less space for eating and more space for crawling

So Elliot isn’t crawling yet but we are already preparing for baby proofing and making more room for him to crawl around.  This weekend we headed over to Lynne, Jake and Morris’ place for their second annual tur-duck-en party.  The party was fabulous and our gracious hosts were able to find tabels and seating for all 20+ people.  It was a perfect opportunity for us to come full circle on a furniture swap that started last October.

Last October Lynne gave us her coffee table.  Rocky had chewed ours and Lynne didn’t have room for hers after her move.  It actually will transition really well for us as it is big and oval and there for very Elliot friendly.  The thing that wasn’t working for us was our dining table.  We really liked it but it just took up too much space.  So when Lynne needed seating for the Tur-duck-en day it was a perfect opportunity to return her gift.

Since our table and chairs now reside in Lynne’s fabulous loft. We need a new one, FAST!  Thanksgiving is this week people.  Our criteria include, dark wood or stain-able and  small.  Did I mention small?  We are trying to use just two chairs and Elliot’s high chair.  We looked at different tables that had leaves in them and some that were just really tiny…James really wanted a bar height table.  I was worried that it would just feel too big in our space.  James finally decided on this table and it is pub height.  I am a little worried about Elliot’s cute little hi chair being to low but James was adamant.  We will have to figure out the whole high chair thing.

This table is 48×23 inches which makes it a foot shorter each way than our old table.  To save even more space we are going with stools that can tuck under the table.

Amy and Jeff- a beautiful day in Michigan

sleeping with grandpa

hiking with Grammy, Grampy, Dad and Rocky ( Mom was taking the photo)

Dancing with Amy

My cousin Amy was married on August 1, 2009 in Michigan. That trip was alot of firsts for Elliot…first trip, first plane ride, fist time to meet his cousins and aunts and uncles, first ranger ride, first tractor ride, first hike…it was even his first dance and guess what it was with the bride!  For a truly beautiful and creative view of Jeff and Amy’s day visit the photographers blog.

E with uncle Wren

patty cake patty cake bakers man

My mom (aka Grammy) is visiting us for a week.  Yesterday she made James homemade buns from my grandmother’s recipie.  She let Elliot help her poke the dough down afer it raised the first time.  Pretty good for an alomst three month old baker.

Elliot baking buns with Grammy.

We made the ohdeedoh.com blog!! and smaller cooler contest

I am super excited about this.  I didn’t even think we would make the blog!

Here’s the link

getting things in order

So James and I have been working to try to get our condo in order.  Rearranging, discarding, donating, organizing.  James has been really great at this.  Especially for things like scrubbing the baseboards in our room because my giant belly gets in the way.  Th was also SUPER at organizing the top shelf of our closet.

Oh he also surprised me with three black and white large format (18×24) prints of photos of the two of us.  Two are now in the living room and one is in our room over our new dressers.  We are trying to become very efficient in our storage techniques. With two closets in the entire place we need to get creative.

We are still making progress on the nursery too.  Mom’s curtains (and everything else she made) look great!  I made a mobile. Finished my pop art name project and James hung some shelves over the dresser/changing table.  We were able to fit our futon up there AND our new rocker and ottoman.  It is a little bit tighter than I had envisioned but still fairly simple and clean.  We still need to finish up a few things and decide on lighting.

Tomorrow we have a co-ed baby shower hosted by 10…yes 10… fabulous friends here in Atlanta.  We are expectng about 50 people.  Or dear friends Leah, Wooden and baby Christopher are coming in from Augusta for the shower and we are excited about that. it is always so nice to see them!

Cute stuff from my mom.

My wonderful mother made SO MUCH STUFF for the baby.  I wanted to share a few of our faves of the moment.

She knitted & sewed these blocks with the baby’s initials.  The close up of the E has booties and a hat on it that Mom knitted of yarn that was my grandmothers.  She also made this cute bear to match his bedding and an afgan that she made.

babylegs and baby ties…

I have been checking out these onesies from etsy.com seller verykiki they have stripped ties appliqued on them and I think they are way too cute.  Even if they are cute in a dorky kind of way I want one. I was thinking of purchasing one ( I think the orange is my favorite but I like the blue one too) and my mom said why don’t you make one that would be easy (easy for her probably but I think I could manage.) If I make one I will definitely be waiting until after Rocky makes his temporary move to Michigan next week.  I think one of the reasons I think they are so cute is that the show them with these really cute legwarmer things called Babylegs. Babylegs are worn with a onesie instead of pants and can add a little flair.

My mom thought she may try to knot a pair of these but wanted a reference. So she ordered a few pairs for Baby E and we had them sent to her house in hopes that we can investigate together when I am there next weekend.  We ordered the pumpkin color in order to recreate this look.

(as a side note..they also make them with bowties which I think is even more hilarious because the stereo typical architect wear bowties…I crack up about visiting my office with E while on maternity leave and showing up with him wearing a bowtie )

We also ordered the Heron which I think would be adorable with a plain black onesie. These along with he pair my mom is making will hopefully make appearances in the monthly photos we take with the new stickers I purchased earlier in the week.

The thought of a black onesie also beings me to another subject…(and yes I am allowed to jump subjects I am  completely random and after all that is the title of this entire blog.)

So a black onesie.  There is the series of books that was started with one book titled Urban Babies Wear Black.  I think it is about them wearing black and living in the city HOWEVER I have not actually read the book yet.  I hear it is sold on Amazon and here in Atlanta at the MOMA store.  Anyway…i so think Elliot needs this book.  He is an “urban baby” after all.  He will live in the middle of Midtown Atlanta and wouldn’t really ever have to get in the car.  He has a fabulous BLACK and grey stroller to explore the city in. We can walk to work, shopping, get groceries, the movies and *hopefully* even daycare.  In my opinion he is a true urban baby   who will be wearing black and reading fabulous books.

Books…(I think this is my third subject for this post.)  My Aunts and a few friends are hosting a shower for us next weekend in Michigan.  My Aunt Marianne made these cute little invitations and inside put a cute poem.

Amber’s due date is coming near,

we’re inviting friends and family dear.

to choose a favorite story or fairy tale, that you would like Baby Elliot to hear.

Instead of a card, please let Amber & James look,

at your special choice of a book.  Then to Elliot they will read,

with all the love that he will need.

So please select a new or recycled book, and into it then your name do put.

I think this is so cute and I can’t wait until I get to see the books that people choose.

a new number each month – how cute are these?

I saw these super cute stickers on etsy.com a few days ago.  Each month you put one on your baby’s onesie and take their photo. It will create a time line of their first year.

cute baby swacket

swacket
	A combination of a hooded sweater and a jacket. “What’s that guy wearing?” “It’s not a sweater, not a jacket…it must be a swacket.”

So I found this cute swacket on sale a few weeks ago.  I think it is super cute because it looks like something James would wear.

Many changes! because there is a baby on the way:)

So back in September I posted about our CONDO THERAPY…we have been slowly clearing things out.  I haven’t posted about this yet however our condo therapy was sprouted due to the fact that we are expecting a BABY BOY.  Elliot is due June 7th 2009 and we have been spending time getting ready for him.

I wish we had taken a photo of the before of the guest room…now it is becoming a nursery.  I think James is actually painting it as I type this.  We found a great deal on a Netto Collection Cub Sleeper crib and some modern bedding that wasn’t $400 it was on clearance for $53!!!  (it is a little brighter than it looked online but I think it will be ok.)  Here is a photo of the nursery in progress.

We still have a ton of clearing out to do.  Already we have gotten rid of.  A bed, dresser and book shelf.  We still need to move a VERY LARGE desk, printer stand and various random things.  

My mom made some cute modern curtain panels for the three windows so i will post a photo of those when they get here.  Thanks Mom!