What, you’ve never heard of such a thing?  Me neither.  I make these things up as I go along.

The real story is that I was looking for a project that Ike and I could do together.  I mean, what’s more special than a gift made together by your daughter and grandson, right?  I was quite taken by the idea of covering flower pots with fabric using Mod Podge.  But, I didn’t have any flower pots on hand and couldn’t get organized enough to actually go buy some.  So, I made do with what I had.  I remembered that I salvaged this green leaf-shaped tray from the shelves of Goodwill a couple of years ago and decided it would be the perfect subject.

I gathered my supplies of Mod Podge, fabric scraps, foam brushes and scissors and corralled my number one helper.

Together we “painted” the tray with Mod Podge and covered it with randomly cut pieces of fabric.

Once the tray was completely covered, I coated the top with another layer of Mod Podge.

It didn’t look like much when I was finished, but once the tray had time to dry, I was quite pleased with the results.

The layering of the fabric created some texture on the top of the tray, so it isn’t perfectly smooth.  But, the fabric is fully attached and none of the edges will get caught on anything.

And the tray comes complete with a little character, since it is slightly chipped on the bottom.  Perfection is boring, though, right?

A tray like this would be great for catching jewelry, or even coins, keys or accessories in an entry way.  We’ll have to see how my mom puts it to good use.

So, do tell.  Did you make something for your mom for Mother’s Day?  Or have you Mod Podged something lately?

Despite being out of “free time,” I’m still chipping away at my list and this past weekend I finally got around to completing some artwork to hang over the crib.

Before I delve into the how-tos on this masterpiece, let me explain the back story.  Back when this was just a room for one baby boy, this wall was home to our yellow dresser/changing table, with shelves and hooks hanging above, like this:

Once we moved the dresser into the closet and took the shelves down, we were left with a pretty expansive space to fill.  The crib fits the wall perfectly, and the tissue paper poms and star lanterns I added helped fill up a lot of the space, but it needed something more.

(The poms are from PomLove, by the way, and they match the ones over Ike’s bed. The stars were made by my sister for our wedding!)

The truth is, I needed something to cover up the holes left from the shelves that I didn’t feel like filling!  The answer: artwork.

I pondered a gallery wall for a while but then decided on one large-scale piece.  Between our fabric-filled embroidery hoops and other wall art, I felt that more small pieces would make it too busy.  Of course, some may argue that adding a big colorful alphabet piece might make it too busy.  But, to each their own.  I liked the idea of the alphabet because it would be educational and decorative all at the same time.

Back in February, I picked up a canvas drop cloth and some acrylic paints at Home Depot.  I had no plan other than to make something big with letters.  The rest I just figured out as I went.

I started by laying the drop cloth on a table and ironing it.  Yes, I ironed right there on the table.  I didn’t cut a piece yet, just left it full size to see what happened.

This was the collection of paints that I found at Home Depot for just $2.97.  Such a steal!

I started by adding 32 yellow dots with a sponge brush.  I made them really rough circles so that nothing looked too perfect.  The artist in me was really coming out…kindergarten style.

The yellow was a bit too bold for me so I softened it up and added some dimension by mixing some white paint over the yellow dots.  It was starting to look a little funky.  But I kept going!

Then I picked my palette of colors.  What, you don’t put your acrylic paints on your glass plates?  I do.

Since I had 32 circles (four even rows of eight circles), I needed to fill six with something other than letters.  I chose to do randomly placed shapes, all painted black.  I made sure not to do a circle, since it looks so much like the letter “O.”  I didn’t want to confuse the tots, after all.

Once the shapes were in place, I started adding the letters, one color at a time…

…until all the circles were full!  I thought for sure I would put a letter in the wrong place since I was doing the letters by color instead of in order, but I got it right.

After I let my masterpiece dry, I trimmed around the edges with pinking shears (so I didn’t have to hem every edge).  I finished it off with two wooden dowels, one at the top and one at the bottom.  I folded the fabric around the dowels, pinned it in place, removed the dowels to sew the two straight lines, then put the dowels back through.

I forgot to take a close-up picture, but I just used two pieces of orange ribbon attached to either end of the top dowel, tied them in the center and used that to hang the artwork.  It was pretty simple.  I might need to add something sticky to the back once Lincoln starts standing up and grabbing things, but it should be nice and secure for several months!

As for the letters, I decided to go with all lowercase.  Ike knows all of his uppercase letters, so I thought this would be a good chance to practice his lowercase letters, colors and shapes all at once.  I found it helps him learn letters when they are different colors.  I can ask him to find the purple “b” and he can instantly narrow down the choices based on the color.  We’ll see if it works.  If not, at least it looks good!

So, what do you think?  Is it a little too bright and colorful for your taste?  Or is it something you would add to a kid’s room?

Sure, they look good enough to eat the whole plate full, but they didn’t turn out as great as I thought they would be.  That being said, we did finish the whole plate of six by the end of the day, so they weren’t horrible, either!

What I realized as I took the first disappointing bite was that the recipe I followed didn’t have sugar in the doughnut batter.  So, the result was a very bland tasting doughnut with some sugar coating on the outside.  If you’re looking for a healthier doughnut (and, really, who is?), then this certainly fits the bill with its baked-not-fried approach and general lack of sugar!

Anyway, I thought this would still be a good opportunity to show you how easy baked doughnuts can be if you invest $10 or less in doughnut pan (like this one).  I was lucky enough to be gifted my doughnut pan from Stonewall Kitchen during my first pregnancy (a pregnant girl needs her doughnuts, right?).

Mixing up the batter took about as much time and effort as making pancakes—it is all hand mixed and no fancy equipment is required.

Next you pipe the dough into the doughnut pan using a Ziploc bag (or a piping bag).  I chose the Ziploc bag so I didn’t have to wash anything! (Just add the dough to the bag then use scissors to snip a corner off.)

You can see that I haven’t quite mastered my piping skills, but it really didn’t matter.  The doughnuts all came out well shaped!

Next I mixed up a simple glaze of confectioners sugar, milk and maple syrup.  I didn’t measure, just combined ingredients until the thickness seemed right.

Then I dipped both sides and let them cool.

In less than 30 minutes from start to finish, and with only a few dirty dishes, we had doughnuts.  It really is just as easy as pancakes or muffins, so it’s worth giving it a try.  Just maybe not with the recipe I followed.  Perhaps you could try some of these instead!

• Pumpkin cake doughnuts
• Spiced cake doughnuts (by Decor and the Dog)

Happy doughnut eating!

No sugar, mom? What’s up with that?

Do you have a doughnut pan?  What recipes have worked for you?

Just as I had hoped, the muffins delivered the perfect amount of chocolate in each bite, all hidden under the guise of their healthy oatmeal co-ingredient.

As a bonus, they were toddler approved (though he refused to call them anything but cookies).

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
Makes 12 standard-sized muffins

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup oats (I used quick oats since it’s what we had on hand)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup canola oil (optional, or replaceable with applesauce or other ingredients)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.  In a smaller bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk well.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together with as few strokes as possible.  Add in your chocolate chips, divide the batter into muffin liners or a greased muffin tin and bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (or until they test done with a toothpick)!

And now I have to determine what else to make with mini chocolate chips since my super smart husband bought two bags for me!

So, tell me, do you like to use mini chocolate chips?  Or had you sadly forgotten about their charm, just like I did?

Happy baking!

Anyway, we are nearing the twelve-week mark (how did that happen!?) and while I still whole-heartedly endorse the items on my 0-3 month baby must-have list from two years ago, I thought I would share some of the things that have helped me get through these crazy days.

Gripe water
I have rolled my eyes at products like this many a time, especially at a $10 price tag, but I take my eye rolling back.  For some serious gas pains and hiccups that disrupted nursing, this concoction worked like a charm.  Seriously, one sip of this and hiccups disappeared immediately.  It was cutting dairy out of my diet that finally seemed to help our little man, but this product definitely helped us along the way.  And since it’s all natural, I felt okay using it.  At one point we were using it up to five times a day, and now it’s only sporadic.

Hands-free pumping bra
I was really, really stupid for not buying one of these with baby number one.  I pumped for 10 months, sometimes up to seven times a day, without one of these.  I thought this bra was a joke and wouldn’t work.  Um, I was wrong!  I am a total pumping freak.  I obsess about it.  I obsess about having enough of a milk supply when I go back to work, so I pump extra.  I obsess about having a good milk stock in the freezer, so I pump extra.  I can already tell that this bra will be a life saver when I go back to work.  I’ll actually be able to send emails while pumping and I won’t feel so confined by pumping.  Freedom for my hands!

V8 V-Fusion
This list is getting weirder by the minute.  But, hear me out.  I’m not great at eating fruits and veggies.  The thing is, I love them, but I am drawn to other snacks first.  And since I need fruits and veggies for my well being, I chug a glass or two of this each day to make sure I’m at least getting something healthy.  Plus, I hear it helps milk supply.  Did I mention I’m obsessed?

Dry shampoo
Didn’t think that this would make the list?  It did.  I went there.  Here’s the deal, I barely could find time to shower with baby number one.  Now that we have a toddler and an infant, showers are even more hard to come by.  For me, the most time consuming part of showering and getting dressed is washing and drying my hair.  That’s where dry shampoo comes in.  I can shower in about one minute if I skip hair washing.  Which means the baby can hang on the bathmat for 60 seconds if need be.  A few sprays of dry shampoo and the greasiness is gone and I’m out the door.  I might even stay on an every-other-day wash cycle once I’m back to work since this works so well!

A haircut
This might not be applicable to everyone, but getting a new haircut one month after Lincoln was born made me feel 100% better about myself.  Sure, I was sleep deprived, saggy, leaky and generally unkempt (see dry shampoo entry above), but I had a fresh new do.  It helped me face myself in the mirror every day.  And I had two hours out of the house by myself!

Smartphone
This is completely frivolous and unnecessary for a new mom, but having an iPhone by my side has certainly made life with a newborn easier and more fun.  First, there’s the ability to snap a picture at any given second and send it off to dad in the office.  You never know when those first smiles might appear!  Second, there are many helpful apps.  I mentioned in the birth story that I used an app to track my contractions during labor.  After Lincoln was born I used an app to track diapers and feedings.  I’ve never been so organized!  And finally, my iPhone serves as a flashlight in the middle of the night to check on the little bugger and entertainment during the dark hour feedings.  The downside: being able to Google things about nursing while nursing.  Sometimes you need to just stop obsessing.

So there are some rather unconventional recommendations from a now “seasoned” mom of a newborn.  Was it what you were expecting?  What would you add to the list?

What do you all think about a little giveaway to brighten up your Monday? I’m thinking it’s a pretty good way to start the week!

Have you heard of Minted, the online stationery, art and party store powered by a global community of designers? I’ll admit that I spend a fair amount of time pursuing the beautiful paper products from time to time. Spring is really the best time to check out this site, given all the stationery needs that spring brings. I know a lot of people that might be in need of some Minted wedding invitations, birth announcements, graduation announcements, or bridal shower and baby shower invites. The selection is quite extensive!

When I hopped on over to Minted to prep for this giveaway, I found myself lost in the wall art section and the fun option of creating different virtual art walls. Since I have babies on the brain and a need for some new nursery artwork, I pulled together this wall of potential nursery prints.

My Art Wall board by Erin. See more www.minted.com

Then I checked out the community boards and fell for this collection of kitchen art. My kitchen really needs a gallery wall.

Java Love board by Lisa. See more Minted.com

And how fun is the option to change the virtual room that you’re decorating? I loved this above-the-stair wall that has a “stones and pebbles” theme.

stones and pebbles board by Madeline. See more Minted wall art

I love that Minted engages designers and consumers in deciding what to sell. Designers submit their designs and customers help select designs by voting.

Anyway, I am sure that each and every one of you could find something you want or need at Minted, so let’s get on to the giveaway details, shall we?

The goods: One lucky winner will receive a $50 credit for Minted.
How to play: To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post with a note about which Minted product strikes your fancy.
Deadline: Entries to this giveaway will be accepted until Thursday, April 11, at 8 p.m. EST
Winning: One comment from this post will be picked at random and the author of that comment will be the winner!

So, what do you say? Time to enter in the comments section!

Disclosure time: I am lucky enough to be receiving some of my very own Minted credit as a result of this giveaway post, but all opinions expressed belong to me, myself and I.

And the winner is: Joanna, lucky commentor #36!

If you follow me on Instagram (@domesticadventure), then you know that my Easter morning included decorating some of these guys.

Yes, I know Easter has now passed, and it would have been helpful if I had posted this last week.  But, let’s be honest.  I’m just not that organized!

Here is where I also admit that I used a mix and store-bought frosting to make these.  Chris even called me from the store to be sure he was reading the list right.  The truth is, while I prefer baking from scratch, I don’t turn my nose up at any type of cupcake or frosting.  And I have a ton of from-scratch baking to do this week for Chris’ birthday (I’m making a cake for his office and whoopie pies for us)!

Want to know how to make your own spring chick cupcakes?

• Buy and/or make the cupcake and frosting types of your choice (I used yellow cake and white frosting)
• Add a bit of yellow food coloring to your frosting before topping the cupcakes.
• Place about 2 cups of coconut in a Ziploc bag and add 10-12 drops of yellow food coloring and mix well within the bag by shaking and moving the coconut around.
• Dip your cupcakes top down into the coconut and shake off the excess.
• Finally, decorate with whatever you have on hand!  I used jelly beans, but you could also use chocolate chips for the eyes and pieces of yellow Peeps for the wings.

Because these were just for our little family, I didn’t spend as much time decorating each one and eventually I just went with eyes and the beaks.

They are cute, though, right!?  And tasty, too.  (For full disclosure, I found my inspiration for these cupcakes here.)

What did you bake this Easter weekend?

Here’s the deal.  Our two boys were born in different hospitals.  Hospital number one sent a photographer in to take pictures on day 2 of his little life.  And they came out pretty well!  Hospital number two didn’t have a photographer service, so it was all up to me to take photos on day 2 of life.  And for some reason I really, really wanted newborn pictures of Lincoln that were similar to the ones of Ike.  And you know I’m too cheap to pay for something like that.  So, I faked it.  Can you tell?

I have a decent DSLR camera, but I don’t really know how to use it.  And two days after giving birth, I’m not sure that I could have had the focus to take a well-composed and well-lit picture anyway.  So, I did what most people do and I took a photo that I thought would suffice.  I framed and set up the picture to make it look similar to Ike’s, not not exactly the same.

Here is Ike’s picture turned black and white:

And here is Lincoln’s:

Yeah, my picture wasn’t even close.  And no matter what I tried with my novice photo editing skills, I couldn’t get the tone quite right, the shadows to minimize, and the blemishes on Lincoln’s little tummy to disappear.  So, I turned to the blog world where many people offer photo editing services.  Specifically, I asked Chelsea at Two Twenty One if she could help me out.  And, sure enough, for just 10 buckeroos, she made Lincoln’s picture look much more like Ike’s!

After enlisting Chelsea’s help, I uploaded the photos to Snapfish and ordered two 8×10 prints cropped to account for slight differences in the way the two photos were framed.  This helped make their heads about the same size, and fall about the same place in the picture.

And now they are framed, waiting to find the perfect place in our house!

Don’t you just want to pinch their cheeks?

For me it is fun to have these two pictures that look similar, but different, from the same newborn days for both of these boys.  Lots of similarities between them, but distinct differences, too! And now that I know Lincoln better, it is perfectly appropriate that he is flailing his fist instead of being bundled up tight like Ike was.  He has a feisty personality, for sure!

It’s hard to believe Ike was that little since now he is our big monster boy!

Yes, and that photo needs lighting help, too.  But it was 7 a.m. What do you expect!?

The moral of the story here is that with a tight budget and the help of friendly, helpful people in blog land, you too can fake your child’s photos!  (And professional photographers everywhere cringe.)

Happy photo taking!

But I was able to make Lincoln’s Easter basket in time for the upcoming holiday.  That has to count for something, right?!

Okay.  It counts for nothing.  But I still feel good about it!  Now Lincoln has a basket similar to the one I made for his brother almost exactly two years ago.

I know.  You just noticed that Ike’s basket has a photo and Lincoln’s doesn’t.  It’s pure neglect, I tell you.

The truth is I couldn’t find a cute little frame to paint.  Heck, I couldn’t even find a matching basket.  Originally I was bummed that they wouldn’t have similar colored baskets but I’ve gotten over it and now I even kind of like that they aren’t too matchy-matchy.

If you’ve been around for a while then you might remember my original “how to” post about Ike’s Easter basket.  But, if not, here is a my quick run-down on the process.

First, gather some supplies, including: a basket, ribbon, wooden letters (found in the craft store), paint, paintbrush, hot glue, and scissors (I prefer pinking shears).

Next, wrap your ribbon around strategically, weaving when and if possible, and secure it with hot glue.  Below you can see why I like pinking shears…the edge looks nice and finished and won’t fray.  I didn’t even have to worry about cutting in a straight line!

Finally, paint your letters and attach them to the front of the basket.

Easy as pie jelly beans.

Oh, and the cute bunny in this picture?  My mom made him for Ike last Easter using this Martha Stewart pattern.  So cute, right? My favorite is the little heart she sewed on.

There you have it: Lincoln’s bright and fun embellished Easter basket.  What do you think?  Would you put some Reese’s peanut butter eggs in it for me?  As Lincoln’s sole source of food, I would greatly appreciate it.

As I previously explained, when we found out we were having a second boy we made a pretty quick decision to have them share the nursery that we created for Ike. It was a practical decision that saved us time and money, plus we also liked the idea of having all the little boy gear and diaper paraphernalia corralled in one room. And, I have to admit, I am looking forward to the days when we can eavesdrop on their toddler/little boy bedtime conversations via the baby monitor. We’re hoping they’ll be thick as thieves.

So, how are we making it work? Good question. Obviously a toddler and newborn have different needs and schedules, so it is taking a bit of juggling, but so far so good.

Bedtime
Around the same time that we moved Lincoln into the nursery with Ike (at about a month old), I tried to “set” Lincoln’s bedtime to 7 p.m., the same time that Ike goes to bed. This took a few days, but now both boys are in bed between 7-8 p.m. and up between 6-7 a.m. While this means I have to get up early while on maternity leave, it will help us in about another month when all of us are leaving the house around 7 a.m. for our work and daycare schedules. Of course, it is a very rare night that both boys go down at the same time. For example, last night Lincoln was fed and asleep in bed at 6:45 p.m., so we changed Ike and did his nightly routine of reading downstairs before sneaking him quietly into the room. And the night before, Ike was in bed (resting quietly, but not yet asleep), when I brought Lincoln in around 7:30 p.m. I figure it will only be a matter of time before they’re both being changed into PJs at the same time and enjoying the same nighttime story!

Middle of the night
When Ike was an infant, I did all of his middle-of-the-night feeding and diaper changing in the nursery. Although Ike generally sleeps right through Lincoln’s nighttime crying, I didn’t want to turn on lights or disturb him with Lincoln’s diaper changes and feedings. So, for these first few months, I’ve set up our big armchair and an on-the-bed diaper changing station in the spare room across from the nursery. So, when I hear Lincoln waking up, I swoop in to pick him up and head out before Ike even stirs. We’re down to one feeding per night (for now; I know it could change!) so it has worked pretty well. Again, I know hope it’s only a matter of months before they are on the same sleep-through-the-night schedule and that midnight diaper changes and feedings are things of the past!

We find Ike in the strangest positions in the middle of the night!

Morning
Ike gets up around 6:30 for daycare. If he wakes up before we are ready to change him, he (thankfully) lays quietly in bed. Lincoln’s first feeding of the day is generally at 6:30 or 7:00 a.m., so he is waking up at the same time as Ike. On mornings that Lincoln is still sleeping, Chris quietly sneaks in to wake up Ike and get him dressed. It’s hard to keep a two-year-old quiet, so luckily Lincoln generally sleeps through the chatter. And, if he doesn’t, it’s not a big deal because it’s his normal wake time…it just means I get a few minutes less sleep!

Nap time
This has been the hardest part of room sharing. Because I had such a hard time transitioning Ike to his crib when he was an infant, I have been dogged about having Lincoln sleep in his crib for most naps and at night. So, I’ve been trying to have the boys get used to napping together. At this point, Lincoln’s naps are less predictable, so they don’t always coincide exactly with Ike’s one afternoon nap. We’ve had several instances of Lincoln waking up Ike during his nap. But luckily, Ike doesn’t need a long nap anymore (although he generally sleeps a solid two hours every afternoon!), so if he is disrupted it’s not too big of a deal. He is good about playing quietly or reading in his bed if he doesn’t sleep through his full nap. Because Ike is still going to daycare during the week, we only have to worry about nap times on the weekends, which gives me all week to obsess about Lincoln napping in the crib!

Overall, Ike is thrilled to have Lincoln in his room. He is excited when he wakes up and sees Lincoln in the crib, and he has really welcomed his little brother into his room. With Ike being so young, I wonder if he even remembers a time when Lincoln wasn’t part of our family!

So, what room sharing questions do you have for me? Of course, I’m no expert.  Clearly my overuse of words like “generally” and “luckily” in this post show just how little control I have over the whole situation!

What has your experience been with room sharing? Any good tips and tricks to share?