some befores and afters

Our renovations are complete! And I am happy to report that our marriage was not tainted by it :) What started as simply replacing the flooring turned into new paint, new baseboards and casings, new TV and stand, and painting the kitchen cabinets. It was all stuff I have been wanting to do for awhile, and if we were taking the baseboards off, it would be a perfect time to paint....then keeping the baseboards would require way too much effort....and I might as well paint the cabinets before the new floors are in....and so on and so on. I have one wonderful husband for being willing to let me indulge in my ideas!

The past few weeks have been exhausting with most of my "free" time being spent researching, deciding, buying, and prepping. Of course it was completely worth it as I am SO in love with the end product! See for yourselves-

{this picture kind of makes the paint look blueish, but it's a nice, clean grey. Oh and for those of you wondering, the color I chose wasn't any that I had up on the blog earlier!}

{luckily it was only one weekend with our house torn apart...that was by far the worst part}

{Annndd, the white cabinets. I love how bright it is now!}

{a few details- my kitchen rugs that I am also in love with; and my DIY pottery barn mirror...thanks for the idea pottery barn, but you can keep your $700!}

One last look.

I know I might regret getting that ivory rug, but honestly, it's perfect and there isn't any other color that would have looked as good. Maybe when I have to clean it I won't be so smitten with it, but for now, I am.

We never would have been able to do this without the incredible help of our family and friends. We had loads of help (manual labor, tool lending, baby watching, dinner providing, etc) and feel so grateful that we have such willing people in our lives. Thank you all!!

18 months

Buddy boy is now 18 months. He has officially turned into a full-blown toddler (I still call him my baby...I'm having issues accepting this transition).




Toddler-hood has brought all sorts of new things:

Non-stop chatter. Seriously, he does not stop talking. And, most of the time we can understand what he's saying. He's such a good little talker- he repeats everything we say. He's been saying more and more phrases: "me, mo ca ca" (please more crackers), "no no puppy", "oh no! ___ fall down" (everything "falls down" these days- 99% of the time nothing has really fallen down), "read mo book" (read more book), "read it mommy", "steenty bum" (stinky bum), "bye bye bus"-just a few of the common ones. It's funny because he has always said "me" for please. Well, it started out as "plee" and then he shortened it to "me". He can say so many more complicated words, but refuses to say "please" right!



He definitely understands what he's supposed to do and not. His favorite thing is to say "no no mommy (or daddy or puppy)" when he's doing something he knows he's not supposed to. It's never "no no Beck"...it's like he's trying to blame it on someone else!

He's so goofy. This boy knows when he's being funny and loves to perform. He loves showing off how he can jump (squats down really low, stands up quick and goes up on his tip toes, never actually leaving the ground!), fake sneeze, and dance.

Is into everything. I shouldn't say everything, because he's not a complete tornado. He has set paths of destruction that he does over and over throughout the day- tupperware out, ziploc bags thrown out, pulls off the towel on the stove, pulls out most of his books, and "dunks" all of his shoes into his hamper. While he was into everything before he could walk, I will say that he makes more of a mess now because he can take things from room to room and drop them wherever he sees fit (or gets distracted). I am constantly finding cars in my lazy susan, socks in my makeup drawer and tupperware in his toy box.

He's still pretty obedient. I am constantly telling him to put things back and so now he wants to put everything back, which I guess is a good thing. I love that I can tell him to go get his coat, or to throw something in the garbage, and he'll do it. This new level of communication and understanding is awesome!

Hello tantrums. Yes, they've begun, but luckily they are still few and far between. However, the first sign of sleepiness is meltdowns over little things. I've been trying to ignore them and make him use his words instead of crying and that seems to be keeping the tantrums controlled for now.

On the flip side, he's so affectionate. His random kisses throughout the day are the most wonderful thing. Nothing puts a smile on my face quicker. He wins the hearts of even the most random people by blowing kisses (now with the "mwaa" sound) their way.

Still adores his puppy. Puppy is the 2nd thing he asks for every morning (Daddy being the first). We still battle with him throwing his food to Cooper, however, now he just looks at me, smiles, and says "no no" as dangles his food over the edge of his tray. Obviously "no" is not very effective in our house.

All in all, I couldn't imagine him getting any cuter than he is right now! He is constantly making us laugh and I squish his adorable face all day long.

i'm struggling

We're (we means me forcing husband) about to take on some home renovations, one of which is painting over the white on white that is throughout the majority of our house. The indicisive part of my character is not lending itself to be very helpful.

I've had these (this is only one wall that is covered in swatches!) up for like two weeks and am still not much closer to making a decision! I'm struggline because I want whatever color I choose to make a statement (otherwise, why paint?), but I am terrified of making it darker in the room (our house does not have tons of natural light).

So how about each of you come over and give me your opinion? But you have to come over twice, once with all the daylight and then once at night, because the colors change dramatically. Ok? Thanks!

ba-kee-ball

{Beck sporting his new "ba-kee-ball" shirt that he had to wear as soon

as he laid eyes on it. That meant over his pjs}

I have Grammy and Papa to thank for this obsession. My little brother has a hoop on the back of his door, and everytime we go to my parents house, Beck immediately asks whoever is willing to go "dunk" with him. Well, apparently holding that chunk of a boy up to the hoop gets old because my parents decided to put the hoop on one of the cupboard doors to their entertainment center. Hello, perfect! Now he could dunk over and over and over (which he did, and does).

Well the next day, that's all Beck could talk about. He literally said "dunking?" all day long. At first it was cute, then it got a little annoying. We decided to get him his own hoop and he couldn't be more thrilled. He now dunks everything- the balls, tupperware, Cooper's treats, his spoon, you name it, he'll dunk it.

I love watching him get so excited over the little things!

couldn't love them more

{sweet snuggle moment captured post-bath, pre-jammies.

Little buddy loves to have his back scratched these days}

I'm still not sure how I got so lucky to have these two boys in my life. Sometimes I wonder how it's possible that I keep on loving them more and more. But I do.

Now just so I don't end with such a mushy post- a funny story behind the precious photo above:

It had been one of those days. The crazy, busy, exhausting, all accompanied by a whiney child kind of day. The kind where I tell Travis that as soon as he gets home from working out, the boy is all his- I was done. Well apparently I threw in the towel too early because I brought him up from his bath to turn him over to his daddy and come back two minutes later to find them snuggling on the couch.

At first I was kind of bugged. I was the one who had been through the crazy day with him but yet daddy is the one who got the reward of snuggling (such is the life of the mom, right?). But I quickly realized the moment needed to be captured, grabbed my camera, and smiled as I took pictures of the two loves of my life.

we may have a problem here...

Why he insists on sitting 5 inches from the TV is beyond me. During his TV entrancements, I constantly pick him up and sit him on the couch, only to turn around a couple minutes later to find him right back here.

So question for you guys...how much TV do your children watch? Be honest. Before I realized it, Beck's obsession with "minnie" (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and "co-co" (Chuggington) got a little out of control. He was bringing me the remote and asking for either one all. day. long. I tried to nip that pretty quick and yes, he threw a couple tantrums when I told him "co-co" was all gone, but there has been major progress happening.

I realized part of the problem was the example I was setting. I tend to have the TV on randomly during the day while I'm working just to have something in the background. Once I stopped having the TV on, he stopped asking to watch his shows. It's not completely non-existent. A mom's still gotta have the TV as a babysitter sometimes for dinner time and shower time, right?

I've been feeling pretty good about only having one episode each (of "minnie" and "co-co") daily. That may be too much- I hear everywhere that kids arent' supposed to watch TV at all under the age of 2. To me, that's not realistic though. He still wants to read books more than sit in front of the tube, so that makes me feel better :)

I couldn't resist

Try and tell me you don't want to reach through the screen and pinch those cheeks right now?! This boy has the squishiest bum ever. And check out those saddle bags...equally squishy.

You may be wondering why the nakey bum picture. Well, buddy boy decided to do his business in the bathtub this morning. So this was while the bathtub was being cleaned out so that we could clean him for the 2nd time. Gotta love it.