Bathroom redo

I'd been itching to redo the kid's bathroom for awhile. Then I found out I was pregnant and I REALLY wanted to redo the bathroom. The one decoration I had in there wouldn't allow for room to let Elyse have a monogram towel, besides the fact that I didn't have a place to put a towel for her in general. The bathroom was a modge podge of things I'd had on hand. The curtain was what I'd registered for when I got married 10 years ago. I made Luke's towel when I was pregnant with him,  I had painted the step stool when he was a toddler. Then added Evan's when she came along. Basically, it is tiny and had no real direction. See?  Blah.

 

The walls were cream, the curtain was cream, the towels were blue, green, and pink.  Blah.

I found a hook tutorial on Pintrest that I loved for the kid's bathroom, and the idea was born. If I took down the towel bar and put lower hooks, then I'd have to patch the walls. If I patched the walls I'd need to paint them. If the towels were going to be functional there, they'd need to coordinate better. So. My Pintrest bathroom redo board was born.

I puttied, taped, and painted the walls. I painted the picture frames. I found the curtain and towels, the scripture art, and the "letters from Mom" art on various websites. I sanded the step stool down and gave it a new color. I even got new curtain hooks. And now I'm very proud to say that I completely redid the bathroom by myself and I LOVE it.

 

It's hard to tell in the sucky bathroom lighting, but the walls are no longer a brownish cream, but a blueish grey. It's totally lightened up the room and made it so much brighter.

 

I found this print and it was already in colors that would work. I felt Psalms 139: 14 was appropriate for my girls (and boy) to grow up with in the bathroom- "I praise you O Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

 

I found these prints on Etsy and had the shop owner make a set in colors that would match. I LOVE them. So something I would say to my children. "Don't be gross. Wash your hands. With soap. love, Mom" "Those teeth aren't going to brush themselves. love, Mom" "Hang up your towels. This is not a hotel. love, Mom"

And the inspiration that started it all.  The original tutorial had the hooks screwed into a plaque of wood, which I liked because then I could paint the kids' names on the wood. But I couldn't find a piece of wood the right size, but I did find little square plaques. I screwed the coat hooks into the squares, then painted each kids' name on the square, but I didn't like how I had attatched them to the wall. They moved around and I could tell that years of abuse would not fair well. So, although I didn't want so many holes in the wall, I screwed everything in individually and I love how much cleaner it looks. Each babe has his or her own hook and name. A place to be. And I made them low enough that Luke will be able to hang his own towel soon, but it's not so low that it will be weird when he's a 6 foot freshman in high school.

Vacation pictures

I know, no one just LOVES other people's family vacation pictures. But...bad news.

1.) This is my blog.

2.) I mainly write for the sake of my children- a place for memories and photos since I haven't printed a photo book in years.

The good news.

1.) I've whittled a ton of pictures down to my favorite 8.

2.) I don't have all that much to say because we've mostly done the same thing every day.

My day starts every morning at 6:15. Doesn't matter what time I put them to bed, they are up. And in my room. Have you tried keeping a 2 year old and a 4 year old quite when they are fresh out of bed? Good grief. It's like they just recharged their batteries or something.

 This girl will spend the whole two hours we are down on the beach just digging in the sand, moving it around in buckets, and bringing water up from the ocean. She doesn't need anyone, just her toys!

 

Speaking of toys, this is one of the buckets full of them that Cindy got the kids for their birthdays. They each got a bucket of toys and a chair. Can you tell how much used them?! Giant hit.

 

While sister is digging in the sand, this boy has loved flying kites.

 

 I love getting pictures with my children, and I love to coordinate. So glad they are finally getting to an age where we can usually get at least ONE good picture out of the 9 or 10 we try for.

 

I just like this one. Evan's been trying to wrestle/tickle Luke. They are sharing a room and I tried to let them nap together one day, but I walked in and she was on his bed trying to wrestle while he was fully covered with the sheet. Someone had to nap in my room every day after that.

22 Weeks

How Far Along: 22 weeks

Size of baby: size of a spaghetti squash (about 11 inches, and weighs almost a pound)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Haven't weighed myself since the dr's appointment a couple of weeks ago. If I'm only gaining the 1 lb a week that's recommended at this point, then I should be about 120. But, Slurpees are my frienemy, so probably more.

Maternity Clothes: Yes. And yes.

 

Gender: I think we've named our baby girl...Elyse Ann. Already loved the name, and it goes so sweetly with Evan. Evan and Elyse. *swoon*

Movement: She's getting so much stronger! I can even see the movement occasionally. Jacob even felt her move better than before right before we left town.
   

Sleep: Good this week! (Getting worn out on the beach helps though!)

What I miss: Well, seeing I'm the only adult on the trip not enjoying adult beverages, mostly that. They drink fun beverages, I get water. That seems fair.

 

Cravings: Loving my Icees/Slurpees

 

Symptoms: Braxton Hicks have started to become a nightly ritual. Not really painful, but kinda uncomfortable. I'm not swelling (except for the traveling day) or having any major aches and pains. Back hurts occasionally, but that's to be expected as my belly grows and puts pressure on my lower back.

 

Best Moment this week: Baby wise it would be feeling her move more frequently and with more force. Non baby wise, it's the trip of course.

 

 

This girl has been killing me. She sings actual songs. She makes up new words to songs. She's started saying "I be wight back." As in, "I go get cotes (clothes). I be wight back." She pinches you, and as she pinches you she says "Ow!" for you then immediately says "Sowwee" and kisses it. Her communication amazes me every day.

 

 

And yes, I make them wear their life jackets at all times when we are on the beach. Safety first! (plus it keeps the sun off their tummies and backs)

 

Beach Vacay

We finally got to the beach house Saturday afternoon! We pretty much just tossed everything in the house, dug out our bathing suits, and hit the sand. Being later in the afternoon, the tide was coming in so the waves were slightly rougher and Evan wasn't so sure about it. Luke was thrilled. We spent an hour or so in the sand, came in to eat some dinner, then we all were in bed by 8:30 due to lack of sleep from the drive.

Sunday morning dawned bright and early. It was Father's day, sunny, and we were ready for a day to play. We spent a good 2 hours in the morning playing in the sea. We went inside for lunch, nap, and then headed back out until dinner time.

Me and my two sweet girls- one inside baby and one outside baby

 

 

Luke's face makes me laugh every single time!

With the waves calmer, Evan warmed right up up and found the ocean every bit as wonderful as it is.

I was a little worried that when we weren't on the beach the kids would get bored. Evan entertains easily. Luke just gets loud and runs places. No where in particular, just runs. Which spurs her on to chase him. Then there are two wild children just running to run.

 

 Wild children who found Nana and Papa's hats

I turned 30

So. Friday I turned 30.

All in all, it was a good day! Went to work, had lunch with my mom, went home. I'd spent the entire week getting ready for a vacation the family was taking, so all I had to do when I got home from work was empty the dishwasher, stash a couple of things in our already packed bags, and gather the children for small group.

I thought small group was going to be a normal life group, but we pulled up and I was pretty sure my sister's car was parked in front of the Raymond's house. Sure enough, when we walked in (15 minutes late due to a certain little girl's diaper situation) my parents, sister, and a family that isn't in our group but good friends of all of ours, plus all the normal group people were gathered. There was cake, presents, and a BBQ dinner set up. So fun! We visited, had cake, and I opened my presents.

cheese!

After small group, I rounded the kids up, went home to give them quick baths, then Mom, Dad, and Ashley came over to pick us up. We were headed to the beach...at 10 pm. *sigh* What a way to end my birthday, right? We'd planned a family vacation to Gulf Shores and it's a 11 hour drive. The thought was if we drove through the night then the small children would sleep through most of it.

It worked. Half way.

Evan slept most of the way, but it was very fitful with bouts of crying every hour or so. Luke didn't really sleep at all. Dude just sat in the back and watched out the window. He really is a great traveler!

This put us in Alabama by about 9, but we couldn't check into the house until 3. Ashley had heard about a battle ship we could go and explore, so we jumped at the chance. We thought Luke would love the ship, but he was way more enthralled with the helicopters and airplanes they had parked around it.

 U.S.S Alabama

 Who let this hooligan drive the boat? And...where did she learn to pose like that?!

 Family picture

 

So, pregnancy and sitting for half a day, plus the heat and humidity didn't all agree. My poor feet were slightly swollen. I poked around the ship for a little while, then found a place to prop my feet up and let the family finish. At one point a little girl joined me.

 Gah. She's so pretty.

Pool time, Safari Time, Moby Time

Saturday was kind of a long day. Mom and Dad came over at 9, Jacob was not far behind them, and it took the 4 of us 8+ hours to switch the kid's rooms. Granted, some of that time was spent doing yard work by the men, Dad mowed while Mom and I switched out the closets, Jacob sprayed the yard for weeds and got my soaker hoses set up in between furniture moving/putting together, and Mom took the kids to her house at nap time to rest so we could keep going. It was a lot of work, but it's done. Pictures coming soon!

 

Saturday night was the Foltermann kids' joint birthday. This year they didn't have it at home (like in the past) and totally rented out the aquatic center. It was so fun! The water was a little chilly since it's been raining and hasn't been 100+ consecutively yet, but fun none the less. I got to wear my new bathing suit and Evan LOVED the water.

 

Girlfriend. Was. Fearless.

 

And the glee on her face couldn't have been more radiant. After 2 hours in the chilly waters she was a zombie. I mean blue lips, chattering teeth, red eyes, barely keep her eyelids up, zombie. I'm sure that was great for the recovering pneumonia. She was so pitiful it made everyone laugh. But hey, she slept until 7 on Sunday morning! And Luke was just kinda grumpy the whole time. He was irritated that I wouldn't take him in the deeper water, he didn't like the cold, but he ate like a beast.

 

 the only picture I go of the whole party. Ha!

 

Sunday afternoon we (Mom, Dad and I) took the kids to go get Luke's hair buzzed off, then on a LFO to a place called Safari Park. Mom had bought a Groupon to there a few weeks ago and we had wanted to take them last weekend on Evan's birthday, but since she'd been sick we held off. They had the best time! It was just this indoor playground with mazes and slides and trampolines, but they had a blast. Look at those faces!

 

Evan's first experience with a ball pit

 

There was a "train" ride that went in a little circle, and these mechanical animals to ride around. Luke rode a "jaguar" but Evan was actually afraid of something and refused to get close to the animals.

 

Yesterday I finally got the material to make BG2's moby wrap. I couldn't decide if I should go with this bright turquois knit or a more subtle grey. Then I found the pink flower material and was sold. The best part of it all was both fabrics were half off! And all that will actually make two wraps, so I'll probably make two then sell one for $25 or so. Any takers? I could use a different cotton fabric that isn't pink if it's for a boy. Anyone?

Also, does anyone have a baby I can borrow? I need to try it out. Practice. On your baby. :)

End of teeball and start of summer

Well, tee ball has come to an end. And even though we've frequently had two games a week for the last two months, it hasn't been bad at all. We've had so much fun cheering for our boy. He got so much better throughout the season too! Every time he went to bat, every. time., he would walk past and glance at us out of the corner of his eye with a grin that said "Are you watching? I'm doing it! Here I am so you can cheer for me!" Cracked us up. The last game he even remembered to high five the next batter good luck as he came off home plate from making it around the bases. OH, and he tried his hand at "sliding" into base too. I say "sliding" because the first time was when he approached 3rd base and it really looked more like a "trip and fall into base" than a "slide", but then he tried again on his way into home and he actually did it fairly well. He got willingly dirty!

 

 I hollered at him to look at me so I could get his picture when he played catcher. He hollered at me to stop and go sit back down. Humph. Also, next time he plays catcher someone should probably explain the roll, seeing as he just sat there and didn't know what to do.

Even though it was just a participation trophy, it is his very first trophy ever! He wanted to take it to Cindy's on Tuesday morning to show it off to her, but I was afraid it would get broken, so he settled for a picture of it that he made sure to show Miss Cindy AND Mr. Roger.

 

Team picture at the end-of-season party! Only missing one kid.

And now on to summer things. I don't think it's brand new news that I've been craving flavored tea this pregnancy. I have found some caffeine free herbal teas that I can make at home to satisfy my craving, but the ice maker in my freezer doesn't make very good ice so I like to keep a bag on hand. I'd used up all my ice at dinner the other night, the kids weren't really eating anyway, so I loaded them up to run down to the corner gas station for another bag. This gas station just happens to be a 7-11, and a Slurpie sounded very good. Guess who had never had a Slurpie before? Yep, those two babies. And just their luck, there was a special flavor- sugar free Sprite, which would also have no caffeine. I let them each get a little one, and they LOVED it. Such a fun summer thing to do.

Another fun summer thing to do? Eat cherries! I've never Luke have cherries before because of the pits, but I thought he might be able to handle them this year. Wrong. It's like he was afraid of the cherry pit or something. I've tried over and over again to show him how to bite and chew slightly so it just pops out, but dude won't do it. He ends up trying to just dig it out, creating a giant cherry juice mess. But apparently there is something called a cherry pitter?! I'm going to check into this.

Something that is decidedly UNsummer like is the fact that the kids have been sick. Luke's battled a cough for some time now, and I finally had him checked out. He's going to be having oral surgery at the end of the month, which requires full anesthesia and a clean bill of health, so I knew we needed to get this check out. Last Wednesday Cindy took them to the dr for me, and at first I wasn't going to have Evan looked at, she was barely coughing and doing just fine. Cindy called me right after I made the appointment and said she had come down with a fever, so I called back and had her added to the schedule. Turns out they BOTH were having acute asthma flare ups and had ear infections! Holy moly. I felt terrible. They were put on antibiotics and breathing treatments 4x a day. By Friday Evan wasn't getting any better, so I called back. The dr put her on a second antibiotic, because it seems the fever was from whatever was going on in her lungs and not from her ears. Monday she STILL wasn't feeling better, so they had her come back in and get a chest xray. It's pneumonia. This added an oral steroid, to the already large regimen of meds on my counter. I'm pretty much running a pharmacy over here.

When the dr said pneumonia, I asked if this was contagious. Why did I care? Oh, only because on Sunday Evan put her sweet little mouth up to my nose to give me a kiss, and instead hacked up a lung. WITH HER MOUTH STILL OVER MY NOSE. Parenting at it's finest, folks.

Ranch trip, PK Graduation, and plan for next year

 Uuuuugggggggggggg. I have so much to catch up on. So much, that it will start today and bleed into tomorrow. You're welcome for the heads up.

Two weekends ago we went straight from Luke's teeball game on  LFO (Lame Family Outing) to a place called Sharkarosa Ranch. True to the nature of LFO's, the kids LOVED it. This place is a petting zoo with a tram ride where they take you to big fields of exotic animals, which can come right up to the tram. Take this first animal for example: a half zebra half horse.

 And then there was a camel that ALMOST SPIT on us.

Here's how Luke and I felt about it:

There were several other animals that we got to see. There were monkeys that Luke particularly enjoyed watching, and Evan got to pet a skunk.

 That's my girl! I tried to get a little family picture of us, but you can see how that turned out.

I show the good with the bad, folks. Good with the bad. Okay, mostly the bad, as long as I don't look bad. :)

Last week was Luke's preschool graduation. I had planned on going to work late that morning so I could attend, but then all this dental stuff with Luke came up, and I had to go in late to already once that week to take him to the dentist, so I didn't feel like I could do it again. Boo. Thankfully, I've got a good friend and a baby sitter who both knew how bummed I was to miss it and took pictures for me! So, the following are compliments of Shae and Cindy.

Three little friends waiting for their Bubbas to come. Jordyn is 3, Mikah is 2 1/2, and Evan was still 1 at this point. Look at the size of my girl's legs compared to her friends!

 And there are the Bubbas! (Dakota is in green, Jadyn is in black, and then my boy looking around) Luke has started putting up a fuss about wearing "button" shirts, but I told him tough cookies that morning. Then he asked if Dakota would be wearing a button shirt, I said probably (with my fingers crossed), and thankfully Shae didn't make a liar out of me. In Luke's head, polos still constitute as "button" shirts.

Getting his award for "best story teller". Aw geez. And again with the duck face.

 Getting a medal for something. Sorry son, you don't relate details very well, so I'm not sure why you got it. But what I do know is you were super super proud of it and even wanted me to wear it to work the next day. Ha!

Luke's preschool class! He had such a great year. Went to the principal's office more times than I did in my entire school career, but good none the less. After much deliberation, tears, and advice from many many people, I've decided to place him in a jr kindergarten class next year instead of sending him on to kindergarten. I tried to rationalize kindergarten for a few weeks, convincing myself he'd be okay, that it was better for finances, easier for transportation, etc. But in the end, my momma heart knew that wasn't right. I was putting the easy way for ME in front of what was best for HIM. So shameful. I think everyone agrees with the decision. My parents, Cindy, his teachers. While academically he could absolutely excel in public school next year, his maturity level is not quite there. He is so young. And such a quiet boy. This will be a giant change in path for him, no longer will he be in the same grade as his three good buddies, but again, I have to look at what's best for my boy.