01 November 2010

one step closer...

to being a soccer mom!



I had my eye on this beauty for a couple of weeks. Then I mentioned it to Eric. The dealer had written the price on the window in those silly curly letters. I thought it said several thousand less than it did. I was wrong. Got my hopes up and everything. So I gave up, kinda.
We checked the dealer's website to see all the specs and such and noticed it was a couple thousand less online, but there was a disclaimer that the dealer had the right to change such price, blah, blah.
This past Friday night, we were on our way to Burger King with a buy one get one free coupon. (I love coupons.) As we drove by the dealer, Eric pulled it up on the mobile website and it was even less than before. hmmmm.... we thought. Let's go look and ask. Doesn't hurt, right?
I stay in the car, Eric gets out to look at it. It is loaded. Listed for a few thousand less than Blue Book. Nice, clean, clean car fax report... A lady comes out and we say, look it was cheaper on line, what's the deal. She says if the price on line is cheaper then that is what it is selling for. Hmmmm... that could be doable. Okay let's talk numbers. If you give us $X, then we just may do this. First them came back with $X - y. Nope, still a little out of reach. Okay, we'll give you $X. Sweet. So we fill out all the paperwork we can. Since we were going out for hamburgers, I didn't have the title or the checkbook.
We went back Saturday morning. Signed everything. Wrote a large check. And ta-da! I have a new-to-me van :) and Kathryn got a really large orange balloon.
So it is an 2008 Honda Odyssey. Leather. Sun roof. Navigation System. Rear entertainment package. Back up camera. and a third row!!! yay!!! no more taking two cars when we have company in town or we are with family! whooo hoo! And with the back row down, my double stroller slides in the entire way long ways! I'm loving it so far!
Go ahead. You can be jealous :)

20 October 2010

Crib Rail Cover

As promised to those of you on facebook, here is more detail on the crib rail cover I made yesterday.

From Drop Box


I used this tutorial I found by doing a google search a few months ago. I got the idea after seeing this one on Amazon, but didn't think it was worth $20. It looked simple enough to make.

I had found the monkey fabric at JoAnn's a few months ago. I thought it matched the green of the other bedding well. The tutorial used three different patterns. I went with one. No need to make things more complicated, right?

I did change a few things. First, thanks to the advice of Mom, I did not cut my entire 53" length out of one piece, but pieced together two strips of 12" wide fabric and then trimmed the ends to make the 53". The left over ends were about 14" long (I can't cut straight to save my life). This length worked great for the end ties.

From Drop Box


This was the second change I made. The tutorial used ties in the middle and the ends. I didn't want the ties in the middle. I had a package of snaps I used on a purse left over. So I used those. I made the nice looking side of the snap face out. The back side of the snap is between the quilted layer and the monkey fabric, so you don't see it. This plain side faces into the crib.

From Drop Box


The original one I found on Amazon had loops to attach teething toys. I have not done this step yet, but may go back and do that later. I am planning on doing on for the back rail also. I may just do it on that cover.

From Drop Box

15 October 2010

time to...

lower the crib!



Oh and Eric pointed out that I forgot to mention that he is sitting himself up after being in a crawling position. And now, as you can see, he is pulling himself up. Too fast! Too fast this boy is!!!

Last night he finally got the hand-mouth coordination down to start eating the little puffs himself too!




I did get this on video but blogger isn't liking the MP4 format. I'll figure something out.

12 October 2010

kiddo update

I guess I could wait until next week when Andrew is 8 months, but he's doing too much. And in my old age, I would probably forget what is really new that I haven't told you by then anyway.

Let's see. He's crawling. Mostly army crawling, but he can do laps around the kitchen. His poor little knees though. Good thing he's tough. He has in the past couple of days started to get up on all fours and do one or two "steps" in the "normal" fashion.

Speaking of fashion, I've had to move him up to the 12 month pj's. Mostly for the length, but a little because he is solid. He still has baby fat rolls on his legs, but his torso is just solid. I'm guessing once he really gets mobile the baby rolls will thin out. Kathryn thinned out a lot once she started walking.

Update from my "venti" post. He has gone back to eating normally, but still getting up at least two or three times a night. It has to stop. But I think it is teething related. You can feel bumps along the bottom. Last night before bed I used the Orajel and he slept until after 1 AM.

He is a talker. Doesn't really say much that is understandable. But his favorite noise right now sounds like "da da da". Eric says this is important. I think he is just jabbering, but Eric says, "Nope. He's saying dada." He really likes to talk while we are eating out... or anywhere public really.

In the past week he is beginning to pull him self up on things. He started on chair legs. You know the bracing bar between the bottom of legs. At home he likes the sit-n-spin. I think he figured out if he presses the top, it plays music. He has no problem climbing over you.

I think that it is for Andrew.

Kathryn is getting bigger every day. She is starting to be able to tell Daddy at dinner what we did during the day. She was able to tell him a little about the fire station outing this morning after MOPS. She did remember that she bonked into another little girl and fell on the floor (ground) and got an owie (is that how you spell that?? like boo-boo... ow that hurt... something doesn't look right).

Her toes were sticking out of her jammies. Literally. She wore holes in the toes and her big toe was sticking out of two pairs. So I bought her footless jammies at Target the other day. I wasn't sure which size to get, but was leaning toward the 3T. The jammies were on an end cap of the aisle with the car seats. It had a height chart. She was 36" so we did go with the 3T.

The sassyness is starting. She knows how to talk back. Sometimes when Andrew is really talking, I'll say "You don't say!". Well, Kathryn has picked up on this saying, but with the tone more like "You don't say that to me!". Sometimes with the serious look. Makes me want to slap it out of her mouth. But I don't. I try to say, "I do say because I am the Mommy!".

And I can't remember if I have told you guys or not, but her favorite song is Old McDonald. And on his farm he has a pig, a cow, a doggie, a Kathryn (who giggles), a Jessie (from Toy Story... she Yee-haw's), a Mr. Giraffe (her little stuffed one that gives kisses), sometimes a truck (it goes drive, drive), and a house that goes ding dong. The truck and the house she came up with on her own. Or heard them from someone besides us. Old McDonald is part of her bedtime routine. We also sing Twinkle Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. It is hard after you have sang about 5 cows and a few others to not sing Jesus Loves Me a few times.

She can just about climb in and buckle her carseat by herself. She can do the top buckle no problem. Most of the time she can get one of the bottom buckles in but needs you to get the other one.

Oh and my favorite thing lately is that she is starting to color. And for like 20 minutes or longer. She sits at her table and just colors. Sometimes it is the same picture that she has already colored. But she plays quitely. Just her and crayons. That's my girl!

I'm sure there are other things I could tell you, but it is late and I need to try to get some sleep tonight.

But I'll leave you with a picture of the two most adorable kiddos!!


From October 2010

slacker mom

I've been a slacker at updates. So tonight after the kids go to bed, I'll try to do an update. Be looking for things about a week in Georgia, Andrew's new tricks, etc.

29 September 2010

mommy needs a venti

Or maybe it should read "Mommy needs to vent," but it is National Coffee Day so we'll leave it :)

We all had a stomach bug last week. Not fun. We are over it. But the side effects are lingering. Andrew ate his last real solid food meal a week ago. Yes, for seven days I have been his source of nourishment. I did get a little rice cereal in him on Monday. But I do believe the lack of solid food is affecting his sleeping. Last night he went to bed at 8:30... he was up at 10:30, 12:45, 3:00, and 5:45. I finally gave up and got him up at 8ish. And each time during the night he wanted to eat. He doesn't eat that often during the day.

This morning Kathryn decided to do a strip show for Nana & Granddad because she wanted a clean diaper. Then she decided it was bath time. I was in the kitchen fixing a cup of coffee. She turned the water on and then proceeded to dump the entire bottle of bubble bath. Thankfully she hadn't plugged the tub or I would still be cleaning up bubbles. About 10 or 15 minutes into her bath, she squats. "Kathryn, do you have to go poopy?" "Yes Mommy" so sit her on the toilet. Nothing. But she won't get up. So she sat on the toilet for almost 15 minutes this morning doing nothing but trying to smell her toes.

Back to Andrew. Since he isn't eating solid food, his poopy has gone back to looking like a newborn that is only breast fed, but in the quantities of a 7 month old. This morning he had poopy up to his armpits. He got in the tub with Kathryn this morning. Yes it was their first bath together, but no I didn't get any pictures.

Then I wanted brownies. I have been wanting brownies since before the whole stomach thing. I put everything in the bowl... water, mix, eggs... and then go to add the oil. I can not get the cap off the bottle. I have blisters trying to get the bottle open. The lid starts to turn and then goes sideways. I gave up and used applesauce. It just isn't the same.

Okay I need to go finish coloring Mickey Mouse with Kathryn... and maybe think about getting dressed, but I still need a venti... maybe tomorrow while I am sitting at the Mazda dealer getting my oil changed and the state inspection done.

15 September 2010

a two week summary

Let's see if I can do this and not write a novel. We have had two non-stop weeks, and I really do mean non-stop.

Wednesday the 1st was the first day of the big three day consignment sale here in Fayetteville. I had it on my calendar to go since we were leaving the next day. Before heading to the sale, the kids & I met some friends (Rachel, Vivian & Pheobe) at the park. Then we went to the sale where Mommy spent over $100, but almost the entire handle bar of the stroller was packed and both kids should be set until spring (I'm not saying that I won't be swayed by a sale and/or coupon from Children's Place, but you should see their closets!). We then went to lunch with a friend and her little girl (Stacie & Abby) we met at the sale. Then it was home to pack!

Thursday felt like a week in itself. Eric & I got up at 4:30 AM to try to catch a 6:50 AM flight. Oh, I guess you are wondering where we were headed... South Dakota! Eric's Grandparents had not met Andrew yet and we had tried to get there before so here starts attempt number 2! Okay so back to the airport. We check our luggage, including both car seats, and head to the gate. The plane loads and leaves and we are still sitting there. Not good since this was the most open flight of the day. Eric calls his dad and we head to Raleigh being very thankful that our bags were still at the airport and not on their way without us.

Andrew hanging out waiting his first flight


There is an 11:00 flight to Minneapolis that is wide open. Yay! So we get there unload and go to check in and man, was there a line! We waited over an hour b/c we couldn't do the self-check in b/c it couldn't find one of our passengers. Come to find out Delta cancelled a flight to Atlanta which had everything backed up. We didn't make it on a flight until 6:00 PM. Thank goodness for the moving sidewalks that kept Kathryn entertained. We made it to Grandma's a little before midnight central time. Needless to say, Eric & I were tired.

So one reason we picked that weekend to go was because there was also a free three-day long concert and there would be more family around than normal. But having some of our favorite bands there didn't hurt... David Crowder Band, John Reuben, Everyday Sunday, Mikeschair, Leeland, and we found a new band, Hyland.

trying to stay out of the sun


Kathryn waking up from a nap


Andrew trying to stay warm after the sun went down


From September
Leeland


I almost forgot to get pictures with the great grandparent and by the time I got the camera out it was bed time the night before we had to get up to catch a 7:00 AM flight.

kiddos & Great Grandma & Grandpa Weeldreyer

We made it home. So we were gone from Thursday the 2nd to Tuesday the 7th. Wednesday I cleaned and did laundry. Thursday the kids & I went to the park and did a few other things. Friday I met with some friends in the morning to go over MOPS crafts and then Eric calls me on his way home and asks what we are doing. Eating dinner? I half joked we could pack our bags and head to the beach. He said "Okay". We off to Myrtle Beach we went!

The one hotel we wanted was full, but we did find one right on the beach and were still able to use points for one night. I love being right on the beach. We stayed Friday night & Saturday night.
view from our balcony


making sand castles


enjoying the weather


Daddy & Kathryn playing in the ocean


Mommy & Andrew


Daddy & Kathryn enjoying the water park






The purple octopus that Kathryn loved!


Family shot :)


Monday I had a MOPS planning morning and then went to Sams with Rachel & her girls. Tuesday was our first MOPS meeting of the year. And today, Kathryn & I have been cleaning and trying to put the house back together. Yes, Kathryn helped. She likes to vacuum.

Oh and in the midst of the craziness... Andrew is crawling!!!!


And some how the kids still look like this...