12th May 2015
We welcomed Joseph Charles Pawelek Jr. on April 1st.
He weighed 7lb 3oz and was 20 3/4 inches long.
I will spare you the uncomfortable delivery details and I can’t seem to put into words the sweetness of holding him for the first time or how precious a moment it was introducing him to Madeleine, so I will let the pictures do the talking.
Welcome to the world sweet Joe Joe, we love you so!
5th May 2015
Baby Joseph is here but, call me old fashioned, I don’t want to post about him until I have a chance to send out his birth announcement in the mail!
I am working on it, but in the meantime here he is in my belly weeks 13-39. 
28th April 2015
We moved Madeleine into the bedroom next to the nursery since Baby Joseph would soon be moving in. This room is where all my ‘nesting’ took place this pregnancy and I had so much fun decorating with fun colors, especially the gold glitter!
The furniture was handed down to us from our neighbors up the street and works perfectly for a little girls bedroom. Check out this post to see how we cleaned them up good as new. The bedding is from Land of Nod and was one of M’s Christmas presents from Grandma and Papa. The gold chevron curtains are from Francesca’s and the curtain rod was a standard size from Lowe’s that matches great with the wood finish on the furniture.
The hooks on the back of the door were left by the previous owners (thanks!) and Joe framed an old college mirror to create this little dress up space.
The collage wall is a collection of frames and items that I had already and a few things from Hobby Lobby, including the blue flower and ‘I’ll eat you up canvas.’ I made the flower garland myself! Stay tuned for a diy tutorial that is easy peezy!!
Madeleine really likes her room and I’m glad the transition was a smooth one. We moved in all her closet and dresser items around February and started getting her dressed, playing etc. in there about that time as well. One night we were putting on her pj’s and she wanted to lay down and cover up with her flower sheets so we tucked her in and never looked back. I cried because I wasn’t quite ready for her to sleep in there but she lead the way and did really great. We purchased one of those slings for the side so she doesn’t fall out and I really think it makes her feel safe and sleep better. Her nap time was a tougher transition but we are back to at least an hour nap each day. Whew!
I’m excited to see Madeleine play and grow in her new room and I think the decor will adapt with her age for several years to come. Look out for a post about organizing M’s closet coming soon!
16th April 2015
Our farmer’s market nursery for Madeleine, turned farm nursery for Joe Joe, is ready and waiting for his arrival! We only made a few changes here and there thanks to our neutral palette of primary colors.
New: cow print crib sheet, antlers above the crib, howdy and the tractor on the wall, metal ‘J’, and pictures from our diy maternity photo shoot, and a change to the sweet sign my sister-in-law made for M’s farmer’s market baby shower.
Madeleine may be a little jealous of the new nursery because she absolutely adores cows and all farm animals really. We hope you like it baby Joe Joe!
30th March 2015
I love having maternity photos of my pregnancy with Madeleine and wanted to do a little something for baby Joseph too without making much of a fuss. Joe and I decided to do a diy maternity photo shoot inspired by this one my friend Kate did with one of her clients. I loved how real it was; we read with Madeleine all the time and cuddles with her in our bed are the best, plus a no stress wardrobe…I’m in!
It took a while to get the lighting and camera settings right, and by this I mean our pictures would finally focus and weren’t pitch black without a flash. Joe, the photographer, was a real sport and totally patient with Madeleine’s requests for snacks and my complaints that, “my stomach looked weird in that one.”
Madeleine is really sweet to Joe Joe or Baby Joseph or Baby Joe Joe as she calls him. I’m not sure she totally gets it but she pats my belly, gives him kisses, tells him to turn down please (he is currently breech just like she was) and asks him to come and play with her. We recently installed his car seat and she is thrilled that he will soon be sitting next to her on our adventures.
I’m excited to have these photos of carrying baby Joseph and to document the sweet time with Madeleine reading to her new brother. We can’t wait for him to be here!
24th March 2015
I know I’ve raved about magic erasers before but I still am amazed every time I use them. Madeleine is really into coloring but doesn’t quite understand that you can’t color everything, only paper. I found her coloring on her Minnie Mouse car, her stool, and even the fridge. At first I tried a warm wash cloth which worked on the plastic car but it took a lot of elbow grease. It wasn’t coming off the fridge so I pulled out an eraser and BAM! It wiped off so easily!!
I also used a magic eraser on Madeleine’s furniture in her new big girl room. Our neighbors down the street have a daughter entering middle school and she was ready to get rid of her little girl bedroom set so they just gave it to us. Major score because it is such good quality, great colors, and free. Thanks neighbors! There were only a few scratches here and there so I took a Magic eraser and wiped down everything. Take a look at the before (right) and after (left) of the drawers under the bed.
BEFORE
AFTER
I mean right?
For the dresser I cleaned out the drawers and lined them with this cool gold chevron wrapping paper. I love this little trick because it’s so inexpensive and makes the drawers look so sharp. Here’s how I lined the nursery dresser and our bathroom vanity. All you need is wrapping paper and a washable glue stick.
BEFORE
AFTER
We did take a drawer to Lowes and color matched the paint for a few light touch ups. You will see how it all comes together when I post about her big girl room soon. Can’t wait to show you how everything turned out!
20th March 2015
Madeleine is telling us stories these days of the things she loves the most and the things that scare her. We call them ‘series’ because it’s the same combination of words EVERY time. Here are a couple of our favorites…..
Grams took the girls to Chuck E Cheese over spring break and M LOVED it there!
“Go to Chuck E Cheese…play a duck game…put them in froggy’s mouth…Cora hab (have) a turn…get tickets…here we go!”
Madeleine is terrified of the garbage and recycling truck and I swear she hears them drive into the neighborhood.
“Garbage crutch (truck) scared…mama got you…dump atash an (trash can)..give it back to us…bye garbage crutch…so much (thank you so much)”
Fisher’s Birthday Party at the New Braunfels Train Museum was a big hit for Madeleine who loves trains and got to see three of them drive by at the party.
“Saw a train…HI train (as she waves)…so fast…Choo Choo!…All Aboard!…Fisher’s birthday…hab a cupcake…mmmm so good!”
M hates the doctor ever since she had the flu swab in her nose. She had her 18 month check up a couple of weeks ago and we were rallying her up with some pep talks…
“Dr. Garzab (Garza)…check your heart…don’t cry…get a sticker.”
Last week we went to the zoo and she LOVED it. Especially the carousel….
“Saw the pamingos (flamingos)…yap yap yap what they say….sshhh sleeping…gorilla scary…ride the castle (carousel)…here we go!”
17th March 2015
We desperately needed some hanging organization in our garage. We had tons of open wall space to utilize but for the longest time, our tools just leaned in a corner looking cluttered and hard to get to.
BEFORE
Our solution was inspired by our home’s previous owner who installed garage shelving himself using lumber, so we used the same method and attached lumber to the wall and then secured various hooks for our tools.
BEFORE
There are several hooks to choose from and we shopped around to find the ones we needed. We ended up with one ladder hook, 4 ‘U’ shaped hooks for rakes and shovels, 3 clip hooks for brooms and skinny poles, and then several heavy duty utility hooks for items like our lawn chairs, washer boards, and small yard machines.
AFTER
AFTER
Each hook ranges in price from $2-$6 so we saved a lot of money on this project using scrap wood. If you want a cleaner, sophisticated look, like this garage I did, you can purchase the tracks and coordinating hooks for about $200 from your hardware store. A high end solution would be the Elfa collection from The Container Store. They have a utility line that allows you to even add shelves and baskets to the tracks. This is expensive but worth it!
A great tip for hanging garage items is don’t limit your self to one row. In our garage and the one I linked to, we used two rows of tracks which allows you to maximize your vertical space and provides flexibility for retrieving items off the wall.
AFTER and you can see how it comes right up to our scrap wood storage
10th March 2015
happy birthday to me!
We celebrated my 27th birthday yesterday and I loved every second! Joe took me on a coffee date in the morning, we had a chick fil a lunch date with my nieces and then my parents and in-laws came over for homemade chicken parmigiana and homemade carrot cake! I had plenty of help blowing out so many candles.
26 was such a great year and I can’t wait to see what 27 has in store. My mom was 27 when she had me and I’m excited to be 27 when baby Joseph is born. I usually feel older on my birthday but this year I feel young and alive!! Here comes a great year!
25th February 2015
The nursery isn’t undergoing a major transformation, so much of my ‘nesting’ has been in Madeleine’s big girl room next door. Here are some before pictures of what it was as a guest room with my old furniture and college bedding, etc.
I lovingly labeled this guest room the ‘craft room’ because I stored all of my crafting supplies, gift wrap, candles, etc in the huge desk, under the bed, and in the walk in closet. I have relocated all of this to a closet in our third bedroom, but more about that later.
Check out my Pinterest Board for M’s room here. There aren’t a ton of pins because it’s still a work in progress. All I know is that I want there to be room for toys and bright fun colors. We were given bedroom furniture by our neighbor’s and Grandma and Papa gave M her bedding and curtains as part of her Christmas gift.
We’ve already come a long way in there but stay tuned to see!
