FRANK the TANK

Sorry for taking such an extended hiatus- it's just that I've been busy birthing and feeding and cleaning poop and am apparently not as capable of a multi-tasker as I had hoped I would be.

So, without further a-do, meet Francis Ryan Madigan. He's pretty incredible:

He was born at 6:55 AM on Friday, November 25th after literally 2 days of "early" labor and 5 hours of totally insane, mind-blowingly painful, real labor. He claimed the title of my chubbiest baby at a whopping 8 lbs, 11 oz and 22 and 1/4 inches long, and he's been working hard to maintain that status ever since. My little eating machine goes by the aliases of Frank, Frankie, Francisco, and my favorite of late, Mr. F.R. Grumpn'Dumps.

His big brothers think he is pretty great and have already asked for a little sister in their stocking. I told them that Santa knows better than to cross me like that. Here they are at their first official meeting:

Hud, while currently obsessed with his little brother and constantly attempting to kiss him on the lips with his booger-y face, was much more intrigued during the hospital visit with my unsightly catheter bag. I guess I should have considered not telling him it was a "bag of pee", which he promptly reported to everyone he saw upon leaving the hospital. Max, despite looking undecided in this photo, has been an amazing big brother thus far- at least to one of his little brothers.

I'll leave you with a few more pics of my little angel, and I suggest you get used to it :) Enjoy.

                                                                 Can you stand it?

Waiting

In an attempt to keep my in-utero friend from making any pre-Thanksgiving appearances (we're looking forward to the hub's holiday pay), I am being as sedentary as humanly possible, and it seems to be contagious:

yep- mama got an iphone.

Scooter's adoption of the seemingly purposeless infant seat in the front hallway made me realize he was long-overdue for a dog bed. Grandma took him to Petco to choose his own and, of course, he picked the most expensive one (a wiener after my own heart). Considering he's never had a dog bed (other than our bed) in eight years, I suppose he deserves it:

Money well-spent.

While the boys have other plans for me, I try to spend as much time lounging in bed as possible. 

If you're wondering if we take all photos on the same day around here or if Hud really wears an astronaut costume everyday, the latter would be correct.

And finally, I thought I would leave you with a glimpse of the nursery. I thought we would be all kinds of busy putting on the final touches during my two weeks at home, but I've just completely run out of steam. So, without further a-do, here's another little peek to wet your appetite:

(Yes-that's my DIY rug and the navy wall made the cut!)

Vamps, Ghosts, and dead Great Aunts

No, I haven't had the baby yet. I know I promised gratuitous blogging during my first week off of work, and, well... I lied. I wish I could say that I've been too busy nesting away and cleaning out my closets and putting all of my skinny clothes front and center because I'll just hop right back into them after I squeeze out this watermelon- but, sadly, none of the above would be accurate. I've pretty much just been watching obscene amounts of television and will likely be in my maternity clothes for the entire fourth trimester.

So, in other, more-exciting-than-my-life-news, Tia and Max's godmother Heather (remember these skinny bitches?) were at the Twilight premier at the Staples center on Monday hob-nobbin' with the Cullens and the wolf-pack. Here's a pic Tia sent me of the after-party, which was a ridiculous re-creation of the wedding scene:

This pic would be much more impressive if R-patz was in it, looking all disheveled and British and awkward, but according to Tia, he and K-Stew are too cool to go to their own after-parties. Lame.


In less-lame dead people entertainment news, I have to tell you that I am obsessed with the new series on FX, American Horror Story. I haven't had much of a taste for horror flicks in my old-age, but there is something about this show that I just can't get enough of.  It's kind of totally ridiculous, but I was sold as soon as Jessica Lange made her first appearance- Emmy time.

Creepsters

 

 

 

And finally, in hilarious dead people news (yes, sadly, there is such a thing)- did anyone see the RHOA episode where Phaedra helps pick out her Great Aunt's pimped-out Cadillac hearst complete with jazzy gospel-tune-emanating speakers and flashing lights? I tried to find a clip to share with you- but couldn't. Please, someone tell me that they witnessed this moment of pure Bravo brilliance? Ahhh- quasi-reality TV...I heart you.

OK- off to watch my AHS- and make sure my doors are locked..

Contain Yourself.

The Container store, while making me feel simultaneously inefficent, overwhelmed and more un-organized than I thought prior to entrance, is still one of my favorite places on the planet. Despite its condescending undertones, it still offers the promise of a better me and I leave filled with hope that one day, when I have money for things like 30 plastic shoe boxes, all of my shoes will be neatly stacked in identical boxes with little polaroids and there will no longer be 2 year-old boxes of Wheat Thins hiding in the depths of my impractically deep pantry cabinets.

While in the midst of one of my sporadic, frenzied nesting bouts, I made a trip there a few weeks back and left with a few items that I've been quite pleased with.

First up is the Horizon Round Pop-Up Crunch bag by Umbra. This thing holds about 800 stuffed animals and despite being totally collapsible, holds-up really well and has thus far been relatively resistant to toy-scavenging wiener dogs attempting to knock it over. I bought it in blue for Max and Hud's new shared room, and at $19, it was a steal compared to similarly sized canvas containers you would buy at PBKids. And because more stuffed animals seem to appear out of the abyss everyday, we will likely be adding one of the Rectangular Crunch Cans in green to our collection.

My second purchase was this little round, lacquered orange canister that I bought to hold small odds and ends, like diaper cream, on New Guy's changing table:

I loooove California Baby products, by the way.

They have these cute lacquer canisters in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors, and they would be so great scattered around to spice up a shelving display, no?:

Round and Rectangular Lacquered boxes

Now on to a few items I left without, but that may yet fall prey to my Visa.... I think I need about ten of these Rugby Striped  bins to stash behind my couch in the family room. They will hold things like Batman action figures, foam Nerf pellets, marbles, little green army guys and other items that the baby will soon be putting in his mouth and/or up his nose:

Rugby Striped Bins, $9.99

And finally, I had a roll of this in my basket, but just couldn't seal the deal because it looked like it would wrap about one large gift and was almost $8, and we just don't get that fancy with our gift wrap up in here- but I mean.....

Did you just die a little bit- or is it just me that finds this wrapping paper potentially worth dying for (or at least worth $8)? Humor me.

OH- and guess what, it's pretty much Friday, and pretty much my last day of work for 3 months!!!Get ready for some serious blogging, people.

Babies Gone Wild

I'll admit, I'm a total sucker for babies in animal accessories (I mean, really, aren't we all?). Sadly, now that Max and Hud have started to fall prey to masculine influence, it's become increasingly difficult to put them into anything with ears or a tail (unless, apparently, it is a honey badger), so you can imagine my delight at the prospect of having a captive mini-model to dress in some of the following:

I am obsessed with all things Bla Bla and their animal booties are no exception. Little man will be wearing these. 

Not to worry, your little ladies will not be left out of this animal bootie goodness. Get your Bla Bla Pink Cat Booties here.

I mean, can you stand the little claws and the fringed tail? It was love at first sight when I saw this Lion coat from Etsy seller Little Goodall.

Hit up GAP Baby this weekend and couldn't pass up this adorable bear hat. The fluffy lining takes soft to a whole new level.

Skip Hop's animal bibs are a must.

Mini Boden is one of my go-to baby sources for their cute, high-quality goods. We might need to add this Teddy All-in-One to our collection.

OK, so I'm not sure if these qualify as torture or not, but it's up for debate. Thoughts?

A Very Betty Holiday

Today I died and went to Betty Draper heaven when I caught a glimpse of this little piece of platinum lady-like perfection at Anthropologie:

Polished Platinum Dress

Something tells me that my engorged casaba melons and I will not be making any holiday party appearances this year, but if I were, I'd definitely be considering a splurge on this number. And while we are on the topic of splurging, I would probably wear them with some ridiculously impractical satin shoes like these beauties from BHLDN:

Bombshell Booties

Given my present circumstances, however, and the fact that a baby will be falling out of my uterus at any moment now, I will probably be more of a this kind of Betty:

But, for those of you with some hope of being this Betty:

...here are a few looks to get you started: 

1/2/3/4/5/6

Knock it Off!

Just about every time I walk into Anthropolgie, I find myself obsessing over these zinc letters (among other things I can't afford there):

Anthropologie Zinc Letters

But, at $18 a pop, I haven't been able to justify dropping $100 on letters for little man's room. So, you can imagine my giddiness when I came across this genius tutorial for faux zinc letters (thanks Pinterest!). A quick trip to Joanne's Fabrics and about $18 later (the cost of one Anthro letter) I had all of the supplies I needed.

So, without revealing the little guy's name to the masses just yet, I'll give you a little sneak peek at how it turned out:

Pretty awesome, actually. We'll just say that "F" stands for fetus.

If I win the Lottery soon.....

...I will be treating myself to one of everything from the super-functional and genius line of pregnancy-transistion clothing that is HATCH Collection (found via OhJoy) The prices are a bit steep for lil' ol' me, but I can just see myself wearing this effortless tunic in about ten different ways:

The Hatch Afternoon Dress. Add tights, add a belt, add 5 million necklaces- whatever. Stomach? What stomach? Pass the carbs please.

And then there is this: 

The Hatch Hoodie. Holy Mother of Comfort this thing looks incredible. I could be breast-feeding in this thing all day long and no one would be the wiser. Now- how to get myself into pleather leggings....

So- check out the rest of the collection- preggies and non-preggies alike.

Is it Halloween yet?

I hate to admit it, but after this weekend's festivities and spending every day for the past thirty days hearing the G.D. Monster Mash on repeat, and picking up hair-covered, spooky-themed window jellies off of every possible surface in my home, I'm kind of ready for Halloween to be OVER. So, in an attempt to keep in the spirit of things, I thought I would unload all of the Halloween ideas I've been pinning and saving on you, because maybe I'm just an irritable pregnant lady who is getting tired of explaining to her three-year-old why she wouldn't make a very pretty princess this year and the rest of you are still ramping up for a weekend full of drunken costume wearing and pumpkin carving and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup consumption (ok- so maybe I'm still looking forward to the Reese's). Anyways, here are some of my faves:

Martha's adorable fanged pumpkins.

Elegantly macabre vintage printables- free from the Graphics Fairy (I love this site)- along with a useful and easy tutorial for printing graphics onto fabric at home.

Simple, but cute, yarn-wrapped letters from eighteen25 and an easy-peezy seasonal banner made from streamers.

This zombie gnome from Etsy seller DougFX is almost as scary as the dilapidated ones in my yard. I love him.

Who doesn't love a good meatloaf? From Not Martha

So easy- but covering furniture in white sheets makes for great Halloween party decor. From Country Living

And finally...

The only Halloween costume I am considering wearing this year...

Here's to no more Monster Mash. Ever.

Blast-off

Orange crocs - the footwear of choice of both Mario Batali and Nasa

Thanks to the Annual D-ville fall festival, we took our Halloween costumes out for a test drive this Saturday, and the boys' Astronaut get-ups were a big hit. I'm not sure where Max's hankering for this particular costume-choice came from, as he's never really expressed much interest in astronauts before, but I was thankful he didn't want to be some ugly Target-bought Transformer or superhero with built-in muscles, mostly because I want him to stay my little nerdster forever.

Hud had his heart set on being a honey-badger (bless his strange little heart), but fortunately for me, once he laid his eyes on the custom helmet complete with gold glittering letters and optional visor that Max was getting (from Etsy seller Luminous Moon), he jumped on that astronaut band-wagon rather quickly. The jet-packs were a relatively quick and easy DIY that I made and were modeled after similar ones being sold from the same Etsy shop. Some soda liters, Solo cups and a little colored duct tape was all it took. Auntie Dana found us the silver suit at a consignment shop, and it was just the right size for Hud, who sported it almost all day, despite 80 degree temps. We had to get a little more creative with Max's suit- he's more of an inside-the-shuttle-rocking-my-leisure-wear kind of astronaut. The shirt is one of those cool-max work-out numbers and the pants are jus little-league pants- a couple of iron-on patches and some red tape later and we were all-set. Here he is looking decidedly more gymnast than astronaut with his giant balloon octopus, but pretty darn cute all the same: 

This was pre-too much candy melt-downs.

Progress...

Despite yet another impromptu and dangerously indulgent mid-day Sunday nap, during which I left my children under the care of a new Nightmare before Christmas DVD, I did manage to tackle some small tasks in preparation for the little man. On Friday night the boys and I were shaking things up (literally) in the Home Depot paint department. Then this (among other things) happened:

A sneak peek of my DIY painted version of the Dwell Studio Draper rug (you can see a hint of the green painters tape in the back there). Lessons were most definitely learned, and will be shared with you all at a later date. 

Cold feet are developing with regards to the navy wall. The color pleases me (starless night by Behr), but even with a matte finish, I feel like the dark color has a glossy feel- which drives me bananas. Anyone out there have any thoughts on the matter? 

Bargain Basement crib assembled. I love it.

Closet org completed (sort of)

 

 

Framed. (eeek!)

 

And of course, none of it could have been done without the help of my aeronautical assistant:

P.S- anyone out there looking to buy a barely used, white Ikea Malm twin bed? We loved this thing, but our garage is bursting at the seams. Hit me up.

xoxo
j