One of the latest...

I've always loved the idea of marking kids heights regularly as they grow up.  Growing up, I was somewhat preoccupied with my height, always wishing that I was just a couple inches taller. (throughout junior high and high school, I would faithfully record my height behind my closet door in my room and, despite nobody noticing, I DID go through a fairly significant growth spurt where I grew about 1 inch a month for at least 6 months to a year) Maybe that's the reason I've always been fascinated with marking growth, or maybe I'm just a little sentimental like that.  Whatever the case, I realized when I moved away from the room with all my markings behind the closet that whenever I had kids, I would need something more transportable.  I did copy down all of my markings on a sheet of paper and measured how far from the floor it should go, but it's just not the same. : )

So, as Levi's first birthday was approaching, I was keeping my eye out for a growth chart idea.  I fell in love with one on Pinterest (of course) and set to work.  It was fairly easy to make and I finally hung it today.  I'd say it turned out pretty well.  What do you think?

You can find the tutorial I followed HERE.  It was a super-affordable project too!  The 1x6 I used was $3.50.  The black paint I already had.  And the sawtooth picture hanger on the back was $3.50 for a pack of 10.  Total=$7

Uniquely Me Design (my shameless plug)

I've been having fun lately!  Alot of my spare time has been spent crocheting, something I've enjoyed doing for about 20 years now.  (It still sounds crazy to me to be able to say that anything was 20 years ago...!)  I've been adding things to my shop (Uniquely Me Design) every couple days which has been exciting.  Making things is something I love to do so it's been fun to be able to grow my shop a little this fall.  I hope to continue this winter.  Winter is such a great time to curl up on the couch with a good movie and some yarn.  (How "grandma" does that sound?! Ha!)  So anyway, I just thought I'd share some pictures of things I've been making.  If anyone has any ideas of things you'd like to see in my shop, please let me know!  I'm working on a couple more things, but I'm always open to suggestions!  And I'm also very open to custom orders...

Which is your favourite?  You can find these to purchase HERE. 

Party Pictures!

The cake.

The birthday boy with one of his gifts.

Singing "Happy Birthday"!

Enjoying his cake.

Being buried in tissue paper.

Playing with his toys before church Sunday morning.

What a handsome one year old!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

mmm...love.

A common sight these days.

Smiling nicely at Grandma.

Where's Levi?!

Sporting a toque I made for Etsy but just so cute I had to include it!

And just for fun, this was Levi one year ago today.  My, how he's grown...

A year ago...

I've been reminiscing like CRAZY these last few days.

"A year ago I was bouncing on an exercise ball for hours on end just trying to get labour going."

"A year ago I was supposed to be induced today but was told to wait for a call again tomorrow."

"A year ago I was sitting in the hospital filling out paperwork and waiting for induction."

"A year ago I was hoping to meet Levi by supper time."

"A year ago I asked for my epidural."

"A year ago I was laying in surgery, watching the clock and hoping Levi would be born before midnight."

"A year ago I was finding out for the first time that we have a boy!"

"A year ago I asked Nathan if I could please just sleep wait until morning to name our new baby boy."

"A year ago we sat down together and named our boy Levi Jonathan, Jonathan being a name we had never even discussed before."

And a year ago today we got to take Levi home from the hospital for the first time.  And within minutes of entering the house, he filled his pants with explosive force and I almost dropped him I was so surprised!  haha.  Oh what a year its been!  Now we have a dancing, laughing, smiling, self-feeding, almost-walking bundle of joy who we know so well and love so much.  A year ago I couldn't imagine how well I would know my son in a year, but now I couldn't imagine not knowing him.  Life is just the way it is supposed to be.  How appropriate that Levi was born 10 days after his due date on Thanksgiving weekend.  Such a sweet reminder of the blessing he is; a reminder to always be thankful...

Levi's Room!

I got the fabric for Levi's room last week and put the finishing touches in today!  It still feels a tad bit bare, though.  I guess a few more toys will gradually make their way in there as he starts to enjoy playing on his own a bit more. : )

This is what it looked like before:

 Because I forgot to take pictures truly before I started, here are some picture of what the skeleton rocking chair looked like...and just for fun, I included a picture of what it looked like before I recovered it the first time, back in January of 2009!

And this is his room after!

I ordered 7 yards of fabric and with that I made:
-  2 book slings (I've only put one up)
-  duvet
-  recovered the rocking chair and foot stool
-  valance for window
-  covered 3 canvases for the wall
-  one white crib sheet

There has been overwhelming interest in the book sling that I made.  Unfortunately it was not my own awesome idea.  I followed the tutorial HERE.