You thought that just because we have a two month old baby we have stopped home renovations, didn’t you? You thought I was done blogging about our house in exchange for blogging about our angelic and delightful daughter who refused to nap today! WELL YOU WERE WRONG!

We spent our evening re-priming the wood trim (yes, we didn’t use KILZ the first time so knots would have shown through) around the breakfast nook doors that Matt handsomely recreated. Didn’t he do a fine job? And isn’t that a fine behind?

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Then we caulked two walls of crown moulding in the breakfast nook. When we bought this house, none of the disgusting and totally-wrong-era trim in the old kitchen was caulked. You gotta wonder who would go to all the work of putting up trim without caulking!?! What a difference it makes. Look to Matt’s left in this photo below – left of the light fixture has been caulked, right has not. Even in a bad picture like this one you can see the difference.

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And in case you needed a before picture, here you go (not the same angle, but you get the idea – taken from the dining room door):

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I’m a little bit high on the fumes of oil-based KILZ. We may or may not have also opened a bottle of Cabernet. I plead the fifth.

As for the kitchen… WE! ARE! GETTING! THERE!!!!

Just moments before she spit up all over her outfit and my shoulder.

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Penny was a rockstar all weekend with lots of time spent in the car and staying up past her bedtime a few days in a row. Her newest thing is screaming at the top of her lungs… just to hear her own voice.

No, I have no clue where she got that.

The weather here is still in the 90s, although the past few days have had cooler afternoons with a slight breeze. When I take Penny and Berlin outside for Berlin’s afternoon playtime, it’s actually been enjoyable, almost feeling like Fall.

Yesterday Matt got home from work early, so we took the girls to the park for a walk. After getting some exercise, we found a shady spot and pulled Penny out of her stroller to lounge in the grass for a while. I don’t know who loved it more, Penny, or Berlin who couldn’t stop licking and snuggling up to the newest member of our family.

My mind has made the shift to Fall even if it hasn’t actually hit the calendar yet, mainly because of the arrival of butternut squash in our CSA box. In the past, butternut squash in the grocery store always triggers Fall in my mind, so I guess it’s happening a little early this year. Because of it, I am spending significant portions of the day dreaming of cooler weather, long hikes outside, trips to local farms to pick apples and pumpkins, Trick or Treaters, and Thanksgiving feasts.

With Autumn on the brain, I decided to welcome it in a bit early by putting Penny in her very first hoodie.

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Never look back, kiddo. You will know your mama by the hoodies she wears.

Penny’s also really starting to love bath time. I’d imagine every mom’s favorite part of bath time is when they get out of the water and need to be snuggled dry in a big fluffy baby towel.

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I can’t wait for the weather to cool off so I can take her out of the bath, snuggle her into her towel, and sit in front of the fire to read her bedtime story and sing her bedtime songs.

When Matt and I were dating, I made a CD for him called “The Autumnal Mix” filled with songs that made me think of this, the greatest season. I think I’ll put it on today because it’s about that time in my daughter’s life when she should be introduced to Elvis Costello.

Maybe after bath time.

And maybe I’ll even risk it and let her go without a diaper for a whole fifteen minutes – the best way to enjoy Elvis Costello’s music, methinks.

Perhaps the best part of having a kid is getting all of the amazing hand-made gifts that will be treasured and passed on for years to come. My brilliant Aunt made Penny this elephant paci clip which I pulled out for the first time today.

So far, Penny has been hooked on “Soothie” pacifiers which don’t have a clip on the end. I’ve been wanting to switch her over to regular pacifiers for a while now, but it wasn’t until I dropped her final Soothie on the floor in her nursery and was unable to find it that I pulled out this amazing elephant paci clip with a delicious bpa-free pacifier on the end of it. I was doubtful that she’d make the switch easily, but as soon as I stuck it in her mouth she was sold. As for me, I’m sold on clipping it to her outfit and never losing the pacifier again!

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Doesn’t that elephant just make you swoon!? WHY DO I LOVE SAFARI ANIMALS SO MUCH?!?!? Thanks, Auntie Lynne!

While we patiently waited for Penelope this weekend, Matt and I sprung into more nesting action to finish off a few projects that had been lingering. He put the final coat of paint on our laundry room cabinets and installed the hardware for them which means that our laundry room is officially finished.

Here are some before and afters from when we first bought the house. The projects in this room included ripping out lower cabinets and countertop, moving the extra fridge to the basement, tearing down old wallpaper, putting up new wallpaper, painting cabinets, running water and electricity for the washer and dryer, installing a new floor, installing beadboard on the walls and ceiling and putting in crown molding & chair rail.

Before:

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After:

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I’m so pleased with how it all turned out, which is a tribute to how good Matt is at actually creating what I have in my mind. As you know, I love doing laundry, but probably because of my adorable laundry room and its convenient location right off my kitchen. We’ve started parking our cars in the backyard now, so this is becoming our main entrance and has been really functional so far. I’m also seeing via the picture that it’s time to take out the recycling.

We also tackled a project this weekend that we had been wanting to do for years. I had inherited an old beat up bookshelf that my grandfather built years and years ago. It had been sitting in my parents basement for a while holding cans of paint, so it was in pretty rough condition. This weekend we sanded it down and put a few fresh coats of black paint on it giving it new life. Then last night Matt hauled up the boxes of books we’ve had in storage for a year now, and I organized them on the bookshelf. With my new zest for reading, we’re both tickled pink that our books are finally accessible. Although we realized we need about 2 more shelves of the same size.

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Matt’s currently down in the basement putting the second coat of paint on a coffee table he built years ago, which is getting a new life in our newly finished den upstairs. The den and guest room are slowly coming together, so I’ll have pictures of those perhaps later this week if Penny Cate is still snoozin at the wheel.

Feels good to be finishing up some of these things and finally moving into our house.

I was blown away when I was selected to be a recipient of handmade Etsy gifts from the folks over at Etsy Baby Shower. Essentially what happens is that a bunch of generous shop owners gift expecting mamas with their hand-crafted baby wares as of way of congratulating them. My sister tipped me off to it, and my due date with Penny (as well as my obsessive love for all things Etsy) qualified me to be one of the lucky mamas!

I’ve had such a fun time emailing back and forth with the various shop owners who sent me beautiful gifts. Once again, I was thoroughly impressed with how many talented and crafty people are out there, and I love that Etsy gives them a wider audience and hopefully more business. So this week, I wanted to show you the beautiful new gifts for Penny and tell you a little more about the shops behind them.

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Tessa from T & T Crafts sent over these adorable blue and green booties with fun non-skid soles. Of course I died when I saw the colors and the little green rosettes, but I also loved that Penelope will have a bit more traction while zipping around on our wood floors. As if I’ll even be able to put her down for a second. I can’t wait to see these babies on her wee little feet!

Tessa sells a wide variety of crafts including homemade soap, reusable produce bags, and dog collars, not to mention her sustainable baby wares – cloth dipes and wipes! You know that makes my green heart squee with joy!

Check out her shop if you’re looking for a fun and eco-friendly gift for that person in your life who loves all things hand-crafted! And thanks so much, Tessa (and Etsy Baby Shower!), for your generous gift!