our little beehive

The Last Big Project

2012-02-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

...for now, that is.

As you all know, S is a pilot for the Navy. When we moved to Our Little Beehive two years ago, we thought we'd be staying for at least ten years. It seemed like things would just work out that S would be able to fly different planes during that time and we wouldn't need to move. Well the best laid plans often go awry, and not too long ago we learned that we may have to relocate in the fall. As you can imagine this resulted in a hard-stop on projects at our hive.

We'll know within the next couple months what the future will bring and at that time we'll either launch full-gear into get-ready-for-renters projects or we'll continue on with our own project wish list. Or maybe we'll buy a small summer house in Maine (baby M and I are working on convincing S of this one!) We're pretty sure we're staying put, but we're not counting our chickens yet.

It just so happens that our disappointing/exciting/unplanned news came just as we finished up a long-standing to-do from our list. We finished installing a fan in our upstairs bathroom. It was a project that we started right around Christmas when baby M was tiny (according to the photos in the post linked above) and finished up on New Year's Day. It's a project that had been on the list for two years, since we moved in two Christmases ago!

The fan ended up being a group project - S and my dad did the drilling and installation of the fan itself from the attic, down. S drilled for the electrical and then my dad did the actual electrical work while S was at work. S drilled through the brick of our house creating an opening to fit the fan's exhaust pipe by tracing a circle on the brick then drilling dozens of holes through the entire thickness of the brick all the way around the circle. He centered the opening under one full length of brick so that there wouldn't be a weak spot above the vent opening.

When he was done he was able to knock away the brick in the center, fit the exhaust pipe into the opening and then screw a exhaust fan cover in place.

We chose a white plastic cover that matches the exterior vent covers for our laundry and new bathroom downstairs. We thought it might be an eyesore, but it's not noticeable at all. It's not often we stand in the back yard looking up toward the roof....

S patched the ceiling in the bathroom around the new fan housing and around the new electrical box. I sanded where he patched and my mom touched up all the paint. We all enjoy being able to take a shower with the door shut and I am particularly fond of the windows that don't fog, condense and subsequently create little areas of icky moldy stuff to clean from the grills. 'Cause cleaning window grills is no longer high on the priority list when merely showering is my new daily challenge.

Traveling with One Momma, One Baby, One Dog and Cloth

2012-02-21T19:38:00.001-05:00

I literally have two minutes to write a blog post right now. Baby M and I are visiting my parents for the end of my maternity leave (how on EARTH did we reach the end of my leave already?!?) and having six hands instead of two during the day is fabulous. Oddly enough the evening is just as hectic as at home since S and baby M have their special time in the evening and I'm usually off duty the second S takes off his boots and washes his hands.

Anyhoo, baby M, Feeney, my mom and I drove to Maine in one 14-hour long day. Baby M rocked. Right up until Hartford when we got stuck in traffic for maybe three minutes and that was just enough of not moving for him to melt-down and continue to melt until we reached a rest area where I quickly whipped him out of his seat and gave him the best milk dinner he's ever tasted.

I did all sorts of planning in advance of our trip; everything from how to arrange our bags in the car, stuffing essentials into an overnight bag, making a dog-friendly hotel reservation near the half-way mark, and planning out how to diaper the boy in the days leading up to our trip. Yes, I planned how to diaper this bum.

We use cloth diapers for baby M and since we spend long stretches of time at the farm in Maine, we had to come up with a cloth plan.

I decided that since we'd be packing our car quite full with goods for one mom, one baby and one dog for a few week trip, we probably shouldn't travel with dirty diaper laundry. So the day before we left for Maine, baby M wore disposable diapers. The day before disposable day I stood in the diaper aisle completely paralyzed with the diaper options. I chose the same ones we'd been given at the hospital. Side note, poos STINK right away in disposable diapers, they do not in cloth. Eeeew

The day before we left baby M and I did our standard cloth diaper routine that we do every four days: when baby M wakes up we go downstairs, put the diapers in the washing machine, wet bag and all, set it to a quick wash and go up for M's breakfast. We always have his favorite, milk. After M eats, we go back downstairs and set the wash on a heavy duty cycle with an extra rise. Then we head up to play until M goes down for his nap. While he naps I hang the diaps out in the sun on our fabulous clothes line.

In the afternoon I stuffed all the diaps and packed them in the clean wet bag. For the rest of the day and for travel day baby M wore his disposable diapers.

When we reached Maine I stuck him in cloth, put all his clean diaps in a L.L.Bean bag next to the changing table, lined the trashcan in the nursery (my brother's old(?) bedroom) with the wet bag and went about our normal cloth routine. Easy peasy travel routine!

Baby M is totally taking over the farm - PawPaw Chris just installed a diaper sprayer in the toilet today, there's an outrageously big, bright borrowed swing in the living room and a vibrating lamb seat in the kitchen. Not to mention my brother's room is a full-on nursery like it was 35 years ago. Baby M rules the roost.

And now it's time for bath. I've waaaaaay exceeded my two minutes!

He Liked it at First

2012-02-15T08:18:00.001-05:00

He liked it when daddy put on his special baby beehive onesie I made him, but it was a whole different story when momma tried to take a quick pic with her phone.

Minutes later he was fast asleep as I read "Ox Cart Man" to him. The boy has lungs, serious lungs, and he's not afraid to use 'em when he's tired.

So Sorry New England, Clam Chowder

2012-02-07T21:02:00.000-05:00

New England v. Giants is one of my favorite match ups. Wait, let me revise. New England v. Giants is the only match up that piques my interest. I have no real allegiance to either team, but my Poppop, the only person in my family who cared a bit about pro sports, was a Giants fan, so I like them in his memory. But I'm from New England so I care an iota about them too, mostly because I have close friends who care, and who doesn't like to see their friends to be happy?

So I watched the Superbowl with S and a Giants-fan friend of his and ate guacamole to excess. During the game there was a little sharing going on at which point it was revealed that a certain member of S's family, who will remain nameless since it's unclear if I'm laughing at or with him, used to run off to his room in tears whenever the Redskins lost. At first wondered if at some point the Redskins ever won games, and then the Giants fan in the room said that his mood for the entire week used to be based on whether the Giants won. And then I was all "OMG baby M shield your ears and eyes, these men are nuts! Let's go play with sticks and jump in puddles like mom used to do for hours and hours on Sundays." Then Madonna came on and I was like, now THIS is a show I can watch. Thank you, Madonna, for showing that the black turtleneck can be sexy. Anyway, I have no idea where I was going with all of this except Madonna is still amazing, I still love Like a Prayer, grown men crying over pro sports is absurd and Giselle is kind of a twit.

I'd be sad for either losing team; the coverage of Bob Kraft's reaction to the loss kind of pulled at my heart a little since he's had such a tough year. I'm a sucker for old guys with gray hair, see Poppop above. So in honor of New England and to show our love for home despite their loss, we made New England clam chowder last night. Yum.

I used to dig my own clams for chowder, but since we live in the city now we had to settle for canned clams and wouldn't you know, they taste the same. Score one for the city dwellers among us. Or the landlocked.

Clam Chowder

2 onions, chopped
1 package center-cut bacon
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut to small cubes
12 cans clams, juice reserved (we used a mix of chopped and whole)
1 quart fat free half and half
salt & ground pepper

1. In a large stockpot or dutch oven (use one that has a cover) cook bacon until very crisp, but not burnt

2. Place bacon on a paper towel and set aside and drain all but a few tablespoons of the bacon fat from the pan

3. Add chopped onions to the pot, stir to coat with the drippings, cover and sweat on medium low heat, stirring frequently until onions are translucent. Do not brown the onions

4. Add potatoes to the onions, cook on medium low, covered for 5 minutes, stirring frequently

5. Add clams and enough juice to just cover the potatoes, reserve any remaining juice. Cook on low heat for 20 minutes, until potatoes are soft

6. Add half and half, turn heat to low and cook just until warm. Do not boil

7. Crumble the cooled bacon and add to the chowder

8. Add pepper and reserved clam juice to taste - the juice can be used to add salty flavor, but don't add so much as to water down the chowder

serve warm with blueberry muffins, the Maine way!

Chowder is always best the second day, so allow the pot to cool and refrigerate. Reheat slowly on medium low heat, stirring frequently, being careful not to boil

Seven Weeks of Wisdom: A Few of Our Favorite Things

2012-02-02T16:50:00.001-05:00

I'm humming the favorite things song in my head right now - raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things.... Before baby M arrived I scoured the interwebs for advice and lists of newborn essentials. I didn't want a nursery full of totally useless stuff, especially when space is at a premium. So with the sage wisdom gained in seven whole weeks, I give you our favorite newborn stuff, in no particular order. No wait, I lie. This is definitely the favorite:

A white noise machine. We have a sleep sheep strapped to M's carseat for on-the-go, and we also have a regular, not marketed for babies, white noise machine that I bought years ago when I worked in an office that was right outside the kitchen, neither of which had doors. I'd heard waaaay too many personal conversations not made for my ears and needed to drown out the noise. It's been in storage for years. Now it's under Maddox's cradle. And it's our magic machine. M was in our room for about two and a half weeks and even though emotionally I wasn't ready to move my baby to his own room, we sucked it up, moved him, turned the white noise machine on and like a light switch we all started sleeping a couple more hours between feedings. Which brings me to the next favorite thing, the my Brest Friend nursing pillow.

I have this and the boppy and while I like them both, each in different instances, I prefer the mbf when I'm in a chair where I can't prop the boppy on the arm of the chair. Speaking of chairs, I love our hand-me-down glider with its new cushions from CJ's Cozy Cushions. Next up, Aden + Anais swaddle blankets.

S can do a mean swaddle with one of these blankets. We get baby M nice and tight then stick him in a fleece swaddler and he's cozy for the night in our chilly house. The 6 S's worked in our house: 5 from the book, and one S to carry them out. Speaking of down for the night, baby M sleeps in a bassinet, inside his cradle, inside his nursery. We use the bassinet that came with his Bumbleride Flite umbrella stroller.

I'm convinced this is the greatest umbrella stroller on earth and really the only one you'll need, if you're not a runner (we have a Bob for running). It weighs 11 pounds and folds up like a tiny little umbrella stroller, but it fits an infant car seat like a giant travel system. Travel systems take up a ton of trunk space and trust me, even with a big SUV you're going to wish your stroller folded up small. Or your big dog the size of a small pony will. I love me my Bumbleride Flite. And Feeney appreciates its space saving aspect. Totally not sexy and not something I love doing, but something I'm so grateful I bought before baby M arrived instead of waiting 'til I go back to work is my pump. Get one, get a hands free bra. If you're struck with mastitis twice you'll be happy you have it, 'cause when you're sick is not the time to go shop for one. Or when your baby is still hungry after hours and hours of cluster feeding starting at a few days old you'll be glad you have a couple extra ounces to give him (ahem, for someone else to give him while you go to bed) from the once daily pump you did after his morning feeding. And with feeding comes...we're hooked on bumGenius 4.0 diapers.

I'm also using FuzziBunz, but S prefers the Velcro on our BG, and since he changes all of baby M's diapers when he's home, BG it is. We also love our Bum Genius sprayer that we blogged about this fall. Exclusively breast fed babies' poos don't need to be sprayed before washing, but we do anyway to cut down on staining and to enable us to go longer between washings. I'm loving our clothes line too; the sun does wonders to get out all sorts of stains! On the subject of diaper changes, we love peepee teepees.

I bought them as a gag gift for S's stocking (with airplanes, of course) and they've turned out to be a changing table staple - they work as advertised perfectly. Our cloth wipes would work too (another love) but they seems to get kicked off much too easily. For play time I love our swing/bouncer combo and our activity mat. The seat on the swing is a removable bouncer and the swing itself has a nice LOUD white noise machine built into it. Give this boy rainfalls or babbling brooks with birds in the background over kiddie music any day! Plus it plugs in, so we can make it through dinner without batteries running out.

I made a slipcover to match Feeney's bed and our living room curtains for baby M's swing

Our Skip Hop Treetop Friends play mat is a huge hit with baby M. His favorite toys are the owl and the bird the the beads in its belly. We can get a good 20 minute play session out of him on this mat in the morning before the big yawns come out and we sneak off to his nursery for story time.

For bath time baby M's top pick is his bath bucket, the washPOD. We started using it as soon as his belly button fell off and from the first dip that boy could go from wailing and screaming to all coos and oohs in two seconds flat. It's magic. He kicks his legs around like he's still in the womb.

It's the cutest thing and definitely M's top pick of all the stuff on our list, well besides his pair of food sources, of course. And in a few years that thing will make the perfect car washing bucket. Are we missing out on any of the greatest baby things ever invented? Please, do tell what the babies in your life love!

Good Morning, Little Hedgehog!

2012-01-25T10:47:00.001-05:00

We have a dozen recipes, several house projects and all sorts of sewing projects to share. This one happens to be one of my favorites this morning 'cause it was met with coos and oohs (no real smiles yet) instead of the usual diaper-change little lamb cries that have me singing baa baa black sheep loud enough to wake the dead.

It's mad Maddox's appliqué hedgehog onesie that I made by ironing heat & bond to some scrap fabric, tracing and cutting out a hedgehog shape, and then ironing it on to one of his plain white onesies. I sewed around the edges with a zigzag stitch just to make sure it's nice and secure. Baby M has a whole slew of embellished onesies; no plain white for this crafty momma!

The Un-Paper Towel

2012-01-20T11:50:00.000-05:00

If you've been with us for a while, you know our dog, Feeney, loves to snack on paper towels. When he came to live with us a year and a half ago we quickly learned not to leave paper towels on the coffee table and we invested in covered trash cans; a small price to pay for a less disgusting morning walk....

With all this focus on paper products we became more aware of just how many paper towels we were burning through each week. And when our basement renovation left us with just enough storage space to keep only the stuff we absolutely needed and loved, it was time to evaluate the entire linen closet shelf full of rolls of paper towels, bought in giant 12-pack bulk.

At first we tried reusing sheets of paper towels, but in reality, that's just weird. I mean I have nothing against drying off the side of a mug and then setting the towel aside to use again, but we're talking dial-a-size sheets of paper here, there's not much life in those things to begin with.

We use cloth diapers and cloth wipes for baby M, so naturally I had the brilliant idea to make cloth paper towels. Lots and lots of cloth paper towels. But when I priced out Birdseye fabric and factored in my time, it didn't seem like a fun project anymore. Especially when I was spending all my free time sewing for baby M's nursery. So naturally I went to etsy and searched for cloth paper towels. And wouldn't you know, there are all kinds of unpaper towel makers out there! I searched by price and bulk quantity and then I read descriptions. I finally settled on one seller, Love for Earth, who preshrinks her fabric first. This, I decided, was an essential feature; if left to shrink after sewing I could end up with 50 unpaper towels of all different, wonky sizes after their first wash. Wonky doesn't stack well.

I bought my unpaper towels and they arrived tied neatly with a bow. I stuck them on top of the toaster and waited for S to notice. "What's this?" he asked that night. "Unpaper towels," I replied. "You mean napkins?" So yeah, they're like napkins except I don't wipe the counter and rinse down the sink with our napkins, do you? They're unpaper towels and we love them.

They have since taken up residence in our kitchen compost container for the winter. The used unpaper towels go in a vase on the counter and we wash them with our light laundry. Every few weeks we soak them in oxyclean for a few hours to get the stains out. In the five months we've had our unpaper towels we've only used two rolls of paper towels. And Feeney has eaten none. Success.

One Month Down

2012-01-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

Baby M is already one month old this weekend and he's kind of perfect; I love one month! We'd like to freeze time now, please.

I can't say that it feels like he's always been a part of the hive, especially since I have a closet chock full of size 2 clothes and absolutely nothing to wear. But thankfully he fits into our lives far better than I fit into any of those designer jeans mocking me each morning.

It's been quite the month for all of us. We started it out with 34 hours of labor. And believe me, that was rough on all of us: me, S, our doula Juli and the hot water heater here and at the hospital. Baby M seemed to be the only one who didn't much care, he was snuggled in and perfectly content the whole time, if those monitors they stuck on me every few hours were any indication. Life has pretty much been the same ever since for baby M; snug and happy 95% of the time.

At one month baby M has pretty much mastered head control, rolled from his stomach to his back several times as he demonstrated just how much he hated tummy time, gone out to dinner once, brunch twice, been to the pediatrician three times, lost weight and then gained almost two pounds, went to the grocery store several times, shopped with mom, slept in his ergo, slept in his Bob, slept in his bumbleride, nursed at Starbucks, celebrated Christmas, watched the ball drop on tv with dad, bonded with Mamie, slept at Nola's house, spent a night without mom, taken a bottle from dad nightly, moved to his nursery, slept a nine hour stretch (~~twice~~ thrice!), played on his activity mat, taken several baths in his blue bucket tub, switched to cloth diapers, gone through 50 cloth wipes every three days, sat in his bumbo, sat on his dog, flown around the room with dad, screamed in his bouncer, snoozed in his bouncer, screamed in his swing, fallen in love with his swing, filled numerous diapers, screamed through countless diaper changes, smiled through a handful of diaper changes, had a three hour long photo shoot, starred in four videos, skyped, made friends with a few of S's friends, survived one full day alone with mom, survived one night without dad and smiled once.

It's been a great month.

Zero Dollar Guest Room

2012-01-11T10:09:00.000-05:00

In November we put some finishing touches on our new basement guest suite using stuff we had around the house to cozy-up the space in anticipation of my mom's extended visit. Of course then her visit started before I had the chance to share. The good news is that she loves the guest suite and the even better news is that the insulation we put in the ceiling of the bedroom blocks out the sound of crying baby at 3am. Whew, she may have left already if that detail was overlooked.

First, I relocated all my yarn from the little red cedar chest and gave it a facelift. We had hoped to locate the replacement pulls I'd bought years ago, but we searched high and low and could not find them. Because the chest was my grandpa's I decided not to spray the original pulls and just put them back on in their original brass state.

We decided when we first created the room that it would be our airplane room, a place to display all of S's flying paraphernalia. So we started by hanging his diploma and photos and lithographs of the planes he's flown in the corner with the chest.

Then, for my favorite addition, we hung a vintage airplane mobile above the bed. You can't tell me it wouldn't be fun to stay in a guest room with a mobile above the bed!

Finally we put down one of S's carpets to cozy things up, which required moving the dozen or so boxes of extra flooring (a project for another day) stored under the bed first.

Mmmm, so cozy says Feeney.

At 9 mos pregnant I nixed the idea to paint a compass or chart on the wall or ceiling. And as new parents we've pretty much accepted that will never happen. I would still like to create a headboard area slash huge fabric panel curtain thing to cover the electric service box, but the details of that project are up for debate.

And by debate, I mean Maddox and I are discussing whether I should spend one of his nap times sewing, or tidying the house, doing laundry, eating breakfast, napping, showering or doing any of those other things that used to take mere minutes to do just four weeks ago!

Tuesday Treats: Super Protein Cookies aka Milk Making Cookies

2012-01-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

Ok, ok, we haven't had a Tuesday treats in for.ev.er 'cause I didn't feel much like cooking or baking for about ten months. But after my little stay in the hospital last week let's just say I'm looking for any homeopathic way to, ahem, make more food for my baby bee.

In my search I stumbled on a recipe for milk making cookies. Wait, wait, don't stop reading! Apparently lots of protein and whole grains and basically good nutrition does a new mom's body good, but those things do anyone's body good, right? And when a cookie this tasty is also a bit more on the healthy side of desserts then isn't that a win-win? Well, I think they're delicious and I'm not really a fan of baked cookies. Give me cookie dough any day, but cooked? I rarely go back after the first batch has cooled.

These cookies just might become our regulars, 'cause when S eats a half dozen cookies when he's ravenous on the drive home from work it's probably a good idea to have a little nutritional value in there. Who knows, maybe they'll give him the energy to stay up extra late during the baby's fussy hours, so I can get some sleep.

Protein Cookies aka Milk Making Cookies
created by Kathleen Major, PNP, RN, barely adapted from peaceful parenting

1/2 c. softened butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 t. vanilla
2 large eggs
3/4 c. almond butter (or peanut butter)
1/3 c. water
1 t. cinnamon, optional
1 c. ground flax (sometimes called flax flour)
3 T. brewer's yeast
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1 3/4 c. old fashioned oatmeal (not quick oats)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 c. chocolate chips - I used 1c. mini chips and 1c. of chocolate chunks
1 c. chopped nuts of your choice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Combine butter and sugars, beating until pale and fluffy

2. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well

3. Add almond butter and mix until combined

4. Add water, mix well

5. Add cinnamon (optional), flax, brewers yeast, flour, oats, soda and salt, mix until well incorporated

6. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts

7. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with a silpat. Bake at 350 degrees for ~10 minutes until set in the center.

The cookies freeze very well!

Thank You :o)

2012-01-02T19:44:00.000-05:00

Today baby bee's nursery was named Project Nursery's nursery of the month for December. How exciting!

Thank you to all of you who voted for our nursery. We look forward to sharing tutorials on many of the DIY projects we tackled for the room :o)

Coming up from Behind - only a Few Votes Away!

2011-12-31T11:40:00.000-05:00

Well color us shocked. Baby bee's nursery is now in second place over at Project Nursery's December nursery of the month contest. If you're the voting kind, please consider casting a vote for baby bee's elephant nursery before 11:55 PST on 12/31.

The other nurseries are so beautiful, they're all worthy of a first place win. We're so honored that all our hard work in our DIY nursery is featured among these beauties!

Si-i-lent {fan}, ho-o-ly {fan}, all is calm...

2011-12-30T12:03:00.000-05:00

This year's Christmas was one for the record books, and not for obvious reasons. I ended up in the hospital on Xmas eve and didn't come home until Christmas afternoon. While I didn't have a silent night with the nurses coming and going and the janitors outside my room waxing the floors all night, S and baby bee slept like absolute champs. S got this for Christmas eve:

And I got this for Christmas:

Clearly my boy can't read.

Despite minor set-backs with that hospital stay and all, with my dad's help we forged ahead with our holiday weekend plans to install a bathroom fan in our upstairs bath, identical to the silent fan in our new garden level bathroom. The house went 80 years with no fan, but suddenly we need one now. (All joking aside, we're hoping it cuts down on mildew and maybe now we'll shower with the door closed.) Because we lost a day, S decided to set our goal to get the fan in place and the electrical done before he returned to work Tuesday.

I was off feeding a baby all.day.long. and generally recovering from my traumatic weekend, but I did manage to take a few photos of the project, at least of the big stuff. Like this disaster:

In order to get the fan in the bathroom, S drilled a hole through the ceiling and into the attic centered in the shower/bathtub area. He then went up into the attic where we have a gazillion inches of blown insulation and tried to find the hole...then my dad tapped on the ceiling 'til the hole was located. They moved away some insulation upstairs and cut a hole for the fan using the template that came on the box. It made a mess. I took a picture and ran.

Unfortunately we couldn't center the fan hole exactly where we wanted because of the floor joists, but we did manage to get it completely concealed behind the shower curtain.

Here it is in relation to the shower curtain rod, pretty good location, no?

As you can see above, S used spray foam insulation around the fan to give it a draft-free fit and to keep the blown insulation from falling through the ceiling from above.

With the messy part done, the guys moved on to what they thought would be relatively straight forward electrical. We have one light in the bathroom that had a single outlet and switch just next to the door. We intended to tie into the existing electrical, add a box and end up with a double outlet and a double switch stacked on top of each other. Adding the second box wasn't too rough, but discovering the electric came from below (the kitchen) and not through the attic was a wee bit of a setback.

In order to get the wires for the fan down to the new box and the existing power, S had to drill through the header of the wall and into the cavity next to the door. As with everything in our 1940's house we discovered that the old adage "they don't build 'em like they used to" rang true; S had to drill through an 8" header. That's huge. And required a trip to the hardware store for a longer drill bit.

Thankfully once he broke through into the cavity, he was indeed in the wall cavity and not in the hallway, closet or bathroom. Whew. From there, the second box went in and my dad worked his magic with the wiring.

And by magic I mean I stayed the heck away from him while he attacked the frustratingly short and old existing wires with pliers, electrical nuts and strippers. I know not to ask how it's going and only to wait for a report.

Status report from my dad: electrical done, fan installed.
Remaining: patch and repair small areas of ceiling around fan, drill through exterior brick wall, install vent and vent hose, flip switch and listen to silent fan.

We hope to ring in the new year to the sound of masonry bits on brick and a silent baby. At least we can control one. Update to come - hopefully sooner than later since it took me a record four days to write this post!

Cast a Vote for Baby Bee's Nursery!

2011-12-28T09:53:00.000-05:00

Apparently baby bee's nursery is a finalist for nursery of the month at Project Nursery. I was notified last week, maybe the week before, but I've been a little, well, busy, so I'm just now getting around to telling friends and family, which means we're seriously lagging behind in the vote department. I hope M doesn't hold it against me some day!

If you're so inclined, head on over to Project Nursery and vote for baby bee's elephant nursery :)

2 Weeks

2011-12-28T08:58:00.000-05:00

Maddox is exactly two weeks and a few minutes old.

Oh My!

And lest you think it's all baby all the time around here, we took on quite the house project yesterday. Post to come very soon!

Where'd You Get That? Nursery Edition

2011-12-21T15:15:00.001-05:00

Our nursery post was way too long to list all the sources for the great stuff we have ready for baby bee. So we present you with "where'd you get that?" nursery edition.

Furniture
Cradle: F's childhood cradle - (make sure to check the safety of an older crib or cradle)
Glider: A hand-me-down that was originally from Pottery Barn
Dresser: Ikea Hemnes
Hutch: Bought in 2008 from the Christmas Tree Shops
Rug: "Droplets" from Capel Rugs in Matthews, NC (ordered via phone and using a 20% off coupon I found online)
Fan: Target
Lamp: HomeGoods
Ceiling Light: Ikea, adapted for hard-wiring

Bedding & Fabric Goods
Cradle Mattress: Naturepedic from Buy Buy Baby
Elephant Sheet: Made by F, elephant fabric from fabric worm
Breathable Cradle-Sized Bumper: Buy Buy Baby, custom edged by F
Glider & Ottoman Cushions: Custom made with 9oz cotton canvas from fabric.com by CJ's Cozy Cushions (HIGHLY recommended)
Elephant Pillow Cover: Souvenir from the Suk in Bahrain
Boppy Cover: Made by F, elephant fabric from fabric worm
Bumbo Cover: Made by F, elephant fabric from fabric worm
Changing Pad: Naturepedic from Buy Buy Baby
Changing Pad Cover: Made by F, elephant fabric from fabric worm
Curtains: Made by F, navy & white circle fabric from fabric.com
Basket Liners: Made by F, navy & white circle fabric from fabric.com

Decorations & Accessories
Wall of frames, white frames: Ikea
Maine print: Crafts fair in Portland, Maine - I'll try to find the seller
Cards: Target, Papyrus
Paper Lanterns: Asian Imports
Navy & Pink Elephants in Cradle: from a boutique in Portland, Maine
Gray Elephant in Bumbo: West Elm
Gray Mom & Baby Elephants on Hutch: Ikea
Elephant on Changing Pad: Gap
Elephant Rocker: Zulily, but also available at Buy Buy Baby
Elephant Toy Bin: by Green Sprouts from Diapers.com
Large Stuffed Elephant: Ikea
Elephant Mobile: Sugar & Spice Studios on Etsy
Baskets: Target
Elephant Basket Tags: Luggage tags by Dwell Studios
Blue Elephant Bank: Pottery Barn Kids
Silver Elephant Bank: Reed & Barton from Babies R Us
Elephants on Parade Artwork: Made by F
Mom & Baby Ceramic Elephants: Souvenir from Italy
Knit Elephant with Scarf: Knit by F using pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
Knit Elephant with Long Arms & Legs: Knit by F using "Safari Friends" pattern from Knitting at Knoon
Elephant Sweater: Designed and knit by F
Elephant Hook on Door: Anthropologie
Alphabet Tapestry: From the Suk in Bahrain

Paint
Walls: Glidden Shaded Ice, color matched to a Behr paint
Trim: Benjamin Moore Advanced

Please feel free to email us if you have any questions about anything in our nursery!

Well, Here We Are

2011-12-20T09:38:00.000-05:00

One week ago today I was technically into day two of labor and thinking we'd be meeting a December 13th baby shortly. Little did we know how long of a day we had ahead of us . . . but Maddox is our lucky baby and a lucky baby just can't arrive on an unlucky day.

Our baby is six days old today and is already a total heartthrob. Maddox came home to our little beehive on Friday, wearing his personalized baby hat, the blue one, and wrapped in his special blanket.

Feeney and Maddox had their incredibly uneventful introductions, which included one lick and one "shake" as Feens put his paw on the car seat.

The only change Feeney cares about is that my mom is here and there's one more person to love on him. He's totally loving this new baby thing.

As you can see we're using the blankets I made, especially the hand-cut chenille blanket, which is super warm. It turns out I didn't go overboard on the blanket making; we're using them all a lot! S, our swaddling master is also loving A+A swaddling blankets since baby bee finds it slightly more difficult to punch his way out of a tight swaddle with them.

Maddox is still pretty snoozy, so he spends a lot of his time asleep in the bassinet that came with our Bumbleride Flite stroller. It's his bed for now and fits perfectly on the coffee table we had in our old den tucked into a corner in our tiny bedroom.

Things around the house are slowing getting back to normal. On day one it was hard to find the baby among the clutter on the dining room table, but now we just have one baby nestled among the holiday trees.

And on day two at home life got back to normal in the project department, albeit a bit slower than normal. S managed to winterize our mower, weed whacker and to drain the garden hoses, all while throwing the ball for Feeney.

And while I'm not doing any cooking right now, we're eating like royalty with my mom preparing hot meals like nobody's business. Let me tell you, it's heavenly to finally eat something other than a bowl of cereal and I think S may be able to put back on a few of those 10 pounds he lost during my pregnancy. You know it's bad when while wearing a shapeless flight suit your Skipper, another dude, remarks that you look like you've lost weight. Trust me, you're not the only ones missing Tuesday Treats and Saturday Suppers.

We're also devouring treats dropped off by our neighbors; six-year-old Annabelle made these cookies herself so she could drop them off and meet the baby. She says she can't wait to be 12 so she can babysit Maddox. Neither can we.

that's a red heart with "new baby" in yellow writing

Overall, we're doing really well and are eating up every second with this little dreamboat!

We're off to sew a few last minute custom etsy shop Christmas orders . . . baby in ergo and momma at sewing machine.

xoxo

Announcing . . .

2011-12-15T14:31:00.001-05:00

Maddox Christopher!

He realized around 11pm on his due date, December 12, that he was about to be late, but didn't make his grand appearance until 8:48 am December 14. He's 7lbs, 5oz, 20" long and quite perfect in our eyes :)

He'll continue to be our baby bee around here, or at least our little "m." We just can't wait to teach him how to bake cupcakes, build stuff and generally be handy!

13 Minutes 'til Lunch

2011-12-13T07:00:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we were out doing errands all morning, including a quick stop at the grocery store. As I was hopping out of the car to run inside, S proclaimed he was starving and was going to die if he didn't eat soon. In other words he wanted chicken fingers from the prepared foods display that's placed directly in front of the store entrance. Point taken.

However, even closer to the door than the packages of hot fried chicken parts was an icebox filled with frozen-ish pizzas, on special 'cause of the afternoon's football game. I don't think I've ever bought a frozen pizza before, but S had also just mentioned he could "eat that entire pizza" as we drove past some guy walking to his car with a pizza in his hand, so I bought the pizza. Should I write that down in my diary? December something-or-other 2011 I was tired enough and so uninspired to cook that I bought a frozen pizza?

This post really isn't about a frozen pizza though. It's about the 13 minutes it took to cook that frozen pizza. Despite being so near-death at the grocery store, when told he had 13 minutes 'til lunch, S pulled out a bucket, shovel and level and went to work re-setting the front steps to the shed.

He moved the three large pieces of blue stone we put there during our patio project this fall, dug a little brick-width trench around the perimeter of the steps, lay a row of bricks in the little trench and then leveled the bricks and all the dirt in between them.

He plopped the three big pieces of blue stone back in place and adjusted a little bit of dirt.

Then came inside to eat his pizza...cooked for 13 minutes and cooled for five. Per the instructions on the cardboard box.

And that's what you can do when you have 13 minutes 'til lunch.

Custom Christmas Stockings made from Recycled Sails!

2011-12-11T11:39:00.001-05:00

Last night I realized that Feeney has no stocking to stuff with all the stocking stuffers I bought him. The baby, who isn't even here yet, has its own hand knit stocking! Not to be one to fall victim to the nagging of people who could just never get that for some of us, pets are our babies (seriously, have you seen me with my dogs?) I decided that the Feens NEEDS a stocking. Then, this morning in a moment of pure genius I came up with the idea to make him a custom stocking from recycled sails.

I even traced the pads of his big paws and then made a template way bigger, just to make sure Feeney knows the stocking with the...wait, I'll keep the stuffers a surprise...is for him. You never know, by Christmas we had better have a baby and S just might be delirious enough from no sleep that without that big paw print he'd think the stocking smelling of mystery meat is for him.

I've made a few custom stockings available in our etsy shop. The listing includes customization with a paw print like Feeney's, a single letter or single-digit number of your choice in blue or black. However, the catch is that you must order by this Wednesday, December 14 at 5pm eastern for delivery by Christmas. Quick, quick, the sooner the better 'cause this baby is trying to kick its way out! (Deadline does not apply to custom bags, please see the shop announcement if you would like a custom sail bag.)

In full disclosure the hand knit stocking is one that I made for S last year that he "gave" to the baby in favor of keeping his tiny-in-comparison childhood stocking. So Feeney really is the only one who got his own custom stocking. And to that Feeney says, "take that, baby!"

On Cloth Diapering B.B.B. (Before Baby Bee)

2011-12-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

We decided very early on to go cloth with our baby bee. Between the two of us S and I have changed maybe a dozen diapers in our lives, so we're starting from scratch here. Why not go for the more cost conscious option? And I work from an office in our home, so taking five minutes to put on a load of laundry every few days is really not a hardship. Plus, I love laundry. Love it.

I spent much of the summer researching cloth diapers, how to wash them, their pros and cons and preferred brands for different stages in a baby's pre-potty trained life. I chose a half dozen or so brands and sought out sales on deal-a-day sites and found excellent deals on "used" diapers returned perfectly clean and barely used from sites that offer 21-day trials. A washing and a few hours on the line in the sun removed any sign that the diapers were ever used, even on the ones sold in "fair" condition. We intend on re-selling any of the diapers that don't quite work with our baby's physique since some brands are apparently better for chunkier v. slimmer babies.

We weighed the pros and cons of using disposables until baby fits into one-sized diapers, but because of the 21-day "used" diapers, it was more cost effective to go for cloth right from the start (minus the first week or two of tough-to-clean diapers). So we bought diapers for both the newborn and one-sized-fits-most stages. We should have enough of the latter to do laundry every three days and every other day during the newborn months.

Our diapers are all prepped, organized in the dresser and ready for baby bee's arrival. Newborn suitable on top and 12+ pounds on bottom:

Because we'll have three adults in the house when baby arrives and only one of those adults did all the research on cloth, and because that adult will be responsible for all the feedings and will not be responsible for the changings too, I used the label maker to avoid mistakes like "no I didn't use a cover with that diaper" when asked why the cradle is soaked, for example. In addition to "needs cover" and "doesn't need cover" there are also little hints like "always use liners with rash cream" - even though we bought a cloth safe diaper rash cream.

We've had several lessons with Mr. Bear using a few of the newborn suitable brands like the Thirsties duo wraps, Kissaluvs, prefolds and Fuzzibunz and I have to say, as with everything else around here, S is ready for the challenge; how hard can it be?

My mom, on the other hand, is going to learn on the fly...but this whole baby thing is like riding a bike, right? It comes right back after 30-some-odd-years, right?

Attic Stairs. Check.

2011-12-08T23:04:00.000-05:00

We've had some abnormally warm temperatures lately, but a couple days of cool weather made us realize that we needed to finish up the attic stairs project, stat. See, when S lay the floor upstairs, he built up the floor joists so that we wouldn't compress the gazillion inches of insulation our home's previous owners added just before we bought our little beehive. But, the trap door stair unit itself only came with a piece of half-in rigid foam nothingness on it to make you think it's insulated. The cold wall of air meeting us at the top of the stairs recently told a different story.

So on to finishing the project.

S and I waddled off to the big orange store for two of thickest pieces of rigid foam insulation we could find, which was about R13. While I was inside filling the gaps around the trim of the new trap door with wood filler in preparation for paint, S was outside cutting the foam into two solid pieces and piecing together the scraps to create a third layer. He used a can of liquid nails to adhere all the layers together, the two solid together and the pieced together layer on top.

S glued two lengths of string between two layers of the insulation so we can hook the insulation trap door on a couple of nails hammered into the ceiling rafters to keep the whole thing out of the way whenever we need to take several trips up and down the attic stairs.

Once the liquid nails was dry, S carefully popped the insulation trap door up the stairs and its freshly painted trim. Yes, I painted trim on the ceiling at nine months pregnant (with no-voc paint, of course). My big a*s belly hasn't changed the fact that I have the steadier hand around here ;o)

Once the trap door was in place, S marked where we needed to cut out a square of the bottom layer of foam to fit around the bottom section of stairs, which stick up a bit and don't sit flush with the door opening. Kind of a pain in the neck, but it was easier to mark with the insulation in place.

After we made the final adjustments to the insulation, we made marks on the inside of the door opening and the insulation to make it easier to properly line up the insulation trap door to sit flush with the attic floor each time we move it. We'll eventually add a little strapping so the whole thing just falls into place. Maybe this weekend.

Now everything is nice and toasty, the hall light is in its new home, the door is primed and painted and our new attic stairs look like they've always been there.

And we're absolutely in love with the extra storage our new stair have opened up...especially since we have soooo many empty boxes of baby goods up there right now!

Baby Bee's Navy & White Elephant Nursery Reveal!

2011-12-05T07:00:00.002-05:00

I'm 39 weeks today, which means we only have one week left 'til we're officially allowed to start tapping our feet and wondering when baby bee will make its appearance. I'm just fine having baby on the inside for now, I know it's much easier that way. But when baby does decide to make its appearance, we're ready to welcome it to the world and its new home in this navy blue and white elephant themed nursery. The nursery is full of special things we made, S brought home from his travels overseas and little tokens of love from friends. Come on in and see our labor of love:

Baby's cradle was mine when I was a baby, was used for my brother and was home to lots of bears and dolls in my room when I was kid (I rearranged my furniture often and would occasionally request the cradle be brought in from the attic for my dolls). We bought a new eco-friendly mattress and I sewed sheets from navy blue and white elephant fabric. I sewed the drapes from cute navy fabric with white circles and lined the panels with black-out fabric to make afternoon naps in the south facing room a little more nap-like.

Above the cradle we have navy and white paper lanterns (not actually lighted) with navy ribbons hanging from a few, reminiscent of the 400+ white paper lanterns with hot pink ribbons that we had at in the tent and throughout my parents' apple orchard at our wedding.

We have a bumper for the cradle for when baby is a little bigger, but before we transition to a crib. I made elephant fabric quilt binding and covered the satin trim on a plain white breathable bumper to make it a little more personalized to our nursery. And because baby bee's gender is a surprise we have a blue and a pink elephant waiting in its cradle, two of the 51 elephants in the nursery we counted this morning.

We created a small gallery wall above our glider to display a few special cards and artwork, like the congratulations card, below. Once baby arrives we'll order a custom name print from Made by Girl for the largest frame.

Our white glider is a hand-me-down from S's aunt and uncle who rocked three babies in it before passing it on to at least two more families. We revived it a bit and had new custom cushions made, one of the only sewing projects I didn't do myself.

On the chair we have my boppy pillow with the elephant slipcover I sewed and a hand embroidered elephant pillow cover that S brought back from Bahrain this summer. Hanging on the arm of the chair is a little blue bag with a black sequin elephant, a gift from my brother and sister-in-law, where I keep the feeding cover I made to match the boppy. More importantly, I think I'll be keeping my phone, a water bottle and maybe a few snacks in there once baby arrives.

In our small nursery the ottoman takes up a bit too much space to leave in front of the chair, so right now it's our stand-in side table (I have a small white plant stand/side table from L.L.Bean on my Christmas wish list) and home to our bumbo with its elephant slipcover I sewed.

Over on the other side of the room we have our changing station, complete with a dresser full of cloth diapers.

We bought an eco-friendly changing pad and I sewed the elephant cover. It's secured to the back of the dresser with snaps, so the cover has large button holes to let the snaps through. Next to the changing pad we have all our changing lotions, oils and other goodies in a CD basket lined with the same fabric as the drapes.

Above the changing table hangs a custom navy and white elephant mobile just in case the toys stashed in the goodies basket don't keep baby's interest during diaper changes.

Next to the dresser we have a diaper pail lined with a navy wet bag, of course, and a hutch where we've stashed all our cloth wipes supplies and my feeding accessories in fabric covered bins. The retro fan that used to live in our bedroom before we succumbed to ceiling fans this summer, sits on top of the hutch, which is also where we'll keep our video monitor pointed at baby's cradle.

On the bottom shelf of the hutch we have a larger basket matching the changing goodies basket, also lined with drape fabric. It's full of the special baby blankets I've made over the past few months and a couple much recommended swaddle blankets.

Next to the changing dresser are the built-in shelves that I painted navy blue this fall.

In front of the shelves we have a blue elephant canvas tote (and a hot pink one too, if baby is a girl) for baby's toys and a plush elephant rocking horse - one of the first baby purchases we made.

Storage is tight in our little nursery, so we have several shelves dedicated to storage baskets, each labeled with elephant luggage tags.

On the higher shelves we displayed several special things, like this elephant artwork that I made for baby and the momma and baby elephant S brought back from a trip to Italy last year.

We have baby bee's budding book collection:

Baby's special stainless elephant bank, a gift from S's best man - an elephant never forgets...to save for college - and a pair of my first baby shoes:

We also have several hand knit elephants that I've made over the years. I have one more to add, but "finish elephant" is still on the to-do list.

Hanging from an elephant hook on the back of the tiny closet door is a baby sweater I knit from scrap yarn years ago and a pair of hand knit baby booties that were my mom's as a baby.

Behind the nursery door hangs a hand-embroidered alphabet tapestry that S brought home from the suk in Bahrain. Some of our favorite letters are E for elephant, of course, I for ice cream, M for monkey and Y for yacht. We're expecting baby to bypass "boat" all together and go straight to "yacht" when it learns to talk.

We're so excited to rock our baby on the glider, lay our baby in the cradle and welcome home our nursery's new resident!

UPDATE: Here's a list of our sources for everything nursery!

Oh Christmas Tree, Faux Christmas Tree, How Lovely Are Thy Branches

2011-11-30T22:23:00.000-05:00

We officially went faux last year when we knew we would be away for Christmas but wanted to have a tree to decorate with the ornaments that S brings me back from his travels around the world. But we only had a small temporary tree since we couldn't stomach the price of a grand real-looking faux tree.

On the day after Christmas hours before he had to leave for a three week trip overseas, S went on a hunt in search of the perfect deeply discounted faux tree. He ended up finding a $800+ tree for $125, which just happened to be the exact amount of cash his grandparents gave us as a Christmas gift. He paid for the tree, I wrote the "thank you for the Christmas tree" note to his grandparents and we stuck the tree in its box in the shed.

Last week S pulled the tree out of the shed (the Christmas card from his grandparents still in the box) and we set to work stringing 11 rolls of 200 warm white LED lights on its branches. Since stringing lights on a faux tree is a once-in-its-lifetime task, we wanted to make sure we did it right the first time. And by do it right the first time, I mean it took us nearly two full days to wrap every single branch of the tree. Twice.

We tried to take turns, but it proved to be much easier if one person wrapped the branches while the other fed the string of lights and made sure it didn't get tangled.

The whole process was Feeney approved; he likes any excuse to be right up in the action, especially if it means he gets to lean on, lay on or otherwise touch one of his humans for an extended period of time. He's kind of lovey.

We had to move a little bit of furniture to fit the huge tree in our living room, but surprisingly it actually works well. And the best part is that it doesn't look fake - I'm really glad we waited until the after Christmas sales and that S braved the crowds and traffic to find this tree. We love it, even without ornaments yet!

While we love, love, love the tradition (and smell!) of a real tree, after the smaller investment in the faux tree and the much bigger investment in lights, we're considering ourselves officially faux converts; at least for the next several years when we're likely to be living in the city. Storage issues aside, I think it's a pretty good decision. So how about you, are you joining the faux side this year?

38 weeks today

2011-11-28T15:32:00.000-05:00

I'm 38 weeks today. That leaves two weeks left. Maybe four. Maybe none. Who knows. I did get to see baby bee this morning at an unexpected sonogram and it still looked as creepy as ever on the dark screen, but pretty darn amazing nonetheless. I resisted finding out its gender once again. It was super tough this time though; I had to bite my tongue the entire time.

It's ready to go and we're kind of ready. The freezer is chock-full, but there are still a dozen to-do's left on our list, and the Christmas tree is up, but undecorated, so maybe baby will give us a few more days. As for me, I'm feeling good, but just kind of big:

F @ 38w