Projects

I have been doing about a million little projects lately. My whole house is painted this very dark latte color. It is a great neutral but just a LOT too dark and it makes every room feel a little too yellow for me. I have been slowly trying to convince Michael to paint. He hates painting. The first two rooms we did was paint my office an ascent wall and to paint Mason’s room. We have now painted our half bath and media room. Slowly but surely I will have the whole house done. It might just take me 6 years. One year and 4 rooms down. Only 9 to go (give or take). Here is the bathroom. It looks so much brighter, which is what I was going for. The color is sea salt. It looks blue in the picture, but it is really a green/blue color.

Here is project number 2 & 3. We had Michael’s cousin paint our media room. It is this great grey color. I plan on painting the rest of the house at some point more of a lighter latte or possibly a grey. This color is called Dovetail, Sherwin Williams. In the process of trying to find a color for this room, I think I found a great light grey called Mindful Grey. I painted the sign above the door. I wanted a cinema sign and I couldn’t find one I liked in colors I loved, so I went to Hobby Lobby, purchased the letters, painted them red with orange around the edge. I then staple gunned the letter together to make it one solid piece and then hung it.This is the last project for now. When the time change happened in the Spring, and all of the sudden the sun was blasting through Mason’s windows at bedtime, making bedtime a little harder. I decided we have to have curtains. Up until a few weeks ago we had hung up dark red blankets…real classy. I was kind of embarrassed to show people Mason’s room. I got help from my mom to sew me some curtains. It just took us until now to find the right material and backing and then sew them. I am so glad we did it ourselves. One those are big windows, that I love, needed a minimum of 96” length. Everywhere I looked it would cost $50 or more for one panel. I made 4 panels for probably $50. AWESOME! Really Thanks MOM!! I made the pillow. Now I need to make the tiebacks. I am thinking a solid red tieback, but we will see. Hopefully I can get those done this weekend.

Monday Random

Today feels like a completely random day. My head is not on right or something.

• I finished another book over the weekend. I cried like a big huge baby. Michael totally made fun of me, which makes crying over a book that much worse. It also makes it worse when it ends and you start having weird horrible dreams because of the way it ended. I keep telling myself it wasn’t real, it was a story, but I was a little to into the story. I am slowly moving on from it…I promise.
• I have been completely project crazy lately. Two rooms have been painted, I purchased a new chair for the living room, I finished decorating Mason’s room by adding curtains that my Mom sewed for us, and I am itching to do more. I have a problem with sitting still.
• I let Mason do some full body painting over the weekend. Naked…diaper painting is the best! He loved it. I just took the hose to him after he was done. Easy clean up is the best. Pretty sure I had more paint on me then he had on him.

• We finalized and booked our next vacation!! I am soooo excited. I cannot wait until the trip to St. Thomas which will be in September. I don’t think we are going to take our little man. I told myself the next vacation this year he was going to come. We went skiing without him and Vegas without him, and now the beach. We are being completely selfish in not taking him. Dinners baby free…adventures…snorkeling…fishing. Taking a baby to do those things is just too difficult. He will go with his sister to Grandma’s house for the week. I know he will have a blast and so will we, but I am having a little anxiety about the whole thing. We are waiting to hear if our friend might go with us, if he doesn’t then we might take Grandma with us and bring Mason.  Here is a picture from our last trip to the Caribbean.

• I am trying to get beach ready. After having a baby your body just is not the same. I ran and swam today! I have been swimming laps daily. It honestly feels great. I forget how good I feel after a good workout. It definitely doesn’t come as easy as pre-baby. I am proud of how I look post baby, but it is definitely not the same as pre-baby. I want to make sure I stay healthy for my two boys and that is the most important thing. 

Week of Travel

I have been out of pocket. I was traveling this week for work. I went out to California. It was the longest flights EVER. To get to the location I needed to take two connections or fly United. I had a bad incident with United back in 2008…YES 6 years ago! I have refused to fly United ever sense. I flew out on Monday and back yesterday, pretty much spending both days traveling/flying for about 9 hours. 18 hours of flight time this week. I have been laughing at myself. I finished 100% completed two books this week and started a third. Really two full books. When I got home last night I finished the 2nd on and stayed up until midnight. Since I was still on West Coast time it wasn’t too hard. In fact, I tossed all night long.

Here is my hotel selfie the other day. I am loving my new mascara!!

I woke up to a super crabby baby. He usually is super excited to see me after a trip but this morning I think he was mad at me. Makes me sad. He asked for Daddy. I did finally get a big hug and kiss from him. I even got a big hug good-bye at school today. His best little friend came and joined into the hugs. Sweetest Thing Ever. I would love for this to happen everyday for the rest of my life. I know that probably won’t happen but…I will enjoy every hug and every kiss until that day comes where he become too cool for Mommy. Did he not look too adorable at school yesterday!

Mason 18 Months

Weight: At the doctor this morning he weighed in at 27.3lbs (85%). A few weeks ago I could have sworn he was closer to 28.

Height: Mason is 34” tall (92%). He is so tall. He is wearing 2T or 24 month clothing. 2T says for heights 33-36” I cannot image putting his skinny little booty in 3T pants this winter, so I am hoping he slows down just a little.

Eats: Mason is my little piglet. He eat anything and loves to taste everything. He will at least try food. This week he had catfish and hushpuppies for the first time. I dip my hushpuppies into ketchup and so Mason wanted to do it too. He is now addicted to ketchup. I see a future where he will want it on everything!

What he is enjoying: Playing outside. He cannot get enough of the outdoors. It is great. I would rather have a kid who wants to be outside then one who hates the outdoors. We got Mason a playset and he wants to swing daily. He gets in his wagon and wants to take a walk around the block. He is also loving waving at people. If we are in the front yard he will wave at cars and people walking. I have started calling him my little politician.

Teeth: 15 teeth. Wow. It is a new tooth each month. I cannot believe it. He just cut a bottom k-9 and I am expecting the other to come in by next month. Then we will have to endure the awful 2 yr molars.

Talking: Mason is becoming so chatty. I love it and expect no less. He has talkative parents. His sentences are becoming longer and more clear. Since we are working to fully rid ourselves of his paci I hear a lot…I want my paci. My favorite things he says is Thank You or Tank Ou and Please or Peese. Most adorable thing to hear. The other morning I was making him a cup of milk when he first woke up in the kitchen and he brought me his paci and kept saying Tank ou Tank ou until I handed him his milk and took the paci. This kid will have manner it is the last thing I do.

What’s new this month? Mason has been asking a lot What’s that and point. He is curious. When we are in the car and a distraction technic I say I SEE A TREE…And he will repeat I see tree or sign or bird. Now he will say I see I see…it is fun. We also say Hi and Bye to cars as they drive by. We know about a million different animal noises. I am running out of ideas. I told Michael if it wasn’t for the books we read at night, I would be at a loss for ideas to teach him. He is a sponge and I want him to soak up every ounce of ideas and learning.

Isn’t he adorable at Target?

Mama’s big helper!! He loves to vacuum.

Pool Time is Summertime

I have a little fish in the making. He loves the pool. He is a little too confident about jumping into the pool. He will now jump off the diving board. Brave and no fear. I would like him to have a little fear of the pool. He scared Michael the other day and jumped in without his vest on and Michael went in right behind him. Luckily they were getting dried off and right together but it scared Michael. Mason was in the shallow end and I guess just thought I got this. Heart attack!We need to work on keeping our mouth closed while swimming. He is good at spitting out the water, but sometimes he drinks it. His new favorite thing is “drinking” the water or trying to at the step. We are always right with him and the normal no no that’s gross comes out…what does Mason do…laugh. Grrrrr. He always smiles and laughs when I say no to him. Mason’s best friend came to swim the over the weekend. It was fun. M wasn’t too sure about the pool but had fun playing around the pool. We decided they need to come over more often to get him used to it. The boys were dancing to the music here. It was so cute. They have dance party at school at least once a week. The teachers say Mason loves to dance. Aren’t they the most adorable little boys ever!

Momma Moments

Linking up today for some momma moments. The greatest time in my life right now is being a mama to my monster of a toddler. Don’t get me wrong I love him dearly, but he is getting very opinionated. He is totally a bipolar, drunk old man. Happy one second and having a total meltdown the next second. But honestly I am loving every meltdown. It is so hard not to laugh at him and to tell him I understand why you are upset but get over it. Haha.

I am having a major Mama issue right now and would love to hear any ideas on how to fix our newest issue. Mason has discovered how to undo his chest clip on his car seat. This morning he had it undone before we even left the neighborhood. Luckily I noticed stopped the car and fixed it. Told him no and left. We made it the rest of the way to school without him unhooking it.

He sometimes says “too tight” before pushing the button, so I normally will loosen the straps just a little and buckle him in again. The other day before I could pull over in a safe spot he had his arms out. It is occurring daily now and I am a nervous wreck. I am looking back a million times which cannot be safe. I am so afraid we are going to get into an accident. I know some people have said their kids figured out how to get out, but I was thinking at like 3 years old not 18 months!!!!

I also think part of our problem is that we have officially taken away the pacifier except at bedtime. So, now he isn’t sitting in the car seat all relaxed. He is needing something to do even for the 10 minutes it takes to get to school. I should add that we do not allow iphone/ipad/tablets in the car as a source of entertainment. I know he will want it soon enough, so we have been holding off on using that as a source of any entertainment. We haven’t let him watch TV, so if it is on at home at all he isn’t really interested in what’s on it…unless it is sports related. Total Boy. My point is I would love to hear options to help him stay strapped into his seat and keep him entertained without the aid of his pacifier or electronics.  

Once was a peaceful little rider, who always fell asleep thanks to that paci.

Check back Thursday for his 18 month post after we visit the doctor to hear measurements.

Confessional Friday: A Day in the Life

A day in the life of the Sperry Family. First, we are a family of 4 with a four legged baby and of course our 18 month old two legged baby. So this is a day in the life of our crazy life chasing around a toddler.

Our alarm goes off at 6:30 everyday. My husband normally starts hitting snooze immediately. We usually snooze until 6:45-6:50 unless Mason decides to get up early. Today, I jumped in the shower first. Yay for showering before noon today! When Mason wakes up before 7am, I don’t always shower before getting him ready and taking him to school. I should add some days I just don’t want to get out of bed…Monday was one of those days and I woke up when Mason did at 7:15AM. Yikes. We were a bit rushed. I typically get my shower and hair dried before Mason wakes up. Mason wakes up between 7:00-7:15am. I don’t let him go past 7:15AM. I usually hear him stir and go to the kitchen to grab a cup of milk. While I am getting milk Michael and Gabby head upstairs to pick up Mason and give him some extra loving. We change his diaper and get him into clothes while he drinks his milk on the changer. We all then go downstairs. Mason normally destroys all of the bathroom drawers while we finish getting ready. D-STRUCT-O! My once clean bathroom is now a huge mess.

Between 7:21-7:30, Michael puts Mason into the car seat for me, while I refill his milk cup, and I head off to take Mason to school. It takes me 10 minutes to get to school from our house and I normally talk to his teachers about his morning and night. Mason gives me a hug and kiss and normally doesn’t cry when I drop him off. He is too busy playing with his bestie.

I am back to the house by 7:45-7:50. I go into my home office and start logging into my computer. My company’s security is tight and it takes me 10 minutes to get my computer ready for me to start my day. While the computer is logging in to the proper sites, I go into the kitchen and make myself some breakfast. Today, I had a bagel with cream cheese and a Red Bull. I will eat a bagel or toast and normally have a red bull or dr. pepper in the mornings. Today is a crazy busy day. I have a million meetings including two presentations to give. YAY!

Work Outfit. Notice the Mason drool on the mirror. Mason loves him some Mirror Baby.

11:30am rolls around and I am starving! Michael came home today for lunch, and I love when he gets to have lunch with me. We usually sit at the table or go outside and eat by the pool. It is a great time for us to talk and visit without Mason pulling us into seven directions. I love this time. We talk about work and life. Usually it is spent discussing anything but Mason, but today we have a discussion about Mason’s allergies. We think he might have developed an allergy to blueberries now. We cannot decide if his diarrhea is because of teeth or blueberries. We make a decision to avoid blueberries until after his molars have come in fully to verify or get it tested in September when we return to the allergist, whichever comes first. We also spend some time discussing a few upcoming trips on our family calendar. 

By 12:30 we are both working again. Boo. Work. I try to focus on my presentations. I am super sleepy this afternoon and really want a nap. Even though I work from home, I actually work…I know that is shocking to some. Don’t get me wrong there are definitely benefits to working at home. Instead of breaks walking around an office I spend breaks changing out the laundry or putting the dishes from the night before in the dishwasher. I get on the camera at Mason’s school about 10 times a day to see what he is up to. It is super glamorous to work from home. I really miss out on socializing with coworkers and getting out of the house everyday. I biggest highlight of the day is going to get the mail! 2pm is when the mailman arrives at our house…yup…glamorous. 

Between 4:50-5:00 I leave the house to go pick up Mason from school. I get to school and Mason runs from across the room to see me. This is new! I love it! Can he do this when he is 16, please? I talk to his teachers about his school day. I get a daily report but like to hear it directly from the source.

We are back home by 5:30 and Mason plays in the car while I wipe down where he spilled some milk. Michael isn’t home yet, so we play in the car until Daddy gets home. It is such a nice day, that we quickly change into our swimsuits. Mason loves to swim and be outside. When he isn’t confined to his highchair he is at the door yelling Out-Side. And there is normally some Mommy or Daddy hand grabbing and dragging of us to the door and even placing our hand on the handle. Too smart for his own good. We decide to eat leftover pizza that I had to order for lunch when I had meetings from 10-3:00! Instead of creating a meltdown we eat outside by the pool. Mommy and Daddy have a beer with dinner…long work day.We are outside and swimming for about an hour. Here is my attempt at getting a picture of all my favs jumping into the pool together! 7:00PM, we get out of the pool and take Mason to get ready for bed. This is a fight with Mason. He wants to stay outside and swim. We have tears! I take him upstairs and quickly grab a paci. This immediately silences the cry. He makes his I am sleepy noise. It is something he has done since he was a newborn, the second he gets his paci, if he is sleepy he makes this specific noise. Diaper change, pjs on, time for a book. I grab his blanket and turn off the lights. His cute little arms tuck under his body. Sign #2 that he is sleepy. 5 minutes of rocking and he is done. 8pm…boy is out for the night.

8:01PM Mommy and Daddy have silence. Tonight we have a show we both love…Suits on USA Network. Love it! We go get ready for bed and turn on the DVR. By the time we are both showered (pool=extra shower) and our teeth brushed we know enough of the show is saved that we can zoom through all of the commercials. After the show is over we veg out to HGTVs House Hunters International and talk about our future beach house! Some nights we don’t make it to see which house they pick. I always hate when that happens, because the next morning I seriously think about it.

There it is…a whole day in our house. It isn’t always pretty but it is what it is…OURS!

 

Boys and Water

We planted some new trees in our front yard a few weeks ago. To keep new trees alive you must water them constantly. We have a big helper when we get the water hose out. He runs after his Daddy and tries to take the hose to our trees. It is so adorable. He is a big helper. Soaking wet and laughing. He is dancing in the water. Those baby blue eyes just melt my heart everyday. I love how blue they are. We can be out at the grocery store and people will comment on his eyes. The boy is going to have a complex about those eyes. Helping to water the plants is his favorite thing to do…next to swimming in the pool. He might actually be part fish. He also thinks these buckets are just waiting for him to splash in and play with. He even tries to drink the water out of the bucket. Always on the move. Welcome to Toddler World. Moving, running, playing, and exhausting his Mommy.

4th of July Weekend

We had a pretty eventful and fun weekend. We started the weekend visiting with family in the front yard while the kids ran around and the neighbors shot off fireworks. It was great, relaxing time. Friday morning we headed to the lake. I love going to the lake because our cell phones don’t work and it is a mini get away. Plus we get to go out on the boat, swim, eat well, and visit with friends. We also have Nana and Papaw at the lake to help with Mason, so Mama and Dada could go out late and watch the fireworks. I love getting to go do stuff, but I was glad to sleep in my own bed. I think Mason was glad too since he slept until almost 8am. Yikes!

Yay!!! The Lake is AWESOME! He jumped off the boat every 5 minutes. Napped on the boat and even loved honking the boat horn.I love his towel that Nana got for him. I am going tomorrow and purchases several for the kids at our pool. It is perfect. The group who went to watch the fireworks. It was a perfect cool evening…wait is it really July? We saw a million stars and the moon light guided us home.Baby Free. Thanks Nana for allowing us to get out on the boat and watch the fireworks. Playing catch. We have been working on him catching the ball. Balls! I love Balls!Daddy and Mason on the porch. Love them!Mason and Chico. Mason was trying to get Chico to go into the dog door. Chico had other ideas. Kisses.Mason kept saying Go Go Go…or as it sounds. Doe Doe Doe. Visiting the neighbors deck.Morning Fog on the water. My baby and me. Got to love how happy he is all the time. I hope everyone had a great 4th Holiday and enjoyed the long weekend.