Big Boy Bed

Last week, W was done with work pretty early so we had some fun putting together a few of the last major components of E's room. One of which being: his bed! I was shying away from it and loving the idea of waiting until the last minute to switch him over, but W was all over it like white on rice. So we dove right in!

I put his comforter, a few pillows and stuffed animals on and sat back to have a "I'm totally a Mama" moment and "He's not a baby anymore" moment as well. E was really excited about it. We played in the room for awhile. He hopped on and off the bed several times. The fabric letters still need a home on the wall but I pulled them out just to see what they would look like.

He did great with the normal bedtime routine--only got up once and W walked and sung him back to bed.  Then he was out for the night. We sneaked back in several times before going to bed, just to check on him and laugh at his various positions. Although he getting older, it still seems like he's too young for a regular bed! Maybe it's because I know two-going-on-three year olds who are still in cribs?! Either way, he still looked so cute and precious!

He did such a great job! I had to put him back a few times in the morning, but he fell back to sleep. And naps were just a smooth. He was so excited in the morning, like he knew that he had done something great. It was really cute. I'm still in shock that my high maintenance babe was so go-with-the-flow. I think he's really chilled out as a toddler! Definitely digging that!

Eek! Final reveal of his entire room coming so soon, I promise. I'm sure ya'll are sick of reading about this redo by now. ;)

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

So I came across this idea {from here and here} who knows how long ago and bookmarked it. E was just a baby at the time, but I knew I wanted to it in his big boy room. It's a super cheap project which we made a bit cheaper by skipping a few materials. And of course, after being a teacher, I was all over the benefits! The idea behind them is that kids will be more encouraged to pick and chose books off the shelves because they can see the front cover. Really, it just makes the books that much more accessible to them.

And let's be honest, I'm hoping for some additional sleep once he gets trained the hang of waking up and grabbing a book to read on his own. Plus, I love the added bonus that it's an unexpected element; using unusual material for part of his room. 

Materials:

One 10 inch vinyl rain gutter {K frame style}

Six gutter end caps {2 per shelf}

Hack saw or table saw {to cut the gutter into shelves}

Drill {to mount them to the wall}

Total Cost: $22

We skipped:

The brackets {2 per each shelf; they aren't really that necessary if you mount on the wall studs}

Dry wall screws {we used some of our leftover 2.5 inchers}

What W We Did:

1. Cut the gutter to desired length {I wanted three shelves; 3 and 1/3 FEET each}

2. Add end caps to gutters

3. Find studs and measure out your distance between shelves

4. Have one person hold shelf and level as the other person drills in one screw through each end of the shelf...this is where I came in.

5. Repeat for each shelf

6. Sneak some fun in

7. Fill shelves with books--we made sure to keep the shelves pretty low. E can reach the bottom two shelves now. Each shelf holds about 10-15 books. I made sure the top shelf was still a bit too high and stuck his 'nicer' books on that for now.

8. Admire and start reading!

Airplane Museum

During work one day last week W discovered the Oakland Aviation Museum. It's off the beaten trail but definitely holds some fun treasures: old airplanes! With a full day off, we took the opportunity for a family field trip to check it out. It's a perfect place for toddlers-- there's a small interactive 'play area' for kids before walking in...

Inside the museum are giant, beautiful old airplanes. We basically had the place to ourselves so E could roam freely.

E's favorite part: toddler-sized airplane model! Seriously, cloud 9.

The yard also had some great looking jets and the boat-plane that was in Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. W rented it from the library so we could watch it that evening.

I could definitely see us coming back here again--they have open cockpit days a few times a year and the boat-plane is open for tours on the weekends. Both boys loved it and I'm sure they could easily make a regular outing of it.

10 on 10

Ok, so there's this photography idea that I've seen and loved called "10 on 10". The premise is to take a photo during each hour for 10 hours of the 10th day of the month. Basically, you're just documenting what happens throughout your day. Beauty in the ordinary! And when each 10th would roll around, I'd utterly forget to participate. But not this month! :) Funny how this day didn't turn out as ordinary since my tutoring got cancelled for the day and W worked an evening shift last night and got today off. But, here's my first "10 on 10" anyway!

Bfast time..E is a huge morning eater: two eggs, fruit, and yogurt are the norm..

Some outdoor play...

Naptime: Mama makes some sandwiches for our family field trip.

Arrive at our destination and time to explore!

Back at home and naptime for everyone...

Up, books and snack time!

Do some house chores, like breaking down and transferring crib to other room! Eek!

Pack up, grab dinner to go, and head to Concert in the Park

Good times with friends!

Put E down for the night, craft and watch a movie together!

And, that's a wrap!

More on our awesome family field trip later, because, of course, I have lots of pictures that cannot go unshared. ;)

New News!

Guess what?! We're PREGNANT! Oh, wait...you already knew that. ;)

You may {or may not} have noticed that this week I unlocked the privacy on the blog. You may {or may not} have noticed in my 'lurkers' feed that I was getting visitors from some not normal locations. 

Well, I was doing an experiment of sorts. A girlfriend of mine has been requesting a public blog so she can link back to it. And I've been wanting to do a link-up party {blog post where others can share their projects} for quite some time too. I love looking and getting inspired by what others are sharing and doing. Quite a few of our projects have stemmed from some random family's post or picture that was shared in a link party.

Well, on a whim and after gaining some confidence with my guest post, I unlocked the blog and posted on three different link parties. Just to see if it was even worth it and if people would even care to look at our projects. I was shocked that well over 200 people actually took the time to click on a yellow dresser picture to take them to our post. So fun!

But after chatting it up with W, we decided that we would still keep our family blog private for a few reasons:

1) So many pictures of our son{s}

2) I like the fact that I can also 'journal' on here and know who has access to that personal information

3) Although I like to pretend that our location is unknown, I've linked to some fairly local places and put pictures up of our town...so it's not really all that much of a mystery where we live.

That only really left one option if I wanted to continue sharing our projects and crafts: start another blog. So I'm starting a new experiment...a free, non-committal one. We'll see how it goes. If it utterly fails or takes up too much time, I'll just quit. :) I still plan to post our DIY and craft updates here, so I don't think there will really be a need to hop over to our new one if you already read this one.

Without further ado, here's our new addition: Swenson Style

Hi, Third Tri!

Eek! Here we are, starting the last trimester of baking this baby...

I'm still in denial about the whole thing. ;) This week I've definitely noticed that daily activities are getting harder: getting E into his car seat, lifting things, etc. I get out of breath way too easily. I wonder if I can get a doctor's note to skip housework yet. And the bathroom runs during the night are much more frequent-- Goodbye, good, wonderful, well-rested nights. See ya on the flip side! Oh, and how could I forget...the boobs are definitely finding rest on top of the belly. Clearly seen here:

But I must be cray cray because I do still love being pregnant! The swollen belly, big kicks and squirms, and just the pure miracle that is creating new life still get me even with the new and old challenges of this pregnancy. I love it and would love to do it all over again! I will most assuredly be sad when W and I grow out of this life stage.

Our New Headboard

We are in headboard business! Here's our new DIY headboard:

Although, it's not our DIY. One of my go-to girlfriends for DIY advice and inspiration, Jill, and her Will made this. Not too log ago, they moved into a new house and their master situation no longer fits the headboard. She knew about our future plans to make one {after all, she started the whole thing by sending me some tutorial links} and was so thoughtful to see if we wanted theirs! 

I love the blue fabric from her last upholstery job, but I still may hunt down some yellow. I'm totally loving the fact that we finally have something behind our bed besides the vast amount of wall space!!

I may still have W add some curves on to this, but I'm not in any rush. Here was my ultimate inspiration for the shape:

But now I'm thinking the current shape works much better if I want to hang a few prints above the bed. He may have just gotten out of a DIY project. ;)

We've also gone WHITE with our duvet cover several weeks ago. It's the first time I've ever done white {because, let's face it, I can't wear white without getting something on in within the first 5 minutes} and I was really hesitant. But I'm totally loving it: so crisp, clean, light and airy! A real difference from the rich chocolate brown duvet I switched it out with. I'm just praying we get through this newborn stage with less dry cleaning runs than last time!!

I still need to make some new Euro sham covers {could you tell in the pictures that there are none?}, new throw covers, update those side lamps with a fresh coat of spray paint, add some curtains {?} and accessorize. I'm love to replace our end tables too, but that ain't happening unless we find something cheap! Maybe time for more garage sale hunting??

Oreos: Nature vs. Nurture

Nature, hands down!

It must be like wired into their DNA to know about pulling apart the Oreo and just sucking on the frosting part.

Either way, Mama and E both enjoy stuffing our faces with 'em!

I'm a Guest!

Today, I'm guest posting over at my girlfriend's blog: the Newlywife about our DIY adventures and our awesome-ized dresser! Newlywife is a great resource for all things married, frugal, and household related. Take a gander if you get the chance!

First Trike

A few weeks ago, E received his very own tricycle. It is a hand-me-down from one of our neighbors. We are all about second-hand around here, if the items are still in good condition. Between my sister-in-laws, Ruth and Kelly, they have pretty much supplied E's entire wardrobe. 

The only "however" to this situation is the fact that the trike is entirely pink AND purple WITH princesses on the back of the mirror, albeit very faded. Ezra doesn't mind and considering the fact that the trike survived a visit with Grandpa and didn't mysteriously disappear, I think we're in the clear for using it for now.

And the kid loves it. He can not walk by it without hopping on. E may think it's silly later on in life that his first bike was a tad bit girlie, but he's already working on 'boy-ifying' it.

He's pretty close to full pedal circles, his legs just need to grow a little more. He's getting SO big!!