Cooking

What have I been cooking lately? Not much interesting because we have been dieting around our house. It isn't our favorite food, but the scale is showing progress. Pinterest sure is less fun when you can't cook all that yummy food!!

Someone around our house has been cooking though, especially this morning! 

 Gus is starting to pretend, and I LOVE it!!! I was never very good at pretending when I was little, but I always hoped Gus would be. A few days ago he was playing outside under one of our trees. He was talking to himself, and then looked up and said, "Hi Tree." It made me so happy. I want him to use his imagination all that he can!

 And this morning, he made me pizza, hot dogs, cookies, and lots of water. I don't know where he gets ideas to make these foods because we eat healthy stuff ALL the time! ;) (JOKE!) I have been trying much harder, and Gus has been eating a lot healthy along with us.

 

He also made some phone calls this morning, to MiMi, Doodle (her dog), Big Daddy, and PawPaw.

 Gus's vocabulary continues to explode. We talk all day long. This is a very fun stage.

The sleeping beauty :)

 

A perfect day in the life of a mom- playing with her babies

Pinterest Project- Wreaths

Last Fall I made a wreath for our front porch:

It was very inexpensive to make, and I bought all of the supplies at Hobby Lobby. I was so happy with how it turned out!!!

You may have seen pins similar to this one floating around Pinterest:

Source: etsy.com via Catie on Pinterest

I wanted something similar for our front porch. But honestly- hydrangea stems are SO EXPENSIVE! I just can't believe how expensive fake flowers are. It shocks me all the time.

Anyway, I went to Hobby Lobby and found 3 hydrangeas that weren't too expensive. I used the same wreath that I used in the Fall. I just pulled all the floral Fall picks out of the wreath, and replaced them with hydrangeas. I loved having some purple on it because I don't have purple anywhere in my house right now, and it is one of my favorite colors. Here is how it turned out:

So, I made over this wreath for less than $20. And I kept all the Fall decorations so I can just switch it out again in the Fall!

Pinterest Projects- Canvas Letters

I am going to be posting a few of the Pinterest projects that I've done over the last few months. I have not done as many lately as I would like- due to the lack of time. (two kids under two) But- I am also going to put on here some that I made last Fall that I didn't post about!

Many of you may have seen this pin floating around:

Source: etsy.com via Catie on Pinterest

I wanted to make these for Gus and Maddie. To begin, I went to Hobby Lobby in search of fabric. For Maddie's, I took a swatch of her crib bumper material with me and matched it with all the fabrics and ribbon. This took some time since I decided to get multiple fabrics. For Gus, I just got two fabrics, and the colors in his room are easy to match. I found 8x10 canvases at Hobby Lobby for a good price. I hot glued the fabric on the canvas and then hot glued the ribbon around the edges

.

For Gus's letters, I bought wooden letters at Hobby Lobby. I then painted them. To attach them to the canvas, I poked a small hole and put a metal fastener (brad) through. I hot glued it to keep it in place and hung the letter on it. Here is how his turned out:

For Maddie's room, I did everything the same for the fabric and ribbon.

 I chose different letters for her, and Josh spray painted them white for me. They were much lighter and smaller than Gus's, so I was able to just hot glue them onto the canvases. And here are how her's turned out:

I like the way these look, and if I decide to change their rooms up in a few years, I won't feel bad getting rid of them since they weren't a huge expense. I also think the fabric might pull off of the canvas easily, and the canvas could be reused! This was an easy fun project that I really enjoyed. 

You can follow me on Pinterest by clicking on the link on the upper right hand side of this page!

Two Months

It truly is so hard for me to believe Maddie is two months old!!! Time is going by way to fast, although it seems like she has been with us for a long time. And it is hard to remember life without her :)

Maddie is not sleeping through the night yet :(  This mommy will be very happy when she decides to sleep at least 4 hours in a row. Some nights are better than others, but overall it hasn't been bad. It is amazing how you can function on little sleep. 

She hasn't been on a very regular eating schedule either. We think she may have a little reflux and are going to talk to her doctor about it. 

Someone asked Josh if she had a similar personality to Gus, and the answer is yes! I thought our second one would be more easy-going, but that is not the case. We have little firecracker #2! If she is unhappy, she lets you know in a very loud way. 

When she is happy, she will smile and do a little giggle sometimes. She has started making noises too. She imitates us sticking our tongues out. 

Most of all, she just wants to be held all the time. I try to do this, they are only little once. I do love just holding my babies :)

Gus is a good brother

(we decided to throw him in the picture last minute, hair not combed and a sock missing!)

But she already is telling him no and pushing him away sometimes :)

Mommy loves monograms and dressing up her little girl :)

Baby Girl Nursery

I have wanted to share pictures of Maddie's room since we started working on it. We LOVE how it turned out. The room feels so warm and friendly. 

First of all, I made these letters on canvases to display Maddie's name. (thank you Pinterest!)

The curtains were a very important part of the room to me. I looked a long time and love these that we found. We also painted the window sills just to accent the room. (thank you HGTV)

We are using an antique vanity that I've had my whole life for the changing table.

A girl needs dolls, and books....

My sweet friend Kayla made this bow holder for Maddie:

I made this board for her. We also bought these hooks at Hobby Lobby- they were black and Josh painted them white:

 

I LOVE Maddie's bedding!! The bumper is from Carousel Designs. I made the mobile over her bed.

My mom gave this to Maddie for Christmas, it just goes perfectly in her room.

I think this room is so fun. I like that she can grow older in here and just change a few little things. I plan to do a post soon with everything that I made for her room.

Three Years

Three years ago yesterday, it was quite an important day :)

I honestly cannot believe it has been that long- it has flown by. I always wanted to be married and have kids. And my dreams have come true. Being married is just as great as I thought it would be :) Josh is such a great husband- I couldn't ask for anything more! 

Josh gave me two of my favorite things:

And my other gift is on its way- Season 2 of Downton Abbey. Have I mentioned how much I love that show????? It is my favorite!!!

The best gift he gave me was taking the day off from work so we could be together. 

We took a few pictures yesterday. My baby girl and me:

Josh and I (yay for the timer on our new camera!!):

 

 

We went to a nearby town and went to lunch at Red Lobster. Here is Josh and Gus while we were there:

At one point last night, both kids were crying and it was a little crazy at our house. I was thinking how it would be nice to have a quiet evening just the two of us, but I really wouldn't have changed a thing. We have been so blessed.  I know someday the house will be all quiet, and I'll long for all the sounds of my babies!

Our Days

Things are a little crazy around here, it's just life with two kids under two! It's busy, it's exhausting, but it's good. Gus is just growing up right in front of our eyes. He is talking more and more, it is so much fun. I love having conversations with him.

 In this video Gus shares a few of his animal sounds which he loves to do.

In this video at the very end Gus says "tortilla." It's so funny! He says "cheerios" very similarly.

Around here... We eat a lot of "meal meal" (oatmeal). 

 

Gus plays with the baby stuff. 

 

And Maddie is learning to enjoy toys. 

 

And I get excited when she falls asleep without me holding her so I can get a few things done! 

 

 And here's my baby girl in the first dress she has ever worn- such a cutie:

 

Life is good. We have our hard moments. But it's worth it :)

Christmas 2012- Part 2

The Saturday before Christmas we headed to my parents' house. About 3 hours into the trip, Gus started getting really upset and was crying. He then threw up all over himself. We stopped and changed his clothes and cleaned him up, thinking he just got car sick. About an hour later though, it happened again. The poor little guy threw up, and then started asking for a towel. When we were stopped cleaning him up the second time, Josh noticed one of our tires was really low, so he went a headed and changed it too. We weren't sure we would ever make it to my parents! That night Gus was sick again, and we knew he must have some bug. It lasted the entire trip. He spent most of the trip in his daddy's lap. As seen here:

On Christmas Eve, we went to my sister's house, and my parents and grandparents were there to celebrate with us.  Even though Gus was sick, he loved seeing her horse!! 

 Josh, Gus, and my sister Grace's husband

 My grandparents with their two new great-grandkids

 Grace and Maddie

 My Dad with Grace's little boy

 My mom and Maddie

We wanted a family picture, and poor Gus just did not feel good :(

 

That afternoon we headed to Josh's parents house. That night we opened gifts which Gus enjoyed. 

This is Josh's sister with Maddie:

And Josh's parents with Maddie:

 

We didn't do much on Christmas day, and then headed back to my parents' the next day. 

Gus finally started feeling better on the day we headed home. 

After we got home, Josh got sick, and then I got sick, and finally Maddie. And as of today, Maddie is finally starting to feel better. Christmas was hard since Gus was sick. But, I can truly say Christmas is so much more fun with kids. And I know that we have so many fun memories with them to look forward to.  We are so blessed.