Road Trippin'

We've had a bit of cabin fever this winter. To say the least.

It's been one of the coldest, snowiest, grayest, yuckiest in recent memory. Couple that with an infant and a toddler and enough said. We haven't been getting out much. Period. 

We figured that Charlie's 4 month birthday and our 6 year anniversary was reason enough to celebrate and get out of town for a few days, so we loaded up our car and our two little nuggets and hit the road in search of blue skies and a bit warmer weather. It felt a bit monumental, seeing how it was our first adventure as a family of four and Charlie's first family trip.

It felt a little scary since Leah has never been known for her awesome road trippin'-car lovin' skills and Charlie is still a mystery to us in general. However, both of them were incredible. Leah didn't sleep a single wink on either drive (going or coming), which we were hoping she would do, however she was delightful just the same. She read books, played on the Ipad, sang songs and kept us entertained. And Charlie.... that little turkey slept most of the way down and every solitary minute of our trip home.

Expectations sufficiently exceeded.

We rented a condo and it was the best decision ever for our growing family. It was so nice to have lots of space to stretch out and hang out. We are going to have to look at our travel habits... as a hotel room (even a nice one) no longer sounds very fun with two little people in tow.

We did lots of hanging out, sleeping in and staying in our pajamas way too long. Hmmm... that sound a lot like what we've been doing allwinterlong. However it seemed much more fun in a new place and with Daddy around.

We ate out at yummy restaurants and I even danced with the devil a bit and cheated on my elimination diet. I couldn't resist this creme brulee french toast and the pizza I ate later that night. The repercussions were swift... but not as severe as I had anticipated. That being said... for the most part, I am still off of dairy. Boo.

The sunshine that we were searching for did not disappoint. It was heaven to see that the sky is in fact still blue and that the sun does still exist. 60's felt a little like the 90's to us!

We spent loads of time soaking up every bit of it we could and Leah was in heaven being outside.

Swinging

Sliding

Running

Climbing

Laughing

Smiling

It was exactly the kind of getaway that we needed... lowkey and lots of together time.

While away, we with thrilled with the news that Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow and predicted an early Spring. It made coming home not so bad.

I could kiss that overgrown rodent right on the lips.

four months

{oh dear... once again, this post has been sitting in my drafts folder all month needing to be finessed and some meat to be added. However this month kindof-totally got out of hand and got away from me. So alas, it will have to remain meatless, which this sweet little chunk is not}

{4 month stats}

weight 17lbs 2oz - 90th percentile

height 26.5 inches - 97th percentile

head circ 17.15 inces - 75th percentile

not much of a petite thing.

::other notables::

sleeping a bit better, getting 6-8 hour stretches many nights

wearing size 3 diapers (at 4 months, are you kidding me?)

he is now rolling from his back to his tummy (however, he then is stuck on his tummy, which he's not a fan of so he has quickly learned that he's also not a fan of rolling over.)

super close to rolling from tummy to back (if he's just stop freaking out long enough to heave himself back over)

solidly wearing 12 month clothes (it was a little heartbreaking to pack up all his 6 month clothes so soon...definitely didn't get nearly enough wear out of his 0-6 stuff)

smiling and laughing. such a sweet and happy boy

loving the jumper...and figuring out how to work all the buttons

starting to reach for things and work his hands better

gaining new chubby rolls, almost by the minute.

oh how I love him.

he makes my heart skip a beat.

happy 4 months littlebuddy!

a name and a blessing...

This January has been a doozy as far as weather goes. We got more snow the 3 days leading up to Charlie's blessing than we got all of last winter. And yet, this beautiful Sunday the snow squalls ceased, the storm clouds parted and the sun shined brightly! It was perfect representation of my heart and soul these last few months.  I was gently reminded what a miraculous gift this sweet, precious little soul is to me and his remarkable potential for goodness in this world. He is here and he is mine and he is a gift.

Chris, surrounded by so many of those family and friends closest to us, took this sweet boy into his arms to officially give him a name and pronounce a blessing upon him. It was beautiful and remarkable and touched my heart deeply. I love this child with every fiber of my being. I loved seeing him surrounded by amazing and worthy men that will serve as his example of what to strive for. If he turns out anything like his daddy and grandpas, he will be one amazing man.

We came back home afterwards and had a light lunch with many family and friends and let Charlie get loved on and squeezed by his many admirers. Most especially his grandmas and grandpas...

 

When it was all said and done and the crowds had left... we were happy and exhausted. 

Charlie took the lead of Daddy and Papa and got right to watching football...

He's learning already!

 Welcome to our family little guy! 

My life is infinitely better with you in it.

♥

a little kitchen for my littlemiss

It took two solid years of persistent nagging, however we (mostly he) pulled it off in less than a month. And wow, did daddy clause kill it this year or what?!

::littlemiss leah's very own little kitchen::

Honestly, as it was coming together I worried that there was a really good chance that I was going to love it even more than her. Seriously, I die! 

It started right after Leah was born and I came across this adorable re-purposed kitchen featured on blog I occasionally read. A quick search of the internet and pinterest turned up loads more. As I snuggled a two month old littlemiss, I told CJ that I wanted him to build her one for either her 2nd birthday or Christmas. I'm not sure he was as excited about the idea as I was...but seeing how he built our real kitchen.... I figured a play version was a no-brainer. I think he carried around the picture for nearly a year, hoping that I would change my mind and just buy one... but I didn't give up and I am so glad I didn't!!

It started with an old wooden entertainment center that we were lucky enough to discover in his sister's basement, that was ready to be donated.

Chris' dad is an incredible carpenter who can literally build anything. I knew that between the two of them they could make anything happen... so finally Thanksgiving weekend, we turned our garage into a satellite "Santa's Workshop"

They gutted the center console shelves and dividers, created new back and side walls with bead board, installed a back-splash, removed one of the glass doors, building a new bead board replacement and cut the hole for the sink all in the first few hours!

We still needed a fridge for the little kitchen, so they built and added that on from scratch...

A simple piece of scrap wood became our stove-top...

and then it was ready for paint and the fun stuff.

We used a sprayer for most of it, which was super duper fancy fast. We did, however have to do lots of touching up with a roller/brush and the counter and stove tops were obviously painted by hand.

After it was painted, we moved it inside and had a couple of late night date nights working on the details and making it perfect!!

Finished fridge with hardware and baskets in the doors.

(Ikea)

Stove Top & Oven

Ikea Coasters =Burners

Vintage Inspired Sprinkler Knobs = Controls

We replaced the glass in the door with a piece of plexi-glass for safety's sake.

They made a guide for the oven rack (jumbo cooling rack/amazon) to slide in and out of.

Ikea Utensil Bars works great for little kitchens too!

Pantry/Cabinet Storage

I found a stock photo of a simple, perfect tree swing printed to 16X20 and framed it in an inexpensive Ikea plexi-glass frame to make the kitchen window.

We even included a battery operated lantern as the light fixture.

We found an old bar faucet for the sink and finished it off with some crystal cabinet pulls as the faucet knobs.

An old mixing bowl became the sink.

An old Ikea end table got a new paint job along with some new chairs and dishes to finish her "dining room"

My incredible mama offered to make the amazing window valance and dish towels for me. She got carried away and ended up making her a perfect little hot pad and ridiculously adorable matching apron as well. 

I couldn't love them more!

Details, details, details. It's all the sweet, little details.

Every single last detail turned out even better than I had envisioned it! 

And let me tell you, I spent a lot of time envisioning it! 

And based on her reaction on Christmas morning... it was a success!

I think it's safe to say that she loves it easily as much as I do.

Thanks again Daddy Clause

and Pop

and G-mama

It's a perfect little kitchen for my sweet littlemiss!