The Mural Part II

Grandpa Ron joins in.
Getting close! We figure we only have a couple hours more work to have it completely done.

Jason Assembles the Crib!

Jason puts the finishing touches on Jillian's crib.
We picked out this crib from USA Baby in Miramar. It is made by Creations and called "Summer Evening." We originally only saw it in black and took a leap of faith and ordered it in white. Picking out a crib was a long process. My mom and I went all over San Diego looking for cribs. I would take photos of the ones I liked and then Jason and I would go look at them together for a second (or third, or fourth) time. I really wanted a crib that had a rolled front rail and whimsical details. This crib met all of our wishes. When Jason finished assembling the crib and called me in to see it, the waterworks started. It was the perfect crib for our little girl. Thank you Grandma Joy and Grandpa Ron for the beautiful crib.

The Mural Part I

I used a projector (Thanks Audra!) to project a 5" x 5" image onto this piece of particle board. The image came from an Alice in Wonderland coloring book from the Disney website. We had someone at Home Depot cut the board to size and Jason primed it with white primer. Tracing the image was much harder than it looked. It probably took me about an hour and Brody was a big help! He liked to jump in front of the projector to get my attention.
Grandma Joy took on the task of mural painting a bit reluctantly but developed many successful painting techniques.
Working on Alice.
Blending colors for the chair was the final task of Grandma Joy's long evening. Notice the pink teapot and lavendar chair. This was one of the painting techniques that my mom developed. I tried to copy it with the yellow & orange teapot but I liked the way hers looked much better! For more mural pics click here.

Painting Jillian's Room

We painted this room when we first moved in August 2006. It's color is a khaki green. We decided to keep the color and add some girly accents. Jason fell in love with a graphic leaves and vine pattern we found online. He drew each of the images by hand with color pencil.
Grandma Pam helps fill in Jason's artwork. They were very careful not to paint the overlapping sections until the end.
Jason and Taylor tackle a dark lavendar section.
The finished product. They painted two walls with this similar design. This is the wall that the crib will go on. To view more photos of Jillian's room click here.

Alice in Wonderland Baby Shower

Aunt Sarah, Uncle Ron and Aunt Emily made me this beautiful teapot cake. They baked the cake in bowls and dismantled a toy teapot to create it.
Eat Me! Drink Me! Look at all the teapots.
Grandpa Ron made this sign which will now hang in Jillian's room. Aunt Abbi made the paper caterpillar in the plant.
I had eight (!) pregnant women at my shower (including myself). One had to leave right before this photo was taken. Here we are lined up by due date. Kim, the first in line, had her son 2 days later!

For my baby shower my mom (Grandma Joy), my mother-in-law (Grandma Pam) and my sister-in-law (Aunt Sarah) created a magical tea party in honor of our Alice in Wonderland room theme. My mom became an eBay fiend, trying to find as much Alice in Wonderland stuff as possible. Everyone worked so hard hand crafting Alice in Wonderland touches including the saucers for the "tea cup"cakes, the mushrooms on the wall and the signs around the house. Uncle Taylor and Aunt Abbi pitched in their talents as well.

The shower itself was wonderful. It was much like my wedding - it went by in a flash and was over much too soon. My Aunt Laura surprised me and flew in from Sacramento. Jason joined me for the gift opening and everyone was so generous. For more photos, click here.

Our New Car

Jason and I are the proud new owners of a 2008 Saturn VUE. We did some heavy duty car shopping and made our purchase Labor Day weekend. I was really hoping for a light color car (either white or silver) with a dark interior. If any of you have seen my Civic, I basically wanted that combo. However, it wasn't the easiest to find and we fell in love with this very one. It is black with a light gray interior. Pretty sharp looking. My favorite thing about it is the stereo control on the steering wheel. It is so convenient!

Carseat and Stroller

Grandma Pam gave us this stroller and carseat combo in our favorite pattern, "Catalina". We loved the green and brown combination. The girly-girl patterns were fun but we were drawn much more to these pretty neutrals.
Baby #1 tests out the stroller for baby #2.

The Dresser

Painting with wine. How else you gonna paint?
Rolling the second coat.
A small accident that turned into a commemorative Lewko art project. Uh oh, maybe painting without wine next time.

Jason and I found this dresser on Craigslist for $25. We liked the detail at the bottom and sides of the dresser but the white color it was had yellowed with age. So we decided to give it a fresh coat of paint. We color matched the paint to our new crib and Jason spent a lot of time sanding and painting. Now we just need to replace the hardware and put a clear acrylic coat over the whole thing.

Jillian's First Trip to Hawaii

For my dad's 50th birthday we surprised him with a trip to Maui. We stayed at the Westin Villas in Kaanapali. We mostly all hung out on the beach or by the pool. We got some quality time in with our nephew Ethan. I went snorkeling 3 times, though most of the group went every day. Jason and I couldn't resist buying Jillian souvenirs from her first trip to Hawaii. My mom cannot wait to bring her back when she's "on the outside". To see more Hawaii photos, click here.