11 May - all things coming together

After feeling like my head's been spinning in circles over the last couple weeks, things finally seem to be coming together.

I'm over halfway finished with Will's quilt . . .

I got a new runner for my kitchen, & I love it. It looks so fresh & oh the cushioning on my feet - beautimous . . .

Will's mind has been like a sponge, & he is impressing me so much every day with how smart he is - he "sings" along with Tangled's "Mother Knows Best" (hand actions & all), sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" & his ABC's, helps in the garden & chases buggies, jumps naked from the rock wall in our backyard (every smart boy does this, right?), & reads books to me (& his grandparents over the phone or Skype). He is at such a fun age, & I'm just loving every moment of him (minus the scratching problem we're still having, but let's not focus on that right now).

Love this boy (. . . & my new rug he's playing on)!

And the Little Lady is growing & growing. She likes playing peek-a-boo with my feet.

Where'd they go? . . . There they are (barely).

24 weeks today.

Rice Cereal, Sod, & Golf

William tried out rice cereal for the first time last Monday (I know I'm a little late posting this). I stripped him down to his diaper, sat him in his Bumbo, & shoveled cereal in his mouth. He hardly swallowed anything - he just automatically stuck his tongue out, & after a few forced spoonfuls, I determined he needed a break. Since that first attempt, he has gotten better at swallowing the cereal, but still hates it. My mom & I also tried him on carrots this week, & he ate a surprisingly good amount. I love watching William go through these different experiences. It is so much fun to see him learn or try new things (on that note, Will rolled over on his own for the first time on Wednesday - once from back to front & then once from front to back. I think it was more a fluke than anything, but I'm so proud of him). Oh yea - William is also 5-months-old now. Wow - I really need to get better about updating this blog in a timely fashion.

Eating rice cereal for the first time - March 9
After doing so much in the backyard, Scott finally decided to hire someone to put in the sprinklers & lay the sod. So last Friday, our friend, Andrew, helped Scott carry the sod to the backyard, & then we all watched as Victor & the other worker rolled out our grass & made our backyard look so much more complete. Scott, Andrew, & our neighbor, Aaron, tried to help roll the grass out, but decided that they would be of greater assistance by staying out of the way. I'll post updated pictures of the yard later this week?

Last Saturday, we went mini golfing with our friends Jonathan & Jillian. It was such a beautiful day & we wanted to get our money's worth, so we decided to play both courses.

Scott swinging at Jonathan:Jillian (prego w/ baby Claire) & me - William was asleep (or supposed to be asleep) in the stroller.

Reorganizing

The bookshelves in our living room have bothered me since I first "organized" them. Call me weird, but I got irritated just about every time I happened to look over at them - they weren't filled up, & there were too many knick-knacks placed awkwardly inside. I'm a huge perfectionist, so I had to do something to fix the problem.
So almost two weeks ago, I got the urge to redo the bookcases. I emptied the shelves, carried a bunch of books downstairs from our study, & organized the books by genre (& size or color when necessary). I also had to keep William entertained - he doesn't like to be left alone to play for very long (which is why this project took me at least 5 hours - of course, my OCD added to the length of time as well - I'm surprised I didn't catalog everything).Before:The finished result - (still not absolutely perfect, but SO much better than before).The up-close pictures are for my own enjoyment - I'm sure everyone else could care less about this project.

My New Chair

Scott & I have been married for a little over 4 years, & I haven't bothered him about getting furniture (or really anything for that matter) in that amount of time. I've been quite content with what we have, so our extra money has gone towards projects around the house (new counters & backsplash in the kitchen, laying tile downstairs, painting the house, & landscaping (& stuff for Willliam)). Over the last few weeks though, I've been starting to get antsy wanting to decorate our home. There is a chair at Anthropologie that I absolutely love - I love the style, the color, the fabric, & it's comfy. Well, I kept talking about how much I liked the chair, so Scott thought he'd surprise me with it. Two nights ago, I went to the front door, & this was out on the front porch for me:

Isn't it awesome?

Painted House: Results

Living Room Kitchen Dining Room: Scott & our neighbor, Alan, installed the bead board - as noted in an earlier post, but now it's all filled in & painted. Entry: I love putting the Fall decorations out - I don't have many, but they sure are beautiful. Family Room Laundry Room Nursery: not everything is in its exact place yet, but it's almost there.

Study accent wall: I'll hopefully have a big cork board covered w/ some matching fabric up on the blue wall soon Master Bedroom

Pictures of the guest rooms are coming soon. They still need to be put back together all the way (or at least more than they are now).

Painted House: Before Shots

Family Room Living Room Don't ask me how Scott got paint on his ear - considering I had him paint multiple samples all over the house, I think he did a great job keeping things clean - no spilling or anything (I was not so successful, so I just stopped helping). Master BedroomNursery Guest/Craft Room Laundry Room Dining Room - Everything in our house was covered with plastic & paper for the few days it took to have our house painted. A preview of the nursery (disregard my exposed belly). I want to get the other rooms put back together before I take pictures of them.

Belly, Bead Board, Visitors, & Trip

My pregnant belly 3 weeks ago - at 33 1/2 weeks.

Scott installing bead board in our dining room (with our wonderful neighbor's help - Allen always manages to sneak out of pictures, but he has been amazing with so many of our projects). That's my husband . . . aren't I lucky?

Scott's sister (Karen), her daughter (Kayla), and a family friend (Julie) came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. We got to go visit Scott at his new station, where he dressed each of us up in firefighter gear. We had a great time, and it was so much fun having everyone come visit us. We love them so much - they are truly amazing people.

Kayla & Karen Kayla, Karen, Julie, Scott Scott, me, Kayla, Karen Comparing bellies Kayla all decked out for a fire.

We then spent a few days down in Tehachapi. It is such a beautiful place, & it was so great to visit again. Our last visit was over a year ago.

The first night we were there, Scott and his dad got ready to play racquetball & came out of their rooms wearing the exact same outfit (minus the shoes). Like father, like son.

Completed Patio

Here are some pictures of the concrete forming, pouring, etc. process.
This is the form for the patio.Hosing off the stamps for the concrete. The pump to pour the concrete. The cement truck.

Smoothing the concrete. Putting stress joints in the concrete to help prevent it from cracking anywhere but those places.

It's done!

Closeup of the stamp

It will be nice when we can finish the rest of the landscaping, so we have something nice to look at from the patio (instead of cinder block and piles of dirt). It will also be nice to have some furniture to sit on.