That damn elf.....

So, it is Thanksgiving, which means wonderful food with friends and family. It also means the return of Tito, the Elf on the Shelf. If you have forgotten Tito, and what he means to us, check out this past blog post.

Tito (named after Michael Jackson's brother).......is suppose to come the day after Thanksgiving. So, tonight, I went to the closet where I thought we put him last year. No elf. Went to the basement. No elf.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the damn elf had gone!!!!

So, while I sit on the computer, trolling the internet looking for a place to order just the elf.....Scout's remembers where it is and finds it. She put it away last year in our canning jar collection.

Crisis averted......

The Nursery

So, I have not done the best job on showing pictures of the Bean's room. I am proud to say that everything in that room we already owned....or I made. I have been getting my craft on lately....

Here is the grand reveal......if we were on HGTV, someone would have their eyes closed and start squealing about now....

Here is the view from the hallway. You can see it is a small room, but it has everything you need. Beanie is sitting in the chair....she is getting used to have her picture taken!

This is above her crib. It seems like everyone on the Internet is doing this these days, but I still liked it anyway. It was super easy (and cheap)....just fabric quarters and embroidery hoops.

The other side of the room. I made the curtains for the windows and the closet doors.....I was impressed with myself. Behind the window curtains are black-out curtains....for better napping!


Standing in the room, here is her changing table. It is a bookcase from IKEA that we got a while ago for Mo's toys. It wasn't really being used, so I reused it here. It is very narrow, which is what we needed for the space in the room. Plus, it holds a ton of stuff.


These 2 gems are my latest creations. Don't they look like something you could buy off ETSY? I made these with my 2 little hands. I think they turned out super cute, and I would even do this project again. I may write up a little tutorial, it was so easy, and very rewarding. Again, this was another idea I adapted from others on the Internet!

I want to add something hanging in the corner.....maybe a mobile of some kind, hanging lamps, something......gotta put my brain to work on that one, but for now, it is good.

That's about it.....the nursery.....she seems to like it. Now it is all nice and neat....but I know, it won't stay that way!!!!

An Updated Bean

I was so excited about her little outfit today, that we had to have a photo shoot! Her legs are almost long enough for leg warmers (almost).....

The bean is doing well, we have had some issues with nursing which has also meant some trouble with sleeping, but I think we have figured it out. The Bean has always been a snacker! She is what the lactation people call a "lazy nurser." She would hang out on the boob, just snacking all day if she could. As a result, in the past few weeks, I am not producing enough milk for her. She isn't demanding enough to make my body produce the milk. So, she has gotten frustrated, and hungry....which has led her to not sleep as well as she was.

So, after a week of pumping all the time....I mean 4-5 times a day, and also trying to pump 10 minutes after she nurses, I feel like we are back on track. The only problem still is she eats better from the bottle. She doesn't have to work so hard at it.....so we are bottle feeding her more, which means I have to pump more....which really is just a time suck....20 minutes of pumping, 20 minutes of feeding....and doing that 4-5 times a day.....really cuts down on the amount of time I have.

But the upside is....she is back to her great sleeping self.....what mommies won't do for a full night of sleep!

But, we are trying to figure it all out. I am going back to work soon, and she will be mostly bottle fed at that point.....so I guess we are just moving into that a bit earlier than I would have liked....but the bean wants what the bean wants.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Mo has been super into writing out her list for Santa. She has written and rewritten it several times. This morning, she decided to take another run at it....

Mo: How do you spell Barbie Fun House?

Me: b-a-r-b-i-e f-u-n-h-o-u-s-e

Mo: How do you spell Little Pet Shop?

Me: l-i-t-t-l-e-p-e-t-s-h-o-p

Mo: How do you spell IPhone?

(short pause)

Me: n-e-v-e-r