Layla's Bow Holder

I saw a bow holder like this and thought it was so cute! I also thought it would be so easy to make, so off to Hobby Lobby I went. I bought a wooden plaque for $2.99, a wooden letter for $2 or $3, and several spools of ribbon that were all 50% off. I already had the paint and the sealer at home.

I made a few corker (curly) ribbons. You do that by wrapping the ribbon around a wooden dowel, secure it with a wooden clothes pin, soak it is water, and then bake it a 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let is cool, unroll it and viola! Curly ribbon! The rest I left straight and spraying with hair spray so it would be stiff. You can use starch, but we don't use that and I LOVE hair spray, so there ya go!

I hot glued it to the back of the plaque one by one, keeping the shorter pieces at the front. I hot glued two long pieces at the bottom to clip the bows to. I love it!!!!

This should also give you a good hint as to what Layla's bedding is going to look like. Which, I heard back from the company that is making it and it should ship it sometime next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't wait!

Ella's Big Girl Room

You would think with a baby on the way I would be getting her room ready, well you are wrong! Ha! Well, we do have the crib in the room, the rocking chair, the dresser which still needs to be painted and a bow holder I just made. I mean, a bow holder is a priority, right?

Instead I have been working on Ella's big girl room. My mom and I bought the bedding for her for her second birthday so I couldn't wait to get it on the bed. Plus, Layla is going to use Ella's baby mattress so we needed to move that. Well, we finally got the bedding on a month or two ago, then I was trying to decide where to hang what, what was staying and what would be moved elsewhere. I love the way it is now and I am 95% sure that it is finished.

Here is the link to the last change made to Ella's Room. Well, the last change that I blogged about. Of course her bed has not been a crib, but a toddler bed, for a long time!I just never got around to posting pictures of it. So, here is her new room!

I still love this mirror as much as the day I got it! I bought the sconces at Hobby Lobby and painted them orange and added a few dangles.

I painted this canvas to go with her bedding and I love it. When I am changing her diaper she looks up at it and tells me the colors. I am hoping she won't be in diapers for too much longer. More on that later!

This is the kitchen she got from her Grandma and Grandad for Christmas. Monkey sits in the high chair and she cooks for him and feeds him.

She got this little table and chairs from her Grandma and Grandad for her birthday. It is a great place to sit and color or play with play doh. I painted those two shelves, which were previously light pink, to blue to add more color.

And the girl has so many bows. This doesn't even include the ones that are in her bathroom drawer, or in her backpack or any other random place in the house. I am thinking of making her a bow holder like the one I made Layla. I will show you that soon.

We love the chalkboard that she got from her Granny and Papa and on the other side is a magnet board.  We have been going over our numbers, letters and colors on that. And of course, her baby bed for all of her stuffed animals is brimming over. 

This growth chart is right inside her room. I just loved it! I need to remember to mark her height on it ever so often.

So here is her room for now! Who knows when it will change again, but for now I love it. And now that it is finished I can work more on Layla's room. I emailed the company about her bedding today. Hopefully it will come in soon. I don't feel like I can do too much before it arrives, but I am SO EXCITED to get it. In about 48 days we should be meeting our sweet girl!

Sandbox

Ella got a sandbox while we were in Wichita for Spring Break and one of the first things we did was set it up for her to play with. It has been a great source of entertainment!! We usually wake up in the mornings and watch a cartoon and then she says "play in sandbox". Thankfully it has been so nice outside and I have really enjoyed spending time outside.

She does have a hard time keeping the sand in the box, but she is getting better. She just loves to throw it!

On a side note, her hair is getting so long! It does look a little crazy here, but we had been playing hard for quite a while. And yes, she is wearing her pajama shirt because it was the morning. Trey mowed the yard while we played.

I like to call this next collage "don't eat sand". Ella wasn't aware of this rule when she put a little in her mouth. She soon discovered it was not tasty and it is really hard to get out of your mouth. She has not eaten any since!

She plays in the sand and usually wants to wash her hands about 10 minutes later. Then we go inside for about 20 minutes and it is back outside again to play and repeat. I think she really just likes the water hose.

She is so much fun. I am really loving this age. She is full of funny comments and gestures that keep me entertained!

Playing

I have been trying to do as many photo shoots as possible this month trying to fit everyones Spring pictures in before I am officially too big to do it anymore. With that comes editing all the photos, so I have had to come up with ways to keep Ella occupied and entertained while I edit. I saw this suggestion on Kelly's Korner blog and Ella loved doing it.

I filled up two plastic bowls with water and put ice cubes in one. I gave her a a spoon that drains and had her move the ice cubes from one bowl to another. She did this until the ice cubes were so small they fell through the holes in the spoon!

I did run to the bathroom and came back to pink her pink lamb in the bowl though, so close supervision in required. I did have towels down though just in case! In her defense she told me that Lamb "Wanted to take a bath"! She is such a little stinker!

Baby Shower

With Layla being our second child and our second girl, I was not expecting a baby shower. When my Sunday school class asked if they could throw me a shower I was so excited!! We have the most amazing group of people in our class and Trey and I are so lucky to have them in our lives. We love our teachers and the friends we have made. I did not register for gifts like I did with Ella. I just said we needed diapers and newborn clothes. Ella was born in January and since Layla will be born in May most of the tiny baby clothes are going to be too hot for her. I also just wanted to give people the option to get us what they liked and I kinda liked the idea of being surprised.

We got lots of diapers, wipes, clothes, a bathing suit, a pair of shoes, two sweet blankets and a lamb that sings "Jesus Loves Me". Ella has the same lamb that was given to her by our Sunday school teachers.

Shannon gave Ella a blanket with her name embroidered on it and I love that she got one for Layla. Ella sleeps with three blankies everynight. One my sister got her, the one Shannon got her, and one from another friend. She did see Layla's new blankie and try to run off with it, just like she tried with the lamb, but I had to tell her those were Layla's.

These little shoes are so tiny and cute! I love that we are having a baby in the warm months so that I don't have to keep her all covered and bundled up. It is hard to image that there are little feet small enough to fit into these!

We had such a great morning and it just really made things feel real. Like wow, we are going to have two girls on our house very soon! I love using the term "my girls'!!!!! I can't wait to meet Layla!

Just In Case You Ever Wonder

Ella has always loved to read books. If she is ever having a crabby day or even if I just need a break to relax, we will read a book. It is fun now that she has a big girl bed to climb into bed with her and read to her. She always puts her head on my shoulder and I always have her full attention.

I enjoy reading to her. I love reading Christian books to her and telling her how much Jesus loves her. About a year ago I was at Mardels looking for books and found the book "Just In Case You Ever Wonder" by Max Lucado on the clearance shelf. I knew at that time it was a little too long for her attention span, but we have started reading it a lot lately.

Max wrote it to his daughters so the book is about just how much he loves them, but that God loves them more. I love it! I will confess though it is very hard for me to read without getting teary-eyed, even after the 50th time reading it. At the end it talk about Heaven and how one day they will be there together forever, that is the part that gets me every time!! If you have a kiddo I would really suggest it. It is just so sweet!