All About Baby

The past month or so has been mostly about baby. Preparing for her arrival by making space in our home, buying essential furniture, etc., attending prenatal classes and watching informative dvds/reading appropriate books. You name it. We've been keeping busy with expectant mom & dad activities. (Yesterday we finally set up the crib in our bedroom, which makes it a bit more real to know that our babe will be sleeping in it soon)

So suffice it to say that I've felt a little overwhelmed (ie. stressed out - my poor hubby) with it all at times. Since Matt and I have both been busy working a lot as well, it feels like there's been little time to breathe or even to catch our breath. I've definitely neglected any kind of personal work in the last several months. My sketchbook has been untouched really for 2 or 3, except for being moved around, or written in. Napping, though much wanted and probably needed, was a luxury. Dishes sat in the sink for weeks...

And our baby girl has not even made her appearance yet!

We did manage to sneak in a photo session last weekend though, after months of no pregnancy "progress" photos. These are a few of the better ones of us.


I'm quite relieved that the shop is now closed for my maternity leave, but it feels a bit weird too since I would routinely check it in the morning as soon as I got up. Still, it is one less thing to worry about at the time being. All orders have been packaged and sent out as of today, including the blog giveaway packages. Now I just need to mail out some Christmas cards and a baby shower gift for this crafty expectant mom (who shares the same due date as me) before the week's end.

With Christmas less than a week away, I'm finally shifting my focus on making our home more festive. I was hoping to get this mini artificial tree since space is at a premium but the two Canadian Tire locations I went to were out of them, so I'm not about to trek all over the city just for that. We may end up getting a real tree from down the street since it doesn't quite feel like Christmas without one to me. I did pick up some cute stockings and wrapping paper from Ikea on my last few trips there. Deciding where to hang the stockings is the question, as we don't have a mantel/fireplace.

So my week is shaping up like this:
Today was my last shopping day out, getting last-minute gifts and post-pregnancy items.
Tomorrow I'll be baking up a storm since I have to stay home all day for a delivery.
Wednesday is yet another prenatal visit and I'll be delivering some Christmas goodies to a few people/places.
Thursday, I'll be happy to be at home and nest.
And Christmas day I suggested that we order take out for dinner. Yes, it'll be a quiet Christmas, which is fine by me. Matt will be working pretty much every day except Christmas up until the baby comes, so slaving away for a whole day in the kitchen for just the two of us seems a bit like overkill. Hopefully there are some decent restaurants open. Of course, who wants to work on Christmas?

Well, if I don't get a chance to wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays before Friday, let me do so now. May your day(s) be merry and bright!

The Winners are...

For my most recent blog giveaway, the lucky winners are as follows:

Prize #1 - cartesiandualism
Prize #2 - Rashel
Prize #3 - Andrea Jordan

I will contact the winners in the next day or two and your prizes will be mailed out sometime next week, provided I hear back from them before then.

Thanks to all who played along and commented. I really appreciate those who take the time to read and comment on my blog. The next giveaway won't happen until next year, 2010!

I'd like to write more, but today's been a long day and I'm in need of some down time before bed. Toodles!

The Big Reveal

Life has been pretty hectic these past several weeks, as my due date nears...
• Baby and home furniture shopping
• a trip to the ER for my dear hubby
• maintaining my shop
• and working at my part-time job
So blogging was not exactly a priority. And I'm sure it will be put on the back burner once our little one arrives too.

But I'm happy to finally share the results of last month's hard labour and home reno project.




There are still some finishing touches that the shoji doors require to make them easier to open and close, but for the most part they are done and function fine.

Of course, some repairs are needed as well...

c/o our bad kitty, Suki.

And we need to start training the cats to stay out of the bedroom, as well as preparing them for the arrival of their little sister. That will be a task and a half. We are hoping for the best!

More pics to come in the next few weeks of our revamped home. Ciao for now.

A Sweet Holiday Giveaway

new pocket calendar (coming to the shop soon)

Okay, it's giveaway time again! Normally I announce them on the 15th of the month, but this past weekend just got away from me and I was not feeling energetic enough to do much else than veg after two full days of being out baby shopping and more.

Without further ado though, here are the details:

Since I will be closing shop for maternity leave, starting Dec. 16 (perhaps sooner), this month's giveaway will actually be for November AND December. And there will be 3 separate prize packs to be won.

With the Holidays around the corner, each prize pack features an assortment of goodies that are purrfect for giving away or if you're feeling more Scrooge-like, simply keeping for yourself.


Prize Pack #1
• Sukibaby Holiday Pack of 3 Cards
• Christmas Kitty Magnet Set
• 1 Set of Holiday Gift Tags
• A 2010 Pocket-size Calendar (choose 1 from 12 designs; only 1 not pictured is pirate kitty)
• Gift Certificate worth $25

Prize Pack #2
• Creme Owl & Pussycat Limited Edition Scarf
• A 2010 Pocket-size Calendar (choose 1 from 12 designs)


Prize Pack #3
• Aqua Clever Kitty Boy Brief Undies
• A 2010 Pocket-size Calendar (choose 1 from 12 designs)

Ways to enter (this time):
Leave a comment sharing your favourite Christmas/Holiday memory or gift received/given.

• Any purchases made in my shop from November 1st - Dec 6th will also get your name entered in the draw.

• All my Happy Customers and current blog followers are automatically entered every month.

Winner will be chosen at random, using the random number generator and I will announce it on my blog on December 7th!

To keep things fair, winners will be given 1 week to reply to my notification email. So please be sure to include an active email account in your comment/link or give me some way of reaching you. Otherwise, new winners will be chosen.

Thanks in advance for playing along. Happy Monday!

Be Back Tomorrow...

The weekend was super busy and I'm feeling a little like how Dex looks above - dazed and in need of some rest - so details of this month's blog giveaway will be announced tomorrow. Sorry to keep you in suspense, but it'll be another good one.

Thanks for the sweet comments on my previous post. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and is enjoying the last few hours of it! Now time to put my feet up and relax in front of the tube.

Yes, Please & Thank You!

Yesterday I had a STELLAR day on etsy, thanks to getting this on the front page and some really great customers. It was my best in a long while and yes, please, I'll have some more. Thank you :)

I love this site that I somehow happened upon last week, via twitter I think. A great way to keep up with your etsy stats and it's an attractive and well-designed site too.

Anyways, just wanted to briefly toot my own horn...


After all, it's the small things and moments in life that keep me happy.

Be back in a few days with this month's giveaway.

Long Overdue

I've been terrible at blogging lately.

So much to do and so little time.

That's kind of how I felt yesterday after Matt and I got home from doing some baby shopping, finally. We bought a crib, but the saleslady told us that a car seat and stroller are more important. We only started looking at some yesterday. Yikes!

I'm still not due for another 8 weeks - so that's not the "overdue" the post title refers to - but I feel like the clock is steadily ticking and it's hard to accomplish much these days.

These books literally sat on this cart for weeks, after we finished setting up our shoji sliding doors. I finally reshelved most of them yesterday morning. Still need to snap some "after" shots, but I'm waiting until the shelves are fully reorganized, which will hopefully happen next weekend, once we go to Ikea again.

Here are some more "in progress" shots of our shoji doors... these, like my home reorganization, are the long overdue things I'm referring to.


Oh, also of note: this morning I redrew for the winner of the October blog giveaway since I didn't hear back from the original winner. Congrats to Leslie, one of my etsy customers last month. Stay tuned for this month's giveaway announcement... happening in under a week.