Curb Appeal

When we bought our house in December of 2009, the front landscaping looked something like this.

I hated it. The overgrown bushes, the plastic faux rock edging pieces and the lack of anything pretty to look at. But it was a crazy season in our lives and so we complained about the eye sore that it was, but we never worked on it. We just trimmed down those ugly bushes when we thought they were getting too out of control. But last spring as we settled into our adoption wait on baby #3, we decided to landscape and do a little extra work to the font of our house. Jeremy had watched the professionals create for us a new backyard patio. So with that knowledge and a little googling, he thought he could do something similar, yet smaller in the front of the house. I was spending alot of time in the driveway watching the boys play, so I asked for a little sitting area that would be shaded most of the time. And wallah. He never ceases to amaze me.

And with grand plans to create more to this area, we got the call for Abe and never finished this little project until a few weeks ago. A little over 1 year later! Jeremy got to work, using his friend Google again to figure some things out along with his incredible talent and eye for detail. And I think he's finally created for us a little curb appeal. Here are a few pictures from some of the process.

 And the completion. He amazes me. I seriously can not believe he did it all by himself. It took a lot of time. We are more than glad it is completed!

Abe's Crib.

We have finally put together a new little space just for Abe. Originally we had planned to keep the nursery the same if we had a 3rd boy. But the longer I stayed in Oklahoma, the more I needed a hobby...like shopping on Etsy. ;) It all began with a harmless Etsy giftcard that my sister had given me for my birthday. What a great birthday gift idea, huh? So Jeremy was sweet and let me fix up a brand new nursery for our newest baby boy. Here are some pictures of his sweet, little room. It was a fun project. One that I'm glad is completed. I would like to suggest preparing the nursery BEFORE the baby arrives. Just my two cents. :) But now I love the finished space and I'm glad we went ahead and changed it up this time.

my little DIY button elephant. I stole the idea from my sister.

gifts.

So I bought myself some gifts. Mother's Day was a little different since we traveled to Oklahoma the Wednesday before to meet Abe. Once we were home and settled a few weeks ago, I offered to Jeremy to order my own Mother's Day gift. Ha. So thoughtful of me, right? I had received a sweet little sign for Abe's room from my friend Kristy that I mentioned here. So the same Etsy seller created these two custom pieces for me. This one is for our living room mantle.

If you've read here for any amount of time then you know that this song speaks to my heart in how God did some work in me through the creation of our family. I've mentioned it here and here.  Sometimes when I listen to the lyrics I can see the music video of Jeremy and I's life about 6ish years ago and then fast forwarding to today...3 beautiful little boys that light up our world. So why not hang the lyrics in my living room. Holden and I titled this "our song" (as in our family's song) well over a year ago. So I was ecstatic when it showed up on my doorstep today. And it showed up side by side with this little sign for Holden and Pax's shared room.

After I read to them their new sign today they began purposefully tripping, falling to the ground and then stopping to help one another up. Ha. Silly boys for sure. At least they were actually listening to me read it! But they are big time buds. Sometimes I wonder what in the heck they would do without one another. That thought crossed my mind today as they sat at the kitchen table for about an hour playing with legos and sharing pieces back and forth. Not that it's always peaceful around here. There is plenty of arguing, tattling and those not so fun parenting moments. But these boys share hundreds of sweet moments and I know they will have a heart full of fun memories with one another. Their closeness often reminds me of the relationships I've seen between twins. When Holden was 16 months old and Pax came along, things felt a little CRAZY. Partly because we moved three times during Pax's first 4 months of life. But I wouldn't have it any other way. And I would do it all over again for Abe to have a sibling close in age. Just warning you. ;) Anyways, this scripture has always been a special one to me. And I thought it was the perfect addition for the big boy's room.
And here is the shop that created them both!

Nursery Pieces

I'll definitely be taking pictures of the nursery once it's all completed. And we are still a little far from completion...but things are moving along. It's been a fun little project. One that I don't really feel like I've had time for with 3 little boys, a busy working husband and rarely ever a break for me...but I'm doing it anyways. Some of these things that are in his nursery are too special to not go ahead and share now.
My mom and dad were at our house this week. Back when we were in Oklahoma, I asked if she would mind making curtains and a pillow for the rocking chair in the nursery. Suddenly, she was offering to make bumpers and a diaper stacker also. I nixed the bumpers, but she completed the diaper stacker this week and one panel of the curtains is almost completed. Here is the finished diaper stacker with his name on the shelf above. His wooden letters came from this little Etsy shop.

I told myself that I wouldn't go nuts with the elephants. (haha. Seriously, no pun intended there. Nuts and elephants...I caught it in my proofing.) With the first nursery we did in 2008, I wanted only patterns...no theme. But while I was in Oklahoma, spending way too much time on Etsy, I found this fabric and fell in love. So I'm trying to not go over the top with the elephants, but it may be too late. I have definitely made some elephant purchases and a little DIY elephant craft for his wall is in the works. Anyways, mom did great on the diaper stacker. She never ceases to impress me with her sewing skills. I definitely did not receive that talent or a desire to practice it.

My sister, Amy, told me about the grey elephant sheets at Target. Same sister found this cute little grey and yellow monkey for his crib, at Target also. And then the chevron blanket with grey mink on the backside is where the ideas for his room all began. I found the blanket at this little Etsy shop.

Last week, my long time friend Kristy sent me this sweet little sign in the mail. From Etsy also. :) It's from this little shop where I've already ordered 2 more custom signs for our house. Kristy had asked me about his nursery, so she was my first guess when it ended up on my doorstep. It is a perfect and very appropriate little piece to add to his walls.

This little gift made me cry. You may remember me posting about this song here. I claimed that the song was going to be baby #3's song because God had already been using it in the previous months to encourage me in our adoptions process. Well, these words really began to mean more as Abe came into our family and I feared attachment, bonding and all of those things since he was a little older. So Amanda had this designed specifically for us. Special, special gift from a very dear friend.

And you want to know what Abe thinks about his new nursery decor and gifts? A round of applause.

That's right, he has just started clapping his little hands in the past few days. He is very proud of this new accomplishment. We just think it's cute. :)

Distractions while we wait...

We've officially been doing this adoption wait for 1 week. Yep, just 1 week. In reality, I feel like we've been waiting since mid-February. My mind was consumed with baby #3 during the months of February and most of March. This was a good and a sweet thing. I was constantly thinking about and praying for our next baby and birth mother that we'll probably begin building a relationship with in the future. Then we decided to do some food testing with Holden (I keep promising more on this - and I never make the time to sit and put it all out there). Anyways, we took a very dramatic turn with his diet on March 18th. Yes, I remember the date that things in our kitchen really changed. We already had him on a somewhat limited diet - gluten free and dairy free. Can I just tell you that was a piece of gluten free cake compared to this new deal?! As I was saying, it has been a distraction. In the long run, I completely believe in the route we're headed. But I'm going to admit that it hasn't been easy on my end. Or his. But I've probably whined about it much more than Holden has.

 

A much sweeter distraction recently has been planning that boy's 5th birthday. Oh my goodness, I get a lump in my throat when I realize that he is almost 5!! It really, really, really does not seem possible that I have been a mommy for 5 years. Jeremy and I decided we would do big parties for our kids through their 5th birthday and then we'll change up their celebration in the future years. So this is the last little party that I will plan for my firstborn. Whoa. I threw out a couple of theme ideas to Holden and I was happily shocked when he chose the one I had been hoping for. I figured he'd pick a character theme or something. But it's been a fun distraction for me to put together the little details for his 5th birthday celebration.

A practice run on the birthday cupcakes. One of the main ingredients is pureed chickpeas! I promise this recipe could fool you! Gluten free, dairy free, rice free, nut free, quinoa free. Just about everyting FREE. ;) Nonetheless, delicious! He was a big fan of his chocolate cupcakes.

 

I mentioned in a previous post that we were planning to start some landscaping this spring. Well, demolition started last weekend. We ripped everything out of the front yard, except for our one lone tree. Somehow we started with an idea to do some type of permanent edging for landscaping and then we'd fill it in with plants and flowers. Then a few conversations later and we were extending our front patio. Jeremy is a DIYer through and through. And because I've seen him do so many projects throughout the years, I never really question if he can do something or if it will look anything less than perfect. He's a thorough researcher and on top of that, a perfectionist. This little project has taken most of his free time for the past two weekends. And his back was killing him by Saturday evening. But it's been a fun distraction to watch my husband add some much needed curb appeal to our home. He amazes me with his talents and abilities. I told him last night, that in my opinion, this is his most impressive DIY project yet. I'll definitely be posting before and after pictures once the whole thing is completed. We're just calling this phase 1 of 3. :)

On demolition day, Holden had the privilege to play with some worms. Ewww.

We are tentatively planning (please note that planning is a VERY loose term in our house these days) an early summer vacation in the next month. Obviously, if we get our baby call, there will be no vacay. And we're a-okay with that. But if we are still in this wait, it's a little something extra to look forward to. Sea World just may be in our future again. I just know the boys would love it so much at this age. It's been two years since their first Sea World experience. And I would love for it to work out for us to take them again very soon.

 

These two faces are my constant reminder, that God's plan is NEVER delayed. His timing is always perfect. So for now, I wait with joy and contentment for him to fill our home again with another baby love. And as we wait, I'm thoroughly enjoying my family of four.

backyard patio redo

We just recently spiffed up the back patio. We already had a small concrete slab. Jeremy started pricing the cost to extend the concrete and lay flagstone himself. Then when that seemed high, he started researching pouring and stamping concrete himself. I know he could have done any of it. He can build, fix, create just about anything as long as he has the nifty internet to help him. But the time it would take . . . and he's not good about asking anyone for help. So we figure that sometimes the sacrifice of money is well worth not having to sacrifice the time. We quickly decided to get some estimates to have the work done for us. And in a short 6 days of work it was completed. And now our little backyard is my favorite room of the house. :)
Here is where we began.We have one more finishing touch, but for the most part this is the compelted project.

Organization is heavenly.

I used to be super organized. Rooms were neat and clean. Everything had a spot. I'm not sure if it was motherhood that changed me or if it happened before then. But now I'm just average. Bummer for my family because organization was really a good quality for the home. Now I really have to work at it. And I must because I don't like chaos, which is who I married. He's gotten better over the years, as I have gotten worse.

Anyways, when we moved into our house we had this wonderful new space upstairs outside of the bedrooms. Obviously, because of the stage of our lives, we made it a toy/playroom. It has been a wonderful place, just highly disorganized. Typically toys were all over the floor and the boys were probably completely overstimulated sitting and playing in the mess. I'm quite embarrassed by the amount of toys we have. But I will blame it on everyone else, because we RARELY buy toys for them! :)

Back to my point . . . I had been looking for toy storage but I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted. Just something to get it all off of the floor, but where the boys can get to it. I wasn't thrilled at the idea of a toy box. I scoured CraigsList for months and finally found 2 tall matching bookshelves for $40 total. They were in great condition and were 5 miles from our house. So Jeremy loaded them up and brought them home about 2 months ago. Since that time they have just been sitting in the garage waiting for a fresh new coat of creamy white paint. They came to us in a blondish stain. Well, my dear husband finished painting them this weekend and they are perfect! Now, walking through the playroom makes my heart go pitter patter. And all of the toys fit on the shelves! And there is hardly anything left on the floor! And the room looks so much more spacious now! I could go on and on. And now a picture of organization . . .
Speechless aren't you? :) Ignore the blue curtains, they came with the house. I don't think they're staying. And ignore the khaki walls. I don't love khaki. I think a soft yellow is in their future. Jeremy worked his little tail off this past weekend and this was just one of the projects. Did I mention that he carried these up the stairs all by himself yesterday? And they are HEAVY! Yep, he's pretty incredible.
I seriously can't get enough of these shelves. $40. I think we got a steal.

Where they lay their heads (Part 2 - Paxton's room)

Yes, Paxton did get hand-me-downs. Not because he was a surprise or anything like that. It was what I had always planned. I'm way to practical to use once and throw away. My mom made all of the bedding and curtains for us months before Holden. And I picked out the fabric before we ever knew boy or girl. I wanted something gender neutral and to be used more than once. And after 2 babies, I think it will have gotten plenty of use. But after 16 months, I wasn't ready to part with it and I really wanted to pass it down to Pax. So even though it's hand-me-downs from Holden, I still love it-love it-love it. If you remember Holden's room in Oklahoma . . . well, let's just say it almost identical. Now come inside. But I'm not sure that Pax is very excited about you touring his room. Kind of looks like he is standing guard.

Changing table. Dream sign with his very first outfit purchased by his nana (so NOT a hand-me-down). Hard to believe he was so small! Diaper stacker (also made by mom/nana) hanging from shelf. Sweet initial blocks given by a friend with a newborn picture of Pax.

The Paxton sign that I love! Also a gift from a friend. The rocking chair, that is oh so comfy, but honestly, rarely used.

His bed. He sleeps like a rock in this bed. Put him in a pack-n-play and totally different story. No one in a 5 mile radius sleeps! Vacation is coming and we can't take his bed with us. Should be fun! :)

His dresser, lamp and stuffed animals. On his wall, the only thing that I can claim in the room. And honestly, I stole the idea from a picture online. Laundry hamper and shelf for tiny books. Closet on the right. The end.
And this is where the little man sleeps.

Where they lay their heads (Part 1 - Holden's room)

Since our move into the house, people have asked to see pictures of the boys bedrooms. I had intended to share them but things were just busy, initially. We completed the rooms rather quickly after our move. I just never got around to taking the pictures and posting them. But here we go. Holden says to you all, "Welcome to mi casa." We're teaching him Spanish. Okay, not really.

Around the time of our move, Holden became obssessed with airplanes. And since we were passing all of his babyish bedding, furniture and decor to the little brother, I knew I wanted to redo his room. So we went with his love for airplanes. We found these really cool vinyl ones for his wall.

Found his new little crib on Craigslist and Jeremy drove all of 5 minutes to pick it up. And I had acutally wanted a white crib, just for something different than what he had before. So it was perfect. Found the airplane bedding on overstock.com for half of that they were charging at Target. Score!

I just wanted to show you 2 of Holden's best buddies. Commonly referred to by him as "Soggy" and "Munttee". He does not sleep without them. The frog was a gift from one of his baby showers. The sock monkey was his adoption finalization gift from us. So special!
I know. The room looks kind of empty. I love that the room is big, but with just a chest of drawers and a crib, it does feel empty. I would like to add something . . . just not sure what. All of his books and toys are right outside his room in the play area. So there just isn't a need for much else. Literally, it's just the place that he sleeps.
His little name, a white shelf that already existed from the previous owners and his chest of drawers. On the chest is his CD player since he listens to music at night. Also a picture frame that says "brothers" with a picture of he and Pax. And his story time Bible that Jeremy reads to him every night before bed.

And the closet. The end. Stay tuned for Paxton's sweet nursery.