Portrait 42.52

Playing in the leaves.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Playing in the Leaves

Last week I started raking some leaves to clean up the yard a little.  Claire had different ideas and thought I was just making piles for her to play in :).  I grabbed my camera and let her have at it, even if it meant more work in the long run for me.
Claire giggled, jumped, and ran through the leaves all afternoon.  Seeing how much fun she had made it far worth it to have to rake twice.  She is my best little buddy, even when she gets sick of me taking her pictures.

Portrait 41.52

Snuggling with Rory watching Room on the Broom.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."

Goodbye Post to our Very First Apartment

We've been living in our new upstairs apartment for about two weeks now and I'm finally getting around to doing a little goodbye post to our first apartment.  Bryce and I moved into our first apartment, a little basement, in March of 2012 right after we were married.  We've lived in it for the past 3 1/2 years and have made so many special memories there.  Here are a few pictures of the apartment I took a few weeks before we moved out:
First up is the kitchen.  This is where you walked into when going into the apartment.  The kitchen was tiny but it worked well for our little family while we were there.  
Next is the dining area attached to the kitchen and living room.  It was a perfect spot for our beautiful dining table Bryce built.

Then the living room is attached to the dining area.  We also had our desk/office area in the corner of the living room.    
After the living room is a little hallway that leads to the two bedrooms and bathroom.  I didn't post a picture of the hallway as there wasn't much too see haha.

Our tiny little bathroom.  I don't think I'll miss this haha!

Claire's nursery is the bedroom next to the bathroom.  I get a little sentimental thinking about her first nursery that we brought her home from the hospital to.  This room is filled with so many fond memories of rocking and snuggling Claire, hearing her little squeals and giggles, and playing with her for hours on end.

Lastly after Claire's room is our bedroom.  We don't have too much in our bedroom other than the basics, bed, nightstands, dresser, and my cedar chest.  I like a more minimalist feel for our bedroom to keep it a calm soothing room.   

I will miss our little basement apartment just a little, but I love our new upstairs apartment and I am so excited for all of the memories we will make here too!

Dresser Before & After

Before:

As promised here are a few before & after shots of Claire's new dresser.  The dresser was Bryce's and started out as above, very old, loved, and well used.  I originally just thought I would paint it white....but Bryce said I wasn't allowed to paint anymore furniture white.  So instead of white, I decided on a pretty coral pink color (although I'm not sure that's what Bryce had in mind when he said no more white haha).  I gave the dresser a good sanding, filled all of the holes where the old knobs were, and then painted a coat of primer.  After the primer was dry I painted the dresser and all of the drawers.  The color I used is Coral Flower by Glidden.  It's a little more coral in person, but the lighting in the pictures makes it look more pink.  After the paint was dry I painted a coat of clear polyurethane over it to help the paint job last longer.  I ordered the knobs on amazon, they are actually the same ones I used on the white dresser that used to be Claire's too.  I marked all of the drawers where the new knobs would go and Bryce drilled all of the holes and installed the knobs for me.  You can see the end result in the pictures below.  It turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself! 

After:   

Claire's Big Girl Room

Claire has been sleeping in her big girl room for a little over a week now and I'm finally getting around to posting a few pictures.  Claire's was the first room I moved everything into after we painted the upstairs apartment.  It worked really well to have all her toys, books, and things upstairs to keep her busy while I was moving and getting the rest of the house ready. We started talking about moving Claire from a crib to a big girl bed a few weeks before we moved.  She was trying to climb out all the time and she kept getting her legs stuck between the bars on her crib.  We decided to go ahead and switch her once we moved.  We set up her bed Tuesday Oct 6th, so she could start napping in it, and we didn't get all the way moved in until Thursday Oct 8th.  This worked great because Claire was able to get used to napping in her new room and bed, but still sleep in her crib for a few more nights.  The first time I had Claire nap in her bed she got out twice, which is to be expected.  I put her back in each time and said you need to stay in your bed and go night night.  After the second time putting her back she stayed in and went right to sleep.  She napped in it a couple more times and Thursday was her first night sleeping in it.  We did our normal bed time routine of bath, books, scriptures, prayers, and her bedtime song.  Then we tucked her in with her blankie, told her night night, and she went to sleep without getting out once.  She slept through the whole night without getting out and woke up at her usual time.  She loved that she could climb out of her bed herself in the morning and didn't have to wait for me to come get her.  She has slept in it ever since like a pro!  Sometimes she will get out once or twice after I first lay her down, but not very often.  After I put her back she always goes to sleep and sleeps through the night.  It ended up being a much easier switch than I anticipated.  I think Claire loves having a little more independence and freedom in her room now.  She loves her bed and has to show everyone when they come over.  Here are a few pictures of her big girl room:  

I found Claire's bed at Walmart (of all places!) and her bedding is from Target.  I love the Jenny Lind beds, and would have loved to get her a Jenny Lind twin similar to her crib but they are just way way out of our budget.  I looked around and almost went with one from Ikea until I found this one.  It was the style I wanted, the price range was in our budget, and the height is adjustable so right now we only have it 6 inches above the ground and later when we she is older we can raise it to 12.  It only uses a mattress and not a box spring so a traditional guard rail doesn't work with her bed but I found these foam bumpers on amazon.  They work so great!  They stay in place under the mattress pad and sheet and keep her from rolling out.  I found the rug on Rugsusa.com in their closeout section and got such a good deal on it!  When we moved upstairs we had to swap dressers with Claire because I was using built-in drawers in our room and Bryce used his own dresser.  We put the big white one in our room and I painted Bryce's old dresser a pretty coral pink color and added some new knobs.  I will post some before and after pictures of it next.  I repurposed our old end tables into a nightstand & a play table to go with a set of chairs for Claire.  We are making a play kitchen for her for Christmas so I thought a little table and chairs would go great with that.  I mod podged some rifle paper wrapping paper on her play table and I'm using the paper in her play kitchen as well so they will match.  I picked up the little chairs at Ikea.  She loves to sit in her little kid chairs and have tea parties.  Everything else in her room is stuff she already had.  I love how her big girl room turned out!  I especially love that for the most part it will be able to grow with her too.

Portrait 40.52

Enjoying the fall leaves.

"A portrait of my daughter once a week, every week, in 2015."