Sundays with Sophie

Hello lovelies!  It's fall y'all - and we have been having some great weather in Vancity.  Today, Sophie discovered how much fun it is to rip up colorful fall leaves in our backyard.

Daddy's out of town for work, so I've been keeping myself busy - making party supplies for Sophie's upcoming Winter ONEderland birthday party!  This weekend, I made her snowflake ONE glitter banner, and completed the tags to name the food with. Here's a sneak peak at what the tags look like.

Since Nick is out of town, I've been taking advantage of the fact that I don't have to cook!  Lime/cumin/chillies edamame for the dinner win.

 

 

Lastly, Sophie made her debut on the Flash this week, as baby Iris - so just wanted to share a few quick photos from when we shot on set.  Her TV mom was on Melrose Place, and also was in Candyman, New Jack City and Soul Food.

 

 

Hope you all had an amazing weekend. xox

5 on a midweek in June

Can you believe we are already half way through June - and on top of that, summer officially starts this weekend!!  I have hardly spent anytime in front of my laptop lately, as we have had such wonderful weather - so my five on Friday post is kinda delayed - but better late than never :)

 

1. Daddy/Daughter time.  These 2 have my heart - and I just love watching them have fun together.

 

2. Patio Nights.  Right now, this is where we spend all our evening nights when we are home until the sun goes down.

3. Sophia turned 6 months!  Nicholas and I got Sophie a big girl chair for her 6 months - which she loves so much.  She's a little too small for it right now, but I can see many fun years for her with this chair :)

 

4. We got a new BBQ!  We got ourselves a new propane BBQ, and seriously that thing is my new best friend.  A - Nicholas does the cooking, and B - I don't have to cook.  I have no idea why I waited so long to invest in one.



5. My Latest DIY Project is done!  Sorry for the bad reflections - but every angle seemed to have window/wall glare.  These were boring black and cream frames, that I turned into little ocean themed inspiration quotes for Sophie's room.  I painted the frames, and created custom messages for all of them.  The messages I had printed on pearl in 5x7.  This was seriously so much fun :)

Friday Fab 5 - June

1. Fave Purchase This Week - My Balcony Has Furniture!!!

We have lived in our condo for 9 months, however - we have had NO furniture what so ever on our patio.  What did we have - a fancy tropical tree from IKEA that seemed to die more and more each day.  A stack of studded winter Honda tires (no idea why as Vancouver gets like no snow).  An untouched charcoal BBQ (Nick and I cant BBQ), cases of water from Costco and Christmas lights running wild around my rail.  My balcony was in need of a serious makeover.  It seems like everyone and anyone had been working on their patio recently, and I was determined to start styling mine - especially with summer practically here.  So long dead IKEA tree, and hello new patio furniture!  Its starting to feel a lot more like summer on our balcony.  Ill definitely be spending many mornings sipping on coffee there with Sophie, or summer evenings with Nicholas with a tall glass of cold beer or wine.

2. Fave Local Beers.  Ones Dark, Ones Light - Both are strong.  Just the way I like them :)

3. Fave Story to Share - Sophies 3rd Diaper Explosion. **Warning - This Involves a Poo Story**

Sophie is just shy of 6 months now, and luckily to date, we have only had her diaper explode 3 times.  The first was at Christmas - at my aunts - where we learned the importance of packing extra clothes.  The second, I honestly don't remember.  This week, the third happened - and this one was epic.  It was just another regular morning - Sophie was in her Jolly Jumper, and momma was having her coffee and doing some school work.  Then, I started to hear the poo face groans.  Normally, she goes off and on for the course of a few mins before she's done - so I figured Id wait a few mins before getting up to change her diaper.  Fast forward 3 mins later.

So three minutes have passed, and I look up to see poo everywhere.  Down her legs, in between her baby toes, and all over the carpet (with Sophie just jumping all over it and mighty happy to be bouncing n her poo).  I didn't know what to do.  I knew I had to get her out of there asap - and try not to get poo anywhere else in the process.  I threw down a blanket and took off Sophies poo covered onesie and diaper - and carried her into the shower with me to get all that sticky poo off her legs and feet.  Its amazing what can happen in 3 minutes of time.

Once Sophie was cleaned off, and I got the laundry going - I then realized I need to scrub poo out of the carpet.  Scrubbing poo out of the carpet, was never on my #momlife mind.  Luckily, I have a Bissel Little Green Steam Machine - with carpet cleaner that removes pet stains.  Even though we have no pets - I was pretty sure that poo falls in the category of pet stains.  I quickly poured a whole lot of solution on the mess, and let it soak about 30 mins before scrubbing it out with the machine.

I'm glad to say my carpets are good as new, and the laundry came out with no stains.  The joys of momlife :)

4. Fave DIY I completed - Custom IKEA Picture Frames.

I have a whole lot of Ikea picture frames that have been hidden in my closet waiting to be recycled.  I just wasn't feeling the overwhelming amount of sun faded white in them.  However, I had been looking around everywhere for some fun picture frames to put up in Sophies room - filled with inspirational quotes.  I hadn't been able to find any in the color patterns I wanted - and then it hit me - I'll paint my own!  I just started this project yesterday, and I have 3 frames to do.  I cant wait to finish these!  Ill have the completed project up on the blog eventually too :)

5. Fave Moment with Sophie - Sophie's First Meal!

This was actually a toss up.  Sophie has slept 8-9 hours every night for the past week, and as much as I am so glad to have sleep again, feeding Sophie her first baby food was definitely my highlight with her this week.  Nick and I were going back and forth with when we should start feeding her, and since her high chair arrived in the mail this week - we decided why not.  Nicholas & I decided to feed her a mixture of mango and yams (which I pureed and made myself).  We harnessed Sophie in her high chair, and Nick attempted to feed her as I filmed.  She kind of took to it, and took about 3 spoonful's, but she gave us that look like what are you guys doing to me, this isn't milk.  We will gradually start introducing this to her, and try a new food every 5 days.  I'm already thinking avocado and peaches as her next mixture.  I think Ill be making her baby food from scratch, as that way I can ensure Sophie is eating as healthy as possible.

DIY - Yarn Monogram Letters

Hello darlings.  The sun is shining, my back is feeling much better - and for the past 6 days Sophie has slept 5-6 hours each night before waking up and then falling back for another 2-3 hours.  Life is good and I'm feeling so blessed - that I decided to tackle my second and third DIY project - Yarn Letters.  These were so much fun and beyond easy.  I actually think that these will become my new baby shower/birthday/house warming/Christmas presents for loved ones going forward.

Originally I was going to put one on Sophies door - and another above her crib, but once making the blue one, I thought it was a little too grown and sexy, so it made its way to our master bedroom door.  Hello sexy new blue ombre monogram letter.  Encase any of you lovelies want to make these too - here is what you need.  All items were purchased at Michaels.

Yarn - smaller thickness size.  I went with three colors each.
Wooden Monogram Letter - Michaels has diff sizes and thicknesses.  I went with a larger thinner size.
Super Clue/Crazy Glue - I used a clear one.  You could probably use a glue gun too.  This was to hold the embellishment's.  If you aren't adding any décor, you don't really need glue.
Embellishment's - I went with different ombre colored flowers.
Velcro - To adhere to the surface you are putting them on (wall/door)

They are honestly pretty easy.  At first I was like how am I going to make sure there is no wood exposed with all these curves and bumps - but the good thing about using a thin yarn is you can layer and layer and wrap and wrap.  Have fun with it, and if it doesn't work - just unwrap it a bit.  Its only yarn!

I also didn't use any glue to hold the thread - as I wrapped it pretty tight, and tucked in the lose ends - but feel free to use glue to hold it down.

So aside from being a greedy mom, and hogging the blue one for our room - I also made a more babygirl vibe monogram letter for Sophies door.  Again, I kept the ombre like feel, and made use of Martha Stewarts lovely embellishment flowers.  These things are fairly light, so you really don't need much Velcro to hold them up. 

Hope these have inspired you to do some crafts.  #momlife.

DIY Alphabet Blocks

Who wants to learn how to make their own wooden blocks from scratch!  Well I did 2 days ago, and thanks to pinterest - I created my first mom DIY project.

 

This project all started with the fact that I have a prepaid Amex card that's about to expire at the end of this month, so I was looking at Etsy for things to use it on.  I stumbled upon kids alphabet blocks and was like, 'hey why don't I go buy all the ingredients at Michaels with my card and make them myself'.  And that's what I did.

DIY BUILDING BLOCKS
(all items purchased from Michaels)
6x 2" wood cubes precut
White acrylic paint (to paint the blocks white)
Mod Podge (I used matte, but they also have pearl. This is your non-toxic water based sealer)
Scrapbook style paper for the blocks (I purchased 5 individual pieces that were metallic prints)
Stickers (I used flat aqua letters, and flat glittery hand & footprints)
Brush to paint the blocks with and use for glue

Step 1 - Take one of the blocks and trace the outside of it on the back of the paper you chose to use.  Make however many you need of these. (My paper actually came with a cardboard piece, so I did the outline on that and cut the cardboard piece as my stencil.  I also made the stencil about 4mm shorter length/height wise so that the white paint could be exposed)

Step 2 - Paint the blocks with your white acrylic paint (or any color you chose).  They dry faster than you think.  I painted mine 4 coats each side.  Then rinse brush.

Step 3 - Apply a coat of the mod podge to all surfaces of your squares - let dry.  Also dries fairly fast.

Step 4 - When you have your paper cut outs ready, brush the back of the paper and also the square surface you are using and press on (use your finger to smooth it out). Then apply another coat of modge podge to cover the entire surface

Step 5 - Once all of the blocks have paper on them (coated in modge podge), you can now add any stickers you would like (keep in mind its best to use flat stickers as you will add another coat of modge podge over top.  You can always use 3D stickers or embellishments if these blocks are just for décor and wont actually be played with).

Step 6 - If you used flat stickers, apply a final coat of modge podge over top of the sticker surface.

You're Done!  Modge Podge is a water based non-toxic sealer (so your baby can try to eat the cube all they want and you wont have to worry).

Although Sophia is too young to use those blocks, I'm already thinking of making other ones with themes - like different seasons with seasonal colors and stickers.  I cant wait to use these to help her spell and pair images :)

And I leave you with a few pictures of her from this week.