Deck the Halls

Christmas is six (SIX!) days away and I have much to blog about. Like, say, gifts I've made (although some can't be shared till after the holidays, lest we spoil some gift-giving surprises), stockings I finished long ago, baby sleep updates, haircuts (a few), and some recipes. I got a great start on my Christmas gift making this year, and it is a good thing, because Matt and I were asked to plan our church Christmas party (with the help of a great committee) so Christmas making went to the back burner while party planning was in full swing. The party was on Saturday so now I'm full steam ahead for Christmas.

Our decorations are few this year, partially due to living in a smaller place, but I like to think we've done well with what we've got. We opted for a table top tree to keep presents and ornaments from our ever-curious almost-one-year-old's hands. I used mostly the same decorations we have used in years past, with a few tweaks. My "theme" (because yes, I think about stuff like that) is retro/vintage inspired. 

Our Super Secret Fun Project Reveal!

It is finished! Our super secret fun project that I mentioned in this post by giving you a little visual clue...

...is complete. Fin. The end.

Wanna know what it is?

Well, that pile 'o staples started out as part of this thing of beauty:

Gah. The color. The stains. Bad.

Crib Mobile (Finally!)

Back in December I made these cute little birds (pattern found here) for a mobile I had planned for the nursery. Do you guys remember how cute that mobile turned out? No? Oh yeah. I never finished it. I made all those birds and then never got around to assembling the mobile. To be honest, I knew the balancing act that would be, well, balancing the mobile, would be difficult. I thought about it every so often as I transferred it from one to-do list to the next and tried to think of ways I might make it easier. Finally, yesterday, I buckled down and bought the supplies to try and tackle this adorable mobile, with my own twist.

I worked on it last night and this morning (in between feedings and multiple failed naps) and finally have a finished product to share! I even got it hung up.

It was a little precarious getting the hook installed (ok, very precarious) but I got er done. It *may* have involved standing on the edge of the crib, while holding power tools, and I *may* have lost my balance and gotten a big bump/bruise on my shin. Maybe. 

House Tour

Remember how in this post I mentioned giving you all a house tour? Since I literally only have one friend who has ever seen the inside of our new place I figured it might be fun. And since I tell you all about all sorts of menial things about my life, seeing where they all happen might be cool. You know how you picture how someone looks from hearing their voice or having a friend talk about them, but then when you meet them they look completely different? Well I do that with spaces too. I envision someone in their house/office/whatever and then when I actually see it, its usually completely different than I imagined. Anyone else do that?

I also love to decorate and diy things for my home. You'll see real quick that I haven't done much of that at all in our new place- so you can bet I'll be doing those sorts of projects in the future. Now you'll have a dreary before to compare all those after pics to. It could be kinda fun. You can see our little place transform into a home. It it going to take a little elbow grease to get this place where we want it- it lacks the charm that our last place had, is smaller, and has awful cabinets in both bathrooms and the kitchen. Should be an adventure :)

Here is a floor plan for you all soon so you can see how everything connects (like they did on one of my favorite DIY blogs, Young House Love)

Monsterblog.

Greetings! Long time no post, I know. Matt always 'encourages' me to blog... but by the time I come home from work I just don't feel like it. Today flew by at work and was particularly busy, but for whatever reason, here I am! Lucky you:)

You all get a peek into our lives as Matt posts his cooking ventures. Being the food people that we are, I feel like that is a pretty good look at what goes on in the Coats house, but we are overdue for some life/baby updates- so here they are!

Some time ago our little baby ticker (over there, to the right.... up.... there it is) said we had 100 days left till this little one is scheduled to join us (and yes, I know there is nothing scheduled about it) so we decided to celebrate! We went to a great little diner about 40 minutes away in Staunton called Wrights where Matt enjoyed 'the monster burger'. You are all right in assuming it was huge. After that we had the wheelie, a donut topped with soft serve. I can't believe I never thought of that before, but it was good.

The Wheelie

We also carved pumpkins in the recent past for family night. Our pumpkin is currently rotting on our front porch- the rain hasn't been good for it- so we'll stick with a picture we took right after carving.

Owl Pumpkin

Fall is my favorite season, especially in Virginia. We took advantage of the beautiful place we live and went for a fall drive this past Sunday. Here is a pic of my handsome hubby in a random field we stopped in.

This is Virginia, folks.

In addition to all these goings on, we are continually doing baby-related things, like planning out the nursery, crib searching, making baby things, baby showers (thanks to my awesome co-workers- what a great surprise!), reading all sortsa stuff... Matt even found an ipod app on making your own baby food. He's adorable.

Our crib search was getting frustrating. We found one crib we liked. Loved.

This bad boy is modern, eco-chic and downright beautiful (I'm in love with everything on their website). And costs $690. Aside from the price tag, it was everything we imagined we wanted in a crib. But apparently money is a factor here (ok, reeeeeeally a factor) and we knew this crib could not be ours. Sigh. As I searched for online crib skirt tutorials I stumbled across this post from a blog I used to check out every so often and read about their crib search. It sounded like ours... and I knew there must be resolution, so I started to get hopeful.

What we found through their crib search was this modern beauty. Where is it sold you ask? Walmart. Yes. You read that right. Of all places. Our search had taken us just about everywhere EXCEPT Walmart, mostly because their selection of in-store baby stuff is terrible and I thought it would be the last place to get a unique but simple crib. I was right. It was the last place- but isn't it a beauty!?

This one rings in just under $300. Matt wanted to buy it the moment we saw it, but we are trying not to be impulsive shoppers. Site-to-store service means we don't have to pay for shipping and we can actually get it right here in our rural little community. The stars have aligned, and there is much rejoicing.

Amongst all this crib searching and baby planning, my dear husband ran across a website that allows you to create a virtual room and arrange furniture. He thought it would save him the hassle of moving furniture around multiple times before I figured out what I wanted.... what he didn't know was that it actually was kind of a pain to use. But, once we figured it out, we started to have fun. We created 3d images of the nursery layout that is to scale with the furniture we already have and that which we hope to acquire.

Kinda neat right? We couldn't change the crib to white... but use your imagination. We also couldn't change the wall color to Olympic's 'Crocodile Tears', but you get the idea.

I finally bought my fabrics for the bumpers, crib skirt, changing pad and throw pillows for the love seat, plus whatever else I come up with. Fun patterns, right?

Just yesterday I made this skirt and embellished onesie. Originally I was going to attach the skirt to the onesie to make a dress, but I figured this way both pieces are versatile. I also attached the flower with a snap, so if I decide to make more skirts in the future I can make matching embellishments and just swap out the onesie. It was super easy- maybe I'll create a tutorial...
And for a photo update- here I am at 27ish weeks in that fabulous field we drove to. That belly is a-growin!

And the fun begins!

In case you haven't heard... our little bun in the oven is a GIRL! Thanks for all those who voted girl on our poll for sending those vibes my way. I like to think it was a joint effort in bringing this about:)

adorable little profile- right?!

saying hello

As soon as we found out at our ultrasound on Wed. (the 15th) we got ta shoppin and hit up Old Navy and Babygap. Both stores had great sales and we loaded up on adorable baby girl clothes. It was a blast. Baby Charly is spoiled rotten already. Speaking of... yep- we have a name! And since neither we nor our families can keep anything a secret, its pretty much public knowledge now that we plan to name this cute little one Charlotte- Charly for short. The stars are aligned in her favor because not only is it our first little girl, but the first grandbaby on both sides of the family, so grandmas, grandpas and all 6 aunts are set to spoil this child. So, as if having two incredibly psyched parents isn't enough, we've got a squadron set to spoil.



Part of my spoil plan includes sewing the room decor. I have an inspiration fabric...

fresh poppies- its fun and femenine

and now I need to choose some other fabrics for the room. They all come from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern II lines, so I picked out my fav's so far and have a collage for you all to take a gander at.

hexagon

happy dots

martini

I love all of these prints but want to pick out a scheme that works with the wall color (a sagey green- crocodile tears from olympic paint) and that doesn't totally scream pink, but still has a femenine feel. The inspiration fabric has some great colors in it. Let me know if you come up with any great combinations!