E Baby's Growth Chart

From the moment we found out Elliot was a girl, I knew I wanted as much of her nursery to be custom as possible.  I knew the general idea of how I wanted her growth chart to look, but the details just wouldn't form in my head. Finally, about the time we found out we were moving to Louisiana is when I really knew how it would look, but because of lack of space and desire to do anything, I kept putting it off.  Now that we are back in Texas and things have calmed down a bit, I've finally had a chance to work on and finish this little project!

First, I ordered 4"x1/2" MDF numbers from SJA Wood Design.  If I had to do it over again, I would get the nicer wood, but the quality of what I got is perfectly fine and you can't beat about $1.00/each!  I ordered the numbers at 10:00 on Tuesday morning and by 2:00 that afternoon I got an email saying that my order had shipped.  Seriously, it was THAT quick! On Thursday, I got this box...

How cute is that?!  I painted the numbers the bottom color of Elliot's room and let them dry over night.

Next, I painted a 6'x7" board the same color as her dresser and chest.  It's Polar Bear white...or something like that (Martha Stewart).

When I was putting the numbers on the board to figure out where they went, it just didn't look right...it was too bare.  I decided I wanted a damask background and used my cricut and the Damask Decor cartridge to cut out vinyl to use as a stencil.

Once I figured out where on the board I wanted the damask (I put one behind each number), I applied the vinyl on and painted in the stencil with the top color of Elliot's room (Spring Melt - Martha Stewart).

How sweet is this damask?  I'm not really sure why I chose the birds, but I love them.  The more I was doing the stencils, the more they reminded me of my sweet Grandmom...she was an excellent gardener and LOOOOOOVED birds!  Next, I glued the numbers to be centered on the stencil..

...and I decided it was still in need of a little something. Soo...I took just the little birds from the damask, painted them between each number at the 6" mark, and ended up with this!

I really love how it turned out and hope Elliot appreciates it when she's older.  I plan to write her a little note on the back of the board to go with how tall she is, that way she'll have a little something that shows our thoughts and feelings of her growing throughout the years!

I went ahead and marked when she was born... 

...and when she turned one...

And here is the finished product...

(You can't tell because of the flash, but I did the birds between all the numbers (even the 4 and 5)!

This took me a guhzillion hours to do and I fully understand that E Baby will HATE it by the time she's twelve, but hopefully when she's a bit older, she'll learn to love it. :)

What do you do to measure your little one? Do you have a growth chart or do you use the door frame? I love the idea of using the door frame, but thought it would be impolite to leave the next owners of our house with an empty door jam when we move! 

I've got a couple more projects to share with you within the week that I'm pretty excited about!

Until then...

Jill

Elliots, Carsons, and Bears! Oh My!

A few weeks ago, our sister-in-law, Lauren, was still pregnant and in a bit of pain, so I decided to take Elliot and Carson to the zoo.  Carson is so sweet with Elliot, and we had an absolute blast watching the sea lions, apes, flamingos and so many other animals!  Here are a few pictures from our trip!

What a couple of cuties, don't you think?!

Dreams, Nightmares, and Keys

Do you every long dream of a project you're just dying to do? You know exactly how it will look finished.  Then you start working on it, and before you know it, this dream has become a total nightmare!

Enter said project:

You probably can't tell, but that's an old wooden screen door.  It's also $100 of rotten wood with 450978 coats of paint.  Bummer.  At least I was able to use the chicken wire for Elliot's birthday party. I'm hoping to turn those metal embelishments into a shelf for her room, but my dreams of turning this beauty into a headboard for our room might be a thing of the past.

As a little pick-me-up, I did this project that was SO easy and only took about five minutes!  A while back, I found this project by a girl and a glue gun and I fell in love.  I paired my slight obsession with keys with another of my favorites...maps, and came up with the idea of pairing a key from each place Jarrod and I have lived with an ariel view of it.  I kinda dig how it turned out, and hope to keep this tradition up wherever we move!

Things you'll need:

frame: I used a 4x6 with a 3x5 mat

key

map: I used Google Maps, but you can use any that you like.

scissors

itty bitty tape dispenser: I think I got this in the scrapbook section at Hobby Lobby a few years ago when I thought it would be a good idea to make all my wedding invites.

You totally don't have to do this, but on Google Maps, I typed in our address, so it would drop that little pin thingy exactly where it was.  I was going to draw a red circle around it, but I didn't like how it looked with the colors, and I didn't like the picture in black and white. Does this make me weird?  I hope not.

Anywho, on the bottom of the map, I typed in our address and the dates that we lived there.  I found an empty space on the map and with my itty bitty tape dispenser, I taped the key to it.

Then I framed it. I know I'm over the top sentimental, but I really like how we can keep a gazillion memories in one simple frame with one little key. :)

This project was so easy, I was able to make TWO of them while TWO certain girls were fast asleep for their afternoon nap!

What are some ways that you keep memories of previous places you've lived?  Does that kind of stuff even matter?!

NOTE: I feel like I should add that we no longer live at either one of these addresses.  Please don't stalk the people that currently do.  I think there are laws against that!

Oh, annnddd the numbers for E Baby's growth chart have FINALLY arrived! Hopefully I'll have an update for you soon!

Until later...

Love,

Jill (Jarrod and E Baby say "Hi" too!)

Awkward Family Photos

Have you ever heard me talk about Jarrod's my Aunt Shelley?  She's pretty awesome and does all of our pictures!  Anywho, I was able to con her into taking some Edwards family photos after E Baby's birthday party in May. These were supposed to be a surprise birthday gift for Mama Phyllis, because she's been wanting these for years (I made her wait until I was married and had at least one kid!).

I won't tell you who it was that actually spilled the beans on this little project, but I can tell you a certain patriarch of the Edwards family isn't able to keep a secret...or something like that!

So, after much deliberation of what to wear, we finally were able to take our very own awkward family photos...

Every time we get together and take pictures, we have to take a dumb one.
I don't know why, we just do. It's weird, I'm fully aware of that.

We also do dumb stuff like this (look between E Baby and Mama Phyllis)!
Jarrod, Jeremy, and Stephanie were way too cool and mature to join us.
Whatever.

Apparently Jeremy and I missed out on the "tan before you take pictures" memo.
Pasty is SO the new tan anyways...maybe.

I feel like I need to clarify Justin's face in this picture. When I was little, he and Jeremy would threaten to take me back to the dumpster Mom and Dad found me in and leave me there.  They also said Mom and Daddy didn't really want me, but no one would take me so they had to keep me. Oh, and then there was the game where they'd lock me up in a closet for hours and forget about me.  Every now and then I like to remind them that I still remember everything they did to me, and this was one of those times. I won't tell you what I did, but I'm 100% positive it hurt! :)

And the whole (minus 1) familia (that's Texan for family)
Justin, Jacob, Yours Truly, E Baby, Jarrod, Daddy, Mama Phyllis, Jeremy, Madison, Stephanie, and Mallory

Do I not have the best husband and baby around?
Yes, I think I do!

The fact that Stephanie and the girls are wearing matching outfits
(and shoes) makes me excited about doing that with E Baby one day!

Aren't Madison and Mallory just a couple of dolls?! 

You wouldn't ever know it by looking at these two, but they are actually related!
HA! Jacob is literally Justin's clone (with red hair) in every fashion!

Papa Neill (the patriarch *cough*) and Mama Phyllis

Mom and Daddy with most of the grand kids. What a cute bunch!
The kids are alright too!

Have you ever been to the website awkwardfamilyphotos.com?  Embarrassingly enough, we've actually made it onto the website here .  Mom and Daddy still won't tell us what happened to the other one...Joshua I think was his name.

I've finally figured out what to do with the other empty space on this wall.  Pictures to come tomorrow...maybe!

Until then...

Love,
Jill (and the rest of my awkward family)

Profile Pictures

Jarrod and I have a pretty large living room that we are able to double as E Baby's play room (for now).  The other day, I decided to make little decor for the super boring and painful to look at empty wall that we consider her "play wall".

Anyone want to come clean my house?!

Super cute right? Thanks to Hobby Lobby's 66% off sale, I was able to do this project for less than $20!

Anywho, while I love how it turned out, the wall was still lacking a little something.  I sent a picture of it to my awesome sisters-in-law, and one of them had the idea to do Elliot's silhouette. As you can see here, our sweet girl is growing and changing quickly, and I wanted to capture her sweet profile at this age.

A while back, I had seen this tutorial by one of my favorite bloggers and put it away in my mental filing cabinet for later use.  When Lauren showed me the same tutorial, I knew it was time to do it!

The instructions said to download this program, but I couldn't get it to work, so I turned to my trusty, long time friend, Paint. It took me WAY longer than it should have, but I know Paint, and it worked. :)

After a couple hours of editing, $20 at Hobby Lobby, and a failed attempt to print the picture at FedEx (I showed up with the wrong card), I finally ended up with this sweet little silhouette.

Isn't this the cutest profile ever?! After resizing the picture, I printed it out and started to put it all together. I layered an 11x14" black/white mat inside a 16x20" black/white mat for a little extra depth, and I LOVE how it turned out with the black frame and black silhouette!

No, my curtains don't poke out like that.
A certain girl may or may not have been playing in them!

It's still lacking something on the left.  Hopefully E will cooperate and let me take her 1 yr foot and hand prints. If not, I'm sure I can find something else to go there!

Growing, Growing, Gone

"Cherish every moment with you're new baby.  Time goes by quickly, and before you know it, they're grown up and moving out!"

If you're a new (or old) parent, you've probably heard this before.  Heck, you've probably told other new parents this. And, while this is absolutely true (I can say this with my whole 13 months of experience), when people told me this, the amount of guilt I would feel if I put her down was absolutely overwhelming.  She was changing so quickly, and I was terrified of losing a single moment with her. I was determined to hold her every single possible moment, whether we were eating, sleeping*, walking, playing, etc. this baby was going to be cherished!

A few months later, I realized I could actually put her down, and not only would she be ok, but she wouldn't change so much or so quickly that I wouldn't recognize her when I picked her up! Now that Elliot is FINALLY sleeping through the night in her own crib (it only took 11.5 months)**, she won't let me rock her to sleep or cuddle with her anymore.  I miss this terribly and wish more than anything in the world that she would let me rock or cuddle with her, but alas, my independent child will have nothing of it! Rocking her to sleep in the dead of night are some of the memories I'm happy I cherished and will remember for a lifetime!

Here are a few pictures of E Baby growing:

Our newbie E Baby all cuddled up and a bundle of love!

I'm not really sure what's going on in this picture.
I kinda dig it though!

The bouncer was a sure fire way to get and keep E Baby to sleep!

Love this cross-eyed face!

The night we moved to Louisiana.
We put her in her closet so she wouldn't hear us moving stuff around!

I was cleaning up Elliot's room and she was quietly sitting in her bouncer.
I heard her squirming around, and turned around to find her head band covering her eyes!

Working so hard to sit up while Mommy does laundry!

Needless to say, this is the day the bouncer was put in storage!

Today (6/6/12)
I brought out the bouncer for our littlest nephew, Cannon.
Elliot wanted to make sure it was up to par for him!

I didn't exactly mean for today's posting to turn out like so, but for some reason this has really been on my heart lately. While I wanted to kick every single person who told me this in the shins it hut when people told me this, I'm a little glad they did.  I'm taking in ever single moment as possible while she's growing and growing, because I know that in the blink of an eye, she'll be gone and starting a journey of her own.

*I feel like I need to clarify that people telling me this was the main reason I let Elliot sleep in bed with us, and by the time I was capable of putting her down without feeling guilty, she had gotten used to sleeping in our bed.

**We are the evidence that letting your baby cry it out works.  I was against it before, but I am its biggest advocate now!

Until next time...

Love, 

Jill