Six Month BFing Milestone

This post isn't particularly related to food. Well, not adult food...

Yesterday my family reached a special milestone. Yesterday my baby girl turned six months old, and with the celebration of her life and health thus far, we also recognized six months of exclusive breastfeeding.
We did it! We made it to six months! It feels amazing to come this far and look at my daughter and see all the growing she's done, and her adorable chub and rolls, and know that it is from the milk that I have been able to give her!

I am thrilled to be a post liver transplant patient that pushed past the assumption that I couldn't breastfeed because of my anti-rejection meds. I did the research and found that it is a false assumption! For more info on that, read my post Medications & Breastfeeding. Also, check out the LactMed Drug & Lactation Database where you can look up your medications for any contraindications with nursing.

I believe that a key part of our success in breastfeeding has been my attitude about it. I was proactive during my pregnancy, I educated myself, committed to it 110%, surrounded myself with supportive people, and came up with a few back up plans. A healthy dose of prayer went toward this subject during my pregnancy, as well!

If you are a transplant patient or UC/IBD/autoimmune disease gal like me, or simply interested in nursing your baby, please feel free to ask about my experience. I'd love to share and help you any way I can with my (admittedly limited, yet so far successful) experience. As a woman who was embarrassed by seeing mothers nursing in public just a year ago, and being an adopted kiddo that never was breastfed myself, I love that breastfeeding is now one of my biggest passions!  :)

I thought I'd share a few resources that have helped me thus far, and then a list of my favorite nursing accessories:

Great Resources

Kelly Mom - This website is AMAZING for answering questions, looking for specific information, learning about new stages in breastfeeding, and so much more. We looked up a few issues in the first few days at home, and found reassurance and answers.

The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers - I found this at the used book store, and if a bit extreme at times, it is a great source of information to read during your pregnancy. It prepares you well. I felt it wasn't much use to me after our initial stage of learning, because after the basics it moves into covering complications and challenges which didn't apply to us. I also learned some of the material in our breastfeeding class (which I highly recommend taking as another resource!).

LactMed - As I mentioned above, it is a great resource for looking up your medications. If you have to go in for any medical procedures while you're nursing, find out what they plan to give you for anesthesia or pain, and look it up ahead of time. I had to do this a few weeks ago. I learned that I would need to "pump and dump" until the med cleared from my system, so I saved milk for bottles ahead of time

Some of my favorite breastfeeding accessories:

Avent breast pumps - I'm convinced these are the best designed and easiest to clean (and most sanitary!) breast pumps out there. Bonus: They are more affordable than the brands often suggested by hospitals and baby registry consultants. When my milk came in just 24 hours after I had Baby V, my post partum nurse suggested (several times) that we pick up the manual Avent pump on our way home from the hospital. I was fortunate to have the use of my good friend's Avent Double Electric pump for several months, and it was invaluable with my abundant supply. Thanks to this pump I had a rotating month to two month's supply in my freezer for the first three months, and a lot better (drier) sleep at night! Now I own the Avent Manual single pump, and it works great. I used it recently on a road trip and it worked great - super compact and portable with the insulated carrying bag. I highly recommend either one of those pumps to all my mommy friends.

The First Years Breastflow bottles - These bottles were suggested by the lactation educator that taught our breastfeeding class, because of their unique design much closer to actual breastfeeding than other bottles. It makes Baby work harder at getting the milk, more like the real thing, so it reduces the chance of "nipple confusion" and similar problems. We introduced an occasional bottle at six weeks with one of these, and had no problems. We moved up to the Stage 2 nipple after a few months, and that worked well too.

Nursing cover - You can pick these up at Target, Babies R Us, Amazon... But I'm old fashioned and prefer the DIY versions of most things, so I asked my mom to sew me one. My cover is made of fabric I picked out for the nursery and never used. It is a heavier weight and better quality than the covers sold in stores, being it was on the "decorator fabric" aisle at JoAnn's. I love it! With a cover I am more comfortable nursing in public because I feel I am respecting other peoples' space and comfort level (and I stay warmer since it's winter!). If you know sewing, see Simplicity pattern #2165. But even a beginning seamstress with the most basic skills can take on a simple nursing cover. Just sew a big rectangle and tack stitch on a ribbon; it will work!


Now that we've reached the six month milestone, it's time to introduce Victory to solids. Stay tuned for occasional posts about our adventures in baby led solids and homemade Paleo baby food. I am enjoying reading about Baby Led Weaning and we're approaching solids from that perspective. It's going to be fun :)
Any Paleo or BLW/BLS or homemade baby food making moms out there, feel free to give me your pointers and tips...

I am a MOM! :)

She's here!!!!!

Victory Liviya arrived Tuesday, August 23rd at 5:44 pm. 6 pounds 3 ounces, 19 inches, and just perfect. God has been SO GOOD to us!

Victory - "the successful outcome of a struggle; overcoming of an obstacle; defeat of an enemy." If you know my story, or the story of Hubs' and my life over the past five years, you absolutely GET her name too :)

Liviya - "brave lioness"

And our last name means "lamb," so she has both the lion and the lamb dwelling together in her name. Kind of a cool symbolism :)

Fabric Flowers

I finally found an easy tutorial for fabric flowers that makes sense to me! I can't wait to make some of these beautiful flowers for BG's headbands, outfits, and maybe even some Momma headbands for me :)

Pom Pom Fabric Flowers from LittleMissMomma.com:

And a great tutorial on Rolled Fabric Flowers at prudentbaby.com. These are a little more complicated (for me, anyway) but I'm hoping to figure it out eventually. They are darling!

Onesies on the Line

I just have to share this photo I snapped yesterday in my yard. Despite the forecast that it was going to rain, the sun and heat came out for a while and I used the opportunity to air out these white onesies I got from a friend. I want to embellish them - tie dye, iron ons, ribbon ruffles - but haven't decided what to do yet. (I have enough to try everything, actually!) At any rate, this photo is one of the cutest I've ever seen! Enjoy :)

Face of a Miracle

Our thirty-four week growth ultrasound went so great yesterday! BG is right on track, ahead even, with arms and legs measuring 35 weeks (she's definitely got my long limbs!) and a rather large head measuring at 36 weeks :) (Two smart parent brains make an even bigger baby brain, we figure!)
She is over five pounds now, and all looks good. Continuing to defy those "transplant recipient baby" stats... yeah God!!

My doctor surprised us by doing at least five different 3D face shots during our ultrasound yesterday. Here is the best shot we got, the face of our precious miracle:

I can't wait to hold my baby girl!

Medications & Breastfeeding

I am getting prepared for our upcoming pediatrician interviews. Our main criteria for a pediatrician was one that limits use of antibiotics unless absolutely necessary (for obvious reasons if you're informed about over-use of antibiotics and the consequences in this generation). We also want a ped that is supportive of our decision to breastfeed. Yep, "our decision;" Hubs is adamant that we breastfeed BG. The benefits of it can't be denied (especially with all the auto-immune junk in my genes), and he's supporting me any way he can. I'm thankful for that! Last week I read that spousal support for breastfeeding makes the difference in whether you'll succeed.

Anyway, today I'm gathering and printing out the little literature on breastfeeding while also taking the medications I am on (tacrolimus and mesalamine), to bring to the interviews and show the peds that it is in fact not determined to be harmful. One of my OB nurses recommended we do this. We hope that by presenting this info to the doctors first off, they will be more likely to fully support our decision to breastfeed BG.

This is a great little article on Breastfeeding and Tacrolimus, which I'm on for life so I don't reject my transplanted liver. I'm going to highlight it like crazy and hand it over to the ped: Tacrolimus use while Breastfeeding. It basically says that the absorption is so low, hardly any Tacro gets passed on to the little one, and when they've done studies on development and immune systems of babies who've had breastmilk from a woman taking Tacro, there weren't any contraindications. {Hurray!!!}

This is an article that focuses more on Tacrolimus' effects on a fetus during pregnancy: Tacrolimus Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Warnings I have to say, I think the worst case scenarios are probably in the pregnancies where they are taking the highest listed 64 mg of Tacro a day - yikes!
I've been on just 5 mg per day for over a year, and they raised it to 6 mg per day in my second trimester. Every growth scan and measurement we've had of BG has shown her to be healthy, growing, gaining weight, and developing perfectly, including and especially her incredible strong little heart! We are blessed and thankful for this, and believe she'll just continue to NOT fit in the box that the medical community would try to put her in because of my health history and the meds I have to take.

I'm very encouraged that in each case of breastfeeding that these two articles mention, things turned out positively; there was not a significant amount of Tacro detected in the babies' bodies, and the children are developing well!

Here is one more article I'm printing out because I also have Ulcerative Colitis, and for that I take Apriso, a mesalamine formulation - it's just like Asacol, a more common med which I used to take, but with Apriso I only take four capsules a day instead of sixteen. Mesalamine use while Breastfeeding. This one is much more "accepted" by the medical community for pregnancy and breastfeeding. I can't say that taking it has helped much during the pregnancy, as I've had active disease the whole time, and increasingly bad flares for the past few weeks :( But, I would never consider stopping it, because that could cause a situation even worse and more difficult to get under control.

Well, we're one step closer to our upcoming journey into parenthood! Next step: Pediatrician interviews :)

Freedom of Cloth Blog Carnival

Just a quick post tonight to share something I found today. Over at Natural Parents Network they are hosting a "Freedom of Cloth Diaper Blog Carnival" for seven days, and featuring many articles regarding a specific cloth diapering topic each day this week. Yesterday, for example, was "Cloth Diapering Must Haves" and a bunch of blogging mamas gave their input on any and every accessory you might need for cloth diapering. Monday was all about recipes related to cloth diapering - homemade laundry detergent, baby wipe solution, etc. If you are interested in cloth diapering at all, you should join me in checking out the "carnival" this week. So much great information, and you can never know too much about something like cloth diapering :)

Framed Fabric - Nursery Artwork

Today I changed my mind on the artwork for BG's room. I took out the Peter Rabbit illustrations, and put in pieces of the various fabrics I picked out for her room. I think when she's a little older, I'll put the Peter Rabbit pictures back in, but while she's so young and still developing her eyesight and taking in the world around her, I wanted to keep it simple, and went with the warm, familiar colors and patterns of the same fabrics she'll see when she's in her crib.

And, I finally got the frames hung on the wall! I like the arrangement of three by three. They aren't perfect, but that's okay. After all, I said I wanted a whimsical nursery :)

Mobile of Garden Friends

Here is a simple little project that took me all of thirty minutes start to finish. I ran across these adorable painted, wooden garden critters -a pretty butterfly, a smiling bumblebee, a happy frog, a colorful dragonfly, and an adorable snail (Hubs' pick)- at Jo Ann a few weeks back, and decided they would work perfectly as the focus of a little mobile idea I had brewing. I bought an embroidery hoop and some sheer ivory ribbon, and once I finally got out my glue gun last week, I went to town. First I cut five ribbons, two about twelve inches and three about fifteen inches long, and glued each critter to the end of a ribbon. Then I tied them (evenly spaced) around the plain wooden hoop, tied five more ribbons in the spaces, tied one big knot at the top, and voila - a mobile! It cost less than ten dollars for supplies and it's just what I wanted to hang above the changing table. Perfect for a little gal's garden room :)

Craft Projects for Baby's Room: A Memory Board and Shelves

I have been busy this weekend! Not feeling well, still - UGH! - so sticking close to home and puttering away on these baby room projects as I find the energy.

I made a memory board out of an acoustic panel!


Here's how I did it:
I removed the fabric we had on there (and in the process got a bunch of fiberglass slivers in my fingers - ouch!), then recovered it with one of BG's bedding fabrics, using a staple gun to secure it. Then I started attaching the ribbon. I worked from the middle outward in one direction, spacing the ribbons four inches apart and carrying about an inch and a half onto the back on each end, using a glue gun. Next, I did the same thing with the ribbons going in the other direction, weaving them in and out of the first layer of ribbon and gluing them the same way. Once I finished attaching the ribbons, I glued down each intersection. Then I glued a button on top of each intersection. I used a variety of buttons - shimmery simple round ones, flower-shaped ones, and fun ladybug ones. Here's a close-up of the buttons:



The other project I've wrapped up is a pair of flower shelves. I think they look pretty cute, and I like how they're a little more artistic and in keeping with the flowers in the fabric. Here they are:



I think it's finally about time to start hanging up these things in BG's room. It is so much fun creating a room from scratch! :)

Simple & Affordable Nursery Art!

I just have to say, if you think you can't decorate a nursery or child's room (or your own room, for that matter) on a very strict budget, you are mistaken! I am having so much fun coming up with ideas and utilizing all my bargainista know-how to make BG's room a special place. It is turning out so much cuter than some room-in-a-bag you find at the baby store, and so much cheaper! And there's so much more thought and love behind it.

Ok, moving on to the reason for this post. Yesterday and today, I made some adorable art for BG's room - eleven pieces to hang up, in all - and only spent $11.65!

The first piece is a framed picture that Hubs and I found online and printed out on photo paper in a 5x7. I believe it's from an old Christmas card. I found a pretty black wooden frame at the dollar store, and voila! It's going to hang right next to the 12x12 framed name art I made (see last post).


The idea for this piece of art came about last week, when we finalized our choice of BG's middle name. We chose Liviya, which means "brave lioness," and then realized that, when paired with our last name which means "lamb," it alludes to the scripture describing the peace Christ will bring to the earth ('when lion and lamb will dwell together,' 'Lion of Judah/Lamb of God,' etc.). Hubs and I had an "ah-ha!" moment and decided we needed to find and frame a picture of a lion and lamb for BG's room, as a representation of two of her names.

The other ten pieces of art are from one of my all time favorite children's books: Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit. This idea is a spin-off of my original nursery concept to frame prints from Arnold Lobel's Frog & Toad books. I decided that with the garden theme that BG's room is taking on, Peter Rabbit would fit better. I scooped up a copy of the book at Goodwill the other day for 65 cents (score!) and, while this was totally against my book-loving nature, and it pained me, I cut out the pages of beautiful, classic artwork and trimmed them into 3.5x5 inch pieces to frame. (I justified this major book faux pas by reminding myself that I already own three copies of Peter Rabbit in various forms, and there were a handful of other copies on the shelf at Goodwill as well.) Then I headed to the dollar store for frames. They have some really nice new ones in stock, and I got ten distressed gold frames that are going to look darling on her wall. I cut carefully, dusted the glass delicately, framed precisely, and I'm done! Here are two photos of what I did - they are terrible quality, but my camera is terrible (we are begging for a new one on our baby registry):




I haven't decided if I'm going to hang them in two rows of five, or take one away and do three rows of three. I can't wait to hang them up, they turned out even better than I hoped! And the gold color looks awesome with the cream and green walls in BG's room.
Another project down, many more to go...

Completed Sewing Project - Baby Leg Warmers!

I did it! I made baby leg warmers! These are SO fast to make, I can't get over it. I had a few issues with the cuff on two of them; it came out somewhat crooked. But hopefully they'll be so cute on our little girly's legs that no one will even notice :)

Remodeling Update: We're Done!

We are finished! Hubs wrapped up the remodel last night with the closet system installation, which means the whole project took just under one month. Fastest remodel yet. The floor was pretty easy to put in once we got the hang of it - I think it was probably only four hours of actual working on it to get it done. It looks beautiful. And this is our first remodel that we've been able to finish with trim; it gives the room such a nice clean look. It makes me excited to get trim into our bedroom and kitchen finally.

The only thing that still needs to be done is baseboards, and we will get to those when the warm weather returns (for good outdoor painting conditions). We are both so happy to be done and getting our house back. I can't wait until this evening; we're going to set up the crib and move BG's dresser out of the living room and into her room!

I've so enjoyed puttering around in her room today, getting it set up. Now I can start decorating the walls and adding the bedding to the room as my mom and I sew it.
Here are a few photos of the finished project - I'm so proud of my husband!

Sneak Peek of Baby's Room...

We are having the most gorgeous day of the year. I got the window and door trim and chair rail painted for BG's room. Hubs is going to install them later. We must be on the homestretch; finishing touches are going in!

Here is a little sneak peek of the vision for Baby's room, coming together - paint colors done, painted chair rail in it's spot, floral fabrics for her bedding draped over the Jenny Lind crib... I love it and can't wait til it's ready for Baby!!! :)


And just for the record, all the time we spent choosing JUST the right shade of blue/green for the walls, so it would draw out the color in the fabric - it was worth it. Check out this perfect match:

Glider Rocker for Baby's Room

This is a little project that has turned out even easier than I thought it would. I bought this glider rocker at a thrift store for $17 back in March or April:


I was planning to re-cover the inner foam cushions with a home decor fabric that goes with the color scheme in Baby's room.
As my due date approaches little by little, and my sewing table isn't really usable while we remodel, I've been wondering what I'll do for cushions. I read something the other day about using the outdoor chair cushions that Peri 1 and World Market sell. I thought this sounded like a great plan, but these cushions run about $40 each, or more.
Well, Hubs and I were at IKEA over the weekend and I passed these cushions in their summer outdoor area, and they were on close out for $12.99 each!


They had less than ten left, all in the yellow and pink plaid, so I bought two just in case they would work. Took them home, put them on the glider rocker, and they fit perfectly! So there's one less project to take on in case Baby arrives earlier than expected, or I get hung up on another project for her room. I love finding great deals :)

Sew Some Baby Leg Warmers!

Have you ever heard of BabyLegs? They are new to me. But after seeing a post about them on Life's Little Embellishments, I got inspired and excited about them. They are little leg warmers for babies! Better than baby tights, because they don't have a top section to pull down for every diaper change or when potty training, and they protect little knees when crawling - great idea. They even have a few styles for little boys. But they are a little spendy.
But thankfully, Rachel at Life's Little Embellishments found a tutorial to make your own baby leg warmers at the Wulfekuhle journey. It is a really simple and VERY affordable way to build up a supply of your own. All you need is a sewing machine, thread, and a pair of girls' or ladies' knee high socks. Check out some of these handmade creations... while I go out and shop for socks to make some for Baby V!

From the Wulfekuhle journey:


From Life's Little Embellishments:

The striped pair at the bottom are a pair of "real" BabyLegs and the rest are her own cute handmade leg warmers!

Healthy Choices for Baby

I am now 25 weeks pregnant, and I couldn't be more grateful for that. Baby V is moving all around in my tummy, and I can feel her every day now. I can feel her punching, kicking, and doing somersaults, but they are gentle and still somewhat muffled because of the anterior (front) position of the placenta. Our next OB check with my perinatologist is in a week, and we have another detailed growth ultrasound scheduled. I'm looking forward to seeing how much she has developed and grown since the last one at 18 weeks!

Judging by my growing baby bump belly and her activity in there, she is thriving. I pray for her every day, that she'll be healthy and not ever have any of the health problems I've had to deal with. God is in charge of her physical development, and we trust Him to take care of her. Meanwhile, Hubs and I have been discussing the healthy choices we want for our family, so we can give her every advantage from an environmental aspect. I thought I'd share them here with you all.

Before I share my big three, tell me: Do you do any of these things for your family? Do you have any other ideas to add?

Decision 1:

We are going to use cloth diapers and cloth baby wipes with our own cleaning solution, so we have control over the chemicals (or rather, so we can avoid the chemicals) that will be touching our baby's skin every day. Before we were even halfway through this pregnancy, Hubs and I read enough about the [toxic] chemicals in disposables (Dioxin, TBT, SAP) to commit to cloth without looking back.
Plus, the environmental bonus feels good. We won't be contributing to the huge mountains of little "poop bombs" sitting across our country in landfills. Did you know that disposable diapers take 500 years to break down? Yikes! Do you think that at some point our communities need to come together and address the fact that our landfills aren't bottomless pits? Human waste belongs in the sewer where it can go through the proper treatment, not the ground where it can get into our water supply.
Moving on though :) As a one-income household, the financial bonus of using cloth is huge! We'll save thousands of dollars not buying diapers and wipes monthly for those first few years. Plus, we'll be able to keep our small garbage can with the city disposal service. (We pay $25 a month now, and it would cost around $50 a month for the larger can to fit all the disposables in each week - that's a 100% cost increase!) And maybe the best bonus of all: no diaper-stinky garbage cans in the house ;)

Decision 2:

We've decided we'll make our own baby food. It really couldn't be easier to do, and very economical because we'll just be pureeing and cooking the veggies and fruits we buy for ourselves. It won't really be a chore, because I enjoy working with food and cooking. I expect it to be a fun activity, and it will feel GREAT to know what goes in Baby's food - no preservatives or pesticides, or packaging chemicals like BPA. And again, as a one-income family it's a smart and simple money-saving choice for us.

Decision 3:
Of these three decisions, this one is most important to me. My greatest goal as a new mom is to breastfeed my baby. The many benefits, from financial (it's free!) to convenience on the go (no bottles or formula mix or water needed!) are obvious, and then the health benefits for Baby. With all of the auto-immune and inflammatory conditions my body struggles with, I am always interested in research and information about them. Did you know breastmilk can prevent a multitude of diseases, including Ulcerative Colitis (I have that), asthma (and that), allergies (those too), arthritis (yep, got it). I'm committed to do whatever it takes to make breastfeeding work!
Part of why it is so important to me is because I was 100% formula fed as a baby, because I was adopted. From the age of ten onward, I've developed one auto-immune disease after another. I can't deny that there seems to be a connection between being formula fed, and my current state of health. So, I've made one single goal for the first month post-partum, and that is to start a successful routine of exclusively breastfeeding my baby. I am going to structure those first few weeks around this one goal.
I'm going to ignore housework, take every opportunity to rest and relax, ask for and welcome help - whatever I can do to succeed at this. It means a LOT to me to try to reach this goal, because I want to give our little one the best advantage I can in case the genes passed on from me are anything but good ones. I am even planning to have a lactation consultant come to our home to work with us if need be.
I know that there are sometimes medical reasons for having to use formula, and we will cross that bridge if we have to. But having this goal in mind and setting us up for success is the best way I can make it happen!




I've been doing a lot of reading, and thinking, and talking with tons of mothers throughout my pregnancy, and I've come to the conclusion that many women do not make informed choices about their labor, delivery, and motherhood. And that's a shame. It's largely a cultural failure I think, because we aren't told the whole story or given options. But I think that as parents we need to know the whole story and be able to make our own informed choices. We need to be empowered with information, and know we're not at the mercy of any (well-meaning but uninformed) doctor, nurse, neighbor or even baby-gadget salesperson. We're going to be parents, and now is the time to ask questions and make decisions for our families with sound reasons behind them.

So get out there, moms and dads, and ask questions, learn, get support, and be confident in your choices! All you can do is give your best, with what you have, where you are. If you're doing that, you should be proud - you are a great parent :)

Never Lose Your Sense of Wonder

I've been trying to figure something out for a while, and I think I've nailed it. There is a point most people reach in life where their childlike sense of wonder is lost.

Wonder as a noun is defined as "the emotion excited by what is strange and surprising; a feeling of surprised or puzzled interest, sometimes tinged with admiration."
As a verb it is, "to think or speculate curiously," or "to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; marvel."

Talking about a sense of wonder reminds me of a song. It's from my junior high or high school days, and while some may call it cheesy, I think it reads like a beautiful letter from a mother to a daughter. I Hope You Dance by Leeann Womack. This line from the song keeps coming back to mind: "I hope you never lose your sense of wonder."
And that is it - the thing I believe many people lose, or let go of, or bury under a pile of other life "stuff." Wonder is something I want my daughter to have.

I want her to never lose her sense of wonder. I want her to keep a childlike faith always. I want her to marvel at the flight of a butterfly, and gasp at the beauty of a sunrise. I hope she'll smile at blooming spring flowers, and giggle at falling snow. I pray she marvels at the Rocky Mountains' majesty. Like the song says, I hope she feels small when she stands beside the ocean. I pray she'll lift her head up at church, look around, and feel joy seeing the family of diverse, beautiful people worshiping God. I hope her breath catches when she witnesses someone making a life-changing decision for Christ. I pray that Christmas and Easter mean so much more to her than the commercial holidays they are becoming. I want her to honor life as sacred at any age, to notice the quiet cooing of a newborn baby or the wrinkled hand of her great grandmother. I hope she tears up someday upon seeing an elderly couple tenderly holding hands just as they have for decades before she was even born. I pray she knows how much God has in mind for her. I pray that cynicism never touches her heart or weighs down her lips.
I want her to keep the wonder that God plants in every heart when it's conceived. It's just so special.

I may have lost my wonder as a teenager - I don't remember. But I absolutely got it back, and tenfold, through the long journey of liver disease, transplant and recovery, and all of the hard days of pain and discomfort since then because of everything else I deal with on top of my liver. I always count that as a blessing. If I've gone through what I have so that I have a rare sense of wonder about me, it is worth it. I know God has purpose for it. I believe living with wonder is a better way to live, and I want that for my girl. Truly, I want it for everyone. Guard your wonder, and keep it safe. It makes life sacred, and memories as treasures. If you still have it, I hope you never lose your sense of wonder. And if you've lost it, I pray you'll find it again.


Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance:"

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances but they're worth taking
Loving might be a mistake but it's worth making

Don't let some hell-bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance!

A Garden Room for Baby V

I love looking at pretty things, and the fabric I've picked for Baby Girl's room is so pretty! It makes me smile, and cheers me up, and I wanted to share it here.

This is the fabric for the crib skirt, and the inspiration for the whole room. I'm going to frame a piece for the wall as well:


And a close-up:


This is the home decor fabric I chose to recover the glider cushions:


Both fabrics have a creamy colored background, not white. I love the spring green and warm rich reds, oranges, and browns. I found another calico print that I think I'm going to make the bumper out of. It's a warm, muted orange with red ad cream leaf accents. Matches perfectly. There is a tiny floral printed calico in a warm green that sort of goes, but I'm not sold on it:


I still want to avoid an overly "themey" room. What I've been doing is buying things I like and that coordinate, and trusting that it will come together. I read that if you create a room you would have loved as a child, you can't go wrong. Well, it is coming together; over the weekend I realized that V's room is taking on a garden theme! I would have loved it as a girl (after all, my favorite birthday party we ever put on was a garden/flower theme. Hard to explain, but it was so much fun - inspired by an American Girl Magazine idea). See, we have floral prints and frogs, and I've planned all along to frame and hang this watercolor that my niece painted for me and Baby V:


Perfect, right? Hubs wants to make a mobile of birds or butterflies. And the creativity keeps flowing, stay tuned... :)