20 months

I can hardly believe that in four short months, my little Reese will be celebrating her second birthday!  Man oh man has this time flown by!

So, Reese, what does the 20 month old version of you look like?  Well, you're more feisty than ever & have absolutely no problem expressing your opinion in a very big way.  You have mastered the stink eye & shoot many dirty looks that could kill!  When you decide to throw a fit, you tend to bang your head on the floor which makes Mommy say, "You're fit for a straight jacket!"  You learned quickly to only do that on carpet instead of tile after one painful incident.

But as saucy & spicy as you are, you are also so incredibly sweet, funny & loving & you melt my heart every single day.  You seriously bring so much laughter & joy (as well as screams & cries) into our lives.  I love how spicy you can be & hope you continue to have a mind of your own as you grow & go to school... you really know how to hold your own!

You speak so well & your vocabulary is unreal.  We call you our little parrot since you can repeat most anything we ask you to say.  You can nearly recite the alphabet, can chime in when we count & are such a problem solver.  You also love to help me clean & wipe down counters & tables, as well as your face with wet wipes. So different from your brother in that way!  You eat well & I'd say your favorite foods are bananas, pancakes, grapes, cheese & pizza.  You love fruit, but aren't so keen on vegetables.  You're still an amazing sleeper, nap for 2-3 hours each day & sleep for 12-13 hours at night.  You still go down without a fuss at all which we greatly appreciate!  My favorite part of the day is snuggling with you before I lay you down, kissing your head & rubbing your back.

You wear size 4 diapers, size 5 shoes (but will be transitioning to a size 6 soon) & clothes anywhere from 18 months-3T.  We happen to have a lot of 3T summer clothes & since Mommy is thrifty (or cheap!), we have you wearing them.

You still use your paci, but only when you nap or sleep at night & not at all during the day at school.  When you're sick, you do want your paci more, but we're not concerned about it.. you'll give it up when you're ready & when we are too!

You're wearing your brother's sleeper which I love!  Speaking of your brother, you & Cameron are such good friends!  And like any good friends, occasionally you still have your spats, but at the end of the day, you have each others backs.  You follow everything Cameron does which sometimes annoys him, but he's such a great big brother & you are one lucky girl.  Reese, we love you so very much!!!!

Playroom makeover

So, we've been gradually getting projects accomplished around the house & the first thing we've tackled is the transition from dining room to playroom.  We have a bonus room upstairs in our house, but with Reese being smaller, it only makes sense to keep the playroom on the first floor, near us.  The upstairs bonus room has become a mix between a secondary family room/video gaming room.

We painted the bold orange color you see as well as the blue bathroom which was previously white.  Out of all of us, Cam spends the most time up there, but now that Reese is getting a little older, she'll even go up with him to play while we're within earshot below.  We have gates at the top & bottom of the stairs, so all is safe!

So, this is the before on our dining room which is behind the kitchen.  The previous owners used it as a dining room, but since we're not formal, it's much better used as a playroom.  The walls were a boring brown with plenty of screws in the walls.  For whatever reason, the previous owners were screw happy & there are no less than 50 screws throughout the walls, but we're nearly done patching & painting all of them!

Yes, we have a cat with a ladder fetish.  As soon as that bad boy comes out, Casper can be found lounging at the top where he can enjoy the view.

And here is the after so far!  We painted the walls Green Tea Leaf from Porter Paints & changed out the chandelier with a light fixture from IKEA.  The cube bookshelf isn't new, but I painted it from espresso brown to white.

We'll be adding a chalk board to the one wall & a framed map to the other.

I'm going to frame some of the kid's artwork & get canvas pictures made of the kids for the third wall.  I'd love to get a nice, sturdy table & chairs to replace Cameron's Cars table so the kids have an area to do crafts.  We end up spending a lot of time in this area of the house, so I'm really excited to be getting it done!

Recent happenings

I am in a blogging rut!  I suppose it's because I've been having so much fun with my family that I can't be bothered to grab my camera or hop online.  Over the holiday weekend we had five days straight with each other & it was glorious!!  Mike never takes days off work so it was an absolute treat to be together as a family!  We kept very busy & had so much fun that I nearly cried when it came time to go back to work yesterday.  But as Dr. Seuss says, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."  I even wear a necklace with that saying stamped on it to remind myself.

 

Tay & Reese were able to have a play date which was a lot of fun!  When the girls are a bit older, I can totally imagine me & Lauren taking them for a shopping, pedicure & lunch date!  I'm so excited to have a daughter who I can someday do girly things with.. I hope that we'll be great friends!

Having some downtime to relax & snuggle was the best... if only we could have 4-5 day weekends all the time.  Amidst the relaxation we also worked our butts off & began the transition from dining room to play room.  Since we are definitely not formal people, we have little use for a dining room & a lot of use for a play room so I'm really excited to be finally working on it.  I'll post before & after picture soon.  I still need to do a few things, like painting the chalk board wall, but it's coming along!

 Cam is such an animal lover & has always been amazing with our pets, even as a small toddler.  We never had to correct him & tell him to be gentle.  I can't say quite as much for our wicked little girl!  ;o)

My buddy begrudgingly took a ride to the hardware store with me & after discovering their kitten, I had to drag him out of there.  He said, "Mommy, I want him, can't we buy him?!"  I said, "Um, Cam, we already live in a zoo with the two cats & two dogs at home!"  He named him Scooby & said goodbye... I think the kitten was just as sad to leave Cam as Cam was to leave him!

I made a simple fruit pizza to celebrate the fourth.

Fruit pizza:

Store bought cookie dough

8oz cream cheese, softened 

1 cup powdered sugar

Fruit of your choice

Shape cookie dough on an ungreased pan & bake as directed.  Meanwhile, blend softened cream cheese & powdered sugar in a food processor until smooth & spreadable.  After cookie has cooled, top with cream cheese mixture & fruit of choice.  Or make smaller cookies & allow children to decorate & top their own.

And Cam did a cheers to America!

And we did a cheers to both kids napping at the same time Saturday afternoon!  That never happens since Cam barely ever naps anymore, but I guess going to Clearwater Beach in the morning really pooped him out!  Guess we'll just have to take more family beach trips!  I am so thankful for the family time we spent together last week!