Playroom in the making

We live in a modest three bedroom plus loft, two story with a partial basement. The basement is unfinished. The three bedroom were once our master, a guest room, and my craft room, with our office in the loft Once J and I decided to have P, the guest room became her room, my crafts got a new fabulous home:

and were moved to the office. The craft room became the guest room. And we talked of making the basement a playroom. Now that she is here and her toys are about to multiply and are growing, we have talked about this a little more.

Since we are not handy and we don't have the budget to really do what we would like to the basement and we rarely have overnight guests, we are going to make the guest room our playroom! I am really excited because we are going to reprint too!

I already have some ideas for storage. Like this:


And I want to put something on the wall like this:


Now, what color for the walls? I know that some of the storage bins will be pink and green (like in the picture), so I start there but I need a third color. Purple? Gray? Something else? Help!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wordless Wednesday

No tears!

Milestone Monday (a little late)

I know I am a day off but this is a big one! I have been milk and soy free since June once P was given the MSPI diagnosis. I will never forget the pedi face when I told her I would restrict my diet over moving directly to formula. Please note this is not a knock on those who do not and/or cannot breastfeed. BF was something that I had hoped I could do and worked very hard to be able to do. In that moment, knowing what I had to give up and that 3 months was great and that stopping was not a failure, I made the choice to try. Lucky for me there are lots of swaps, resources, and recipes out there. Along with my great hubby, my fabulous friends have helped me through this to.

At P's 6 month well check, the pedi said that at about 7 and a half months I could start reintroducing soy. My original plan was to wait until 9 months but I realized that stuffing at Thanksgiving was going to be tricky without soybean oil. So last Sunday, just shy of 8 months I brought back soybean oil and soy letixhin. I started small with 2 servings a day. Now I am doing about 3-4 servings a day and... NO reactions! I am so grateful! I am not sure what will come next but I know that I will be going very slow. Milk is months off but this is a start and brings back lots of options for me!

TAT: Thankful

I have always had much to be thankful for in my life - great husband, caring family, a job I live, good health, enough money for all my needs and a good deal of my wants, and good friends to enjoy it all with. This year I am especially thankful for all of that, especially my husband, but also my beautiful daughter. She has brought me so much joy, taught me so many things (practically and emotionally), and showed me that as much as I love her dada, there was so much more love in my heart to give.

8 months!

This past Thursday Payton turned 8 months! Where has the time gone? Here are the basics:

Age: 8 months

Weight: not officially sure. She doesn't have to go back to the doctor til 9 months, but if I had to guess, I would say between 20 and 21 pounds!

Size: size 3 diapers and 9 month clothes. We are asking for 12 month sizes for Christmas but we will be good in 9 month stuff for a little longer.

Sleeping: things are going well here! She goes to bed around 8:30 each night. Week days she is either up on her own around 6 or daddy gets her by 6:30. Weekends are off and on. She has given us a couple mornings til 7:45 but others she is up at 6:30. I cannot complain though!

Feeding: still going strong with breastfeeding and getting into solids. She takes pumped milk like a champ 4ish times a day and I nurse her when we are together. We are on oatmeal cereal once a day and 3-4oz of purees throughout the day. She also LOVES her puffs!

Milestones: sitting very well unassisted is the biggest. She is babbling up a storm but nothing too specific. I have been signing with her and I swear she knows more. J saw it too but she didn't do it today.

Favorite toys/activities: she loves Sophie, her taggie blankets and links the best. The play mat is good but the cats are more fun to watch. The jumperoo is still a go to for sure. I am pumped to see how she likes all the goodies family and Santa bring her soon!

Looking forward to: Thanksgiving! She gets to see some extended family. I hope the stranger danger isn't too bad. She gets to meet Santa at the mall which although in controversial in this house mom wins this year. Christmas will rock too!

I'm in!

I was so blessed to do a 3 day in 2009. It was one of the best experiences of my life. For those who are not familiar with it, Susan Komen For the Cure hosts lots of events to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and support. One of those events is the 3 day. It is a 69 mike walk over 3 days. There are 15 locations a year. One of my best friends and I did Chicago in 2009. It was fabulous!

My friend asked me to join her again next summer in Cleveland. Needless to say, I am ready to register! Now onto the fundraising and training! I am pumped!

Here is my personal page: http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/2011/General?px=5407907&pg=personal&fr_id=1763
It still needs work but it's official!

Photo Card

Sparkling Snowflakes Christmas

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A to Z of me

I got this idea from Cole's First Blog and thought that it would be good to my new followers and maybe get more!!!

A. Age: 33 years
B. Bed size: Queen
C. Chore that you hate: Vacuuming! Thankfully my husband is okay with it so he does it!
D. Dogs: our first "baby" Gracie - she is a black lab
E. Essential start to your day: Breakfast! Along with coffee or tea of some sort!
F. Favorite color: Pink!!
G. Gold or Silver: Is white gold an option?
H. Height: about 5'7
I. Instruments you play: none
J. Job title: wife, mommy, high school math teacher
K. Kids: One beautiful little girl, almost 8 months old!!
L. Live: Southwest Ohio
M. Mother’s name: Mama or Heather
N. Nicknames: HV, Rub (from my parents)
O. Overnight hospital stays: just for P's birth
P. Pet peeves: not being organized or being late
Q. Quote from a movie: "No one puts Baby in a corner." ( not my fave movie)
R. Right or left handed: right
S. Siblings: I have two older sisters
T. Time you wake up: on a work day at 5:00am, on the weekends - as late as P will go!
U. Underwear: bikinis are my fave - not too low or high, and full coverage!
V. Vegetable you hate: I dont like onions on their own, but low them in things
W. What makes you run late: thinking that I don't have everything so I triple check every bag
X. X-Rays you’ve had: Plenty - legs, ankles, toes, knees, arm, chest, hand
Y. Yummy food that you make: I love to cook but dont bake well (even though all food is my friend). My best meal is probably lasagna.
Z. Zoo animal: Pandas are my favorites!

Please feel free to share your info on your blog and link back to me! Also comment to let me know! I will read it!

Blog Hop - Saturday Laughs

I am joining in the Mommy Chronicle blog hop again. I love seeing new blogs as I hope I am getting some new readers. :)

Here are my funnies for the week:
1. Today J (DH) was juggling some of P's blocks and she was laughing a huge belly laugh. It made us both join in the laughter.

2. I proctored a test today. The students were assigned rooms by last name. I had a string of names from R to V. A girl, whose last name began with W was very confused, then mad, and then adamant that she was supposed to. Be in my room. Did I mention this was a college admission test? She needs to relearn her alphabet!

3. One word: Ellen. I puffy heart love this show. She makes me smile every time I watch.

4. My BIL is running the NY marathon tomorrow. Other than watching him finish, my sister wanted to go to the Today show because she loves Lester Holt. I just saw a picture of her and Lester on FB!

5. Most people look forward to Thanksgiving for dinner, family time, football, etc. While all of that is fun for me too, I am SUPER excited for black Friday. Yes, I have the app and have liked it on FB! I am one of the crazies who will be out there at midnight shopping!

Fill in the Blank Friday

Linking up again with Lauren at The Little Things we do. Check out her cute blog!
 
1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is: getting through P's constipation (she is probably happier than me).

2.   Colder weather makes me: so happy! I love jeans and sweatshirts. Snow days are coming!

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are: 1. P sawing mama and dada clearly (even if she doesn't know what it means!), 2. I feel like I am in the swing of things with work, J, and P - now to get the housework into it too!! 3. It is almost basketball season! I keep the score book for my school's girls teams. I love the girls and the JV coach is one of my besties and she just had a baby too!

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose: slippers - warm, fuzzy, and cozy!

5.  My personality type is: type A but I have one messy drawer. I am also a people pleaser so I have a hard time saying no!

6.  I have a serious problem resisting: good, fancy coffee. I am dying for a pumpkin spice latte but that will come next year as I am dairy and soy free for my baby.

7.  My favorite color to wear is: pink (girly and it has a special meaning).

Wordless Wednesday

Love this girl!

My wish

My little peanut - you were a long time in the making but have made an impression no one would have known. My wish for you is that you love life and live as happily as you want. I want you to love with your whole heart, learn as much as you can, and dream bigger than you can think.

I look forward to each night cuddling before bed - I hope you let me do that forever. I love watching you grin at your dada when he comes home from work. You toothy smile makes everything else disappear! Never forget that joy - it is contagious!

I hope you find your passion in life and can make a living doing it. Work to live though, play hard! Find friends that share everything but don't forget your family. We are pretty friendly too :)

We love you so much and look forward to seeing you learn and grow every day. Keep us on our toes forever little one because we don't want it any other way!