Splash Pad!

I'm a huge fan of splash pads and a new one just opened up very close to our home.  It's awesome because it's brand new, perfectly sized for Katie Wynn-aged kids, and is free!  My friend Emily and I met there with our kids one Thursday morning and pretty much had the place to ourselves.  I'm sure it will become more and more crowded as word gets out that it's open, but we enjoyed letting our kids run wild while we could.  

I tried to snap a few pictures on my phone but none of them are stellar.  All four of the kids were too scared to actually run through the water sprinklers, but they loved for them to be on so they could splash around them.  The slide was a super big hit too.

Four kids looking in one picture?  Impossible.

Narrowing it down to three doesn't make it any easier...

In typical kid fashion, if one was interested in the slide, they were ALL interested in the slide.

Actually, Katie Wynn pretty much stayed on the slide the majority of the time we were there.  She has definitely gotten past the fear of going down them alone!

It's funny, even though Katie Wynn is much closer in age with the twins (they will be in the same grade), she almost always ends up buddying up with Alice and they play together.  They even showed up in matching swimsuits!

Checking out the water spouts, but keeping a safe distance...

Anna Charlotte's bright blue eyes are always so pretty!

Emily came much more prepared than me.  Thank goodness she brought snacks!! 

Alice was a good big sister to all three of the little kids and doled out cheezits to each of them. 

By 11:30, we were loading everybody up to head home for lunch.  The best part about a morning at the splash pad is definitely the awesome afternoon nap!!  I can't wait to go back!

Lately

Thomas has slept all the way through the night for the last two nights in a row!  Wooohooo!!  We've given him a bottle at 9pm and then haven't heard any screams until time for his 6am bottle.  The first night - his 5 weeks old "birthday" - I thought it was just a fluke, but he did it again last night.  I'm sure I'm totally jinxing everything by writing it out here, but I'm just so excited!  (And slightly more well-rested!)  Now that we know he can do it, we can start working towards it being an every night thing.

At his two week checkup, he was back above his birth weight.  He had gained 15 ounces in 13 days to put him at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.  It's been three weeks since that weigh-in so who knows what he's up to now!  Everything looked good at that checkup - good weight and size and no more jaundice.  Now we don't go back until he's 2 months old and the dreaded shots start.  

Thomas seems to have a thing for blondes.  Don't tell his big sister that he was playing in her bed while she was at school!

A couple weekends ago we upgraded our driveway pool to a bigger size so we've been logging lots of time in the water.  Katie Wynn spent one whole evening "diving" for stones!

Oh!  Big news for Katie Wynn - her hair is finally long enough for pig tails!!!  Probably no one thinks this is as exciting as I do.  I have always wanted a little girl so I could play with her hair.  :)

Katie Wynn has become the best big sister ever.  Any fears I had of her hating the new baby have completely gone away.  Sure, we have to tell her to "be gentle" a hundred times a day, but she just LOVES to touch Thomas and be close to him.  She kisses his head over and over and the first thing she says when she wakes up or gets home from school is "Baby?"  She has to know where he is at all times!  If he's on his playmat (pictured below) then chances are, she is too.

We had a fun dinner date with friends one night and KW and Addi Clare took turns pushing each other in a doll stroller.  She may need one of these for her birthday...she loves strollers!

A couple weeks ago I got my first scary call from daycare.  I always dread seeing their number pop up on my phone because it's never good news!  They called to let me know that Katie Wynn had red bumps all over her body and they seemed to be getting worse.  She didn't have any bumps when we dropped her off so I had no idea what they were talking about.  They texted me pictures and I immediately called the doctor for an appointment.

It definitely looked like hives from an allergic reaction and they were completely covering both her arms and legs.  We racked our brains of what could be causing it and finally decided this cute little dress was the culprit.  The outer layer of fabric was shimmery and must've had something that irritated her skin.  I took it off of her and the bumps immediately started to clear up.  They were nearly gone by the time she saw the doctor - thank goodness we had pics!  She agreed it was just an allergic reaction and no major need to worry.  Phew!

Katie Wynn has become obsessed with pockets.  She has a couple new pairs of shorts that have them and she loves to put her hands in them.  "Paw-ets!"  Of course, once they're in, they can't come out...she has to walk around with her hands jammed down in them!

Sometimes we sing, "Hands in your pants and do the pocket dance!" and everyone has to put their hands in their pockets and dance with her.  I wish I had this on video.

Remember how I said she loves strollers?  Poor Lolli has to be her passenger since Thomas can't sit up yet.  (But believe me, she has tried to get us to put him in her stroller hundreds of times!)

Here are some pictures of Mr. T so he doesn't feel left out.  We don't have any fun storiesl about him yet.  Mostly he just eats and sleeps (and sometimes screams and cries). 

Ok, back to Katie Wynn.  We bought an awesome bubble machine at Walmart that puts out a ton of bubbles.  She loves playing in them and I love that I'm not covered in sticky bubbly mess from having to blow them for her.  :)

It's amazing to me how much Katie Wynn has grown up in the last month.  Her vocabulary has expanded so much; she says words I didn't even know she knew!  She will copy what we say (gotta watch the language!) and chatters all day long.  Sometimes she says something over and over and gets so frustrated because we can't figure out what she's trying to tell us.  We do a lot of "point to what you want" around the house until we figure it out.  We've also realized that she notices a lot more of what we do than we think.  The other day I caught her strapping her baby doll into the car seat and then hooked her arm in it to pick it up just like how I do.  Didn't know she was watching me do that all the time!

Here is Sweet T in his "wet" monogram.  :)

I wasn't kidding about how much KW loves her little brother.  Here is more evidence of her sisterly love.  She had to immediately check on him after her bath, completely bypassing her pajamas that were laying out.  And one morning she wanted to hold him in our bed and just fell backwards when we gave him to her.  

On the morning of the 4th of July, she wanted Thomas to sit in her "yap" for a picture.  Can you believe these are the only pictures I took on the 4th?? We went to three different parties and I didn't break out my camera at a single one.  Shame on me!  But we had a really good day and enjoyed lots of time in the pool and eating good food and watching the fireworks.  

I think I'll end this post with a selfie (groupie?) we took one night after we'd all had baths.  Katie Wynn insisted that I put Thomas in her lap and then wanted to take a picture.  She is too funny!  

I'm going to try to do better at posting more regularly.  I already have a few other things to share and if Thomas keeps sleeping through the night (fingers crossed!!) maybe I can get back on a good schedule of posting!

"Knot-ical" Nursery

In case you're having trouble figuring out that title, it's supposed to be "nautical" with "knot" inserted.  :)

Thomas is 3 and half weeks old and I've finally finished his nursery! (Update: He's four and half weeks old now.  It's taken me over a week to get this written...)  Or at least finished it for now.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out, especially since I really had no idea what I wanted or where I was going with it.  Ready for some pics?

Here is my first-ever panoramic iphone photo.  Hopefully it'll help you visualize the layout of everything.

Ok, now let's back up a second and talk about where this room is in our house.  Our house has four bedrooms but with Matt and me in one, Katie Wynn in one, and Anna and Wyatt each having their own room, we were fresh outta rooms.  The only room left was our "office" that had held nothing but junk since we moved in.  There are some less-than-ideal things about it - like it's right at the front door, across from the dining room, and has double french doors - but I still felt like we could make it work as a bedroom.

We added curtains to the double french doors to block the view and light a little bit and to hopefully make it feel more like a bedroom inside.  As of right now, we have been leaving the door on the right closed and just using the left one, again to make it feel more like a bedroom.

The door's open, so let's go on inside!  Directly across from the double french doors is the crib.  Above it is the school of fish I already told you about.  I've already caught Thomas eyeing them during his brief stints in his crib.  

The crib bedding is all out of Benartex Home's Coastal Living collection (except for the cream minky dot) and was handmade by my mom.  She did an awesome job on it!!  This fabric was probably the splurge for the room (other than the custom built-ins) but I ended up getting a great deal on it.  One piece in the collection is a patchwork of all the other pieces and sold for $53 a yard at the store I found it in.  Yikes, too rich for my blood!!  I ended up finding that same piece of patchwork fabric online at a clearance price of $9 a yard.  Awww yeah, that's more like it!  

Mom used the patchwork fabric to make an adjustable crib skirt.  It's adjustable so that it can "kiss the floor" when the crib is at any of its three levels.  She trimmed it out in the same stripe that she used on the outside of the bumper pads.  

The inside of the bumper pads is a soft cream minky dot that is an exact match to the cream zip sheet on the mattress.  (If you have a child (or two) sleeping in a crib with bumpers and you aren't using zip sheets, you need to stop what you're doing and purchase some now!  They make changing the sheets SO much easier!)  We bought and cut our own foam for the bumper pads so it's two inches thick and pretty much stands up on its own.  The piping is done out of another coordinating stripe and Mom also made a small minky dot blanket out of her leftover fabric.

The bumper ties were the holdup on calling the nursery complete because I was dragging my feet on getting them sewn on!  I hate hand-sewing but I finally knocked it out and love the way they turned out.  I used a white cording rope and tied sailor knots (Carrick Bend, to be exact) instead of the usual bow to go along with the "knot-ical" theme.  

To the right of the crib is the set of hanging shelves we made.  Below them is still an empty space - this is where a toy box or small book shelf will eventually be added.  

I saw lots of different versions of rope shelves on Pinterest.  I just took the parts I liked of each one and mashed them together to make our version.  The shelves are each anchored to the wall so the rope and knots are more cosmetic than functional.  The rope is wrapped around boat cleats that are majorly secured to the wall.  (Matt said they are on there so good that if we ever have a tornado we should ditch the closet and just hang on to the boat cleats!)

The shelves are full of nautical-ish decorations.  I can't wait to get his newborn pictures back so I can fill up the empty picture frames in his room!

Below is the view from standing in front of those shelves and looking back to the other side of the room.

We have been steadily filling up the closets with little boy clothes.  I'm still adjusting to having so much blue mixed in with our pink laundry!

Everything in the built-ins nook except for the wooden fish was a Homegoods find.  I LOVE the mirror and how it looks hanging there!  It does a good job of bouncing the natural light from the windows around the room so it's always nice and bright in here.  

Now, here's the view of the other side of the room from standing right in front of that mirror.

The changing table that I found at Bargain Hunt for a whopping $25 sits in between the two windows.  I love how much it cost but I still don't love the way it looks.  I added four Homegoods baskets but it seems like no matter how organized I keep the baskets, it always looks messy to me.  Oh well, it's just til he's potty trained, right?!  

But right above the changing table is one of my very favorite things in the room - the shadowbox of knots!  Matt and I looked up different boating knots and tied all of these ourselves.  I had a friend frame it and she included small plaques with the names of each knot underneath it.  It was really hard to get a good picture of it because of the glares so you'll just have to come see it in person.  

I think what I love most about this is that nothing about it screams little boy.  I can see this hanging in Thomas's office someday when he's big and grown!

To the right of the changing table is this cozy corner where I've already fed my boy bottles and rocked him to sleep.  The chair is one that we already had that we had recovered and added a swivel glider base to the bottom of so that it would rock.  The ottoman is a storage cube that we had too.  

The floor lamp is one that we already had; it's from Target and used to live in the living room.  

Mom made the throw pillow that sits in the chair and it's reversible.  Gotta love having options!  One side is the patchwork fabric like the crib skirt and the other side is the stripe on the bumper pads.  

I love the wicker whale shelf that we found at Homegoods but I'll admit, I've had a hard time finding things small enough to fit in the uniquely shaped openings!  I'm sure these will all change as Thomas acquires more things.

Here's another view of that side of the room where you can see the french doors.  Above them hangs an oar!

You may have already noticed but on both the window treatments and the french door coverings, we used industrial piping instead of traditional curtain rods and hardware.  We pieced together galvanized pipes, elbows, and phalanges to make rods for the curtains to hang on.

On the french doors, we added a "belt" to the middle of the curtains so we can still peek through the windows.  I'm sure as he gets older we'll end up removing these so he can have more privacy, but for now I like being able to see in.  

And you know we had to tie those "belts" in with the theme of the room, so we added sailor knots to them too. 

Our cleaning lady got to watch the room come together when she came by every other week.  She surprised us the week Thomas was born with this little sailor outfit that she had made for him.  Can you believe she made that!?  She's got skills.

So that's the grand tour of our knot-ical nursery.  I hope you enjoyed it!  I'll keep you posted when our little sailor actually starts sleeping in it.  :)

Grout Upgrade

Ever since we moved into this house (almost two years ago!), I have hated the grout color in Katie Wynn's (and Thomas's) bathroom.  I have always thought it looked dark and gross.  Here, take a look for yourself.

Isn't that nasty?  Not to mention that the color was inconsistent across the floor.  

After reading this tutorial from Young House Love and seeing a couple other success stories (here and here), I felt pretty confident that I could give my gross grout an inexpensive face lift.  And with Matt's parents in town for the week to help take care of Thomas, now seemed like the perfect time to knock it out.  So I sent Matt to Home Depot after work on Tuesday to pick up a $12 bottle of Polyblend Grout Renew.  I told him to pick a light grey or putty color and he ended up bringing home Oyster Gray, the same color used by John and Sherry from YHL.  

He brought it home Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning I went to work in the bathroom!  I did not scrub my floors in preparation because A) I'm too lazy and B) the grout renew is supposed to be applied to dry floors and I was ready to get it done.  No time to let floors dry!

Still in my pajamas, I grabbed the bottle and a tiny paintbrush and crouched down to get started behind the toilet.  After doing one tile I was pretty sure I would not be knocking out this project in one day.  It took forever, and I was already hurting from contorting my body to get behind the toilet.  Thankfully, my pace picked up a little as I moved out into the open floor.  

Here are some progress shots.  

Three and a half hours later and I was finally done!  And in desperate need of a back and shoulder massage.  I think it was worth it, though.  My paint job is far from perfect up close, but who is going to get down on their hands and knees to inspect this bathroom floor?  Hopefully only our cleaning lady.  :)

Here are some side-by-side before and after pics.  Do you think the new color looks better?  I don't necessarily think it's the perfect shade for these tiles, but I still think it's way better than before!

The bottle of Grout Renew says it's a paint and sealer in one, so I have zero plans to add another separate sealer.  That means that BOOM, this home improvement project is DONE.  Which is a good thing since I need to move on to the next project.  This bathroom is undergoing a mini makeover so now I've got to get busy finishing some art work for the walls.

Two Weeks with Two Kids

Life over the past two weeks has been sweet and fun and tiring and chaotic and everything in between!  I have so many pictures that I don't even know how to break them out into separate posts, so I'm just going to dump them all in one.  Hopefully I can do a decent job of summing up how life with two kids has been.

As you know, Thomas arrived on a Sunday afternoon.  Sunday evening and all day Monday were full of lots of visitors, so we stayed busy and were still functioning on adrenaline.  We finally got to go home on Tuesday, but not until after a long morning in the hospital that seemed to drag on.  Thomas got held up in the nursery for a good portion of the morning waiting on the pediatrician.  We got so antsy that we eventually walked to the nursery and tried to bust him outta there ourselves.  Turns out, you can't really do that.  You only get to view your baby through the window.  Sad.  

After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally brought back to our room with his discharge papers.  We were ready to blow that popsicle stand!  The only question left was, Is the world ready for these chubby cheeks?

Once at home, Matt helped me and Thomas get settled in and then left to fill prescriptions and pick up the big sister.  Thomas took his first nap in the Nap Nanny and I took this picture that reminded me of a similar one I took of Katie Wynn on her first day at home.

We survived our first night and if I remember correctly, it was very similar to our first night at home with Katie Wynn.  Lots of tears.  We definitely missed the hospital nursery!  We were up bright and early because we had newborn pictures scheduled for Wednesday.  Yes, they were crazy early and that day I definitely thought I was insane, but I was so glad to have them done and out of the way!  They were at 11:00 in the morning and we needed every minute before that to get out the door in time.  Katie Wynn was a big help, though, with Thomas's morning feeding. 

The whole photoshoot was an interesting experience.  This was the first time I'd ever done "studio" pictures so I didn't know what to expect.  It was the neatest room with all kinds of different backdrops.  I thought we would take a family picture or two so Matt, Katie Wynn, and I were all ready for pictures too.  Mom came with us too to help tend to Katie Wynn, so we had quite the crowd.  

We had to get Thomas good and asleep before we could get started which was a little easier said than done.  I think this was the most awake he'd been since birth, but Matt finally got him to sleep...even while holding big sister too!

The photographer had music playing and the room was lit with white Christmas lights.  It was a nice soothing environment for Thomas and even made the rest of us all a little sleepy.  They provided us with comfy chairs while the photographer worked her magic with our sweet baby boy.

Katie Wynn uncharacteristically fell asleep in my lap while we watched.  I chalked it up to it being her regular nap time, but in hindsight I should've realized that she was coming down with something...

After being there for about 3 hours, we finally packed up and headed home.  We never got a family shot and Katie Wynn wouldn't really cooperate in her picture with Thomas.  Thank goodness we bought the First Year Package so we'll have another chance to try in a couple months.  I'm so eager to see the pictures she did get!

By that evening, Katie Wynn was running a fever.  It didn't seem to effect her mood, though!  We gave her some tylenol and just assumed she was overtired.  

The next morning, Katie Wynn woke up early and was burning hot!!  Her temperature was around 102 so I called the doctor's office right at 8:00.  Miraculously, they'd had an 8:30 cancellation and said we could have it.  We've never gotten in the doctor that quickly!  Matt loaded her up and took her to the doctor while I stayed with Thomas.  I was hoping for an ear infection since that can be treated quickly, but both ears were fine (one had to be flushed, though, which I hear my baby girl did NOT like at all).  She passed her strep test too so that wasn't it.  The doctor said it could either be a bladder infection (a urine sample was needed to prove this) or roseola.  They tried to get a urine sample in the office but Katie Wynn wouldn't eat or drink anything so she wouldn't use the bathroom.  Matt brought her home with all the tools needed for me to try to get a sample from her to take to the hospital later in the afternoon.  It didn't work at all!!  Both bags that we attached to her fell off so we couldn't collect any urine.  But her fever was gone so I wasn't too stressed about it.

While they were at the doctor, Mom and I gave Thomas his first bath.  As expected, he wasn't impressed.

Even when it was over and I was getting him dressed, he kept giving me these "I hate you" looks.  I hope one day he actually enjoys bath time!  This picture of him in his Nap Nanny is one of my favorites to date.  :)

When Katie Wynn got home from the doctor, we had a Sonic drink waiting for her to hopefully get her to drink.  I finally broke down and played the Let It Go video from the Frozen movie for her (I have tried to so hard to keep this movie out of our house, but I recently heard that they listened to the soundtrack at daycare and that she loved this song).  I thought it would cheer her up and it did; she was glued to it!

The doctor had told Matt that we didn't necessarily need to keep Katie Wynn away from Thomas, but to try not to let her touch him.  Easier said than done!  That day seemed to be the day she wanted to touch and kiss him the most!  She settled for sitting next to him and watching him sleep.  

Going through my pictures, I can tell we were operating in Survival Mode on Thursday through Saturday because my picture taking drastically slowed down!  

Even though Katie Wynn was fever-free on Thursday evening, she woke up with a high temperature again on Friday.  Mom came over early that morning so that Matt could go to work and she could help me with the kids.

Thomas's first doctor's checkup was scheduled for that afternoon at 3:00, so I just told myself if I could keep her fever under control until then, maybe her doctor could look at her too while we were there for his appointment (she saw a different doctor on Thursday).  While I hated that she was sick and having to take medicine, it was nice that she was taking really long naps for me!  

Our doctor mostly echoed the same thing the other doctor had.  She was back to using the bathroom regularly and it didn't seem to be hurting her, so we kinda ruled out the bladder infection.  We were told to keep pushing ibuprofen and hopefully the rash from roseola would eventually show up.  They had a Saturday morning clinic we could go to if it got worse.

As for Thomas, he had a great checkup!  Everything looked good...except for his jaundice.  Our doctor was slightly concerned with it and wanted us to have it checked to make sure we didn't need to do light treatments.  Our local hospital where we would've had the test done was closed that day due to a fire, so we made plans to go to the ER at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital the next morning.  Not really what I wanted to do with my newborn!

Friday night was fine; fever was back down.  Saturday morning she was on fire again.  So frustrating!  We decided to split up - this time Matt loaded up Thomas to take him to get his jaundice checked (it came back fine, hallelujah!) while I stayed with our sick little girl.  I got her dressed in case I needed to take her to the Saturday clinic, but ultimately decided against it.  I gave her more ibuprofen and she was curled up in my bed and sound asleep again before 9:00 and slept until past noon!  

Saturday was low-key as we just tried to keep Katie Wynn's fever down and keep her eating and drinking.  We were THRILLED when she woke up fever-free Sunday morning!!  We were obviously glad that she felt good and were also glad that we didn't have to cancel our plans for the Cooks to come over for breakfast.  We hung around house all day and Katie Wynn loved doting on her brother.  Here she is enjoying tummy time with him.  :)

Sunday is when Katie Wynn finally got brave enough to hold her little brother.  And then once he was in her lap, she couldn't stop kissing on him!

It was while we were outside on the patio that I looked down and spotted a rash on Katie Wynn's back and got so excited!! I know that sounds strange for a mama to say, but the rash meant that A) it really was roseola that had been causing her fevers and B) it was finally over!  The doctor had told us that once the rash appeared it would be the end of it and that it would just go away on it's own.  I couldn't even see it by the next morning.  So glad to be done with that ordeal!

Week two with two kids was much calmer, thankfully.  Katie Wynn was able to return to daycare which kept her on her normal schedule and definitely made the days easier for me.  We did bust her one afternoon trying to pick Thomas up from his bouncy seat by herself.  We are going to have to keep a close eye on her!

My parents have both been a huge help with the kids when Matt's not around.  I had one night where he was going to be late getting home and my mom had somewhere to be so I was going to be left alone during dinner and bath time (most stressful part of the day!).  My dad was nice enough to come over and help so I wouldn't have a nervous breakdown.  I seriously don't know how I'd survive without my parents being so close!

This girl has gotten to where she kisses Thomas anytime he's close enough for her to reach.  It's so sweet to see her love him (although we have to say "be gentle" a LOT!).

Friday of this week started with Donuts with Dad at daycare and ended with popsicles on the patio after dinner.

Saturday we had a fun day just hanging around the house and playing.  Anna was with us for the weekend and she is always such a huge help with Katie Wynn.  She loves to play with her but also helps with diaper changes and meals and bath time!

We started Saturday off with some donut holes...

...and then we spent the WHOLE morning outside.  Matt and I worked in the yard while the girls played in the driveway.  We filled up Katie Wynn's little pool so they could "swim" and we didn't bother putting a swimsuit on KW.  With all the toys in the driveway and a toddler running around in her diaper, we were all kinds of redneck.  :)

Oh, and Thomas?  He supervised the yard work from the shade. 

After lunch and afternoon naps, we all walked down to the neighborhood park to do some sliding.  

Back at home, there was more playtime on the floor together.  

By nighttime, Matt had discovered that the air conditioning unit that cools our bedroom (and Katie Wynn's) was out.  We knew it was warm in our room but figured it was from me having the blinds open all day and the sun coming in.  But after having the blinds closed for several hours and the temp not dropping any, we knew something was wrong.  It wasn't too hot for us to sleep in Saturday night, but by Sunday evening it was a sauna and we had to sleep upstairs.  (It has since been fixed, thank goodness!)

Speaking of Sunday - Katie Wynn played on the floor with Thomas while I got ready for church.  Yes, we made it to church!  We had three kids in tow and weren't even late! 

I totally dropped the ball on Father's Day this year.  I let Matt get up early with Katie Wynn while I slept in, then I let him cook me breakfast, and then after church I let him buy us pizza for lunch!  I did at least give him a card and small gift...

After church on Father's Day.

Katie Wynn cooked dinner for us Sunday night.  Fried goldfish for everyone!  Well, actually she and Lolli are the only ones who ate them.  

She was at it again Sunday night, but this time she cooked our meal on the grill.  Who doesn't love ketchup on their fried chicken? :)

Finally, I'll leave you with two pictures of my pretty boy.  Who says boys can't wear bows?  I think he wears them well.  :)

So we have officially survived two weeks with two kids under two!  Parts of it have been easy and fun and just like I hoped it would be while other parts have been tough and exhausting (mostly the no-sleeping parts).  We are starting to get into a good routine so I hope things will only continue to get easier from here on out!