A little Leni celebration

 

Early yesterday morning my friend Ryan came to my house and starting hauling stuff in.
She was throwing us a little baby party for Leni!
I knew she was up to something and that it would be at our house on Sunday, but I didn't know details. Who/what/how, etc.
I got dressed and headed out to do some errands.

 

I left Andrew and Anika at home to help Ryan as well.  Anika saw some croissants Ryan brought in and wanted one right away. ha

  While I was out, I actually went to a cheap chain hair salon to have my hair blown out. It was a last minute idea and my normal stylist doesn't work on Sundays.  I hate blow drying my hair. I only own a hair dryer for guests! I always plan my normal hair appointments with my lady on special event days just so I can have good blow dried hair! haha
Well, the chain salon girl didn't talk to me, so I was kinda bored while she did it. I didn't want to be rude, but I ended up playing on my phone out of boredom!  She also must have had a cheap straightener because it just didn't look as good as when my lady does it. My lady leaves it silky smooth (even though I do have a lot of breakage and fly always). She was also taking a long time and I had to leave by 11. I got out of there on time and drove back home.

 

My house had been transformed and looked great. It was really intimate and nice.  Just a small group of friends and my mom and Gram. Ryan wanted it to be small and picked my closest people. Also, close geographically :)
It was really nice to celebrate Leni a little bit.  This baby has kind of been neglected as a 2nd child. Even one of my close friends emailed me a little while ago and said she forgot I was even pregnant because I never talk about it! She only remembered because she popped onto my blog and saw my pregnant photos! ha. Until the last couple weeks, I had nothing on fb really, either.  I have been posting pics on here quite well, but that's about it.
I have always thought showers/sprinkles/blessingways/parties for 2nd children was ridiculous and rude, but this was more a brunch of close people,  and  it was nice to focus on my OTHER child and just to visit in a small gathering setting.  One of my friends texted me late rand said how much more she enjoyed it than big parties/showers. 

 It is hard the 2nd time when ALL our attention is always on Anika.  I am so appreciative to my friend Ryan who organized it and thought of our family. She also had help from others and I appreciate them too! I think everyone brought a dish. The food was fantastic.

 

These photos are from my camera. I wanted Andrew to take a lot, but he slacked.  There are no good ones of me and there are none of me with guests! boo.

Ry even brought a lot of her own dishes and stem wear! ha.  Also, I will add that everything was cleaned and put away after! I didn't have to do a thing!

I am almost 38 weeks so I indulged in a mimosa. Yum.

S and her daughter walked the breast cancer walk right before they came over.

Anika was NOT herself!! She was sooo whiney and clingy!  She usually loves parties and people. I usually don't even see much of her at parties because she is too busy playing and talking to everyone.  That morning when I left she was so excited and when I got home  and walked into the house she said, Come in to Leni's party!! She was fine a lot of times and played with kids- so it wasn't like nonstop, but she just wasn't her! You know your kid and when they are off you know it.  Her being off was definitely a distraction to me.   She even took a nap in the afternoon and when she woke up she still wasn't herself. Just clingy/whiney. Andrew and my friend thinks all the junk she was eating all day had a role. She just doesn't get a lot of treats and sweets and she was eating a lot. I don't know. Could be that and could be just the attention shifting from her! haha. I really do think she will be a great sister, but I also think she will have a hard time sharing us.

Those pumpkin whoopie pies were so good! After I ate, I had to pick the best dish and the winner got a bottle of wine. I chose this  gooey bread with nuts and stuff. I had no idea who made it- but guess who? My mom! ha.  There were several quiches and I didn't try the best one until later after people had left! We polished that off for dinner!

Andrew helped Ryan move our picnic table onto the deck and some people sat out there.  IT was a little chilly, but enjoyable! Last of this fall weather.

They had the fire pit going too.

The plate on the small table has beads on it. Each person was asked to bring a bead for a necklace. Remember I made one for another friend a while ago?

Anika picked out a bead for me too! She had the matching bead on a necklace my mom had made for her. She picked purple- her favorite color :)

N assembling my necklace after I opened the beads and read the notes.  

I had my friend S take a picture of who each bead came from. I remember most right now but want it recorded for Leni's memory book/box.

hard to see, but this one was animal print.

A princess crown! haha.  This is from a friend I've been friends with for 13 years.

There are other beads on there too that were sent to me in the mail by friends who couldn't make it.  I have individual photos of their beads as well.  The big white one in the center was dropped off to me by a friend, L,  last week! It was an excellent center bead/shell. L also gave me a pinkish bead that's on there.  And a  really neat book that I will take a picture of and post later.
My friend E (College roommate) sent me 5 beads. haha. One was a butterfly because she said it reminded her of me because I decorated our freshmen dorm room with butterflies. ha.  She sent some others that reminded her of me and a purple one because purple has always been her favorite color too!

For Anika's shower people brought pieces of fabric for a quilt.  Anika and I each have special quilts made from all the squares people gave us at her shower. Very special.  The necklace is a little piece of people in our lives and I will wear it for strength and positive energy during labor!  I cant wait. N didn't clasp it yet because she actually forgot her bead at home, and a few others said they are sending some, so we are going to clasp it next weekend. I better not go into labor before then! ha.

A little candy bar.

 

I ate my face off yesterday and want to be much better the rest of this pregnancy! ha. I think I keep saying that.

I did get my butt to the gym this morning. 
I spent a lot of the weekend preparing for Leni's arrival and cleaning and being really anal about everything. Andrew is used to it by now :)  We need one more weekend as a family of 3. Actually, I would like Leni to wait until after Halloween so I can do that with Anika, but then its fine to come. ha.  This whole pregnancy I just assumed I would go to 42 weeks again like with Anika, but now I am thinking maybe not. I feel like it may be sooner, like maybe only a couple days past 40 weeks.

Only time will tell!!

 

 

Making a headboard with A&A

We made a headboard Friday night.

I have wanted a new headboard for a while. Actually, I want a whole new bedroom, but one thing at a time around here. 

 

I will try to give directions but more my commentary of pics! ha.

 

I think I have told you before, but our bedroom furniture consists of a few pieces from different places:
1. Our mattress, box spring and metal plain frame we bought right before we got married. Like a month before. Our first purchase and it was needed when Andrew moved here from NZ  because I was sleeping on a twin day bed at the time :) I am not a picky sleeper. ha. Plus, I lived in small city rooms.

2.  When we bought our house my grandmother gave us a bedroom set she had from a very modern house she built/decorated in the 80's. The furniture was/is great quality, but its shiny black with gold trim. VERY DATED.   That set consists of headboard, LARGE wide 6 drawer dresser with large mirror and one  night stand.  I love the size of the dresser, but looks wise? eh.  I also like how nicely the drawers move and glide.

3. One nice tall dark oak dresser my parents got for my first off campus apt.

4. Shorter really old crappy wood dresser my Papa gave Andrew when he first moved here. I don't use it. The drawers suck. I use the rest of the dressers :)

5. A "nightstand" that was really part of a desk I had in college that we painted black.

 

SO ya- black shiny mixed with oak and pine and well...its not the prettiest room! ha.

 

Back to the headboard.

I have been drawn to some cloth tufted headboards. Saw some at Ikea and online.

I google imaged them.

 

I watched a few youtube tutorials.

 

 

I went to the fabric store. I was really drawn to prints and patterns, but since we don't know where this room is heading (furniture and décor wise)- I needed to stay neutral.

I liked some light beige/ivory fabrics and I picked them up, but then chickened out and thought- we have almost 2 kids, a dog and my dirty husband. Light is probably not a good idea because when I see grime and dirt that will only annoy me.
Ironically, although our furniture sucks, I am very anal about having clean rooms and house. ha- not always pretty, but at least clean and clutter free.

Also, this is a VERY low budget project. We are not buying new bedding or anything else at the time.  I am about to go out on maternity leave- I really should not be spending money AT ALL, but I NEEDED a new headboard before the baby comes.

Above- old black shiny headboard :)

 

So, the tutorials gave a few options- plywood or jeb board (That utility board with holes in it).

My dad had a piece of 3/4 inch plywood already!  yes please.

3/4 inch was thicker than I wanted but I figured it would be ok.  It was also a tiny bit longer than I needed, but again- that's fine. It was 63 inches long.

 

When Andrew got home Friday night, I had my materials all ready to go :) After dinner and after Anika went to bed, we got to work. I had warned him earlier in the week that I had a project for him. He knows me. I have a sense of urgency when I get something in my mind. Anika and I went to the fabric store Thursday and I got the wood Wednesday night after work.

Anika and I also bought foam and batting at the fabric store. The foam only needed to be 1 inch but I got 2 inch. Not sure why. ha. What I could find.  I also realized when I got home that I HATED the fabric I chose. It wasn't something I loved in the store, but it was a dark khaki color so it was neutral AND wouldn't show dirt as much.  I really regretted my fabric choice with our bedding but once the fabric is cut, you cant return it!  I also spent way more than I expected. The fabric is upholstery fabric and more than I thought it would cost. The 63x30 piece of 2 inch foam, the 70 inches of batting and the 75 inches of fabric cost me $80. I was bummed about that especially since I didn't love the fabric.

We talked and went back and forth about the buttons for the tufting. I had bought 6 button forms to make buttons. I was planning on 2 rows of 3. Andrew said how about one row of 4:  one button for each person in our family. I said that was dumb. he knew it was dumb but then said how we can each pick our own button and make the headboard funky! He talked about what kind of buttons him and Anika would pick out. 
This conversation really happened.
I knew he was just getting me going.  After I turned down his funky button idea, he wanted to cut holes into the plywood to make the headboard like a guillotine- holes for my head and arms! 
Again, I had to say no.
I have to say, there were lots of laughs so I guess that's one good thing about this project.

 

We decided on one row of 4 to start with. So, we measured and divided and realized we needed to drill holes 12.6 inches apart.  Andrew only really knows the metric system. Our tape measure has 17 lines for one inch so we needed to do  a lot of real math to figure out what 12.6 inches on our tape measure was, EXACTLY. I said oh just go a little over 12.5, but oh no. 
So we used our math skills and somehow figured that out and then we marked it and then he drilled the holes in the board, while I held it up. Then we cleaned up the mess from the drilling.

 

Then, We glued the foam to the board. We just used a hot glue gun because that's what I had. Some people use a spray glue.

Then Andrew couldn't get the glue gun to work and I had my hand down and I told him to push the stick in and then a bunch all flew out all over my hand!!! HURT LIKE A MOTHER EFFER!
It wasn't totally his fault, nor mine.

I needed ice.

 

After the foam was glued on, we laid out the fabric and the batting on the floor. Pulled tight and then laid the board/foam on top.
Oh and our foam wasn't the same width as the board, but that was ok since we knew it would be down near mattress anyway. 

Then he pulled the fabric tight around the whole thing and stapled a million times with a high power stapler that we borrowed.  This took some time and some skill to keep the fabric taught but not too tight.

Fabric all on. You cant see here, but the fabric has some texture to it. You will see in close ups below.

I had some wood to use as legs, but we ended up using the legs AND screws from the old headboard instead. Easy. Took them off one and he measured and put on the new one. They don't show so it doesn't matter what they look like.  I was still icing and supervising.

 

We put it behind our bed and by this time it was after 11pm and we both had to be up early the next day- Andrew was taking Anika to an all day thing in Boston. 

The next day after my stuff I had to do (errands)  I made the buttons out of fabric from the headboard. Same fabric. I cut it in little circles and then put around these button form/cover things bought from fabric store as well. I think they were $3  something for 4.

I used a screwdriver to help push the fabric in. At first, these were hard, but then I got the hang of it.

I also bought HEAVY duty upholstery thread and a LONG upholstery needle at same fabric store- Button forms, long needles and heavy thread all under $15. Some tutorials showed how to make a free needle out of a wire coat hanger.

 

I threaded my long needed pushed it through the hole we drilled in the wood (back of it), through foam and fabric. When the needle was on fabric side,  I put it through my button and then put the needle back through to the other side. I pulled SUPER tight and used the high power staple gun to secure the thread on the other side like 4 times into the wood.

I only did 4 because of the holes we drilled.

 

Then I made the bed (My duvet needs to be washed and ironed, I know)..

AND when I make the bed with how I like my pillows- it COVERS MY buttons! OOPS!  Should have taken a made bed into account.
So, I need to make another row on top- Just need to drill holes and make 4 more buttons. Will probably take 30 minutes.  I think that will be enough. I like the more tufted look, but that's the time consuming part. Making holes and putting in buttons. Also if you make a lot of tufts, the material shouldn't be on as tight as we put it on.

 

I played around with making the bed. ha

 So there you go- before and after headboard. And hopefully the new one will match with whatever we decide to do with the room...or Now that we made one, we know what we need to do better next time and we can probably whip one up a lot faster!  So, I could make a headboard with fabric I like more.  Or if my new baby vomits on this one or something.

IT was a bigger project than I thought, but we laughed a lot and had fun doing it... and to be honest- what else do we have to do on a Friday night when we have kids sleeping and Im knocked up? ha.