Author: Hannah Imboden

Im a teacher turned stay at home mother to two kiddos, a wife, a lover of Jesus, interior design and party planning.

Where The Wild Thing Sleeps…

August 14, 2017

IMG_5482When I was pregnant with a boy, I felt lost when it came to decorating his nursery. I was beyond excited to make a place for his sweet little body to rest. Yet, when I stared at the blank canvas of his empty room, I felt lost. So, I took to Pinterest. Bad Idea. I went from no ideas to way too many. Adventure. Forest animals. Eric Carle. Cactus. Jungle. Trust me, I could go on and on. It was  overwhelming. I knew I wanted a place for a baby without making it too baby-ish. I wanted that balance between innocence and sophisticated. Thats not asking too much right? It wasn’t until my sons nightly womb aerobics that I stumbled upon his nursery theme. My husband and I were laying in bed watching my belly distort into strange shapes and movements. The movie Alien comes to mind. Well, minus the alien ripping open her stomach at the end. (Because that would have been traumatizing.) My husband leaned over and put his hand on my stomach, in awe of his sons every move, and said “Woah, he’s a wild thing!” And then it hit me. I loved that book and it would make an awesome nursery theme. This time, Pinterest did not fall short.

I didn’t want to overdo the Wild Things theme though. I didn’t want a jungle painted on his wall because I get bored easily and I know after a few months I would paint over it. I wanted little touches of wild things, but not too much.

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So, I bought frames and an extra book and used the pages from the book as the pictures. The frames were found at Target and Marshalls and they gave the perfect rustic vibe that fit in with his room so perfectly.

After his baby shower, I walked away with so many swaddles. A crazy amount! I didn’t know what to do with them all. So, I decided to put some on display. I bought this cute arrow here that felt wild and adventurous. I loved how the colors accented the frames and brought this space together.

Continuing with the Wild Things/adventure theme, I had to have a teepee. I thought it would make the perfect little reading corner. A place where he could go and imagine himself in worlds far far away as he got lost in a book. A place where his imagination could run wild and play could be endless. What child wouldn’t want a teepee to hide and play in.

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The space was tricky at first. His room is not huge by any means and with a crib taking up most of the space, fitting a teepee in there was going to be a tough job. But, I was bound and determined to make it work. And I did. Go me! I found a fur rug to put inside, a tin bucket and filled it with stuffed animals. He needed friends to read and go on adventures with! I love this space and he does too. It’s his favorite spot to hang out in his room.

Here are the links:

Teepee (They do not have the chevron on, but a cute white and gold one)      Rug

 

A mistake I made with my first child was not buying a rocking chair that was comfortable. I found an old rickety rocking glider at at garage sale and decided to make it work. Worst idea ever. I hated that chair.

It hurt my back. It hurt my butt. And the way it creaked became increasingly obnoxious the more I used it. This time, I was going to find a chair that I could rock miles in. Because lets face it, your in that thing A LOT! I must have sat in 100 chairs to find the right one. And a year later, this chair is still so dang comfortable. I liked this one because of the button detail and the grey fit in perfectly with the color scheme of the nursery. The ottoman was optional and my husband demanded that we get it. I’m not going to lie, those late nights during teething, the ones where he wouldn’t let me put him down, it was nice to be able to kick my feet up. Its padding is comfortable and its wide enough to accommodate a growing baby. No need for squished arms here. I added a cute aztec style pillow to tie in the Wild thing/Adventure theme. It makes the perfect spot for bedtime stories, lots of kisses, and extra cuddles. I don’t know what I would do without this chair.

 

IMG_5506    I added a cute shelf with some decor just to make the large wall seem less gigantic. I am still deciding whether or not I want to stain the shelf or leave it its natural wood. Hmmm, any thoughts? I found the perfect sign that said exactly what every mama feels about their baby. (Because, I am seriously going to love him forever and ever.) I added a cute little plant for a pop of color and the hanging sign to fill up some of that wall space. Plus, lets be honest, all he does is eat, sleep, play and repeat. Well, and cry. He does a lot of that too lately, lets be honest. I really do love how it all came together. It’s my favorite space. [Well, other than the teepee because that spot is the best!]

To finish off his room, I got this cute dresser from Rustic Romantic Furniture and created his changing station. I knew he wouldn’t fit on a changing IMG_5473table too long so I wanted something that we wouldn’t have to get rid of once he was too big for it. So, I just added the changing pad to the top (securing it of course) and used the top drawer for all of his diapering needs. Super convenient! I found the sign here. Baskets at a little boutique and the arrow was gifted at my shower. My Mother in law made all of the signs on the baskets and the plants are from target’s clearance section. His jar was once filled with pacifiers but now is filled with socks since this little guy refused a pacifier. And my favorite thing on this dresser…the Munchkin Sound Machine. This thing has saved our sleep!!! From the first night we used it, this kid slept All. Night. Long! It was glorious. Now, when neighbors are loud, or dogs are barking, or even fourth of July fireworks are going off, this kid sleeps through it. Thank you Jesus! I love it. It has several different settings (lullaby, heart beat, ocean waves, etc.) but white noise is our favorite.

Even Zeke thinks so…that is him signing help asking me to turn the sound machine on.

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We seriously love this space you guys. It’s his mini man cave and one of our favorite rooms in the house! Let me know what you guys think! Thanks for reading!

 

 

Oh The Joys of Teething…

August 13, 2017

We are knee deep in teething right now. And as we wait for those four molars (yes, I said four) to pop through, we hunker down and pray God will be gracious as we try and survive the day. I swear, before you have kids, moms should have to go through combat training. We should be ready to clothe ourselves in riot gear, stand firm on the line, armed with the tools needed to take on a teething baby.  As most parents who have been through the molars stage of teething know it can feel like you’re in the middle of a war zone. 

Yesterday, he refused to eat. Everything that went into his mouth, got spit right out or tossed onto the floor. He. Would. Not. Eat. But, he was hungry so he cried for food, yet refused everything I tried to feed him. What’s a mom to do? I tried everything. Fruit, apple sauce, yogurt, cheese, turkey. Nothing worked until I became so beyond desperate and threw some

Chicken nuggets in the microwave. You know the over processed kind? The kind that you’re not even sure if real chicken is in it? Ya, that kind. I was desperate. And you know what? He ate it. Every last bite. Was I proud? No. But, my kid didn’t starve and I’m ok with that. Just don’t get used to it kid.

Sleeping on the other hand? That’s a whole other blog post in itself. 

Motherhood is a juggling act. I wonder what challenges tomorrow will bring. Until then, I will try and get through the day as he refuses to sleep. This should be interesting.

Pray for me.

Take It Like A Mom..

August 13, 2017

The other day, I had just finished cleaning up after my tornado of a daughter, made a delicious one pot spaghetti dinner I had found on Pinterest, cleaned up the kitchen, and finally got to taste my pasta creation, twenty minutes after everyone had already started.  As I sat down, for probably the first time all day, I let out a huge sigh. It was as if the relief my feet were getting somehow had escaped my soles and made its way up my body and out of my mouth. Yes, today we were eating in front of the television, which I was not happy about, but we had gotten home late from practice and my daughter politely asked to watch one of her favorite shows. You choose your battles.

So, there were were. I looked around at all of the empty plates and then down at my very full plate. I always seemed to be the last one to eat. As I picked up my fork and began to twirl my pasta, my daughter decided that sitting on her mom’s lap, while I held a very full plate of spaghetti, seemed like a good idea.  As she crawled across my lap, taking the longest and most difficult route, her bony knees kneading my thighs, her elbow suddenly found its way deep between my rib cage and my gut. As I let out a huge “OW” and almost dropped that very full plate of spaghetti, my daughter turned and looked at me, finally comfortable, and said “Aww, take it like a mom!” As I stared at her, puzzled at how she even came up with this remark, I began to laugh.

Take it like a mom. She was right. As a mom, we take a lot of elbows to the gut. In fact, life can often feel like a constant elbow to the gut and we simply take it. Every minute of every day. Schedules, tantrums, diets, cleaning, budgeting, time itself. My little seven year old was on to something. She is far wiser than her years. So I started to think. How do you take it like a mom? I’ve heard the saying “Take it like a man”, but that seemed trivial. (No, I am not here to bash men or to say that what they do isn’t as important as the role of a mother. It is simply different.) I love my husband and know for a fact he takes a lot with his job. But as a mom, we take a lot from every angle. We take it like a mom by painting fingers and toes just to watch them pick them off ten minutes later. We take it like a mom by making dinner only to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because the chicken has too much speckles (pepper). We take it like a mom by trying to squeeze out the logic, the to-do list, the stress, from our brains for just ten minutes so we can pretend to be jungle animals in the grass in the back yard. We take it like a mom all day long. We answer the same question 100 times, 100 different ways because explaining why the sky is blue the first 99 times didn’t work. We listen to Frozen’s “Let It Go” so many times we hear it playing even when the song isn’t on. We listen to the temper tantrum of our screaming children because they can’t have the toy they wanted because it is not in the budget this month and they don’t understand why you can’t just go to the magic machine that just gives you money. And then, on top of all of this, we have to be human beings. We have to shower, clean, do laundry, work, use the bathroom, love our husbands, and even be social. It’s a lot of work. I mean A LOT of work.

So, how do you take it like a mom? You laugh; don’t take life too seriously. Your kids won’t care why the sky is blue, or want to crawl around in the grass pretending to be a snake forever. So stop. Clean the house later. Make the grocery list later. Do the laundry later. Play and laugh…a lot. Breathe; when life feels like an elbow to the gut, just breathe. Regain composure. It will work itself out and if not, just know you have to tools to figure it out. You’re a mom for pete’s sake! You have changed a poopy diaper in the tiny compartment of an airplane, pushed through the pain of a tingly, dead arm, to feed a bottle to your baby while driving, and have managed to keep fifteen 3 year olds happy at your child’s third birthday while waiting for the jumper to arrive. Look around; stare at those beautiful faces of your babies you worked so hard to have. Stare at their cute smiles, their messy hair, their tiny freckles. And know that they are the reason you keep going. They are why you do this. Life sucks sometimes. It gets overwhelming and chaotic. But take a moment to remind yourself that you can do this. They are why you do this.  Know you are amazing. It takes a special person to be a mom. I am amazed by all of you. So, keep doing what you’re doing. Keep loving your kids to the moon and back. You can never be reminded enough! And most importantly…Keep taking it like a mom!

Learning His Love Language

August 12, 2017
My husband and I have only been married for two years, so I am no marriage expert. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t have some good advice!
In most of our marriage struggles, it because we have gotten lost in translation. Most of the time, we are loving each other fervently, yet, it goes unnoticed. Why? Well, because my husbands love language is different than mine. He is loving me passionately and with every ounce of his being, but he is loving me his way, and if I am not paying attention, I miss it. Here’s an example. When my husband comes home from work at 8 p.m. he puts the kids to bed. He asks me to, so don’t judge!! Since he gets so little time with them, he cherishes those moments. I usually clean up the house and then shower. But, on the rare occasion it has just been one of those days, I leave the dishes in the sink, get ready for bed and wait to fall into my husbands arms. Just needing that closeness. Now, did I tell him I needed him to come hold me as I try not to fall apart? No. Of course not. He is supposed to be able to read my mind right? Well, he didn’t. He finished up putting the kids to bed and went downstairs to get a drink of water, noticed the dishes in the sink and stopped and did the dishes. Thoughtful right.
{Now, here is where I am going to put myself out there and be vulnerable and make myself sound terrible, so be nice.}
When he comes up the stairs feeling like husband of the year, my attitude pops that bubble real quick. You see, my love language is physical touch and quality time (and gifts, I like those too). I just wanted to be hugged and loved (no, don’t get dirty with it).  His love language is acts of service and words of affirmation (and physical touch, lets be honest, he is still a man). But, instead of me affirming him and seeing how he was loving me by doing the dishes, I was mad because he didn’t come and spend time with me.
We have to love their love language.
Often times we are being loved fiercely, but because it isn’t done in our love language, it often times goes unnoticed. So learn their language and have them learn yours. That way next time when he buys you flowers instead of vacuuming the stairs you still feel loved. Now, when he does the dishes, washes my car, does the laundry or even tells me I’m a good mom, I don’t miss it. I don’t take it as him “just doing chores”. But, I know its his way of loving me, lightening the load, and being my spiritual leader.
GO!! TAKE THE QUIZ PEOPLE!!!

5 Love Languages Quiz