Tree Wall-Art Tweaks

Justin's generous mother-in-law took us to Hobby Lobby to pick out some wall-art for Pandora's room shortly after she arrived. We found lots that we liked, but had trouble finding things that worked well together. Unfortunately the trip was a little too soon for me ~ I was not doing too well after walking around that giant store, so we had to cut the search short and head home. We did grab one of our favorite pieces on the way out though, and it was even on clearance for super cheap. Score!



I really liked the tree, but something kept nagging at me. I realized that the colors were *slightly* off ~ My artist-eye can be a little to picky sometimes! The flowers were a light, neon pink, which I thought would look better darker and not one solid color. The background was a little too baby blue as well, and I thought teal would suit a little girl's room better. So I pulled out the paints and went to work, happy to have a crafty project to work on. Here is the result ~




The biggest change being the flowers ~




I'm loving the changes, even if it did end up taking longer than I expected. And it feels nice to add a little personal touch to the nursery decorations! Now I'm considering doing a painting for Orson's room (from scratch this time) ~ we have plenty of canvases in the basement!

Before & After

Luckily I snapped a belly shot 2 days before Pandora arrived so you can just how gigantic I got! (Here is Orson's last pic for comparison. I was induced about 2 weeks later so I did get bigger!) And just for laughs I'm including a shot from after the delivery. It was taken about a week later when my milk came in and I temporarily looked like I had a boob job! We joked that the pictures look as if someone pushed in my belly and it all ballooned out up top.



You can find more pics & info on the Harvling blog. Here are lots of Pandora pics and the story of her birth.

Pink-y Glitter Manicure

Can you believe I haven't painted my nails in almost 2 months? At the end of the pregnancy I was super busy with orders & not motivated to do much else, and the first few weeks with a newborn were not much calmer. I thought I'd go simple this time & try out some new polishes ~ pink in honor of our new arrival!



This is Jessica "Smitten Kitten" topped with Sinful Colors "Pinky Glitter". I've been searching for a good pink & was not impressed with the Jessica polish ~ it covers pretty well (2-3 coats) but the formula & brush are terrible! As infrequently as I wear pink though I'll just deal with it instead of looking for a better one. (Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the color very accurate here, it's a little darker & bluer)

"Pinky Glitter" is one of those few cheap $2 polishes that ends up being awesome! I'd seen it recommended again & again online & knew I had to get it after seeing it in person. So sparkly & iridescent ~ the picture does not do it justice. I'm not usually a big 'pink' fan, but every once in a while I like to coat my nails in glittery girly goodness!

Welcome Pandora!

You may have guessed from my absence ~ our little one arrived a bit early! Little Pandora was born Wednesday the 8th, only a week early & with no complications. We are all home & doing well! (Today is my due date, haha)

I just got my camera cord back so here is a grainy iPad shot for now ~



The labor definitely took us by surprise, lasting only 3 hours total! For the first 2 hours my contractions were completely irregular (2 minute apart, 8 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.), and would sometimes pause if I changed positions ~ all the signs that it was 'false labor'. Once we hit about 2 hours they were so intense that we decided to go to the hospital anyway, throwing things in our bag & rushing out the door with our toddler. The contractions were about 2.5 minutes apart the whole 20 minute drive there and I was screaming my head off in the car!

And we barely made it there in time! They rushed us back to a delivery room & were telling me not to push yet, we were waiting on their doctor to get ready. No time for an epidural, or for a friend to take Orson ~ the poor guy had to sit in the room through the whole thing! (Luckily he doesn't seem traumatized) The baby was born within about 30 minutes of our arrival at the hospital ~ it was quite the crazy, surreal night!

It has been hectic juggling two little ones, especially in my sore state, but *thank goodness* I've got Justin's mom here this week to help. Justin took about 3 days off but headed back to work Tuesday to finish off the end of the school year. (I'll have him for the whole summer, but meanwhile I've got to get through next week on my own.) When we got back home I spent a few days finishing up my last bit of work & am really enjoying the fact that today I am free!! And feeling pretty good ~ I can finally start knocking out a few of those neglected chores & my overwhelming to-do list. (Naturally the toddler just woke up from a super short nap...)

GTD: Baby Clothes Sorting, iPad Deciphering, and More

10 days until the due date and counting down! (And we suspect she'll come/be induced a little early)

Since the start of the year I have been setting aside certain days of the week for themed posts (Monday: Getting Things Done, Wednesdays: Manicures, Sundays: Recent Recipes) and am proud I've been able to stick to the schedule so well! Those weekly deadlines have definitely helped push me to keep with it and I've been posting more than ever!

But those weekly themes have mostly focused on listing *everything*, and I've been itching to get back to more 'normal' posts ~ dropping the lists and focusing more on the interesting recipes & projects. I plan on sticking with the themed posts until the baby arrives and then will probably disappear for a bit until things settle down. Then I can hopefully get into the habit of posting regularly without the set themes or lists. (Though I may keep the lists privately going for myself. It's surprisingly motivating to see how much, or little, you've accomplished during the week!)

By the way, sorry to have skipped the manicures for so many weeks! With all of the extra custom orders & baby prep & cleaning I just can't motivate myself to do anything with them lately!


Last week I...

♦ Made my own taco seasoning! We had some Sazon on hand for those times a recipe needed a little, but the jar finally ran out and I was eager to try this. It smells wonderful & we'll be trying it out in a recipe this week.

♦ I managed to go through all 7 bags of baby clothes from my cousin and get them sorted by size. Here is a picture of the 3 month and 6 month piles!



Oh my!! Pandora will definitely be a well dressed baby! Luckily that is the bulk of it ~ there is a slightly smaller 9 month pile and then a few Newborn, 12 months, hats/socks/shoes/etc.

I then went through each size & pulled out my absolute favorites & set the rest aside to go to another home. Once you add in the things I bought, or got from grandmas & the shower, she is still going to have a ton of clothes!

♦ Inspired by the clothes sorting, I pulled out the bag of boys clothes I have set aside for a pregnant friend and checked for any stains. I thought I'd need to treat & wash most of the bag, but since they were not our favorite items I guess they did not get worn as much! (There were also quite a few boys clothes mixed in the above piles, so I was able to add about 30 more things to this bag)

♦ The mower was finally ready to pick up from repairs after 2 1/2 weeks so Justin rushed over & started mowing that night. (He was quite embarrassed about our overgrown yard & was about to go out there with a weed whacker!)

♦ Found a local pediatrician for the baby & Orson - Definitely should have done this sooner, but since we moved we've only had to take Orson in once for an ear ache & just went to the Minute Clinic.

♦ Bought a curtain & rod for the nursery & hung them. Thought I could get away with one panel but we'll definitely need to pick up a 2nd one!

♦ Been working on Thank You cards for the baby shower & am about 2/3 of the way through.

♦ Researched what iPad cases would be good to use around a toddler and decided to order this one. The iPad & case arrived on the same day! I like the case pretty well, but would go with the newer Kraken case or the Griffin Survivor if I was to do it again.

I've also spent a lot of time figuring out how to *use* the iPad, which includes many Google searches to answer my questions. Very sad to see that you can't log-in as different users, but luckily with our different email hosts & such I think Justin and will have fewer problems sharing it than most people would.

♦ And I've been slowly going through some of the ancient bookmarks on my computer. I moved a lot of recipe & craft links over to Pinterest when I started an account there, but had not noticed how many other links were floating around in my folders! Most of them are from *years* ago, and it's quite interesting/depressing to sort through them all.

Recent Recipes: Hot & Sour Soup, Hot Bacon & Swiss Dip, and More

Keeping it simple again last week! We ended up with some leftovers & ate out an extra night so we did not do as much cooking. Last week we made ~



► Hot & Sour Soup with frozen egg rolls (2+ dinners, pictured above) - I had this on my list for possible freezer meals, but vetoed the idea once I saw how early the water was added in the recipe. I'd prefer to have most of the prep done & store everything without the water so it doesn't take up so much room in the freezer!

► Brats with frozen steak fries & bagged salad - Our plans to grill were derailed by lots & lots of rain!

And for a get-together we made ~

► Hot Bacon & Swiss Dip with tortilla chips - This stuff goes dangerously fast!

GTD: More baby prep

I've been taking things easy but still working on some last minute baby stuff. Last week I (with some help from Justin) ...

♦ Sewed & hung the new black-out panel for Orson's room. I guess it was a little too successful ~ Orson started asking for a nightlight!

♦ Went on the hospital tour.

♦ Moved Orson's car seat to the right side of the car to give him a little time to adjust before we set up the baby's car seat base in hold old spot.

♦ Set up the playpen bassinet in our bedroom.

♦ Moved the desk from the nursery & scooted over the crib. We've still got some arranging to do in there, but she'll probably be sleeping in our room for a while.

♦ Picked up the custom framed photos we ordered from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago. The frames were all 50% off this week, so I made sure to ask about the sale and we got a huge discount!!

We also bought a plate holder there for a large serving platter. Might as well use it for decoration rather than having it shoved awkwardly in a cabinet! (It now sits atop the red cabinet)

♦ My lovely aunt & cousin threw me & Pandora a baby shower! It was so nice to see everyone, eat some yummy foods, and we got spoiled with presents. The ladies helped me knock out some of the much-needed items from our registry, and my cousin loaded me up with 7 giant bags of girl's clothing! I'll need to start sorting through them this week, but for now I'm having them checked out by our quality inspector ~



♦ And we had one last big splurge before I stop working ~ an iPad 2! It should be arriving in a few days & we are still in shock, we've wanted one a long time.

We were not able to fix the battery in our current laptop, and with the broken power cord that means it's only really usable if you don't move it at all. (Next year we'll probably replace my desktop with a nice laptop, but for now we needed something a little more portable.) There is also a hand-held baby tracker I've been wishing for since Orson was born, but at this point I figured that $50 would be better spent on a tablet & a cheap app. With Pandora threatening to come early we didn't think it was going to be possible (I'd lose a few weeks of payments), so we are extra excited about our early Mother & Father's Day gift!

Anyone have recommendations for a case?