I really like these photos of animals against the kitschy wallpaper backdrops. It would make a fun series of prints to hang in Julianna’s room.

Catherine’s Animals by Catherine Ledner.

Via Angie McKaig.

Baby Julianna and I accompanied Andrew on his walk to work this morning. Just as Andrew was reminding me that it was Friday the 13th, this black cat came to the sidewalk from a neighboring yard. As if things couldn’t get any more eerie, another black cat came up the street shortly afterward!

We have two “family” rooms in our house - one we refer to as the “TV room” and the other, the “piano room.” I prefer to keep the TV room strictly for TV watching (pretty much just Netflix movies, Frasier reruns, The Office, 30 Rock, and Masterpiece Theatre - “Cranford” is SOOOOO good!) and the piano room for entertaining and, of course, piano playing. The piano room has really been neglected lately and now that the weather is so much nicer, we’re thinking about finally tackling the walls. I’m thinking of going with a light blue - possibly “Jamaican Aqua” or “Barely Teal” from Benjamin Moore. They’re the 2 lighter shades of our kitchen, which is “Tropicana Cabana.”

I’d post a picture of the piano room as it currently looks, but my camera battery is charging at the moment and I’m just really excited to share my Google Sketchup 3D mockup:

The details:

1. The pear print above the sofa is a canvas Marimekko print from CB2.com - a gift from my parents for my birthday a couple weeks ago.
2. The sofa is the Arild sofa from IKEA.
3. The side tables are IKEA Lack.
4. The plywood chair is an Eames knockoff I ordered from American Modern Furniture last year.
5. The bookcases in the back are Billy bookcases from IKEA. We don’t have these yet.
6. The rug is also nonexistant … I’m thinking of going with some moss green Interface Flor tiles.
7. The lamps are from Crate & Barrel - purchased a few years ago.

Our kitchen is still unfinished … no backsplash, no central light fixture, no window treatment. I’ve been having fun with Mosaic Tile Supplies‘ “Mosaic Maximizer” and have come up with some tile blends that might work for our kitchen backsplash. I’m also trying to decide what to do about the walls in the adjacent mud room. For the past year, I’ve been planning on painting the walls either the same blue as in the kitchen or some sort of orange. But then I saw this wallpaper, “Stem,” from Orla Kiely at Anthropologie and am reconsidering. I’ve mocked it up in Google Sketchup, as you can see in 2 of the 3 pictures below. I like it, and I don’t think the pattern is too much when paired with the checkerboard floor. But I worry that it competes too much with the pattern in the backsplash - especially if I go with a rainbow of colors for the backsplash. Sometimes I think I should just stick to Google Sketchup, because I’m just too afraid of commitment!

Julianna had her 4-month well-baby visit with the pediatrician last week. She weighed in at 16 pounds 7 ounces and 26 inches tall - 90th percentiles in both weight and height!

Here’s Julianna on the examining table at the doctor’s office:

Everyone may have already seen this, but I just viewed it today and it’s hilarious:

I’ve had thinking about a new furniture arrangement for our living room. Ever since we bought our house, I’ve been struggling to come up with a layout that works. The biggest issue is the piano - I really feel like it needs to remain in the back of the room since it’s so honking big. Also, with a grand piano, it needs to face a certain direction so that the lid opens towards the audience and not towards a wall. The fireplace, which we don’t use, just seems to be an impediment. The IKEA Lack bookcase isn’t really cutting it - it’s difficult to arrange books in it and is probably better used as a display case or an artfully designed bookcase/display case hybrid.

Here’s the current layout (designed in Google Sketchup - all pieces are to scale). The arrow represents the entry way:

In Sketchup, I recently came up with a layout that works much better, I think. I’ve placed IKEA Billy book cases (which we don’t have yet) against the far wall flanking the oddly-sized windows we have back there. I’ve moved the piano to a less than ideal position, but I think in the grand scheme of things, the room is a lot more comfortable this way. Unfortunately, it does block the fireplace a bit and I’m not sure how I’m going to like that. I kind of wish we could get rid of the fireplace altogether.

Here’s the improved layout:

If anyone has any suggestions, I’d welcome the advice!

I’ve discovered this online community dedicated to “babywearing,” the practice of “wearing” your baby in various types of carriers. The term was coined by Dr. Sears, the author of many child rearing books and the man behind the attachment parenting philosophy. The website is The Babywearer and it’s full of carrier and vendor reviews as well as a message board where moms (and dads) discuss babywearing and parenting in general. Julianna is usually happiest when she’s being held, so finding the perfect carrier has been important to me just so I can function throughout the day. There are many different types of carriers - pouches, ring slings, mei tais, wraps … the list goes on. I started first with a Baby Bjorn, which is OK but not all that comfortable. Then I purchased a Babyhawk mei tai, which I’ve been pretty happy with - it’s much more comfortable (and good looking) than the Baby Bjorn. I recently purchased a Hoppediz (a German brand) wrap from Attached To Baby which I LOVE. It’s a bit of a learning curve to wear it correctly, but it’s extremely comfortable. Now I’ve got my eye on the Didymos (another German brand), which is referred to as the “Rolls Royce of Wraps” according to the babywearing community. There are many videos on YouTube from parents demonstrating how to use these things. One of my favorites is this video from a woman in Germany - I can’t understand a word, but it doesn’t matter:

Isn’t this the cutest little bunny stuffed animal? “Stripes the Bunny” is available for $20 at http://www.modernseed.com.