Our Own Style

Don't get me wrong, we love our new house, but there are various aspects of it that don't mesh with our personal style.  Luckily a lot of it can be easily fixed, so we're knocking those items out one by one.  First up was the interesting blue toilet in the powder room.  It was running constantly, so we knew it needed new guts.  Instead of replacing them, we decided to just go ahead and buy a whole new toilet.  I know that doesn't sound frugal, but when you take a look at this beauty, I think you can see why we made the decision we did.

Yeahhhhh, that's just not going to work for us.  Luckily, toilets are pretty affordable, and we purchased a new one and got it installed by Home Depot.  It's a dual flush one, so we're feeling fancy.

Don't worry, that wallpaper is on the replacement list too.  Next up were the outlet and switch covers that were antique brass.  I replaced about 10 of them, because they were (luckily) only in a couple of rooms.  The crazy thing is that they probably cost the previous homeowner about $12 each.  Yowza!

Other cool stuff we've purchased lately has been for the backyard.  We're pretty excited about spending a lot of time by the pool this summer, so we knew we needed some outdoor furniture.  

I call that large chaise lounge the Queen's Lounger!  Haha.  That one came from Sears, the tan and red ones came from Garden Ridge (we bought 2 of each color) and the striped pillows came from Pottery Barn.

There are tons of other new things I'll be posting about in the coming weeks including tile in the entryway, wood in the game room, paint in lots of rooms, bedding, towels, mirrors, and rugs.  Okay, I just got a little overwhelmed by typing all that out!  It's a lot of work making this house our own, but it's going to be fun having a "custom" house at the end of it.  

Wordless Wednesday

Baby Shower Gifts

Apologies for the lack of blog posts - I have been going and going from morning to night every day for the past couple of weeks.  I wish I could say it's about to slow down, but I seriously doubt it!  Maybe I'll get a chance to catch up on a couple of posts when I'm laid up after my second spinal injection tomorrow.  We'll see.  But anyways, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend, Sara, who runs Cute Sewn In.  I ordered a few personalized items from her for my bff Jenn, who is due next month.

 
Jenn's son will be named Parx, and she is doing blues, oranges, and greens in his room.  I got to pick out the colors, lettering, and fabrics for the burp cloths from Sara's galleries, and then she brought them to life!  I also ordered an adorable onesie with an embroidered tie.  She has TONS of items you can get personalized, for kids of all ages, so check out her website!  She has very reasonable prices.  Happy shopping!

Easter 2013

My family got together on Easter to have lunch and an egg hunt for the kiddos.  It's so fun that my sisters and I have kids around the same age, because they're starting to be able to play together.  It's also just great to be surrounded by a lot of loving people!  It was a beautiful day and we got a bunch of wonderful pictures out of it:

My handsome boy trekking across the bridge

Nieces Olivia and Bella

Silly boy in the playhouse

Niece Lexie

Perfect photo!

Niece Bella breaking into the candy

Sis Jo and her beautiful daughter, Olivia (Good luck during those high school years, Jo!)

Such a ham!

Couldn't ask for a better family! I love them to pieces.

Dutch's Oma and Opa are truly wonderful!

Pbbbbt!

Fun with Dad on the slide

Dutch's first attempt at basketball.  Not too shabby!

Making silly faces on the window, like his Oma taught him.

Filling our basket with loot

Niece Olivia caught a big fish

Dutch's first meeting with a fish

He LOVED playing with his Oma

My sweet baby boy

Bye, Bye Bottles

Well, the time has come.  No more bottles for Dutchie!  We started giving him a sippy cup a few weeks ago, and it took him a little getting used to.  More of the milk ended up on his shirt than in his mouth.  But, with persistence, he got the hang of it.  In the mornings, we still gave him a bottle, because he wailed if we didn't.  Kids are so funny - even at 13 months, they can have fierce preferences!  I'd hand him a sippy cup first thing in the morning, and he would violently shake his hands back and forth and cry.  I'd hand him a bottle and he'd be perfectly fine and lay back and drink it.  (What a diva!)  I did that for a few days until his teacher at daycare reprimanded me for it.  Lol.  She said I needed to just cut out the bottles cold turkey and he would quickly change his attitude.  She was right!  I think we had one more morning of it being a fight, but then the next day he was fine with it.  I did stack the deck a little in my favor by buying a sippy cup that mimicked a bottle, to ease the transition.  It was really tall with a simple lid, and he had to hold it with two hands in order to drink it.  I think it confused him a little bit because he didn't know if he should be upset about it or not!  Haha.  But, hey, it worked.  Now I can give him any type of sippy cup in the morning, and he's good to go.  So, tonight I'm packing up all the bottles!  Crazy to think about how much he is growing up.  He's also transitioning into a new class at daycare in a couple of weeks, with some kids that are quite a bit older than him!  His cousin, Lexie, is in the adjoining class, and she's turning 2 in July.  They'll be together in the mornings, and sometimes in the afternoons, so that's exciting.  He'll sit at a table to eat his meals and nap on a cot during the day.  Whaaaaaat?  That's big kid talk!  I guess I'll have to accept that he's growing up. :(