{Crafting, Planting, & My Boy}

Happy Monday people :)

I wanted to share a quick "craft" (if you can call it that) that I did yesterday. I have been wanting to make a chalkboard like so many people have up in their homes these days, but hadn't seen a frame that I loved . . . until . . . . now :). While perusing Hobby Lobby with my sis, I happened upon a large rustic frame that I loved, & frames at Hobby Lobby are always 50% off, so I couldn't pass it up.

First I removed the glass and *attempted* to spray it with chalkboard spray paint....

Yes, I say attempted because I am a total moron and messed up right out of the gate :/. I pulled the little "spray thingy" out prior to spraying it (because I am a rookie and thought it was a "remove-before-using" plastic thingy)....

Umm...not so much. It definitely needed to be there to avoid the GIANT mess that I made. Giant drips all over the glass & tarp and tons of leaky paint down the side of the can (as you can plainly see) - Uggggh! Right when I put it back in it sprayed like a dream. Duh.

Anyway, here she is all sprayed and pretty....

..but then, another rookie move was that I loaded the glass back in prior to "conditioning" the chalkboard. I didn't want to get all of the chalk dust all over the frame, so out the glass went (again),

 it got "conditioned" (rubbed from top to bottom with chalk),

and then put back in it's place. I then gave it some chalk-pen love, and voila!! :) here she is all finished.....

I am really happy with the rustic frame and the large size that I chose. It was worth all of the trouble ;)

In other news, I finally bought/planted a dwarf lemon tree :)  I have always wanted to plant one. Those little lemons are so cute...

 

...I of course forgot to take a picture of it actually planted, but it's in a giant pot in my backyard. I know that they yield more fruit when they are planted in the ground, but this home is a rental, and I wanted to be able to take it with when we move, so a pot it is. I am super excited to watch the lemons grow (if my black thumb allows them to, that is).

And, while my hands were all "soily", I decided to go ahead and pot my cute little succulents in the kitchen window....

ahhh, milk glass - I love you!

Oh, and one last thing. I decided to try the rug here.....

I know it kind of dwarfs the coffee table even more than before, but in person, I like the overall look. It's different. It catches the eye. If it stays there, I plan to change the pillows to something neutral because it's just too much pattern going on all at once, but I am letting it marinate for a bit. I think I like it :) We shall see.

And last but not least, a tiny bit of Oliver goodness to start off your week right....

Have a great week :)

-L

{8 months old and TOO MUCH FUN}

This is a long post...lots to talk about :). Oliver is officially 8 months old (well....he turned 8 months 3 days ago) and he is such a happy guy! He is getting more adorable by the minute (ok, I may be biased, but come on, check him out)....

 hehe! Funny ears!!

 (gotta love the yawn face, and then the squirrely monster who was way over this photo shoot by the end ;) )

We have been having so much fun together. He isn't crawling yet, but is definitely mobile. He is constantly rolling all over the place, and gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth and scoots.

He is almost there, and I am holding my breath for what is to come. That whole baby-on-the-go thing is a totally different ball-game, so I am cherishing the moments of "semi-stillness" that we still have left.

Oliver hasn't cut any teeth yet, but I sense that he could any day now. He has been a bit extra fussy lately, especially in the evenings, and has had a few random low-grade fevers here and there. He also grabs at his ears a ton, and those are supposedly all "signs" of teething (or wives tales, but some people say all of that happens before teeth punch through). His smile is still adorable, teeth or not, and again, I am cherishing the small amount of toothless time we have left. I love his gummy smile!

In the eating department, he is still just doing so-so. I manage to get him to eat some of the pureed stuff by tricking him into opening his mouth to chew on something else and swooping in with the spoon, but outside of that he still doesn't like/love it. What he does like are those "puffs" (he actually opens his mouth for them) and he finally likes to eat frozen banana out of those mesh fruit teethers....

He also likes to try to drink water out of a sippy cup, although he mostly chews on the "nipple" and throws the cup around, but he likes it. It's all an adventure, and I am assuming that any day now he will be eating a ton of stuff. I am trying not to stress about it too much because every baby is so different, & he is healthy and happy, so that's all that I can really ask for.

Ever since his first cold, he has been sleeping terribly :( He has been waking up every half hour/hour and crying a lot. After several hours of up and down, I just end up sleeping with him in my bed or on a "floor bed" and he sleeps ok, but I definitely don't. Don't get me wrong, I love snuggling with him, but I have been very sore and exhausted.  HOWEVER (I feel myself jinxing it as we speak) . . . the night before last he slept GREAT!! I put him down at 9:30 pm, and with the exception of giving him his pacifier around 11:00, he slept straight until 6:10 am :) and then with me until 8!! I was one happy and rested mama that day! Last night wasn't terrible, but wasn't great either. Hopefully his sleep will get progressively better (fingers crossed).

He is mastering the art of throwing/dropping things so that mommy will pick them up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. All day long (LOL!! ugh :/ )

We recently went to the Pumpkin Patch with my sister and her family, and had a great time. Oliver looked around at everything and loved it.

And my friend Elizabeth took some great "Fall" (it was 97 degrees out that day) pictures of us with her new fancy schmancy camera...

We had a play date with our friend Logan and her mommy Jenn down in Carlsbad. The kiddos are about 1 month apart (she is older) and they had a great time playing together...

Oliver finally sat in his highchair/shopping cart cover for the first time. He really likes it :)

GOOBER!! (lol!)

All in all it has been a wonderful month full of family, fun, learning, and growing. I am not sure of his exact stats, as his next doctor appt is at his 9 month check up, but based on how his clothes are fitting, I'd say he is moving right along :)

Some of our current favorite things......

1 - He is still in love with jumping - IN LOVE - and we have the Baby Einstein Musical Motion 2-in-1 Stationary Jumper & Entertainer. We got ours as a hand-me-down, but they have it at most major baby-gear stores. 


2 - Ever since Oliver's cold, we have been using these Little Busy Bodies Boogie Wipes like crazy. They are super mild and don't smell strong. They work great for his mouth, eyes, and nose!

3- Teething is definitely happening, and Oliver chews on everything!! He especially loves his Vulli Sophie the Giraffe - So'Pure Vanilla Teether

4- As I mentioned earlier, he finally likes to eat fruit from these Sassy Teething Feeders. They are a M-E-S-S, but he sucks them dry! It is so fun to watch!

5- It has been so warm here lately (it is finally Fall-ish today and kind of rainy), so Oliver is most comfortable and sleeps the best in regular footie pajamas underneath an Aden & Anais Sleep Sack (sleeping bag, they call it). It is just the right amount of warmth for now, although, now that it is starting to get chillier, we will switch to a fleece one, I think.

6- He loves to fling around his wooden Manhattan "Skwish" Rattle/Toy. It makes cool sounds and is lightweight so it's easy to hold/chew/fling. He loves it.

7 - We just go this Munchkin Baby Bath Ball at Babies R Us and he L-O-V-E-S it. It keeps him entertained for so long, even out of the bath (lol). He chews on it too. It's a great product.

There are many other items that Oliver likes right now, but those are definitely at the top of his (our) list. :)

On the home front, we are still plugging along over here. If you remember in my previous post, I was having an entryway rug dilemma. Well, I got the green light from my awesome hubby to order my dream rug as it was on a 60% off "Columbus day" sale. I was super excited for it to come, and when it did, I was . . . . kind of . . . . disappointed.

Reason 1 - it turns out it is BROWN and beige, not black like I thought (the online description only said "beige" and I would have bet money that it was black and beige). I am not a "brown" decor fan, I am a black, white, cream, gray girl, so I NEVER would have chosen this rug if I had known it was brown. :/ Ugh.

Assuming I could get over the color issue (which I probably could because I still love the style, and once it's down on or stained concrete floors, it is a super dark brown so it almost looks black), there is another issue that I am not sure I can overlook...

Reason 2 - the proportion for the space is ALL WRONG! I don't know what I was thinking!!? The space is sort of an odd size in general, but for some reason, I thought a HUGE rug (well, 5x8) would be the right way to go. Well....it definitely is not. See for yourself.....

First of all it looks very long and narrow and 2nd of all, the point of the rug hits right at the bottom of the staircase and just looks odd/wrong. Ugh. Woe is me. Back to the drawing board, I think. So much for the great sale price, as I will now have to pay $30+ to ship it back :/. Bummer. Ah well, you live and you learn. I still may throw caution to the wind and just keep it, because, well, sending it back seems like a waste...and I do like the style, but, we'll see.

In other positive news though, in another area of the house (our family room/den) where we hang out the most (it's where the tv is, so of course it's our favorite spot - lol), I had been searching for a new/smaller coffee table. The HUGE one that we had in our other house really did not fit in the new space, especially amongst all of the LARGE baby crap and dog beds that we have going on in there right now - uggggh! lol! See......(sorry in advance for the terrible phone pictures)

That space was giving me serious hives :/. It was not a relaxing space at all. It was super claustrophobic. Soooooo.....after searching high and low for a nice looking, smaller, affordable option, we went with my dream coffee table (as I showed in a previous post as well) the West Elm Origami Coffee Table. It was on sale (almost $100 off), and again, my husband is awesome!!! Since the proportions were exactly perfect for what I wanted, he said we could splurge, so we got it, and I LOVE it.

Again, bad phone pictures, but it is a very pretty table. Although the scale is small as it relates to the 2 large sofas, for the space, it feels right. We also swapped out the rug in Oliver's room, so that really helped to warm up the space. I know this doesn't help the baby-gear explosion, but for now, we can at least walk around the coffee table without getting a shinner or stepping on each other. I am very happy with it!

Oh...and one last thing is that I have been trying to do a better job of cooking dinner for us. I am not a cook by any means, but I want to at least try to have dinner ready for my hardworking husband when he comes home in the evening. I have recently "pinned" a coule of recipes and tried them, and if I do say so myself, although each time I made a hig mess, they both turned out great!! :)

One was this recipe for Cheddar Baked Chicken.....

(I know it looks kind of suspect, but it really was good)

....and the other was this recipe for Sour Cream Enchiladas....

Here is my finished product....

Mmmmm! They were SOOOO yummy. My husband really liked them & now thinks that I am a master chef :) (ok, slight exaggeration, but still, he was impressed that I pulled it off, & I was pretty proud of myself).

So, that's it for now. I hope you weren't too bored with my huge update. Happy Fall everyone. I hope you have a great weekend.

xo
-L