A Nautical Shower

I just realized that I never posted pictures from my beautiful baby shower to welcome Baby Boy into the family! It was thrown by my aunt, sis-in-law, and cousin-in-law and so many wonderful ladies of the family and church were able to come.

 

It's a good thing the shower was held on the date it was...one more week and I wouldn't have been able to attend! Brayden was born 5 days after the shower! He surprised us a little bit by coming earlier than expected...

 

His nursery has a Nautical Theme, so the girls kept the theme going with the shower too.

 

I loved all of the decorations. It's hard to decorate in a HUGE church hall, but they made it super cute!

 

I think I took 10 of these little favors for Gray to eat. The girl loves her jellybeans...

 

The corkboard had notes next to it, so each guest could write a little something to Brayden for the board. There were such sweet things left on it when it was time to go home.

 

The name board looks great in his nursery.

 

There was so much attention to detail. The "life-savers", fishing nets...

 

And little sea creatures too!

 

It was unseasonable warm the day of the shower (in January!) so I got to pull out a dress I wore when I was pregnant with Gray!

 

Unwrapping tiny baby things is so much fun. I love going to baby showers too just to see the tiny clothes, soft blankets, and sweet little toys.

 

And of course the food was wonderful. When you're 9 months pregnant, seeing your favorite fruits, snacks, and of course, cupcakes will make your day!

 

It was such a special time and so much fun to prepare to welcome our sweet little boy. He turned two months old this week! Yikes!

They grow up way to fast.

Pattern Testing: The Lindsay Reverse Knot Dress

Pattern Testing is complete for

 

The Lindsay Reverse Knot Dress!

 

 

I got great feedback from my testers and will be using their feedback to make the pattern available soon. Here are some of the creations they made:

 

This one is from Monica...

I love love love the lime green!

 

This little ham belongs to Helen! I love the whimsical Pooh Bear fabric.

 

And this one is from Sharmane. She made FOUR of these little babies over a weekend!

 

 

Thanks so much to my testers for spending time sewing for me! The dresses and little girls are adorable.

 

Stay tuned for the completed pattern!

Closets: Reorganized

To keep up with "Project: Reorganize" I decided to work on my closets. I've already tackled my kitchen Here, Here, and Here.

I have one linen closet in my house. ONE. That's horrible people. Not to mention our ONE linen closet is not even a little bit organized. Towels aren't sorted, blankets, beach towels and sheet sets are shoved wherever they will fit. It's bad. It was time to do a little something about it.

 

 Here is the before picture of my dreaded closet..... 

 

The easiest way for me to clean anything is to completely take it apart....

so I did.

Everything in the closet ended up in the floor.

Everything got refolded.

Some old towels and blankets that had seen their better day (stained and gross) got thrown away.

 

And magically.... There was room in my closet!

 

I even ended up with an extra empty shelf. Now the baby towels and washcloths are out of the nursery, and in the linen closet...where they belong.

 

The biggest problem with my old closet was the sheet sets. I had several, but they were folded terribly and shoved onto the tiny shelves.

 

This is how I felt about folding sheet sets:

(from Pinterest...of course)

 

 

 

Source: thedoghousediaries.com via Jenilyn on Pinterest

Isn't this how we all feel??

 

So to neaten things up...I folded my sheet sets, slowly and carefully, into the flattest rectangles I could manage...then shoved the sheets into one of the pillowcases! It's not package-perfect, but everything I need to make a bed is in that little pillowcase, on a shelf, right where I can see it. And no sheets come flying at me when I open the closet door anymore!

 

It only took 30 minutes to transform that little space into a usable one. Now....for the clothes closets. Yikes!

Beach Time

We were lucky enough to take a much needed vacation this past week...an "All-Girls-Plus-Brayden" trip. Poor little guy was a little outnumbered. It was pretty chilly while we were there, but there was still time for playing in the sand!

 

What little baby doesn't love running the sand through their fingers...or putting it in their shoes??

 

Goldilocks loves to jump, anywhere and everywhere. The sand added some new fun to her jumping.

 

We took a little drive to Calabash, North Carolina to eat and check out some of the boats on the water. She loves seeing the boats!

 

Breezy and beautiful...just how little girls should be.

 

Other than being a girl's trip, we also managed to have FOUR generations together!

Granny, Mama, Me, and my two babies.

 

This was Brayden's first trip to the beach. I can't believe how big he's getting.

He looks so huge sitting with his sister.

 

She loves him so much, and loves to hold and take care of him.

Such a good big sister.

 

And they love this lady more than anything!! Everyone needs a Nana like theirs!

 

Because Nana will dance in the waves when Mama won't!!

(I don't love getting in the ocean, especially when it's 50 degrees outside.)

 

We missed Daddy so much on this trip. I told Gray we were facing Daddy when we looked out into the water.

I'm pretty sure we're looking at Africa and not Europe...but who needs a geography lesson while on vacation.

 

I can't wait to go back when we can have him with us, and when Brayden can play in the sand too! Lots more beach trips to come. That's the beauty of living in South Carolina. Only a couple of hours from the mountains and the sea....