A Little of This & That… Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family
A Little of This & That… Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family

Momma Musings… Part 2

Back again with another round-up of Momma Musings from three fabulous bloggers who are sharing their favorite (and most unexpected) parts of mommyhood as well as the one baby or nursery item that they can’t or couldn’t live without! (Part 1 found here.) A big thank you to these ladies who are helping to fill in posts while I figure out how to juggle two littles while not going totally crazy. Be sure to check out their blogs, and I hope you enjoy!

Momma Musings Feature | PepperDesignBlog.com

Emily has the most adorable family of seven – with her most recent additions being twins that she welcomed in May of last year! I wholeheartedly agree with her love of baby sleep sacks in answer to q #2, Taylor is sleeping on my shoulder in one right now.

Hi, I’m Emily from Emily A. Clark, and I’m happy to be filling in for Morgan while she adjusts to becoming a mommy of two.  (I remember that being a pretty major transition for us!)  We added twins to our brood last year and are still figuring this out day-by-day.  I obviously have lots of thoughts on being a mommy, and was happy to help when Morgan asked me to be her guest for the day.

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? Before I had my first baby, I never really thought much beyond what it would be like to hold that little body, change diapers, kiss his cheeks a million times.  I really thought those were the best days.  And, although the early days, months and years are good ones, I’ve been surprised to find how wonderful it is to watch them grow and develop into their own person.  I love that I’m now able to have a real conversation with my older kids and that they’re starting to get my sense of humor.  I love to see them interact with each other, find things they love doing, and how they respond to the world around them.

Momma Musings Feature | PepperDesignBlog.com

2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? Baby Gap Bundlers.  I’ve had these little gowns with every baby after my first.  They are super soft and wash easily.  And, they’re the best for middle-of-the-night diaper changes when you’re way too bleary-eyed to figure out 27 snaps on a footed sleeper.

Momma Musings Feature | Baby Gap Bundlers | PepperDesignBlog.com

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Momma Musings Feature | PepperDesignBlog.com

Katie is mom to Will and Weston and blogs about all things life (and renovations on their home in Georgia) at Bower Power. Her photoshop tips are always much loved and her humorous style of writing keeps me coming back for more (and more). Love her comments today about smiles!

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? My absolute favorite part of mommyhood is when the little one first smiles at you. I feel like in that moment the rest of the world completely disappears and everything is perfectly perfect. I feel like it’s such a lesson in how to deal with people too…that a big happy smile is hard to resist and that everyone has a deep overwhelming need to feel loved. It’s amazing how much love lives in a smile.

Momma Musings Feature | PepperDesignBlog.com

2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? My boys could not live without their comfort items – the paci and lovie.  If my kids are tired and don’t have them?  Life.  shuts.  down.  Each boy chose a very specific paci and it is our life-line every day.  We keep only one pacifier for each for their first two years of life and we plan on putting them in a shadow box to display when we are done with kids.  We also love the Angel Dear Lovies…and the boys must have them snuggled on their face to sleep.  It’s the ultimate sleep-aid.

Momma Musings Feature | Angel Dear Lovie | PepperDesignBlog.com

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Jenna is a soon-to-be mom of three (and the first two are just adorable) as well as the brain child behind A Mama Collective, a site full of savvy (and mostly green) posts on parenting written by a collection of mommas. I happen to know this momma personally and she is often my go-to on all things cloth diapering – and in regards to question #1 below, I can’t wait to experience it with my two girls! and to #2, I love me some baby wearing!

1. What is your favorite (and perhaps most unexpected) part of mommyhood? My favorite part of mommyhood would definitely be watching my children grow in relationship with each other. I always thought that you just raise a singular person, a person separated from their surroundings and others around them – as opposed to understanding that they are being raised in communion with others – namely my other children.

The relationship that my daughters have as sisters who are 18 months apart is probably the most incredible thing I’ve witnessed. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to see their growth with each other, knowing that it will probably be one of the strongest relationships of their lives.

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 2. What is/was one baby/nursery item you can’t/couldn’t have lived without? I couldn’t live without some sort of babywearing device. Whether that be an Ergo, a wrap, or a ring sling – life just wouldn’t be the same. Especially now that I will be balancing two toddlers and a newborn, I know a babycarrier will be just what I need to stay sane. That is definitely the most invaluable baby item I couldn’t live without.

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Thank you wonderful mommas for sharing your thoughts today. More Momma Musings from guest bloggers Stefanie (Brooklyn Limestone), Sherry (YHL) and Emily (Jones Design Company) in Part 1, here.

This mini series is open to all bloggers! If you’d like to participate, please feel free to send over your answers to the two above questions to: morgan at pepperdesignblog dot com. Your answers are always welcome.

Get Your Paint On…

What a beautiful weekend! We headed out for a hike on Saturday and on Sunday, while Kev was busy working and I was home alone with the two littles (the adjustment is still total chaos, moms I don’t know how you do it), I finally set aside some time to get my paint on. Color has been on my mind lately and adding some big splashes of bold summer brights to the walls in our master bedroom and office are high on my list of hopeful to-dos this month.

I figured that now is as great of a time as ever (and I’ve been waiting oh. so. long.), so I set Liv up with her easel and put baby Taylor in the swing…

Painting Time! | PepperDesignBlog.com

And got my paint on. With Liv’s plastic paint brushes.

Painting Time! | PepperDesignBlog.com

Also present: an emergency pacifier, my crazy box of acrylic and oils, a computer, charging cell phone, a kitchen timer (peach crisp in the oven), that morning’s coffee (mind you it was the afternoon)… what more could a girl need? I could have camped out here for hours if the kids had let me.

Painting Time! | PepperDesignBlog.com

Painting Time! | PepperDesignBlog.com

Some might call the final result a perhaps slightly fancier version of finger painting… but I like to think I was channeling my inner Michelle Armas and Jen Ramos and I’m super happy with the final look. I’m envisioning an awesome gallery wall in my near future.

July Finds… An Inspiration Board

Sometimes I find something so sweet or inspiring that I love to share it here. It’s been a few months since I’ve posted a round-up of favorite finds (here’s March, February and January, for example), but this July there has been plenty of glittery gold, tribal blue and moose-brown leather that has made me smile (and second guess budgeting). Here’s a list of favorites at the moment:

Favorite July Finds | PepperDesignBlog.com

Caitlin Wilson has a line of gold pillows (the sparkly, shiny sort of gold) that make me want to redecorate the couch (again). How pretty! I left my beloved fedora hat in the rental car when we were in Spain in September, now that summer is here I’m itching for a new one. Liv loves to carry around my camera (she’s not supposed to but she manages to find it…) and I’ve been thinking that a cute wooden Etsy one that is hers might be the solution here.

How pretty is this Anthro dress? And I might be hanging this brass geometric planter in the new nursery (the shape is so structural and awesome). I’m on the hunt for an attractive cross-body leather bag that has form and structure (to easily find a spare diaper or sunglasses) and this one is pretty reasonably priced (but I might need something slightly bigger now that I think about the contents of my diaper bag…). Oh man I’d love this slipper chair for the living room! Just found out West Elm sold out of the ‘moss’ velvet color but that ‘lagoon’ is awfully pretty, too. Maybe a Craigslist DIY if I can find a similar form?

Happy Thursday! Once I work through my pile of to-do’s, the girls and I are off to the zoo to enjoy this cooler July afternoon.

PS You can find all of the inspiration boards posted on the blog here.

PPS TOMS are on Zulily today, just ordered Liv two pair in her next two sizes up and am thinking about these for me.

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