7 Months!

I can't believe I forgot to put up a 7-month post about Elliott!

He had his 6 month appointment on the 16th (our pediatrician is incredibly busy, and our appointments keep getting further and further apart), and he is doing really well.

Stats:
 - Weight: 17 pounds, 6 ounces (50%) We thought he was sooo much bigger!
 - Length: 26 1/4" (15%)
 - Head circumference: (85%)

He had the last series of a couple of vaccinations, which I'm thrilled about.  I think the shots are more difficult for the parents at this point than the kids.  He was a total champ!  He cried for a minute after the vaccine that apparently burns a little, but by the time we had him back in his jacket and such, he was all smiles.  Mama and Daddy "rewarded" themselves with Wendy's.

Here are some 7 month pictures!

Dinosaurs!

Our happy boy!

Snoopy, who was a Christmas gift from Aunt Sarah.  It came with a pre-recorded storybook of "A Charlie Brown Christmas."

 - J & M.

40 Days, 40 Bags: Days 5 & 6

I combined the linen / bathroom closet and the bathroom itself into a two-day task.  I realized that especially when it comes to my limited bathroom storage, these two go hand-in-hand.

Day 5 consisted of planning and testing.  Day 6 will be the finishing touches.

Day 5
 - I had already cleaned out my bathroom baskets (where I keep stores of soap and such, as well as the things I use everyday).  This took a lot of time out.
 - I cleaned Jason's basket, threw out expired things, and put his soap and other extras in the basket.
 - Re-folded all of the sheet sets and matched top sheets, fitted sheets, and pillow cases (we usually just use the fitted sheet).
 - Re-folded bath linens for both the adults and the kid.
 - Rolled the beach towels
 - Cut the mildewed edge off of an old shower curtain to use as a drop cloth under Elliott's high chair.   Bonus: It matches his bedroom set too!
 - Re-organized Elliott's bath things.
 - Re-folded E's sheets, Pack 'n' Play sheets, and other linens.
 - Because I had already cleaned out his room, I was able to put the sheets closer to where they will be needed, should he require a middle-of-the-night sheet change (every parent knows this is a sad reality).

Trash Bag Total (including the aforementioned previous clean-out): 2 Target bags

Day 6
 - Took everything back out of the closet.  I wasn't going to have it sit around all day.  Besides, it let me try out a format that we decided will not work.
 - Eliminated the expired things from the medicine box.
 - Put necessary items under the sink that should have always been there (ie: toilet paper, air freshener)
 - Threw away this little round brush I had that didn't do anything and was kind of gross.
 - Threw away a sitz bath.  I'm not moving that thing in a few months.
 - Gave the items that would stay in the closet their new homes.
 - Got input from Jason on what he wanted.  His main request was that the medicine box be easy to access should he slice his finger open again with the mandolin slicer (eek!).  I thought that was reasonable.
 - Cleaned out this little drawer thing in the bathroom that was covered in soap scum.  It is now clean, happy, and dry in the closet.  It houses little things like tweezers, clippers, emergency matches and candles, and chapsticks.  Those little things seem to never have a good place to keep them.

Trash Bag Total: 1 Target Bag and a sitz bath

The bathroom and its linen closet are now organized.  This makes me especially happy because it will allow me to see what we have and need in terms of supplies.  Basically, we're good for a while on soap, toothpaste, and chapstick.

On a hilarious note, I came home from work today (it was my really long day) and found a big pile of books and another pile of video games stacked on the table.  I had wanted Jason to do this at some point, but I hadn't really mentioned it.  It wasn't urgent.  We'll sell some books, get store credit at GameStop for new Wii and computer games, and give other books away.  I asked him over dinner what inspired this sudden clean out.  I mean, he was home alone with E all day.  A squirmy 7-month old does not make this organization thing easy.

Turns out, he had watched a couple of episodes of Hoarders, that show on A&E that shows truly ill people and their horrifying homes.  It's very upsetting, and I will never watch an episode.  While our house is NOTHING like that, he said the mere idea of it sent him into organizing / cleaning-out mode.

Hey bud, whatever floats your boat.

Pictures soon.  Tomorrow and Thursday: I clean out my dresser and smaller bedroom closet.  Eeee.

 - J & M.

Wedding Guest Book

I know my wedding is long over, but as my 2nd anniversary approaches, I thought I'd share some ideas and tips from our own special day.

There are a lot of neat ideas for wedding guest books floating around the interwebs, especially on Pinterest.  Having been to a number of weddings in the last few years, I've seen a lot of them in action.  One couple, who had a destination wedding in Colorado, purchased a large, black and white coffee table book and had their guests sign in silver Sharpie.  Others have requested messages on the matting of their wedding picture.  Many stick with the traditional formal guest book.

The book and some of the cards.

Jason and I, ever the DIY-ers, went with something a little different.  As an avid scrapbooker (well, I was at the time), I knew I'd want to do a book of just my wedding, so I figured that the guest book could be made into a scrapbook.  A friend took pictures of the guests, and each guest wrote a message on a small piece of cardstock.  I took the items from our wedding (programs, menus, etc.) and put some pictures, some messages, and other embellishments onto the pages.  It's turning out nicely, and I really think it reflects Jason and I's look for our wedding.

I can't help but read these from time to time.

What was your guest book?  Did you even have one?

Supplies purchased at Michael's Arts and Crafts.

40 Days, 40 Bags: Days 2, 3, & 4.

I started with the yarn because it plays into my prep for my new Etsy shop, but I didn't fully realize how bad my other craft things are.  My goodness.

*Note: I added a tab that lists how I separated my house.  I'm just dealing with an apartment, but I used specific tasks to separate it further.

Day two's was to organize my scrapbooking supplies as well as my memory boxes.  Stuff was just everywhere...so much so that there isn't even a before picture.  There wasn't a single "before" location.  The books were in my hall closet (above the crochet stuff), some supplies were there; others were in my craft dresser.  Finally, I had numerous memory boxes and "to-scrapbook" boxes, primarily in huge, dilapidated shoeboxes.  This system was not going to work any longer.

I have a scrapbook for everything!

The entire process ended up taking three and a half hours!  I went through every box, every drawer, every pocket.  I purged, then I organized what was left.  Jason was amazed at all the stuff I had for scrapbooking, and how it spread all over the room.  I used plastic envelopes (which I found while cleaning out the crochet things) to put pieces for specific scrapbooks.  Those, plus the bag, are things for Elliott's scrapbook and our wedding book.  We did a scrapbook instead of a guest book.  People wrote notes on small squares of cardstock and we pasted them into the book.

My cleansed memory boxes.

I thought scrap booking supplies was going to be the most tedious task.  I was incorrect.  My other craft supplies turned out to be a lot more complicated, paired with Elliott's inability to nap on Friday.  My initial thought about these supplies (crayons, beads, glue) was that I had one drawer.  What could be so difficult.  I then remembered that I had a cardboard box full of collage materials, mainly magazine cut-outs.  Woah.  This was a whole new day now.

Ack!  How did I let it get to this!? 

Everything spread out for evaluation.

The whole project took 5 hours.  I had to go through every little supply and evaluate what was needed and what could be pitched.  In the end though, I had two bags of trash and a box (and a 12 year old Trapper Keeper!) to go out to the dumpster.  It opened up room in Elliott's closet, and I eliminated so many collage things, I now have a short list of definite projects and never again will I have to take on such a daunting task.

The resulting trash box.

So much better!

My final project this week was cleaning Elliott's room.  It wasn't the next on my list, but I'm not bound to the order, just that it all gets done by Holy Thursday.  My parents were up again yesterday and since we're probably moving back "home," they offered to take some things to their house for storage.  The one thing I could think we'd never need in the next three months that was ready for storage was my maternity clothes and Elliott's out-grown things.  I went through every onesie and sock, and the bin is now full!  Once we move again, I'm going to buy a smaller bin for my maternity things so we can better organize things for the future.

A collage of the "after" for E's room.

Future 40 Days posts will not be this detailed...I'm just still astonished at how much junk I have in my apartment!  This week's agenda will allow Jason and I to both see a lot of change in our everyday organization.

Trash Bag Total: 4 Target bags, one box, and one 12-year old Trapper Keeper

Do you have any questions about either the challenge or organization?  I'd love to answer them.

Also, how do you organize linen closets?  I'm going to try something...we'll see how it works out.

- J & M.

I Forgot About This!

In posting my interview over at Petchie's Blog Book (which you should check out if you haven't), I realized that I had forgotten to post my interview over at Early Mama.

She does a series of Q & A's with "early mamas," which in her blog community is a relative term.  If you feel like an early mama, you are one.  Anyway, I was excited to provide a perspective on parenting and academia.  It's a few months old, but please check it out!

 - J & M.

40 Days, 40 Bags: Day 1

No, I'm not going to do a post per day, but I figured I would help motivate myself with a blog post.

Day 1's task was organizing my crochet supplies.  Now, if you're not into needlecraft, you might not understand how out of control all the yarn and notions can get.  Let me tell you, it does.  Easily.  I organized my yarn and supplies about a year ago when we were prepping to move and again over the summer (one of the many things I did to pass the time while I was waiting for Elliott to arrive).

I'm lucky enough to have a lot of closet space in my apartment, and the hall closet has mainly games, crafts, and workout equipment in it.  There is also gift-wrap.  Don't even get me started on the gift wrap.  That's its own day.

Here is the before.  Please ignore the other nonsense.  That closet has three separate days devoted to its contents.

Before: Oh. My. Lord.

The 40D40B Challenge is not just about organization, at least when you go all out.  It's also an opportunity to perform some serious spring cleaning.  Therefore, the first step was to remove EVERYTHING and clean the drawers and frames.  I'm going to vacuum the closet as a whole after I'm done with the gift wrap day (Can you tell I'm dreading it?).  My trusty side-kick in this was my favorite all-purpose cleaner, Method's Multi-Surface cleaner in the oh-so-lovely cucumber scent.  Mmm.  These were so dusty because it's not something that instantly strikes a person as something to dust.  

I'm not getting paid to endorse them, but I love Method.

After that, I cut scrapbook paper in some really cute patterns to line the front of the drawers.  They are transparent or translucent, and with all of the things inside, it ends up looking so messy.  They ended up looking so good that I'm going to line all of the plastic drawers I have.  

I found all kinds of weird things to throw out (yarn wrappers, lollipops), and everything else was organized.  My tackle box, which held make-up until I finally purged the old stuff, holds all of my notions: buttons, scissors, needles, thread, hooks, measuring tape.  It keeps it organized, but it also makes it easy to put those things out of Elliott's reach.  Yarn was organized by type (acrylic v. cotton), and projects were put into Ziploc bags and organized.  I'm going to label the drawers, but I haven't figured out the best course of action.  

Here is the chaos at the peak of the project:

Just as I was at this point, Elliott woke from his nap and required a bottle.

Here's the finished product:

After: How nice.

I found a number of patterns that had gotten lost in the yarn or behind the drawers, which was like getting all new patterns.  I also re-discovered the wheels for the white drawers, making them easier to move around.

It was incredibly satisfying to actually complete one day.  I also collected my obligatory "bag": 

Bonus: I obeyed the request of my Giant bag.

Trash Bag Total: 1 Giant bag

I'll be back on Sunday to update the progress.  In the future, I'll try to limit myself to just "before" and "after" shots.

- J & M.

Look at Us!

Jason and I are featured over at Petchie's Blog Book today as her wedding of the week!  Check it out!

Thanks Petchie for featuring us!  We hope your wedding goes swimmingly.  :)

- J & M.