A Light Green Summer Baby Shower

I've been thinking about summer baby showers lately.  Hint: I have a near, dear, extra special friend who is having a summer baby shower.  Here is what I came up with - light green with some colorful macarons (my near, dear, extra special friend loves macarons...who doesn't?).

(image sources - see below)

Here's where you can find these treats:

Macarons wrapping paper from The Paper Source

Baby shower invitation from Minted.com

Paisley heart banner by The Paper Lake

Paper straws by Shop Pretty My Party

Oh Snap! onesie by Caustic Threads

The Art of Naming a Sibling

It's been over a month since my return to Next Stop Baby and, at long last, we've reached a baby name post.  Having another baby means choosing another baby name!  Happy happy joy joy!  Let's do some butt bumping a la Ren and Stimpy.

The first time you picked a name, you considered all the basics: how does it sound with your last name?  do the initials spell out something unsavory?  is it too trendy?  does it have special meaning?  The second time around, you have all these same considerations and the added consideration of whether it works with your first child's name.

Some people ignore their first child's name.  And, I get it...kind of...not really.  Okay, I don't get it, but I'm all ears if you want to try to convince me.

Let's look at a few examples of possibly problematic sibling name choices.  Baby girl number one is Aurora Moon.  Baby girl number two is Britney Amber.  You went way hippie on round one and way eighties on round two.  Another example.  Baby boy number one is William Robert.  Baby girl number two is Nevaeh Jade.  You went way classic on round one and way modern on round two.  Last example.  Baby girl number one is Olivia Jane and baby boy number two is Oliver John.  You basically chose the same name for both rounds.

While names don't create a person's identity, they do have a bit of influence.  There's actually science behind this (click here to read more), I'm not just making it up as I go.  So, if a name influences an individual, I don't think it's a huge leap to believe that the way names relate to one another between siblings also has an impact.  Perhaps the impact just adds to each sibling's individual identity or, perhaps, it also impacts the relationship between the siblings.  I'd love to hear what Bill Nye The Science Guy thinks of all this.  Maybe I'll tweet him...I hear he's pretty legit in the twittersphere.

I have no idea what the above means and not just he misspelled Italy.

If you still don't think that sibling names should relate to one another, head over to Nameberry.com and check out the "Sibling Names Forum".  That's right, there's an entire section of the website dedicated to parents who are agonizing over what to name a sibling.  Some poor parents are trying to name twins or triplets with older siblings.  Talk about your ultimate naming equation.

No need to freak out - unless you're freaking out with excitement, then by all means, get your freak on.  You will find the perfect sibling name.  You did it before and you'll do it again.  But, if you are freaking out in a bad way, just head over to Nameberry and seek the wisdom of strangers who have no stake in the matter and will pull no punches.  Seriously.  I bet you'll get some quick, real advice.  Good luck!





  

Simple (with a capital S) Toddler Valentine

Today, I'm venturing into unchartered waters here on NSB - I'm crafting.  Technically, I did the crafting last week and you're just reading about it now.  And, technically, crafting is a mischaracterization of what happened because I'm pretty sure that crafting involves skill and the following requires no skill (at all).  True crafters who make actual crafts will (understandably) poo poo my efforts, but I'm going out on a limb and sharing anyway.

Valentine's Day is nearly upon us (hint: it's this Friday).  This year, with the help of my delightful toddler, I decided to send homemade Valentine's to some long distance loved ones.  My little lady and I joined forces and came up a hand print heart Valentine.  Here is the play-by-play.

I bought red paint at Joann's Fabric.  The label said "washable" and "non-toxic", there were hand prints on the label...which is the centerpiece of the project...and it cost something like $5, so I scooped it.  I couldn't find a link on the Joann's Fabric website, but here is one on Amazon.

Before we got down to business, I did some quick prep.  The kitchen was our project site, so I removed all fabric items in arm's reach, including a couple dishtowels and a little rug.  I brought my daughter down to her skivvies diaper and put on an old t-shirt.  Even with the label saying "washable", I didn't want to take any chances.

At last, the fun began.  I squirted about 5 tablespoons (total guestimation) of red paint onto a paper plate.  I took my daughter's right hand and smooshed it into the paint.  Now, here's where one may argue that a slight amount of skill is involved: I pressed her paint-covered palm onto a piece of paper.  I had a stack of heather gray/brown 8x11" paper, but any paper would do (including standard white printer paper).  Sometime around print eight, she realized that she could make things other than the paper red.  Thankfully, I saw the bulb illuminate and immediately brought the project to a premature end.

Here is one of the hand prints.  As you can see,  it is by no means perfectly shaped.  None of them were, but they got the point across (the point being - this is the relative shape and size of my daughter's hand).

Above is the full paper perspective, so you get a feel for the true lack of precision - not only was the print itself smudgy, but there was no rhyme or reason as to where it landed on the paper.

The prints needed about two hours to dry.  Once dry, the mildly creative portion of the project began.  My idea was to use the shape of my daughter's hand to make a heart.  Originally, I planned to print both of her palms next to one another, thumbs touching, which I thought it would look like a heart.  But, after the successful albeit short-lived right hand printing, I called it a day while I was ahead.  So, instead of letting the hand print be the heart on its own, I added a little embellishment.  I made a faint outline of a heart with a pencil around the hand, using the shape of the hand to guide me.  Once my sketched heart looked relatively balanced, I traced over the pencil with a pink Sharpie, erased the pencil marks and added a Valentine's message with a fine tip red marker.  Ta Da!

Not too shabby.  I did another.  But, after the second, I couldn't take the smell of the Sharpie anymore.  My singed nostrils needed a break.  So, I switched to colored pencils for the remaining bunch.

Final step, I cut the paper in half (approximately), leaving me with 8.5 x 5.5" piece, which I then folded in half to make a card.  The hand print and note were on the inside and here is what I did on the outside...

I dug out a heart stamp and a purple ink pad (both were purchased from The Paper Source about 4 years ago) and fancied up the front of the cards with a heart or two (or ten) and the first half of the message (i.e. "Dear Mom" or "Dear Auntie").  Here's one to Grandma Rhoda.

And there you have it - a handmade hand print Valentine that is part adorable and part murder scene creepy.  I think our friends and family will love them...once they realize the hand print is made of paint and not blood.

Happy Valentine crafting.

A Refresher Post

Now that I'm back in the swing of things and (trying) to post on the regular, I thought it was a good moment to re-introduce you to what Next Stop Baby is all about.  Sure, you can go to the page "This Blogger" to get the general gist, but today I'm going to give you a bit more detail.  Just a bit.  Expectation setting tends to make for more successful reception.  So, whether you're just stopping by or have been following all along, this is Next Stop Baby.  Welcome.

I am the only writer for Next Stop Baby (with very few exceptions) and I write about baby related stuff.  Mind blown?  Not so much.  I'll keep going. 

I try to write about things that I know nothing about.  This may make absolutely no sense upon first consideration, but I actually think that I'm onto something.  By writing about the unknown I can (hopefully) lead a more neutral and balanced discussion - it's harder to be judgmental about something that I have no experience with.  It can be tricky to find things within the baby world that are completely unfamiliar because I have a baby.  Two babies, however, is unchartered territory.  Hence, the focus of my posts is the journey to baby number two.  

Once in a while I write about reality TV.  It's not that I get lazy, it's more that I genuinely love trashy television and can't help but share my love with innocent bystanders.  Even less often, I host a giveaway, which is usually the result of someone contacting me and offering me free stuff for my readers.  It's tough to turn those opportunities down, so I typically don't.

The slightly unique aspect of my blogging style is that I try to keep it relatively impersonal.  I don't give much detail about me, my family or my life in general.  Things slip in here and there for context, but I've stayed anonymous in many ways.  I'll admit that this is selfishly driven.  First, I'm a surprisingly private person, despite having a fully public blog.  Second, and even more importantly, I often write about a topic because I'm genuinely seeking advice and perspective.  By largely excluding my personal life, I'm forced to really research and consider the topic itself.  This also drives more feedback on the topic itself and not feedback on me personally, which I don't need (or want).  I get plenty of personal feedback from my mom, my husband, my friends, strangers in Trader Joes...

So, if you're here hoping for a diary of how I got my daughter to sleep through the night or the sentence-by-sentence recap of conversations with my husband about whether we're ready for round two or even just details about who I am and what I look like, you're going to be quite unsatisfied.  If you want to discuss how to choose a name for your second child or what double stroller is the best on the market, awesome.  Please join the conversation.  

And now, let's set more expectations: What do you expect to read about on NSB?  What are your other favorite blogs and why do you read them?  What about having a second child scares/excites/confuses you?  What reality TV are you watching these days?  What would be your dream giveaway?  

Thanks for reading.

Round Two: Surprise...or Not

When you were pregnant with your first, you have a sort of clean canvas upon which to decide whether you would find out the baby's gender.  Or not.  You consider a bunch of things, but mostly you go with your gut (i.e. I NEED TO KNOW...or surprises are the best).  Now, you're pregnant with bambino numero dos and you're once again faced with the decision to find out the baby's gender or not.

This time around, the canvas ain't blank.  In fact, this time around, the canvas is completely splattered and smudged and smeared with the loving art of your firstborn.  So, the considerations you had when making the determination with your first are probably going to be different than this time around.

For starters, whether you decided to find out the gender of your firstborn or not, you now know that he is a he or she is a she.  So, you now have gender specific things all over your house - clothes, shoes, toys, bedding, gear and countless other miscellaneous baby accoutrement.  Whether you wanted to or not, you've been gifted and otherwise accumulated lots and lots of girly or boy-ey (?) stuff.  If baby number two is the opposite gender, you may find yourself needing to (or wanting to) purchase some stuff that suits his or her gender.

They (tropical5 on Etsy) makes pacifiers that are blinged out with Swarovski gems.
You may want to go with something less...pink and sparkly for your baby boy.  Maybe.

There's also the fact that baby number one is around for this pregnancy.  Baby number one is following along, on some level, and may benefit from knowing baby number two's gender.  You may benefit from using baby number two's gender in your readying of baby number one for this major life transition.  Or,

And, what about the logistics involved with where baby number two will set up shop for the long run?  If you're going to have two kiddos of the same gender, it might be in your plan for them to share a bedroom.  Two kiddos of opposite gender may influence you to give everyone their own space.  This sort of decision is nice to make in advance because it gives everyone some time to emotionally adjustment and it gives you time to physically get the space ready.  

Perhaps the lavender decor is too girly for your baby boy?  

Perhaps the airplane decor is too boy-ey for your baby girl?

I didn't find out the gender of my firstborn.  I was miserable about it for the first trimester and most of the second...just desperate to know what my husband and I had decided not to know.  About halfway through my second trimester the desperation simmered.  By my third trimester I was pretty excited that we had kept it a surprise.  On the day that my daughter arrived, I was already sure that we would keep baby number two's gender a surprise as well.  I wonder if my mind will change when the time comes...