Projects continued

Here is another part of the room that is just about finished. I love the sunflowers, because Tate has always loved smelling flowers and it's fun to see him try and smell these. A pig in the flowers just seemed to fit:)This picture is proof for my mom that he did stay and sleep in his bed. The picture is blurry b/c I turned off the flash so he wouldn't wake up. He's still sleeping as I type this . . . good boy! It's weird to think our little boy is not so little anymore! Sleeping in a big-boy bed, talking more, getting more attitude, going to be a big brother . . . when does the time slow down???

*Sigh* what a cutie (both of them:))

Projects

Let the projects be finished--now that I'm done with teaching and have time on my hands! Before Tate was born, I had all these things I was going to do before he arrived when I was out of school. Well, that didn't happen since I ended up on bed-rest and he made an earlier than anticipated arrival. I was not got to let that happen again. We've been starting all these projects I wanted done well in advance, so in case things with this baby came early, I would be ready. The first major project was moving John's office out of the extra bedroom into our bedroom (For now an office/bedroom will work. Not ideal though.) There was no room for this huge bulletin board he had in the bedroom. So, I thought it would be fun to cover it and make it a "cooler" bulletin board for our loft work area.I was excited for this to be a "LeeAnn Project," but if you know John, you know we are still working on him giving up some control of house-hold projects. He is learning that I'm capable of doing these kind of things and the second day of the project went much better than the first:) I think it turned out pretty well for my first attempt!

John and I decided to move Tate into a big-boy room and keep his old room the baby's room since the crib and changing table were still in there. I never thought we'd be the parents to go kinda crazy with the theme bedrooms, but we are turning out to be that way:) We wanted Tate to have a fun room and he has been doing great with his animal sounds and loves looking at animal books, so we thought a farm room would be appropriate.

I found this fleece at the fabric store and my mom showed me this alternative way of doing the edging instead of just tying it. It took a lot longer than just tying it in knots, but I like the look of the finished edge better. And it's great, because you can't tell how not perfectly straight I cut it!

The third project, get the new room painted and hope Tate likes sleeping in the big-bed. I'm not quite finished with the painting (final pictures will be posted when I am done), but I thought we need to get Tate moved over so he can get used to this room before the baby comes and takes over his crib. Yesterday, was the first attempt of nap-time in the bed. I wasn't sure if Tate would go for this or if the entire naptime would be me putting him back in bed, but he did great! He stayed in the bed the entire nap and only seemed to be sliding out of the bed a couple of times.

Washington DC or Bust!

For Thanksgiving John and I loaded up Tate and headed across the country to visit Bonnie and her new baby Paije. Originally, I was just going to go, but we found a killer dealer on airfare and thought it would be fun to make it a family trip. And Bonnie hadn't seen Tate since he was just a few months old. (What were we thinking?!) I was nervous about taking our child who can barely sit still long enough to get his diaper changed, on a 7-hour flight with stops along the way. We got lucky on one leg over to DC with it not being a full flight so we used the carseat. And honestly, he did really well on the way over. I should have known it would only last that long. The flight home ended up being longer and not as pleasant to say the least. Full flights, no nap, up early, no milk, no getting off the plane, just wanting to get into the flight attendants things = one unhappy little boy and mom! *Pictures are in no particular order* The crackers only kept him quiet for so long!
How I wish I saw more of this on the trip. The 3 hour time change just really messed him up. Naps were minimal and he never really got to bed before mid-night each night.

I was so happy to meet little Paije. I'm not so sure Bonnie was as excited as she originally was to have us come, once we got there, b/c a 2-year-old is a lot different then a newborn. Bonnie was convinced my dear sweet boy was terror and monster and going to poke out Paije's eyes. So not true. He learned how to say "baby" and would run over to Paije whenever she was crying (which is not often) and help put her binky in.

What a good cousin!

Tate wasn't so sure what to do with this baby on him.

Mr. Helper, not Mr. Monster!

John thought it was fun to pull her hat down.

Bonnie was so great being our tour guide. The ride was a bit crowded though in her Corolla. I was sitting in the back between the two carseats for a while until I played the "I'm 31 weeks pregnant and it is too hard for me to get in and out. Can I please sit in the front, even though you have really long legs?" What a good husband I have. He was happy to move in the back and squeeze in.

Can you find Mr. Bear in this picture? The DC temple really is a site to see. We first saw it at night going to Bonnie's from the airport and it is just an awesome site. It looks like it floats above the highway.

I think this was Tate's favorite museum. The Natural History Museum with all the animals kept him very interested. He walked around pointing and making all the animal noises. It was cute!

Lots to look at.

Mammoth was really cool and huge.

DC is so great because there is so much in walking distance.

Very cool to see the Lincoln Monument.

Our Travel Guide and co-guide. Paije was great. She just stayed all bundled up and slept while we walked. I'm sure she was so good because Tate let her borrow his blanky.

Tate can make a game out of just about anything. He had fun with the beads.

It was interesting to see how Tate reacted to another baby in the house considering his baby borther will be here in about 6 weeks.

I think he handled the diverted attention pretty well. I'm crossing my fingers it will be a smooth transition to have another baby, but what do I know?! This was a funny moment. We had gone out to lunch and needed to go to the grocery store next door to the restaurant. Well, after lunch both kiddos where stinky, stinky. So we did a quick double-diaper change on the front seats of the car. I think Bonnie had it way easier!

We went to the air and space museum our first day there. It was a windy day, but overall we had good weather. Tate also had a great time here-there was so much to look at everywhere!That stroller didn't last long. He cannot be contained! Lots of looking up at all the cool airplanes.

It's interesting who Tate is shy around. He has been going through this shy phase, so I wasn't sure how he'd react to Bonnie. But, as soon as he saw he at the airport, he jumped right in her arms and had no troubles after that. They were pretty cute together. I think because we all look alike, Tate thinks he has multiple moms. Lucky boy!

What a nice Aunt Bonnie, letting Tate pull her around.

I learned from this trip, that I probably wouldn't do it again:) Well, at least not take a 2 year-old across the country that is. It was great to see Bonnie and her baby so in that regard, I'm really glad we could go. It was just tough in other ways. I think next time I'll go by myself so I can be more helpful and not make Bonnie hope for all girls!

Just call me "Chef Tate"

Tate is becoming such a little copy-cat. Whatever I'm doing, he needs to be doing also. Especially when it comes to cooking-he LOVES to help! He knows where the hand mixer is and beaters and plugs it in for me (I know we're bad parents to let our child use the outlets). He moves over the stool and climbs on up. It definitely slows the cooking/baking process down, having Mr. Helper, but it is cute to have him in his little apron doing his best to help out.

He's discovered licking the beaters and chocolate! He loves them both. I was making cupcakes and he would lick the beaters and then stick it back in the batter for more. I know the raw eggs in there . . . but how can you say no to a face like this?!

After our cooking lesson, it was into the sink for a bath. Grandma is usually the one to give Tate the sink baths, but I thought-"why not? The sink is right here and he was a mess!" John was utterly disgusted that I would give our child a bath in the sink. I told him to leave the room then. This is how I was going to do it:)

Look at that happy face-Tate loves sink baths!

A Halloween Tale Part 2

I'm still kicking myself for leaving the house unprepared (no camera), on Halloween. I didn't bring it with us, b/c we were just headed down to the park for our neighborhood party. I thought for sure we'd come back to the house, get the camera, and then head out for trick-or-treating. Well, Tate had a great time at the park playing on the equipment (wasn't too interested in the games), and playing with the rubber ducks (matching the duck numbers). There was this other activity, "Mystery Houses" that we thought we'd walk around and do. At this point it was 5:30 and we thought, "we're out. Why not just start trick-or-treating?" John and Tate looked so cute going around to the houses. The lighting would have been perfect for some great pictures, but no camera and we were on the completely other side of the development. So, we just continued on. Tate learned how to knock and do a cute laugh every time he got a treat. By the time we made it back to our house, it was dark, Tate was losing patience, and the picture wasn't as great as it could have been. Oh well. We all still had a great time.Tate didn't want to leave this house b/c they had a little dog and he wanted to keep petting it.There is a fine line between having fun and the breaking point. I might have pushed the having fun line too far. Tate was doing so great, lolli-pop in hand, so we just kept going around to houses. I was having so much fun and it seemed like Tate was too. Until we got home that is and then the fun came to a quick end!
The wet mark on his shirt is from all the lolli-pops he consumed that evening. He figured out how to take the wrappers off, so there was no stopping him. I think he ate about 5 of them while we were out. It was a sad evening taking off the costume and getting ready for bed.

You know he had a good time though, when the next day he grabs the costume and pumpkin basket and wants to go outside again! He loves those treats!