The BEST Un-Baby Shower Ever

I have not written in this thing in SO long! I have to catch up my posts. Needless to say things have been ka-razy (when are they not?). But we are winding down and ready for baby Scarlett to arrive. As of today, we are one week away from my guess date. I cannot believe it! I am feeling caught up and ready now at least. Now, time to relax and calm down.
This entire pregnancy has been really, really busy and somewhat stressed. I have worked full time, we have been on our debt diet and we have a busy toddler to chase after. Makes for one crazed schedule. I am glad that we have hunkered down and made these short term sacrifices to enjoy more going forward.

But, sometimes I feel like Scarlett got the short end of the stick in my pregnancy with her. Poor second babies. I spent SO much time (and money) thinking, dreaming and fantasizing during Porter's pregnancy. I bought all the "stuff", to then learn I didn't need 80% of it. I had showers and gifts bought and TONS of generosity. Porter was a very typical first time baby. This baby, people would ask about a shower and I politely declined. I dunno why, I just thought with the second, you don't have showers. Plus, times are tough for most everyone I know. I don't "need" anything, we are blessed. I don't want anyone spending lots of resources when in the end, that is not what babies are all about.

In my mama circle we do what’s called a "Blessingway". It is basically a no-gift shower where people bring poems, stories, passages, candles are passed down, birth-y type stuff and general well wishes. Lovely, huh? Except if you are me. I get uncomfortable as the center of attention (yes, shockingly I do) and say all the wrong things when there is an outpouring of sentiment. I'm Chandler Bing. So, I kinda settled on not having anything and being low key and ok about it.

Buuuut, my awesome, wonderful group of mama's got together and planned an un-baby shower, un-Blessingway for me and baby Scarlett! My friend Laura generously used her house and my other bestie Andra helped plan it. It was a no gift, potluck ladies get together/celebration for Scarlett. The food was amazing. Seriously so so so good. A group of my closest friends and family were all there to chat, eat and hang out. It was PERFECT. Baby Scarlett got the honor she deserves without the silly games and lavish gifts. After all, these ladies, not any "stuff" got me through raising Porter thus far so it was very fitting. More suiting for me, anyways. We laughed and joked. You had to be present to get the um, dirty details, but suffice it to say, it was a blast. We are one fun group of mom's. I'm pretty sure I can say it was unlike any baby shower I have ever been to and I mean that in the best way possible. I am SO grateful and I will never forget how special I felt.

Second to the food and company, they all conspired DID get me a gift. Cheaters. They all threw in money to go towards the purchase of a woven wrap. For those of you that aren't baby wearers (do I know anyone that isn't?? well, anyway....) woven wraps are very beautiful, very awesome, very EXPENSIVE child carrying apparatus'. They are simply gorgeous but simply not in our budget. Women in cultures around the world have been "wearing" their babies for thousands of years. There are SO many benefits to it that I won't go into. But, there is no way we could part with the money to buy one so it has just been something to lust after. But, no more! It was the perfect gift. Something that everyone could contribute to and make a huge impact for me. I couldn't think of anything better, more desired, more heart felt.

I could finally afford my dream wrap. I had wanted an Ellevill Grasshopper woven wrap for SO long. It is 50/50 bamboo cotton blend and just divine. No other word fits it. Luxury to the max. It is woven in India and sent here. It is fabric art. I love it. I hemmed and hawed even after the generous gift about getting something more practical (or so I thought), since I am new to wrapping. If I let something so gorgeous sit in my closet, it would be a sin. But, I know some expert, master wrappers that have offered to come help me learn all the tricks. I'm stoked. It is the most natural and gorgeous way to carry your baby. Bonus.... babies love it too. It lets mama be hands free and baby skin to skin. Looking past her 70's look.... isn't it GORGEOUS?!

And it is mine! All mine. I just bit the bullet and ordered it. I cannot wait to put a new squishy baby in it. I have so much gratitude in my heart for the generosity of my friends. I cannot thank them enough. It is my most sentimental Scarlett gift, who has been the stereotypical "second kid/pregnancy", had a room full out "aunties" that managed to spoil and cherish her in every way that a baby deserves to be. The world is waiting with baited breath baby girl, for you to pick your birthday. There are great things in store for you, you are loved already more than you know.

Ch..Ch...Ch...Changes for the P-man

Lots of changes around here! We are closing in on 6 weeks till baby Scarlett, the long awaited end of summer and our little boy blossoming more and more every day.

Porter has grown up so much in the last 2 months. His speech exploded, his signs exploded, his comprehension exploded. He is a full blown toddler. And a really, really busy one. He has two speeds, go fast and sleeping.

He started to climb out of his pack and play at daycare and has now graduated to sleeping on a mat and pillow with the big kids. That is a big deal. No sides, no rails, no restraint. And he LOVES it. Sleeps 2-2.5 hrs like that every afternoon. We also made the transition to one nap per day,so he sleeps one chunk and is ready for bed by 7:15 and sleeps through till about 6:45-7:00 the next morning. Pretty sweet... enter newborn. Sigh. I am spoiled by P-man's awesome sleep schedule.

So we have decided he is probably ready for a big boy bed. He gravitates towards it. Neil and I decided long ago we wouldn't force such things on him but if he was interested, we would oblige.

Our next big decision, our kids will share a room. Yep, boy and girl, brother and sister. We figure while they are little,no bigs. Plenty of kids do it and we only have 3 bedrooms. I want to save my guest room/office/craft room since it actually gets used. When kids are little, I feel like they only sleep in their rooms. Unless we are all upstairs, Porter is never in his room so we will save the sq footage and they will bunk up! I think they will find it comforting in the end. By the time Porter is 4-5 we will look at moving him into his own room. Essentially, it still will be his own room for a good while since Scarlett will be in our room for 6 months or so.

So, I had to re-think my decorating scheme! Something cute and boy/girl friendly. So, I tossed tons of ideas around, scoured tons of blogs. Then, a good friend suggested I look at Pottery Barn Kids new Very Hungry Catepillar collection. It is bright, fun and has coordinating boy/girl stuff. And... I LOVE it! SO stinking cute. But SO stinking expensive. So, I will buy P the duvet cover, Scarlett a matching crib sheet and maybe a couple decorative pillows as we can afford them. Other than that, we are on a budget! In the end it will look really cute and pull together nicely it just won't be 100% of the collection.

Super cute huh?! I love bright color for kids. I am not into pastels or super baby-ish stuff. I think it will be really fun. And I love the story and coordination too. I think it will grow with the kids. So, I decided to paint the room 1/3 a leafy green and the top 1/3 a dusty sky blue and separate them with crisp white chair rail. I then had to choose a bed for Porter. We didn't want to spend a whole lot since it will just last a couple years. We also skipped the toddler bed (I think they are pointless) and went right to a twin. Ikea had a cheap $40.00 raw wood bed that is low to the ground and perfect. I thought $40.00 for the bed, $30.00 for the slats and $100 for the mattress. Not too bad I suppose. But, then I scored the exact bed, brand new for $15.00 on Craigslist INCLUDING the slats and 3 miles from our house. That saved over $60.00. Then I had a $20.00 return card, bringing the mattress down to $80.00. So under $100.00 for a brand new, big boy bed. Not too shabs.

So it started looking a little boring. A little sad. I couldn't leave it that color! For $15.00 I could afford to paint it something fun and bold. Especially with cute bedding! So, after thinking about it, I settled on bright red. It matches the bedding and then Scarlett's coordinating crib stuff will be red and white gingham! It will coordinate perfect and be so bright and happy. So, $23.00 worth of tinted primer (since we chose red, the paint guys said a tinted primer is a MUST) and lady bug red, high gloss paint we were good to go!

We decided to do 2 thin coats of tinted primer to make sure the wood would accept the red well.

We had a good system. Neil rolled and I did the minor touch ups in the crevices and cracks. We let it dry while we ate and got Porter ready for bed. Then came the red!

The color up close is awesome and exactly what I wanted. Whew. I took these pics before I touched it up to show the difference. There are no pink spots now I promise! We will let it dry overnight and I have brand new leaf green sheets to put on it. Next up, painting the room and getting the duvet. I am really impressed with how good it turned out. It is perfect for Porter. I can't wait to see it all come together!

Live Like No One Else

When you live a life as jam packed as we do, I always appreciate a good 'ol fashioned dose of, perspective shall we say.  It is good for me to remember why Neil and I make the choices we do and the sacrifices we make because we know in the end, our family will be stronger for it.

Where did I get my dose of perspective today???  Um, a tree house.

Yes.... a tree house.

We loosely follow Dave Ramsey's cash/budget system (which I cannot WAIT for my blog post on that.  I will do a final tally of how much we have been able to pay off using this method.  Lets just say... it is A LOT).  One of my favorite Dave Ramsey ism's is a reasoning for living such a strictly budgeted/monitored life style.  And that reason is "Live like no one else, so that you can live like no one else". Hmmmm, thanks Dave.  It is not so easy when I want a new sliding glass door or the $900 GORGEOUS Pottery Barn Crib. And those are the frivolous things.  Last month it was the pool pump, new tire, an AC repair.... I could go on and on.  We made it through though. It was REAL tight, but, alas, eventually we will have complete financial freedom someday.  And when we do folks.... I am building a tree house.

Ok, maybe not if we stay in AZ.  I am a Midwest girl.  Michigan to be exact. There are actual trees there that have grown since the beginning of ever and not planted according to a landscaping design. Neil grew up with real trees in SC too. So, if we ever move to my dream city, Charleston, SC or thereabouts, I will have my sleepy, charming Southern house and out back I wanna have trees big enough to build my dream tree house. 

My inspiration piece....

Gorgeous huh? It was built as a tribute to a man that loved that particular tree and passed away.  It is not just for kids, it is a outside gathering place for adults and families.  In my tree house dream, this would be my office/guest cottage/summer time fun place.  Eventually, both Neil and I want to be completely self employed and instead of a boring 'ol home office.... how bout this?? See, I have to remind myself, that the sacrifices we are making now will enable us to dream big in the future.  Looks expensive huh?  It wasn't. No plumbing (walk 500 ft to the house, that'll do just fine). It is all reclaimed wood, vintage windows and sweat equity.  A lot was bartered. Big dreams don't always mean big price tags.  This was built over the course of a year. Ours would have to be built the same way.  Ours would need an extended deck so Neil could BBQ.  I imagine we would have constant backyard parties, cookouts, and "camp" in it with our kids.  If you need to find Neil, he most likely would be in the hammock with Bailey curled up beneath him. Neil and I would enjoy many o bottle of great red wine on the porch since we would rather be home watching our kids run around with friends and family than go out.  I can have an office that affords me the ability to work and be home at the same time. My kids will no doubt tear through it in mere seconds. Bliss. 

I would want it just as this one is.  Minimalistic, country and simple.  A gathering place for friends and family on our very own land.  That would be a dream for me.  I have to remind myself that it is OK to have not-so- normal goals.  That is why Neil and I do what we do.  So that we can think outside the box.  And it may never happen, I realize that.  But it doesn't cost anything to think about it or to push outside the realm of normal.  Who says you can't have a tree house when you grow up?  Live like no one else.  It is possible, just not popular.  But I have always been a bit off the beaten path.  And I wanna teach my kids that they can be too.  In our home, happiness is spelled f-a-m-i-l-y and our kids can one day roll their eyes at their parents that chose to go to work in a tree rather than an office and somehow made it work. We have a long, long, long way to go till this is our reality.  It may never come.  Perhaps one day it will.... I can only hope!