A Nesting Mommy

My parents took Karlee to the beach last week from Wednesday - Sunday. So, that meant lots of time to rest for mommy, right? WRONG! My nesting kicked in full gear and I don't think I sat down much at all while Karlee was gone.

Everything has been marked off the "getting ready for baby" to-do list:
*all baby clothes/blankets/receiving blankets are washed and put away.
*all baby toys, swings, bouncy seats, play mats are out of the attic, washed, and ready for use. The nursery smells like a bottle of Dreft!
*all bottles are out of the attic, washed, and stored away in the kitchen.
*my bag and Madelyn's bag are packed for the hospital.
*my closet is straightened up and now includes all baby essentials for bath, diapering and dressing for downstairs use.
*the nursery is finished!
*car seat is out of the attic, washed, and ready to go in the car.
*all nursing supplies are on hand, and one thing of formula is in the pantry in case nursing doesn't go as easy as it did with Karlee.
*nursing pajamas are washed and put away.
*spent $220 at Target buying all the baby essentials (diapers, wipes, ointment, baby wash, baby lotion, mylicon, bottle nipples, etc) - all the things you take for granted when you receive them at the baby showers for the first child!

Shewwwww! I think that's everything I did while Karlee was gone, besides sew a few things. One of the sewing projects I finished was the wall letters for Madelyn's nursery. I ran across a really cute lettering idea in the Pottery Barn kids magazine a while back. It was a paper letter in one color on top of an 8x10 piece of paper of another color and framed. Those little things are $30 per letter! I got to thinking that I could just make my own. And, I figured since I have this nice sewing and monogram machine, that I should get a little more creative than paper.

One of my co-workers has been saving the cardboard pieces that come in the box of stock checks at our office for Karlee to use for art projects and coloring. So, that was the base for my idea. I had on hand most of the fabric that matched Madelyn's room. So, I just appliqued her letters on pieces of fabric and sewed the fabric up like a pillow. I slid the cardboard piece down in the pillow case, used long nosed tacks to pin to the wall, and tied ribbon around the tacks. I pat myself on the back because I don't think they look too bad. And, it's a special handmade project. I had thought about framing them and hanging them with ribbon but frames were just too expensive and the cardboard is paper size (8 1/2 x 11).



Everything for Madelyn is just sitting in her room right now. Karlee was really quiet last night and I knew she was in Madelyn's room. I snuck upstairs with camera in hand and found her in the boucy seat. I quickly snapped the picture and disappeared. I kept glancing in there to see what the noise she was making was coming from. She had found the basket of toys and lovies, the boppy pillow, and the play mat. Well, the nursery was clean and straight for a few days at least!