Happy Valentine's Day!

We had a quiet Valentine's Day celebration at home. Ryan surprised me with beautiful flowers from him and Tyson. We made dinner at home of crab legs, dessert from PFChangs, and I made some delicious cookies to share with my coworkers. I was hoping to get a cute Valentine's Day photo of Tyson, but he was less than cooperative this evening. Hopefully he's in a better mood tomorrow evening.

Happy Valentine's Day all!

19-21 Months

Dear Tyson-

Wow, buddy, Mama has failed you and I'm sorry. I have not done your monthly update in 3 months! Clearly, you've changed so much in these last 3 months. We've had months of spending time indoors. I know you're as ready as the rest of the folks in the Midwest for the weather to warm up and just waiting for your chance to spend some time outside. You've changed in lots of other ways too.

First of all, you've grown so much! We had your 20 month appointment with Dr. R and you are one big boy. I'm pretty sure you grow taller every single day. I swear just last week you could walk under the bar in the kitchen and now you hit your head if you try to walk under it without ducking. Many of your 18-24 month clothes are starting to get too short, both in the belly and in the legs. Please try to hold on for the rest of the cold weather and not grow too much. Mama wants to start buying cute spring and summer stuff, not more wintery items! Speaking of spring and summer, we'll definitely be moving you into the 2T sizes. You've also gone up one and a half shoe sizes, into a 6.5 and we moved you into a size 5 diaper.

With the exception of your 2 year molars, you have an entire mouth full of baby teeth. We've started brushing your teeth at the sink like big boys do. It's sometimes a challenge to get the brushing done before you try to run away, but you like to take your turn brushing your teeth on your own after Mama is finished *really* brushing them.

Don't worry about that crazy hair and duck tail. We've recently taken care of that too!

We thought your language had exploded a few months ago, but were most definitely mistaken. It's impossible for us to count the number of words you say now, but it has to be in the 100-200 range with new words daily. You've also started repeating what we say, so Mama and Daddy are trying very hard to watch our language around you. You like to point out things that belong to Mama and the things that belong to Daddy throughout the house. We used to read one of your favorite books, Baby's 100 First Words to you and now you nearly read the entire thing to us. We point to a picture and you can tell us what it is. Colors seem to stump you right now though. Depending on the day, you can count to two and recognize a few letters, mostly vowels. I'll credit the Wheel of Fortune for that one. Throughout the day, we have several of the same conversations, but you like to go through the list of your favorite people and ask where they are. Daddy? Brooke? Lauryn? Baby Mo? Reggie? Jaime? Grandma? Pa? Last month, Daddy went on a business trip to Chicago. Every morning, you asked me where Daddy was and I told you he was in Chicago. By the end of the week, you were the one telling me that Daddy was in 'cago. Even now, whenever Daddy is not around when you ask for him, your first question is work? and then 'cago? You are one smart cookie!

We're slowly trying to get you used to the idea that you are going to be a big brother quite soon. There has been quite a bit of work on the nursery that interests you tremendously. Daddy's tools, noises he makes while working and all of the big and little wood pieces are very exciting to look at, point at and touch. You also now know that Mama has a baby in her belly and you try to look for your little sister by pulling up Mama's shirt. So cute.

We've gone on some outings, you've spent lots of time with family and we've spent a lot of time playing and reading. We took you to get your much-needed second haircut and Mama has already started planning your second birthday party. It's going to be here before we all know it, along with your baby sister. You're still a picky eater, but we try to give you a good variety of things we know you'll eat. We switched you to 2% milk and you didn't even notice. All in all, it's been a busy 3 months and we're amazed at how much you've grown and changed.

Helping Daddy cook during our snow day:



Spending lots of time cooped up inside makes us go a little crazy:



But Brooke brings you coloring books (and washable markers!) so you can be entertained. You look entertained by Mama taking your picture:

We love you sweet boy!

Love, Mama and Daddy

the Crown Molding Project

A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I finally convinced Ryan to put up crown molding in our foyer and dining room.

Dining room, before:

Foyer before:

More foyer, before:

Last before shot of the foyer:

The work begins! He taped off where the bottom piece of molding would go. We did a 3 section molding, with the crown in between. It gave us more of a stacked or thicker crown look.

My job was to paint the trim and crown pieces.

Installation has begun! You can see the top piece of molding (attached to the ceiling) and the bottom piece. The crown goes in between these two.

The finished product!

We have a small section of our foyer that is two stories with about 8" where there was a gap. Ryan just took the crown all the way across so we have two pieces that stick out a bit. It was a perfect solution to these weird sections.

Ryan did such a great job! It took a lot of convincing and it took several weekends of hard work. This was only his second crown molding project, but I think it looks completely professional. I appreciate his need to be a perfectionist and it turned out beautifully!

Valentine's Day Mantel

As I browsed through several of my decor and craft blogs over the past few weeks, I was inspired to do a Valentine's Day mantel.

I have always decorated a bit for Valentine's Day so I had some things on hand, but I did add a few new things this year.

First up, I spent yesterday making some felt flower balls. I found the tutorial at one of my new favorite blogs, Eighteen 25. I was going to attempt to make her heart shaped wreath, but after cutting so many 3" felt circles, I thought three flower balls was enough. Maybe next year!

I love the way they turned out! Not bad for $5 in styrofoam balls and $3 worth of red felt. It's a really easy craft if you have the patience to cut loads of felt.

I already had the silver pillar holders and the white pillar candles. I also put some Valentine's M&Ms in a glass apothecary jar that I received as a Christmas gift.

I also found this Valentine's Day subway art from Eighteen 25. A free printable poster...can't beat free! I had it printed at Walgreens in the 16x20 poster size. I did buy the frame at Michael's, but I can always reuse it for something else.

The heart garland was $4 at Michael's and I already had the LOVE sign. I'm pretty sure I bought it at the Target Dollar Spot last year.

I'm linking up to The Stories of A to Z Valentine's Mantel Linky party.

New Desk Chair

The before, a $9 chair I found at Goodwill, sitting in our messy garage (don't judge - we were in the midst of a big project at our house).

I had been searching for a ladderback chair for a while and even bought one on Craigslist. Unfortunately, that chair was super uncomfortable. But this chair was the total opposite! It was in great condition, no wobbly legs, cushy seat and uber comfortable, or as comfortable as a ladderback chair can be.




It just needed a touch up for our office. After a few coats of black matte spray paint and $6 invested in jazzy new green zebra fabric, it's perfect. :)



I'm so happy with how it turned out :)

20 month stats

Our pediatrician does well baby visits at 16, 20 and 24 months during the second year and Tyson's appointment was yesterday. We've got a big boy on our hands!

30 pounds! (90th percentile)
34 1/2 inches (90th percentile)

I couldn't resist this...Tyson and Dadddy "working" on their laptops together :)

Oh, the tantrums.

I know they've only just begun and are bound to get worse before they get better, but it just seemed to come on all of a sudden. (We had him checked out at his 20 month well baby visit just to rule out any kind of ear infection or other reason for the moods). My ever so sweet little boy has been throwing wild tantrums several times a day since Sunday afternoon. Who knew waking up from your Sunday afternoon nap could be so disconcerting?

Mama has now experienced her first public trantrum. At least it was in Babies 'R Us, but it still did not stop the glaring stares from strangers and pregnant soon-to-be mamas. Call me crazy, but I never thought my child would be one of those screaming kids in a store.

I have also experienced tantrums because it was time to eat, he finished something he liked or I gave him something he didn't, because we couldn't watch "Mick", his train ran out of batteries, or he couldn't find it at all and the list could go on. I know it's all normal and part of toddlerhood and sometimes his fits are downright funny, especially when we look at what caused it in the first place. I just wish they wouldn't happen so.much so quickly. At least give me some time to adjust to it first!

Amidst one tantrum yesterday, I did manage to teach him how to say the words "help" and "please". We've been working on please for months, but I think he finally got it! At least it's something positive.