Stylish moms

Tags

fashion, mom style, style

Speaking of style, here is a picture from the blog Gingerbreadhouse to remind me of how you can be a mom and still be cool, stylish and sexy while remaining understated, practical and unfussy.

In one word, beautiful.

I want to look like this every day!

Looks to try this week

Tags

fashion, outfits, looks, color combinations

Now that some of my clothes are starting to fit again, I relish getting dressed in the morning. The simplest outfits give me the biggest pleasure, and when I want to relax I daydream about what I want to wear.

This week I’d like to try some of these outfits.

Stripes+floral; shorts+cardigan; skirt+quilted jacket; stripes+neutrals.

And some of these color combinations.

Denim+white;tan+brights;denim+neon;navy+brown

Life is good.

What’s in a name

Tags

baby names, grandmothers, motherhood, namesakes

This is a picture of my Nanna that was recently passed on to me. I’ve lived with her all my life and never knew what she looked like when she was young until now.

She’s my daughter Anna’s namesake. She wasn’t my biological grandmother, but someone who entered my family when she was about twenty years old, and raised each and every baby for two generations till the day she died.

She was famous for horribly spoiling the little ones and never turning you down when you needed comforting in the middle of the night and someone’s warm bed to slip into.

She never had a family of her own. We were her family.  I feel like we never really thanked her enough for all she did. This one is for you, Nanna. We loved you very much.

Mother’s day: then and now

Tags

daughters, mother's day, motherhood, mothers

It’s funny how my mom got a blonde daughter and I got a little brunette….

Mom and I

Me and Anna

Birth announcement

Tags

baby, birth announcements

I’m so happy about these birth announcements we ordered from Minted. 

I can’t wait to receive them in the mail. This is all so exciting.

How to survive week one with a newborn

Tags

baby, newborn, parenting

I’m happy to say we survived the first week and feel we learned a few things on the way. I’m going to try to record my thoughts here, or I will forget, like I do everything these days.

1. More than the lack of sleep, tension will get you, so try to relax. Skip the coffee and the hysterical nap, and do something you love: I rearranged my closet and figured out what fits and what doesn’t so getting dressed in the mornings is less frustrating. Take a warm bubble bath before going to bed, enjoy some light reading before bedtime, etc.

2. Set small, realistic goals for each day. My day three goal was get dressed and put makeup on. On day four I wore Anna in her sling and got some chores done around the house. Day five I baked an easy cake, just to prove I could. Day six we went to the supermarket.

3. Filter the advice. We got some good tips, like our midwife taught me that changing latching positions helps to not destroy your nipples, and a few others I can’t really remember now. But anything else was better tossed out the window. Just a lot of contrasting opinions, which goes to prove there is no one size fits all.

4. Be kind to yourself and to your spouse.

5. Block out the outside world, if necessary, and don’t feel bad about it. You’re busy. If you have a half hour of peace do something for yourself, take a shower, a walk, do your nails.

5. Be ready to cry for things you never thought possible, like the fact that your newborn won’t be a newborn for long. Expect some frustration every day, and some progress, too.

6. Don’t try to do too much!

Introducing

Anna Caroline Johnson

April 20 2013

Welcome, little one.

Step away from the contact paper…

Tags

baby, baby room, diy, dresser, girls room, gold and pink nursery, ikea hack, makeover, malm, nursery, scalloped

Someone please take the gold contact paper away from me!

This is a little embarrassing. I’m afraid my husband will think I’ve gone bonkers (he certainly knows better than saying that to a woman three days away from her due date, but it doesn’t mean he’s not thinking something along those lines.)

Still there’s nothing better than a little creative project to spend an afternoon, and I liked this picture I found on Pinterest so much (originally from the awesome finnish blog pinjacolada) that I had to make it my own.

Yesterday I posted about the nursery being finished, but here I am still putting the finishing touches and moving the furniture around….

I really enjoyed glamming up that Malm dresser a bit.

Same as the polka-dot door project, but this time I just measured the length of the drawer, then calculated how many circles I needed and simply cut them in half to achieve the scalloped effect.

Sorry for the lame explanation. I’m sure you could have figured this out just as well just by looking at the first picture!

A final nursery update

Tags

baby, decorating, feeding nook, girls room, gold and pink nursery, nursery, pregnancy, reading nook

And here are the last nursery pictures, just because!

An overview

The crib

The reading and feeding nooks

and the changing station

Nursery trends I tested and liked

Tags

baby, banner, decorating, girls room, gold and pink nursery, home, nursery, pregnancy, reading nook, scalloped, texture

As of yesterday, the nursery is all finished. A good thing, since my due date is only 5 days away.

So I thought I’d put together the trends that inspired me the most and got me all excited in the making of.

Here we go!

1. Pink and gold: so soft and girlie. I really enjoyed making that polka dot door. The board from lay baby lay was my original inspiration for the room.

2. Scalloped: too cute and festive to resist. Banner from Etsy, plaid Ikea.

3. Reading nooks: is there anything more inviting? Ikea shelves.

4. Texture: star-shaped, paper fans, sheepskin, burlap…anything goes.