Night One

It was hard to hear him cry. Really hard. Thankfully it wasn't as bad as some of the horror stories I have read. And I hate to jump the gun and say it worked, but after he fell asleep, he slept until 5:30am! I then fed him at 5:30am and he slept until 8am! 

And the best part? When I went in to get him this morning he was so smiley and happy. I swear he was even happier than usual. I think a full nights rest did him good. 

I'm amazed, really I am. I just hope it wasn't a fluke. It's supposed to take 3-5 nights. I'm praying it doesn't take as long for him to fall asleep tonight. 

Now I'm off to enjoy the day with my happy little man :)

what we've been up to

So I started strong on this whole blog thing, and now....not so much. I think I have just a tad bit of ADD (I know this is not possible. Roll with it.)

Soooo....

Last weekend was a looong weekend at work. My 12's always seem to drag these days. Plus I worked 4 days in a row last week, when I'm used to just 3. So I was so exhausted and ready for a day off by time Monday rolled around. Nursing can be very draining.

Speaking of exhaustion, little man's sleep patterns have gotten worse and worse. He is waking up a zillion times a night. Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration. He is waking up a million times a night! 

Ugh. That can really start to take a toll on ya after a while. So I finally decided I had do something about it. So we're trying a little sleep training the next few nights. Don't look at me like that. I was always opposed to it too, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Monday I got a much needed afternoon off. A friend and I went to get mani/pedis and then went back to her house to watch a movie (Sex and the City 2) and have wine and pizza. Doesn't that sound like heaven? The movie was great, so funny! And it was so nice to chill on the couch with a glass of wine in hand and enjoy a movie...uninterrupted!  Plus, who doesn't love some good girl talk?

Tuesday little man and I had a lazy day. Didn't get a while lot done, just layed around on the couch and floor and played and napped all day. He did the napping of course. I can't nap for crap these days. 

And today we went apartment hunting. We've been talking about moving forever, but for some reason finally got serious about it. We really need to upgrade to one with a washer and dryer (a must with a little one) and a dishwasher would be oh so wonderful as well. The apartment we looked at and applied for has tons of storage, a laundry room, a bigger kitchen, two bathrooms, a patio, and a garage. It'll definitely be an upgrade and we are both giddy with excitement. 

Tomorrows my last day off and I guess I'll have to get down to business and attack the mountain of laundry piling up in our bedroom. That should be fun. 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week. Pray that we can finally get some sleep in this house soon.

Your Three Words

It's Negative Eight

Umm yea, it's negative 8 degrees outside right now! Are you having a hard time wrapping your mind around that one right now too? Ugh, I don't even want to know that feels like.

Oh, Wisconsin.

Apparently today is supposed to be the coldest day in 2 years! I'm currently looking for jobs and homes in California as we speak (write? read? whatev.). 

And if only I could stay in, tucked in nice n warm on the couch with my boys....no I have to work today. Boo.

I will definitely be stopping for coffee on the way. Drive-thru that is. Starbucks? Hmm.

Happy Friday! I hope yours is a lot warmer than mine.

Embrace The Camera Thursday

I think I actually snapped this pic on Sunday before work. It's me and little man brushing our "teeth". 

Well I have teeth, he has "teeth", lest you think we're both sportin' the gummy look ;)

He gets so excited when I pull out his baby toothbrush. He loves to gnaw on that thing and loves when I brush his gums too. 

A not so flattering pic of myself, but sweet none the less.

Happy Thursday!

what we're up to...

I've been lacking inspiration for blogging the past several days. 

Mostly because I've been enjoying real life with this little guy:

And this guy:

Charming isn't he? <3

So what have we been up to?

We got our ABC photo book in the mail today and it turned out even better than I imagined. So worth the 8 bucks. Little man agrees; he's already christened it with his mouth. ( : And we've read it twice.

Little man has been mastering his rolling skills. You can't keep him on his back now.

Frank turns the big 3-0 on Thursday. Such an old man that one is.

We celebrated his birthday Monday with dinner at a Japanese Hibachi restaurant. It was my first time and I loved it. And the food was delicious. Well not that soup they give you for an appetizer without telling you it's fish broth?!? Eww.

We followed dinner with drinks and pool. It's so nice to enjoy a leisurely beer over adult conversation.

I did work on one craft project. 

This wreath:

I'll tell you more about it later.

And I did my organization challenges, but seriously how interested are you in looking under my sink? It's not very exciting is it? So I didn't bother to blog about it and bore you with the details of our TP storage.

Little man tried green beans and prunes and liked them. Yes, the prunes did their job. He needed it. Although he likes the new foods I introduce to him, he is going through a phase where he's more into chewing and licking the tray on his high chair than actually eating. 

Case in point:

 Silly boy.

Tomorrow is my last day off this week. Sigh. Back to the grind.

And, we have a roller!

Little man finally rolled over yesterday! 

He has been so close to doing it for weeks and weeks. And when did he decide to do it? Of course when I was at the store and Daddy had ran to the bathroom real quick. 

That little booger!

Frank said he had rolled over onto his side and when he returned from the bathroom he was on his tummy!

Then he did it again for Frank to see while I was at work yesterday.

Then, he did it in his crib this morning while I was getting his breakfast and bath ready.

Are we seeing a pattern here? Such a tease, he is!

And finally this morning I got to see him do it and even caught it on video. 

I wanted to post a video, but I seem to be having technical difficulties. So instead, here is a pic of him on his side, getting ready for the roll:

My little baby is growing up so fast!

Day 13 of Organization Challenge

Yea. I know we're missing a few days. 

I got a little behind when we went to Chicago. Day 11 was your freezer and Day 12 was your spices. I still have to work on the freezer, but my spices were done with the pantry challenge. 

Today's challenge was your medicine cabinet. Ours actually wasn't too bad. I went through it a couple of weeks ago and threw out everything that was expired. So this morning I just had to wipe it out and organize everything by likeness.

Before:

After:

We also have a basket on our sink with all of our everyday items: combs, contacts, make up, deodorant, etc. I just separated it by side: his and hers. I honestly doubt it'll stay this neat.

Before:

After:

And I went ahead and organized the two drawers in there (and threw a LOT away).

Before:

After:

Look, Frank! Two of my jars came in handy!

I'm all out of empty bins and baskets and I think I will pick some up to containerize a little. Everything looks just a little more organized when it's containerized, doesn't it?

Happy Organizing!

Y3W

Chicago Was Fun

Frank and I just returned from a fun-filled trip to Chicago and the Great Lakes area. We went down to see our friend Koepsel before he shipped off to Florida after graduating from basic training today.

Thursday we went to the Shedd Aquarium. The Caribbean Reef exhibit was my favorite by far. There was a diver in the tank feeding the fish (and sharks!) while we were there which was pretty cool to see. How awesome of a job is that? Where do I sign up?

I was a little disappointed with the small representation of tropical fish though. They had a lot of fresh water fish, and I my friend, enjoy a little color in my fish.

We also caught a short 4D showing of Happy Feet. It was super cute, but the first time my chair attacked me I was sure the guy behind me had kicked me.  

Next, we took my first ever taxi ride to Gino's pizza. I have to admit it was a bit of a let down; it didn't really live up to all the hype. The atmosphere was really cool though with it's graffiti covered walls. I must start traveling with white Sharpie in hand. 

Next, my love took me to...IKEA! Hells yea! I'm pretty sure this may have been my favorite part of the trip. Well, the 11 glorious straight hours of sleep may have beat it. Nevertheless, it was pretty freakin' awesome. 

That place is huge, and has eeeeeveryyying. I did utilize a great deal of self control, but you bet your bottom dollar I will be making a return trip some time in the not so distant future.

Here's what I did purchase: 1 PAIR of curtains for the living room ($14.99!!), curtain rod ($7.99), 2 chair pads ($4.99 each), finger puppets for little man ($4.99), fabric play fruit and basket for little man ($4.99), white planter and fake plant they forgot to charge me for ($1.99), and I think that's it. 

I had to really restrain myself so that I wouldn't buy all the cool jars they had there. I have a crazy jar obsession lately, and I'm pretty sure we might be living in a house of jars if I keep it up. Frank agrees.

Then, we headed back to Gurnee to check into our hotel. After checking in we went to the Gurnee Mills mall because Frank just had to have these hot, cinnamon glazed pecans. They were pretty delicious, and I'm pretty sure I ate more of than he did. Oops. That mall is huuge. I think I would really have enjoyed it more if I wasn't exhausted from the day. Plus, it paled in comparison to Ikea. I mean, how can you top that? 

We finally headed back to our hotel for the night and poured ourselves into bed at.... 8:00pm. Ahh, yes we are hardcore. The hotel bed was so comfy and I slept great. Unfortunately our bodies have gotten used to our early wake up calls courtesy of a certain little fella, so we woke up long before our 9:30am alarm. But still, we got 11 glorious hours of uninterrupted sleep. Pure bliss.

Then this morning we met up with Mr. Koepsel at his family's house in Kenosha for great food, great company, and some Wii bowling. (Frank would probably like you to know that he won both games). 

Good times. He will certainly be missed. Frank and I told him we hope to get out to visit him sometime soon....only if he gets stationed somewhere warm though. ;)

We had a great "weekend" away (hey, I work weekends, so it was like my weekend). It was some much needed alone time together and nice little break to recharge. But, we were both thrilled to head home today and could not wait to snuggle our little man. It was the longest and farthest I had been away from him ever. The huge smile and cuddles he gave us upon our return was really the icing on top of a really great "weekend".

Embrace The Camera Thursday

I snapped a few pics of us just after little man had woken from a nap the other day.

He has a funny look on his face, but it's the only one I looked halfway decent in. I have my priorities straight ;)

He still looks cute though, regardless of the "duh" look on his face.

We are off to Chicago/Great Lakes today and for the night. Little man is staying with Grandpa and Grandma. Here's to safe travels and a good nights sleep ;)

Happy Thursday! Go ahead, embrace the camera.

there. i organized something.

I was feeling lazy for not having any challenges today. So what did I do? I took 2 mins to screw a coat hook into the wall and called it a day.

I bought this oil rubbed bronze hook at Target for $3.49 to hang my purse and work bag on, by the door. 

A home for everything, that's the goal right? 

Well now they won't be found hanging on my dining room chairs anymore. Nope, cause they found a home. :)

Oh yea, and don't forget to love a nurse :)

i'm in love

Blog love, that is. I'm not quite sure how I stumbled upon it. Ya know how one click leads to another...and another. And before you know it you've found yourself somewhere new and delightful?

Well I recently stumbled upon this blog:

I love the way she writes. You read it and feel like you know her. Or like you want to know her.

Reading her posts, almost makes me want to live on a farm. Almost. I don't know what I'd do if Target wasn't just a hop, skip, and a jump from my door step.

Anyways, you get the idea. I'm really diggin' her blog right now. Check it out.

p.s. I totally got out of day 10 of the organization challenge because I don't have a laundry room. Sad face for my lack of washer and dryer, but happy face that I get another lazy day :)

heart-photo line

I've been planning out this project in my head for weeks, but finally got the ambition to tackle it today because we were snowed in. 

Well, we weren't really snowed in, I just didn't want to take little man out in this snowy weather alone. So we ran our errands once Daddy got home :)

Anyways, it really took no time at all to make this once all the supplies were gathered. 

I'm proud of myself because this is actually an original idea of mine. Not that you won't find book paper and twine projects out there; they're all over blogland. But, I haven't seen a project exactly like this one.

 So....

Supplies:

adorable pictures of your offspring

twine/jute

clothespins

scrapbook paper

scissors

pencil

craft glue

hot glue gun

old book

2 cup hooks

Directions: 

You can do these in any order really, but this is how I did it.

Measure out the length of your twine and tie a loop at each end to hang your line.

Tear out your book pages. Trim the white off. Cut the page in half.

Fold that half of the page in half and trace half of a heart on the folded side.

Cut out the heart shape. 

Repeat for however many hearts you want to make.

Trace a clothespin onto the scrapbook paper (I used the paper left over from my ABC magnets project).

Glue the paper onto the clothespins using the craft glue.

Layout your pictures with your book page hearts.

Clip your pictures on with the clothespins.

Glue the book page hearts on in between each picture with the hot glue gun.

 (You will burn your fingers, sorry).

Screw your cup hooks into the wall. String up your heart-photo line.

Step back and admire your work.

Pretty, huh?

Again, I kept help but notice that these pics do not do it justice. It's much prettier in real life.

Funny side note: The book I used was a true crime book so some of the words on my little heart cut outs are kind of funny....ya know, "blood", "murder", "courtroom". Real comfy, cozy stuff :)

Day 9: The Toys

When I woke up this morning and found that today's challenge was to organize the toys, I was so thankful that little man doesn't have too many toys. I think it's ridiculous how many toys some kids have. 

Now I know we have YEARS to accumulate more. But, right now he's a little over 5 months old and would be perfectly content chewing on Sophie all day long, and indeed he does spend the greater part of his day doing just that.

See?

 Best $17 I ever spent!

So thankfully, we already have everything neatly contained in a basket by the couch as we spend most of our time playing on the couch or on the floor in the living room. He does have some bigger toys that don't fit in the basket, but there really is no way to organize those.

Here's our basket-o-toys:

And our books:

I picked up that little book holder a few years ago at a yard sale for a buck or two. It has come in such handy! Little man loves to read and with this little holder all we have to do is reach over and pick one (or three) out instead of going to his room to pick one up off his bookcase. And I think it's super cute too!

So today was kind of like a free day for me. Yay! 

I still have laundry and cleaning to do though. Boo.

Happy Tuesday!

Day 8: Coat Closet

As I mentioned earlier, today is Day 8 of the organization challenge: organize your coat closet.

Our coat closet actually holds very few coats now that we have a coat rack by the door. Instead, it was filled with a whole lotta stuff that we needed but that desperately needed to be organized; as well as a lot of stuff we pitched or added to the Goodwill box.

Luckily, Frank so kindly pitched in so it took a lot less time than I thought it would.

So without further ado....

BEFORE:

And....

AFTER:

 Finally a spot for little mans tub!

 Reusable shopping bags. laundry stuff, and plastic bags for garbage, lunches, etc.

 Our recyclables. I have them in sturdy reusable shopping bags so they are easy to carry out to the recycling bin. One for paper, one for commingled.

 When you live in an apartment, you have a tiny grill and it lives in your closet :)

Odds n ends in one bin, craft supplies { <3 }in the other.

I'm so happy to have this closet neat and functional. Yep, this organization thing is good stuff :)