Monday, January 31, 2011

Yes...I am still at it

Back to the cleaning/organizing/purging post. :)
This time I definitely needed to clean our bedroom. It was becoming the dumping ground to keep stuff away from 1.5 year old hands. I finally got around to purging clothes (5 huge bags to Goodwill) and throwing out crap. It feels so good to finally make time (even if it is only a little at a time) to go through stuff, clean it out, and decide if we want to keep or get rid of it.

BEFORE: My side of the bed


AFTER: The book bag is Masters class work (which I am in my last semester! woohoo!) and the Target bag is books for Sarah Beth (The Twilight Series).



BEFORE: Top of our dresser


 AFTER: Love having the wireless printer upstairs. It makes it so much easier to grab something I've printed for school or from a blog I've read. I also got the neat little organizer to keep paper in so it isn't so cluttered.



 BEFORE: The dreaded closet...ugh. Our closets in this house are tiny. No room for anything, so awhile ago Mike put some organizers in, which definitely helped. Poor guy had to keep his clothes in the spare bedroom closet. Now, since we are turning the playroom into baby #2's room, the spare closet is not going to be Mike's anymore. Therefore, I had to get rid of clothes that I hadn't worn or were too big/small. Not to mention the shoes. I got rid of 15 pairs. Still have 30, but to me...that's pretty darn good!



The Goodwill pile...
 AFTER: Love my shoe organizers. :) Mike has the whole bottom section and I have the top.



 Pretty good if you ask me! :)

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Congrats Laura and Alan!

Two of Mike's coworkers are expecting their little bundle of joy soon and yesterday we celebrated with them! We had a great time catching up, watching the kids run around, and eating yummy cake. The gifts were adorable...girl clothes are definitely much cuter than boy clothes. :) Congrats Laura and Alan!





Friday, January 28, 2011

still organizing away :)

Yep....I am still slowly organizing and getting things cleaned and purged. I finished the tupperware cabinet, spice cabinet, another kitchen cabinet, and under the kitchen sink! It only took less than a half hour too. It feels good to finally get it cleaned and have it set up all nice and tidy.

Tupperware/Spice Cabinets BEFORE:


AFTER:



Under kitchen sink: BEFORE:


 AFTER:



Kitchen Cabinet: BEFORE

 AFTER:


And what I got rid of...old or soon to be expired baby food/snacks that should have been trashed awhile ago because E hasn't eaten baby food in such a long time!





Next up:
Under bathroom sinks
Junk Drawer
3 More kitchen cabinets
Master closet


Thursday, January 27, 2011

24 weeks and 20 months!

24 weeks:
Wow! I feel like time is just flying by and before we know it, this little guy will be here! He is definitely active, just like Evan was; but I think this guy kicks more! He moves around more at night and has already been giving me a few braxton hicks contractions. I can't believe in about 16 weeks we will meet this new miracle!

This week: Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts him at just over a pound. Since he's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), he cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but his body is filling out proportionally and he'll soon start to plump up. His brain is also growing quickly now, and his taste buds are continuing to develop. His lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory "tree" as well as cells that produce surfactant, a substance that will help his air sacs inflate once he hits the outside world. His skin is still thin and translucent, but that will start to change soon.

I guess we need to start get moving on getting the room done, organized, and start thinking about names! He'll be here before we know it!


 20 months:
How can you already be 20 months old??? I can't believe you are almost 2! You are so funny and full of life. You have 14 teeth with 1 coming in; weigh 25 lbs, wear size 5 diaper and size 6 shoe. You are in 18 month pants and size 2 T shirts. You love Toy Story and Curious George and almost always have a car in your hand. You love to throw and kick balls and can eat with a spoon and a fork. Evan, you are growing up and it makes me a little sad. You can say a ton of words, can point out almost anything we ask of you (including what is yellow and blue...2 words which you can also say) and follow directions (for the most part!) when we ask you to do something. You love to march, hop, jump, and spin around. You are a champ at brushing your teeth and we love to hear you say Uh-oh! You get such a concerned look on your face when something happens to your toys or something falls down. We are thinking of transitioning you to a big boy bed, but aren't 100% sure if we are going to do that just yet....I think because you are such a good sleeper (7pm-7am) we want to get as much sleep now before your little brother gets here. Moving you to a big boy bed might mess that up ;)  We'll see! Regardless, we love you so much and you bring such a joy to our lives.
We love you Evan Samuel!



Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Wordless Wednesday


Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Sunday...

Sunday after getting back from St. Louis, Evan had a great nap and then we headed over to Mike's parents house to exchange gifts. Our original Christmas was on the 26th but because they were in Iowa we waited to exchange gifts/get together with his parents until Lynne was back. We had a good time hanging out, watching football, playing, Uncle Dave being goofy with E, and eating a soup dinner. We definitely missed the Indy Laughlins though!





Sunday, January 23, 2011

Weekend Update

What a wonderful weekend! We headed to St. Louis Thursday night because Mike had some work to do in St. Louis on Friday with suspects and other police departments and stuff. Evan and I were both feeling pretty crummy...runny nose, congestion, cough, etc. but we did have a fantastic weekend with family. We mostly just hung around the house and played because it has snowed and it was freezing outside. Thursday night Mike, my dad and I did go see True Grit. It was a great movie and I liked it alot! I thought I wouldn't, but again, Mike proved me wrong :) Saturday we had tickets to go see Jerry Seinfeld at the Fox Theater in St. Louis and we headed to dinner beforehand at The Good Pie before heading to our box seats at the Fox. 2 minutes into the show (maybe less) I was hysterically laughing and had tears running down my face. Jerry was absolutely hilarious and after the hour and a half show my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so hard! I definitely want to see him again! Had a great night with Mike, my cousin Lyndsay and her boyfriend, Eric, Mike and Erin Malone, and Dru and Erin. It was a great weekend and definitely one I'll remember for a long time!  Also a big thanks to my sister Kelli for watching Evan last night and getting him to sleep so well for us! He (and you) did great! :)












Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: 23 weeks


Monday, January 17, 2011

Organizing spree

I've been on an cleaning, organizing, and purging spree. Not sure if it's because of the new year or nesting or just want to get rid of things that we don't use or need. But I'm slowly getting there...baby steps. This blog, A bowl full of lemons, has definitely helped! If you scroll down on her blog, on the right hand side, she links up to the 21 days of organizing challenge. Out of 14 days, so far I've completed 6...at least I'm getting there and now have a list of what to do to accomplish getting organized. I've organized the bathroom closet, linen closet, toys, pantry, coat closet, and medicine cabinets. Here are a few pictures...on some of them I didn't take a before, because seriously, it was hideous!

This is the bathroom closet with everything taken out so I can actually see what is in there!


 After....much better!


 Medicine cabinet...after! We had some medicine that was from 2009! yuck!


 Pantry...before.
 Pantry...after.

Next up:
Junk Drawer
Tupperware Cabinet
Under kitchen sink
Spice cabinet
Under bathroom sinks

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Iowa trip

We headed to Iowa to celebrate Grandma Laughlin's 93rd birthday. It was fun to see Mike's side of the family and be able to relax and catch up. While heading up on Friday Evan decided that he wasn't going to nap. We picked him up from his "school" and for sure thought he'd be tired...just like he usually is on Fridays at 1pm. Most of the time I have a hard time keeping him awake from the church to home since he usually goes down for a nap much earlier than 1ish. But...no nap for him the 5+ hour car ride to Iowa. Thankfully he wasn't whining or crying. He was talking to himself, to us, reading, and playing with toys. We thought that he was then going to have a good night's sleep...well, after stopping by and seeing Grandma Harmon, getting dinner, and driving 45 minutes to the hotel, it was WAY past his bedtime. Sleep was in 1-2 hour stretches that night and finally I just laid with him in the other double bed and we slept for a solid 4 straight hours! ;) We went to the hot tub the next morning, he had maybe a 45 minute nap before we packed up the car and headed over to celebrate Grandma Laughlin's birthday. He had a blast running around and playing and Mike and I had fun catching up with his cousins and their kiddos. We headed back to Missouri around 3, Evan fell asleep in the car within the first 5 minutes and slept for 2 hours off and on. Dave and Sarah were great caravan partners and we stopped for dinner and finally got home around 8 pm or so. It was a quick trip and a long car ride with a 19 month old, but it was fun to see family and celebrate! Thankfully he had a great sleeping night last night and a nice nap this afternoon! :)

 Grandma Harmon
 At the hotel...getting a little sleepy


 Got a second wind with daddy! :)



 (Don't mind the bags and dark circles under my eyes! It was a long night!)



 Dave, Sarah and their "baby!" :)


 This picture cracks me up! Mike was trying to get Evan to smile so he said "Show them your teeth!" This was the end result...pretty cute if you ask me :)


 Happy Birthday Grandma Laughlin!