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Hello May

POSTED ON May 5, 2015 IN Life Adventures

nettiodesigns_hellomay

Woohoo, it’s May, my most favorite month of the year! This year May is extra awesome because in addition to it being my birthday month, we also have some pretty major life changes happening this month.

First we’re flying out to California mid-month because my little sister is getting married! She and her fiancé have been together for almost 11 years so it’s safe to say we’re excited to have him officially join our family. I was lucky enough to be able to design their wedding invitations and it was such a fun project that I can’t wait to finally share it with you.

Once we fly back from the wedding, we’ll be making the most major change of all: our time as a military family is coming to an end. That’s right, after almost 10 years of service, Adam is getting out of the Army. This is something we’ve been working towards (and debating) for many years so the fact that the time is finally here is both exciting and bittersweet.

Our current plan is to move back to our home state of California to be closer to family. Where exactly we’ll end up is still up in the air since it depends on the job situation but our goal is to end up somewhere in the Bay Area/Sacramento area so we’ll be within in a few hours of the majority of our family. I know the grandparents are counting down the days until they’ll be able to see their only grandbaby more often!

For me this transition has brought up a lot of mixed emotions, more than I expected. While it’s weird to say, the military has been the one constant we’ve had for our entire adult life and to think about it not being there is well…weird. Plus our favorite thing being a military family has always been getting to live and explore new places so moving back to such a familiar place feels like our grand adventure is ending.

It’s funny because I never thought in a million years I’d live in Texas, let alone have a child be born here, and yet now that the time is come, it’s hard to imagine leaving. But like most things in life, all good things must come to an end, and I’m sure once the pieces start to fall into place, the excitement will come.

Well that’s what’s happening in our slice of the world. What’s new with you?

POSTED IN Life Adventures

6 Months

POSTED ON December 19, 2014 IN Life Adventures

nettiodesigns_Ryan-6months-all

Ryan turned 6 months on Monday and oh man, it’s hard to believe he’s already half a year old. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye and yet, at the same time, it’s hard to remember what life was like before he arrived.

If I could sum up the past six months, it’d go a little something like this: Parenthood? Awesome. Breastfeeding? HARD. First 3 months? ROUGH. Baby smiles and giggles? My new number one fave. 6 Months? Best age ever. 

At 6 months, Ryan is rolling up a storm, grabbing everything in sight (usually with a bee line to his mouth) and even cut his first tooth this past week.

nettiodesigns_Ryan-6months-1and6

In some ways I’m in shock at how fast these early milestones have come. Weren’t you just born yesterday, little guy?

But at the same time I LOVE it.

I love how much he interacts with us now.

I love watching the little wheels in his head turn as he tries to figure out the world.

I love that it’s given me a new appreciation for all the skills we use everyday without thinking about them.

I mean, when was the last time you thought about how you’d roll from front to back? Or marvel at the wind in your face?

Right now as I write this he’s giggling at a tag on his play mat. A tag, people. Seriously, this kid kills me.

I’m convinced six months is the age most people actually think of when they think “baby.” They’re cute, they’re fun and they’re not quite mobile enough yet to be a total handful. Six months is hands down my favorite age so far and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

Happy half-birthday little buddy. We’re so glad to have you here with us.

P.S. Clearly stripes are a fave of mine. And green & blue. But that’s probably no surprise if you’ve ever seen my own wardrobe, haha.

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POSTED IN Life Adventures

This Summer In Pictures

POSTED ON October 15, 2014 IN Life Adventures

Do you know how you know you take way too many photos? When it takes you three days to move six years of photos onto an external hard drive. Holy moly. 

On the plus side, taking the time to move those photos off my computer freed up enough space that I was finally able to upload all of the photos I took during this summer – and what a summer it was.

nettio_ThisSummerInPics

This was the summer we…

Went from a family of two to a family of three

Held our baby boy for the first time

Were shocked at how two rather chill adults could end up with a lil guy who seemed so unhappy and miserable (poor guy!)

Rocked and shushed him for what felt like eons at a time (but was probably more like minutes)

Learned he’d lost almost 20% of his body weight during the first week and went on a mission to plump him up

Pumped (me) and fed (Adam & I) many many bottles of milk and formula

Washed and hung the world’s tiniest outfits many times over (boo spit up)

Drove many a mile in the car to keep him content and happy

Went on our first official date as parents (thanks grandparents!)

Cherished every moment of sleepy baby cuddle time (my fave)

Realized the world would never be the same the first time he smiled

Made it our mission to get him to smile whenever possible no matter how dorky it made us look

Dressed him up in the most adorable outfits we could find (bow ties for the win!)

Watched him grow through three sizes of diapers in the cutest prints I could find (dinosaurs! camping!)

Had visitors from California, Idaho and Chicago all travel to Texas to meet the lil guy

Took Ryan on his first trip to the beach and the zoo

Discovered the magic that is the swing and swaddle combo

Finally found a swaddle he loved but couldn’t Houdini his way out of (Halo sleep sack swaddle is our fave)

Spent many a day playing on the floor during tummy time

Marveled at how quickly he’s gone from a tiny newborn to a sweet baby boy

Nettio 1 month vs 3 months

If there’s one photo that sums up our summer the best, it would be this one above.

Despite a relatively easy pregnancy and labor, our little guy came into the world kicking and screaming and oh man, was he one unhappy little boy in those early days.

Now that he’s four months old (as of today!) we’ve thankfully gotten into a good groove (can’t recommend The Baby Whisperer E.A.S.Y schedule enough), but I’m not at all ashamed to admit that the transition to motherhood was, and still is at times, a rough transition for me.

Many a tear was shed in those first few weeks (both his and mine) and it took a good six weeks before I really had a full day where I felt like, “Hey I may actually be able to do this” and another six weeks before things started to gel. Don’t let the smiles and pretty photo collage above fool you, I had unshowered, overwhelmed, and in-tears-by-the-time-my-husband-came-home days just like anyone else.

So if you’re a new mom in the throes of newbornness, hang in there, and just know you’re doing a great job. As annoying as it is when people say this because it SO doesn’t feel like it at the time, it really will get better.

Now that I have the benefit of perspective and time, I can look back at those first three months and appreciate them for the challenge they were…while simultaneously doing a happy dance that those newborn days are behind us.

Love ya little buddy. We’re so lucky to have you here. 


Curious as to what I’m going to do with the photos I’ve taken during Ryan’s first year? (Currently 3700+ and counting!) Stay tuned because I will have more details of my plan to share with you soon.

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POSTED IN Life Adventures

May, Right Now

POSTED ON May 13, 2014 IN Life Adventures

NettioDesigns-May-Right-Now

With so much change on the horizon, today felt like a good day to capture a little snapshot of what life is like right now.

Right now I am…

Living in Houston, TX with my hubby Adam. This month is our official one-year anniversary of moving here. One year left to go here and then who knows where we’ll end up.

Currently 35 weeks pregnant. The first two trimesters felt like they flew by but much like the final months of a deployment, this final trimester is moving at a snail’s pace.

Writing this post early Tuesday morning on my iPhone from the comfort of my cozy bed.

Listening to the sound of the rain as it drizzles down here in Houston.

Feeling the baby kick, kick and kick some more. Mornings and late nights seem to be his fave which I’m pretty sure he gets from me. Will be fun to see if it continues once he arrives.

Giggling at just how lopsided my belly can become when he starts shifting around in there.

Waiting for all the nursery stuff to arrive. Pretty sure our UPS guy is going to know me well after this week.

Sleeping surrounded by what feels like a thousand pillows right now in an attempt to be comfortable. It’s all very princess and the pea-style at this point.

Eating more small meals these days and lots and lots of fruit (cuties especially).

Drinking mostly water but loving the occasional “margarita” slushie Adam makes for me.

Craving cheese and anything cold and slushy.

Disappointed I haven’t had any crazy pregnancy cravings. Pretty sure if they haven’t shown up by now they probably aren’t going to.

Wearing all maternity clothes now, mostly from Gap and Old Navy.

Laughing at the irony since those are two stores I never shop at normally.

Walking as much as I can to help alleviate all the pregnancy-induced hip pain.

Thankful for Adam’s last week of travel for awhile. After this he’ll be home for good until after the baby arrives.

Watching the season finale of Revenge. So good and now I can’t wait for the start of season 4.

Planning out the next few weeks of want-to-dos vs must-dos.

Checking items off our before baby to-do list slowly but surely.

Counting down the days until my birthday later this month.

Seeing it as the benchmark for getting things done.

Pretty sure baby won’t care if we get it all done before he gets here.

Gathering the courage to start sewing together the baby quilt.

Reminding myself that perfectly imperfect is very much the goal.

Thinking still about business goals, ideas and branding. Even with a baby on the way and impending maternity leave, I can’t turn it off.

Sketching out ideas for one last business idea before I officially start maternity leave.

Realizing I’d probably be horribly bored as a stay at home mom.

Wondering what exactly life will be like a year from now. Feeling a mix of nervous excitement for sure.

Crazy excited to be heading into this new chapter of our lives.

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POSTED IN Life Adventures

Nursery Mood Board: The Great Outdoors

POSTED ON May 8, 2014 IN Home Design, Life Adventures

I mentioned in my last post that if I were to choose a One Little Word for May, it would be ACTION because holy moly, do we still have a lot to do before our little guy arrives. At the top of our action list is the nursery so I thought it’d be fun to share a peek into what I’m currently planning for the design.

The Nursery Layout

To give you some context, we currently live in a two-bedroom apartment here in Houston which means we’re going to be turning our current office into an office/nursery.

It’s thankfully a decent sized room but the downside is that it only really has one full wall and corner when it comes to furniture placement which has made things tricky. The other three walls include:

  • One wall with an awesome bank of windows but low window sills (and we’re several floors up so safety is an issue)
  • One partial wall which holds both the door to the hallway and the adjoining bathroom
  • One full wall where the hall door swings in losing about 3-4 feet of usable space

After arranging and then re-arranging the furniture in this room, we ultimately decided to keep our desks along the one full wall and the window wall where they are now and use the other two walls for the nursery half of the room. We’ve measured it all out and while it’ll be a tight fit furniture-wise, we think we can make it work. Plus I like that this layout will keep the office and nursery areas separate rather than having say, a desk in-between the crib and glider or what not.

As far as storage, the room includes a large attached bathroom and a huge walk-in closet (so big my 16 square 4×4 Ikea Expedit fits into it) so we’ll be relying on those spaces heavily for any additional storage and since we’ll be moving again next summer, this layout really only has to last us until he’s just around one years old.

Here’s a quick visual to give you an idea of the layout:

Nettio Designs Nursery Layout

We’re planning to put the dresser on the half wall between the doors (it currently has an office stand with my typewriter on it – not sure where that will go) and then the crib & a glider on the wall with the door. It does mean you’ll walk into the end of the crib when you walk into the room but that should also mean we can peek in on him without too much trouble.

We’re also going to be moving the desk area along the windows over to the left a bit to give more breathing room around the chair/crib but since that requires me to move all my scrap/sewing stuff out of it first, I haven’t been motivated to do it yet.

The Nursery Mood Board

That’s our plan for the layout, now on to the fun part: the design!

Since the outdoors and camping are near and dear to our heart (the first gift Adam ever bought me was a tent and he proposed to me on a trip to Sequoia National Park) we thought a camping/outdoor theme would be a fun direction for the nursery.

Because this is a shared adult/kid space, I wanted the nursery side of the room to feel child-friendly without being too over-the-top cutesy.

For the color scheme, I’m sticking with blues & greens (my faves) plus some reds (Adam’s fave) as well as gray, wood tones and some gold thrown in there as neutrals.

I’ve been saving ideas for months and months on a secret Pinterest board so it was fun to finally put my ideas down into an official mood board!

Nettio Designs Nursery Mood board The Great Outdoors

1) Blue Danube Natura paint from Benjamin Moore: We used this for an accent wall in our living room so we already had some on hand. This is the third time I’ve used this color though so it’s safe to say it’s one of my fave shades of blue paint ever.

2) Be Brave Gold Foil Print by Charm & Gumption

3) Birch round from Michael’s: Found this on an end cap there and plan to add his first initial once it’s settled. For now I went with a J for Jackman.

4) Modern Moose Owl from Target: Just picked this up on Monday and they were on sale for $10. They had some other cute ones too (moose, etc.)

5) Let’s Go Camping Card from thelittlecanoe: We bought this at the Austin Renegade Craft Fair awhile back so I’m excited to finally have a place to use it.

6) Babyletto Skip Crib

7) Vintage Inspired Science Posters – FEATHER PATTERNS Vol. 3 by vol. 25: Got this for $10 off in honor of Mother’s Day – sale ends May 9th. I own like 4 or 5 vol. 25 prints already so clearly I’m a fan.

8) Olin Grey 2’x6′ Runner from Crate & Barrel: The room is carpet and there isn’t a ton of floor space so I thought this could work to add some pizazz to the floor. Plus the price is right for a rug.

9) Bright Moose and Squirrel Camping 6×6 Print by leearthaus

10) Charcoal Luca Glider from Land of Nod: This is our one splurge item for the nursery but we figure it’ll be worth it since it can be used well past the baby stage.

11) Elk Throw pillow by Tangerine Home: I don’t think these are sold anymore – we bought ours at the Renegade Craft Fair a few years ago for Adam’s man cave.

12) Ikea HEMNES 3 drawer chest in white: The size and price are right and I love the idea of possibly spiffing it up to be more custom. Thinking something like this but maybe not chevron since the curtains are already chevron.

13) Arrow Wall Hook from CB2: Not sure what I’ll use this for yet but it seems fun!

14) Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Zig Zag Blue Moon from Fabric.com (curtains): This is the fabric I used for the curtains that are already in the office. I originally made them for the living room in our last house but they’re working for us in the office. I may end up adding lining to them or adding an additional blackout curtain since that room gets an insane amount of sun. We’ll see.

15) Giant Sequoia Plush Toy from hitree: Kind of pricey but I’m seriously tempted to splurge on this since it’s so adorable and it’s a Sequoia!

16) Adventure a Day print by littlelow

17) Happy Camper Quilting Flannel by Allison Cole: I’m currently working on a triangle quilt for the baby using these fabrics. More details to come once it’s done!

And that’s the plan so far! Now to just get everything ordered and put it all together. Will be interesting to see how it works out and I’ll be sure to share the end result once we get there!

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POSTED IN Home Design, Life Adventures

Hello May!

POSTED ON May 1, 2014 IN Life Adventures

ND-HelloMay-Calendar

If you had been a fly on our bedroom wall this morning, here’s the conversation you would have overheard between Adam and I:

Me: It’s May! It’s May! (said in a really excited voice because I tend to get ridiculously excited about stupid things)

Adam: You seem rather excited about this.

Me: Well yeah, it’s my favorite month of the year AND my birthday month!

I admit, I get a little excited every year about the arrival of May and not just because it’s my birthday month and I love birthdays. (Start the countdown now, May 24th y’all!)

For me, May is always the first month of the year where things start to gel. Maybe that’s a sign I’m a late bloomer and it takes me several months to realize that yes, it is in fact 2014 now. Or maybe it’s because May is the first month where you’re officially out of the winter doldrums and past that awkward “is it winter or spring?” phase.

Either way, I love May because it’s the month where the days start to feel long, the world turns green again and the weather warms up. Spring is here, summer is on it’s way and it makes me happy and ready to get things done.

Last night, Adam and I went to the Foster the People concert here in Houston (the tickets were his birthday present back in March – it was awesome, by the way) and afterward we stopped at our local House of Pies for a quick dessert.

I’ve reached that point in my pregnancy where strangers are now confident enough to mention I’m pregnant but tend to not realize I’m as far along as I am. As we were standing at the counter waiting to order our pie, another customer who was paying turned to me and said “You’re about halfway there, right?”

In all honesty, it took me a moment to realize what he was talking about because despite the fact that I’m being jabbed in the ribs daily by a baby who seems convinced the way out is through the skin of my stomach, at times I actually do forget that I’m pregnant. Blame mommy brain?

Once I realized what he meant, I laughed and said, “oh no, I’m a little farther than that.” After which Adam chimed in with a “She has 7 weeks to go.”

I admit when he said that I did a double take thinking, “Wait, 7 weeks? Say what now?” Until I realized that yes, since I’m 33 weeks this week that means we have 7 weeks until my due date and 8 weeks until the little guy will be here for sure.

Holy crap.  

I think it’s safe to say if I were to choose a One Little Word for the month of May, it’d be ACTION. Because holy cow, we have a lot to do and a baby who’ll be arriving before too long whether we’re ready or not.

There’s a part of me that feels a little freaked out about that but a much bigger part of me that’s ridiculously excited we’ve reached this point of our journey. And much like May being the second-to-last month of school growing up where you’re so close to the end but not quite there, May feels like the perfect month to be preparing ourselves to make this transition from two to three.

Assuming (and fingers crossed!) the little guy stays put like he’s supposed to, my goal is to have all the major stuff we need to do knocked out by my birthday on May 24th, which would put me right at 36.5 weeks. Seems doable and well, you know how I like to tie goals to my birthday.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an afternoon date with my calendar and to-do list to finalize what all we need to do so I can start checking things off like a mad woman.

And you know, maybe squeeze a little scrapbooking in there too in prep for International Scrapbooking Day this weekend.

I admit, it feels a bit weird to the business-side of my brain for this be the first year in several where I’m not part of a mad scramble to finish products for iNSD but I can’t say I miss the frenzy and stress that comes with it either. I’m definitely much happier to be heading into May bright eyed and bushy-tailed, haha.

So with that I say, hello May! I am so excited to have you here.

Calendar is from Paper Source. 

Benefits Of Using Canadian Pharmacy

POSTED IN Life Adventures

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HI I'M LYNNETTE. Graphic designer, tech-lovin’ memory keeper and lover of bold colors & patterns, good food and the great outdoors. Here at Nettio Designs, I share a behind the scenes peek at my own creative & life adventures. Read more...

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