Quite the day

Pin It Now! I have had quite the day today - yesterday I went on a shopping trip with my girlfriend and her little girl - we had a blast but by the end of the day when we piled out of the car it was a scramble to get everything in the house.

I always lock the car doors - but last night I must have forgotten.

Our car got broken into and our ipod along with a few gift cards and my wallet was stolen - it took me forever to piece it all together...I looked for the ipod when I got in the car this morning but thought maybe Kirk had taken for his drive to work.  I just assumed my wallet was in my bag (which I had brought in the house last night).  When I got to Walmart I decided to get an iced coffee before I shopped - I realized after I ordered my wallet wasn't in my bag --- so I told the cashier and a nice lady behind my paid for my coffee.  She didn't know then the type of day I was having...heck I didn't even know..I just assumed my wallet was in my car - but when I got back to check - nope, not there.  Then I came home and thought maybe it was here somewhere and I just hadn't remembered to put it in my car but nope not here.  Then I started remembering how it was a bit of a scramble getting the kids out of the car yesterday, how we were hot and tired and excited about our shopping so I probably just forgot.  Luckily my diaper bag made it inside and that had our passports in it (which is going to come in handy for replacing everything!)

Moral of the story is...I am disappointed, more annoyed than anything about the stuff I have to replace...but I am so touched by that lady - a total stranger who bought me a coffee...she had no clue what I was going through but it really made a bad situation seem ok, hopeful even - and made me realize that the good outweighs the bad.


Here is most recent Turtle layout - we're using the Authentique line this month and I love it!

Layout 1 - hidden element challenge - I chose hidden journalling:

In other news baby Jonah turned 9 months old on Monday!  Eeeeee!!! How did this happen?

My days are now filled with a TON of movement...chasing more accurately. I think this month has been the biggest in terms of changes.

This month Jonah is:

-Crawling like it's his job - from room to room, he's a quick little crawler!
-Saying "babababa" to basically describe everything.  He'll do it back to you on occasion - it's such a cute little noise!  He alternates between that and almost a clearing of the throat noise - particularly when he wants someone to pay attention to him.  It's cute!
-Getting pickier about food - not as into purees at all but much more interested in self feeding.  There was a ton of food on the list before but now he mostly just seems interested in what we are eating.....which I know is good but a struggle when we're having typical summer food like salads etc.
-Major flirt - LOVES his ladies, yesterday he put on quite the show at Target for the cashiers
-Loves to stand....can't pull himself up quite yet but if I place him somewhere he'll just hang out there until he eventually falls on his bum
-Loves to play with cars and spin the wheels, can find wheels on anything (open dishwasher as an example)
-Loves to crawl over to the door stop and spring it so it makes a boing noise

Just woke up from his nap so got to run!

xoxo

Authentique Sharesies

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Just popping in with a little scrapbook share: 

This month at The Scrapping Turtle the Design Team is working with a fantastic new line called Authentique - I am using the Blissful line and I love it!  

We are getting back into the everyday groove over here after a week away with family - there's lots of crawling and babbling going on these days - so cute! 

Bittersweet

Pin It Now! We locked down J's daycare for next year yesterday.  This is such great news as it's with a daycare we didn't initially think we'd be able to get him into and he'll be going with on of my friend's sons who is basically the same age as him...but now that my return to work date doesn't seem like some distant date in the future I'm already starting to panic slightly.

The thought of rushing through our days
getting ready
packing lunches
commuting
dinner
clean up
bedtime
do it all over the next day makes me nervous.  Right now our days are pretty structured and flow easily and because I'm home on mat leave I do meals, cleaning etc when J is napping.  I can't figure out how we'll do it once I'm back at work but I just keep reminding myself that millions of people make it work and really there is no point in trying to figure it out now because no matter how I think it will be it will inevitably be different so there's really no point in worrying about it now*.
*lesson above learned earlier this year when I thought I knew everything I needed to know about having a baby so skipped every birthing/parenting class and decided to just wing it ;)

So I am trying to instead focus on this summer.  On enjoying this special time that we have just Jonah and I.  On going for walks, swinging at the park, playing at the splash pad.

And when he's napping and I'm caught up on chores I scrap.  I will miss that a lot when I go back to work ;)

I'm finally getting caught up with my month by month posts:

I'm really loving these month by month pages - I'm proud that I've stuck to it this long.  I really wanted to do project 12 this year but only got as far as January so I'm pretty happy I've got 8 months of these done already....even though the thought of that makes me cringe a bit with the realization that my itty bitty baby is now 2/3rds of the way to 1 year old!

sometimes

Pin It Now! Sometimes i go through kind of a rut with scrapbooking.  I kind of lose my mojo a bit.

Or i do a page and i just don't feel like it really gels....

Then I look back at my books - at memories from a few years ago - read about how I was feeling then, what we were doing and I remember why I love scrapping so much and why I'll stick to it.  It's therapeutic for me to be able to create.

It is SO hard to describe why you scrapbook to someone who doesn't - this video by Shimelle puts it all pretty much into perfect perspective. I have totally run into people that just don't get why I do what I do.  I'm sure they think of scrapbooking as just slapping stickers and photos onto a page.  It's hard to describe that it's more than just pretty paper.  Even for myself sometimes I get sucked into that mentality of thinking that that's what it's all about.  That is a fun part of it - but that's not the important part to me.

If i were my friend Meaghan I probably wouldn't need to scrapbook as much - that girl really is a rolodex of dates - she just remembers everything (hi meag!)...but not me - I forget pretty much everything.

And so I'm glad that I scrapbook.

I'm glad i started scrapbooking before i had kids.
I have lots of pages to remind me who i am.

I'm glad that i've continued to scrap now that i have jonah.
I'm not sure if he'll grow to love his books but i know i'll love to look back and remember these early months with fondness.

I'm glad that I write down how I'm feeling at a given point.
I love to be able to appreciate the here and now - to focus on the good things.  To remember that although things may be stressful and busy the important things stay the same...that it really is all about the little things - and you can't blink or you'll miss them.

Scrappy Saturday and some links to share

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I found this site a few weeks ago via this blog and bookmarked it then - I was excited to see this article on The Star.com this morning stating that it's a site from Toronto (from the TTC pic in one of the photos I had a feeling it was - so neat!)   

I'm already thinking about J's first birthday - I want to make to make these amazing Sesame Street cake pops...except this morning I tried to make just regular ones and had a few challenges....so I think I need to practice a few times!  

Here's a recent layout using lots of Making Memories Vintage Findings - love this line!  I know that pink is not typically a "boy" colour but I love it and I think this page is babyish enough that it's just fine.  

Winding down from a busy week and gearing up for another one full of fun and visits...can't wait to see two of my fave girls and these two babe's next week...they'll definitely be bigger than at our last visit

Finally I swore I posted this layout already but I guess not...documenting some of our fave reads of late

Have a happy Saturday!

Seven

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Really? 

Seven Months? (well it's tomorrow to be exact but I just felt like blogging it today ;))

Look at this giant!

I know I say this every month that time is just rushing by but this month seems especially bittersweet - now I am officially over halfway done my maternity leave - and I know that living in Canada it is such a luxury to get an entire year off but it really is just flying by.

And so - at SEVEN months Jonah...:

• Sits! This is a big one and has allowed me a ton of freedom - and an especially big thank you from my back and neck

• Naps regularly - equally happy about this one - it has been so amazing, he's actually turned into a "routine" baby....I always felt weird before this month when people would ask me what his routine was b/c I honestly wanted to say to them..."mmmm pretty much whatever the little dictator wants" ;)...but persistance paid off in this case.  And by that I mean me lying on his nursery floor for hours with one hand stuck through the crib rails (really? I cannot believe I did that now)
• Eats....and eats and eats and eats...3 meals a day and 4 bottles/nursing sessions - eats pretty much whatever is put in front of him, rice cereal, oat cereal, carrots, sweet potato, lentils, chicken, apple sauce, bananas - the list goes on.  Weighed 19lbs11oz at his 6 month apt and 21lbs4oz two weeks later.  Porky piglet ;) 
• Loves to drink water - I am very happy about this one and will do everything I can to continue to encourage this one, I don't think I'll offer him juice or anything other than milk or water for the first little while...I don't think there is a need when he's getting what he needs from whole fruit and veggies.
• Had his first fever :( - was so sad, poor thing got it on what was our hottest day yet - so we schlepped to the clinic with just a onesie on him sweating all the way - they did a few tests and said it wasn't in his chest or ears (which was good) so we just had to sort of wait it out.  Was so sweltering that night that we ended up setting up camp in the family room on the couch cushions where it was a bit cooler and thankfully his fever broke that night.
• Thinks animal noises are the coolest 
• Loves to be naked.  Seriously probably his favourite thing ever.  Flails around like mad.  He's a true boy.
• We've started reading two books before bed every night - Bear of My Heart and On The Night You Were Born...both are fantastic, Bear of my heart is perfect for him since he's our little bear. 

I'm also behind at posting my Scrapping Turtle layouts from the last few weeks - this month we're working with Bo Bunny - I am using the Blast Off line and I love it - perfect for boyish pages

Have a great day!

I guess I am now officially a mommy blogger!

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 Today I spent the entire day with my mom.  At the spa.  It was so heavenly to be able to do nothing for a whole day but it was also so odd (or o-d-d if you've been reading this blog for a while ;)) to have that much time to myself.  With Mother's Day being tomorrow I think it was only natural that I started to think about how things have changed this past year - to reflect about becoming a mom.  I think the biggest change is how all the little things have changed!

Jonah has started laughing a lot more frequently these days, and each time he does I just want to bottle it up and save it for the days when he's a bit older and upset about something or we aren't getting along....babies laughs are seriously like a million bursts of goodness - just full of joy and so much hope, you can't help but smile when you hear it.  Sounds so cliche but it is seriously true.  We'll have to settle for lots of footage from our Flip Camera - we made him do "dancing baby" last night from Ally McBeal ...stripped him down to his diaper and made him dance on the kitchen table (ha!)

I think I used to see people who would oogle over their kids and sort of think get over yourself people!  I realize now reading this that that sounds so totally ignorant of me but I really didn't mean any harm about it - I think I was just sort of oblivious but didn't mean it in a mean spirited way - and I am by no means saying that everyone who doesn't have kids is selfish - far from it.  I am totally one of "those parents" now and ironically I feel like "getting over myself" is just what having a baby has helped me to do - or at least to be more aware of.  I used to be so consumed by me, my agenda, what I was going to do, where I was going, with who, how, when - that I sort of forgot about others.  I was married for five years before having Jonah but really my husband and I are both pretty independent people, and the relationship between two adults is different than a parent and child obviously - so the transformation for me has been huge.  It's not just a "me" world anymore - it's our world. 

On the other hand I don't want to be one of those parents that loses themselves completely in their children - I think it's so important for our entire family that we each have our own identity and interests and lives, but what I never could have imagined was how intricately things would be woven, how tightly we would be bound.  Our decisions now are about our family vs just ourselves.  It has been a beautiful change and is such a delicate dance and I wouldn't trade it for a second.  I love love love being a mom.  

Scrappy Organization

Pin It Now! This was my week to do a tutorial over at The Scrapping Turtle so posting it here too - I love to read about how others stay organized so I hope this helps you :)
- this is kind of a different type of a tutorial because there really is no "right" or "wrong" way to stay organized so it's more going to be a bit of show and tell about what helps me to stay organized when scrapping and I hope that you find it helpful and get some new ideas.

For a while I wasn't the most organized scrapper - but I find that when I do stay on top of being organized it really helps me with pulling pages together much quicker because I know where everything is and it helps me pull together better pages because I'm not forgetting about things that I already have in my stash!

I do not have a dedicated scrap room in my house - my husband and I share an office in our house that also doubles as my scrap room - since it's on the main floor and is visible I like to keep my stuff out of the way as much as possible when I'm not scrapping (this also helps keep it all safe from living with a dog, a man and a baby hee hee!)

This is the desk where I layout my pages - you can see I have a self healing mat underneath - I got this ages ago and I love it because I never worry about damaging the wood with my glues etc (like I *might* have done to our kitchen table when I used to scrap there.......oops ) - anyway this just stays out all the time even when I'm not scrapping.

Next is my cluster of containers that also stay out on the desk all the time - I don't mind these staying out because the stuff is contained within them and it is also good to keep out a few things that I don’t' want to forget about and also good to keep certain things easy to grab when I'm pulling together a page.

Most of these are just repurposed vessels that I had around the house plus a few cheap milk glass containers from the antique market.

Next I have 3 "embellie" Tupperware’s that I stack when not in use and to the right bags with "kits" - this is kind of where I keep my current projects - either kits that I've gotten, projects that I want to tackle etc...keeping it organized in seperate bags helps me to be able to quickly pick up and scrap when I have a few minutes here and there.



Within the Tupperware's I keep my most used supplies; I keep ribbon in one, embellies in another (bling, journaling cards, stickers etc) and stamps in the third. On top I keep a embroidery floss case - this is probably my "secret weapon" when it comes to staying organized

....this little catch all is where I store all of my buttons and then I put a few flowers in here from my larger containers so that I don't forget about them and can grab them quickly when needed. You'll see my full storage in a second.

The desk drawer houses all of my punches as well as my corner chomper.

Then to the right of the desk I have a few Tupperware drawers stacked


I keep patterned paper in one, cardstock in another and square embellie/sticker sheets in the third.

- one is a special one for scrapping (square shape) that has 3 drawers - If any of these 3 fill up I know it's time to purge because (to me) it means I've accumulated too much paper to be able to manage.

The drawers below are just from a big box dept store (like Wal-Mart but don't remember exactly where I got them - I just repurposed from my basement when I decided to bite the bullet and get organized). In these I have organized all of my alpha stickers, rub ons, slice tool and photos.

I also label each of the drawers so that I remember what is where.......it may seem strange but I organize by "size" - so all of my thickers are in a drawer b/c they are all one size but then Oct Aft mini market letters are in a different drawer b/c to me they are a different size so I think about them differently.


Inside each drawer I like to also organize by colour (a bit crazy I know!)

Anyway - the point of this tutorial is not that you'll go out and organize just like me but rather that you'll be inspired to find a way of keeping your supplies so that they work for you - I'm sure like me you are pressed for time and the time that you do get to scrap is precious so I really feel it's well worth it to go through your supplies and organize them so that you can maximize the time that you do have for scrapping!

I hope you found this tutorial helpful - happy organizing!

Easter recap and Scrapping Turtle weekly reveal

Pin It Now! Easter 2011 was a big success - we have hosted family before but always stuck to somewhat safe menus like brunches or bbq's - this was our first real fancy meal and it couldn't have turned out better!

It was kind of fun having two events back to back too because the prep work was kind of a 2 for one deal -- we did  a little candy buffet (which btw  by the end of the weekend gave me a stomach ache from even looking at it - I have since entered a "healthy eating phase" - bought a ton of veggies yesterday and made a soup last night - I think I am officially on a junk food cleanse)

 pretty flowers from costco - these are now on their last legs but I can't bear to throw them out just yet - it's not very often that we have so many fresh flowers in the house and they are so nice

 my little jonah bunny - he was SUCH a good boy this weekend - it was  pretty much a weekend full of his favorite things - people, lots of loud noises and attention...and as much as it's been a learning process for both of us these last few months (like in the sleep department) one thing I know to be thankful for is that he's such a portable, adaptable little guy, he just loves to be carted around and would be perfectly happy being carried around town all day (which came in handy on Thursday when I had to get ready ;))

 Dinner #1 - success!  Delicious menu courtesy of Dish Entertains cookbook and prepared by us!  The only thing that was a bit of a pain is the risotto is a bit time consuming - but we were all visiting in the kitchen anyway so it wasn't a big deal (just requires constant stirring)

 Dinner #2 - a bit more simple but just a delicious; homemade burgers and shrimps that we served after an afternoon of walking around town and eating yummy appies.

 Me and my fabulous sister in law - I am so happy for Jonah that he'll grow up having so many great people in his life, so special that the people that are dear to me are quickly becoming special people to him as well.

And onto some scrapping news - yesterday was reveal day at The Scrapping Turtle - our challenge was to create a layout using our April supplies based on this ad

it was our last challenge of the month so I was running low on supplies but I actually love the way this one turned out, it is so far from my "typical" style:

Have a great day!

Scrapping Turtle Monday Reveal

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I finally got around to scrapping J's 4 month page - if only I could get caught up with Project 12 I'd be in good shape - I am pretty much in love with this paper from My Mind's Eye - it made the whole page come together so easily - I have another sheet from this line already in the works for my 5 month page.  

Today is Design Team Monday over at The Scrapping Turtle blog - our product of the month was smooch - I am not much of a mister but after having worked with it this month I may be a convert. 

Here is a very simple layout of my boy - love these pics and the papers I had to work with were a bit on the girly side so I am pleased with how this one turned out: 

I also missed posting last Monday's reveal using Nikki Sivils paper and a sketch - here was my take

Off to watch DWTS - have a great night! 

those cheeks...

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are so kissable and cute and CHU-BBY! I always say I can't believe I had such a big fat baby - and I mean it in the best way possible, he is soooooo chubby and roly poly - I love it!  I did this layout for a challenge on the Scrapping Turtle Message Boards - the challenge was the layout had to have:
-home made embellie (starbucks card)
-stamp (starburst stamp)
-pink (cloud and on starbucks card)
-circle (buttons)
-no flowers (well the card has little flowers printed on it but no actual flowers so i think this counts)
 - that little card with the tree on it is a Starbucks card that I love - so springy and cute.  Can you tell I have an obsession with turquoise?  Ha ha - oh well at least I'm branching out from my standard turquoise and yellow and threw in some other colours.

ok - gotta go maximize this nap time
have a great day!

Scrapping Turtle - April Reveal

Pin It Now! I am having a lot of fun playing along at The Scrapping Turtle as one of the members of the Design Team.
This month we were given Nikki Sivils paper to work with and some Jenni Bowlin and Maya Road embellies (both of which I was already a big fan of).  It's been great so far and is pushing me out of my comfort zone of the manufacturers I always gravitate towards.

Just a reminder there is a stamp giveaway in yesterday's post if you are interested :) 

Have a great day!

Bright and sunny & a RAK giveaway

Pin It Now! The weather here has been all over the map the last few days - from snow to thunderstorms to hot and humid yesterday - bizzaro!  I'm really looking forward to the summer weather especially now that I can take the little guy for walks in the stroller - this layout was inspired by one by Jen Jockish - if you scrapbook and you aren't already familiar with her work go to her blog and check it out, she does beautiful work, lots of little pieces and always so colourful.

I used my Studio Calico February kit along with some playing cards by My Minds Eye.

And just for fun a little RAK giveaway today - I'm not much of a stamper so haven't been able to put this stamp to good use - if you are interested leave a comment with what you are most looking forward to about spring and I'll do a drawing on Thursday

Happy Tuesday!

Paper banners

Pin It Now! I'm a big fan of paper banners - they are really "in" right now with scrappers - I saw this great tutorial for a paper banner on Nicole Harpers blog - I have a similar punch only larger so decided to try it out and I loved how it turned out:

We are enjoying our weekend - I got my nails shellac'ed with a french manicure that will last for 2 weeks this morning - heavenly!  J is working on rolling over - he's almost there.  So cute.

Happy Saturday!

Exciting news

Pin It Now! I am so happy to be able to share that I've been selected for the Design Team at The Scrapping Turtle for the next 6 months.  When I'm not on mat leave and working in Waterloo I love to visit the Turtle regularly to check out all the fun products that they have there, I often order scrapping stuff in the mail which is great but nothing beats seeing the supplies in real life. I'm looking forward to a fun 6 months with this great team.

I have been a bit behind with scrapping and blogging lately but just picked up a boatload of prints from Wallymart so now I'm all set to get started again.  Here is a "catch up" page that I made of Jonah's second month. I found this great sketch on Davinie's blog so it helped it come together pretty quickly (which I love these days).  I took this pic on my BlackBerry but if you want to read the journalling you can click to this post

I am slowly but surely getting caught up with some of my past pages - I'm hoping to spend some time in the next little while organizing my blog a bit and changing the design, I'm not sure why it bugs me so much that it's not very organized but it does. 

Got to run - we are off to Baby Zumba this morning....if you don't know what Zumba is look it up on youtube - I wish I had a picture of Jonah's face as he watches me do it....it's one that I'm sure I'll see many more times as a mom but it kills me - he literally looks at me like he's embarrassed (haha!)

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It seems like wherever you go to shop everyone has a "members club" - most of the time I find these a pain and not worth the energy or time but there are a few companies that I love to be loyal to and I think really pay off -

Studio Calico members get a discount and you get a special discount on your birthday month - I used mine last month to purchase the Mossy Knoll add on kit and can't wait to play with it!

Sephora Insiders members get points with every purchase and you don't have to have your card with you which I love because I never have mine.  You can also use at stores in US and Canada and while I don't spend a ton there pretty much every time I go I get a little sample and have found a few great products there like this one

(which if you have Dora-esque hair like me I highly recommend - it is the first product I've found that works for me in humid weather)

I also got a super cute Philosophy body wash last month because it was my bday (bonus!)

Here is one of the pages I'm playing catch up with for blogging - I made this mostly with items from my October Afternoon Santa's Sack - this was an awesome deal and the customer service was ah-ma-zing! I am looking forward to printing and creating more new pages soon! 

Happy Saturday!

This is What Summer Looks Like

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I don't normally do 2 page layouts but when I got these fab pics from Nicole i combined them with a few of my own and it was just too many to do only one page

we have a fun weekend lined up - can't believe it's one of the last of the summer already!
have a great day
xoxo

Sleepy Saturday Morning

Pin It Now! we were supposed to go up north this weekend but because i had a busy week at work and am heading out west on my last business trip before mat leave early Mon am we decided to stay home and i am relishing in this low key saturday morning (i'll take 'em when i can).

rignt now am blogging in bed, watching he's just not that into you and laughing at lines like "so i also have a magical name - it's brother phoenix east horse"

here is recent page i made of the benster. speaking of ben - he too is enjoying his lazy saturday. he decided to take over my snoggle pillow (aka best preggo invention of all time - thanks meags!) and he's curled up in it in bed ha! makes me laugh.

we get baby's furniture delivered today - so excited!

have a great day
xoxo

b is for boy!

Pin It Now! at first we thought for sure we'd find out if we were having a girl or a boy. then i spoke to a few people who hadn't and wasn't as convinced. in the end we did find out and my gut was right - i knew we were expecting a boy.

in retrospect i'm so glad we did find out for sure - for me this entire pregnancy has finally sunk in but for the longest time i was in a bit of denial so for me knowing has been a great way to be able to bond with the baby and i can't imagine at this point not knowing.

i can't wait to meet our little man and see him for the first time. there is so much i'm looking forward to about becoming a mom.

here are baby's first layouts:
from the first ultrasound -


this is the day we found out he's a boy - he's pseudo waving to us in the top shot - so funny!

and is it just me or is this the world's hottest summer!? Try to stay cool today have a great day xoxo

Right now

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loving: banana nut cheerios and raspberries

wondering: how i can stay on top of arranging photos and printing on a regular basis (hard for me now as i don't have a set "system" but i know will be even harder once the baby gets here)

waiting: for so many etsy purchases to arrive for baby's room i feel like i may burst.

nervous: for one more work trip far away (am going to make someone come with me b/c can't bear the thought of going by myself)

here are some old projects that i haven't shared yet:

my first 5km run (i was SO proud!)

This pic below is one of my fave's - we took it on our last day in Vancouver - the city skyline is in the back. We had to climb up a huge hill in a park to get to this point - at the time I wondered why i was so winded - now I know -- i was pregnant!

Just a simple page of my two little sweetie pies - these two crack me up

Gearing up for a night of trashy TV thanks to the Bachelor Pad! are you going to tune in?