Past Week Happenings

We've had a super busy past 2 weeks, but they have great! Josh has been working hard every day/night with VBS this year! He (and the TONS of others) did a SUPER job!!! It's over now, so I get my man back! It was lots of fun and I think the kids enjoyed it! I had the toddler group and they were super cute. Several of them were from my Sonshine School class this year, so it was fun seeing them again. Ya Ya came up and stayed a few mornings to play with M during VBS...I'm sure she didn't get spoiled a bit;)

We had a brief first Father's Day for Josh, but will do the majority of celebrating tomorrow, now that VBS is over. I am so thankful that M has Josh as a father! You can tell she loves him so much! She loves listening to him play guitar every night, giving him "fist bumps," sitting on his lap while he's on the computer, playing keyboard with him, giving him hugs and kisses and she gets SO excited when he gets home from work! I think that's her favorite part of the day! Whenever I say "Dada's home," she immediately looks at the garage door and gets excited! She is an even happier child once Josh gets home. Thank you, Josh for loving our daughter so much, for being so selfless, for joining me on our crazy journey to parenthood, for making M laugh out loud, and for being such a devoted father to our little girl!!! She is so blessed to have you as her father!

We had some good visits with friends, I did several sewing projects instead of cleaning house, had several raspberry (new flavor for me) snocones, drank too many Sonic vanilla Cokes, ate too many chips with onion dip, took several naps (a rarity), left lots of chores undone, and I didn't cook dinner at all this week. I literally told Josh every night to go to the freezer and pick out which Lean Cuisine he wanted and I'd "cook" it for him....bless his heart! Aren't I a great wife?!? VBS + 100 degree weather=microwave only! I did, however make Pioneer Woman's peanut butter pie! It is really good! I made it in a ready-made crust and today I added mini chocolate chips all over the top, which made it even better!

Last night we had a great time meeting some new friends through the Kaleidoscope Kids transracial playgroup! We met at a spray park that is literally 3 minutes from our house (had my house been clean, I would have invited them over:)) and had such a fun time! I enjoyed talking to the moms and seeing the precious kiddos! This is such a great idea and is obviously great for me right now, but will definitely be great for M in the future!

The rest of the weekend consists of our Father's Day celebration for Josh, Book Club for me, and Nan Nan keeping M, so Josh can have a night off while I'm away at Book Club!

This coming week we have our last week of swimming lessons for M. She has done so well and I look forward to seeing her swim these last 2 times! We also have our annual family Fourth of July cookout/pool party here on Friday and Saturday! It should be a fun weekend of celebrating!

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Patriotic Bandanna Dress

Here is the completed July 4th bandanna dress for M. The black and white polka dot one is pretty big, so I tried to make this one a bit smaller for her. I took 4 inches in on the sides and 1 1/2 inches in length. Too bad she's asleep or I'd make her try it on:) I'll probably end up trimming the ribbon, too...she's too little to need 40" of ribbon.

Bandanna Dresses

Just for fun, I got some bandannas when they were 30% off a few weeks ago, thinking I would try to make M some bandanna dresses. I found a great tutorial on Trey and Lucy (great ideas throughout the whole blog, by the way!!) and they were super fast and easy! I was able to get the ribbon 50% off today, so that was perfect! Basically it costs less than $4 per dress and you have enough ribbon left to make a matching hairbow:) I plan on making a July 4th one and a birthday one. M will have a Polka Dot Pool Party in August with hot pink, lime green and orange, so the ribbon and bandannas I found for that will be perfect!

On the July 4th one I plan on taking it up a little so it will actually fit my little girl! The great thing is that she can wear the black and white one for a few years!

M is growing up AND guest bathroom makeover!

Our baby girl is growing up so fast!! The past week has been filled with lots of fun new things it's all happened just suddenly! Lately, every day is bringing something new!

-She started crawling on Sunday, but isn't a big fan. She'll crawl a little bit and then decide it's not worth it and roll over.
-She got her first tooth! Thankfully, without any issues at all!!!
-She has started saying ut-dat and pointing...meaning "what's that"
-She can say duck, Dadda, Momma, Bye, she said NanNan and PaPa today for the first time
-She loves to give kisses and hugs while saying mmmmuh and can do it on command
-Waves, especially bye-bye
-Nods her head yes and shakes her head no
-Claps
-Gives fist bumps
-Feeds herself well...she loves black beans and pretty much every other food
-Loves opening and closing doors, turning on and off lights, etc.
-Loves to give all of her babies (and real life baby friends) hugs and kisses, saying mmmmuh
-Squeals REALLY loud and high and then shakes her head no, because she knows she's not supposed to do that!
-Likes standing against things, but refuses to pull herself up yet.
-Loves swimming and started her swimming lessons last week! She doesn't mind getting her face wet.

She is really making us laugh and we're having a blast with her! She's got quite the little personality, that's for sure!


This past weekend we did a total bathroom makeover for our guest bathroom! Josh worked really hard and did a great job!!
We moved in to our house 3 years ago and almost every room had been updated. The guest bathroom had a new light fixture, mirror and paint treatment, but the cabinets were still the ugly original 1970s wood and all of the accents were gold...not really my color. So, it was always kind of the catch all for random decor. We decided it definitely was time for a makeover and our leftover Asparagus paint from the dining room would make the perfect wall color! I wanted something cheery, fresh and different! I love the way it turned out! Josh spent a LOT of time working in there on the new faucet (thanks, previous owners for the 2 toothbrushes that were stuck down the drain), installing the hardware, etc. Three days later, it looks like a new room and is finally updated! I really wish the pictures would do it justice!

Here are the changes we made:
-Painted woodwork black
-Added new brushed nickel hardware to cabinets
-Installed new brushed nickel faucet
-Installed new light fixture
-Painted the previously gold mirror black
-Painted the walls Asparagus
-Made a new curtain for the window
-Installed brushed nickel toilet paper holder
-Moved random accessories from other rooms of the house in there!



Bathroom Before
Bathroom After (green is softer than pictured...gotta love lighting!)
After

Before
After
New light fixture
New Faucet
Once the towel bar was removed, we were able to bring this in from the dining room.
Before
New curtain

After (with shower curtain open....lovely toys and duck tub:))

Ice Cream

My first try at applique! It was fun, although I had to rip the seams about 3 times...my sewing skills definitely need improvement and LOTS of practice!! I used M's leftover quilt fabric for the shirt and for her flower "bow". I also made a flower pin for myself and we had a matching mother/daughter day yesterday:)

9 months old!

M is on week 2 of being 9 months old and is getting to be SO much fun!! We had her 9 month appointment today. She weight 16 lbs 14oz and was 27 and 1/4 inches tall! She is in the 50th percentile for height and a little over the 25th percentile for weight. She is exactly 2 pounds heavier than at 6 months and 2 and 1/4 inches taller.

I can't imagine life without her! She is such a blessing! Her little personality is definitely coming alive! She is going to be a very spunky little one, that's for sure!

Currently she loves to eat baby food, drink from her sippy cup, roll to get places, give kisses (says mmm while grabbing your face and kissing you on the mouth...too sweet!!), read books, dance, squeal, be held, be outside, go to the zoo, get on all fours and rock (not crawling yet), stand up against the ottoman, "sing", shake her head, watch Daddy play guitar, etc.

The past few weeks she has had her first trip to the zoo, time in the moonbounce, bath time in her big girl duck tub (she's not a fan!!), foods (biter biscuits, Cheerios, bread, pieces of banana, etc.).