weekend recap

friday was brette's birthday.

so when i got home from work we had

a quick dinner and then promptly celebrated

with a cupcake.

it was beautiful, but fell off the seat in my car and

was destroyed only 2 mins after buying it.

dang the luck.

brette didn't seem to mind the heinous way it looked.

however, i should have gotten three because

ronnie and i stood over her like vultures

waiting for our own bites.

 

how cute is she? a total icing hog.

and marge - your kids get a shout out at the beginning

because i made her stop watching the sweet birthday video they sent.

 

 

on saturday we got ourselves around

and out of the house by 9 so we could

make it to the air show down in warrensburg.

i'd never been but i guess its something ronnie

used to go to with his dad so we offered his dad

to come too and spend the day with B.

the line to get in was heinous, but

brette enjoyed the planes and especially the helicopter.

i enjoyed, well, not much.

i was hot and planes don't interest me

like they do ronald.

 

 

on sunday we went out for lunch with

brian, eden and madeline,

which is always fun.

especially when everyone gets an ice cream cone at the end.

i can't wait to add another little girl to this pack.

too. much. fun.

 

and that evening we headed to our

first ever neighborhood block party.

i made veggie squares.

remember those?

 

 

we made it through the annual meeting

but when it was dinner time we got caught in a downpour.

i grabbed two hot dogs and two cookies and made a run for it.

brette and i sat in the truck while ronnie went back to gathered our chairs.

he was totally soaked.

i almost snapped a picture of him,

but i don't think he would have appreciated it.

hopefully next year we can actually sit down and

talk to our new neighbors.

 

it was a fun little birthday weekend.

her party is toward the end of the month

and we're co-hosting with my brother since madeline

and brette's bdays are only 10 days apart.

should be super cute and fun.

 

 

 

 

 



brette: 2 years

holy cow.

two years already.

and this last year has been

so. much. fun.

 

the first year is a lot of change,

but the second year the changes

turn her into her own little person,

if that makes sense.

the things she says,

the faces she makes,

and the fact that this time last year

she was just sitting seems unreal.

especially now because most of the time,

she demands to walk.

but i think the best thing is ALL THE TALKING.

she doesn't stop.

and our conversations are pretty great.

 

 

growth:

brette weighs 28 lbs.

that's the 75th percentile according to our

dr appointment this morning.

she is 34.5 inches tall, also the 75th percentile.

she wears 2T clothing and at

night she's in a size 5 diaper,

but the rest of the time we're diaper free.

potty training is the worst,

but i'm happy to not spend the money on diapers anymore.

she has all her teeth but one molar.

we took her to the dentist last week

and they said that it looks all good.

her hair is pretty long and i refuse to cut it,

because i'm hoping that one day the front will catch up with the back.

i want to be able to braid her hair and do fun

stuff so a hair cut is not in our near future.

her gross motor skills are actually on target.

running, climbing, trying to jump.

its safe to say that the last six months she's made huge leaps.

 

sleeps:

she goes to be around 8:30,

gets up by 7:30 and

naps from 1:30 to 4:00.

(normally)

of course these are all flexible,

but if we're having a "normal" day,

this is pretty standard. 

  

 

eats:

the food fight is good and bad.

she still eats a variety of things,

which i appreciate,

but there are those days when i feel like

she barely ate anything.

or she just wants crackers.

she has quite the sweet tooth,

naturally,

so i try not to offer it to her too often.

it is hard though, not to use it as a negotiation tool.

"if you finish your peas, i'll give you a cookie."

probably not the best tactic,

but eat your damn vegetables already!

her favorite food is fruit, just like her daddy

and most days she snacks on lots of fruit.

   

talks:
 talking is brette's forte.

she can let you know pretty much exactly what she's

thinking or what she wants.

just some examples.

the other day she was with my friend shannon in her car

and she goes, "shannon, music!"

(she's a big fan of the radio.)

and last weekend ronnie was moving our modem upstairs

and the cords were getting tangles so ronnie sighed.

brette goes, "what happened, daddy? piece of junk?"

she picks up on all the little things we say

and can repeat them at just the right moment.

you definitely have to watch yourself around her.

our big goal recently has been manners:

please, thank you, excuse me, you're welcome, bless you.

she's pretty good at it but i'm constantly saying,

"what are your nice words?" or "what do you say?"

in fact, ronnie burped the other night and brette goes,

"excuse me, daddy" and kept repeating it until he said excuse me.

manners police over here.

    

plays:

she loves her play room,

any kind of swing,

bubbles,

play doh,

making cookies

or coloring.

we're working on the concept of sharing

which sometimes she's great at and other times we

just hear, MINE!

there is a lot of "stop it, i do it, no mommy" which is

frustrating for me but i know this is just the beginning

of her finding her independence and me honing my negotiating skills.

we'll see who survives. 

 

firsts:
 running

"jumping"

putting together sentences

walking up and down stairs (with me)

climbing

having an opinion  (about everything)

counts to 10
forward facing car seat

started daycare one day a week

 

lots of changes that turned my

baby into a little girl.

and what a special little girl she is.

 

 

 

 

 

our tribal/woodland nursery

i've been hard at work trying to

pick up pieces for the nursery when i find them.

it's pretty close to being done so

i went ahead and snapped a few photos to show our progress.

so far, almost everything was bought with our gift cards,

but with only $7 left, i'm afraid the rest is up to us.

 

if you remember, i wanted to do a tribal vibe.

lots of black, white, and gold with some color

thrown in through the accents.

 

and here's where i've ended up:

(ps- i totally bought gold decal triangles for the changing table

and somehow they've been misplaced.  i can't find them anywhere and

i'm super bummed about it. i'm thinking they got thrown away by accident.

i might cry.)

 



 

 

things get a little bare on the other side of the room

because i'm still looking for my side table and curtains.

i still have a stump table on the brain,

but the ones i've found are over $200

and that. is. not. happening.

i might have to give up on that dream.

 

 

the rug is a lot of my color and i wish it were double

in size but for $6, i'm not complaining.

 

i've been searching for the perfect curtains,

but i'm considering just buying fabric and having some made.

how cute are these options?

 

 

i found a gold bull's skull today and i'll

probably go back to buy it.

i wasn't sure if i needed it,

but after putting the room together

i think another gold accent piece would be nice.

 

and i found a second artificial cactus online that

i'd like to order to put by the lamp.

its only like $10 so i'm pretty sure it will be on

its way soon.

 

 

i really wanted a stuffed fox,

but so far, i haven't found any in stores and the

ones on etsy are kind of expensive.

i doubt this happens, but

i'll put it on my list for future gift ideas.

i think that will basically finish off the nursery.

i'm pretty excited to check this off my list

and add another room to our completed file in this house.

 

now we just need that baby...

 

 

 

who wants to watch some tv?

sutherlands struck again.

i have wanted this piece of furniture since we left with our kitchen island.

(not to mention the cow hide rug still waiting for me to scoop up.)

 

you know when you get something stuck in your head

and you know it would be perfect?

that's how i get with ideas for my house.

i see something, i know i want it and

then i have to until we're either ready to buy it

or ready to do that project.

but either way... i WILL make it happen eventually.

i have so many things still on my list for this house,

but we're wrapped up in just getting the walls done,

that a lot of the little finishing touches will have to wait.

and yes, it kills me.

but i don't want to overwhelm ronaldo and

i think he would go a little nuts if he actually knew all

the things still on my list.

both projects to do and things to buy.

 

but i'm happy to say that i do get to cross

one little thing off my list that we bought for the

house over the weekend.

a new freaking tv stand.

if you remember our last house,

the tv was mounted over the fireplace so

there was no need for a piece of furniture to hold it.

(man, i miss those built-ins)

 

 

 

so for the last four months we sat our extra large tv

on my old coffee table from college.

it was originally my brother's table that the fraternity

brothers used to play quarters on.

i spray painted it black back in 2004 and it's been living

with me ever since.

yes, its that classy.

i especially hate it because brette could reach the tv

and we constantly had grubby little finger prints all over.

it had to go.

 

(like my new bull pic on the wall? a mother's day gift)

 

so we headed back out to sutherlands to make

my tv stand dreams come true.

technically this piece is sold as buffet for a dining room.

you're supposed to use it for your china and table linens,

but i thought it would be the perfect size to hold our tv,

dvds, cable box and i can even hide brette's

toys in the those sweet middle drawers.

i left one drawer empty for future baby.

i plan on putting diapers, wipes and extra burp cloths in there.

i love that i can have all this stuff hidden away,

but easily accessible.

isn't it a beauty?

 

 

it really makes this room feel more complete,

especially since this is the one room that still

needs all the walls done.

 

 

speaking of walls,

ronnie finished the first layer of skim coat in the dining room

and living room.  it still needs to be sanded, recoated, re-sanded,

caulked, and primed, BUT

we're getting there.

 

in the meantime, i'll just stare at my tv and think good thoughts.

 

 

summer festival

i had a really fun weekend.

the summer festival came to town

and its always one of my favorite weekends.

remember our little caricature from last year?

next year we'll have to get a new one done

with our one year old and our three year old.

weird.

 

i took brette downtown saturday morning.

her favorite parts were the bouncy ride and

her pink lemonade slushy.
 

my favorite part?

the funnel cake.

but brette had to go potty pretty much right when

we started eating it and when we got back

someone had thrown it away.

talk about devastation.

don't mess with a pregnant lady's damn funnel cake.

i'm serious.

its rude and its a good way to lose an arm.

 

 

i thought brette would love the petting zoo and horse

rides, but the horses freaked her out. 

she wouldn't ride one at all.

she wouldn't even pet it.

we'll have to try again next year.

she loved feeding the goats though.

i also offered to get her face painted

but she declined.

i guess i was more excited for her,

than she was.

but it tuckered her out and she fell asleep

on the way home so i put her to bed

where she played for 2 hours in her crib.

sweet.

my mom and dad took her that evening so

ronaldo and i could go back to the fair for the

adult portion of the program.

we invited several couples over to watch some

horse win the triple crown (obviously i don't follow horse racing)

and then we headed downtown for the amazing fair food,

beer gardens and concert.

it was a lot of fun.

although, i did get pretty uncomfortable by then end of the night.

i forget how much i love laying down until i can't do it

for several hours at a time.

but i won't complain because it was so

nice to get some time out with friends.

 

 

 

we picked brette up sunday morning and actually

bought a new piece of furniture for the house.

i have pictures.

i'll share soon.

 

 

hope everyone had a wonderful weekend too!

rain rain...

i'm so over the rain.

i heard on the radio that it rained

everyday in may but FOUR.

that really puts a damper on playing outside

and makes the days with a two year old long.

in fact, while i write this, its is raining and

we are under a flash flood warning.

i'm over it.

but we've been getting creative with play-doh,

spending some afternoons with shannon and her crew,

baking cookies and

practicing our soccer skills.

daddy even taught brette how to catch. (sort of)

 

we do what we can,

but i'm really looking forward to some hot pool days.

come on summer!

 

(baby paige visiting our house)

 (brette holding miss paige)

 

 (my little helper baking cookies)

(they turned out weird. obviously.)

 (practicing swimming like a fishy in the bath tub)

(lunch with graham over at shannon's)

 

hopefully i'll be posting more pics soon...

from outside.

 

 

 

 

pain in your budget

i have been working on the nursery.

we have a few things hung on the walls,

but i have more to go.

i need to go buy baskets for the changing table,

add the decals and buy a few more

odds and ins.

once that is done, i promise to share pictures.

we actually turned in some of our credit card points

and got a $350 visa gift card, which means we have

spent $0 out of pocket so far.

that is a budget i can get behind.

 

speaking of budget,

 and without getting too much into money,

i'm trying the old "buy everything with cash" idea.

over the last several years we put e v e r y t h i n g

on a credit card and then pay it off monthly.

its a nice way to rack up points and float your money.

hello, we paid for one of our vacations with credit card points.

score.

but with all the projects we've done on the house,

i wanted to make sure we were still building our savings

and not getting lost in our new house and new baby.

its too easy to overspend.

since we've lived here (february)

we haven't saved anything.

and that kills me.

ronnie and i look around and wonder,

where did it all go?!?

as a stay-at-home mom + part time worker,

i don't want to feel like i need to go back to full time.

especially with another baby on the way. 

a full-time career is at least another year or two away.

and right now, we throw all our extra money into projects,

but i was sure we could do both work on the house and save.

so i made us a budget, took out the cash and tried my

hardest to make sure ronnie stuck to it.

(he overshot his beer fund by a mile and we're renegotiating

some of our numbers for this month.)

but guess what...

month one, we paid off last months credit card bill and

we saved almost $1400.

we were still able to work on the house 

projects we wanted and make a trip to illinois.

i call that success.

its kind of a pain to budget and really think about what

you're spending, but it does make me happy to know

that i can stay home with my babies without stressing out

over every dollar.

 

i'll leave that to ronnie.

 

 

 

anyone have any more useful tips on how

to save extra funds?  the cash idea seems to be working,

but i'm interested in what others do.

i know my bff cut off her cable to save $$$,

but that just ain't my bag, baby.