It's a Boy!

My best of 2013 - this little guy :)

We welcomed baby Isa into the world on October 28^th (just a couple days after posting our nook for baby!) and it’s been a blissfully beautiful 2 months. I'll be honest, it’s been super hard at times too, but he’s just the sweetest little monkey and we are so so blessed.

My labour and delivery didn't go quite according to plan, I ended up having a homebirth! It was totally unplanned and not something I was at all interested in (as beautiful as the idea of a homebirth was, as first time parents we felt more comfortable at the hospital), but my labour just progressed really quickly. It wasn't short per say, it just got really intense really fast. My husband had the car literally packed and ready to go, but by that point I could barely walk, let alone get in the car! In retrospect I’m so grateful for the way things turned out - I loved the privacy and peacefulness of being at home. The lack of access to pain meds though – that’s another story! Maybe I’ll consider posting about our birth story at some point.

Since then we've spent every day getting to know our sweet little man. Everything we do takes literally double the time because all we want to do play with him or cuddle or watch him sleep. I can hardly believe he’s already 10 weeks! He’s growing so ridiculously fast, but he’s also such an old soul. I can't believe I'm his mom, but I also can't remember life without him. It feels like I've loved him forever.
    

As much as I didn’t think it was possible, parenthood has made me fall so much more in love with my husband too. There’s this whole other side of him as a father I didn’t know before, and the relationship he’s developing with our son is so so beautiful to watch. Neither of us is perfect (who is?), but my heart is so full of gratitude for our little family. I don't mean to paint an entirely rosy picture though, the baby blues have been pretty rough and the emotional adjustment to motherhood isn't always the stuff of dreams, but its getting easier with every day for sure, and I wouldn't trade that sweet toothless smile for anything in the world.  

I'm looking forward for posting about our nursery soon, although I'm a little too preoccupied with kisses and cuddles (and diapers and laundry) these days to make any promises :) 

A Nook for Baby

As crazy as it is for me to believe, we're less than a week away from our due date!

I can't remember when exactly my nesting instinct kicked in, but it's definitely in high gear now :) I've been working little by little on the nursery for the last few months, there are still a few details to pull together so I'll share that when I can. In the meantime though baby will be rooming in with us in this cozy little corner :) 

I love love LOVE our bassinet. I fell so hard for it online (at PB), but considering we'd need a crib down the line, the price tag was not happening. Then when I finally considered the splurge, I found out they're no longer sold in Canada - or even shipped here! Weird right? I scoured craigslist for weeks while seriously debating the one by Restoration Hardware (and elaborately rationalizing the price in my crazy pregnant brain :), until I finally found this one on Kijiji - definitely one of those clouds parting angels singing moments! And bonus - it was generously gifted to us by family :) We've left the skirt and bumper off for now, I kind of like it with the bottom exposed? Best part is that we can roll it next to our bed at night for easy access during midnight feedings. 

Can't wait to meet this little bun...and be a mom (I know, right?!)! 

Sneak Peek - Turkish Tiles

In the mad dash to get ready for baby, we finally got started on our Turkish tile project. Here' a little sneak peek!

Turkish tiles obviously have nothing to do with baby prep, but if we didn't do it now we wouldn't get to it for months..or even years :) We still have to finish the frame and figure out how on earth to hang this thing (it's HEAVY!), but I'm super excited at the progress. Updates soon!

Basement Bath Reveal!

So it's been like 7 months since I first posted about installing the shower in our basement bath, talk about a drawn out reno! Truth be told all the major work was done back in March, but between being preggers and the fact that we don't really use that bathroom ourselves (it's for the in-laws when they're here, or other guests) we didn't get around to painting and caulking or the other finishing touches until the end of July - as in the day before my MIL was coming to town :) In fact, I was quickly snapping these after shots just as she arrived, while she patiently waited to actually use the bathroom :)

Here's how the room looked before:

Perfectly fine as is, but with only one tub in the house we really wanted to put in a shower, which also meant gutting the floor and ripping apart the walls. The wall to the left was shared with a storage closet, so we cut into that to install the new (huge!) shower.

This is pretty much the most luxurious space in our whole house. I'm so wishing it was our upstairs shower!


























I originally picked out a gorgeous marble subway tile and chair rail for the walls, but after a lot of urging from our handyman we kept it simple with these larger travertine tiles and a marble mosaic on the floor - slightly less expensive and a lot less maintenance for a guest bath.

At first I wasn't really feeling just how much the colours varied in the stone, but now I actually really love it. The bench was a nice added feature too - just that small added detail makes the shower feel super-fancy.

We repeated the same travertine tiles in a diagonal on the bathroom floor, and also gave the room a fresh coat of 'chocolate froth' by Behr (which is reading so grey in these terribly lit photos but is actually a warm greige). The pretty new towel rods and paper holder are from Homesense - I love their selection of bath accessories and I find the prices so much more reasonable than big box stores. We did salvage the toilet and vanity because they were pretty much brand new, although I really want to give the vanity a little makeover at some point. Once the vanity's painted out the new mirror (which i love!) hopefully won't look so out of place. 

But it'll likely be a long while before that happens - for now we're calling it done!

A Mughal-Themed Bridal Shower!

My brother-in-law is getting married to the loveliest girl ever, and a few weeks ago her friends threw her a really fun Mughal-themed bridal shower in our home. The girls were decked out in gorgeous outfits and jewels, the food was delish, and the games were super cute. And naturally, my part in the party planning was a little decorating :)

I used whatever I had on hand (between myself and some stuff borrowed from my Mum) so to be honest I’m not sure how ‘Mughal’ the décor really was, but I think it had an overall eastern-ish vibe.   

The main focal wall was draped with rich fabrics in jewel tones – an old bedspread & curtains, some fabric from my own wedding, and a sari. I added a few accessories and also a little seating area. (There's a peek in the corner at my formerly bald fiddle leaf fig which started sprouting new leaves! But only from one stem - any tips to encourage growth?)

Red & pink tissue poms, my fave go-to décor, added some fun colour around the room.

I didn't have nearly enough seating so we lined the room with tons of cushions and pillows – I found those velvet emerald ones on clearance at Pier one awhile ago and have been hoarding them ever since, I’ll find a spot to use them someday :)  

I forgot to snap any pics of all the fab food the girls brought but these rosette cupcakes were too cute to miss – and they were so good! Don’t ask me how many I ate :)

Now we’re getting ready for a house full of family and a whirlwind of wedding festivities in the coming weeks – I’m SO excited I can hardly wait!