Big boy room coming soon!!

One of the fun things we'll be doing soon is converting Nolan's nursery into his big boy room. We'll need his crib this summer and well let's face it he can't stay in there forever! I have grand ideas but finding everything that fits together and getting it done before I get huge is going to be a big task. I've decided on the new theme. We're going to be doing a transportation themed room. Nol is obsessed with trains, planes, cars, boats, and more. Just seeing my Pinterest board for his new room has gotten him excited and running around the house yelling "Cars. Vroom Vroom."

Nolan's new bed is from IKEA (Kura line). It will start out as the first picture shows low to the ground and safe. Then once he is old enough, it converts to a lofted bed with a fun play/read area underneath. I'm in love with this bed. Unfortunately, I am not in love with IKEA's bedding. They have amazing comforters that require duvets. They are big fluffy white comforters that you cover with a sort of pillow case. The issue isn't with the duvets it's with the covers. The only cover that fits our room's theme is mainly white. White fabric and a young boy just don't mix!

I found this great bedding print but unfortunately it doesn't come in just a duvet cover. If I use a twin comforter instead of a duvet it will hang over the sides of the bed and just not fit very well. S before I can begin to think about painting and such I have to tie down the bedding for certain. I can't decide if I go for an ill fitting comforter, a not so perfect but nice fitting duvet and cover, or spend hours more searching for the perfect fabric.

If only I could purchase just the fabric from this comforter and make my own duvet cover! I've got everyone I know searching for large print fabric but have only come across the typical cars and trucks fabric with 1-3" cars on it. Way too tiny for make a statement bedding. So when you find that perfect fabric or perfect duvet cover let me know!!

Quiet Book Finished!!

Our three month long project is finally finished. Nolan has his very first quiet book to play with. I loved the idea from Pinterest and a few of my favorite blogs but felt like buying the parts to make enough fun pages would be expensive since you couldn't buy in bulk. That's where the co-op came in to play. A group of us each focused on one complete page and made enough copies for everyone. You could buy in bulk and got good at your page. Here is the end result.

My front cover. It's thick pellon covered with some 70's polyester in bright red. I'll likely paint the front with "Nolan's Quiet book" but haven't decided yet. This is where I need my embroidery machine!!!

The back cover is more playful! I used binder rings from Staples and grommeted each page for strength. A webbing latch secures the book and it's contents and fastens with snaps. I love my cloth diaper snap pliers!!

Page 1 is a Potato head play page. The pieces slide up the bottom of the potato head and are secured while not in use. 

Page 2 and  3 go together. The refrigerator is on the right side and dinner plate on the left. Inside the fridge are felt bread, cheese, and lunchmeat to build a sandwich on the plate. They are secured with velcro to one another and can be undone and put back together in different combinations.

Page 4 is a fun ice cream truck. Inside the truck are ice cream scoops that stack on the cone. They are in various colors for learning fun. Page 5  is a counting abacus page. The beads correspond to the numbers and are color sorted for more learning opportunities.

Page 6 is a transportation page.  Inside the pocket, which flips up out of the way for play, is a train, boat, airplane, and car attached and secured to ribbon. Page 7 is a shape matching page. Each shape snaps on an can be stored in the pocket.

Page 8 is the itsy bitsy spider play page. The poem is written on the page and parts for acting out the fun are included. Page 9 is a peek a boo page. Under the mittens is a clear pocket where pictures can be stored. 

 Page 10 is a fishing sail boat age. Inside the boat 3 fish are stored and on the tip of the fishing pole is a magnet. The fish can be caught! Page 11 is for practicing tying!

Page 12 is picnic play. Inside the basket are the place settings for a picnic. Under the ladybug fabric is the picnic blanket. the ladybug fabric covers the velcro so it doesn't wear away adjoining pages. Page 13 is monster fun! Inside the pocket are various pieces to make monster faces.

Page 14 is gladiator/knight fun. The dress up man has various cute dress up parts such as a sword and shield.

We're actually missing a few pages that came in late. I have to get a few more grommets for those then will add them to the book and hopefully update this post too!

Blog name change!

Soon I'll need to change my blog name!! No more just nurturing Nolan.

Baby at 9 weeks

I-Spy DIY

I came across a fun blog, Delia Creates, not to long ago and loved her I-Spy idea. After talking to a friend of mine I realized it'd be fun to do in collaboration with other moms so the pictured toys were a mix of familiar and unfamiliar items. I set it up as a playdate and the fun day was yesterday.

I decided to do our book by colors and in the end we'd have 9 separate sections. Every mom was instructed to bring a toy of each color. While the kids played, we spread out a white paper and went color by color. It was a lot of fun but time consuming both taking the pictures and then editing. I did the picture taking but had help arranging and had someone to keep an eye on Nolan!!

Now all I have to do is print the pictures and put them into a album so he can start sorting and finding!! I think I might have a nice shutterfly coupon so maybe we'll do a photo book instead!! If you're interested in having any of the pics for your own book, just let me know and I can send you the link!

Orange Search Page

Orange Key - Find me!!

Quiet Book

I'm in the process of making a quiet book through a co-op group I out together. Basically I just solicited a bunch of friends and family for the group (yep, you same people reading this already know this lol). Each of us participating will make one double sided page for each of the other moms in the group. Then once we exchange we'll have a complete book. It lets you get really good at two pages yet get a very diverse book.

I have my proto-types done. I actually made a few other pages in the process but they were too time consuming so I finally figured out my pattern. Here they are!! Now I'll sew these two together to have a complete 2-sided page. Only ten more to go!

MIA

Sorry our blog has sat idle for so long. With the Holidays and days off work for hubby, we've been busy. Nolan thoroughly enjoyed his third Christmas and loved the family time even more. On Tim's first day back at work, Nolan asked about him numerous times and cried when he found out daddy wasn't home.

Nol now cheeses every time he sees me grab the camera. He takes my phone from me and holds it to his eye like he is taking pictures and says "cheese". Gone are the days of natural smiles in photographs!!

In the past few days, we've had an explosion of new words. Our non verbal little guy is learning fast. He's said a friend's name for the first time ever and went on to say the names of four good friends. We've added new colors to our vocabulary and lots of new animals.

My favorite new word is "Boob." Yep, I've been trying to wean Nolan and all I get is a pitiful little cry and his begging voice saying "boob mama, boob." Poor baby!! We've cut out his nursing sessions before nap and bed for the past two days and managed to go one entire night with no nursing too. Last night though was plain horrible and I ended up nursing him. I think I'm going to take it baby stapes at a time and allow him to nurse if he wakes in the night. That will still be a big change for a kiddo used to nursing before nap and bedtime too. Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be able to drop the nighttime nursing too but we'll see! I've either been pregnant or nursing for the past 3 years now!

Ornament fun!

Shh... don't tell the grandmas! Nolan made them very special surprises. After seeing all the fun handprint art on Pinterest we decided to have some fun with clay. I love Morning Glory Fire ceramic arts in Jacksonville. Kristin does mobile clay painting events at your choice of locations and we've had fun playdates in our mom's group utilizing her! I contacted her mentioning that I wanted to make some ornaments and was able to directly buy some raw clay.

Reminiscing on my high school arts classes, I got to work rolling out the clay. Nolan was such a trooper pressing his hands and feet for me! He liked stepping on the clay a little more than doing handprints though. Once they dried, I took them over to Kristin to be fired. then they came to my place for the painting. The final product is just amazing! Such a great little keepsake! If only I hadn't waited until the last minute, we could have made even more!! I figured the 15 we made was enough. His little hands and feet were tired!

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Don't forget to help us win a giftcard to a local, awesome toy store. The race ends Wednesday and I'm now in second place. It's simple, just click the link below and then like the picture. It's his homemade elf on a shelf riding a train. Don't like all the other pictures in the album or you'll be voting for his competitors. Contest Link