Asher Campbell Seitz

Welcome to the world, Asher!

Our precious boy was born on April 2nd at 12:41 a.m. after a smooth (but difficult!) natural labor and delivery.  He was 8 lbs 5 oz and 20″ long.  Oh, we are so smitten!  He is such a little lover; he has the sweetest personality that his daddy and I are daily learning about.

I hope to eventually sit down and write out his birth story, it really was a blessing to have such an uncomplicated labor.  I’ve had constant help from family and my dear husband who has been off of work.  It will definitely be a reality check next week when he goes back to work!  Hopefully we’ll get into a good rhythm and I’ll be back to blogging soon!

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The Nursery

Welcome to my little boy’s nursery!  The babe is due to show up one week from today, and his room is finally complete.  I’ve been slowly decorating since January:  planning, painting, purchasing and crafting.  I couldn’t be happier with the end result; his room feels like an oasis and my husband and I love to just go sit in there and enjoy the space.

This is the glider we found at Goodwill for $25.  It originally featured an 80’s cherry red stain and the most horrendous flower print you can imagine.  We primed and painted it this nice glossy white and I went to town recovering the cushions.  I’ve never tried reupholstery before, but I was surprised at how easily it came together.  I simply ripped apart the seams of all the old pieces and used those to create the new pattern.  The cushions themselves were in great shape so the only extra expense that went into this was $15 of fabric from JoAnns (used a 40% off coupon).  Factoring in primer and paint, we spent less than $50 on this chair.  Not bad considering these look-alikes at Pottery Barn will run you $928.00 for frame, ottoman and cushions (no, I’m not kidding, have a look for yourself!!).

This is an IKEA Hemnes dresser, which we are using as the changing table.  It was a craigslist find, so we got a great deal.  This dresser is full to the brim of adorable clothes for our little one.  The best part?  To date we’ve purchased exactly 3 items of clothes for him.  One was new (purchased the day we found out he was a boy) and the other two were consignment.  Talk about being blessed with a plethera of hand-me-downs and adorable baby shower gifts!  We received so much clothes that I could only fit up through 6 months in the dresser!  The rest is in back storage ready to come out as he grows.

These are cheap IKEA frames which I used to highlight the fabrics I’m using in baby’s quilt.  The fabrics are from Laurie Wisburn’s Tufted Tweets and Monaluna Circa 50s.  Framing fabric is such an inexpensive way to display art.

Here’s his crib with the bumper I made.  This is now the 3rd bumper I’ve made (two other were commissioned by friends) so I’m getting quite quick at making them.  I think this one took about 2 evenings.  The slowest part is all the hand-stitching at the end, but I enjoy it.

These counting cards are from Children.Inspire.Design.  We just spray-painted some clothespins white and strung them above the crib.

This absolutely gorgeous blanket was hand-knit by my dear co-worker.  I am in love with the colors and the design and I know it will be something he will have his whole life!  What a special gift!

This is the mobile my dear friend made for baby.  I had been looking for the perfect mobile for his room and I couldn’t find anything I liked.  When I unwrapped this gift I was overwhelmed by how perfect it was!  She copied the rockets from one of his quilt fabrics and, of course, used his room colors.  I love it so much and I think it’s the most custom part of the whole room!

Well, that’s the tour!  I’m patiently waiting for him to arrive and I’ll be sure to pop on here once he has to announce his birth and also his name (yes, he has a name!).

I’d love your comments on the nursery and any advice you may have for a new mommy!
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Room Details…

Counting Cards:  Children.Inspire.Design.
Dresser/Changing Table:  IKEA Hemnes dresser
Paint Color:  Glidden Granite Grey (Home Depot)
Light fixture:  IKEA Glansa
Build a Fort print:  Nikki McClure
Crib:  BSF Baby Paris 4-in-1 Crib
Grey Rug:  Hand-Tufted Rojan Wool Rug from Overstock.com
Green Window Mirror:  Goodwill find

Halloween Party

I know, I know, I’m a month late on this posting, but I wanted to post them anyways!  My friend Dacia and I threw a Halloween party and had so much fun putting it together!  Here are some photo highlights of the night:

The Dorothy costume turned out well!  It needed a lot of adjustments to make it not so frumpy (I chopped off about 10 inches from the hem!):

The best part of the outfit was definitely the shoes!  I bought some cheapy flats at Goodwill, spray painted them red, then painted on mod podge before completely covering them in red glitter.  They were so much fun to make and they turned out so cute!

Little Girl Dresses

Two new dresses were made for my Little Miss Maddie.  I was testing out patterns for a sewing class my friend and I teach at our church, and I knew Maddie would make the perfect little model. 

The first pattern is from Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby.  The dress fits nicely but I wasn’t crazy about the construction.  I changed the way I put it together and that made it a lot easier.  I added a little ruffle collar, a la my Ruffle Top, and a few pink buttons for good measure.

The second dress is a free pattern from Heather Ross.  You can find the tutorial for the Smocked Sundress here on Martha Stewart.  This is the dress we ended up teaching at our class, and it went swimmingly!  I used leftover fabric from my Gingham Top and left the hem raw to allow for it to fray.

They sure are sweet dresses!  Though I’m completely convinced Maddie would look adorable in a paper bag!

Thanks to my sister for the BEAUTIFUL pictures!  Don’t forget to check out her Etsy shop, Kissed By Kate, for adorable baby hats, rompers and more!

Just Saying Hi

Once again summer has caught up with me and I have nothing to show for myself!

But, since I can’t go this long without checking in, here are some photos to prove that I’m not permanently tied to a blanket outside reading a good book (although that sounds quite lovely!):

My family was in town (from Boston and California) for a summer visit.  The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a blast playing with the babies and getting caught up.

Mom and me

My sisters babies, don't they look so alike?

Bathtime in our sink

Cousin Tom performs his magic sleeping trick on Sammy. Or, Sammy falls asleep against Tom's hand!

At the beach!

At the Ballard Locks in Seattle

My birthday is coming up on Tuesday!  I can’t wait.  We’re going to Pasta Freska, a wonderful Seattle Italian restaurant with no menus!  The chef comes to your table to find out your likes and dislikes and then the food just starts flowing!  We’ve been before and had a blast.

Hope you all forgive me for being so out of touch, I’m just enjoying the lovely weather too much…I’m hanging on to this summer as much as I can, as I know it will be gone very soon!

Photo Highlights

I got a new camera for Christmas this year.  At the recommendation of my friend and co-worker, Cameron, I got a Panasonic Lumix LX3 and I absolutely LOVE it!  I’m trying to improve my photography skills (which is a long shot for me…I am definitely not a star photographer!) and I knew I needed to have the right tools to get me there.  This camera is said to be somewhere between a point-and-shoot and a digital SLR.  It seems to be the perfect way for me to build up my artistic eye before putting a lot of investment into a really pricey camera.  

The thing I love about this camera is that it’s compact enough to be the perfect travel companion.  We’re going to Europe this May, and I definitely wanted to buy a camera that would travel well.  Not to mention the fact that it takes beautiful pictures!  It has an incredibly crisp Leica lens and a large (3″) LCD screen.  It also takes beautiful HD videos!  I didn’t do any photoshop-ing on the photos below and the black and white pics are all from the camera’s “Dynamic Black and White” setting. 

On my trip to California 2 weeks ago I definitely got to test out my new Lumix.  Here are some photo highlights of my trip (with little to no commentary, so please feel free to ask any questions in the comments!).  You can click on any of these to see the full quality picture. 

Reflection