blessed

She's more than two and a half months old, but I still can't believe my baby girl is mine. Sometimes it still feels a little bit like a dream.

Pregnancy was amazing to me. I was in complete awe of my body. It knew exactly what to do to create a beautiful child. I tried to help out by eating healthier and taking care of myself, but the process was truly out of my control. So strange yet so wonderful.

I have always wanted to be a mother. Now that I am, it just feels so natural, like something I was absolutely meant to do. I'm not saying that it is always easy, but it just feels right.

When I see her peacefully sleeping, or smiling up at me from her stroller, or cooing with excitement when she wakes up in the morning, I am reminded (often to tears) of how blessed I am. Honestly, I don't know what I have ever done to deserve such a beautiful daughter. She is absolutely perfect.

Not every day goes smoothly, and I know we will have many bumps in the road as she grows and changes, but I am looking forward to all of it. I am just so thankful that I was given the opportunity to be her mother. What a gift.

birthday cats

We celebrated my kitty cats' birthdays yesterday!

They got new toys and I made whoopie pies rolled in sprinkles.

Happy birthday, boys! :)

You're both crazy and you definitely keep life interesting (seriously, what cat climbs and breaks one of those cheapo clothes drying racks... after it's been sitting there, uninterestingly for three years?!), but I don't know what I'd do without you!

I always make sure to celebrate my cats' birthdays - usually by baking treats for myself! (I've come to the realization that I may just be using them as an excuse to bake yummy treats... but I am cool with that.)

For past years, see here and here. :)

nursery details: book wall

More diy details from my baby girl's bedroom!

The "book wall" idea is no longer very new or unique, thanks to Pinterest, but from the first time I saw the idea, I knew I loved it and wanted to use it someday. Luckily my husband jumped right on board and he helped me a lot with this little project (hanging things is a 2-person job at our house!).

This project was very straightforward... we bought picture ledges from IKEA (hint: these are in the picture frame section of the store, NOT the shelving section where I kept looking), hung them one above the other on an empty wall, and then filled them up with our little one's growing book collection. I see lots and lots more books in our future, so of course we will need a bookcase as well. But this is a fun, colorful look - visible storage as we would call it in the museum world. A way to decorate with the prettiest and most special books. And seeing the books all lined up makes it easier to choose what to read!

To see more details from my baby girl's nursery, please check out:

nursery details: crib sheets

nursery details: changing pad cover

nursery details: scooter mobile

safe-to-eat eggless cookie dough

Back story: I LOVE cookie dough. I am a cookie dough fiend. I often like it more than the baked cookies themselves. Needless to say, I usually sneak A LOT when I am baking. I know the raw eggs can contain salmonella and get me sick. But cookie dough is just so dang good that I eat it anyway. [my husband and I even got salmonella once from a batch of ice cream we made several years ago, but obviously the experience wasn't terrible enough to keep me from testing my luck.] When I was pregnant, I craved cookie dough... I don't think it was an actual pregnancy craving, because I craved it a lot before I was pregnant, but either way, I really wanted it. Once, when I was baking cookies, I snitched a little bit of dough, but then I felt horrible about it. It is one thing to risk my own health, but I was risking the health of my baby too! So I vowed to give up the cookie dough for the full nine months. It was tough. Then I found this recipe. (It was online somewhere, but there are so many different versions out there that I can't figure out where it came from... sorry!) No eggs... so it is safe to eat raw! It saved my life! Well, maybe not... it probably just caused me to gain way more than I should have. But it is super yummy and is now one of my favorite recipes!

It will seriously take you only about 5 minutes to make and you will wonder why you have never made it before. Seriously.

Safe-to-Eat Eggless Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup milk

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Just mix the ingredients up with a fork and you will have your very own batch of delicious, safe-to-eat cookie dough! Hooray! Stick it in the fridge for safekeeping. It firms up and tastes even better when it is cold.

You can add whatever else you'd like to the dough - I have added white chocolate chips, m&ms, coconut, and oatmeal. Anything goes!

Don't try to bake it though... it probably won't work.

My favorite way to eat this is: 1) by the spoonful... or 2) as a topping on vanilla ice cream. If you can think of even better ways to eat it, let me know!

You're welcome :) Hehehe.

friday photo drop

Thought I'd share a little bit of what's been going on in my life in photos from my phone. Because sometimes there just isn't time to get out the real camera. Although I need to do that more often! (By the way, does anybody know of any online classes - free is best - for learning to use a dslr camera? I have a new one and I want to be awesome with it!)

If anyone else wants to play along, please leave a link to your photo drop in the comments!

1. roses 2. new wall art (from dutch door) 3. bubby in my face 4. baby sunglasses 5. alyssum 6. polka dot shaker collection 7. mama+baby=love 8. cheery strawberry 9. handmade wooden cradle 10. scooter cat

To see other Friday photo drops, click here and here.

nursery details: scooter mobile

One of the most fun-to-make nursery details is the scooter mobile that I sewed. You can see the work in progress in my post here from a couple months ago.

I found a simple scooter image online and traced the individual pieces onto felt. Then I glued the detail pieces (seat, wheels, headlights, etc.) onto the main scooter and hand embroidered them on with a backstitch so that they would stay in place and look extra cute. I cut out two scooter pieces - one forward and one in reverse - for each hanging mobile figure. Then I sewed the two pieces together with a blanket stitch and stuffed them with a bit of polyfil. I added felt stuffed clouds to the mobile for a bit more adorable detail. 

For the frame, I used the inside ring of a round wooden embroidery hoop and wrapped it with satin ribbon. Then I hung the scooter and cloud pieces from the hoop using fishing line. I think it turned out just perfect and my baby girl is already looking up at it with fascination when she naps in her crib. The only thing I need to change is to lower it a little so that it is a bit closer to her and easier for her to look at. Right now it's right up by the ceiling! Nothing a bit of ribbon can't fix, though.

If you are interested in other details of my baby girl's nursery, please check out:

nursery details: crib sheets

nursery details: changing pad cover

straight talk

Can we chat for a moment?

* Firstly, if you are a Google Reader user, I'm sure you are aware that the service is ending on July 1. What's up, Google? First the Google Newspaper Project, then Picnik, and now Reader. Boo. Anyway, if you use Google Reader and want to continue following my blog, you have other options. Feedly is one good option, but I personally prefer and recommend Bloglovin'. It's simple and straightforward and it has a mobile app so that you can easily read your blogs on your phones or other devices as well. To follow Dandelions and Lace via Bloglovin', just click the button below:



* Something that's been weighing on my mind for awhile... since before my baby was born, but even more so now, is how to balance my blog with my family. I'm not just talking about finding the time to blog. Heaven knows that's been tougher with a baby! What I'm mainly talking about is related to sharing information - names, photographs, personal information. I've made a conscious effort not to share my little one's name (and I really, really want to because I love it!), or even my husband's name for that matter. And I try to be very conservative with my sharing of personal photos. There are too many scary people out in this world and blogging is too public of an activity. Problem is, the blogs I love the most are the ones that share everything - kids names and birthdates and photographs... The very personal-ness of the blogs is what draws me in and keeps me interested and involved. I feel like keeping my personal life private holds my blog back somehow... it certainly limits my blogging topics... but I just can't bring myself to jeopardize the safety and privacy of my family by sharing much of our private life. 
How have you dealt with this problem?

* Maternity leave goes so quickly! I knew it would, but oh my gosh! I realized today that after this week I only have 4 weeks left. That may sound like a lot, but not compared to the 12 weeks I started with. I love my work, but I don't know how I am going to be able to leave my sweetie at daycare every day.

* Yay for Spring! I think I'm going to go for a walk this afternoon. (Sorry, everyone who is getting/got snow... I promise I'm not rubbing it in and I truly feel bad for you guys!)

I thought I had more, but I guess that's all for today. I'd really love some feedback on my second point. Thanks for reading and have a nice day! :)