Blank Baby Scrapbook

You may have noticed a lull in my posts...
This is because I have been focusing my efforts on two labor intensive projects. You already know about the Wallpaper Paste Removal Frustration. I have to scrub every inch of the wall, three times! Time consuming, but not very interesting for a blog post, huh?

The other project took over a month, but I haven't been able to reveal it because it was a gift.
I made a baby scrapbook for our new niece's first year!

(Sorry in advance for all the pictures.)

I filled out the first few pages that I actually had pictures for, but all the other pages have blank areas to place pictures or write notes/text.

The first page is the sonogram with the introduction of "It's a Girl!"

The next are some beautiful maternity photos she had taken.

Then of course a very busy page for the baby shower:

From here on, the new mom can now fill in her favorite photos as she takes them. This page is for hospital photos and details:

"Tiny eyes, tiny nose, tiny fingers, tiny toes!"

Some pages aren't for anything specific, just pictures of any kind.

Here is a page just for Mom and baby:

And of course one for Dad and baby: "Daddy's Little Girl"

So then we must have one for Grandmas:

Then naturally Grandpas:

This one is for her monthly photos... you know, her at One Month, Two Months, etc.

I'm sure she will be dressed up cute for Halloween!

And there will be family photos at Thanksgiving.

Couple more extra pages.

Then of course we have Christmas photos...

"A girl and her dog! ... and cat"

Baby smiles! (or was that just gas?)

Bath Time!

Extra page...

Page for months 7-12.

More bonus pages...

And the final page is for her 1st birthday.

I hope this is a sweet keepsake for years to come for our sweet niece.









Speaking of our niece, Dear Husband (DH) did great with her and held her for over an hour while she napped.
Eva was curious but respectful and did very well with her.







I also got to take her One Month photos and family photos while I was there. I think they turned out pretty good!

Stitch Fix #3 - Fail, but Wonderful Wedding Fashion

So you may remember that I signed up for a monthly installment of Stitch Fix - a type of personalized online shopping. (Here was the previous "fix" that I wrote about.)

Unfortunately, this month didn't pan out so well... here, take a look:

First top? Gross. It was a baggy cotton blend knit with drop shoulders. It was boxy and saggy. The only good thing was the color. Nope!

The second top (to the right) was also too boxy and didn't give any shape. As a short, busty woman, I've never been a fan of peasant tops. I also don't really like wearing translucent tops.


The third top was also translucent, and wasn't stretchy at all... so it kind of got stuck on my boobs and hips. See how it is bunched by the collar and my waist? Yeah, not happening.

The fourth item was a dress that looked so promising! At first glance, I really thought it was awesome (looks like Dear Husband did too...)




But then I looked at the back... and there was a funny gathering of the fabric in back.  Huh.



So then I realized that it was because I have a short torso! The straps need to be 3" shorter, or my torso needs to be 3" taller!
Oh well.

The last piece was actually fantastic. It was a delicate, artisan necklace with three silver rings.
The only problem is it was more expensive than I was wanting/willing to pay. If I knew the actual artist it would be different, but not for an impersonal piece.







But you know what saves the fashion day? All these beautiful ladies getting together to celebrate a very special wedding day!


 - On the far left we have a little black dress with some sequin sparkly accents - love how they complimented the lines of the dress. (She will be the bride next year! Congrats!)

- Next we have a darling plum number with a lacy cutout along the bottom. I simply adored the color of this with her skin tone. Perfect!

- Next up we have a wonderful black, lace covered dress. The gem here was the amazing open back (shame on me for not getting a picture) which she showed off flawlessly!

- Of course we have the bride! This dress speaks for itself. Oh, my goodness. I have to say it is perfect for her. The ivory/cream color was amazing with her skin tone, the amount of lace was perfect, with the shoulder straps framing her gorgeous face. The back had a lovely train which bustled beautifully. The belt had just the right amount of sparkle to set the whole thing off, taking it to the next level.

-Fourth from the right, we have a lovely blue, almost teal wrap-dress. You can't see it in this picture, but she paired it wit the most fabulous necklace. It had large peach-gold gemstones with smaller blue ones below it. It makes me wish I was bold enough to pull of a large necklace like she could!

- Next we have another little black dress hiding in the back... but you see that skinny waistline? Yeah, and she just had a beautiful little baby girl only 4 weeks ago! Needless to say, she was looking amazing!

- Second from the right we have a beautiful scoop-neck navy dress with lacy straps. The ruching frames her barely-there sweet, tiny baby bump which is holding twins!

- And all the way on the right, I wore a little black dress with an asymmetrical neckline and strategically placed  gathering to visually "redistribute" some generous curves.

But don't be fooled! We aren't only a stunning group of ladies... we are also strong, independent, and brilliant. Between the eight of us, we hold 8 bachelors degrees, a handful of "minors" (in business, marketing, etc.), a Law Degree, a Professional Engineer, a Masters for physical therapy, an MBA, and a soon-to-be Doctorate! (And I'm probably missing some too.)
Talk about a power-house and the whole package!

I still think I rounded out everything perfectly with my perfect match. Look how handsome he is!