Everything but the Kitchen Sink!

Whew!  It has been quite the busy weekend around here.  First of all...are we back to summer?!  The weather was too gorgeous to not be outside.  Despite the long list of things I wanted to get done this weekend, we did make some time to walk to the park and play outside.  Gotta take advantage of it, because SNOW will be on the way before we know it!

Before I tell about our weekend, will you pray for Andrew's upcoming appointment on Friday?  He's having the Lung Profusion Scan done here at Mercy, but he needs to be sedated so he can't eat all morning- the test is at 10:00.  Thank you!

The first thing I wanted to do this weekend was use up the 4 cans of pumpkin I had in my pantry.  So at 6:30 on Saturday morning when Andrew's sweet little voice was calling for me, I got up and started baking!  (I know, those of you who knew me in my past life are thinking...WHAT?!?)  There was a day I wouldn't have risen much before 10:00am, especially on a Saturday morning!  I baked 8 loaves of bread and 3 dozen muffins.  Soooo yummy!  (By the way, in case you are wondering what on Earth we plan to do with it all...most of it is frozen for Thanksgiving get togethers, and some has been distributed to my mom and the neighbors... bet you wish you lived next door!) Ha!

It's okay though... Andrew and I had a perfect Saturday afternoon nap together...

Priceless.

Something else we had to tackle was Andrew's new big boy bedroom.  I wanted to take a minute to reminisce again... All these transitions have made me so emotional- thinking back to those early days when we first brought him home and he used to sleep in a little glider by my side of the bed.  Then the transition to his crib and his room...

 

This has always been one of my favorite pictures of him.  He has always been such a good sleeper (NOT napper, though!)  But at bedtime he always would go right down in his crib, and put himself to sleep.  He still does... most of the time!   The funny part now is when we ask him if he is ready for night night, he'll shake his head and say "No!" Ha!

Another favorite... this was right after we brought him home from the NICU in March of 2007.  He only weighed 5 lb.  Look how cuddly he is!  He was wearing my favorite preemie outfit my mom gave him to wear home.  It came with a little hat that matched with elephant ears.  There is an elephant on the front eating a peanut.  We always called him "Peanut" (still do!).

 

Ok...need I say more??  These pj's were my favorites... I love how tight they are and how his little legs are curled up.  We used to have to roll a blanket and put below him so he wouldn't scooch down (we had to elevate his bed because of his reflux)!

 

Ok, this one pretty much speaks for itself!  This is probably my favorite one yet.  These are footie pajamas, yet, he HAD to wear the Elmo slippers over the top!  This was our first sign he might be getting a little big for his crib!  He was about to turn 2.

This was the first night in his toddler bed~ the night of the Heartwalk in June of 2009.

It was pretty much after we switched him to a toddler bed that he decided mommy and daddy's bed was more appealing!

 

Lol!  This just cracks me up.  Honestly, this is what he does!  Takes up one entire side of the bed... and sometimes both!  He occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night and he always wants in our bed.  We figure, as long as he still goes to sleep in his own room at bedtime, it is okay to let him come in bed with us when he wakes in the night.  And also, because basically, we are too tired at that time to fight it!

I mean, seriously!  Could he take up any more space?!?

It's okay.  I absolutely love those nights when he wakes up to come in our bed.  I love hearing him say "mama?" on the monitor until I come get him.  I love that when I go in to get him he lays his head right down on my chest as I carry him to our bed.  I love how when we get into bed, he lays in my arms and lets me rub his back until he falls asleep.  I could always bring him back to his bed at that point.  But the truth is, I'd rather cuddle with him in that bed forever.  So I let him stay.

 

Ok, so a toddler bed is actually the same size as a crib, it's just lower to the ground!  I always knew I wanted a bigger bed for him...just wasn't sure when the time would be right.

We decided that this winter, he was going to be too cold laying on the floor (lol!) or just on top of his crib sheet because he never stays covered.

So the time was this weekend.  I had been planning it for a while.  Back when I was pregnant with him, we had his room painted with this mural that I love so much.  I loved it because it didn't look too "realistic" and was very fun and whimsical.  I struggled with what to do for a big boy room for Andrew, because I never wanted to paint over that mural!

 

I always liked Pirates for him (since he has such a "cool" battle wound across his chest!)  And I fell in love with this pirate bedding by Olive Kids.  I couldn't believe how well it matched his mural.  It even has a palm tree in sand that looks just like his wall.  The colors matched perfectly and I didn't even need to change the curtains or the rug.

 

I am still deciding what to do about a headboard.  This is an odd sized bed.  We had it at the lake after Craig and I got married- it had to squeeze in a small room.  I thought it would be a perfect size for him.  It is between a twin and a full.  The bedding is all full size in case I ever want to go up in size.  A headboard won't fit so I'm going to have to custom make it.  I am thinking about a boat steering wheel or a life preserver with his name on it.  What do you think?

 

We also had this neat chest at the lake to store sheets in.  My mom gave it to me thinking it would fit perfect in his pirate room, since it looks like a treasure chest.  I think it looks awesome!  I plan to keep some toys in it for him.  He is also going to get a chair for Christmas for the corner, along with a pail for books.  I am still not sure what chair yet.  I am also still playing with the arrangement of the room, but for now I like it.

 

Andrew loves it!  He was so excited when we were putting it up for him.  He ran in and out of the frame and when we put the box spring on he wanted to lay on it!  He wouldn't even let me make the bed, he just kept jumping on the mattress and looking at himself in the mirror!

We are going to start a new tradition of reading him a bedtime story in his new bed (because we can lay in it with him!)  Then we always have said prayers, so we will continue to do that.  The other night he started rattling off the prayer all by himself.  He went through every name of his friends and family.  It was just precious and I am so proud that he knows how to pray.

That was just one of many more projects we squeezed into one weekend!  Ha!  I'll quickly share with you my next project...

 These were mine when I was a little girl.  My uncle made the set for me and my dad painted it.  It has been saved for me to use for my kids someday.  I thought the someday might not come until I had a little girl...but let me tell you...Andrew loves play kitchens!  It is his favorite thing to play with at school.  I bought him a huge box of play food for $10 to give to him for Christmas, along with this kitchen.

Only it's not going to look like that!  It's going to look like this:

Yeah, this is from Pottery Barn Kids.  And it costs $299 per piece (in case you're not doing the math, that's $900!)

I'll show you my project when it's all done...it's in the works right now.  It's all been painted chocolate brown (my weekend project!) now I have to do the silver trim and replace the hardware.  I am so excited... it's going to look like it was straight out of the PBK store!  And it's going to cost about $875 less!  The best part is, Andrew is going to love it and I can't wait to see his face when it is sitting under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.

While we were doing projects...Andrew got into a little mischief... (don't ask why he has no pants on, my oven mitt on his hand and all my potholders on the floor!)  He learned how to open the oven door now so he was "pretending" to cook.  There's an accident waiting to happen... I told you he loved kitchens!  Ha! (Oh and his shirt is quite fitting...it says "I'm ready for FUN!  Let's PLAY!")

Apparently he loves sinks, too.  I caught him in one when I turned my back for 2 seconds.

He did manage to give us an hour of free time when he took a nap... on the floor by the gate of his bedroom!

It's really a miracle we got anything done isn't it?  I didn't mention that we also rearranged Andrew's playroom upstairs, set up a playroom for him in the basement for this winter (so he can ride his bike around and learn to pedal!)... oh yeah, and Craig hung the Christmas lights on the house.  Whew! 

Isn't it fun to get things done!  And I still have time to go downstairs, eat some pumpkin bread with my hubby and snuggle in to watch our favorite Sunday night shows!  Because the little pirate is crashed and down for the night (hopefully) in his new pirate bed!

Next weekend, I'm tackling the Christmas decorations..