Deck furniture

 

Ah, the deck.

It's 99% complete. And the part that is complete is the part that I care about...so that under the deck side stuff that isn't finished...well, outa sight outa mind.

 

Next step: furniture. After scouring the internet I finally settled on a set right at Home Depot. Andy was hot for a couchlike style, so that's what we went with. Now, the deck, I think I mentioned it's kinda big...so we needed more furniture than just that set. And guess what, deck furniture equals expensive. I could think about throwing down for another set of furniture if I lived somewhere I could use it for more than three months, but alas, here we are in the arctic tundra. Oh yeah, and I'm cheap.

 

We still had a table and chair set that we received as a gift for our wedding...eight years ago. Beige, pretty worn out and not really fitting in with the new stuff. 

 

Light bulb!

 

Could I paint it? Why not try? If it failed, I'd just throw it and not get the $20 the set would've fetched on Craig's List.

 

 

Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze - any surface. Boom:

 

One can of spray paint = new chair.

 It totally worked. And looks great. I sprayed it all. The arms, the seat. I was worried about the spray paint scent staying on the mesh seat and as much as the internets told me it was fine...I was still hesitant. No spray paint smell at all. And no, it doesn't rub off when you sit on it.
 

The metallic ORB color and texture covered any wear and tear from the past 8 years. 

 

 Table too! I used press and seal wrap to section off the glass table top.

 

Reminder from Mom to me to you: don't forget to cover the under side of the glass too.

And I'm now making a collection of other stuff I can ORB. New addiction.

Back to school

What is it about back to school that sets me into a squeeze it all in, the summer is ending frenzy? I have no children in school, I'm not a teacher, it's supposed to be 95 degrees this weekend and yet something tells me I need to relish these last few days.

 

And so this week, that's what we've done. We headed to the lake for the weekend with the fam and I took today off to crash Dave and Kristy's vacation week at the lake with the Miss.

 

 

 

 

Toes

 

These toes.

 

After a little mommy mani pedi, they are looking like cute baby girl toes again.

 

And that color? Lucky Lucky Lavender.

 

Remember that color? The one that I wore throughout my first IVF journey and pregnancy? Yeah, that one.

 

Now on these sweet toddler toes.

 

Lately, life has been a bit chaotic. From work to home, it's easy to get caught up in the day to day frustrations of life. The dinners that go untouched by little toddler hands, only to end up hungry and whining for a snack an hour later. (And if she is touching the food it's likely being dunked in her milk.) The limp noodle body that isn't interested in getting dressed in the morning. The outfit that isn't quite right because she didn't pick it out herself and now she's crying hysterically. Or that outfit that she's happy to wear because she picked it out herself and it shows in the striped shirt, polka dotted skirt, Halloween socks with Keens and headband. And the bedtime. Oh thank God we got that under control because I was about to lose it.

So these Lucky Lucky Lavender toes are exactly what I needed. To bring me back. Back to cherishing every minute. Back to taking in her toddlerhood and all the craziness that goes along with it. Back to remembering just how Lucky Lucky I am. 

 

 

 

 

Golfing

 

This past weekend we loaded up the kiddo and headed out to Oxbow. Andy has been promising to take her golfing and on a most gorgeous of afternoons, we finally made it happen. It was going to be a family affair but while we were packing up to go Mom stopped by to drop off some treats and in return we gave her Ethan. That worked out well for us didn't it?

 

 

 

Emmie loved golfing. She told Andy good job and clapped every time he hit the ball and on his practice swings she made sure to point out that he missed the ball. It was pretty entertaining.

 

And then....we let her run. She didn't want to ride in the cart on one hole...so she ran. The ENTIRE length of the fairway. We kind of felt like we were on a small town road letting our dog run by the pickup, but she loved it!

 

Taking back the night.

TWENTY SEVEN.

Twenty seven times the little Miss popped her little Miss head out of her room before she finally fell asleep.

I'll start from the beginning.

Em has always been a good sleeper. Through the night at three months. Cried it out in a couple nights. She even surprised us with a smooth transition from crib to bed. And then a few weeks ago...the jack in the box thing started. First to go potty, then she needed water...the toddler usual. And then it turned into just getting up...over and over and over.

And one night, we maxed out at 27.  I remembered vaguely reading through the section of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and I know I remembered watching a million episodes of Nanny 911 and it all seemed the same. Put the kid back to bed. Over and over and over.

And so we did.

But we said goodnight or tucked her in every time. FAIL!

The next day I reread Healthy Sleep and we told Emmie the bedtime rules were changing. Once you were in, you weren't getting out. And if you did get out, no lovin' there would be. We even had Nana and Great Grandma confirm those were the rules at their houses too.  And so, that night...we said good night. We said I love you. And we walked out.

Minutes later she followed. This time there was no exchange, no good night, no tucking in from Mom or Dad. Just right back to bed.

She popped out less than ten times. Better!

Last night it was once.

And tonight.....SHE STAYED IN BED! Hallefreakinlujah! She stayed in bed!

I sat in the TV room and silently waited and silently cheered and silently knocked on wood when Andy asked if she had been up.

Is it weird to have such a sense of accomplishment? Or is it relief? I don't know...either way, I like it and I hope it continues!

9 months and a few days

How can it be? How can this baby boy of mine be 9 months old?!

 

I just want to eat him up. He is so sweet and smiley and laid back.

 

Emmie recently started calling him Eth-Mike and we followed suit. First because it was funny, then it just kind of stuck. She used to only call him Ethan Michael and apparently that got to be too much, so she shortened things up.

 

So the boy. At his nine month appointment he checked out a-okay other than his flared up eczema. He is in the 22nd percentile for weight and 18th for height.

 

He is finally, kind of sleeping through the night. He loves his paci and has two little bottom teeth.

 

And he finally started crawling. Not that we're encouraging it. It's great that he's reaching his milestones and all, but he's also reaching that choke hazard toy that Emmie left behind, or the ponytail holder she dropped, or the safety pin that was embedded in the carpet...not that that would actually ever happen, that one is just hypothetical because no way my nine month old was holding an open safety pin this morning, no no that wouldn't happen.

 

Jammie day at school today!

Shopping and snoozing.

I was off again this weekend to the annual girls shopping weekend. Thursday to Saturday. Friends. Shopping. Eating. Drinking. To say it was fantastic would be an understatement. There was laughing, there were deals, there was drinking (to make up for my sober trip last year) and then there was this:

 

 

What the hell? This was the scene as we walked upstairs into the showroom of Ikea. Just snoozing away. I mean, I can understand testing out the couch, I can even understand maybe how one could doze off after a long day of Ikea-ing, but to full on cuddle up under coats and or blankies, well that's just caarazy!