House Updates: The Bathrooms

As I stated Sunday night, progress on the house house is slowly being made.

We've put in a little bit more money into the bathrooms. They were professionally painted and we had new floors put in. Along with the kitchen, the bathrooms still need a lot of work, but Phase 1 is done. I have to say that I think a little money on new floors- just over $1,000- make a HUGE difference.

Before. Dark with Mullet flooring: 

 

Updated in progress, tiles from The Tile Shop, hooks from Schoohouse Electric, floor mat and hand towels from Bed, Bath and Beyond, organic towels from West Elm:

 

Hand towel hooks yet to be installed:

 

Assorted new knobs from Anthropologie, less than $30 update:

And currently Sugar Bear's favorite room to crawl to, the hall bath. 

Before: dirty and dark. 

The bane of my existence- the shower doors make it so hard to bathe Sugar Bear:

Mid-point update, I liked all the paint colors that I picked, EXCEPT the color in the hall bath. The blue was just too juvenile:

Hall bath with new paint, new tiles and hooks from Anthropologie, well worth the $14 each. Did you notice? I did repaint with the same colors as the master sink and shower. Also, we took down the frosted shower doors. They were just impossible. Life with a shower curtain is so much better!! Free fix- we had everything from the last house for the shower curtain and we used left over paint. It just required a bit of elbow greese to paint and to get rid of the moldy silicon. 

 I have to be honest. I am loving how far this bathroom has come in the last three months!

 So both those updates are less than $1,500 total.

House Updates: The Living Areas

Ok, so here is where all of our money for Phase One went.

We took down a major wall, made a larger entrance to the kitchen, new lighting in the living room, and refinished and installed hardwoods into the kitchen. We painted the living room ourselves (we've yet to finish the ceiling- don't look), and we've yet to paint the kitchen. Mr. Spice just installed new lighting in the kitchen and I 'updated' the kitchen knobs with hammered black spray paint.

Without further ado. Here are the major updates:

Kitchen Before: 

 

 Kitchen after: new floors, updated knobs, new stove, and no more boob light!! And no, I didn't have time to clear off the counters- keeping it real!

 Living areas separated before with HUGE furniture:

 Progress- one room:

Even more progress: With furniture and baby proofed! Again, we've yet to hang anything on the walls. 

 

From the other side of the room, and a good view of the colorful, but WAY too small Crate and Barrel Outlet rug:

 Sugar Bear's area that I can view while cooking in the kitchen:

Our second furniture purchase- new dining table from the Restoration Hardware Outlet, less than $1000 for the table and delivery: 

 

And as a bonus, backyard before:

And backyard progress. New to us dining table bought from Sister Spice and lots of work on the 'lawn' - ready for seed once the weather cools down:

So that is the three month update. Progress feels so good. But we still have so much more to do. Other than possibly buying a new living room rug- we have decided that we are done with all major purchases until next year.

Up next:  Painting the kitchen and entrance!!

House Updates: The Bedrooms

Hi Lovelies.

Mr. Spice and I have been busy homeowners in the last three months! I have to be honest, the last six months- newborn, new job, new house- have totally 100% been overwhelming.  Not always bad overwhelming. It has just seemed like the to-do list was forever long. There were moments when I  thought nothing was going to get done.  Then we did a remodel- and a lot was done really fast. And then I was just exhausted and needed a break.

Working full time and then spending as much time as possible with Sugar Bear, leaves very little energy to decorate. Or care about decorating. But some how, a small part of me does still care. So, very slowly small updates have happened.

As of tonight, I finally feel like progress has been made. This week, I am going to share the befores and the progress photos. As everyone keeps telling me, housework will never be done.

So on that note- here are updates to the bedrooms.  I hesitate to share because we haven't had time to put pictures up, but whateve. Hopefully pictures will happen this fall.

We've done the least to the bedrooms. We professionally cleaned the carpets in all the room ($80 total); professionally painted the bedrooms, bought a guest bed, and new euro shams for the master. Otherwise, it's all from the old place.

Guest room before:

Guest room Progress. So far this room has been the most neglected. This room really needs something on the walls:

 My Grandmother's old dresser. Sold woody granny dresser, I love it! Can't say I love the ceramic lamp my parents brought, but again- it works for now:

Master Before. Dark and over crowded with lots of furniture: 

 Progress: Behr Polar White walls and new Amy Butler Euro Shams from Bed Bath and Beyond:

Pictures om the dresser just waiting to be hung:

 

 Last but not least, Sugar Bear's room. Before:

Progress. As you can tell, we embraced the Pink:

 

 We've had to lower Sugar Bear's crib since this:

It's amazing how much paint really make the rooms look so much better.

Looking Back: A sleeping baby Week 1-16

So, one of my very awesome friends just emailed me about her 8 week old baby and how they are co-sleeping. I replied in a novel. I thought that maybe some of you lovely readers who are expecting or in the middle of the newborn sleep deprivation cycle might get something out of this. More so because I remember how incredibly hard the newborn stage was and how I couldn't for the life of me read more than one page of a book, and all I wanted were big fat answers on how to have the perfect sleeping baby!! So here ya go...

Dear New Mom, 

First, you are an amazing Mom. I can already tell. Second, and what I could not wrap my head around- you just have to go with the flow for the first four months!! (what ever works, works- go with it). Third, what I learned from the women running my Mommy group- You Can't Spoil A Baby!! Or give it bad habits at least for the first three months. 

So you are totally just doing what works for you, and that is perfect and amazing. People co-sleep all the time. 

The rest of this email is my only advice I have to give, since I've only done this once and I am still figuring it out....

The only issue I see is how long you want to co-sleep for? If you want to keep it up- some people do it for years- I see no problem with your current arrangement.
If you don't, I think that reassessing your situation in 3-5 weeks might be good. We co-slept for the first 4-6 weeks. And then she slept in the bouncer for another 2 months- it's amazing how I can barely remember this? She had mild reflux, so she slept the best in the bouncer. We're talking 4-5 hours max. 

We had a bassinet with a flimsy mattress that she just didn't sleep well with. So I think around 3+ months we changed out the bassinet for the full crib mattress. She transitioned perfectly- apparently she just needed a better mattress to sleep on. By perfectly, I mean she again slept for 4-5 hours max and only then did she really started sleeping on her own. For all that time she was swaddled, but right when we moved her into the crib she rolled over and I immediately got rid of the swaddle and put her in a sleep sack- we love the deedee sleep sack based on other Mom's recommendations. 

At 16 weeks I was returning to work and desperate for sleep; we hired a sleep consultant (yes there is such a thing) and it was fantastic. You can't really sleep train until they are kinda read, she had done two crazy 8 hour stretches so I knew she had it in her to sleep longer. It was like I wanted to will her to sleep better! 

I'd recommend sleep training right after the 4 month growth spurt and shots. That's my personal opinion. My only thing on sleep training- both of you have to be 100% on the same page. We did Ferber/Cry it out. It's hard and you guys have to work as a team to get through the crying spells. It took another couple weeks after that- but slowly but surely we have a great sleeper on our hands. More than anything- within 24 hours of sleep training she could fall asleep without us rocking her into a deep sleep, which usually took HOURS! That alone was a miracle. 

As for a schedule, from 6 weeks until I went back to work, we were on 90 minute cycles- so 90 from when she'd wake up we'd BF'd, diaper change, play, and then get her back down. And then from 4pm on it was ALWAYS the witching hour and she wouldn't sleep- until 10, 11, midnight. This was the WORST. 

Today, I think she's pretty close to the 2,3,4 hour cycle. Wake up for 2 hours, nap, up for three hours, nap, up for 4 hours, bed time. Repeat. 

As for naps, for the first 16 weeks plus, anything longer than 45 is good, 1 hour was GREAT. And some times she'd only nap for 30 minutes and that was that. I never knew how long she'd sleep - I just tried to make sure I'd sleep for at least one of her naps a day. My lady running my Mommy group always said that the first nap of the day was the most important. 

As for a night time routine- food, bath, book, bed-  I think we started that just after three months. It really didn't matter until we sleep trained what we did. And our sleep consultant said that until 6 months, you can really set their bed time- from 4-6 months, she went down between 8-9, and she'd wake up once or twice a night. Sometimes at 2-ish but always at 4am. Around a month ago (at 7 months) she truly dropped the 4am feeding, and now most nights shes out at 7:30pm until the morning. 

It's such a process. And it's so hard. And there is no right way or wrong way. But I do believe that once they are old enough- over 4 months- it is your responsibility to help them learn to sooth themselves, and I do believe that it impacts the way they sleep for life. Again, my personal opinion that you can help them. And a little cry it out will totally help you in the long run- for your sanity and marriage. Once you get to that stage, I'll send another super long email! 

So there you have it. Again, you haven't screwed anything up and she is already is perfect. I can just tell.
Love and kisses, 

Sugar Bear is Ready for her First Editorial*

Each month I take a picture of my sweet Sugar Bear to document the little lady that she's becoming.

Yesterday, I got some inspiration from one of my very favorite blogs Coco + Kelly via some pics from  Austrialia's Harper's Bazaar: 

A cute little Dolce and Gabbana top, no?

Well, little Ms. Sugar Bear just happened to have a matching little D&G Junior romper. 

I mean seriously. It matches, right? And yes it is really D&G (see the logo on her front) from her much wealthier older cousin. An yes, I've never actually worn D&G myself.

And just in case you think the pics above are too commercial. Here's her first editorial pic!!

*Just hilarious. 

Stronger

A whole heck of a lot has happened over the last 8 months.

New job. New house.

And 8 months ago today, Miss Sugar Bear entered our lives.  (more on that later)

Life has changed in so many ways. But never in a million years did I think that playing with my baby would help me with my new job. In my new position, I am a Supervisor, and last week was a bit ....challenging.

Every now and then - maybe three times a week, Sugar Bear and I watch a Sesame Street You Tube Video.
 My favorite video is the Sesame Street Will.I.Am, What I am.
And as I was belting out the lyrics this weekend, I realized that this is not only a message for my daughter, but for me as well.  Seriously, I was feeling pretty down, but this little video reminded me that I was strong, smart, and special!!



So thank you Will.I.Am, Elmo and Big Bird!!!

I love the song and the message. I seriously went into work this week humming the song, and so far, my week has been so much better.

Hope you are having a great Wednesday!

Sugar Bear Friday

It's Friday. So who wouldn't love a little glimpse of Sugar Bear.

She's 7.5 months old, and yes, she can crawl and climb her way to a stand all by herself!! This exciting and very scary at the same time!! 

She had an amazing time with her two big cousins from Southern California last weekend!

But she did come down with a cold last weekend that rocked her world. She couldn't sleep so we tried co-sleeping. This pic was taken at 9pm at night. Her snuggles are so sweet. But they didn't last long. It wasn't so sweet at 2am when she wouldn't cuddle anymore and she couldn't sleep- she was so exhausted!! It was heart wrenching. We ended up taking a walk around the block at 2am just to get her to dose off- it worked for all of 10 minutes. 

The good news- she's on the mend and back to being her old self. The bad news- her nose is still running like a leaky faucet. Poor Baby Bear.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

Bright Happy Spaces

It's been forever since I have posted some inspiration!!

Get excited. These spaces are so bright and happy, who wouldn't want to live here??

I am majorly crushing on these orange living room chairs. It doesn't hurt that I love the vibe of this surfs up living room from CA Home + Design:

This yellow piece of happiness could be in the kitchen in this same home:

And here's the awesome kitchen:

Sigh. Light floors, an amazing stove and fridge, high ceilings with TONS of windows and a little bit of industrial chic. What's not to love.

Hope you are having a fab Thursday!