Summer Days

Sorry I haven't updated my blog as often as I would like.  Here are the highlights of the past few months:

*House is on the market.  We did a lot of work on the house to get it ready to show, and I think it turned out really nice.  Click to see listing/virtual tour.

*Took a trip with my mom and the boys to Utah in March to see family.  Here is a 4-generation picture with Grandpa Kenny:

*Jared is 20 months old, started nursery at church, and has over 100 words in his vocabulary.  He loves Dora and Elmo, swimming at the pool, eating, and helping mommy.  

Here is a video of him when he was starting to walk.

Drawing a picture: 

Flashing his cheesy smile:

Fishing with daddy:

*Ethan is almost 7-mo old now, and is making a lot of fun noises, chewing on everything, and getting bigger every day.  He is rolling over and scooting, so I'm sure he will be crawling soon.  He is a very happy, laid back baby, for which mommy is extremely grateful.

*I started up my own home-based business, sewing nursing covers, cloth wipes, carseat covers and other baby items.  The company is called Mama Meadows.  Here are a few of the items I have made recently:

Nursing cover

Infant carseat cover

Cloth wipes (flannel) 

Burp cloths (flannel) 

Travel changing pad (flannel/terry cloth) 

I think that pretty much covers the big things.  I chopped off my hair last month, which you can see in our most recent family picture at the top of the blog page.  Oh, and I have lost 33 lbs since the beginning of the year.  :)

Thanks for reading.  Until next time...

My boys

My big boy is 16 months old this week, and he has just started to walk.  He took his first steps last Sunday, while we were going through an open house for a home that is for sale.  We were in the basement talking to the real estate agent, and daddy had just put him on the floor.  He was standing up and holding on to an ottoman.  He spotted some toys against the wall and just walked right over there.  We almost didn't realize that he was doing it!  Of course it is just our luck that he takes his first steps in some strangers' house.  If the house is still on the market when we get an offer on ours, we might have to put in an offer so that we can actually live in the house where my baby took his first steps.  I am still trying to catch him on video, so hopefully I will have one to post soon.

He loves to play and laugh, and scream and yell.  He says "dat" (that, what's that?), "cheese", "eyes", "choos" (juice or shoes), and "baba" (bye-bye).  He knows most of the major body parts and can point to them, sometimes on himself and sometimes on you.  He loves pushing his dump truck around the house, walking behind it.  He likes to color, when he isn't trying to eat the crayon/marker.  He also likes to play the piano, especially after mommy teaches her piano lessons.  And he eats all the time!   His favorite foods are fruit, cheese, cheerios, goldfish crackers, and whatever is on my plate.  Our other big accomplishment this month was getting rid of the "binky."  He left it at the library when we went for story time, and we haven't had any issues since.  And no jealousy issues with little brother either.  He likes to help push the baby in his swing, rock him in his car seat, and give him his binky.

Here is a picture of him that I took tonight, after his haircut (by me) and just before bedtime.

My baby boy is 2 months old now, and he smiles all the time--except when mommy is trying to take a picture.  For some reason, the camera makes him all serious.  He has started to make all sorts of fun noises and faces, and he has discovered that he can put his fist in his mouth.  He had his first round of immunizations last week, and at his appointment he weighed 13 lbs 4 oz., and measured 24 inches long.  He barely fits into his clothes, which means it is time for me to switch him to the 3-6 month clothes.

Here are a few pictures and a video.  I kept trying to get him to smile, but all we got were a few half-smiles and a bunch of serious and funny faces.

And here is a little video of him, with me trying to get him to talk and smile.

Goodbye to January and our old house!

This has been a crazy month, and not just because of the 60 degree weather.  We have been working hard to get our house ready to put on the market, and the end is finally in sight.  The last room (living room) is finally de-wallpapered and repainted, and now its just a matter of cleaning and last minute de-cluttering, and our house will be listed.   Here are a few before and during pictures of the living room to give you an idea of what we had to work with.

In case you can't tell, this is wallpaper that has been painted and then sponge-painted on top of that.

And this is in the middle of scraping the painted wallpaper off of the plaster walls, which was a long tedious process.  Gratefully we had help from family and friends.  Thanks to all who pitched in!

Once the house is clean and de-cluttered, I will post the "after" pics, so you can see the final product.  :)

New... year, baby, house and body!

My little one is 6 weeks old now, and the time has just flown by.  He is such a joy, and we love him so much!  Here are a few pictures that we had taken by a friend of a friend (Cassie Thiel - check out her facebook page).

Big brother is growing up too.  He likes to kiss the baby's hands, give him his pacifier, and "hold" him. Sometimes he comes over to look at the baby and just busts out laughing.  I love it!

The holidays were busy but good.  My brother and his family were able to visit from North Carolina, so all of my family was able to be together.  We got a couple of family photos taken by another friend.  Here is the whole clan.

And here are a few more...

We have been working hard on doing some updates in our home, so that we can try to sell it in the next few months.  So far we have stripped wallpaper and repainted the bathroom, hallway, kitchen and dining room.  We repainted the kitchen cabinets as well, and I am working on updating the hardware.  The cracks in the dining room ceiling have been re-plastered, and need sanded and painted, and we have replaced a couple of light fixtures (bathroom, living room, porch).  We have done a lot, but there is still so much to do.  Fortunately we are not in a time crunch, and with the market being so slow right now, we have some time to get all of this done.  The hardest part for me has been trying to de-clutter the house.  It's a good opportunity to throw a lot of junk away, but we have already packed and stored about 20 boxes full of stuff, and we still have more to do.  Fortunately, we have some in-laws with extra storage space, so we haven't had to spend extra money on a storage unit.  We are praying that the rest of the work will go smoothly, and that we can get the house listed and sold in a timely fashion.  We would love to be able to buy a house in 2012 that will accommodate our growing family.  

Hubby and I have joined Weight Watchers online, and we are making progress.  I have lost all my pregnancy weight and am working towards my next weight loss goal.  It's nice to fit into my clothes again, but it would be even nicer to lose enough weight that I need to buy new clothes.  We are doing a  little friendly competition with my family and some of their friends, to see who can lose the most (percentage) weight by the end of March.  So far I am in the top 3, but I haven't been watching my points as well this week, so I need to get back on track.  Here's to a new body in 2012!

That's about it for now.  Both the kids are napping, hubby is on his way home from work, and I need to get dinner started, and get ready for Relief Society meeting.  Tonight's topic is Organization, so I am hoping to bring home some good ideas on how to be more organized this year.