The Mitts

I’d post the BEFORE photo again, but you can just scroll down a bit to see how lovely the sh*tter was before its little makeover. Here she is with a fresh new color, a new fan, and the guest room furniture…

I’d say this room looks about 1,000 times better than it did. I’m LOVING the new color. In fact, I think the bedding and all looks better in this color room than it did in its previous room (soon-to-be Ada’s new room). That headboard was Doug’s handiwork a couple years ago, and the dresser and nightstand were his as a child. Wish I’d taken before and after photos of those!! They look entirely different… and it took a whole lot of sanding, ripping parts of the furniture off, and painting countless coats of paint on those suckers to make them look like this. After that project, I HATE oil-based paint. No wait… I LOATHE oil-based paint. Any way, the new hardware spiced them up a bit too. That white mirror over the dresser was a $5 find at a Salvation Army, and still needs to be hung on the wall… but it’s still one of my favorite bargains ever.

Besides the new paint color, the only other new thing is that antique rocking chair there in the corner. I love an old rocking chair, and while we don’t need ANY more furniture right now, I figured $23 wasn’t too bad when a family in our neighborhood was selling a bunch of furniture last week before they moved. A nice upgrade from the boring wicker chair that was once in the guest room.

And that bare wall there on the right… yeah, I know… it needs something on it. Don’t worry, I’m on it. Photo frame collage is on the to-do list. I actually already have the frames, just need photos in them.

One more… (view from the rocking chair corner)

There you have it. Happy now Amy M?

If you don’t know where that quote is from, I’m not sure if we can be friends any more.

I started this post a few days ago but never finished. Guess I’ll do that now. Last weekend was a whirlwind, but it was pretty productive overall. I’d say the first highlight was going to see a movie. We saw Inception, and it was AWESOME. It’s very Matrix-y if you’re wondering if you’d like it, and it had me dreaming weirdo dreams for a few nights. I also managed to paint the new guest room during naptime on Friday, then on Saturday (also during naptime) we got a new fan hung up in there and all the furniture it its place. Thank goodness for naps… especially the crazy long ones that Ada takes.

This was the room we used to refer to as the “shitter.” The sad, random room that was used for working out at one point, but quickly turned into a room where all the random crap piled up. Clothes for Goodwill, wrapping paper, empty diaper boxes, a couple extra mattresses, the ironing board, etc. Basically one of those rooms you don’t really want any one to see when they come over, so you keep the door shut at all times. But for the sake of a good before-and-after, I’ll share it with you. Don’t judge. And this isn’t even every thing that WAS in there… the elliptical machine is out of there, along with several other big bins of stuff.

Oh… oops. You’ll have to wait for the “after” shot. Realized I haven’t taken one yet. Maybe tomorrow. For now you can just comment on how horrible the before shot is.

So…now the room that WAS the guest room upstairs will be transformed into Ada’s “big girl room.” Doug’s already put up a new fan for her, and pretty soon I’ll go ahead and start the painting. You know, since pregnant women are supposed to climb ladders and breathe in paint fumes and all. I really don’t mind it… in fact, I feel like Baby #2’s due date is more of a deadline than anything, so I’m happy to do all sorts of projects before I get really big. You should SEE the list of project ideas we have for the house… it’s ridiculous, but I think we’ll be able to check off quite a few items before the holidays. So any way… back to Ada’s big girl room. We’re planning to build her a pretty little bed, so I’m really anxious to get to Lowes this week and collect some supplies for that. Doug will probably be doing most of the actual building, but I imagine I’ll be doing some supervising and painting (and eating ice cream).

I’m also working on a really cool art project for her room, and I can’t wait to show that off once it’s done! It’s involved quite a bit of collecting over the last several months, but it’s getting there! And I’ve spent a good bit of every nap time this week working on it. I am genuinely excited about it, so I’m sure it’ll get a blog feature when it’s all done. Since we’re building Ada a bed, we figured we’d just find other furniture for her on Craigslist, then touch it up and paint it to match. I’ve been stalking Craigslist for a while now and have been emailing lots of strangers regarding dressers and armoires they’re selling. If you’ve ever searched the site for dressers, you know there’s a TON out there.. just not a ton of good ones. This week the stalking finally paid off! I found an ad for a Pottery Barn kids armoire, jumped right on it, and by the end of the day it was in our house. $200 for an armoire that costs over $1200 brand new. Deal!! Just needs a little touching up, and it’ll be good as new. And this thing is pretty big too… so it will have plenty of storage for Ada’s stuff. Ah.. reminds me of another project coming up soon… more shelving in her closet. The list never ends, people.

It’s been crazy hot, so we haven’t done much outside. Even though Doug MUST mow today or else. When the grass and weeds are taller than the dog, it’s time to mow. So yeah… really hot and humid lately, so we’ve had to be creative with all our indoor activities. And with Ada not having school this month, we’ve had to come up with all sorts of things to do. Too bad she’s not ready to paint yet… I could use her help! And speaking of Ada… she’s doing great. She went in for her 18 month check-up this morning and all is well. She’s up to 23 pounds and 4 oz. She’s still really tall and is doing all the things she should be doing. Doctor visits usually go well with her, but this time she knew exactly where we were, so she wasn’t real excited about it. Especially once it was time for those two shots.

I too went in for a check-up today… going on 23 weeks now and doing great! Every thing’s right on track, and I’m realizing that this due date (deadline) is fast approaching.

Ada is 18 months old today! Wow… one and a half alraedy. I’d say that’s a pretty cool milestone, and so far I like this age. She learns new things every day, and is overall a really happy kid. I could go on and on and on about her, but this long list of information will just have to do…

• seems to be left-handed so far. Almost always colors and uses her fork/spoon with her left hand, so we’ll see. Maybe this will change?
• likes to run! Her run is hilarious too… it basically looks like she’s about to fall the entire time
• IS NOT SHY. EVER. In fact, I don’t know if you’ll ever meet another stranger that will tell you “Hi-eeeeee” or “By-eeeeee” as enthusiastically as Ada will
• loves to pretend eat and pretend drink. If she ever hands you an empty cup, just take a “sip” and tell her how good it is… she loves that
• not sure if I’ve ever mentioned it before, but Ada walks around on her tip-toes A LOT! People notice and comment about it all the time
• Rather than trying to make a crazy long list of words she’s said up to this point, I’ll just go with the newest ones. She’s saying so many new words and names lately, and that’s been a lot of fun! The latest names include Bert, Ernie, Coo-Ma (Cookie Monster), Jeeewwwww (George), and Ro-Ro (for Rowen). She says Ernie with a short pause in the middle, and it’s the cutest thing! The child will NOT say Elmo, though… it’s always “Ehhhhhh,” without the MO. For a while we kept trying to teach her “more please,” but the “more” part was the only one that stuck… so now any time she wants ANY THING, she says “moh.. moh…. moh,” while pointing or reaching for whatever it is. Other new ones include “ah-pus” or “ah-pu-tah”  (octopus), ice cream, moon, pizza, fwy (butterfly) and Aaaaaa-chooooooo (she loves to fake sneeze!). She even said strawberries last night when she saw them in a book
• we’re still working on “thank you”
• still loves to look at and say certain letters of the alphabet. I picked up one of those alphabet magnet toys for the fridge at a consignment sale, and that’s been a huge hit. Some times I think I may lose my mind if I hear the alphabet song again, so I guess I better get used to it…
• has been using the word “no” a lot more lately, especially when she doesn’t want to do something. She still says it all cute and innocently, but this could get ugly real fast
• brushing her teeth has gotten much easier.. she’s actually pretty good at brushing, and will even rinse off the brush and put it back in its holder now. So cute!
• sleeping’s the same most days… bed around 8:oopm, up at 7:00am, naps from 1-4:00ish
• loves books more and more all the time… she can’t get enough!

I realize more and more all the time how lucky we are. Ada really is an awesome, little girl…. and she’s all ours! She is so full of personality and really funny, and even though she may be really exhausting at times, we think she’s pretty great. I’m sure most parents think this about their own kids, but we think she’s one smart cookie too. We are amazed at how quickly she picks up on things these days, how much she recalls, and how much she WANTS to learn new things. Also amazed how much energy such a tiny person can have!! Whew!!

Happy one and a half, monkey!

Will have to share her stats next week after her 18 month check-up!

We headed to Lenoir Friday evening to hang with Nana and Papaw for a couple days. The ride was pretty smooth considering Ada is easily bored in the car. The biggest challenge of traveling with her (or probably ANY toddler) these days is keeping her entertained throughout the trip. She went through every book we had in the car, played with every toy, watched a couple different things on her “TV,” and even managed to eat her dinner on the road. That dinner did result in a pretty gross carseat, but we can deal with that. Add that to the list of things we used to say we’d never do…. let the kids eat in the car. Already failed at that one.

So the visit was good… got to see my parents, brother and both of Ada’s great grandmothers again. Ada got TONS of attention as usual, and she seemed to have a good time. We took her to the Science Center in Hickory on Saturday to check things out and see the butterflies. She had a pretty good view too, since Papaw toted her around through the gardens.

We had dinner that night at Sagebrush… where I found out Ada apparently really likes peanuts. At least she did on Saturday. What she did NOT like however was sitting in a highchair for more than an hour. Eating out with her lately has not been fun. Once she’s done eating (if she even eats any thing), she wants down. And until she gets down or you can entertain her with some thing else, she’s just mad. Crayons and paper can only last for so long. The minor meltdowns don’t make for the most pleasant dining experience, but we’re hoping this gets better. She did, however, have a good time playing and visiting with the family. Here she is being silly with Nana and Papaw before we headed home….

On the ride home, we stopped in at a McDonald’s for a quick lunch, where Ada refused to eat the chicken nuggets in her kid’s meal. She’s only eaten four total so far over the last few weeks, so I guess we were really pushing our luck trying to get her to eat them again. We even hooked them up with honey, but she wasn’t having it. I think she ate like two or three french fries dipped in honey, but the nuggets were a lost cause. So frustrating. I hate spending money on something she won’t eat (good news is one of us usually eats it). Anyway, she ended up throwing a fit and didn’t want to eat any thing we gave her. In the end, we caved and gave her a chocolate milk. Go ahead and add that as well…. to the list of things we said we wouldn’t do…. let the kids eat/drink junk to make them happy. We’re usually pretty good about standing our ground and not budging, but I guess we wanted her to have SOMETHING for lunch. Oh well. At least the Happy Meal toy was a big hit.

Then as if she weren’t getting her way enough, I let her play with my camera when we were back on the road. She was bored and this camera is basically indestructible. At first I put it on photo mode, and she did manage to take a couple photos with it. Terrible photos, but still. Then for kicks I put it on video mode and let her take a little video. I doubt she has much of a future in videography right now, but you gotta start some where. At first she just wanted to say “cheese” over and over, REALLY close to the camera.

… you do whatever it takes. You know how it is… you try to go to the mall just ONCE every now and then to actually look at clothes (instead of just the playground and food court) and maybe even try on a thing or two. But that ONE time, your kid is way too antsy to sit in the stroller and wait. Today was definitely one of those times. We went to meet Amber and Avery at the mall for lunch today, and I figured I’d go a bit early and hit the sale racks in the Gap maternity store. (We don’t have one near us, so I needed to make the most of the opportunity). Sitting in the stroller was the last thing Ada wanted to do, though, and I’d already used up all my tricks… snacks, drinks, books, toys, my sunglasses, her sunglasses, my phone, and the camera. She wanted out.

So once I picked out a couple things for the dressing room, it was the perfect opportunity to let her loose to run around in there while I tried things on. That too was a bit boring for her, so I grabbed the most interesting thing I could find. The fake, strap-on pregnancy belly that they have in the dressing room. I strapped it around Ada’s little waist, and that did the trick! Yep, I am a genius. At first she just walked around all funny, and even put her hand on her back like a pregnant lady would…

She was completely amused by this thing, and once she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she thought it was HILARIOUS. She was laughing, I was laughing, and every thing was great (until it was time to get back into the stroller and move on, of course).

… looks like this…

Glad she woke up in a great mood, but some times it’s exhausting just watching her!

This weekend we headed to Gommy and Poppa’s to celebrate Poppa’s birthday and hang out with the rest of the fam. Mary and the kids came down as well, so Ada was able to run around (and scream) with her cousins all weekend. They are hilarious when they’re all together. But I’ll admit, it gets really loud and crazy some times, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have three children. They had a blast, though, and it’s really cool seeing Ada and Ethan play together so well now. The playing consists of a lot of following and copying, though. So when Ethan would run, Ada would run. When Ethan would scream, Ada would scream. When he would climb some thing, she would climb some thing. Fun times indeed. She even sat for a little while with Blythe and drew pretty pictures (which meant trying to taste a few markers, resulting in blue teeth). I’ll be so happy the day I don’t have to say “ADA!! NO MOUTH!!!” any more. For now, she can’t be trusted.

And since it was just too dang hot to do any thing else, we hit the pool for a while on Saturday. Ada did great swimming around on her own in her Puddle Jumper. I still think it’s gotta be one of the best toddler inventions. It’s awesome! She was even kicking around really well in the water. We’re working on jumping into the pool, and wonder if she’ll be able to do that this Summer. Usually when we stand or sit her on the edge of the pool, she sees that as her opportunity to take off running (usually in the direction of the water slide).

Here’s Ada hanging out with Poppa (who she called “Poppy” the whole time, even though she used to say “PoppA”…. sorry that you’re called the same thing as a potty now, Bruce). Note Ada’s choice of toys in this shot…. bottle of prescription medication and a pencil. I know….Parents of the Year!

Ada also picked up a new trick over the weekend…. saying “cheese!” every time Gommy had her camera out. It was pretty funny, and made for some cute shots…

She even grabbed my little camera this morning and was carrying it around saying “cheese….. cheese…. cheese” (although she actually pronounces it “teese… teese…. teese”). Pretty funny. It’s amazing all the things she picks up on lately. Like last night when we got home, she grabbed her Puddle Jumper from the pile of stuff we’d carried in, put her arms through it, and said “pool!” Then she made her way over to the door and told us “Byeeee!” Hilarious.

Ok… so maybe right before lunch and nap time isn’t the best time for a photo of all the cousins together!

I’m not one to publicly bitch about TOO many things… only those that really just drive me insane. The thing this week…. kids doing things they’re TOO BIG for.

Example one: I take Ada to the playground at the mall pretty often (the one with a clear “you must be this tall or UNDER to play” sign as you walk in). Still I occasionally see six and seven year old boys running around like wild animals, nearly trampling the toddlers and new walkers trying to play in what the moms thought was a baby-safe zone. UGH. I hate that!!! I sort of get it if a mom is there with her little two year old and also has a five or six year old… they can’t just leave the big kid at home or tell them to go walk around the mall while the little one plays. I get that. But at least tell that huge kid to either sit with you or at least play nicely and carefully if they insist on playing on the playground (even though it’s baby-ish and clearly not meant for them in the first place). The running around uncontrollably and jumping from the tops of the toys there is just unacceptable.

The other day Julie and I took Ada and Jake to play, and this one kid in there was seriously 7 or 8 years old. He was tall enough to be 12, though. He was running and jumping all over the place, getting WAY too close to kicking these one and two year olds in the heads. He even got up in a couple of their faces to try to scare them. What the hell!!?? Where is this kid’s mom!!?? Oh wait…. there was no mom. Yeah, that’s right, the kid was totally unsupervised IN A BIG MALL FULL OF STRANGERS. Not sure if his mom or dad worked at the mall, or if they were walking the mall or what… but this giant kid wasn’t just annoying the crap out of me and the other moms… he was UNSUPERVISED. UGGGGGHHHH! I wish his mom or dad HAD been there, because I think I was annoyed enough this time to actually say something. I would have AT LEAST given them a really mean, disapproving mommy glare. Since the glare works so well and all.

Example two: (A whole lot like example one) We took Ada to the pool again last night. We spent almost the entire time in the “big pool,” but right before we left, Ada was pointing at the “baby pool,” and since it was empty… we figured it wouldn’t hurt to play for a few minutes. So we take her in there and let her walk around in the tiny pool, playing with a few toys, having a nice (and safe) time by herself. Then enters a seven year old boy (we know his age, because we asked). He was, of course, without a parent. Awesome. He wasn’t really being all that wild in the pool with Ada, but he was clearly too big to be in there in the first place, and he was kind of obnoxious too with his random splashing, fake falling, and fake drowning (which of course splashed Ada in the face… luckily she didn’t mind). Clearly the kid was just bored because it was “adult swim” time, so he’d wandered over there to pass the time. Whatever… I can get over that. It’s the other kids that decided to join him that put me over the edge. Three more kids come along… two of them are probably seven as well, the other a little younger.  Now there’s FOUR big kids in the baby pool, splashing, yelling and running around. All without parents. ARE  YOU SERIOUS!!? Usually parents at our pool are really good about watching their kids like a hawk, but I guess it was just a group of parents who didn’t give a crap what their kids did last night. The kids were just too rowdy, so luckily it was already time for us to head out any way. I know they didn’t HURT any one, but still. They could have. And it’s not our job to keep an eye on these big kids that shouldn’t be in the baby pool to begin with. So that’s my bitching for this week. I feel a little better now. The end.

Next time I may cover my thoughts on child leashes (also sparked by a recent trip to the mall). But I’ve got too many other things to do right now than get fired up over that one. Maybe another day….

Ada LOVES animals! And she has doubled her list of animal sounds in the last couple months. Now she’ll do all sorts of sounds. I think this is all of them, but I’m probably forgetting some thing…. pig, monkey, dog, cat, horse, cow, sheep, snake, dinosaur, and as of this week, an owl. She’s making some pretty funny fish faces now too (since we haven’t taught her an actual sound for a fish). When she sees an animal she knows in a book, she makes the appropriate sound as we’re reading along. I never catch them all on camera, but I did manage to capture a few the other day…

As you can tell, horse and cat are currently the same. She used to “neigh” for a horse” and “meeeeeeee” for a cat, but for some reason lately, they make the same sound?? And cow isn’t “mooo,” it’s “mmmmmmmm.” Some times she’ll get going on her animal sounds, and will do all the ones she knows one after the other. This is hilarious when she’s gotten up from a nap, and I hear her upstairs going through all the sounds. Once that gets old, she’ll say “Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy” fifty times. This is usually followed by an insane amount of jumping up and down and giggling in her crib until I go up there. Back to the animals… I did get her to “quack” once and “tweet” once, but since she hasn’t repeated them, duck and bird haven’t made the official list just yet!

She’s also been saying several new words this week. I was hoping “please,” would be a new regular, but she’s only said it once for Doug when she really wanted some more dessert. She’s said “more,” as well, but still no “thank you.” We’re working on it. Other new ones include owl, school, pool, and potty (currently pronounced “poppy”). She likes to join me in the bathroom pretty often, so I’m always telling her what the potty is. Now she runs in and says “POPPY!!” Nice.

In other news, we’ve been reading SO many books with her lately. She even knows a few by title now and will get the right one when you ask her to. And it amazes me when she remembers certain things from books. A couple favorites right now are “Lllama Llama, Mad at Mama” and “Llama Llama, Red Pajama.” We love reading those! When she gets up in the morning, she gets to come into our room and hang out on the bed, where we read a handful of books while she drinks her milk. Love that time in the morning! Seems like we’re always reading the most right after she’s gotten up from bed or a nap, instead of reading BEFORE going to sleep. That’s because when Ada’s ready to sleep, she’s ready to SLEEP! If she’s too tired, she just won’t tolerate a book before bed… she’s ready to hit the hay. We’re happy to read them whenever, though… I’m just thrilled she loves books so much and will sit through so many at a time. Hope she always loves books this much!