heart to heart blog

You have seen her on TLC’s “Trading Spaces” and “While You Were Out.” You also may have heard her on her radio show Money Pit. If you are a reader, you have probably fancied many of her fabulous ideas from her Shop Girl column in Country Home Magazine. I’m talking about Leslie Segrete! When Leslie isn’t knocking down walls, painting rooms, being a carpenter, seamstress, chef, designer and adding her amazing flare to homes everywhere- she is working on her latest and most successful project – being a mom to her son Henry.

I met Leslie at the NYC Boom Boom Room this May and aside from hoping to get design tips from her for my new fixer-upper of a home, I was very eager to have her blog for Graco because I love her work. Today she is going to tell us about her experiences as a new mom and her beautiful baby boy Henry. Stay tuned- in a few weeks we will be posting nursery decor tips from Leslie!

What is your favorite part about being a Mom?
Well, it’s only been a short amount of time, but I have to say everything. Had I known how much I was going to fall in love with this snuggly little man I would have become a mom ages ago. Everything about Henry is perfect, I know every parent says that but we all must really believe it’s true. He is just super adorable and everyday there has been something new to discover about him. Right now he is into smiling at his parents, which we, of course just eat up – whatever he wants he can have it!

What was your latest wondrous moment with your child?
Well we recently reached a huge milestone. I hate to even talk about it too much for fear of jinxing it. With a bit of work over a week and half we got our son to sleep through the night! He goes into bed after a bottle, bath, massage, and story at about 8:30pm and sleeps until about 11, then has a very sleepy bottle before snoozing away until 7am. Man, what a life he has. Did you notice I wrote bottle, bath, massage, and story, if only everyone could end each day this way!

What is the biggest thing you have learned now that you are a Mom?
It’s probably the ability to trust my own instincts. I never had any questions about my abilities when it comes to my work. I can figure out how to problem solve any design dilemma and know that my gut is telling me the right thing. When it comes to Henry though, I have really had to listen to my instinctive actions and trust that I am, and we are, doing the right things for my son. You have so many expectations to be a good parent and raise a wonderful human being that it can really cloud the fact that you know deep down what it is he needs and how to care for and completely love, this tiny person.

Is there a family tradition you are passing down to your child or have you started a new one with your own family?
In my family we really go all out for the holidays. Starting on October 1st the house will transformed into a Halloween fun zone with pumpkins, birds, scary skeletons, and glittery gourds. This transformation of our home goes all way through the first of the year. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I cannot wait to get the house all sparkly and pine scented and we are able to see the look on Henry’s face as he watches all of the colors and experiences the sights and smells of the season. I really hope that he will love all of the months ending in “ber” as much as I do!

What is your favorite children’s book?
My personal all time favorites are the Dorrie the Little Witch books by Patricia Coombs. Anytime the library has a sale or I spot one on EBay, I pick it up. I have almost the whole series and just adore the hijinx that little witch with her miss matched socks gets into with her cat. It is amazing how all these years after I was a kid I still love to pour over every page of those books. I have started sharing them with Henry but he looses interest (AKA falls asleep) after the first few pages.

What’s your favorite time of the time with your child?
It has to be first thing in the morning. When he wakes up, man, it is as if he is seeing the world for the first time again. He just beams with excitement. He smiles so big it is hard to get him to have is bottle. When he wakes up we bring him into our bed, I know don’t do it, but tell me you don’t just love it yourself! He sits with us while we have coffee and he has his bottle and we all snuggle and smooch each other and I just love it! My second favorite is when he falls asleep on my chest, he is just so delicious!

What is your favorite Graco product?
That would be a toughie. Given my line of work I have a thing for safety products. I have to say our Graco monitor has been very helpful. We put Henry in his own room when he was three weeks old. It was for the benefit of everyone involved. We would jump at every noise and he would never get any rest and neither would we. Using the monitor and having him sleep in his room, he still got his needs attended to but we all got some rest and we learned the ability to interpret each cry, squeak, and dinosaur sound for what that each demanded. And by the way, some of those crazy noises are nothing, just them testing out their vocal cords.