pretty plain janes

boy and girl shared space inspiration

May 15, 2014

When we found out baby #2 was a boy I honestly had no idea what I was going to do about our living arrangement. Our home consists of 3 bedrooms with one being utilized as an office. Over the last few months I have been configuring in my head a way to move the office into our bedroom making it possible for the kids to have separate spaces. Reality is this – it’s not going to work. The office is much more than just an office when taken into consideration it houses the treadmill and large additional storage (like our shoe cabinet). This left us with only one option – a shared room for the kids.

Jettie’s bedroom is by far my favorite in our home (I hereby make a vow to photograph and post it before we move her – hold me to that people!). From the paint color to the textile choices everything came together just as I had hoped (this is never ever the case when it comes to my interior decorating adventures). With the current office being larger than her room we are simply going to swap. This works for two reasons – 1. I get to keep the feel of Jettie’s room for my office and 2. leaves us with only one bedroom to paint and decorate. A shared bedroom for a growing girl and lil man whom we have yet to meet. At first I felt constricted by gender neutral tones. That was until of course I hopped on Pinterest (let the inspiration begin):

from Oh Happy Day from Persia Lou The running theme in all these rooms are neutral walls with bold colors. I’m sold. From here I have started a very very virginal inspiration board:

striped bedding in contrasting colors – to save on space we want to do bunk beds, with her bedding being hot pink and his being fire orange. Not for certain we will do them both in rugby stripes but I am crushing on the idea of it for now. We could always mix up the patterns in the pillows. zebra rug – we own it already and it’s not being used. Reason enough for me! In all seriousness though it is the perfect size for the room and it adds a black and white graphic element (something almost every room in our home has in some form). elephant hamper – no, I am not doing a “safari theme” but if there is space for this guy I might have to have it. A tiny touch of natural would soften all the bold colors and well, he’s pretty darn cute. book display – Jettie has book storage in her room but it is your typical library style set-up. This open display makes it easier for kids to grab themselves and is more enticing to the eye. bold color closet door – one of my favorite home interior blogs, Young House Love, painted their little boy’s nursery closet door kelly green and it’s fabulous. A great way to break up neutral walls without having to do it in the curtains.

With baby boy due next month you would think this would feel like an urgent project. We are taking it slow though, more than likely putting the crib in our room once he does officially move to it. I could blame it on him being our second and we are far more laid back than with our first but the truth is we move slow as molasses when it comes to home projects. Hopefully before Jettie turns 4 you’ll see this shared space that is currently only in my head.

Posted in abode, inspired by, Kids, kids room | Tagged Post by Brandy J | 3 Comments

mini jam pies

May 14, 2014

I really should have named these little creations “lazy girl’s pie”, because they are too easy to even count as real pie. (But flakey crust doesn’t lie! These are legit.) I have been thinking about pie for a few weeks now, and I would blame pregnancy but I’m the kind of person that thinks about things like pie all the time, so that’s not really valid.

Pie always reminds me of my mom. While we definately fell from the same tree, we are so very different at the same time. My house is always messy, her house is always spotless. She cries when she watches Oprah and obsesses over diamond rings. (Not in a weird, superficial way, she genuinely just loves them.) She hates to cook, and really hates to bake. But! Every great once in awhile, after much begging and pleading, she will make apple pie, and it’s the best apple pie you’ll ever have. And then she will scrub her kitchen and there will be no sign that apple pie was ever made there, and you have to wait a good year or two before she can be convinced to make it again.

There is something special about food crafted at the hands of someone you love. I’m certain she could give me that recipe, and I could make it pretty close to hers, but it wouldn’t taste the same. It wouldn’t feel the same. And that, my friends, is the beauty of food.

mini jam pies

Cook time

16 mins

Total time

16 mins

Serves: 12 mini pies

Ingredients

Pie Crust:
½ cup (1 stick) butter, diced and chilled
1¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt (or ½ tsp if you are using unsalted butter!)
2-4 tbsp ice water
Filling:
1 8oz jar fruit preserves (I used MessMakerBaker Very Berry Preserves!)
Topping:
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar
⅛ tsp salt
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup butter (1/2 stick), at room temp

Instructions

Crust: Dice your butter, then return it to the refridgerator. Get a measuring cup and fill it with ice water and set aside. Pulse flour and salt in a food processor (or whisk together by hand.) Add your butter, and pulse until a sandy texture appears. (If making by hand, use a pastry cutter to incorperate butter.) Add ice water, 1 tbsp at a time until dough comes together into a ball in your processor, or forms into dough in your bowl. Wrap dough and refridgerate for an hour, or until ready for use.
Next, roll out your dough to ⅛inch thickness, and use a biscuit cutter to form circles (or something similar).
I used a woopie pie pan for these, but you could also use a mini muffin or muffin tin. Whichever you are using, butter and flour it well.
Place the dough circles into the baking pan, pressing them gently into place.
Fill with 1 tbsp of jam of your choice.
Topping: Whisk together flour, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Using a fork or a pastry cutter cut in room temp butter, until a crumble texture is achieved. (You can also make this topping before hand and freeze it! Its yummy on all sorts of pies and fruit dishes!)
Sprinkle evenly over mini pies.
Bake pies at 350F for 14-16 minutes, until crumble is set and lightly browned.

(I used Very Berry Preserves, but also tried one with Raspberry Caramel! They were both yummy!! I didn’t think my empty Very Berry jar would make for a pretty picture! )

xo,

Posted in recipes, something sweet | Tagged Post by Shan | 1 Comment

staying positive pick-me-ups

May 13, 2014

A good friend of mine called me last night, to check in and see how I was doing with things. I almost feel bad for my friends, because I know that they have no idea what to say to me, which I completely understand. Really, right now there isn’t much to say- just listening and calling to say I’m here is simple and perfect. I feel so blessed to be surrouded by friends that have done just that, and proven time after time that they are indeed there.

Towards the end of our onversation she said, “okay, and what are you doing to take care of you?”. I laughed. Rolling out of bed every day. Is that sufficient? I was sort of kidding- I haven’t let myself be swallowed whole by this because truthfully when you have a three year old who needs her mommy just as much, not functioning isn’t really an option.

Aside from having great friends that have been doing more than their part to be sure I am not sulking, I’ve been surrounding myself with things that make me happy.

Little things that lift your soul say a lot about who you are. I made a list this morning of the things that are truly getting me through, and when it was done it was really quite simple. Little quotes, journaling my thoughts, getting lost in an easy read, a creamy cup of iced coffee, treating myself to a new chapstick in the checkout isle even though I really don’t need one, and a CD that not only fills my heart, but is my small slice of Hawaii that I keep in our car.

Keeping our heart happy is just as important as our physical wellness, and shouldn’t be neglected. Especially when those chapsticks are right within your reach. Go ahead, grab one.

xo,

Posted in beauty, health & fitness | Tagged Post by Shan | 1 Comment

5.12.14 Here is what we know…

May 12, 2014

Saturday marked 20 weeks into our pregnancy. Two weeks ago, at our routine anatomy scan we learned more than what we had prepared ourselves for, and these two weeks have been filled with up’s and down’s. We want to share this information openly for many reasons- most importantly because at this very moment I need to let this out. I need to remember these moments- even the not-so-great ones, because this journey will impact the rest of our lives. We also want our family and friends to have as much information as we can give them, so that I don’t have to retell the information time after time. We are hoping that this space can be a place for hope, and love, and prayers. Because we need them all.

Today we are heading to our MFM specialist, because we have opted for non-invasive testing. The MaterniT21 test will use my blood to detect fetal chromosomal abnormalities, and we should know the results in about a week.

Lets rewind a bit.

At our regular ultrasound at 18 weeks, we were told that our baby was showing both soft and hard markers for chromosomal abnormalities. (“Markers” are physical deviations from a “normal” scan. One soft marker alone does not usually mean much- but where multiple are found concerns are raised.) Baby Maxey was thought t0 have a cleft lip, a small calcium spot on his heart, and a missing right hand. Yes, that’s a lot to absorb. Our doctor could not tell us much more than that, besides that these markers really did not look like Down Syndrome, but set us up with a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who would be able to do a more in-depth ultrasound and hopefully get a better idea as to what was going on. (Lets pause here for a second. When I say that these markers do not look like Down Syndrome, please understand that this was not “good news”. We would gladly take a baby with Down’s and not bat an eye. My heart was not sinking because of the news of the physical abnormalities, but instead the idea that this baby may carry something much, much worse. Something that could prevent me from carrying him to term, or take his life shortly after.)

We left that day feeling discouraged. Okay thats definately an understatement. I cried for two days. We recieved countless text messages, facebook messages and phone calls that gave us more hope than I can explain. They reminded us that our God is good.

That Friday morning we walked into the specialist office with knot-filled stomachs, and sat through a hour long ultrasound. After the ultrasound we were moved to a “consultation room” while the specialist reviewed our ultrasound. (This is a sterile room with fake flowers and tissue boxes within your reach regardless of where you are sitting. You quickly get the feeling that this is not a great room to be in. Sweaty palms, yes. )

We didn’t recieve much news, just confirmation that yes, things did not look good. A double cleft, missing hand, extra finger on the left hand, and now- ambiguous genitalia. (I still think baby is a boy, and the blood test will tell us gender so when we get results we will know for certain.) They could not get an image of exactly what they were looking for within the heart, so that will be the focus at our next ultrasound in a few weeks. The specialist agreed that this does not look like Down Syndrome, and that if it weren’t for the extra finger it would look much like Amniotic Band Syndrome. It also looks a lot like Trisomy 13.

Our options were the following: termination, amniocentesis and a non-invasive blood test. We quickly ruled out the first option, and decided to think on the other two for a few days. Amniocentesis involves a giant needle going into your belly, drawing fluid directly from your amniotic sac. (Feeling faint? Me too.) It carries small risks to the baby, but tests for a much more broad spectrum of abnormalities. Honestly, my needle fear wasn’t what shied me away from this option. (Pregnancy in crisis gives you a strange armor- I knew that if I needed to do this for the baby, I could.) We decided together that it was just more information than we need. The blood test is non-invasive and holds no threats to the baby. It will confirm gender, and test for the three most common abnormalities: Trisomy 21 (Down’s Syndrome), Trisomy 13, and Trisomy 18. Trisomy 13 & 18 are considered fatal.

We trust that this test will give us all of the information we need. This baby is very much alive- kicking and thriving in me, and as long as he is willing to fight, so are we.

I have never in my life asked for people’s prayers, because quite honestly I always looked at other people’s needs and decided that they were greater than mine. But this time I am asking, because it is not about me. It’s about Him.

So grateful for your love and support,

Posted in Baby Maxey Updates | 29 Comments

two for one (33 weeks)

May 12, 2014

In my younger years I was always that obnoxious kid who would write their birthday in bold letters on every single calendar months and months in advance. Clearly no one was to forget. Occasionally “my day” would fall on Mother’s Day and well, that would totally burst my bubble a bit. Not much has changed over all these years with the exception of becoming a mother myself. I now realize how lucky I am to have these double celebration days – or maybe it’s the man who ensures I feel doubly special that I should be thanking my lucky stars for.

Sticky planned a surprise overnight family getaway in Columbus, Oh. A city we both at one point resided in and to this day enjoy. It was humid, my hair was frizzy, I felt like a swollen blimp and my perma-tired look has set in yet I did not care one bit. We truly needed this time away – just the 3 of us. While we are all anxious to meet lil man, Sticky and I are realizing that a special chapter of just him, Jettie and I is about to end. I’ll always look back at these first few years of parenthood with such fondness. Grateful to have this special time with our Jettie. Counting my blessings today that we will soon get to experience it all over again with another little human being. Our family is growing, it is truly hitting me now.