Nursery Books and music

Now I would not be telling the truth if I didn't say that being able to justify buying Disney movies, CDs, and fairy tale books did not play a part in my theme for the nursery. To me there is no better way to start a child's life than by reading from Nursery rhymes, collections of fairy tales, and listening to Disney. I have recently read that children under 2 should not watch TV/ movies because it interferes with brain development. Interesting study. So the movies I will not lie are at the moment for me during midnight feedings, and the kids when they are older.

Here is a selection of books and CD's that I want to have in my little child's library- movies will come next week.

Books:

How can a child go wrong when Disney comes out with Nursery Rhymes and fairy tales? I love this idea, and Therefore is one of the first books on my list of my library.




The second book on my list is this "Americana" book. Basically it is like the Nursery rhymes book, only focusing on American stories, Paul Bunyon and the sort. American history through Disney eyes. Too much can be dangerous, as everyone knows Disney's way of 'disneyfy-ing' tales that do not end happily ie Little Mermaid, but that is where the rest of my library comes in to play.

Andrew Lang has complied arguably the best collection of Fairy Tales, folk stories, and fables in the 20th Century. He also has written many comparative literature pieces, and his own widely loved fairy tales- and is essentially brilliant. His Fairy tale series is broken up into 12 books of color; Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Pink, Grey, Violet, Crimson, Brown, Orange, Olive, and Lilac. He also has other books, but this twelve book collection will be a great addition to my library- and will clarify anything that Disney distorts.



Every child needs to know the tale of Peter Rabbit, and Beatrix's other beloved tales about animals.


So far I have opted for the non Disney Winnie the Pooh, as it was never a favorite with me, I confess I never read it- I stuck with my fairy tales- but something must be said for a book that has inspired so many, and on principle I am including it with my library.


There are many other books that I am excited to put into the nursery room, but these are basics that will carry through the years, and offer a fun assortment of collections of children's literature.




Music:

I had a hard time trying to choose just the right music for my little boy. I love Disney music, and I love Classical music, but how was I to find the right balance. Certain classical music and Disney music is not suited for babies; ie the "Fantastic Symphony" and "Be Prepared" are two examples of songs my baby wont listen to for a while, but I also didn't want watered down classical music. Luckily I have a decent start for a classical collection due to music classes in college, and I found these nice Disney CD's aimed at babies, that include classical music that is soothing, and Disney songs that don't talk about murdering your brother.


These are the titles that impressed me the most as I was looking for good music. These first two have multiple albums. I think there are 2 Baby Einstein and 2 Lullaby Albums specifically but there are also other variations to choose from, giving me ample to look at- and choices for when I want to cuddle with my little boy.


These two are more of the traditional Disney music. Mannheim converts soundtracks to instrumentals- with a steamroller twist- and there are 5 volumes of the Classic Disney CD's. Sadly, they are no longer actively being printed so I must get them off of Amazon. But I will get lots of Disney music- and then iTunes can help me create the best baby lists.

Baby Quilt

So last week my computer decided to die, meaning this past week I had to recollect ideas, and thoughts that I wanted to incorporate into my Baby Quilt. Luckily I created an Amazon wish list, and had saved a lot of images that I thought were fun and cute.

First off, I believe I have selected a theme for the room: Home, where dreams come true. The original idea was to embroider that onto the baby quilt- but since I don't have an embroidery machine, nor do I know someone who does- I will have to use that idea while creating the room - rather than necessarily have it on the quilt.

Oh- and this is the blanket that I get to start to knit this coming week! I am really excited. Jo Ann is brilliant- they give you some free patterns, and then 'recommend' fabric, yarn, ect in order to complete the project. I have lots of projects saved on there, but this one first.
You can ignore all of the cute stuffed animals, and get an idea of what the blanket will look like.

Now my quilt. For everyone who thinks I am being overly ambitious, please remember I wont get into my new place till the beginning of November, and I work from home- distractions are wonderful, and I want to do a few large projects rather than a lot of small ones that I will end up tossing.

Design: As I had mentioned a few weeks ago I found this 'Neverland' themed quilt that I thought was just adorable, little simplistic, but adorable.
Then I recently came across this one, again it utilizes the Thomas Kinkade Disney Fabric, which both the Peter Pan, and Pinocchio panels have some cute prints that I may want to utilize, But I don't know yet.
This also gives you an idea of how complex this design is, and personally a little over the top- it needs to be simplified to a certain degree. I enjoy that they used 12 different fabrics in this quilt that is 48"x48". Anyway, since I know that I do not want to use either the large Pinocchio or Peter Pan main fabric panel, I am debating what I would use, fabrics, corner pictures, ect.
I like the Blue fairy, Big Ben, Peter, Wendy with John panels, which may all work out to make for cute corner panels of the quilt. But as for the middle panel- I am still thinking. One thought that I recently had was to piece together the 'Disney Castle' obviously dialed down alot- but I have found some cute quilted/ castles that don't look girly.





The first reminds me a little too much of It's a Small World ride, but it gives an idea of what a quilted castle would look like, the 2nd is the embroidered version of the toned down third castle- which serves as the inspiration for the middle of the quilt.

Those are the main thoughts for the baby quilt, I had more but after realizing that I actually want to use this quilt and not just have it out for show- I need to to be durable, and too much would make it too fragile.

As always thoughts are enjoyed, and I hope you appreciate seeing my two large baby projects that hopefully will take the next 4 months to complete! Oh and as a side note the Dr doesn't think I am very big yet, not for how far along I am, although in my defense I have grown a baby belly in the past two weeks, before that- not so much.

Nursery Ideas

Friday again, and time to post some of my thoughts for nursery ideas. I think today will be more about decoration ideas. I have been scouring the internet for fun baby toys, decorations, and other cute things. Again thoughts would be most useful and encouraging.

Brandon's mom was given a child's armoire when she was first pregnant and offered it to us. Our idea is for us to be able to custom choose the finish of our furniture. He is going to refinish the armoire, our rocking chair (below) is unfinished, and the crib should be the only other big piece of furniture that we have in the nursery. We are really excited about all of our furniture. it, and then the thought came as I was thinking about the dresser - why not find Disney dresser pulls? so of course I searched and these are the ones that I found, and they could look really cute.



Rocking chair. Ok This is not an idea but rather a must. Being the old fashioned me that I am, I have looked high and low for a rocking chair, old wooden chair that I can enjoy with my beautiful little boy. In Fresno there is a cute little unfinished wood store called, "Beautiwood" and when we went in, I fell in love, not only with this rocking chair but also a high chair that matches. So precious.




I have been looking for some type of growth chart- either something I can make or get, again Disney theme- any thoughts? This is the only cute one that I found online at Babies 'r' Us. But I think custom is always better than store bought.








So this next item I am really excited about and cannot wait to decide if we actually get this or if this will be one of those "wishful" additions to the nursery.
Isn't he amazing? 48" Mickey Mouse. He is huge! I love him. We went walking in Costco- one of our date trips and I saw him, and fell in love. Who wouldn't? And with Costco's prices how could we beat it? ($54 if anyone was wondering- a bit expensive). Anyway- so cute and adorable, he will probably have to stay at Costco- I don't even know if our little room would be able to handle him. Speaking of stuffed animals, there are a bit more reasonable and equally adorable...



These are patterns for your own stuffed animals, and how could you not get any simpler than this? Cut along the lines, sew, stuff, and voila your own cute stuffed animals! Fyi these are much more reasonably priced.

Lastly, I found this adorable piggy bank- Hamm from Toy Story! How classic- it suprisingly is one of the few items that I found at the Disney Store. Can't you just imagine Hamm sitting by a window on a shelf? So cute.
This may have to do for today- next week though look for my baby quilt ideas. Hopefully I will be able to start piecing everything together. We move into our house November 1st! So definitely look for more concrete ideas by then, otherwise I will post updates on blankets, quilts, and the additions to the nursery that we acquire. I am so excited!

Nursery

Being as my family is scattered across the country I think it is fitting that my blog becomes a point of reference for nursery ideas. Brandon and I settled on one thing when we found out we were pregnant- the nursery will most definitely be Disney themed. One, I have a lot of Disney stuff from my childhood that I could use, and I wanted to incorporate the constant dreaming, wishing, and imagining that Disney incorporates into the movies, especially the classics. So I will be posting periodically different ideas and things that I find.

I found this Picture- and realized this is exactly the idea and feeling that I wanted the nursery to convey. But I couldn't create a nursery off of this picture, so after searching some more the first main idea that I fell in love is:

The Peter Pan room, and it instantly clicked into the perfect theme- Neverland! The place where children never grow up. I loved Disney's rendition of the movie, and the original book, as well as the statue that I sat and read by in Hyde Park. I love the quilt, crib, lamps, and clock, but there are too many things going on in this room, and I don't think I would attempt a green room. But here are some of my favorite pictures of the room- and ideas I would steal:


First the quilt. A simple medallion quilt with Disney themes and quotes would be perfect for cuddling my little boy.

This window mural, absolutely adorable I really want to do this, most likely with help as I have no artistic talent to accomplish a small masterpiece for the baby's room.

. The third is the old map- now this is where I love Disney fanatics they can turn a simple map of Neverland into:

An old world Neverland map. Isn't this the coolest ever? Way better than an old world map- I definitely want this in the baby's room.

Lastly, I found this so cute chest that Brandon could make and we could decorate to fit the room. I may still have him make the pirate chest even if the theme isn't Peter Pan.


Now as I said before I love this sweet room, and I was going to pattern the whole room after Neverland- but after deciding one theme is too restrictive and too costly- I would have to try to find cute old clocks, and lamps, so this room must be tempered by something simpler. Which I found- but it still needs some tweaks to be a truly affordable nursery.


Isn't this just sweet? I am not the biggest fan of the stripes, but I do like the tan, and I am thinking of two colors in the nursery- just not stripes. But anyway the way that this nursery accomplished the Disney theme was by hanging lithographs all over the room, then used a blue/ green bedding, added some stuffed animals and voila a simple Disney themed room. I like the simplicity of the decorating- much less stressful than trying to find items to give a certain 'feel' but rather- little touches here and there so you don't feel like you have been hit over the head and the room isn't cluttered.

Ok enough Nursery for the day- I want to update on nursery ideas weekly- I have a few, just wanted to let you see what my two most top favorites are.

BIG update on life

During Brandon’s last week of finals I oddly felt left out, I had no more tests to take. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t miss worrying over my grades, but I still felt as if I was missing out on the happy feeling that comes when you do well on a test. So I found a pass/ fail test and I took it. I didn’t want to tell Brandon because I was afraid that he would make fun of me- so I took the test before he was awake. Then while he was still half asleep I told him that he would do great on his final test, because I passed mine with a plus.

After Brandon’s graduation Mom and Dad brought Brandon and I out to Virginia so we could see the house before Christmas, and help them with the Grandmas. Little did Mom and Dad know that their plane tickets for four actually brought out five, and that Brandon and I would not be able to come out for Christmas vacation. During the Virginia trip we saw Monticello, University of Virginia, Madison’s home, DC, the Shenandoah Valley, and lots of fun little countryside. Sadly though our little boy did not appreciate the beauty of those hills, but maybe in January he will like hills better.

During the summer back in Bakersfield I ran into Nicole Arburua and we got taking about Brandon and his Civil Engineering degree. She told me that she works for a company that deals in geotechnical engineering- Brandon’s favorite branch of civil. She asked me to send her his resume and hopefully he can get an interview.

About two weeks later Kiley sent me an email asking for Brandon’s resume, Nicole had spoken with her boss whom was really excited to talk with Brandon. Brandon wasn’t around so it took a little maneuvering to get Nicole his resume, but once we got her the resume, Nicole’s boss wanted to talk with Brandon- and asked that Brandon to call him soon. So I called Brandon- told him, gave him the number and background about Krazan (the Engineering company), and Brandon had a nice phone interview. Two hours later he had an interview set up with the head of the company in Fresno. That interview went well and HR insisted on one last interview with both the head engineer and the Bakersfield manager, it was in that interview that Brandon was told to look for Krazan’s official offer the next day.

So after months of looking, Brandon has a job not only in his favorite branch of engineering, but one that is crafted for his development and growth long term into the company.

The baby is healthy and kicking- at the doctor’s appointment we were told he was a very active baby, and we got to see him not only move his feet but his hands and mouth as well. He feels more like he is poking than anything and if I want him to stop I simply ask Brandon to try to feel him. He gets shy when someone puts a hand to my belly- but he loves to hear people talk, I think that wakes him up more than anything. Just so you know names will come later; for now we simply call him baby Fontes.

We are moving to Bakersfield- and are excited to for our little family to grow; and surprisingly after a few days of packing I still have my sanity!

I promise pictures will come soon.

Graduation

Graduation!!!


Brandon has done it- he is now officially graduated from CSU-Fresno with a BA in Civil Engineering, and he passed his EIT exam. So now he has those little initials to follow his name around forever. Brandon Fontes EIT.



We are so grateful for everyone that helped make this day so wonderful for the both of us, either by coming, calling, or letting us leave Fresno and party with family in Bakersfield.

Talents

All my life I have read and heard about developing my talents, not hiding lights under bushels, and practice makes permanent.

As with the parable of the Talents I was given certain talents from birth, one of those talents (delicately put) is my desire to persevere, some at times calls it stubbornness, but that is a bit harsh.

My mother has always tried to help me increase my talents, I relied heavily on my perseverance to acquire some skill with these; ballet, piano, clarinet, knitting, and now even sewing.


Last night I stepped into a new classroom where there was no teacher, and so I called the smartest person I could, my mother. We spoke for a few minutes and then I dived into my project- a living room pillow. Slowly now I will add to my home, add to my talents. And by posting this I will not be hiding this under a bushel. I can now use my pillow to hide other things such as chocolate.


front on the couch back

Brandon decided to tape me without me knowing it. Enjoy if you want to watch.