Looking to the future...

At 30, with two children, this August I am going to be taking my first class in 10 years, YIKES! Chemistry of all things??!! I am pursuing a career as an RN and will be in school for the next two years. I know a lot of strong women have done this and I am hoping to join that list.

I am really excited to begin this adventure. I must get all A's to ensure my acceptance into the clinical part of the program. No pressure!! haahaa! I will try keep updates of my progress. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I am so grateful to have support from friends and family. I definitely couldn't do this without my hubby, who is basically changing his entire work schedule around so I can do this. I can't wait to have this positive experience and share it with my family!

SB2's arrival!

4/11/08 ~ I couldn't have asked for a better experience with the birth of our #2. We are so fortunate to have two beautiful, I am bias, and healthy children. I can't help but wonder, since this is my second and she came so soon after our first, that maybe I am a little more confident and therefore not as anxious as I was with #1. 

Hubby and I took the opportunity of staying the full time, allotted by our insurance company, (how nice of them) in the hospital. My parents were in town to watch SB1. I think it made all the difference... us getting some sleep and all.

weekend projects.... CHECK!

Finally got to some of those projects that have been on my list, I don't know how long they have been on there. It feels good to cross stuff off, especially before this Friday, as my schedule will be a little different from that point on... for the rest of my life. ; )

1. toy box - We had the toy box, (Ikea) it was unfinished and we had the unfinished wooden letters, my wonderful husband had the idea of combining the two. I think it turned out just great. Our little SB1 uses the top for puzzles and other play. Now the colors tie in with his room!

2. recover desk chair - As you can see in my previous entry this chair was covered with some sort of pink fabric and upon closer view it was also covered in some sort of black animal hair. It was really old and gross. I took a crib sheet that we haven't used and recovered it. It too now fits in with the rooms color theme.

3. french memo board - I made use of some things lying around the house and had this hanging with in 45 minuets. Old cork board, and again, another unused crib sheet, ribbon from my collection, and buttons that were just sitting in the bottom of my sewing box. Voilà! 

4.  fabric wall - I couldn't take looking at the plain wall behind SB2's dresser anymore. I had rem-nits of cream and black toile fabric that I used for a project many many moons ago. To my surprise I had exactly enough for the closet "back splash"!

5. closet curtains - A project I have been putting off for months. Probably the one I am most proud of, since it involved my sewing machine. I think my husband was as shocked to see it come out of hiding too. You can see the curtains "before" in a previous post. I had bought them with the intention of adding coordinating fabric (like in SB1's room, kindly made by my sewing mentor. You can see her beautiful works @ lundendesigns.blogspot.com). Anyway, I am really happy with the way they came out and now, most importantly, they look like they belong in her room.

6. decorative shelving - Thanks again to my hubby! The shelves look great!

       

More of the same...

SB1 got a little update for his room now that his little sister, scheduled to arrive 4/11, got his old crib. We found all of this "gently used" furniture on craigslist.org and are completely pleased with our purchases. I just can't imagine what an impact the craigslist website has made on the world. Where would all of these things have ended up?.. at a garage sale, maybe a landfill? 

And I will be changing out that desk chair fabric just a soon as I have a minute.

The Four R's : Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rebuy

Rebuy - is one rule we try to abide by while decorating for our new arrival, SB2(Spooda Baby 2). We actually received the crib from our old landlord, who used it only for one of her twin grandsons, twice a week. So it was basically new. It was actually SB1's first crib, but we got him a "new" one on craigslist.org(a great resource for REBUY-ING). The mattress came with the "new" crib, it is in great condition, not one blemish. Ideally, we would like to have an all natural mattress, however, it is not budget friendly for our growing family. 

The antique dresser is my favorite find, a craigslist score! It is really well made and very deep, not so easy to find these days. This piece will serve as SB2's changing table. The bedding set was purchased on Ebay, again Rebuy-ing. The bassinet was another craigslist find for our first SB, he used it, and now SB2 will too.

We did splurge for our little one with; one 100% organic cotton crib sheet in white and one 100% bamboo crib sheet in pink. I love the bamboo crib sheets, SB1 has 2 of them, they were purchased at www.satara-inc.com. 

This room will also serve as a guest room, so we kept the full size bed that we had in the room originally and tried to make it look like more of a day bed - for lounging when we don't have guests!

Our first Spooda Baby

Here is our first Spooda Baby(SB1). It is hard to believe that he is almost a year old. Which means the idea wheels behind Spooda Baby have been spinning now for about 8 months. We are anxiously awaiting our second Spooda Baby(SB2) in April.