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the five of us.

melanie bauer — Thu, 31 May 2012 21:54:15 -0500

and baby makes five. this afternoon we welcomed carson waveland into the world. we have a BO
Y. to say that daddy is over the moon thrilled would be the understatement of the century. to say i'm in disbelief that i know have a son would also be quite the understatement.

he weighed 10 pounds 3 ounces and was 22.5" long. how he had any room to perform his acrobatic tricks while inside my belly, i'll never know.

we're so incredibly blessed. we are now a family of five.

making smores.

melanie bauer — Thu, 31 May 2012 10:24:00 -0500

last night, we checked another item off our summer bucket list. we made smores. or "snorts" as C refers to them. let's just say things got a tad bit messy. and extremely humorous as L's chin continually was sticking to her bib.

an impromptu, fun family activity that made dessert more of an event than usual.

wordless wednesday : hello library.

melanie bauer — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:32:52 -0500

with C out of school for the summer, i now have two sidekicks in tow for errands. today i tried to break things up a bit and make it a bit more fun with a few surprises. before getting groceries, we hit starbucks for milk (also a good excuse for this mama to use a free drink coupon burning a hole in my wallet) and after groceries we stopped by the library to play and get a few new books to enjoy.

i have an almost identical photo of the girls from the end of last summer at this particular library. they love that this bench sits in the middle of a large flower cutting garden and it seems so secluded.

nursery version 3.0.

melanie bauer — Tue, 29 May 2012 14:10:18 -0500

as promised, photos of the nursery for baby number three who is guaranteed to make his/her appearance this week. the girls now share what was C's room and they've already let us know in no uncertain terms that when we move they do NOT want to be in a room by themselves. easy enough!

this room doubles as half nursery, half my studio/office space. it's great as it's just down the hall from the girls' room so when they want to play in their room post-nap, i can tidy things up or get a few things done there. they also are known to bring toys and books in there as they love to sit in the large recliner or the small rocking chair and hang out with me.

this room gets a LOT of natural light, so it's difficult to take photos where something isn't washed out. as we're moving in a year, you'll see many similarities to when this room was L's nursery. i've simply switched the color scheme up a bit.

the crib. outfitted in new bedding in the new grey/yellow/red color scheme. the yellow blanket over the side was made by etsy seller modernmadebaby who was also amazing to work with. love finding people that can make exactly what you envision in your head. the hippo blanket on top of the yellow one is from babygap. as the girls each have a "signature animal" of sorts, this baby had to have one too and we went with hippos.

the bedding was made by etsy seller babydarling. she made L's bedding and ironically C's first birthday dress. she's a dream to work with as i told her which fabrics i wanted to use and where as well as came up with the bumper design to work with this crib and she made it all happen.

i chose the fabric on the outside of the bumper as it has names of various hometowns. as we'll be moving in a year, it only seemed appropriate! the inside of the bumper is a lovely red polka dot. both fabrics are made by sweetwater.

the painting above the crib was created by the two big sisters of the house. i simply purchased a large canvas and a tube of red paint and let them go at it. at one point it had these really cool figures that C draws on it but then they both continued trying to cover every square inch of the canvas with paint. i love that it's one of a kind and truly personalized. the girls both love seeing something they created hanging in the nursery. i'll definitely be doing this project again in the future.

the grey and yellow poms on the ceiling were there from L's nursery. i simply removed the turquoise ones to her new shared room and replaced them with poms in various shades of red.

the dresser (waiting to be filled with clothes once we know this baby's gender). super simple here as the framed art above it used to hang above L's crib and continues to be one of my favorites. the dresser holds an ipod dock and a family photo of us with the girls from easter that i love. the try holds a wooden rattle that C received when she was a baby and is a good catch all for miscellaneous baby things. i try and leave an extra pacifier here for during the night so i'm not hunting to find one in the dark.

something new for the nursery. a bookshelf to hold even more books. this has become L's favorite place to hang out as she loves digging through and finding new books to look at. i also added a changing pad on top even though it'll be rare that the baby gets changed here for quite some time. instead, the cats have decided that this is the perfect perch to enjoy some afternoon sun. if history repeats itself, as soon as the baby arrives they'll want nothing more to do with the space.

above the bookshelf is a clock that i had originally purchased for L's nursery but was never used. it totally works in this space though. i also framed a piece of patterned paper from BasicGrey (the company i work for) as it was the perfect pop of color and i have adored that alphabet print since the moment i laid eyes on it. the red "3" print was from an etsy seller in spain. red? three? meant to be.

the infamous book slings that i made for L's nursery only in a new fabric. you can't tell from these photos but it's a red canvas hippo print which is going to be extra durable for books but wasn't super fun to sew. if i'm in here, one of the girls is usually in the small rocking chair - which was mine from my childhood - and looking through books housed here.

the hippo print was an etsy find while the large canvas alphabet was a gift from two phenomenal women i'm blessed to have in my life. love that i think of them every time i see it.

the same recliner and ottoman from L's nursery with the addition of new throw pillows. the red "3" pillow was a target find. again - perfect number and color combination. the other two pillows i sewed covers for with the same fabrics from the crib bedding.

the table next to the recliner holds the baby's new collection of sandra boynton hippo books as well as two additional stuffed hippos. i also included a photo of L and C reading books together from L's birthday. i've tried to include them in as many ways possible in the nursery to avoid any hurt feelings or any one thinking she's being left out.

so that's that. the new favorite hang out spot of sisters and cats alike. so surreal to think there will be a tiny occupant of the space in the coming days.

our summer bucket list.

melanie bauer — Mon, 28 May 2012 13:51:21 -0500

last week while reading my friend sara's blog, she mentioned the happy family movement's summer bucket list challenge. "this free, fun for all ages challenge is based on a simple premise: time spent together as a family is time well spent."

i promptly signed us up. as this is our last summer in town, we're going to make the most of it. even if it could be interesting with a new baby in tow. so after breakfast yesterday, we each added things we wanted to do to our master family list. some are super simple and others will take a bit more planning but no doubt many memories will be made.

yesterday we crossed two items off our list. in 90+ degree temps no less. we headed to bratfest and as we went later in the evening to try and not melt in the heat, we decided to attempt to stay late enough for the fireworks. SO glad we did. although the girls were a bit scared at first, they had a great time at the end and the fireworks finale was the best i've ever seen.

i'll also take a moment to point out that i look shocked in this photo as my crazy soon to be middle child was lunging at the camera and was trying to take me down with her.

also checked off the list? C's desire to ride a "big wheel." granted, she had this desire last year but balked upon seeing just how big the big wheel was last year. this year she wanted it on the list but i figured we might have the same outcome. turns out, she loved it. she took a few spins with daddy and cuckoo while L and i enjoyed the view from below.

two items checked off our list and numerous memories yet to be made. hello, summer!

the last of my to-do list.

melanie bauer — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:14:18 -0500

i get stingy with my time when i'm "overdue" with a baby. as in when i knew my estimated due date was the 19th, i began to plan that i'd really like to make it through the last week of preschool and C's picnic(yesterday) and then the girls had dentist appointments this morning. check and check. this was L's first trip and they were both rock stars. they think going to the doctor and the dentist is the ultimate of field trips.

this morning i was also able to arrange the altar flowers at church for pentecost as well as stick three more meals in the freezer for the coming weeks. i'm feeling like a rock star myself, thankyouverymuch.

so we'll see what the long holiday weekend brings... if i was a betting person, i'm betting that we'll still be a family of four come tuesday. if that's the case, i'll be getting lots more done in the meantime. each day is an extra gift to enjoy our family as it is now before we begin to celebrate life as a family of five.

and the extra days will give me a chance to clean the incredibly thick layer of dust that came in through the open windows yesterday. ugh.

preschool first day + last day.

melanie bauer — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:00:18 -0500

oh what a difference a school year makes. although apparently we're still very into pink and sandals no matter what the month. at least i was able to convince her to let me pull her hair back today for the 87 degree temps projected.

so proud of her and everything she's accomplished in her very first year of school. she's able to write her name, read, knows bible stories better than i do and so many other things.

looking forward to an amazing summer spent with three little ones and the no doubt many adventures we will undertake.

and a BIG thank you to this baby for holding out and letting me attend their biggest sister's preschool picnic today. it was much appreciated.

project life | week 18.

melanie bauer — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:28:21 -0500

today i'm sharing week 18 of my project life album over on the BasicGrey blog for a new series we've started and we've named "what a week."

i hope you'll head over and check it out for your chance to win a kit from Studio Calico as well as some amazing BG product.

menu plan monday : 5.21.12.

melanie bauer — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:52:20 -0500

this week i'm going to attempt to get a few more meals in my freezer for post-baby. since this baby is going to be well cooked, i figure i really should take advantage of the extra time!

meatless monday : leftovers. cleaning out the fridge to prep for this week's groceries.

tuesday : turkey tikka burgers. this one got bumped from last week's menu so it's back for this week. looking forward to it.

wednesday : green chili chicken enchilada casserole with quick pico de gallo. everyone loved this the first time we tried it and it's SO easy. perfect for this week.

thursday : pizza. pizza got knocked off of last week's menu as well. how does THAT happen?!

friday : fish tacos with chipotle lime cilantro slaw. found this on pinterest and immediately pinned it. can not get enough fish tacos. LOVE them. now i'm not so sure how the others in my house will go for this, but considering i'm the 40 week pregnant mama in the house, i believe it's my right to make whatever i'd like. i'm sure you'd agree.

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new recipe reviews from last week :

sweet and sour peppers and penne. although there wasn't anything wrong with it, it was just okay. i've already thrown the recipe in the recycle bin, so i don't plan on making it again. too many other great recipes to try!

our saturday.

melanie bauer — Sun, 20 May 2012 13:55:41 -0500

we packed a lot into our saturday this weekend. quite the opposite of what one would likely think of doing when 40 weeks pregnant. and it's 86 degrees outside.

first things first, miss L moved out of her high chair and into a "big girl chair." instead of a booster, i snagged another kaboost that raises the height of our dining room chair to the perfect level. it was the perfect meal to start with as she dined on her beloved french toast.

after breakfast we hit a local dairy farm that was having a family day. the girls were enchanted with this calf and they each entered a contest to name him/her. C's choice was darlin. (the name that never goes away.) L's choice was adam. obviously she goes along with every idea her sister has. both make better cow names than baby names, don't you think?

everyone but mama enjoyed climbing up into a couple of combines to enjoy the view and "drive." this was daddy's favorite part of the excursion.

enjoying the view from atop some large hay bales. you can see just how bright and sunshiney the day was. much sunscreen was sprayed on.

and of course, we had to stop and color at the tables set up.

right before coloring, we decided to treat the girls to some milk fresh from the farm. it was bottled and everything, but it was from the farm we were at. apparently i'm raising city children as they were amazed it was cow's milk. as if they don't drink cow's milk every other day. at each meal since, they've asked me if the milk i've given them is cow's milk...

the requisite shot with the farm sign. love the name. love that everything but the milk we purchased was absolutely free.

next time, we're so trying the ice cream.