oh what a night

This picture is wretched {fifteen hours of labor will do that to a girl}, but it is also one of my favorites.  

I've been doing a lot of reminiscing this week-- thinking about my sweet boy and the journey we've taken the last three years.  This picture was the start of it all....

Oh what a night it was.

monday blues

Monday is not my friend.  I have duty Monday mornings so I'm always feeling rushed. Then it's inevitable something Monday-ish happens---

Like getting a new student {who is perfectly delightful, but throws a kink in my well organized machine} and then twenty minutes later a call from daycare about the toddler.

Oh my boy, my clumsy, accident prone boy.  What will I ever do with you?  Poor thing tumbled down the playground slide stairs and bumped his head.  And busted his lips.  And bruised his eye.  Shoot.

Is anyone else having deja-vu?  Me too, peeps. Me too.

We were lucky this time.  Much luckier than last year.  His face isn't near as banged up... no concussion here, and kudos to me, I didn't even cry.... at the actual time. {I did tear up a bit at the doctor's office this afternoon.  He was pushing on Reese's eye to make sure he didn't have a fracture.  Ouch.}

And so, tonight we are thankful for two things:

one} That sweetness is physically fine.  So he'll have a black eye in all his 3rd birthday pictures.  Better that than a cast or a party from a hospital bed.

and two} That tomorrow is Tuesday. See ya next week Monday!

like a flash

Exactly two years ago I snapped this photo:

This big, happy baby was about to turn one. I remember being so excited for him.  He was walking and discovering a whole new world.  He was off his bottle and almost down to having his beloved pacifier at nighttime only.  Lofton and I spent our time patting ourselves on the back for such a momentous first year.  We had made it! And at the time, we could not imagine ever loving anyone more than that baby.

And now we have this:

Our sassy, funny, smart and adorable little boy. Two years have changed so much about our lives.  He enriches us.  He makes us grow.  He challenges us in ways we never thought possible.  He questions us daily.  Oh, the questions. Now instead of patting ourselves on the back for being such amazing parents, we lie awake praying for guidance, wisdom, and patience.  Lots of patience.  And our hearts?  The ones that two years ago were so full they could have burst? Well, they're overflowing. Who knew that toddlerhood would be so amazing? 

joyful moments and changes in attitude

Life is hectic these days.  And hard.  Really hard.  I think when things aren’t going your way it’s easy to fall into a robotic routine of daily activities without stopping to enjoy any of the moments.

With that being said, I’ve been trying to do better. 

• Enjoying waking Reese up in the morning by taking a few extra minutes to lay with him and snuggle- check
•  Taking time to give my sweet husband an extra hug and kiss before we scoot off to work- check.
• Email check-ins with said husband throughout the day- check
• Laughing at the sweet babies I'm blessed to spend seven plus hours a day with- check
• Phone call to my favorite Mama after school to unwind, vent, and just let.it.all.out- check
• Singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs on the way home from daycare because Reese knows all the words- check
• Relishing in amazing blessings for sweet friends- double check

I will enjoy this season in our lives.  Change is hard.  And stressful.  And overwhelming.  So, so overwhelming.  But it is just that, a season.  There will be another. 

Our sweet baby is growing and changing so fast.  Too fast.  I want to stop time RIGHT NOW.  I literally cannot believe in less than two weeks he will be three.  But since time continues on, I will enjoy these moments with him.  

today

an update, with words

Good Saturday morning to you, friends.  Hope your week was better than ours!

Sweet husband has an outbreak of staph {I won't go into details because it's a little yucky}, began taking antibiotics, is allergic to antibiotics, and is now on something else.  He hasn't slept all week, so Dr. Wife gave him some benadryl last night and sent him off to sleep.  He's still sleeping now.  Don't worry, though, he's breathing.  I checked.

We are settled in for a low key weekend of football watching, house cleaning, and paper grading.

Speaking of paper grading... one of my favorite students withdrew on Thursday.  I offered her cash to take one of my least favorite students with her, but she declined.  I may or may not have cried.  Overall though I have an excellent group of kids this year.  Last year's class was primarily composed of thieving hoodlums so this group is much improved.  I have some precious little girls that I'm just enamored with.  This class actually reminds me a lot of the class I had my first year.

I'm having a Willow House party next week.  If you're in the market for some house updating, Christmas gifts, or just want to be nosy and see the new digs then stop by!  You can also shop online by following this link: www.heatherstclair.willowhouse.com

And that's pretty much our week in a nutshell.  The toddler is SUPER excited about his upcoming birthday party.  He wakes up every morning and asks, "Is today my birthday?" Sigh.  It's going to be a long two weeks.

portrait of toddler life

Afternoon family time = opportunity for peeing outside.

question of the day

Can we please stop time?

book shelf makeover

Sorry I left you hanging....

On to the bookshelves!

Our new house came blessed with built in bookshelves.

They are pretty standard:

We replaced the knobs when we moved in, but have yet to change the hinges.  Then I got this wild hair to do something about the "whiteness."  I had seen somewhere in the blog-a-sphere a picture of burlap backed bookshelves.  We batted around the how-to's of doing that for a while, but then decided burlap was still too blah.  I wanted pop.

Enter Martha.

We purchased a gallon of Martha Stewart's metallic "kelp green" paint.  It's pretty stunning in person.  A deep olive-green with hints of gold.

Lofton, however, knows I change my mind like I change underwear so he didn't want me to actually paint the bookshelves.  He smartly came up with a plan for using furniture grade plywood pieces.  The shelves pop out and he had to do some minor cutting, but then the plywood went right in.  Now when I decide I'm over the green I can just take out the plywood.  That smart and handy husband of mine!  What did I ever do without him?

It really a pretty stunning transformation.  I love how the stuff on the bookshelves stands out.  The metallic paint gives it just enough sass and pop for me!

And the extra paint is being used in the most amazing bathroom transformation ever.... 

Stay tuned.

long weekends are for working, part I

How about a house update with LOTS of pictures?  It'll make you feel better about my lack of blogging.  Promise.

My sweet Mama offered many moons ago to come in to town labor day weekend for a work party.  It really was her idea.  She said she and my daddy would help strip wall paper, paint, clean up... whatever.  And boy did they ever.  {Well, actually, my dad just brought some furniture and chased around the toddler, but that was an important job, too.}

The plan for the weekend was to attack our bedroom, the kitchen, and the half-bath in the family room.  Daunting tasks, but we were focused.

We started with our bedroom bright and early Saturday morning.  The mint green HAD.TO.GO.  It was bad.  Mint green and I are just not friends.

After a few hours of painting- me, Mama, and my aunt Beth- we were making progress:

and we had help from Peter Rabbit and the naked toddler

The color is now Martha Stewart's Plumage, color matched to Lowe's Olympic One paint {cause it was on sale}.  I'm pretty much obsessed.

We still need some finishing touches, like a mirror above the bed {bought today but still needs to be spray painted}, curtains, a new ceiling fan, and some throw pillows, BUT it is so much better.  I adore the color-- a cross between a deep teal and a navy.  We also are planning to rip up the carpet {this is the only room without hardwood} at some point in the near future.  I'm not a carpet girl either.

Then it was on to the kitchen....

The wallpaper, although whimsical {with it swirly yellow polka dots and oversized coffee cups} was not really my cup of tea.  Ha. Ha.

Our long term plan is renovate the kitchen completely.  We need more cabinets, a functional island, and a different placement for the fridge.  The short term plan then became covering the existing wallpaper to make things tolerable. No wallpaper stripping in here because we will eventually replace all the sheet rock.  My mom and Aunt primed {two coats} and painted {two coats}, and what do you know... bye bye whimsy!

The color is a pale celery green.  It complements the other colors in the family room, and looks clean against the white cabinets and navy counter tops.  Leaps and bounds better!

And that's all you get for tonight.... I'll reveal the other two later this week.