The big ol' gift-giving debacle.

As another holiday season moves along (thank the gods!), I found myself struggling with the whole Christmas gift-giving concept. This year was Han's first Christmas and although I was super excited to see him among all the festive lights, decor, and family, I started to wonder: what if we removed the gift aspect of Christmas and instead focused on the family and all around feel-goodness of the holiday?

Since I'm the only one working while Danny stays home with Han, our finances are pretty dismal. We didn't get anyone a gift this year because of it. And although I was bummed at first, the pressure of planning a budget and buying gifts didn't exist for me this year. Let me tell you, it was RELIEVING. It felt so good! A Christmas miracle, if you will! No gift-giving and instead simply hanging out with family and eating good food totally MADE my holiday.

I brought up this idea of focusing on family instead of gifts to Danny. His reaction was akin to telling an eight year old Santa isn't real. Danny is a big kid who LOVES presents - giving and getting. A part of me was frustrated that the exchange of material items is something he refuses to give up, but then I can see where he's coming from. I mean this is a tradition we grew up with and he came from a very happy home where money troubles didn't exist or at the very least were not at the forefront. My upbringing was very different. Having your phone, power, and water shut off as a kid is confusing, sad, and scary. Losing the home you grew up in to something called a foreclosure is a whole other confounding ordeal. That being said, we always had Christmas and I'm baffled at how my mom was able to swing that especially during all that other mess. I imagine it was stressful and deflating at times.

And that's why I wanted to call the whole thing off (or well, the gift bit). I truly believe Han will be a better person celebrating Christmas without the materialism. Trying to convince Danny was going to be the hard bit. I started researching online to see what other parents had to say on the topic and I think I've come to a compromising solution that will not only appease Danny, but makes me feel content about the idea of gifts for our son during Christmas time. First, let me break down each article I read in order so you can see how I came up with a solution that works for me:

Wait, a post not about Han?

Strangely, I have embraced interior design. Oh ho-ho, by no means am I an expert. No, no. My education on it has come from tons of HGTV and blogs. As of late I got a bug up my pa-toots to re-do our bedroom. I hated the lavender gray color I thought was gray-gray when I bought it - ROOKIE MISTAKE! And it just started feeling kind of BLAH. After devouring the blog House*Tweaking, I found myself loving her master bedroom design choices. I started tinkering with ideas in my head and then I created my first mood board:

1) bedding, coverlet, paint color 2) Picasso print 3) blanket 4) deer skull 5) swing-arm wall lamp 6) stock photo from Sleep Train 7) IKEA Expedit - no longer in stock 8) nightstand 9) storage bench 10) chair

Eh, not that best but I certainly felt proud of myself. At any rate this board incorporates items I already own with ones I hope to purchase. I wanted our room to come off a lot more sophisticated than it did. Because I knew the process was going to take time and because we are chronic procrastinators and because of $$$ I made sure to use items we already owned that hung out in other places in the house.

The first thing we did was paint. Now that I sort of understand the differences between grays (I personally like grays with more green than blue) I couldn't wait to get the paint rollers out! We chose Benjamin Moore's Rockport Gray:

We of course painted a swatch on the wall and debated between other grays, but ultimately this was the gray that stole my heart and Danny just had to fall in line. Of course once we painted a wall he fell in love too. Well, here are some "still in progress" photos:

Eventually I'd like to change out the nightstands and table lights with the ones on my mood board or at least something close (re: cheap) to those items. I'd also like a bigger bed with either a headboard or mid-century modern like bed frame. I may just have to make do with a headboard until I make my gahjillions to afford something as spiffy as a mid-century mod bed frame. A girl can dream.

I plan on getting rid of that mirror. I need to find a new place to hang my necklaces. In fact, I should probably go through them and part ways. Also, the Billy bookcase that holds my sweaters and shoes needs to go too. I plan on going through and donating as many items as possible. The goal is to replace the bookshelf with an awesome print we have, add a chair, a small table, and a record player. Baby steps.

That there is Danny's record collection. He also has a deer skull I hope to set in the middle of the shelf. I may add other little decor bits here and there, but the focal point will be the skull. I have a Murphy vanity. It's a great space-saver, but the front of it could easily display a cool print or something. I'd also like to hang other art pieces in that corner. On top of it sit my jewelery box and earring holder. Another de-cluttering project. I hope to keep the top of the vanity for art or other knickknacks. I also plan on getting rid of that mirror on the floor and hot pink trash bin. I'd love to get remove the ceiling fan but we're renters, folks.

Gosh, looking at these photos makes me think I need to learn how to use a more profesh camera - iPhone snapshots aren't cutting it. Well, maybe it will once I upgrade to a 6 - ha! At any rate, I'm happy with the progress and sure hope I can finish it before Danny and I pay for that ol' marriage license. Our efforts are now focused on baby-proofing and finishing Han's room, which seems more prudent since our kid is a mover and a shaker now! Sheesh that was fast. 

He's half way to one whole year!

Han is now 6 months. I'm not going to lie, it felt like 6 months was FOREVER away. Now I look back and think: "wow that was a hot second." Everyone kept telling Danny and me this, but when you're in the thick of newborn insanity it's hard to remember it will all boil down to a teeny blip in this lil' dude's existence. So let me catch up on what this bundle of mayhem has been up to these past couple of months:

Catching up on the ol' milestones.

I figure it's important to track Han's milestones and my memories of him for each month. I'd like to say that since becoming a parent my memory has gone to shite, but really it was shite pre-pregnancy. That being said, if you wanted to know who directed a movie or what actor starred in such-and-such film I could pull that out from the recesses of my brain in a flash. But I digress. He's now a little over 4.5 months old, so I'm gonna try my darnedest to make note of every milestone for each month that I can...here it goes: 

Ripped from my loins: Han's birth story.

Of course I had a birth plan. And of course I was super flexible, but one thing I new for certain was that I wanted a drug free, va-jay-jay birth with a good friend as my birthing coach and of course my baby daddy. Funny that no matter how flexible you think you are sometimes even the most hell-bent of us falter. So was my fate. Sigh.

On April 12th around 3:15pm, Danny (my partner in crime and baby daddy) and I were about to leave our humble abode to meet his folks for a pre-birthday din din for his mom. I even put on make-up for the first time in weeks! Well, before we trotted out the door I decided to blow my nose. Now, anyone who knows me knows that when I blow my nose Louis Armstrong's got nothing on me!

So it's no surprise that my trumpeting nose blow broke my water. It wasn't a geyser shooting out my crotch; more like a leak. I cleaned myself up and decided to head to dinner anyway because I read when women have a leak it takes a while for labor to really start. Plus, I really wanted to buy Han a coming home outfit (yeah we waited till the last minute, what?).

This is super long, so click the jump if ya want to keep going...

Allow me to introduce you to my son.

His name is Han. Yes, as in Han Solo. We're huge Star Wars fans. His middle name is Amado after my dad. He was born on the same day as his paternal grandma (different year o' course!): April 13, 2014.

I still plan on doing a "to do (wish) list" update post as well as a birth post. Not sure in what order yet. Probably the latter first since it's been almost 4 months (say what?!) and my memory ain't the best. It's crazy looking back at Han's first-few-days-on-this-Earth photos because he looks so different now! Most notably, he has waaaaaaaaay less hair.

Here's hoping I'll be better at keeping up with this here blog-a-roo since it's really my "baby book" and I want to look back at my lil dude's milestones. Maybe I'll even get another post up before the end of this month - cray cray! However, please don't hold it against me if I don't. Shanks! ;) 

Belly poppin' to rib muscle poppin' - it's the latest craze.

So at 36 (almost 37) weeks I'm feeling mighty huge, but pretty thrilled that the day I get to meet my lil' dude is fast approaching. I find I'm easily overcome with emotion when I think about holding him, watching his little extremities move about, and hanging out with him and his daddy. We are hoping he arrives on time or late since his pops just started a new job, but the anticipation is killing us!

We had our 3 (yes, 3) baby showers. Well, my family's shower we missed because 2 nights before I popped (literally, I heard it POP!) a left side rib muscle. It hurt and I needed assistance with moving around. I couldn't laugh or cry because deep breaths were excruciating. Basically the whole ordeal sucked, but great labor prep for my man. He was great taking care of me and giving me words of encouragement. I don't know what I would have done without him there.

As for the showers we did make it to, we had a blast (my dad and step-mom were kind enough to bring up our gifts the following Saturday). Baby showers are quite exhausting, but good food and lots of laughs. My soon-to-be-in-laws' family shower took place last Saturday and it was fun. Great food too. My hubs-to-be's uncle made a big frame where we would pose with every guest using goofy props. It was tiring, but fun.

The shower on Sunday was hosted by my friend Lauren and she did a fantastic job with decorations, prizes, and food. She made an amazing vegan ranch and spinach dip, vegan cupcakes, and micro mini taco salad bowls with lentils. So super yummy! We had it at our place and it was nice to show off our digs and the man's hard work. It was also the first party we ever hosted at our place, so that was exciting too. Seeing family is nice, but it was I have to admit having friends around to celebrate our soon-to-be-son was pretty special. They were also the group that pretty much stuck to our registries, so mad props to our compadres! 

And not that I'm ungrateful, but the gifts were sub par at best. Barely anyone went off our registries! I can't help but feel annoyed by that. We got tons of clothes! The one thing we didn't need at all since friends have donated a huge amount to us. Oh well. Now it's just about squeezing in time to go through everything and return what we don't need. If I could go back in time, I'd have our hostesses include a "no clothes needed" disclaimer on the invites.

Currently our place is pretty much ready for baby. I plan on taking photos and my next post will include my "to do (wish) list" update (hopefully).