (an expert sewer) by my side from the beginning to tell me I had the wrong footer on my sewing machine, and not when I was on the last piece of the whole set! I did also learn, though, that I really do like sewing and will continue to do it. I've made things in the past but it's been a while and I had forgotten how much I enjoy doing it.

Anyway, here's the blanket I made.

It has a solid pink side with the John Deere fabric bordering it.


Here's the valance. (Please excuse the plastic on the windows. It takes away from the adorable valance...but it's COLD here!)

Next is the pillowcase for my rocking chair. I have a pillow on it since the cushion that came with the chair doesn't have enough padding on it. The pillow is from one of our old couches, and the ugly floral pattern just screams 'grandma couch' and that just wouldn't do for the nursery; I thought tractors were much more appropriate.

Here is her dresser. I obviously didn't make anything here but it's part of the room. Her knobs are baby pink and so is that princess piggy bank I picked up at Target!

Now before I reveal the crib skirt, I have to talk about my frustrations with it because of our crib. My mom gave us her crib (because Hunter's was recalled so we returned it and used the money to buy him a twin bed) so I haven't used this crib before. The one side of the crib drops down (as many do) but I didn't know that the hardware for that feature totally interfers with where a crib skirt should hang. When I put my finished crib skirt on, I realized I was going to have to chop huge sections out of it just to be able to put it on. And not using the sliding feature wasn't an option either. Whether I used it or not, I still had to cut up my skirt to get it to hang down. (Simmons crib makers - what were you thinking?!) Anyway, I cut and hemmed the skirt, put it back on and wanted to cry. After seeing how terrible it looked, I opted to flip the crib around so you can see the good skirt side. I don't care that I won't be able to slide the side down. I care that you can see my gorgeous crib skirt that cost blood, sweat and tears! So here it is:

I sewed the pleat in it, and the inside of the pleat is the same pink that's on the one side of the blanket. The fitted mattress and bumper were store bought. There was no way I was going to try my hand at those! But, I'm happy with how the green fits with the John Deere fabric.

And here it is all together!

In the bottom left-hand corner is the changing table with lots of stuff still on it because I still have a lot to buy before I can completely organize that. But the room set is done. In the corner is the bassinet ready and waiting for the little peanut.

So there it is. I absolutely love it and can't wait for her to use it all!