Finishing Touches

It is coming down to the final pieces to complement certain areas of our home. We have been looking for an area rug for the formal living room. It is not an easy task because I am either too picky or in sticker shock. I am hoping to find a rug soon under $200. If anyone knows of a sale please let me know.

Crown molding throughout our home along with shutters. This is a huge project and it will take us the next two years to complete. We spoke to four companies and each claimed to be the best shutters, and each were made from different materials. Shutters need to be custom made and take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. I would prefer the shutters to be made locally so that business is generated and put back into our community. The crown molding we have not had any estimates and will look into it in the next couple of months.

The garden and vegetable box will be the next outdoor project. I came up with a garden design in my mind but need to jot it down. I am not a landscape architect but have a good solid idea of what I want. A trickling water fountain would be perfect with a cute bistro table & chairs among a plethora of aromatic flowers. We also need to learn what to grow and when for our vegetable box. Agreeing upon what we want to grow was a chinch. Carrots, cilantro, tomatoes, rosemary, chilies, zucchini, squash, pumpkins (seasonal), bell pepper, watermelon, and the list goes on. This may be a full time job.

These all can be done in time and might take a little longer than we thought. The finished product will be here soon. Watch out!

Gold Status

Having a little one requires some extra caffeine. Not sure why it has taken me years to become a gold card member at Starbucks. I anxiously awaited my card to arrive in the mail. It came in and went in to get some money loaded. There are perks with gold!

Home Sweet Home

We have lived in our home well over a year and I feel that there are a few items I still need. I will save it for another blog. In the last few months we have added some decorative touches to the indoor and outdoor areas. My favorite purchase was a beautiful chaise for the master bedroom. I have been eyeing various pins on pinterest. If you don't know pinterest well, I will save that for another blog. Hubby and I had a wonderful date night one Saturday and we happened to be in the home section at Macy's. We were impressed with their selection and quality. Three items later and we were set. An accent chair for the formal living room, chaise and matching bench for the master. Each piece is beautiful and very thankful that my hubby let me get them. I am still looking for the perfect pillow to go on my accent chair. Any ideas?

Very Proud

Our little boy is almost 14 months old, we are blessed, so in love, and beyond proud. Here is a list of some his accomplishments, proud moments, happy stages:
*Learned to walk at 12 months and he did it without our help.
*Very independent, wants to explore the world on his own.
*Did not have to battle the transition from a bottle to sippy cup. There were no bottles involved. (Still Breastfeeding and this is my proud moment)
*No thumb sucking or pacifier, woohoo!
*First words include: mama, dada, that, huh, at side "outside", top it "stop it", tries to say cheese but still sounds funny. His all time favorite sounds to make are vroom and Grrr. I think he will be a chatterbox like his mama.
*Champion at taking naps. He transitioned to one giant nap when he was around 10 months old. He generally is down for two or more hours of sleep in the afternoon.
*Transitioned to regular food and whole milk very well. He eats just about everything. His favorite is chicken shawarma from Pacific Pita (Meditarranean place near by). It was my favorite thing to eat while I was pregnant so it did not surprise us when he enjoys eating this.
*He is our little helper. He helps push the broom, mop, etc..
*Very social!!! He loves being around others especially children. Loving seeing his face light up.

We are excited to see the new stages in his life!! Like driving a car!

Library Fail

Today I was eager to take Kaden to the first session of story time. This is where I went wrong! For some odd reason this was the last day of story time till the summer reading program begins. So we hustled to get there before the session began. The huge difference with the first session is that it is nestled in the children's section of the library among books. The librarian decided to allow many more people to be a part of story time than usual. Kaden was excited to see other children and wanted to venture off. He is our little explorer! We lasted all of 7 minutes I think. He did not want to sit still or be near me. It was beyond crowded and really no elbow room. I should of just removed K from the first session and waited for the second session that is held in a conference room. K screamed so I left mortified. We will try this again in June and see how it goes. At this point we have some areas to work on: sitting still, being quiet, listening to mom, dad and others, keeping hands to self. It is quite a list! Updates to follow. Picture below is what K wanted to do, play on the computer.

It's your duty to serve

Is it wrong for me to be thankful that my hubby has jury duty? I think not! His civil duty began last Tuesday, today is going to be his 4th day as juror #1. You are probably wondering why I am thankful he has jury duty, well because he is home when Kaden wakes up, we are able to eat breakfast and dinner together. We can only do this on his days off but Kaden and I are overjoyed to have dada here at home some much needed extra time. Matt's work shifts are 12 hours long so having meals together as a family has never been an option. Kaden loves hanging out with us and we are enjoying our mornings and evenings together. I wonder if his civil duty will end today?

Story Time at the Library

It has been a few months since we ventured over to the local library. It is a beautiful place with grassy areas outside and awesome children's activities. I put everything on my to do list for the morning aside and decided once and for all "we have to go to story time." Since K is a very active little boy I let him run around and get the wiggles out before story time. Well obviously I did not allow enough time for that. A good 20 minutes of running around was not sufficient. He enjoyed seeing the other children. Once Miss Lisa said that she was going to read Good Night Moon, K was beyond excited. It is one of his all time favorites! He could not contain myself and he stood up and wanted to be next to Miss Lisa while she read the story. Then he proceeded to take some papers off the table and ever so graciously throw them on the floor. All while Miss Lisa continued to read. I was mortified! With that said I will be taking him next week so that he can interact with others and hopefully we will sit. Baby steps!

Summer arrived early!

In So Cal we are getting a taste of summer in the month of April! Our little boy is very active and keeping him busy is essential. We purchased a water and or sand activity set, including water toys & shovels. I set it up and was excited to dress Kaden in his SPF 50 Janie & Jack rash guard and board shorts, and summer sandals. (Since I don't have a little girl, I dress up Kaden in some of the most adorable outfits I can find)! He enjoys being outdoors and we played with the water toys and bubbles. He is now at the age that he likes cause and effect. A bucket with tiny holes will drain out the water slowly, splashing the water will get everywhere and you will get drenched, etc.. He is entering a fun stage and excited to have more opportunities to play outside with chalk, run in the grass, "paint with water", this is just a small list of ideas to do. Tomorrow we will go for a run again in the morning then head to the library for story time.