Sweet and Simple Wall Mural

Last week I spent a couple evenings out at Matt's sister and brother in laws' home, helping with the finishing touch of their daughter's nursery.  Sarah had asked me to paint a little something above Peyton's crib.

To tell the whole story, we have to go back to October--even before Peyton was born--to her baby shower.  I hosted a shower for Sarah and Peyton at our home.  The theme was "Sweet Dreams" complete with beds for tables, bedtime stories in lieu of cards and a midnight snack dessert table:

And in true Hannah fashion {I was my cheerleading squad's designated sign maker}, I made a butcher-paper sign with watercolors that said: "Sweet Dreams, Precious Peyton Ryan."  You can sort of see it below; although my chandelier {isn't it fabulous, by the way?} is hiding it:

I figured I would just throw the paper sign away at the end of the night, but Sarah took it home and hung it above Peyton's crib, where it stayed until last week.  After four months of looking at the paper sign, Sarah was ready for something more permanent.   However, she liked the look of it, so we decided to keep the words as it but make it look a little more sharp.

I'm posting this because #1 - I thought it turned out pretty nice #2 - I like reading about how other people do crafty things on their blogs and #3 - I don't have any recent pictures of Liam to post tonight :)

Nursery Mural Tutorial:

1. The first thing I did was mock up what I wanted it to look like in Word, including picking some cute fonts: "A Font With Serifs", "Sketch Block Bold" and "Clementine Sketch"-- all available for free download at dafont.com  Then I printed out the letters.  I cut them out individually and traced them to the wall. 

2. For the word "Sweet," I turned the page over and traced the letters in charcoal. 

3. Then I placed it on the wall where I wanted it and pressed firmly {I used the eraser end of a pencil} on the letters to transfer the charcoal to the wall.  I traced around the charcoal with pencil, then wiped the charcoal off.

4. After all of the letters were traced out, I began painting.

5. And painted, and painted and painted.  I added a moon, stars, clouds and a dot border.

6. Voila!

The Sweater

My mom gave Liam a sweater last week--a creamy cable knit.  She said it reminded her of a sweater that my siblings shared growing up.  Our family mastered the art of the hand-me-down, so I am sure that all four of us, including my brother, wore it at some point.

And crazy enough, as I was going through old pics {as mentioned in yesterday's post}, I found a photo of "the sweater."  My younger sister, Katie, is wearing it below.  I am pretty sure we are in Tahoe in the picture.  Good memories.

Time is flying!

One of my favorite things to do {when I can actually find the time} is to scroll thru my iPhoto and look at old pictures and videos of William.  And boy, do we have a TON of photos of him when he was a wee little one.  Here's one that made me smile today.

Isn't he the chubbiest 7 week old ever!?!  His cheeks are so heavy, he can't even smile.

I remember how {before I went back to work} I would feed him, and then we would spend an hour or so in my bed singing and playing, smiling and cooing.  Fast forward to today:  Matt brings William down in the morning for his feeding and, afterward, I attempt to have "mommy and me" time in bed.  In reality, William waits a total of two seconds before he is crawling off the bed, headfirst; trying to find my phone and eat it, or telling me--in his adorable jibberish--that he is ready for his breakfast of champions--cereal and fruit.

For all those mommies out there with itty-bitty babies: cherish those snuggle times, those quiet times alone with your babe--those times when your little one can't crawl off :)

Yuck, Peas.

So far, William has mastered solids like a champ. His repertoire has included pears, peaches, prunes, sweet potatoes, rice cereal and just about every other vegetable and fruit available in the produce section. However, he draws the line at peas:

At the park

8 months

Liam--you are 8 months! CRAZY.
On one hand it seems like you were born yesterday.  On the other, I feel like you've been a part of our family forever.  Life without you seems so far behind us.

• You continue to grow like a weed--although, lately you have been gaining height and not weight.
• You talk A LOT.  But we can only distinguish "mumm-mumm" and "da-da"
• You refuse to catch on to sign language, because you have mastered the whine to get what you want.
• You still eat like a champ, but you burn off all the calories with your crawling.
• You love your fire engine, your dump truck and pet puppy "Scout." You are not interested in much else unless it is a piece of paper, a cell phone, computer or cord.
• You have four teeth!
• You wave to strangers and smile at them.
• You got a shot this month and smiled the whole time:)
• You don't like to sit still, but your most cuddly time is right before and after your naps.
• You like peek-a-boo, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and singing with Scout (your stuffed puppy).
• And as you can see below, you are pulling yourself to standing!

You are a big boy, a happy boy, a healthy boy and a delight in our lives.  Love you bubbs!