Living room update

Well not much has been going on in the way of getting the living room done. So far the only major recent changes is that we bought the crown moulding and got it put up on the short ends of the room. Dad and Michael worked on it all morning Saturday and they could not get the corner pieces cut right. My Dad has been doing carpentry all his life so if he is having trouble then it must be hard. I hope they get it figured out soon without us having to buy a lot more moulding. :) What is up looks so good right now.

We also have been planning to have an older couch that we found and bought for $100 recovered by Michael's Mom. We have picked out the color we want for the couch and thankfully we are getting the fabric and her cost because that stuff is anywhere between $25 - $45 a yard....and we need about 18 yards!!! It is definately going to be an investment to recover it but the couch is a classic shape and we don't have much in it.

We also scored a great deal on two matching chairs for the room. We used to have an overstuff couch, loveseat and recliner that all matched. While we loved the comfort of the items we were both so over the fabric they were covered in because it all matched and Michael actually didn't want another recliner in the living room....which is strange for a man. LOL Anyways we had been looking on craiglist and other second-hand websites for months looking for what we wanted. The problem was we wanted to try to get 2 matching chairs and most everything out there was just one piece. We didn't really care what they looked like as long as they were cheap, recoverable and the same style. Well last Wednesday was our lucky day. I hopped on the website and stumbled on 2 matching chairs less than 1 year old and made by Pottery Barn for $250!! I emailed the girl immedately and got them! See the pictures below of what they look like. Pretty cute huh! We aren't even going to recover them for now. We actually like the yellow and think it will go with our already planned red couch color!! Yay!!!

More updates to come!



One of our new chairs! Please excuse the mess!




This is the future couch color called Cinnamon




Some of the moulding done and the tricky corners



Our weekend

We had wonderful weekend of family fun and a little bit of work on the living room. Saturday I had my "somewhat" monthly book club meeting over at Mom's house. I took Jonah with me for this one because another girl in the group needed to bring her daughter along and I didn't want her to feel left out. Plus it allowed Michael and Dad to get a jump on the crown moulding for the living room. It was pretty chaotic and we didn't have much of a meeting but it was still fun. I had to prepare the food this time. We always do a brunch type meal because we meet at 10:00 in the morning. I made some Pilsbury cinnamon rolls and did a fruit tray and I tried a new recipe for a breakfast melt on an English muffin. It was really good and everyone said they liked it and wanted the recipe so it must have been good. The recipe is here.

Later that afternoon we headed over the annual Bobo-Q! The Bobo-Q is an annual cookout of local family and friends that my Uncle Bobo started way back when I was a little one. He cooks all this wonderful meat and we feast and hang out and catch up. This was Jonah's first one and he did so good thanks in part to having a very late nap and eating supper before we went.

Sunday we went to Church and Jonah did so good for not having taken a nap at all that morning! He gets so off on his naps on the weekends and it's not because we always have stuff going on. Even on the weekends that we stay home all day he still gets off. Anyways, on Sunday afternoon we needed to run to the grocery store and get stuff for the week so we went over to the big ol' city of Dover park and walked and strolled around. We went down to the boat dock and Michael tried to put Jonah's feet in the very cold water. He did pretty good but then started to fuss. I think it was too cold for him. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come once the pool is open.

Below are some pics from our fun weekend!

 Mom and Jonah visiting at the Bobo-Q

 Michael holding baby Emily (Jonah's little cousin). She actually fell asleep on him :)

 My Uncle Bobo and Jonah. Check out that crazy hair! He was pulling on it.

 Trying to get this boy to attempt crawling! He just lays there and then rolls over.

He wasn't too sure about that cold water

Mother's Day page

Here is the scrapbook page I whipped up from my Mother's Day pictures. I did this one in about 30 minutes in Picasa.

My First Mother's Day!!

I had a wonderful first Mother's day this past Sunday. The day began with getting to sleep in a little. We heard Jonah stirring around 6:30 and Michael got up to go check on him. He was awake but after he picked him up he went back to sleep on Daddy's shoulder. He decided to sleep in too until 7:30. We all got up and got going. Michael has bought me a beautiful fern to hang under the carport and the sweetest card that made me cry. Jonah got me a little marigold plant that was bright yellow and a card that was so sweet! We got ready for Church and I had a Mother's day corsage to wear.

Church went great and Jonah fell asleep during the sermon. So I actually was able to listen to it back in the nursery area. It was a wonderful message about Godly women and their power in the world. I often think about the power that women do have on their husbands and children. So many times it is our actions that speak louder than our words. We have to be the model for our children of what kind of spirit they should have in their daily lives. I think about this a lot in the mornings. You have to set the tone early in the morning of how the day should be or it can take a bad turn quickly. This is definately something my own Mother taught me and exemplified every day when I was growing up.

Anyways, back to the day. Michael and I decided to just drive around and enjoy the pretty weather while Jonah got his nap out in the back seat. So then we headed over to my Mom's house for a late lunch with my grandmothers too. Dad and my uncle (Bobo) had cooked the meat and bought an ice cream blizzard cake for us all. The meal was deliciuos! Jonah was starting to get tired and really needed to take another nap but would not give it up. So we left Mom's right after we opened some presents. Mom made me the sweetest framed poem with Jonah's hand prints on it. I cried of course when I read it to every one. It meant so much to me and was such a thoughful gift. Michael even teared up too. :)

Here are pics from the day.

My Mom, my grandmother (Roro) and me

 Roro and Granny swinging in Mom's new swing with Jonah

 The framed hand prints and poem from Mom

Me (and Michael) having a little cry after reading it.

Here is what the poem said:

This is my hand and my hand will do a thousand loving things with you.

And you will remember when I am tall that once my hand was just this small.

Wahhh! I'm crying again!

Jonah is 9 months old!

Well I am pretty late posting this but we have been a little busy around here. I can't believe that in 3 short months we will be celebrating Jonah's first birthday! The time literally does fly by! Here is what he has been up to over the past month.

Sleep:

Sleep is going great! He sleeping through the night now and we hardly hear a peep out of him most nights. He still goes down around 7:30 - 8:00. I usually give him a bottle and we read a story or too if he still seems like he is not quite ready to lay down. Then I turn out the light and rock him a little and he is out. He has even started to squirm when I'm rocking him and so I go ahead and lay him in the crib and that is what he wants. He is getting so big! He does roll around in his crib during the night and many times he sleeps on his tummy some. That is so crazy to me because we have always laid him on his back to sleep since he was born. He is also doing really good with naps during the day. He usually takes a morning and afternoon nap of at least an hour and usually 2 hours. We lay him in the crib awake with lots of pacifiers and he talks to himself and sometimes wimpers a little but then goes to sleep. We are so proud of how his sleep is going and the only thing I can say is that persistence and consistency must pay off!

Eating:

Meals are going well too. Not much has changed in that area over the last month. He has a bottle first thing, then cereal in the morning. A veggie and fruit at lunch. Usually an afternoon snack of some kind and bottle. Supper is more cereal and a meat meal (half a jar still). We are trying to work on the sippy cup but it hasn't been going too well. He still wants someone to hold his bottle and sippy cup when he drinks and he doesn't really want to hold them himself. I figure he will catch on eventually so I'm just going to enjoy him letting me do the holding and cuddling while I can. We have had the go ahead to start table food but we have not ventured much into all that. I think it is mainly me that holds back on offering him more table food. I need to work on being creative and thinking of things for him to try. I have a terrible fear of him choking on something I give him!!!  He is starting to get very interested in what Michael and I are eating so I know I need to work on this soon!

Play:

Jonah still loves his walker at home and at Nana's house and zooms everywhere and steers it whereever he wants to get to. He loves playing with his toys on the floor too. He is figuring out new things all the time. We can't wait to get the pool open and see what he thinks of all that water. We are hoping he likes it or our pool might not get used much this year. We finally got him an outdoor swing under the carport and of course he loves it!!

Personality:

He has so much personality these days!! Still a happy boy most of the time. He has started to listen really well when I read books to him and he loves to open the flaps in some of the books. He goes to Sunday school most Sunday mornings if we can get there and he does so well in class by himself. His teacher says he never even wimpers. He has started to "give us love" when we ask him too. I'll say "give Mommy love" and he will tilt his head to mine. I just love it!! I could eat him up. He really knows what's going on in his little world more and more. He gets excited when he knows it's bath time each night and loves to splash Mommy in the bath tub. He is starting to get better with going to other people even if I'm around and that makes me happy. I don't want him to be a sissy Mama's boy all the time. He has also started saying "ba ba ba" a lot too. Michael says he is trying to say "mama." I am not sure but I love hearing him try to talk. There is so much more little things he is starting to do but the list could go on and on.

There is still no indication of wanting to crawl at all. I feel like he will know when the time is right. For now he gets where he wants to go in the walker. Hopefully he will be interested in crawling in the next couple of months.

Here are our monthly pics.

Here is a look back at last month.

Living Room Reno.....Progress

Well as I type this we now have painted drywall and our window back in. Still need trim and carpet though. We will get there. We have already picked out our carpet installer and what we want. We just have to wait until he is available and gets it ordered. Here are some pics of what we've been doing in there.

We went with a neutral color that is called Wicker. It's a Valspar color. It looked more grayish brown on the swatch we painted but it has turned out more of a tan brown. Oh well I still like it and Michael says he can live with it. It was $35 a can so we won't be painting over it! LOL!

Our carpet is going to be Iced Mocha color so it should be a little darker than the walls. I am trying to envision what I want the room to look like once it's all done but I'm still not sure what direction I want to go with window coverings and wall decor. I certainly don't want to spend a lot of money so we'll see what I come up with.

Easter pages and invite

I am planning to post Jonah's 9 month stats, Mother's Day photos and living room updates this week but still need to get the pics off my camera. Here is a two page layout I did for Easter using Picasa and Photoshop Elements.

Just wanted to share. :)

I have also been working on planning Jonah's 1st b-day party. We are going with a truck theme for it. So far this is what I have for the invites. I think I will change out the picture to a more recent one as it gets closer to time to send these out. But I do like how his outfit coordinates with the colors. I am getting excited and stressed about this party already. Michael and I have had many discussions on who to invite and what to offer for food. It's not so easy as just having a party. I will post more on all the planning later.

Living Room Renovation....the beginning

Well as if we aren't busy enough these days we decided to start on remodeling our living room this spring. The living room is where we truly "live" in our house and spend so much time there. It is the largest room in the house and has a big picture window to the front yard. When we bought the house we knew eventually we would have to change it up. It had a textured wallpaper that covered up old wood paneling. We were just thankful that the wallpaper was a fairly nuetral color and did not have a funky pattern to it so we have been able to stand it for a while.

Anyways, so we started on removing the trim around the top, bottom, doors and window two weekends ago. We already had our wallboard guys lined up and ready to go so we got it stripped down as fast as we could. Of course by "we" I mean Michael! HA! I tended to Jonah and stayed out of the way. Thankfully our basement is partially finished and we have a little den down there where we took Jonah's toys and a TV. So we aren't too inconvenienced by it all and it's not freezing down there anymore.

As soon as Michael got it stripped the wallboard guys came and hung the wallboard in one evening. Over the course of about 4 afternoons (spending about 1 hours each time) they had it all finished and did an awesome job!! They were very reasonably priced too!

The only problem we had in all this was that when Michael removed the trim around the big window in the room he didn't know that the caulk that got removed with it was the only thing holding it in place. No nails, nothing else but that caulk. Well we had an extremely windy day and I went out the front door while I was home working and the wind got up and caused the window to fall back into the room and shatter!! It scared me to death and I had to call Michael to come home so we could get the hole covered up, call insurance, etc. There was a terrible storm heading in that night and we had to get it covered up as soon as possible. It was not a replacement we were planning on but thankfully insurance covered the replacement of the window. We are also thankful it didn't fall in during the middle of the night in the storm!! God always is watching over us!

Here are some pictures of the progress so far and the window damage.

I will post more pics once we have paint and carpet!