a king size upgrade may be in order

Since we moved Asher has had a hard time sleeping.  Before this move he was an awesome sleeper.  Always anxious to go to "Ah-her's bed" and say "nigh nigh, mommy".  But now he fights going down and cries and cries.  The first night we brought him into our bed since he seemed really scared.  I'm not sure if that was a colossal mistake or not because ever since he's cried each night {and nap time} calling out for "mommy bed, mommy bed"

breaks. my. heart.

Things have gotten better since that first week, but Asher is still waking up really early crying for me.  Drew usually goes in and tells him to go back to sleep and he does.  If I go in it's all over - he'll never lay down and admit defeat.

The other morning I wanted to get Asher dressed but he was running around and resisting the process in typical toddler fashion.  Things got really quiet suddenly, so, of course, I got suspicious and went searching for him.  Where did I find the little bugger?

In my bed, of course.

And can I just say - my bed was totally made when he dismantled it and crawled in.

When I asked "where's Asher?" he replied "mommy, ssshhh.  Ah-her seep-ing"

ha ha ha!  This boy cracks me up!

Now we just need him to get back to his normal sleep patterns before little baby arrives and my sleep gets shot for good.  :-)

#1 dad, 3 years running

Well, he's done it again.  #1 Dad lives here!

On Sunday, Asher and I woke up before Drew so we could prepare a few special treats for him.  First things first, however - milk for A.  I love how little he looks here with his jammies and blanket.  :-)

After that was taken care of we got ready to make some cinnamon rolls.  Yum!

This was Asher's first time helping me to make cinnamon rolls and he was pretty thrilled to be involved.  His new Learning Tower makes working together in the kitchen so much easier - we love, love it!!

They go in here, Mommy.

Wait a sec, let me give them a quick smell check.  

Still not sure - better get closer.

Yep - good to go!

ha ha - makes you want to eat stuff at our house, right?  Quality control is very important to us.

Just when we got them into the oven Drew came down to see what we were up to.  Asher was SO excited to wish him a happy Father's Day!

While the rolls were baking we gave Daddy his gifts. 

Ladybug had to be represented.  Of course.  :-)

Besides the shirts, Asher and I gave Drew a gift that couldn't be photographed.  We are getting his very {very} large CD collection converted over to digital music!  He has tons of music he loves, but never listens to because it's such a hassle to go through all the discs.  This will get it all in one place and make it easy to create iTunes playlists.  He was pretty excited!

We love you Drew.  Thanks for being the best Daddy our family could ask for!

mother's day throwback

I realized that I never posted any photos of Asher and I from Mother's Day!  We were about 1 week from moving at the time, so m-day was kind of a blur this year - especially on the blog.

Figured I'd better squeeze this post in before Father's Day on Sunday!

I was lucky to get the half smile you see above.  This one is much more true to form as Asher's favorite photograph expression.  I call it "endurance" - ha!

Love him anyway, I guess. {just kidding.  kind of.}

We do much better candidly.  :-)

making an instagram display

Don't you love it when Pinterest comes to life?  I do! 

A few weeks ago I pinned this link and knew that once we moved into our new home {where I'd be allowed to hang stuff on the walls} this was a must make.  I love Instagram and was so excited to find a fun way to display all of the great day-to-day images that I capture on my iPhone.

Ta da - my creation!

First thing I had to do was find a way to get nice prints of my Instagram shots.  Lucky me found a great one!  I used the Postal Pix app to order a bunch of my favorite photos in the 4"x4" print size.  It was really inexpensive and the prints arrived just a few days later - highly recommend.

The next step was find a fun, large frame.  I started out looking at Michael's and found that to get the size I wanted it would be at least $50 {and that's using a 50% off coupon}.  Whoa.  No way.  So I took the original creator's advice and headed to Goodwill.

That's when I found this beauty.  Isn't she lovely?  :-)

Try to look past that fantastic "watercolor" and the gold-green tone patina of the frame to the potential that lies beneath.

Next step:  pry the back off and remove the painting.

Drew helped me a ton with this part.  He muscled all of the staples out way faster than I could.

Since my frame was kind of shiny I decided to play it safe and prime before painting.  I bought a can of Krylon gray primer at Michael's for about $6 and sprayed away.

After the primer dried I sprayed the entire frame a glossy black.  I've never spray painted anything before and I have to say - it was SO easy.

I wanted the clothespins I'd be using to hang the photos to match the frame, so I gave them a quick pass with the black paint as well.  Just clip them on a piece of cardboard and spray, spray, spray.

These are the "tiny" version of wooden craft clothespins found at Michaels.  I also bought the "mini" size to try and they were too big.

Once everything was dry I assembled the photo hanging lines across the back of the frame.  All I did was mark a spot 1" from the top of the interior frame, then every 5.5" after that for a total of 4 lines.

Make even marks across the width, then place some small screws.

{I got to use the drill for this part and felt every bit a DIY-er}

I used 28 gauge jewelry wire for my lines.

Wind it tightly around each screw and you've got your photo lines in place.

Suddenly, you're nearly there!  All you need to do is:

clip some awesome Instagram pics onto the lines...

hang the frame on the wall and...

voila! 

you have a really fun Instagram display!

I love that I can change out the photos any time with no hassle.

It's easily my new favorite thing in our home.  :-)

bugaboo {20 weeks}

My new doc changed my due date, so now I have to play catch on our weekly baby posts!  Ladybug is 20 weeks today.  My belly has officially popped - it's out and doesn't go anywhere at different times of day.  It's definitely true when they say you show earlier the second time around.  I was nowhere this big at 20 weeks with Asher!

{sorry for the phone pic - it's been busy around here...still}

20 weeks along with Asher

Baby is the size of a banana this week! 

How far along: 20 weeks

Net weight gain/loss:  up 6.6 pounds

Maternity clothes:  still in that annoying in between size where regular pants are uncomfortable, but maternity ones don't totally stay up.  boo.

Stretch marks: none yet

Belly button: moving quickly towards an outie this time around

Sleep:  can't sleep on my back anymore which is hard since I like that a lot - getting used to side sleeping only

Baby movement:  YES!  Love it  :-)

Gender: it's a GIRL!  {still can't believe I'm saying that - ha!}

Food cravings: Italian ice or anything cold and crunchy

Food aversions:  nothing specific - this baby is easy

What I miss:  going longer than 1 hour between bathroom visits 

Looking forward to:  starting to plan little lady's nursery

Best moment this week:  finding out that our bug is a healthy ladybug

Milestones:  baby has working taste buds - better start getting more veggies in that amniotic fluid for her to get accustomed to!

{phone dump friday}

As we get settled into our new home I'm surprised at how pleased - and dare I say, giddy - I am over the smallest things that I just know will make life more pleasant. Take these toilet paper holders, for example. I didn't choose them {the builder did} I see absolutely no downside. The hook design makes it so easy to replace the roll, maybe even the boys will get in on the action!

 

{or not - who knows. ha!}

The other morning I was making breakfast and I hear a little voice calling to me from the living room. Asher was {I guess??} trying to slide down the ramp with his cars and got a bit stuck. He didn't cry or anything, just puzzled over how to extricate himself for a bit. All was well in the end. :-)

 

Since a lot of our unpacking is under control A and I have ventured out a few times to learn what's around our new neighborhood. Asher's favorite place is the park - naturally. It's within walking distance {and eyeshot} of our house, so every time we step outside he thinks that's where we're headed.

 

We've also spent a good bit of time in the backyard. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Asher is such a city kid he doesn't know how to play on grass and prefers concrete. Well...that's totally true. Yesterday I kicked off my flips to walk in the grass, so A wanted his off too. The only problem was, once he was barefooted he refused to leave the patio. Wouldn't even go after beloved "blue ball". Oh my.

 

We had some Popsicles to encourage good will between Asher and the backyard. I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

Life isn't all play so on one of the times we left the house but didn't go to the park I had to run some errands. Asher came with, of course, and helped me find some maternity Ts in Old Navy. He was in LOVE with the mannequins in there. He gave them all hugs, kisses, and high fives.

 

Even the dog - which he also tried to ride. Oops.

 

Drew had to travel for a work a bit this week, so it's been all mommy. Guess what happened - of course...Asher decided to wake up at 5:30 this morning. It was a big mug kind of coffee day {sorry, little baby - I don't do that to you often}

 

It was also the kind of morning where I didn't feel like fighting with a certain someone who didn't want to wear pants. Oh well.

 

Hope you all are gearing up for a great weekend! Drew comes home tonight, so I know we are! :-)

doughnuts and a haircut

Thank you all SO much for your sweet comments here and on Facebook about our expected little girl!  No one is more surprised that she's a "she" than me!  I expected another baby boy for sure.  Tiffany said it's thinking you'll be a family of all boys that brings you a girl - and I agree.  ha! 

Now we just have to decide on a name.  Drew and I are totally stuck on two finalists.  We thought we knew for sure, but now that it's real the pressure is on.  We'll see what happens...

Meanwhile, life chugs along.  Even when you're busy planning for a new baby or unpacking a whole semi-truck full of boxes, it's important to take breaks.  Asher understands this and insists on all kinds of breaks throughout the day.  Usually to read a story or go outside, grab a drink of water or have a doughnut.

The classic coffee milk and doughnut in the break room is definitely his favorite.

Asher got his first 'southern' haircut on Monday.  It was getting waaaay too crazy in this heat and humidity, so he got a summer trim - nice and short.  You all know about his horrible history with bad haircuts {I've gone on and on about it...}.  Because of this I was really nervous about trying a new place.  We ended up driving to 3 different salons before I had a good enough feeling about the stylist.  The first 2 just weren't...it.  Hard to explain - I went with my Mommy gut.

{doesn't he look so thrilled that I asked him to lower his doughnut for a second?  ha!}

I was still pretty nervous with this place we ended up in, but it turned out great!  Maybe because I was that crazy lady hovering over him and pointing out what I wanted or didn't want.

We probably got black listed after that.  Oh well, I'm happy with the results!

My sister has her last day of {teaching} school today and is coming to visit our parents for a week.  Can't wait to see you, Erin!