1, 2 Buckle my shoe

I am always making little things to go in my little munchkin's room and this art project is the latest addition.  He has a rather long, undecorated wall, that I am attempting to transform into a "gallery wall".  I didn't choose a theme, but I would like it to be playful and colorful.  One of my goals for this week is to finish his gallery wall and post it on the blog. There, I wrote it down and now I have to finish it. Wish me luck. Back to topic now.

So, every time I visit Ikea, I would stop by the art section and this print kept catching my eye. 

I was thinking of buying it, but usually the next thought would be, 'I might be able to do that'.  I had a leftover canvas from another project (which wasn't very successful) and used it for this. That is why the white canvas might look like it is painted.  I wanted my numbers to have a textured feel, so I was thinking of making the numbers out of potato and then stamping it on the canvas.  But I figured I could never carve out a nice looking number, so out goes that option.

So, then the idea hit me that I could "borrow" my son's foam numbers that he plays with at bath time. Ta da daa!

It worked well and that is what I ended up using. I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  Check it out!

Can you say easy peasy children's artwork? It was quick, easy and it didn't cost me a penny. We are trying to learn numbers, but the only one my little munchkin says, is two two two. He won't say one, but he will definitely say two. Off I go to practice three, four etc. Have a great day!

B

Choo Choo

In case you don't already know, my son is absolutely crazy about trucks, forklifts, trains, diggers. So, I had a little surprise for him this week and here it is.

What do you think? I love them, but the question was whether he was going to like them. When I put them on his mattress, he started analyzing and looking at the trains. So cute. I think he likes them. 

My little munchkin is getting some new goodies in his room, but it is taking his mama a little longer to complete them than anticipated. Have a great afternoon.

Weekend Lighting Adventures

Good morning everyone! In yesterday's post, I wrote that I was going to share some of my weekend adventures and fun with you. Well, here is a little peek. Last week, I shared a mood board I put together, since our little munchkin is growing up. Remember this?

So, I have been on the lookout for the Knappa light fixture for quite a while now. It took me a while to decide what light fixture to put in his room, and finally I decided that this one was going to be it. At the one Ikea store, they were discontinued and the other Ikea store was expecting to get some soon. I was a little worried that they were going to be discontinued at this Ikea store too, but guess what? They got them in last week. Yay!

I raced to Ikea and picked up the new lighting fixture for my little munchkin's room. It looks so much better than before. I am so surprised at how much it changes the room. I love it. 

You can see my canvas artwork in the background. I definitely have to change the pictures above his crib. That will take a while, since I can't decide on what to do. 

I took these pictures this morning, so I apologize for the bad quality. I was hoping that they would be better, but the lighting in our apartment is really crappy. Since, we are working on his room a little at a time, I will be sharing bits and pieces as we go along.  Have a good day everyone!

B

Rain Rain Go Away

September is here and with that comes cooler weather and of course some rain. I am not a big fan of rain, but I do like the fact that I get a chance to catch up on some of my housework and finish more things around the house. Some things that we love doing on a rainy day, are bake and read books. As soon as my little munchkin wakes up, we are off reading a couple of books and then the fun begins.

So, I decided to share some of our favorite books with you. My munchkin's absolute favorite book is Are you my mother?, by P.D. Eastman, which I have been reading to him since he was born. He absolutely loves the snort and he actually says snort now, every time he sees a real one.

A definite must read every day is Harry, the Dirty Dog. My munchkin loves following Harry along his travels and cannot wait to get to the "snort" in this book too.

I didn't know about this book, but my hubby recommended it and now my son loves it. It is Good Dog Carl, by Alexandra Day. He loves following Carl and seeing what he and the baby are up to. It is really cute.

I think this book is quite neat. It is Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear by Emily Gravett. It is really neat to see the different drawings and by the end of the book, my son is trying to say apple, pear etc. He sounds so cute trying to say the words.

Here is are two books that one my friends had and when I saw how her daughter liked it so much, I had a closer look. They are quite neat books. One about gas and the other about poop. The pictures are very pretty and my munchkin enjoys reading these book over and over again. You can also see a little foot there, since a certain someone wanted to have the book read.

One other favorite is How to Catch a Star, by Oliver Jeffers. The pictures are beautifully drawn and when we look up to the sky now, he knows where the stars are and tries to say star. So so cute.

Last on the list for now is Grumpy Bird. I think kids love this book, because the colors are beautiful and the drawings are so interesting.  Maybe there is also a lesson for adults about being grumpy.

Have you read any of these books? What do you do with your little ones on rainy days?

Have a great day!

Ikea Hack Idea Steal Shelf

My little munchkin is growing so fast and time is flying by. He is running around the house and checking out everything. We are constantly changing things in his room (because he gets into new trouble) and he is so curious and excited about everything. Here is the latest addition to his room.

Are you familiar with the Ikea hackers website? Well, if you aren't, then you should definitely check it out. There are so many cool and interesting ideas and it surprises me all the time, how creative and inventive people can be. I was visiting the site a while back and came across this ikea hacker idea, that I just had to do it myself. Can you say copycat? Yes, I know it isn't a good idea to be a copycat, but this one was just too good to pass up.

The Bekvam spice racks are quite inexpensive at Ikea and what better way to display your children's books. I have never done any woodworking projects and eventhough this doesn't look very difficult to make, I opted to buy them ready made. For 6.99 each, wouldn't you?

I painted them white and voila. I really love the white color, but you could also paint them a dark color or stain them if you wanted a darker color.

I love how they look and my little munchkin sure loves pulling the books out to look at and read them. Well, truth be known, sometimes he just enjoys pulling them out and leaving them on the floor.

Happy hacking and reading time! 

My baby's new pillows

Last week I shared some gorgeous and fun kids' fabrics with you. I also shared that I couldn't help myself and bought some. This is what I arrived home with and to my surprise, even my husband liked it.

Last week I had my first sewing lesson. It was really exciting and a huge thank you goes out to my dear friend Hannie. She showed me how to use her sewing machine and I sewed my first pillow case (with her help of course). Since I just ordered some more fabric, I will be visiting her again soon. But without further ado, here are the new pillows. Aren't they fun?

When my baby first saw them, he jumped on them and cuddled into them. After that he started looking at them and examined the picture. Then he would throw himself onto the floor and lay down on them. And of course, my camera was nowhere to be found. I didn't think he would pay attention to them, but he loves them and I am so happy.

As you can see in the pictures above, there is a lot going on in the picture. Pirates and adventures everywhere and lots to look at. They should be perfect for playing, reading or just romping around.  I will post the how to soon.

Have a marvelous day!

My Top 5 Baby Things

Babies need a lot of things and sometimes it can be difficult to know which things are really worth investing in. I will share with you a couple of things that have helped me a lot along the months.

1.) With spring and summer approaching fast, this will be so useful in the months to come. Aden + Anais. They have these wonderful muslin cotton swaddle blankets. You could use them for swaddling your baby or for covering your baby as a summer blankie. They are very soft and breathable.

2.) The first I will add to the list is Baby Einstein Lullaby Classics. In the beginning (first three months), my baby was sometimes fussy and cried quite a bit, but once we put the CD on he would calm down and start listening to the music. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to make my baby a composer, and he probably would have stopped with any kind of music, but this really helped us. It calmed him down and the music is very soft and soothing to him.

3.) A Modern Eden has some amazing little things for kids. They have an iPhone application called Speak Piggy, where kids can see a picture of an animal and then hear the sound that the animal makes. Not only that, but if you press the other button, a child voice will say the name of the animal. It is an amazing iPhone application, and it has helped me so much. Sometimes when we traveled with our baby in the car, he would get fussy, start crying and would want me to hold him, but then we discovered Speak Piggy. My baby loved it from around 5 or 6 months. He would stop crying immediately and now he is smiling from ear to ear when he hears the bee buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (you have to hear to get it).

4.) Another little tool is the Green Sprouts Warming Plate. It is so great. My friend introduced me to it and I loved it. Forget putting hot water in a little bowl and the bowl overtop. This little plate stores to water underneath in a compartment, so your food will be nice and warm. It is great.

5.) My Ergo, ah. We love our Ergo baby carrier. I do not have enough good things to say about it. I know you will say that it is a lot of money, but trust me when I say it is worth every penny. We have been using since my baby was three months old and he has been loving it. He loves being cuddled up in there and it is so easy to walk every where with it. It is probably one of the most useful things we invested in and it was worth it.

I hope you found it useful and you will enjoy the items as much as we did. Have a good one!

Baby feet and baby shoes

Babies. Babies have the most adorable little feet. I could look at them forever. The tiny little toes make pictures of baby feet artwork. Not this picture, but professional ones.

Babies don't really need shoes and when they start walking, the question always is, which shoes are the best ones for your baby. Well, the answer is: not so sure. Some say that the sole of a baby shoe (that is starting to walk) should be harder, and others say it should be made out of a softer and bendable material. This is what worked for us.

My son has had two pairs of shoes and he enjoyed both. We bought him his first pair of shoes, when he was about 4 months old. We wanted him to have a nice pair of shoes, so we chose Robeez. They had a nice flexible sole, they looked very nice and they were made of leather. Here is a picture. Aren't they cute? Sorry, but I couldn't find a picture of him wearing them.

His second pair of shoes have been used quite a bit, since he has started to walk and is almost at the point of running. We have hardwood floors in our apartment, so it was crucial to find a pair that had a non slip sole and I figured that a more flexible sole/shoe would be best. I had seen these shoes before, but wasn't sure what they were called.  I discovered Nowali. They are a Swedish company who creates these beautiful sock + shoe combinations. Love them. Fall was approaching but my baby was not walking yet. I didn't know what to do. Should I spend $40-50 on a pair of boots that he would never walk in? Well, I decided that I would buy these ones. As you can see they are in rough shape, because they have been used a lot. And I mean a lot. Isn't the lion adorable? I think it fits his personality. They have lots of different beautiful designs for boys and girls. It is hard to pick just one.

They would keep him warm and he can use them well after winter is over. We thought that he would learn to walk in them. And so it happened. Little by little he started to walk in them. They have a leather sole, so he doesn't slide on the hardwood floors. Perfect.

While he is still perfecting his walk, I know that they are keeping him warm and they give him the support that he needs. We have been very happy with them. This has been our experience. It is quite hard to take pictures of a very active baby boy, but he did strike one pose, that I just had to share with you. Here it is.

Did you know about Nowali? Are you using them? I would love to hear about your experience.  Have a great day!