Trundle

The trundle bed arrived yesterday and the awesome Land of Nod people set it up for me. Score! One less thing to do. Aiden was so excited seeing all this action going on in his room. (sorry for the bad quality taken with my phone)

Aiden's room is big, but not big enough to put two twin beds in so that's where the trundle comes into play. So when we are using it we will slide his toy chest to his closet without damaging the floors thanks to our handy floor guides we installed before we brought it into the house. It's the perfect width to go into his closet.

Now you see me. Now you don't! The color matches his bed perfect! Now I just need to figure out handles. It's easy to put out now, but I think adding two handles would make it that much easier.

For the bad news. Ugh! So we got a mattress at Macys. 75 inches long. We need it to be 74. UUUUGH! I thought all of that was standard. Guess not. So that mattress is going into Carlos' room while we hunt for the correct size.

Other news. As an avid blog reader I find the best ideas/tips. My friend Erica shared this lovely blog. AMAZING cleaning tips, but literally shes crazy I think. haha She does a load of laundry a day. Like I have the time for that now. lol Well her 31 Days to an Organized Home inspired me. So I'm starting with the most rooms with the most traffic and staying in that room till it's complete and organized. Therefore the kitchen was #1. Living Room is #2. Hall Bath #3. etc etc. Declutter and simplify. We all need it.

Therefore I started with the most dreaded part of my kitchen. The pantry! I get so frustrated every time I open it, because I don't know about everyone else but I refer to it as my black hole. It's such a deep cabinet something always gets pushed to the back and gone till I clean it out at month end. aka something is going to be expired and gross. Money down the drain. Me no likey!

Wish I would have taken a before picture of the top cabinet oh well just look at the lower one. OMG. so disorganized, embarrassed. So I headed up to Walmart and bought several handle baskets and a labeller. Best money spent ever!! Now everything is to the front neat and organized. The only stuff that goes in the far back now is condiments and stuff I know won't spoil.

Everything has a home. I still need to get two small ones for the top shelf in the lower cabinet, but after that I can call this complete!

Next I am tackling the cabinet above the frig/oven and the buffet.

I end with a cute picture of Aiden. This was from Sunday. I let him watch 101 Dalmatians while I was cooking breakfast and by the end of the movie he was a barking fool. haha He loves him some dogs!

Tomorrow is his soccer practice! Can't wait!!!

MIA

Sorry I've been a little M.I.A lately. Just patiently waiting for the weekend to arrive...I hate waiting on packages. I feel like I'm stalking the USPS site. lol expecting it to change every 5 minutes.

This is an exciting weekend and I can't wait to do the post. Aiden starts soccer too! Eek! So excited!

Random thoughts.
-Aiden's spring picture proofs are in. OMG. SO cute!! I wish he was smiling more, but at least he isn't crying! lol Take what I can get. The prints will be in next week so fam expect some mail.

-Aiden's trundle bed is coming tomorrow! YAH! Now to get that extra mattress out of the office. He can have sleepovers with Carlos now.

-My sunroof is getting fixed tomorrow too. The part finally came in.

-I have been SO SO sleepy lately. I go to bed at 9-9:30 wake up around 5:30-6 and still feeling exhausted. Really wish I could enjoy a cup of coffee. Just might have to bite the bullet and give in to one cup.

-Next month we are starting a movie day, which we will do once every other month. Where we pick a kid movie and revolve the day around it and watch the movie too of course. Bella and Carlos will come over and join in on the fun. The movie of choice? Toy Story.

So we are making Mr. Potato Head cupcakes, having an army men scavenger hunt in the yard (Don't worry I'll probably spray paint them to make them not blend so much), lassoing Murphy (haha Poor Murph), and I'm going to try to make that sidewalk paint so we can paint the characters. For food we are of course having pizza, hello Pizza Planet! Then we will watch the movie to relax and chill. Should be fun! Next time I'm thinking Lady and the Tramp, spaghetti anyone?!

In the air...

Something is in the air and I like it! So much great news surrounding me feels odd.

Today is a GREAT day! More details later but I will state how my morning started.

I just drop Aiden off at his daycare and if you know where is daycare is its out on a long windy road with very few homes. AKA it's easy to go over 40mph. haha This morning like every morning I'm going about 60. lol and a sheriff is on the other side of the road whips around and pulls me over. DANG IT!

This is where the humor begins.

Cop: "License and Registration. Did you know you were going 61mph?"
Me: "Oh really....I thought I was going like 50 something." haha (Really had no clue how fast I was going just knew it was over 40)
Cop: "Yes Ma'am. You know I can write you for an additional ticket that requires you to go to court"
Me: "Ahhh why?!"
Cop: "Well this is your new registration, your sticker needs to be on your car."
Me: "Oh haha can I do it now?! :-) I literally just got that on Friday and slipped my mind this weekend."
Cop: "Well it shows you live on Willowbrook. What are you doing here? And Where are you going?"
Me: "I just dropped my son off at his daycare and I'm heading to work'
Cop: "Work? Son? How old are you?" (He clearly has my license in hand but I answer. haha)
Me: "Almost 27."
Cop: "27. I would have never guessed that you don't look a day over 20."
Me: "haha ohh but I am."

hahahaha So two things from that. Apparently 20 year olds don't work or have kids and having my baby face has finally paid off. hahaha

Walked away with a warning. My 1st warning EVER! I was smiling from ear to ear. Today is good!

More details to come later...but can you guess what this is?!

Dresser

Look at this beauty! Purchased her at our local Antique Mall...can't wait to bring her home. Now we just have to make some room. Details to come.

Funny

I swear Aiden is the funniest kid. Tomorrow are school pictures so after I picked him up we headed to get his hair cut. Kid had a mullet growing in the back! lol It just grows so much faster than the front.

He did pretty good to there. Only cried for a minute, got a big hug from me and told him why are you crying......no one else is crying...then silence. Pouting but silence. Whatever it takes. So to cheer him up since we only do that about once every 3-4 months I stopped by Sonic and got him a Banana Milkshake.
Here are a couple pictures to document how much he hates pictures now. He used to be awesome at taking pictures, but now I get a sad face, crying, or turning away, and if we are in the car he tries to kick me. lol Come on....just one decent picture please! It's amazing how much he is looking like Wes these days. Carbon copy in appearance but definitely has my personality. Haha Wes says when his temper comes out its just the little "Mc" coming out. I have no earthly idea what he is talking about ;-) Irish fireball.

 

 
Then this morning while I was getting dressed I heard the funniest thing ever. And it was Aiden's 1st sentence too!! hahaha So the garbage men were outside and of course Murph is in the kitchen going crazy barking up a storm. Before I could say anything, I hear Aiden on the monitor saying "Muuuuuuuuuuuurph! Shut up!" hahahahahaha He did not just say this once. He said it like every time Murph started barking again. Wonder where he heard that from?! haha Oops! But don't mess when baby is sleeping!

1st problem

Out of 2 years of having my car we finally had our 1st issue. The weather was so nice yesterday I finally opened the sunroof....probably my 3rd time ever and probably my last. haha I go to close it....it's closing but not locking. ugh! Come on stupid window! I went into full panic mode because you never know when it's going to rain these days and my window is not flush with the roof.

I waited for an hour at the dealership to find out the track is broken. And they don't have the part of course, but luckily they got the window closed and I can go on my way till the part gets here. Then another 2-3 hour wait for it to get installed. BOOO! Thank goodness they have wireless so I can work while waiting.

But I guess the best part out of all of this.....So So So thankful we got the service plan. OMG! This part $650. What are we paying? $100. That I can do! lol What did I learn? Don't open the sunroof after the plan is over (5yr or 150,000 miles). hahaha!

But overall 1 issue in 2 years isn't bad at all and I still adore my car. Best decision we ever made! Love getting 27-28 MPG when I drive 55 miles per day when gas has shot up to $3.53/gal!!

Wes is going to need a new car in probably 1-2 years, his 98 Civic is holding out strong though (thank goodness), and we are seriously thinking another Fusion. The 2013 models are SOOOOO sweet! We were thinking of getting a SUV, but with gas prices today we need the better gas mileage. Plus I get pretty sweet deals at Ford, thanks IP! Got my car below an S model price but I got an SEL with every kick-ass feature package  included. Hence why I'm so in love. :-) I seriously think I need to be on those Ford commercials..

Isn't it pretty...reminds me of a James Bond car.

Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year. Packed up winter clothes, pulled out spring/summer clothes. Decluttered and cleaned all closets. Even our linen and coat closets. Why do those two closets always get so destroyed?!

I went through all my fabric and reorganized that. Then re-sorted the towels. My last project for the linen closet was our sheets. I know EVERYONE knows this pain. I HATE despise folding sheets. So I saw this tip on Pinterest. Oh the smooth lines and less clutter. Fold the sheets and place them in the pillowcase. That way the sheets are always together. Well I might consider this a fail because mine look nothing like the picture, but I still like this way of storage. Mine look like two big lumps. lol (Picture is one I found online, made me laugh- mine looks way better than the fail.)

Next closet, the coat closet. The bottom of it was where I keep all our gift wrap, bags, bows, etc. aka CLUTTER! I bought one of those gift wrap boxes in hopes to get organized....but wouldn't you know it the tall wrapping paper doesn't fit. Fail! So everytime I would open the door out comes wrapping paper. UGH! So think....what to do...ah! I have a ton of buckets in the garage. Perfect! All the wrapping in there and then the container holds all the bags, tissue paper, bows, etc. The floor is clear now. PERFECT!!

Now I'm putting my feet up and repairing my birthday wreath. Back to cleaning tomorrow....the floors, loathe those days. I do a deep cleaning scrub on all the tile floors and polish the hardwoods. (Backbreaking and the reason why I only do it once a month).

Change of Plans

Man. I hate when you have something planned. Then you have to COMPLETELY change it...

But on other news. I've been thinking for about 2 years now what the heck to do with our awkward hole on the other side of our bar. We couldn't put cabinets there because there was no way for me to reach them unless I walked around the bar area. So we were left with a 23.25 W and very DEEP hole, which now just stores Murphy's dog food and bowls. Of course I don't have a update picture on my PC...but it at least shows you where I'm talking about.

So what the heck can go there without breaking the bank. Seriously why are the narrow bookcases SO expensive?!?! Well next plan. Our filing cabinet! Maybe I will actually file things right away instead of creating little mounds on the bar. lol So what does this mean? Another coat of spray paint to help it blend with the kitchen and a little decorative detail....think I can convince Wes to do it this weekend?!?!

Results to come.

Soccer

As I mentioned before Aiden is doing Little Kickers at our local YMCA, well we just found out Aiden and our cousin Carlos are going to be on the same team! Go Team RED! So excited for them. Their 1st practice/ get-together is March 31st and we can't wait! Don't worry the 1st game there will be a video.....everyone needs a good laugh now! :-)

On my to-do list, shin guards. Requirement to play. This weekend Wes took him out for a little bit to practice, and we determined we have a future goalie on our hands. Didn't let a single ball go past him if he couldn't kick it. Plus he kicked it a few times too. Go Aiden!

On a different note our dear friends, Trey and Brit, are having a BOY! YAHHHH! So excited for them! Aiden has a new BFF and doesn't know it yet. lol Now let the planning for her shower begin...August hurry up! (And I was the only one who thought it was a boy! Winning! haha)

Potty Training

This Saturday we started potty training, and it was VERY successful I thought. I just imagined pee everywhere! lol

The first day we had 1 accident and 1 successful time going pee. As soon as he woke up we ate breakfast and just started drinking. More drinking and more drinking. No TV. No going outside. Just me, him, puzzles/blocks, and the potty. Every hour we went in there and sat tried and tried. Trying to get that schedule down. However, I think he held it all in for his nap time and bedtime because he woke up both times with huge full pee diapers. After his nap we headed over to the grandparents to visit for a few and that's when the accident happened. He was off running around outside having a blast and didn't come in when it was time. All the older kids were like "EWWW! Aiden peed in his pants!" I quickly responded "Hey don't embarrass him now it's only Day 1 and I'm pretty sure I saw you pee your pants too many times." :-) Silly kids!

Day 2 went MUCH better. Started the same way as yesterday. He started to realize what to do and that his undies were for "Big boys!" I held up a diaper and said "Baby! Are you a Baby!?" he replied "Baby!" Then I held up his new undies "Big Boy! Are you a Big Boy?" he replied "Yes!" It was even funnier, because when we put a diaper on at nap time he was like "Noooo! Baby!" haha "Yes that is a baby, but you aren't ready yet little man".

Day 2 he went pee 2 times and one time we went pee and pooped. That time was hilarious because he got up and looked and said "OHHH BAD! BAD!" So why did he say that?! Because it's what I say to Murph if he ever poops in the kitchen. haha Had to explain how he was good, but Murph is bad. Precious! He was excited by the end giving me big hugs!

Out of both days we only had 4 accidents. Three in day 2, both two we caught early and he finished on the potty in the end (Picture a panicked me holding Aiden up and out from me running into the bathroom. Thank goodness there aren't cameras in here. haha). One of the times from today was heartbreaking for him. I was in the kitchen doing dishes, so I let him watch Little Bear and take his breathing treatment. I see him get up and start running toward the bathroom....then I hear "Momma! Momma! Momma!" So I run to see what's going on....the poor little guy was trying so hard to make it to the bathroom but didn't. Pee trail all the way down the hall. He was so upset, so I comforted him and told him it was okay and accidents happen. At least he was trying so yes he still got a Dum-Dum reward.

Since Wes was off today we had a lovely relaxing day. After lunch we all curled up on the couch to watch the newest Pirates of the Caribbean. Let's just say all 3 of us fell asleep if that tells you anything about the movie. Little man fell asleep on my chest. I woke up like oh crap I really hope he didn't pee on me (because I definitely felt a wetness going on). Thankfully it was just drool! Whew!

In the end we still have lots of training to do...but I'm hoping to have it down in the next few months. I think he can do it!

Talking

Each day gets more exciting because little by little Aiden is saying more words. Hard to keep up with all the new ones introduced! This makes me very excited to see his vocab grow to other than just saying "No!" all the time haha. We now get a "Yes" too. YAH! Not all the words are clear so you have to listen really hard. For example More sounds like "mOR". The m is sometimes faint and I just hear or. But that is better than his old way of just grunting or saying "Ugh Ugh" ummm what is that?! I don't know what Ugh Ugh means. Do you mean you want MORE?! haha

The other day when I went to get little man from Preschool his teacher also confirmed to me how much he is talking now. And that she can pretty much understand him 100% now. YAH! Go Aiden! He even is saying his classmates names. Especially when he's able to tell on them. Yes, my son is a taddle tell. lol He even does it to Murphy...."Bad Murph!" haha. But hey we will take what we can get. So proud of him.

He still doesn't tell me 100% what he wants all the time, but we are getting there. Practice makes perfect. Now our reading time in the evening is not really what you call reading but more flipping through the pages and him trying to tell me what the picture is. It's quite funny because goats, sheep, and horses are always dogs. haha I correct him and he gives me the funniest look like "Really Mommy? Because that sure looks like a dog to me." haha

Not sure if y'all know what Little Bear is, but its a show on NickJR that we watch every night during his breathing treatments. He is OBSESSED with it! We ask if he wants to watch something different, nope "Lil Bear". Not complaining because he will sit there for his 15 minutes and not move, plus it's a really cute show with great lessons. Just like books he likes to point to things and tell me what they are.  "Lil Bear" "Duck" he calls the hen a duck too. "Cat" "Bird" is the owl. Eventually I'll get the books for him, but they are a 4+.

Another issue we are having that we've always really had is his eating habits. He is VERY picky and I constantly worry about him getting all the nutrients he needs. He does like to eat don't get me wrong but it's all the bad stuff that I want to limit. He is his mother's son after all. lol This kid really prefers not to eat meat. Yesterday I called his pediatrician to talk about it because for the past 3 days in the AM. he's been eating half of his breakfast, all of his lunch, and for dinner almost nothing. Enter freak out mode because I know he isn't getting every part of the nutrition triangle. Is there something wrong? Is he sick and not showing any signs? etc. So she recommended that we start giving him PediaSure for those times he prefers not to eat food. It's like a pint size protein shake. And THANKFULLY Aiden loves them. So I can rest a little bit but I'm still going to try to expand his taste.....the eating in front him doesn't work anymore. I used to be able to get him to eat if we all sat down in front of him eating the same thing, but not anymore....so I'm gonna be looking for new techniques...

I mentioned yesterday how we are going strong with no wake ups. Well this morning he woke up when Wes was leaving for work (apparently I was passed out because I didn't even hear him babbling on the monitor). Wes said he wasn't crying just sitting up in bed and playing with his stuff animals. I will take that! And it explains why he was still sleeping hard when I came in there during his normal wake up time. As long as he's not waking me up and crying/screaming at the top of his lungs I will take it!

Other news, this week at his preschool they had their Scholastic Book fair, great prices on the books. Walked away with 3 new books for under $20. Aiden was very excited about all of them and we were contributing to the school. Win Win!

Tomorrow we are for real starting potty training....so wish us luck! So wanting this to go successful because we are up to size 6 diapers now! Same price as 5, but about 30 less. EEK! Must get out of these things.

Bit of a random post.

Cards

With another birthday under our belt we have even more cards. Currently they are all in an envelope in our filing cabinet. Well from baby showers, Christmas, bdays, other holidays that file is getting full. Insert solution.

First declutter the pile. I kept all the ones from our family members and dear friends. The others leftover I tossed if they didn't include a little note aka just signatures. Now I have a more manageable pile.

Find a binder and make a cover page. check. Punch holes in all the cards check.
Now we have the perfect storage of all our cards! YAH! I know I will appreciate this alot more down the road. I need to do this project with our Christmas cards too.

Other news. 4 nights of solid sleep for Aiden. Knock on wood this continues!!

Even more exciting news......as I was chatting it up with Lowe's paint people trying to see what the difference is in all the exterior paint and telling them how sad I was I had to paint our vinyl white I learned something. Valspar has speciality formulated colors that allow you to paint outside your color card on your vinyl. UHHH WHAT?! Repeat that again. I was only expecting like maybe 5-10 different colors....nope like 30! Shut Up! Totally made my day! So if you have vinyl look for the "Valspar Vinylcolors" handout. AMAZING! So gitty after this trip!

So here's what we are thinking........if we don't have to paint the brick we are going to paint all the vinyl  on the house "Chipped Ice". It's kind of a tan/gray. Since our mortar is gray I think it will look nice.

But if we have to paint the house I want to paint the brick (Area 3), Hardy board trim (Area 2) and the siding on the side of the house the "Chipped Ice" and the siding roof overhang (Area 1) "Mystic", which is darker version with more brown in it. I think if we painted all of that the same color it would look weird. (PICTURE OF THE COLORS DONT DO THEM JUSTICE). But I really don't want to paint the house anymore....haha probably because I don't want to paint it. (We'd have to do it ourself because paint alone for our size house 200 bucks and that's only for 1 coat. SHESH! And then renting a sprayer ontop of it, the materials to mask off all the things not to be painted, etc. Cost just adding up. I'd rather put that money in our back porch in a nice patio set. Plus I don't think we see that investment value returned whenever we want to sell.

The contractor came out yesterday to take measurements and get the list of everything we want quoted, so please cross your fingers it's reasonable because I REALLY don't want to go back on the drawing board to find another contractor.

Recap

Well this weekend didn't go according to plan. One we didn't start potty training because on Saturday Aiden woke up at midnight stayed up till 4am. Finally got him to go to sleep in our bed...woke up at 8am with him, almost 40 pounds, on my back (I sleep on my tummy). Needless to say my back was killing me ALL weekend. Bummer! But maybe next weekend. I think my lack of sleep and soreness should have been a sign to stop but I wanted to at least get some things accomplished and not be a complete bum.

Saturday: Bye Bye ugly death trap of a security door. I swear I never open it because everytime I change out our wreath I'm running away in horror because I see wasps. They love to hide behind it. Well NO longer my friends! It feels so good!

Fill up the holes in the frame while I started on the door. Prep. Clean Clean Clean. Scrap Scrap Scrap. So gitty to start. Bye Bye ugly gray door.

Hello beauty! It's bright and cheery and will look even better once we have my hydrangeas near.

Now what went wrong?!?! Do you notice the big blue spot on the concrete?!?! Yeah...I'm painting next thing I know Murphy has knocked over the can. WTF!!! Could have killed him. Oh and other causuality? My birthday wreath! UGH! Had to take out half the balloons..Just another project on my list again.

So did you know that a security door weighs like 5 million pounds?!?! OMG! I about died. Where you see it in the picture above is as far as I could move it. The goal was to move it in the garage on Sunday and resell it. Well the wind had other plans...while I was cleaning the living room on Sunday I hear a loud crash and shatter. Open the door and the security door is on the ground. Glass EVERYWHERE! Took me half an hour to clean. FML! I was put way behind schedule on Sunday and didn't get half the things I wanted to get done because of it. Living room is still a wreck.

Since we are ripping up the concrete I'm not even bothering with pressure washing it. Guess it was a sign to get rid of it. Because of all this missteps I didn't even get to replace the exterior light! UGH!. On my list for next weekend. Bye Bye ugly rusted brass light. Hello beauty!

But with all that good/bad news I will share some more good news! We completely finished our bathroom! YIPPEE! I was in love before, but now I love it even more! No pictures yet I still have a Pinterest project for decor item but once that is done, pictures galor. (Note: I hate painting! Just doing our small bathroom was a pain. Back when we moved in the house I was still pregant with Aiden so my mother-in-law painted the whole house. Ceilings, trim, walls. I don't see how she did it without going crazy! Appreciate it even more now!!)

Next painting projects: The white trims around the house, the siding, and our kitchen ceiling. Taking a few weeks off before I start any of that.

Found a hook for Aiden's "message center". Now everything is off the table.

Friday night I headed up to Macys with my MIL since they were having a blowout sale on mattresses. She was getting my neice a twin set for her bday present and I was looking for a trundle mattress. Man was I glad we went! She found a set that was originally 400something for 169 and I found a mattress originally 200something for 89. SCORE! Originally my FIL was going to build Aiden a trundle for his birthday but they found one that matches his bedset pretty good on LandofNod for about the same price it would cost to make. Even better! Can't wait for it to get here. Let the sleepovers begin! I'm going to make natural rope handles for the outside to make it easy to pull out and keep with his nautical theme.

Leaving with a picture of Aiden. Caught him trying to sneak out of bed during nap time. That little chair of his is multi purpose. Used for reading and as a climbing stool for him. His bed is quite high off the ground.

Weekend Projects

A lot is going on this weekend. A lot of painting...Finishing up the bathroom (just need to do the entry way.)

Picked out our kitchen ceiling color. Lovely Buff. Amazing how colors look sooo different on the ceiling. This is nap time project.

Got the "dream" light to replace our pos one in our kitchen. EEK! Hope it looks as amazing in our kitchen as I'm thinking....

The next project we decided on was to paint the front door. We decided to go this route  instead of shelling out $400+ for a new door. Currently the door is an ugly gray and the trim work around the window is like yellow. Yucky! So I'm going to paint the trim work white. and the door.........Lyndhurst Duchess Blue. Definitely bright, but the color chip looks good next to the brick.....so crossing our fingers!! I wanted a color since we don't have shutters to give it a pop.

Don't worry I'll take pictures during the project. I might do some more painting outside (The trim work at the top of the brick and the siding.) since it's so pretty and Aiden is obsessed with playing outside.

But more exciting news....Tuesday the contractor is coming to talk about our plans for the removal of the sliding glass door and sidewalk. EEEEEK! So excited to get that started. Hoping to have that done before planting season. Hydrangeas here we come! Bonus found a nursery less than 5 miles away that will give us a "local" discount. Yeah buddy!

On a different unrelated topic. We are having some major trouble with Aiden's sleeping patterns. We used to be on a 7pm-6am schedule. Now it's 7:30/8pm-12am. WTF! Then he stays up till about 3/4am. I've been trying everything in the book to get him back to normal (Even gave his paci back). Giving him shots of benadryl before bedtime....and that only pushes it back to 2am wake ups. He doesn't do it everyday like every other. But enough to drain me. And he seems to only do it on the days when Wes has work so as Wes is getting ready for work I'm having to get up with him only running on about 3 hours sleep. DRAINING!!! Those are the days I hate when Wes goes to work at 2am. But luckily he takes over in the evening so I just cook and relax.

Some days Aiden is wide awake wanting to play. Some point between 2am-4am I pass out on the couch and wake up to find Aiden sleeping ontop of me or at the end of the couch. Which scares me....because what if he gets into something during that blurry unconscious time and I'm so out of it I don't wake up! Freaks me out. Or I love when I do fall asleep and he hits me saying "Mommy play!" and hands me a car. haha The days he does sleep in it's only till 5am, but I'm like HALLELUJAH! because at least then I'm getting my 7/8 hours of sleep. REALLY looking forward to this stage going away......for my sanity.