In other news...

Where does the time go?! Seriously... I'm starting to get a little anxious about the small amount of time that we have left until our little family of 3 becomes a family of FOUR. I suppose to start with, I owe you this little update:

That's right folks! Apparently we breed boys over here at Diapers & Divas. A funny thing happens when your second kid is on the way... You don't do much to prepare. I've done some random things around the house like go through our stock of baby clothes to see what we might need:

My the looks of it, we aren't hurting for clothes for our newest little guy. This is all just for newborn to 9 months. But I organized it all nicely into space bags, the ones where you suck the air out with a vacuum, so that I can just grab the bag with the clothes we'll need for that stage. When he's starting to grow out of that stash, it's time to grab the next back, throw it in the washer, and bam! we are good to go!

I also came across a few new things, or new-to-us things, after having loaned out Will's baby clothes to a friend or two. I got our clothes back, and then some! What a nice surprise! A couple of my favorites:

A little velour Paul Frank sweat suit?! Are you kidding me?! And check out the little monkey ears on the hood. I die. It's just so cute.
And a little old man cardigan! There really is nothing cuter than a little dude rockin' an old man sweater and some dark jeans, and maybe a pair of chucks.

Will was eager to help me that afternoon, so I put him to work:

The kid loves to use the vacuum wand. So instead of him running away with the attachments and using them like they're swords, how about we do something a little more productive... ;) He's a pro. He's definitely going to make a great big brother.

There are a few other things on our To Do list to prep for this little dude's arrival, like:

• Re-organize Will's closet. I'm thinking something along the lines of what Jen over at I Heart Organizing did for her boys:

And another great inspiration pic by another blogger:

• Our Master Bedroom will be getting a little makeover, too. Wittle Bird will be bunking in our room for a while so as to hopefully not totally turn Will's life completely upside down all at once. The first step in taking care of that is that all of this has to go:

Scary, right? The desk is going into storage, the shelves on the wall are coming down (maybe re-purposed in the closet re-do you saw above), and the bags in the corner need to go to Goodwill. Our dresser and TV will be going into this lovely little niche. Wittle Bird's crib and changing table/dresser will be going on the wall where the dresser currently is. Do you follow? Don't worry, I'll be sure to do a post about the whole crazy process. I'm also thinking about a stenciled wall where the crib is going. Just to kind of define it as it's own little space. Here are a few fun things I'm thinking:

[stencil from Royal Design Studio Stencils]


[pinterest]

[or maybe a fun ombre wall]

[and I love how bright and cheery this space is]

Decisions decisions...

So that is where we are at: Thinking about, thinking about prepping for some rearranging and some reorganizing. Do you have any tips or tricks for housing two boys' in a 2 bedroom condo? I'm all about finding ways to make the most out of our small space. Did you totally lag on preparing for the arrival of your second kiddo? Please tell me I'm not the only one... ;)

2012 In Review

Well kids, here we are at the beginning of 2013. It is utterly mind bottling how fast time flies, but even more so when you're chasing crazy lunatics around your house. Let's kick off 2013 with a quick look at the awesomeness we created in 2012. It's always a good motivator to see that you did more than just sit on the couch, watching Friends re-runs, eating Cheetos. 

Here we go:

In JANUARY, we both started Etsy shops. 

Lani has LEMON SQUEEZIES:

              

Super cute, right?! From bow ties to capes, she's got you covered! I don't know about you, but I need a turban headband for the days when my bangs need some taming.


An then there's PAPER MONKEY:


  
Need a cute paper banner or book page apple to spruce up your decor? Check it out! The paper flower clips are great for a little girl's hair, or your blazer's lapel.

FEBRUARY it was time to get our butts in gear:

Lani started her Master Bedroom makeover with a coat of paint on the walls.

And I did a little refreshing of our Living Room throw pillows by making a few new pillow covers:

MARCH

A pretty little organizer happened:

APRIL

Lani threw Jagger a very colorful birthday party:

And we made Will an Iron Man trike for his birthday:

MAY

I tackled a friend's living room wall with a picture frame collage. I think it's my favorite one I've done.

JUNE

We got painty with a new wall color in the living room:

And Lani got crafty with some adorable teacher's gifts for the end of the school year:

JULY

Lani got down to the nitty gritty and tiled her Master Bathroom floor:

You can check out the process here, here, here, and here.



AUGUST was a big month for us. Lani and I both went back to work full time. Talk about a big adjustment for us and our families and our DIY schedules. HA! But the day before I started my new job, I decided to paint my Master Bathroom:

And Lani's Master Bedroom revamp kept on truckin' with this fab rug upgrade:

SEPTEMBER was a time for more Master Bedroom and Bathroom upgrades. Check out Lani's progress:
A little Martha Stewart Garbadine goes a long way:

And some painted drapes in the Master Bedroom:

OCTOBER was a busy month, and maybe a little too busy because we didn't have much going on over here on the blog-front. We did have our first trip to the ER for a broken finger:

You can definitely count on us to keep it real around here. First trip to the ER, first cavity fillings (yes, PLURAL fillingS), and 1st day at preschool. Talk about a traumatic parenting month...



NOVEMBER
We got a lesson in accessorizing:

I tackled another subway art:

And painted my kitchen...again:

DECEMBER was very merry for us from a Pottery Barn NOEL sign knock-off:

To a super adorable Hot Chocolate Bar:

And we finished up the year with a yarn pom wreath:

You can definitely expect more awesome projects from us! Happy New Year!

XOXO,   

&

Good Tidying I Bring..

Ever year around this time, I get clean frantic.  It’s like spring cleaning, but mine comes in winter.  Maybe it’s because I’m spending more time in doors since it's below freezing out, or maybe its because when I just want to curl up on the couch it takes me an hour to clear off the books and toys, find a blanket, find my pillows that have been thrown everywhere, and then I’m just tired and want to go to bed.
So, since I have a few days off now without kids (yes I take them to school/daycare on my days off….how else would I get anything done?), I’ve decided to tidy ONE small area of my house at a time.  Not rooms, not whole closets….one, measly thing.  I know it doesn’t sound like much, but with my time, energy, and lack of ability to finish large tasks in one day because I keep getting sidetracked with little details…ONE small area works for me.  So my last day off was the dresser in our master bedroom.  Not the drawers…just the top.  This is what it looked like before I began:

Ugh its so ugly.  And it’s been like this for, well, ever.  Sometimes it gets neat and sometimes its worse than others…but overall it usually look like this.  Love that I have Hunters “sick” cup just sitting there….hasn’t been sick for at least a week…

Ugly alarm clock.  I know Craig doesn’t think it’s that bad, but guess what’s going to be in his stocking for Christmas??  Oh!  Just what I’ve always wanted!!    And then we have random knick knacks that actually have meaning to us but we aren't displaying them like we should.  Bad Lani….
More random crap….
Not random crap…but why aren’t these pics in frames?  Oh…because I am a slacker.  I admit it now.  Hi, my name is Lani, and I’m a design slacker.
And ugly phone.  We never use this phone.  I don’t even know if this phone works.  If anyone were to call us in the middle of the night they would call my cell.  So why do I have this phone in my room….

So, after clearing off the dresser, giving her a good rub down and dusting, shopping my house, arranging and rearranging, and of course, using the power of pix messaging to get Heather’s opinion…It now looks like this!

Hooray!  It’s neat, it’s sort of asymmetrically balanced, it’s not as offensive to the eyes, to say the least!  I plan on adding a mirror above the tray and perhaps some kind of collage effect to the rest.  And I’m sure this will change like every month….but for now I’m really enjoying the neatness.
These vases were a snag at Target!  I think the large was $6 and the medium was $5.  They were part of this whole equestrian themed display and I just fell for the stud detail on them!  Then I placed the “brick” with mine and Craig’s name and anniversary on it front and center.  It was hidden behind the ugly alarm clock.  The brick is one of those places outside Disneyland and this little acrylic piece is a copy of what it looks like.  Craig bought the brick as a wedding present since we were married at the Disneyland Hotel.  And why was this not displayed properly before?  (see slacker note above)

I grabbed this tray from downstairs, and I’ll probably change the fabric that’s below the glass.  I finally framed one of the pics that were laying around, and displayed my new gold bowl and white urchin from the Nate Berkus collection at Target.  Hello Nate Berkus….welcome to my bedroom.
I’m loving how clean and simple it looks and am really just glad that the dresser is clear.  Now that I have a day off today…I’m finding another little thing to clean off before I start my frantic clean-for-Thanksgiving-so-none-of-your-guests-think-you’re-a-hoarder spree!  Yay!