My First Mother's Day

The past week has been quite busy around the Kane household... My birthday, Mother's Day and Teacher Appreciation Week! I had a great Birthday and Mother's Day and definitely got spoiled by my hubby and the little stinker. The hubby got me a piece of art that I had really been wanting (for my bday) and then a spa day complete with facial and massage (for mother's day). Spoiled. Too bad I couldn't schedule the spa day until the end of June because we are jam packed with events every weekend until Zach starts residency mid-June! Oh well, it will be great whenever it is! 

Adventures in Sleep Training

First off, Happy 5 Month Birthday to my little stinker! 

Well, we started sleep training about three weeks ago. Spoiler alert - it works! It's pretty much the MOST AMAZING THING EVER. Here's a little recap.

We had been thinking about sleep training for a few weeks after a rough holiday season with a lot of interrupted sleep (baby with a cold + growth spurt + traveling = the perfect sleep storm). SO... we decided to start sleep training one night after two hours of trying to put Miss Emerson to to sleep. Two frustrating, cry-filled hours. We had been doing a strict bedtime routine for a week or so (this was also a huge improvement), which was working great to get her down. But, she would wake up after about a half an hour and then it would take up to two hours to get her back down to sleep. Goodbye nightly adult time... The past couple weeks I had also been getting very short tempered and cranky. I don't function well with such little sleep (does anyone?). She had also started waking up ever few hours again throughout the night (and this was after she had been doing good with 5-6 hour stretches). Dang the holidays and messing up our schedule! :) I was beyond frustrated. So, after some research on what to actually do, we decided to just go for it.

5 Baby Items I Can't Live Without (So Far)

Hi all! Now that I'm two months into motherhood, I thought I'd share some of my go-to items that have made raising this little girl much easier. Before we had Em, I was kind of intimidated about motherhood and the impending Ineedtokeepahumanalivenow mentality. I had no idea how to take care of an infant - the little bit of babysitting I did when I was younger was with older kids. I was very nervous and wondered if I would get the "mother's instinct." What the heck was this supposed instinct that everyone talks about. What if I didn't get it? What if I was so super awkward and didn't catch on? Well, turns out no matter who you are or what you do, it will be super awkward at first. BUT, it's amazing how things happen and you just pick things up. There truly is this feeling where you would do anything for your baby and you just figure it out as you go.

Anyways, motherhood is wonderful and here are just a few items that make my life much easier these days!

Baby Shower!

Last weekend was our baby shower for Little Miss BK. My Mother In Law, Renee, and our family friend, Rhonda, hosted the shower at Rhonda's beautiful house on Bainbridge Island. It turned out to be such a beautiful day - the sun was shining and we had a great turnout. So many fun stories and memories! It was such a great day!

The cake was beautiful! Renee even got the design to match the plates and napkins!

We played the "Can't Say Baby" game. You've probably heard of it. Everyone got a little pink clothespin when they came in and if you said Baby and someone can steal your pin. Whoever had the most pins at the end won (Kristy was the big winner)! I thought I would be set since I call her Little BK but no, I was out so fast. :)

Babymoon Reading List

Honestly, I don't read very much. I don't seem to have (or make) the time in everyday life. But, get me on a relaxing vacation, and I'm all about it. On our Arizona Babymoon I read four books! That's probably more than I've read in the past year altogether. Sad, I know. It was so much fun to relax and get lost in some great books, so I thought I'd share what I read with you (It was quite the variety, too!). I also started reading on my new (to me) kindle, which is flipping awesome. I love it - way better than trying to read on the kindle app on my ipad. 

The Night Circus

This book was good, but at the same time I feel like I need to read it again to fully "get it" and pick up on all the intricacies. In a nutshell - two illusionists are pit against each other to the death... with a couple twists, of course.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

Loved this one. But how could I not when I love Mindy Kaling so much? She's hilarious. Reading this book is like listening to her talk. So funny. In a nutshell - read about hilarious stories from Mindy's life, including The Office!

The Great Gatsby

I wanted to re-read this one before I saw the movie (hello, Leo!) and was glad I did. I remember reading it in high school and that is mostly wasn't very happy. In a nutshell - a dude tries to get back together with his lover from five years ago. It doesn't end well.

Gone Girl

I had heard the hype on this one and decided to take the plunge and read it since it had, you know, 10k+ awesome reviews on amazon. Why not, right? SO GOOD. In a nutshell - I can't even tell you because there are so many twists. Just read it. 

Name of the Wind (currently reading)

This one my sweet hubby suggested I read. It's one of his fantasy books that I don't usually like, but I thought I'd give it a try since he said it was so good. I'm about 25% in so far, and it is pretty good. I'm just waiting for the promised love story though... :)

That's it! Quite the variety, no? What have you been reading lately? This reading binge, along with my kindle might have gotten me motivated to keep this up! :)

50,000 and Apartment Therapy Feature!

We are back from our Arizona vacation (unfortunately) but we are so glad to see our puppies again! It's been a little difficult coming back to the gray clouds and rain... I miss the Arizona sunshine already!

First, I just wanted to say a big old THANK YOU to all of you for reading! We reached 50,000 page views this past weekend here on Make Bake & Love and that is all thanks to you! I have a lot of fun sharing my projects and pictures with you on this little blog and I hope you stick around for many many more. So again, here's a big old Internet/blogosphere hug from me to you. :)

In other blog news, our pregnancy announcement photo was featured on Apartment Therapy this past week! How cool is that?! Check it out right here.

Pregnancy Announcement Photo Shoot

My wonderful Daddio (he's a photographer extraordinaire) took some pregnancy announcement photos for us back in February so we could let the world know that Little BK was on her way. My favorite is above (even though you can't see our heads). I love it though! Followed closely by the one below.

It's a... GIRL!!!

We found out today that we are having a little GIRL!!! We are so excited. My favorite is seeing Zach so excited... she already has him wrapped around her little finger. :) The best part is knowing that everything looks great and she is a healthy little nugget. Now we are almost half way there! I know time will fly by, but I'm just enjoying this time right now (as much as I can with it being busy season). 

So, it looks like we were mostly wrong with our old wives tales guesses. Oh well. 

Now time for our favorite... the interview.

Boy or Girl???

Before we get to the meat and potatoes of this post, I thought I'd share our two ultrasound photos with you. It's still so crazy to me! Is this real?! The top one is at 8 weeks, the bottom is at 12 weeks. Our next one is next week (19.5 weeks) and we get to find out if Little BK is a boy or girl! I can hardly wait!

Our Very Exciting News!

Yes, it's true! We're having a BABY! So crazy and surreal still, but we are beyond excited! Both our families are over the moon since this will be the first grandchild on both sides (um, can you say spoiled?!). The official due date is August 23rd and we can't wait to find out (in April) if we will be having a little dude or dudette. Most of all I am just excited for how much this little kid is already loved (we are calling him/her Little BK, short for Baby Kane). 

Busy Season's Coming...

Husband is home finally. It's been a rough week. Rough. Week. I'm finally feeling a little better after staying home sick from work four days last week. Ugh. Isn't it the worst? Something's going around and there was no way I was going to be "that person" that still goes into work when sick. OK, I did try to go in on Thursday for a couple hours, but that plan failed and I was soon back on the couch at home. This, whatever it is - flu, bronchitis, etc. - was nasty. I was hacking up a lung, nose completely stuffed and utterly exhausted. Probably top three worst times I've been sick in my life. And Zach was gone (he's in Shelton for five weeks doing his OBGYN rotation - luckily home on the weekends). 

Happy 30th, Kevin & Renee!

The weekend before Thanksgiving we threw a quasi-surprise 30th anniversary party for Zach's parents, Kevin and Renee. Bethany, Zach's oldest sister (in red!) coordinated everything and the rest of us helped pull it all together. We had such a great time - the Kane's definitely know how to party!

My part in the process was putting together the invitations. It was a lot of fun creating the invites and sending them all out. I found a design I liked online and then made it my own for what we needed/wanted. I loved the invitations! I had 50 of them printed at a print shop for under 30 bones. They turned out great!

We had the party at the Raspberry Ridge Farm, a Bed & Breakfast in Poulsbo. The B&B is owned by some friends of the family and it is FABULOUS! We had the party in the barn, which was the perfect spot for a party/reception. The whole place (four bedrooms in the B&B, too) is decorated in vintage and antique finds and I loved it so much! I kept saying I wanted to get married again just to have the wedding there. Also, the rooms in the B&B were beautiful. The husband (he and his wife own the place) did almost all the woodwork in the B&B himself, including some amazing wood pieces. I should have taken pictures! If you ever need a sweet place to stay or party in Poulsbo, I would highly recommend the Raspberry Ridge Farm!

But back to the party. Bethany cooked all the food (and we helped), Jenn ordered the cake, we all helped decorate, my dad took pictures, and there may have been an incident with the ice... It turned out to be a great party!

Most importantly, we had a great time celebrating Kevin and Renee and their 30 years of marriage! We love them so much and they are such great role models for what it is to be in a loving marriage.

The whole Kane clan was there (minus one of Zach's uncles that was helping out with Hurricane Sandy...).

Even the whole Brown Clan stopped by!

We had such a great time, here's some of the party pics!

Can you spot the difference? PHOTO BOMB!

The food was ah-MAH-zing! Bethany did a fantastic job!

We printed out their old wedding photos and put them in mason jars with some ribbon and tinsel for the centerpieces.

This little guy and I were dancing! And then he peed on me... Haha!

This is probably my favorite picture of the night. Fits right in with the 80s wedding!

Happy Anniversary, Kevin & Renee! (Today is their actual 30th anniversary!)

Giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for so many things... here are just a few. 

My handsome, smart, funny, loving husband

Our awesome families

Our two crazy puppies

Our great friends

A steady job and a roof over our head

Funny comedies (The Mindy Project is my new fave)

Lots and lots of yummy food over the holidays

Rain boots

Warm and toasty fires 

Hot totties

The holiday season - my favorite time of year

What are you thankful for? I hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Photo found via

Cinderella Pumpkins

Have you heard of these?! Cinderella Pumpkins! They were selling them at Albertson's near Poulsbo last weekend and I couldn't resist (the white one and the deep orange one on the right are the Cinderellas)! They are super dense and heavy and have the cutest shape. I lurrrrve the white one and can't decide if I want to carve it or not. She's just so pretty (someone get her a glass slipper!). I know these aren't anything new, but apparently I didn't know they existed. They are so decorative and fun! 

Did you buy your pumpkins yet? Did you go to the pumpkin patch or get them at the grocery store like us? Are you planning on going all out with the carving? We have a little tradition in our house to carve something different each year (remember my power drill pumpkin last year?). Let's talk pumpkins!

Have a great weekend!