Austin's New Room

Before:

Cristina, Nick & I spent an afternoon painting....

we are done with the paint, now for hanging.

Thanks for coming to help Dad!

Finished!!

This room was a labor of love and in the works for a looong time. I started collecting decor about 6 months ago at affordable places like Home Goods or Hobby Lobby. I also re-used a number of things from his nursery...

The beds were handed down to us from my parents. We used some of the same bedding and I found the cars sheets at Target.

Aunt Cristina spotted the rug on clearance at Target- $5.00!

I love his curtains! I spotted them at Ikea for a great price and the rod on clearance from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

The towel rack was originally in his nursery, but fits right in!

The wall plaque that I made for him (still looking to replace that truck hanging in the middle)..

and I love the vintage cars on his shelf that I stumbled across at Ross.

The car beanbag is from Target as well. I hope to turn it into more of a reading corner for him with a corkboard hanging on the wall to display all of his artwork.

1 room complete, 1 more to go!

Defeated.

He won.
I admit defeat & gave up.
No more potty training for a few weeks because after my first few days of amazing success, it went downhill... and fast.

On Friday he started refusing the potty and I just couldn't get him to sit on it. I think I got 1 pee out of him that whole day.

Then Saturday I don't think I could ever get him to sit on it and he would hold his pee for abnormally long, like 5 hours. Then have little accidents like 2 seconds after refusing to sit on the potty.

Sunday, the same thing and he was so nervous and upset the whole time at church because I know he had to pee but just wouldn't.

So instead of it being a battle of the wills that ends up with him hating the potty or worse... I think I will put it away for a few weeks and start fresh again.

On a more exciting note, I found an adorable outfit for the baby to take newborn photos in from Dolce Vita Mia.

The outfit comes with the petticoat and bow together, I just love it... and my sweet friend Chelsea wanted to buy it for the baby as a shower gift!! I think the petticoat would serve as cute addition to her room decor too!

There were like 10 other things from her website that I loved... I showed the outfit to Nick and all he said was, "is this ever going to stop?"

..sorry sweetie, we've only just begun!

Potty Training Day 2

I am writing this post on our 3rd day of potty training and I am going to pretend that I didn’t just clean up #2 from his cute Buzz Lightyear undies, while venturing away from my house to Target.

Let’s just celebrate the good news of our 2nd day.

The potty training started again as soon as he woke up. We made such great progress for our 2nd day. He had a few minor accidents where he forgot but was able to tell me and then finished on the potty.

Here I am reading a book to him on the potty (for the 100th time), while he enjoys an apple juice slush. I make him lots of smoothies too, which has helped.

My day looked a lot like this….

(notice my fabric ottoman covered in a blanket, I just couldn't risk it!)

I think I have watched ‘Happy Feet’ 6 times in the last 2 days. Apparently it is the movie choice for this week.

But I have yet to tell you the BEST part of my day!! We hadn't had a #2 since potty training started, so I knew it was coming but not so sure how...

Around dinner time I started noticing that he needed to go but was really unsure of it. I think the being naked made him even more nervous/scared.

We went to the potty about 3 times...

and he even paced infront of it a few times, I started feeling a little guilty.

He then tried to climb onto the changing table to search for a diaper. I kept telling him he could do it & finally he gave in and sat on the potty!!

We had a big celebration and as promised he got his Twizzlers and a new toy...

one happy little boy.

Potty Training Day 1

I have been putting off potty training Austin for a good month now. I totally feel he is ready but the image of chasing him around the house with rags and cleaner gives me nightmares.

I finally got up the courage today after his nap. Here was the plan:

- put him in underwear right away
- explain to him that everytime he goes pee pee he gets a special treat, which was Twizzlers. The package was set on his bathroom counter to remind him.
- if he went poo he got a very special treat that I have yet to show him & a Twizzler. I have an assortment of cheap airplanes & motorcycles he would go crazy for.

So here we go!!

He woke up from his nap & was thrilled to show off his Cars underwear

we set the oven timer for 20 mins....

try #1

no luck.

20 mins later...

Try #2 with his favorite trucker book

again no luck.

20 mins later....

Try #3 with a smoothie I made him that he wanted to finish on the pot.

again no luck.

It wasn't until right before my 20 mins rang again that he ran to me frantic that he had to pee. So we rushed to the bathroom only to find out that he had already gone in his underwear.

I couldn't complain, there was pretty much no mess and he had really tried!

The only thing he didn't understand is why he didn't get a Twizzlers for peeing... it just happen to be in his pants.

So after,

1 Tantrum,

lots of gatorade,

water,

1 orange popsicle,

lots of reading in the bathroom

&

3 more unsuccessful trips...

we finally got it!!

you can see him enjoying the Twizzler treat!

He was thrilled and I was ecstatic. The things that make you jump for joy....

The final tally of Potty Training Day 1 is:

1 accident followed by 3 successes!! We put him in a diaper for nighttime and will try again tomorrow morning...

Letters Re-Do

I have been spending lots of time around the house doing little projects on my own, and testing out my crafty side. I have come to the conclusion that:

1. I wish I was a little more talented

2. Crafts don't work when your 2 yr old is awake

3. I look real good with a painter mask on

I am now ready to start posting some of my projects, and we will start with Austin's name plaque I have been working on.

Remember these letters from his nursery?? Well I didn't want to put them to waste, but they just didn't fit into his new room theme..

so I came up with this idea. First I had my father in law cut me a long board out of plywood & I started with spray painting the edges of it black.

Then I used one of our reject paint samples for the walls in Austin's new room and painted over the whole board.

Complete!

Next I found some sandpaper in our garage and got to work on all the edges and parts of the front. I sanded on the paint to let the black show through and give it that distressed look..

I love how all the bumps and imperfections in the wood started to show through. It wasn't as distressed as I was going for, so I took a paper towel and lightly pray painted it then rubbed it on the sides.

Now that the board was done, I just needed to pick out a color for the letters and paint them. I went with navy to add a little more color to the walls and it fit in perfect with all the other colors in the room.

(they are sitting on bowls covered in grocery bags so I could rotate them without leaving finger prints on the letters. I probably could have done it an easier way but like I said, I'm not that crafty)

Once the letters dried, I had Nick use some wood glue to mount them onto the board & then hang it on the wall. Here is the finished product!

I am not in love with the truck picture hanging below the plaque, so when I find something better I plan on switching it out.

His room is done, I just need to finish hemming the curtains and I will post pictures of it next!

and here is the most recent belly picture I have..

Mommy 6 months with Baby Girl and Austin!

Dream Fabric

I did it.
I caved.
I went overboard.....
but I feel so excited.

After weeks of debate, long Saturdays in many, many Houston fabric stores (with Cristina, she's so great), hours on the internet and lots of free swatches sent to my house....

I found the designer (Annette Tatum, just take one look at her nursery catalog!) that made the fabric from this picture & had a free swatch sent to me just to see if I loved it as much in person..

I should have known that I would love it.

I should have never had it sent to me because as soon as I got it, I knew I wouldn't find anything else that compared... the only thing that held me back was the price. It was a little outrageous.

I have been holding onto this fabric for weeks now trying to talk myself out of it or find it somewhere online for cheaper...nothing.

I only needed 2 yards of the fabric, since it is going to be just the front of the bumper and found the cutest dot to accompany it on the back.

(swatch, dot fabric for back of bumper and paint color)

I did all the math to include 2 yards of dream/overpriced fabric, 2 yards of dot fabric and all materials needed to make this bed skirt..

and brought the subject up to Nick last night. I promised him I could keep all the bedding under $100, which is a good deal if you ask me. It just isn't so great that 1/2 of the bumper takes up most of the budget. But regardless he just rolled his eyes,

which translates to, "Do whatever you want". YES! I get the eye roll lots.

I ordered it today and just can't wait to get it.

Eclipse

was so great! I loved the action, how it followed the story line and the company I was in made it even better! As Cristina pointed out, the acting and chemisty seems to get better in every movie (as in Bella isn't so weird).

Me, Cristina & Sarah

The husbands didn't share our desire to document the occasion, so they opted out of the picture!

(I am also 6 months along here)

It has always been tradition to go to the midnight showing with Nick & Cristina, but this year we decided against it. We went opening day at night with Cristina & Houston, Forrest & Sarah. It was such a blast and the husbands are so great about being good sports. Nick actually likes the movies and wanted to sit down to watch New Moon the night before!

Our next BIG movie is Harry Potter, which Nick said we must go to the midnight showing in IMAX 3D. HP isn't my thing, but a fair trade off to Twilight :)