A girl and her Helper Tower

This post is way overdue, but the bonus of that is that I've been able to add more photos, so let's just call it a win, OK?

Sometime in 2012 I read this blog post and got to thinking about how I'd love for Elle to have a Helper Tower. I tried to think about anyone I knew that might be able to build it, and I contacted a mommy friend from one of our mommy/baby groups - her husband is a carpenter and I wanted to know if he thought this was something he could do. While I totally think he'd do a great job, the price he quoted was much more than the retail price of the tower. So I went back to the mental drawing board.

We were planning a trip home for Thanksgiving - Elle and I drove up and Tim flew up and drove back with us. (It was during that trip that we announced we were pregnant with Wesley.) With the pending trip in mind, the gears started slowing spinning as I thought about who might have the tooling needed to make this tower.

I contacted my brother-in-law, Jeff, because I knew that he loves building stuff (we share a love of furniture assembly that few people can fully understand unless they're passionate about furniture assembly, too), and I knew that he had inherited some of my grandfather's woodworking tools and equipment. While I wasn't sure exactly what tools he had or would need, my first inquiry of him was if he was interested in attempting to build the tower for Elle. I sent this tutorial and explained that we could bring it home with us on our Thanksgiving road trip, which would eliminate the biggest issue of the Ohio-built, Florida-dwelling piece right away. Lucky for us, he was interested and willing and presented it to Elle as an early Christmas present.

Jeff took extra time to paint, decorate and personalize the tower - it turned out absolutely awesome. Elle spent some time checking it out:

And we've since used it for all sorts of baking and cooking fun in the kitchen: 

Pizza fun!

Helping Daddy make popcorn.

Making brownies with Aunt Marti.

Quality control.

It takes up some space in our dining area, but it's been an awesome, safe way to have Elle involved in the kitchen, and she loves it :) We're so thankful Uncle Jeff could help make this idea a perfect reality!

Business fun and a giveaway

For the last few years, I've had a business designing custom wedding invitations, programs, menus, birth announcements, birthday invitations, etc. I was figuring out the business side of things and getting a groove (and a steady customer base) when I got pregnant with Elle, was working two jobs and going to college for continued education. Needless to say, the design business didn't get a lot of extra love poured in to it, and aside from a few requests from friends and family over the last 2+ years, I hadn't been doing much business.

But last year, I attended a friend's wedding and decided to make her a special, personalized gift. I created a custom print based on her wedding invitation, and I matted it and framed it and gave it to the lovely couple. And they loved it. My friend has mentioned several times how special it was to them and how much they loved being able to frame the reminder of their special day in their home for years to come.

An 8" x 10" custom wedding print, matted and framed.

I started to think about other occasions I could give a gift like this - something so customized, so different and so appreciated. As I created birth announcement and anniversary prints, my design business, Media Bug Unlimited, was revived and revamped.

This time, I branched out and streamlined things by listing on Etsy and developing Facebook and Twitter pages. I don't do quite as many custom invitation orders anymore, but the custom prints have gained in popularity, and I love designing them.

What better way to remember your wedding day than
with a custom print of lyrics from your first dance?

I love working with my clients and seeing their orders take shape. And I love, love, love the positive feedback and repeat business I've received. I've designed company logos and blog headers since my unofficial relaunch, too, and am excited to see what new projects that future holds.

A birth announcement print to match a nursery done with a jungle theme.

I really, really enjoy the work that I'm doing, and I was excited when Molly at Stilettos and Diapers issued a call for giveaways last month. I love Molly's blog and have been a following for years, and I am pleased that my first giveaway is live for her "Celebrate the 1!" event - head on over and enter to win a custom print! And feel free to "Like" Media Bug Unlimited on Facebook, follow MBU on Twitter, check out MBU's Etsy page or e-mail me at mediabugunlimited@gmail.com.

Ten Little Us Things

One of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth, does a weekly post called "Ten Little Ivie Things." This week, she's making the post a link-up, and after reading her post and one from another favorite blogger, Claire, I thought I'd throw my post in the ring, too.

1. My new job is killing my ability to track calories (I use MyFitnessPal). Since we aren't allowed on the Internet, I either try to enter my calories the night before or in the morning if I have time and then just try to stick to that throughout the day. It's not really fun or effective.

2. BUT! Tim keeps talking about upgrading his phone (we have two-year-old BlackBerrys) for Christmas, and I am now convinced that I need an upgrade, too, because then I can get an app to track those pesky calories (and the rest of the stuff the phone can do is pretty cool, too). I did some in-store research last week, and while I'm totally in love with Apple products and had originally been convinced that the iPhone was for me, I'm actually leaning toward a Droid. Tim is pro-Droid, too, so it looks like we might be giving each other the gift of technology for Christmas :)

3. We also taught Elle how to say "DROID" like in the commercials, and that's pretty much the funniest/cutest thing ever.

4. In other technology fun, I'm waiting for our new laptop to arrive (this means instead of choosing between collapsing on the couch and playing on the computer, I can have BOTH!). We'd been saving for a little over a year, and I trolled the Cyber Monday sales and pulled the trigger. I can't wait.

Sick girl :(

5. Poor Elle is sick - she's been congested and has pretty much been a human booger since Tuesday. I hate seeing her sick - I know how miserable she feels. No one likes to not be able to breathe or sleep because they're so full of snot. I also hate that she seems to have shared her germs - I've had a sore throat today and feel like something might be coming on. Just in time for the weekend - yay!

6. I heart Michael Buble. His Christmas music, his non-Christmas music, etc. Just thought I'd throw that out there, as I'm listening to him on Pandora right now. 

7. Elle's big Christmas present arrived today! I'd been thinking about it for a while, and I thought that a play kitchen would be a nice, big gift for Santa to bring - one that Elle would grow with and enjoy for an extended period of time. I had been e-mailing with another favorite blogger (I heart blogs, yo) - her son is a week older than Elle, and they were getting him a play kitchen for Christmas, too. At first, I was committed to buying the IKEA kitchen for Elle. It looks cute, the price is good, and I love trips to IKEA. But then I saw a Black Friday cyber sale that I couldn't ignore. I ended up saving gas money, time and more than $60 on this one, which I think Elle will like. (And I'll go to IKEA another time.)

8. Tim was insistent that Elle get her own laptop for Christmas. But he was serious about her getting a working one - we're talking a Toshiba or MacBook here. I finally got him to agree on waiting until she's uh, a "little" older, and he was on board with this cute one that will also be under the tree:

9. I am loving ebates.com and ShopDiscover for my Christmas shopping. Cash back for buying things I need? Love, love, love. I scored some serious savings with Kohl's Cash this year, too. Also? I love ordering ornaments from Calliope Designs - they make awesome Christmas presents, and the selection is amazing. I think I've ordered from them for the last three or four years. Turnaround is quick, quality is high and the price is right.

10. I'm going bowling with a friend tomorrow. I haven't bowled in a year or two, and we're taking Elle, so this should be interesting :)

Linking up with E Tells Tales.

A special gift

One of my very favorite kids' books is "Love you forever." My good friend Lindsey had mentioned it to me about 1o or 11 years ago, and I purchased it for *my* mom sometime in the first years after my little brother Doug was born. It is a great book to give as a Mother's Day gift or for a first-time mother.

And even when I'm not riddled with pregnancy hormones, this book makes me cry.

A few months ago, I bought a copy for my friend Meghan, who is due with her first child about five weeks after me.

But I never got around to buying my own copy.

I mentioned this to Tim one night a few weeks ago - when Meghan's book had arrived, I had him read it so he knew why it was so special to me. I asked him to help me remember to add it to my list of "things to buy for the baby."

The next day, I got a text from my friend Jen, asking if I owned a copy of "Love you forever." I told her I didn't and explained how funny the timing of her question was, since I had just told Tim the night before that I really needed to buy a copy for us. She told me not to buy a copy - she had us covered.

The book arrived a few weeks ago, and it was one of those things that really hit home in a "Holy crap, we're having a kid of our own" kind of way. I absolutely cannot wait to read this book to Elle (and hope I can make it through the book without crying) and love that it is a gift from Jen and her family, especially considering her well-timed inquiry :)

Thanks, Jen! Now I'll think of you whenever I cry over the book, too :)

Work surprises

We've been really fortunate to have so many generous people in our lives and on this journey with us. In addition to the Ohio shower and Florida shower, friends and coworkers have been giving us gifts for weeks as Elle's arrival gets closer.

This week in particular brought us a lot of surprises at work. On Thursday, my coworkers presented me with an absolutely adorable and delicious cupcake cake, a sweet card, generous gift card and gorgeous personalized frame with Elle's name engraved on it.

Mmmm, cupcake cake ...

On Friday, Tim arrived at work to find his cubicle covered in wrapping paper (thanks, Kelly!). A bunch of his coworkers chipped in to purchase two awesome gifts from our registry.


Elle the Breaking News Magnet will be sure to make appearances at the offices to thank everyone personally!