Love is in the air

 This year, I really wanted to decorate for Valentine's Day.  Somewhere on the www I found some links for valentine's day banners and it got my creative juices going.  So I gathered all of my pink and red fabrics and went to town.  This was a nice quick project after all of the baby goodies (and a nice way to use some fabrics I already had).

LOVE Martha Stewart glitter... although it is a mess (so fine!)  Karen- I have some in the mail for you- and i didn't shake off the loose glitter first (haha just kidding, or am I?)

I also got these great tinsel hearts at King Dollar that I am hanging in all of our windows with valentiney ribbon... love them... finally, I made some crayon hearts which resulted in a blister on my finger (using a pocket knife on the crayons to get shavings).  They look really cute, but I have to get a picture in daylight because they look so much better than at night.

Some Dailies from January and Early February

  LOVE you daddy! 

 YES!  I can cross my fingers!

 Curly head

 Bath time is the BEST!

 Frannie- where is your bellybutton?

 does this hurt?

Yikes!!

  Love you too Frannie!

Banana- can't believe my mama doesn't like them!

Gifts for Aiden and his Mama...

From Aunt Melissa and Aunt Rebecca...

 "Pleated Beauty Bag" from Amy Karol (Angry Chicken's) Sewing book "Bend the Rules Sewing".  Loved how it turned out and can't wait to make one for me!  LOVE this Michael Miller Fabric line- if we ever have a baby boy...

 little taggie blanket with navy satin on one side and yellow minky on the other

 burp cloths (i loved buying some boy fabric finally :) )

 baby log to keep track of those first few months (modeled after the Secrets of the Baby Whisperer- FAVE baby book!)

 clips to hook blankets to the carseat, stroller, etc and a band to put around a few diapers and wipes case to fit in diaper bag

nursing cover with a terry cloth corner and pocket for nursing pads on the inside

hooded towel

infant carseat carrier tent (FIRST PROJECT sewn by Rebecca on her new Christmas machine- She did an amazing job)

We also gave Allison some milk diapers nursing pads.  For all you nursing or soon to be nursing mama's out there- these are amazing for oh so many reasons!

Baby Shower Post No. 2- The fun!

 More Shower pics of people and fun!

 There were of course several baseball touches which Andrew (the daddy who played baseball at A&M) LOVES!

 Baldwin Family attendees

Becca (sister-in-law) and Allie-cat

  

 The hostesses (L-R: Monie, Melissa, Melody, Donna)

Proud Papa to be...

Sweet Baby Aiden- we can't wait to meet you!

My Baby Sister's Baby Shower

Yesterday was my sister Allison's Baby Shower.  We are so excited that she is having a BOY (WTG Andrew!).  He will be 11 months younger than Rebecca's Lizette who is 11 months younger than Claribel... so fun!  I wanted to share some photos of all of the details first (just for you Rebs).  FYI... I was not a hostess and can not take any credit for the beautiful shower that it was.  The flowers are by Last Petal who also did my wedding and Rebecca's baby shower flowers.  Melanie is so talented!

 lovely, just lovely... Wonderful job- Monie, Melody, Melissa and Donna

Christmas Kitchen

Ray and I decided to do a DIY Play Kitchen for Claribel this year for Christmas.  It was such a fun project, Claribel LOVES it and we love how it turned out (which is important since it resides in our dining room/ living room :) ) 

We started with a nighstand with a layout mirrored from the one below (this is the other half of the match set that mom bought at a garage sale).  I forgot to take a picture of ours before Ray took it apart to sand it.

We went to Home Depot and found some cute trims, hardware, and knobs.  Ray built the entire back, trimmed it out to be so cute, and sanded and painted it while I worked on the painted knobs, burners, salt and pepper shakers and recipe box.  I also made fabric trimmed dishtowels, oven mits, apron, and chefs hat.  I also used the fabric to add a little to a basket from Pier 1 that fits on the shelf perfectly.

 We painted it a pistachio green-blue color.  It is hard to tell the color on the pics...

 We did a chalkboard on one side and will add chalk later when we know she won't just draw on the wall.  I love that this is something that she will grow into and be able to use in different ways for years to come.

 Ikea was the sweet spot for lots of accessories:  they had the awesome stainless pots and pans, cooking utensils, soft fruit basket set, soft vegetable basket set, breakfast food set, and baking set with a baking pan that fits on the shelf Ray added to the inside of the cabinet perfectly.

We got a chef set and dishes from Green Toys.  Below are the salt and pepper shakers (wooden spools with a disk on bottom and rounded top with seed beads inside), and recipe box with laminated "recipe cards", food pictures from a baby einstein first foods book and some that I sketched on index cards.  One of her favorite things is to take recipe cards out of my recipe box, so I thought she needed her own.  So far it has not disappointed, she LoVeS it!  This picture also shows off some of the trim that my talented husband added to the shelves.

 Christmas morning enjoying the recipe box.

 She is a cooking machine!

 At one point, her chefs hat had dropped over her eyes and I took it off, thinking it was bothering her.  Claribel touched her head and looked at me like "where did it go?"  So I put it back on her and she smiled and chuckled, so funny.  It is so nice that she is enjoying it, since we worked so hard on all the details!