House Tour - Living Room Reveal

As I mentioned last week, we took an impromptu tip to ikea to pick up a couple of things I have had on my wish list for a while.  We picked up some new bedside tables for the master bedroom, some stools for the pantry and closet and a couple of other little things.  While we were there I also picked up some new things for the shelves in the living room which was last on my to-do list, and now that it's finished I can finally show it off. 

Not sure if I should keep calling them reveals though,  it's not like I don't show my house on the blog anyway, and really, it's always a work in progress.  I must say though it does feel "complete" at this point and we're moving on to other parts of the house, so I suppose I must document.

27 Months

I figured since we're a quarter way through Noah's third year it would be a great time to document some changes.  Most notable is that he finally talks!  There is no way on his second birthday that I thought he would be talking as much as he is today.  We have conversations! We knew that although he was slower at picking up speech he would eventually learn, but I don't think we thought it would happen so quickly!

He's really stretched out and really not gained much at all since his two year appointment.  It's a good thing though because the doctor told us he was overweight and we "needed to talk about food habits and exercise..." Not fun to hear as parents.  We do live a healthy life though, eating and playing outside a ton so we knew that wasn't the issue and we just needed to give him a little more time, but still hard to hear. Sure enough he's gained a couple of inches the last three months and I'm sure the doctor would be much happier if we went in for a checkup today.  

• Stats: Size 6 Diapers | 3T-4T clothing
• Size: 35 lbs
• Random Notes: Like I said above his speech has made a ton of progress.  He uses sentences and can clearly communicate most of the time.  Sometimes though he says things that sound like words and I'm sure he's saying something specific but we have to ask him to show us so we know what he's talking about.  One of the most surprising things I've noticed is his memory.  He's so great at recalling things that we've talked about and will repeat them over and over and tell you about them. We've found that most of his terrible sleeping is most likely due to daycare as those nights we're mostly the nights he slept bad.  Since switching to only two days a week now that school has started he's been sleeping much better and only getting up once in a while. I'm really hoping this continues.
• Mom Check-In: This was one of the most fun summers I've had in a while.  Jeff and I had a pretty good work schedule set up and with Noah in daycare some days we were able to get a little extra sleep time and a little extra alone time to get things done.  It seemed that when we were together we really were about to enjoy our time instead of worrying about the million things we had to do.  I'm glad the school year has started for us because work is busier and more fun but the busy times also means less family time and less sleep.  The older Noah gets, the more fun we have together and although I still have times where I'm overwhelmed and under rested I'm definitely enjoying motherhood a little bit more. 
• Looking Forward To: I'm really interested how this winter will be with Noah.  It scares me a little that we wont have as many options to spend time outside.  The weekends that Jeff works are long and we're going to need to find new activities to do.  As Noah gets older and is able to do more things I'm hoping we can do some art projects; maybe something we can put around the house.  This winter we'll be looking for the final decorating pieces for the house so there might be some shopping trips ahead for Noah and I.

Labor Day Weekend Recap

I love long weekends so much.  Especially those where both parents are home and not working.  Jeff surprised me Friday night and said he had taken Saturday off AND gotten a babysitter to watch Noah while we spent the day at ikea.  Best husband ever?  We spent most of the day on Saturday shopping and dinner dating and hanging out.  We touched every single thing in the store which is so great without kids.  We stared at the other parents during the super long lines and smiled because we didn't have grumpy, hungry, tired kids to take care of.  Sometimes it's just nice to get away and do things on our own.

Of course, there are not many trips to ikea that don't lead with hours of work afterwards, so on Sunday Jeff spent all morning putting furniture together while Noah and I hung around for entertainment. After nap time we headed out to the beach 'till dinner and enjoyed what the weather channel said will probably be the last really warm weather weekend of the year. 

We finished out the weekend with a long walk around Grand Valley to check out the new construction and let Noah run around.  It's been seven years since I graduated and so many things change every year.  They're always building new housing or classroom buildings and it just keeps getting nicer and nicer.  It's great that we live so close so we can visit and see all the changes.

Sickies all Around and No Sleep

Let me tell you, the last month has been exhausting for me.  First of, these allergies these year are out of control.  I can't seem to get them figured out.  I got a prescription for them with only little success.  I've been popping over the counter allergy medicine and decongestants none stop.  Add in my vitamins and daily aspirin I feel like an old lady taking so much junk.  Especially since I've always been so anti-medicine.  I'm more of a suck-it-up type of person. Also, do you know that allergy medicine and decongestants have a side effect of restlessness? Would have been great if I knew that since I've been taking them right before bedtime.  The amount of sleepless nights in the month of August are ridiculous. 

On top of that, Noah has been refusing to sleep through the night waking up once of twice.  Missing mommy and daddy and not wanting to go back down, for pretty much the last six months; give or take a few days.  Jeff wouldn't admit we had a problem. That is until I started making a calendar of when Noah was waking up. Being the stat-man that Jeff is, he finally realized how not cool these wake ups were. 

But good news guys.  Now that google helped me clear up the medicine issue, like, maybe take them in the morning and not at night. Duh. I'm sleeping like a baby once again.  The best part though is we are on day five of Noah sleeping completely through the night.  Thank Goodness! And lets be real, when mommy sleeps, the world is happier. So on that note, I'm going to try and be much less crabby this month and enjoy the time I get at home with my little family...and hopefully Noah continues to sleep through the night. *fingers crossed*