Organize this

I don’t know if it’s the excitement of getting close to finishing Ella’s room or the fact that I’ve been good about working out lately (even starting back on the couch to 5K plan!) but my energy is in high gear today.

And actually my day started out not so great. Ella went through about three pairs of pajamas last night. Her latest thing lately is that she’s in bed – supposedly sleeping – and suddenly I hear her yell “Mommy, poopin!” At which point I sprint up to her room and find her in one of two states, either 1. standing up in her soaking wet jammies proudly holding her diaper in the air or 2. standing in her dry jammies proudly holding her diaper in the air, at which point I sprint her down to the potty where she can go. And FYI, “poopy” to her could mean pee or poop. She hasn’t learned the difference yet.

Anyway, last night apparently I was not quick enough or she didn’t start yelling soon enough so she was in state 1. And then she wanted to get up at 6 A.M. I coerced her into sleeping until just after 7, which was better, but I’m just not used to getting up several times at night anymore. It’s been a while since I’ve had those nights.

So, the organizing … Lately a certain little person around the house thinks she’s the new DVD operations manager and is constantly pushing buttons and opening DVDS, meanwhile smudging the discs all up and not returning them to their rightful locations. So, I’m taking control back over by putting all little girl dvds in a plastic container and up on a shelf. It will be a little less convenient then in the entertainment center stand, but at least we’ll be able to find “The Nemo Show,” as she calls it, when we REALLY need it.

Also I’ve decided that I should just start moving Ella’s clothes into her new room so on Saturday (paint day) after we move the furniture in we’ll be all finished. So I’ve been working on that project and also on clearing the whole room out in preparation for paint day. And then I realized I need to wash all her new bedding and the bedding the guests use and … doesn’t one project just lead to another? And let’s not talk about the table full of coupons I haven’t put away yet or the heap of clean towels on my couch. You’d think with all this “organizing” my house wouldn’t look like a disaster, right?

Oh well, I know I’m getting closer and I even picked up some great deals at Wal-mart today for finishing Ella’s room – some very cute green polka dot sheet backups, a  WATERPROOF mattress pad and a very cute $5 cranberry throw pillow for her bed and it looks GREAT with the bedding! Now I just really need a bookshelf … and a shade.

Happy Blogiversary

I just wanted to sneak in here to congratulate Erin on her first full year of blogging. It is a nice accomplishment, even more so knowing that over 1,000 different readers have enjoyed what you have had to share with us all.

Here is a look back at the first post on Momma Times:

Hello, Internet

March 28th, 2008

After some thought, I’ve decided a blog is the perfect spot for me to get some therapeutic writing time in, possibly connect with other moms or at least amuse my sisters, who may be the only ones who read this. And besides, my only hobby these days, after my one-year-old goes to bed, is bad reality TV. This is better, right?
Anyway, stay tuned for more.

Keep up the good work,
Hubby

My latest obsession, with lots of photos

Wow, what a busy week. For six of seven days last week we had company and in the middle somewhere was the birthday extravaganza. It was all very, very good though. Thanks for coming everyone!

And I love that my new schedule allowed me to have time at home after to recuperate and time before to get ready. Yay, part-time job!

Anyway, now I can return to my obsession with creating a little girl room. And it has been an obsession. I just can’t help it. How often do you get to decorate a little girl’s room?

Some of the decisions have been agonizing though. You’d think I was designing a room for the president, but nope, a little girl who probably doesn’t care about complementing colors. But I hope when it’s done it will be fabulous and fun and she’ll love it.

Anyway, I’ve finally decided on a paint color, which was the hardest decision.So what’s it’s going to be?

A milk chocolate brown. You may think brown doesn’t really scream little girl room – but believe me, pink was on the list and may have made the cut but then when I saw my furniture repainted …

I don’t have a photo of the furniture, but we had an antique dresser and nightstand painted a mint green. Then we also bought a white headboard for her new twin bed. We bought white because we thought it would look good with the green and we have way too many wood-colored things in our home.

Anyway, I finally found this photo online that made me think brown would definitely be a good backdrop for the white and green.

Also her bedspread has aquas and pinks and greens and I think a brightly colored wall would be too much for it all. Speaking of the bedspread, this is it below (by the way, I think it’s way cuter in person. Also, I found some great pink and white striped sheets to go with it).

So I finally made those huge decisions and then I got invited to an Uppercase Living party. If you haven’t heard of them, they sell vinyl wall decals but they look just like paint. I had already been admiring the ones I saw in Pottery Barn and Land of Nod catalog so I jumped at the chance to check out the Uppercase Living ones and they are really, really cute. Hence another indecisive week of choosing between flowers, trees, butterflies and in what color? And what size???

For the longest time I was going to go with this:

But then I realized as cool and modern as it was, Ella’s antique dressers and flowery bedspread don’t exactly have a cool and modern look.

So, now I’m thinking this:

And not only is it a tree with butterflies, but it is a growth chart, which I was really wanting to get for her room.

I’m thinking of getting it in cream color. Since it’s on a brown wall some of the colors look a little muddy on it. But I don’t know, does this clash the white in the headboard and bedspread? This is approximately what it would look like …

And I may order just a few butterflies to sprinkle on the wall above her bed. A little inspired by the picture below, but I’m just going to do a few.

So anyway, the painting party is next weekend. And we need to buy a mattress still, and I’d love to have a window shade under the curtains.

There, now you know what I’ve been thinking about lately. Butterfly decals.

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Birthday extravaganza

I think Ella had a really great birthday.

It started on her actual birthday with a celebration with her grandparents on my husbands’ side. She was really excited to see them and the Curious George cake and balloon they brought her made her night. She also received plenty of Curious George books, cute little ladybug and dragonfly animals, a hat and more from them. She loved it all.

Next she had a party with her friends. There were 10 kids in all and the look on her face when she saw them all told me that I did the right thing by making it a big party! She was thrilled when they all came through the door. The party was at It’s Playtime, a local indoor play place, and I couldn’t have been happier with it all. Nail painting, kid tattoos, tons of toys and things to do and a great room all decked out for the kids to have pizza and cupcakes. She got great presents there too, Finding Nemo, which we’ve already watched THREE times, Madagascar, a Playdough ice cream set, some great books, a great Melissa and Doug bead set, a tent we’ve already spent a lot of time with, and a ton of great clothes from Grandma. Sorry if I didn’t name yours. We really did love it all.

Anyway it’s been a week full of company and doing lots of stuff and having fun and I think I’m ready to curl up with a book. So here a few great moments from the week …

Some QT with grandpa Doucette.

She knows what presents are this year.

Ella welcomes a friend to the party.

What? All these cupcakes are for me?!!