A new place to potty-

Yay- we did it! We started AND finished our 1st house project - and we are all in one piece. Of course- we still have other unfinished projects around the house-

but let's just .... hmmm... what's the saying? let's bask in the glory? nah

that doesn't sound right.

bake in the glory? I don't think that's it either.

Anyhow- whatever it is- we are doing it in glory!!

I wanted a purple bathroom- shhh- stay with me- I don't know why- I just thought it would be fun and daring- whew! It turned out better than I expected. Really. The pictures don't really do it justice.

Here we go-

ok- so this is our small 1/2 bath downstairs

- BEFORE-

view from the outside looking straight ahead

view looking towards the toilet

see it's all drab and boring- not anymore!

I got some wooden framed mirrors from Ikea- and painted them purple and put little marble things all over them. See-

pretty huh?

the purple looks a little brighter in this picture- but you get the idea

 here's a view from the outside looking towards the mirror

and the obligatory husband's beer while he works shot.

 pictures hanging on the wall

 the new shelves over the toilet

view towards the sink again

 my cutie little messer upper helper.

If there is a sport for unrolling toilet paper rolls in a matter of seconds

 he would WIN!

So that''s it folks! all done. Now of to the other bazillion million quadrillion other house projects to do.

Where does the time go?

18 months- I don't even know what to say- where to start. It's just gone by too fast.

SIZE: we haven't had our "official" 18 month check up yet- so I will add in the official sizes later- but I would say that you are about 25 lbs- still small. Wearing 12- 18 month clothing, size 4 diaper, size 5 shoes. Lately it seems that you are growing fast- maybe that's what all that not sleeping stuff was about- maybe it was a growth spurt. Sometimes in the morning when I bring you down for breakfast I swear that you grew over night.

*edit- official 18 month stats. Weight 21.2 lbs (5%) Height 31.25 in (25%)*

NEW MOVES: Since you started walking around 10 months- you are very confident on your feet these days. You can run and you try very hard to jump- but just can't seem to get your feet off the ground yet. It's pretty funny to watch. But you will stand up in a chair or on the edge of the bed and just jump off (into our arms of course) but you seem to have no fear. Climbing- FREAKS ME OUT- but for you- no worries. You will climb any and everything. You have even managed to scale the gate at the bottom of the stairs- you love crawling up the stairs. And you also love to climb in my office chair and get into all my stuff. More than once I have come into the office to find you standing on the desk- so now at the end of my day- I take the chair out and hide it. You are tall enough now that you can reach the floor and push yourself on your cars- you like that.

YUMMY FOODS: you love love love fruit (and hidden veggie) pouches. Even in the grocery store- you start signing and saying please for them. You like vanilla wafers and graham crackers. You love spinach and artichoke dip! Pizza, spaghetti, beans, avocados, yogurt, bananas, chicken nuggets, meatballs, sweet potatoes, quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey and avocado sandwiches, cheese, chips and salsa. You actually ate your 1st too hot salsa the other day- sometimes you are pretty stubborn (no idea where you get that from) but anyhow- you insisted on trying the salsa- only to cry since it was too spicy. Lesson learned. And yesterday you had your 1st lollipop and WOW- you loved that a lot.

SLEEP: FINALLY- the skies parted and rainbows appeared!!!  We were having some sleeping issues- and we just went "back to the basics" We went back to our original bedtime routine and stuck to it by.the.minute. Bathtime, story time, bedtime. At 1st you cried. and it took forever about an 1 1/2 for you to fall asleep. (you only cried for a few minutes- then you would just sit and fight sleep) Then a few nights later you were asleep in an hour- then 45 minutes- and now we are under 30 minutes. You nap great- usually 2-3 hours right after lunch. Sometimes I nap then too. You always wake up in the best mood. I come in and sing you a song to wake you up in the mornings- and immediately you are all smiles saying hi to the dogs and daddy- it puts me in a good mood everyday!

WORDS: did you know you are already bi-lingual? I love that your teachers teach you sign language, Spanish and English. It's too cute to hear you say words in Spanish. Agua, leche, si are your Spanish words. You can sign all done, bites, more, please, you use to sign milk for bottle- but since we don't use bottles anymore- you don't use that one.  You can say please, help me, shoes, up, down, on, off, baby, gracie, diesel, sissy, bro-er (brother), daddy, mama, mouse, cars, shrek, outside, nite-nite, love you, yummy, banana, milk. The funniest thing for you to say is agua- whenever there is liquid- sprinklers, pools, water cup, milk cup, lakes, bath- anything wet- you yell AGUAAAAAA really loud- it's pretty cute~

You also say "wats-sat" or  ask "wats sit" and sometimes it comes out sounding super close to "oh-sit" but surely you wouldn't be saying bad words- right??? right?

Your favorite songs are Justin Beiber's Baby- you will sing baby baby baby ohhhhh-

and you also like the song Give Me Everything with NeYo and Pitbull- about every other word is "tonight" and you like to sing that part.

BEST MOMENTS: so many to choose from! Since Dad has been taking and picking you up from daycare- I forgot how much I missed it. So this past week- I got to do all that fun. I love visiting with your teachers- and I love when you are excited for me to pick you up. I even secretly love when you don't want me to leave and I am late for work.

The other night we went out back to blow bubbles- it's so cute how you do it- you put the whole bubble stick in your mouth. I would think it tastes bad- but you don't seem to mind- so I am not so sure if you actually blow bubbles- or just spit through the hole- too funny.

Also- while we were outside playing- we were watering the tomatoes (that aren't growing) but Gracie was going around the patio licking the water. So you decided that you should do the same. You followed her around pretending to lick the ground. Then you actually got down on your hand and knees and tried to lick some water. LOL- we didn't let you do that part.

FAVORITE THINGS: right now you are LOVING your guitar. You sit and strum it and sometimes you will even sing a song. You like to dance,  play in the water, go to the pool, sing songs, your favorite movies and Cars and Shrek and you love the Mickey Mouse Club TV show. We have taken you to play some games- and you like the dancing game and the driving games best. You get so excited when you see so many games at one time in one place. Your ohhhhhh's and ahhhhhhh's are cutecutecute.

You are growing so fast and learning new things quicker than ever. I think you bring a smile to everyone's face- we all love you bunches. I guess we need to start thinking about the fun we will have for your 2nd birthday- what??? too soon? good- because I think I just want you to stay one for a little bit longer. Love you.

Sleep Deprived-

Remember when you had a newborn? and you didn't get sleep? and you were surprised at how well you could function on such little itty bitty sleep?

and that one glorious night- when your little one slept through the night!!!!! and the clouds parted- and sunshine rays shined through- and rainbows appeared- and angles sang!!!

and you were like "YES! This is what it feels like to sleep again!"

so so nice-

at 10 weeks old BabyK started sleeping through the night- it was awe.some.

But now- at 17 months- yes almost 1 1/2 years old- he has decided that he no longer needs sleep.

well....

he no longer needs sleep unless its on mommy or in mommy's bed.

great.

this week we have been trying some tough love. Thursday night I rocked him for 30 minutes- he was out cold- I put him in bed- and crying begins.

He cried on and off for 1.5 HOURS  ya'll- it breaks my heart. (now- let me get this straight- he did not cry that whole time- just little fits and cries for about 5 minutes each- then he would talk to himself and hang out- and NOT sleep)

FINALLY- he started falling asleep standing up- yes- STANDING- and he was so wobbly standing- that finally he fell to his bottom and then tried sleeping sitting up. Swaying all over the place- it was kind of funny actually. And then finally finally he laid himself down and went to sleep.

Only to wake up crying at 4 am-

This is newborn stuff right??

My clouds have closed- my rainbows are poop- no sunshine rays and angels singing... what happened?

Last night I left a night light on. I gave him a extra snuggly doggie to hangout with him. and again- the same thing-  except after an hour- he actually wedged himself in the corner of the crib standing up- so he really did fall asleep there- standing.

So I need help- ideas- suggestions-

On one hand- I think he's safe in the crib- do I just leave him in there- pour myself a bottle glass of wine and turn the monitor volume all the way down?

I know bringing him to our bed is a badbadbad habit to break- and I am paranoid and scared of it- but as of right now- it's pretty much the only way we can get in a good nights sleep.

so it's documented here moms- if it happens to any of you. Or if it has happened to any of you- what did you do? is it a phase? a growth spurt?

I need my rainbows- sunshine- and angels back!

and if I can get a picture of him stand sleeping- I will definitely add it! LOL-

Dread- dread-

what do I dread?
bathing suit shopping- ohhhhhh- how I dread thee. Let me count the ways.

I know I know- we don't have all day.

Ok- enough of that- It's time- I haven't bought a new suit in almost 2 years- because....

Well because I was hoping to be able to confidently wear some of the ones I already had.

You know- the ones I bought for our honeymoon-

Pretty- cute- lovelies. Like this cutie that I got for our honeymoon trip-

But remember- on said honeymoon- the husband and I came back as a party of 3. And how the past two years have flown by and of course BabyK has filled our lives and yadayadayda... blehch!

I have been sporting a cute skirt and top that I LOVE- but first all- the top is an old "going out" top that I use to wear- and it's just not holding up the parts that it's suppose to-

*yes- I use to wear this top out- like with low rise jeans- and I rocked it oh-kay... let's just skip past that part*

I mean how freakin hard is it to find a black bandeau -not belly showing bandeau- but black strapless takini top. I have looked EVERYwhere- I am willing to pay top dollar just so that I can replace this one that is umm how do we say- losing it's elastic...

OK- so today was the day. This is what I learned.

1. bathing suits are expensive- ok let me re-phrase- if you want a bathing suit that will hold all the right places in- then be ready to spend some cash...
2. dressing room lighting is bad
3. take off your shoes- bathing suits and tennis shoes will NEVER look good- take off the socks too
4. babies + bikinis = is a no go for me. This is not a whine- But that's why I am hitting the gym- and that's why I listen to The Watch, and that's why I went to the gym 1st- before going to the mall-
5. go to the gym- A LOT-
6. once you have said kids- keep in mind- that you don't just get to lay on chairs- relaxing, sipping cold beverages, and working on your tan- NO you are running and chasing- and this is good since it burns calories- so keep this in mind when picking out a suit

Anyhow- surprisingly I narrowed it down to 3-4. And ended up with this one. It's cute and comfy. and it does come with a strap- since we don't want the girls to make a public appearance.

So if you know where I can find a black strapless takini top- pleasepleaseplease tell me! Then I will have two suits to sport this summer!