Daddy's Little Helper

Grandma and Grandpa W are giving Tyson a playset for his birthday.  Grandpa delivered it to our house on Sunday and Ryan got right to work putting it together.  Tyson decided he would help Daddy :)

Tyson has no idea what he's helping with, but we're sure he's going to love it when it is all set up.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa W!

22 and 23 Months Long Overdue

I have been a total slacker when it comes to blog updates, but I promise I have an excuse. There has been a lot of preparation going on in this house for our baby girl's arrival in a little over 3 weeks. More on that to come.

Dear Tyson-

You amaze us every single day. You are such a loving, funny and sometimes challenging little boy. I'm guessing you weigh a little over 32 pounds and I'm not sure how tall you are, but I swear you grow taller by the minute. We'll find out exactly how big you are in just a few weeks at your 2 year appointment. You can still wear some of your 18-24m clothes, but we're quickly transitioning into 2T because your clothes are getting too short. I'm just anxious for real spring and summer weather so you can wear clothing that fits! You're still wearing a size 5 diaper and I can't imagine that will change any time soon.

We've been talking a lot about your baby sister that's on the way. You point to her crib and say "baby sister". You also try to lift my shirt and look for her. As much as I'm excited for you to meet her, I'm also sad that you won't be my baby any longer. I'm trying to take every minute I can to snuggle you (or as you say "nuggle") and tell you how much I love you. It often brings tears to my eyes as I put you to bed at night. Just tonight, without prompting, you said "night night baby". It made my heart melt. Speaking of sleep, you're a great sleeper and Daddy and I often comment about how lucky we are. You're in bed most nights by 8pm and sleep often until 7am or later. You're on to one nap per day, usually around lunchtime, for about 2 hours.

Eating is a daily struggle. You love your milk, but you're still incredibly picky about what you will and will not eat. From what I hear from other moms of toddlers, it's totally normal, but frustrating for Mama and Daddy. We can almost guarantee that you will eat bananas, cheese or homemade banana bread.

You recently started combining words and repeating everything we say. You like to say "hab it" (have it) and love to point out what's going on with the weather. Being outside is your absolute favorite and all of the recent rain has put a big damper on that. You also love to take walks to the pond near our house to see the ducks.

You're much too busy to read many books right now, but you love to play with your toys and you play very well by yourself and with Lauryn. You and Lauryn also love to watch the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but I really think you are learning a lot from it. You know many of your letters by sight and know some shapes and colors.

You're so close to being 2 and it's obvious in many ways. We are amazed at how much you've changed in your second year and we're excited to celebrate your birthday with you.

We love you sweet boy,
Mama and Daddy

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 :)