7 pictures 7 things

1. You know what game kids don't play enough of these days? Sloth. Good thing Rhett is all about righting that epic wrong. Nothing like walking into a room and seeing your kid wrapped around chairs and table legs not moving. Because he's pretending to be a sloth...naturally. 

2. Bloomage and boy. While loading these plants on to the flatbed wagon at the nursery, I swear these guys were begging for me to pick their friends, not them. #flowerkiller Maybe I should have stuck with Landscape design as a major in college but that's neither here or there. But the flowers for the raised beds are surprisingly, ok who are we kidding, miraculously still alive. Backyard update coming soon.

3. Rad has been tuckered out lately. I'm totally down with that because when he's not sleeping he's grumpier than an old man with no Fig Newtons. I love him dearly but when he convinces himself that happiness can only be found in trying to pull at my eyelashes or steal Rhett's current most beloved toy I feel like I might need to excuse myself to the closet for an undetermined amount of time. 

4. We finally picked up one of the prints we ordered in it's new frame. At this rate our home will be decorated in 62.71 years, but hey I'll take it. I'm a happy little wanna-be interior designer. 

5. Bum crack. Pink flamingo's bum. We love Lowes and hope they love us...

6. Simba chatting it up with Nemo. And "Simba" has been "Simba" for the past 4 days. When he's not being a sloth. 

7. God made some states perfect. The rest he covered in snow. Just kidding; ask me again how I feel about AZ in about 6 weeks. Even the Beach Boys wouldn't know how to sing about our summer. But our sunsets really are something else and we are taking every advantage of evening walks. 

so much to say, so little time 8

conversations with a 3 year old are fantastic.

filling his elephant piggy bank with his "monies:" 

Rhett: Mom, why is Jesus on all my monies?

saying goodnight recently: 

Jake: I love you Rhett
Rhett: I wove you too, Daddy
Julia: I love you too Rhett
Rhett: Sanks
Julia:

enjoying a gourmet lunch of goldfish, apples and enlightening convos with the boys:

Rad: Ba! Ba! Ba! Hmmmm! Mamamamam! 

Julia: What did Rad say Rhett?

Rhett: I don't know that mom. I don't speak Chinese.

bidding him adieu on his way to preschool:

Julia: I love you Rhett. Be a good example and have fun!
Rhett: OK mom! Don't smash Rad!
Julia: Noted...

listing in on some of his action figure playing:

Rhett: Darth Vader is going to fight you Lola! (Lola, Yoda, same diff)

marching triumphantly into the bathroom while I was trying to have some "pirate-cy."

Rhett: Mom.
Julia: (sighs) Yes honey?

Rhett: Dad's going to take you to get mwarried tomorrow. 

Julia:
Rhett: But only if you're nice.

while Jake was supervising the boys:

Rhett: Tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum
Jake:
Rhett: Tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum tantrum
Jake:
Rhett: (Walks away) I'm just havin' a tough time. Sorry for freaking out. (Calm as a cucumber)

being summoned into the bathroom:

Rhett: (Standing next to the potty, lid down) Check it out mom. (Slowly raises lid)
Julia:
Rhett: Don't worry mom, it's not a present. It's just poop.
Julia:

pointing out he has an undesirable booger on his cheek:

Rhett: (Checks out his reflection in the mirror) It's no big deal dad. I'll just wear it. 

our redone oversized craftsman style oak mirror

I gramed this photo the other day, all mysterious like...but hey with no filter...so that counts for some artistic beauty achieved right?

Anyway, this is what I was working on.

Our (redone) oversized craftsman style oak mirror.

This is a legit mirror. It's huge! My kids (and maybe myself) love looking at our reflections, so the mirror mirror on the wall should reflect (funny funny pun) that.

I did a lot of googling for "old windows" and then narrowed my search to "old new york windows" to get my inspiration. At first I wanted something way more grand with lots of detail and elegance , but I also really believe that simple is sometimes the most beautiful. And when I found the oak with it's ridiculous grain, I knew the simple craftsman style would be the best for our home.

And the shelf along the bottom has become a fantastic resting spot for legos and various food items like a half eaten taquito that Rad left. For later of course. 

As mentioned in this post, for the most part I'm not going to be documenting any stellar tutorials for projects around the house. Really though, is was super simple. This is what the mirror looked liked before, well it's actually just the corner of it because it's the only picture I can find.

so we just ripped the old molding off and reframed it.

The previous mirror was one of our first DIY attempts and the work was kind of shoddy. We really knew nothing back then about pretty much anything handy. Because the molding was so detailed, sanding it would have been impossible and I knew with how dark our walls are, staining it was the route we felt best about. 

So to reframe it we used

1 mirror that I found at Habitat's Restore years ago.

1 sheet of plywood

2 1X4X6 foot oak planks

2 1X4X4 foot oak planks

4 pieces of rounded oak quarter round

and 4 swooped (curved inward...I'm honestly not sure what the correct name is) pieces of oak quarter round.

^^^^here's the curved/swooped piece^^^

^^^the rounded quarter round^^^

Now that we have a miter saw and nail gun the assembly was smooth and pretty pain free. 

The mirror was already attached to the plywood from it's previous version so we just did a combo on wood glue, clamping and some finishing nails to make it all secure.

We wanted the wood to look as raw/natural as possible so we used Rustoleum's Golden Pecan stain and didn't seal it. 

We used these to hang it and they were super easy and totally awesome. 

Since it is HUGE we really really really knew it had to be absolutely secure so we used 3 of them. I think we might need to take the wall with us if we ever move it. 

And just so you can get an idea of where it is in our house...

It's pretty much the first thing you see when you walk in.

"Oh heeeyyyy there, good lookin. How you doin?"

PS I have got to learn how to shoot this room in manual because I swear our walls are not as blue as they look. The reflection of the back wall in the top pic is the most true to color shot. 

11/52 and 12/52

 a portrait of my children, every week, in 2014

rhett: emotions run high in this little guy recently, i blame the tragic loss of all naps. but bless his brown blankie's heart for stepping up and being his favorite thing to snuggle when said emotions get to be too much.   

rad: rad's posse. doggie, blue bear, fox, and ducky. or as rad calls them, duh! duh! fuh! and duh! such a smarty pants. :)

(ps as promised a double picture week. a knew it would happen eventually. i also blame this on the tragic loss of all of rhett's naps.)

10/52

a portrait of my children, every week in 2014

Rhett and Rad: Another week of both of them together. I couldn't help it. Plus this a double post week to make up for being a wee bit behind. 

Rad is learning to stumble /walk it out and this boy is claiming more and more floor as his stomping ground. Rhett is very very excited about Rad "wall-king" and likes to hold Rad's hand and offer constant advice, encouragement, analogies like "Everybody walks Rad except for sloths. Cause they have claws and move rillll slow."

Rad nodded in agreement. 

panic at Target

Alternate title may have been (toddlers, twerking and target)

Now that I'm a (self proclaimed) full on mommy blogger, how could I resist dedicating an entire post to a single trip to Target. (shopping cart dramatics! ladies intimate aisle toddler musings!)

We busted a move in the parking lot, snatched a cart, the eldest child decided to really up the sun protection/give Ms. Gaga a run for her money

"the sun is too bwight mom! my eyes are to expensive (translation: sensitive)."

After snagging a cart I decided to be a glutton for punishment and head to the toy aisle for the boys to enjoy the experience of window shopping.

Half way there I got a little distracted by some Nate Berkus clearance and Rhett's fingers decided to get a little clumsy thumbsy and drop the blue icee that he was slurping.

Thank the mommy God's for reminding me to restock the baby wipes in the diaper bag that morning.

While fetching the wipes, Rhett decided it was time to put all the talks about being a "big helper" to use and start wiping the icee up with his butt. "Mommy wook! I'm skating on my bum!!" For some reason it made logical sense to me that this was the ideal time to pull Rad out of the cart and put him on the ground while I cleaned the neon blue slush up. Of course, logical.

So as a recap. Neon blush slush. On the floor. On Rhett's bum. Toddler let lose because my logic was apparently sound.

And then Rad got lost. Like I looked up and he was gone. Fantastic.

So I took off looking for him, forgetting that I was also the care taker of a 3 year old. I found him an aisle over sitting on the bottom of a toy shelf.

Sigh of relief, followed by realizing that Rhett's constant narration was missing.

But bless his heart, he found me. Carrying one of the Nate Berkus end tables. Clearly the boy has his priorities right. When separated from mother, grab a well designed end table and keep on truckin.

And much like his mother, he really didn't want to let that end table ago. Neither did I little man, neither did I. But budget's be darned, it had to go back.

Rhett's heart broke and he threw himself on the floor screaming, "I'm freaking out! I'm freaking out! I'm freaking out!" Note: Not just screaming in the form of a tantrum, but rather the alliteration of exactly how he was feeling.

(A group of high schoolers ladies decided to stroll by all on their i-phones. I'm pretty sure any picture's snapped would have the hashtag #OMGthekidistwerking! No sweethearts. It's called a tantrum.)

We were fin-i-shed.

Trip to Target?

Best outing ever.

literally and figuratively Rad

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months

This boy.

With those chubby, dimpled cheeks.

He is the sweetest, silliest, most happy-go-lucky little person I have ever met. I cannot fathom how my less then perfect, often anxiety-ridden self produced such a fantastic little bean.

Where did the year go little man?? I feel like I blinked and you became the sturdy tank that you are now. I better not blink again. 

Do you want to know my favorite memory of Rad? It was in the hospital. Jake didn't stay with me, he went home to be with Rhett. So it was just me and my Rad. He was swaddled in soft white blankets and he slept every night, snuggled in the crook of my arm.  Thinking back on that is my happy place. I loved those nights and those days. He still comes crawling up and will snuggle into what ever nook he can find. It's my absolute favorite.

A few things about Rad:

Rad is happy. He wiggles and smiles and giggles at literally everything.

Rad is observant. He watches everything, not blinking and sticks out his chubby finger and points.

Rad crawls with swagger. His little shoulders and hips have got some moves.

Rad sleeps with his blanket on his head and his feet sticking out.

Rad wants to eat whatever you have. He will scream and wave his arms till he gets a taste.

Rad loves to bump foreheads. It's his version of of a fist pump.

Rad hums when he eats.

Rad will totally face plant when he throws a fit.

Rad loves to play catch.

Rad will snuggle on your shoulder or crawl on your lap when he when he wants to cuddle.

Rad loves faces. Pointing at your nose usually leads to him trying to pick said nose.

Rad loves to be bounced on the trampoline.

Rad is upset when Rhett leaves.

Rad will stop crying if you sign the itsy bitsy spider.

Rad is a wrestler.

Rad loves to pretend to be a puppy with Rhett.

Rad does Iron Man hands and can make some awesome super hero noises.

Rad also love to growl.

Rad loves to take lids on and off everything.

Rad always crawls around with a Hot Wheels car in one hand.

Rad is a bath taking guru. And splasher extraordinaire.

Rad could play peek-a-boo all day.

Rad's thighs are bigger then my arms. Tank.

Rad has a thing for anything soft, fuzzy and squishy. Mostly stuffed animals and blankets.

Rad adores dogs.

Rad is a super shrill shrieker when he is happy. And when he is angry.

Rad loves glasses and hats. He loves taking them off you and putting them on himself.

Rad is the best. Really, truly. I know I am the most biased person ever, but there is something in his blue eyes that shows that he is special. He had a huge first year with months of physical and occupational therapy for some developmental delays, his lovely helmet, and getting his tongue tie fixed. He is a trooper. He is unconditionally happy and has always smiled. He smiles and everything seems OK. That dopey, crooked smile is the best.

I know it is inevitable that he’s going to grow up, and find another woman to love more than me. And I know that it’s inevitable that he’ll stop lighting up from head to toe when I walk in a room. And it’s only a matter of time that he stops letting out a gasp of despair when I exit a room.

He won’t always snuggle into me, or giggle just because I bat my eyes at him.

Again, I better not blink. 

But of all the babies in the world, Rad is the best that could ever be mine.

Happy 1st birthday little man! You make our family whole.

And Rad's first year in pictures and little videos. :)

friends. it's time.

I started this blog about 3 years ago, when Rhett was only a few months old and Rad wasn't even in the picture. I wanted a place to post furniture that I had refinished, to create good design and beautiful things to be shared.  A place for my hobby to be cultivated.  It fulfilled my love for creating, introduced to me over time to some incredible people, and was just a fun hobby for me as a new stay at home mom who was pretty lonely. Blogging came into my life right when I needed it.

Over the years my blog has grown, evolved, ebbed, flowed. I hit weird spots. Sometimes my head got big. Other times I felt very small. I tried lots of things, and I could because this place was mine.  I watched blogging change. More recently, the changes I’ve seen, coupled with the huge changes in my own life, have slowed this place. I have countless projects I want to do, goals I want to reach, ideas I want to share, things to write, but little time to create them and less time to write about them. Sometimes, the desire is missing, too. I’m just not sure about blogging anymore. I guess more specifically, I'm unsure exactly what I want to blog about.

I told Jake a few weeks ago that I really only wanted to blog about our lives. Our family. No more furniture. No more DIY projects. No more stressing about amazing tutorials and beautiful pictures. I've stopped doing that almost completely anyway.  I felt a huge weight lifted immediately. That sounds so dramatic and over the top and for that I’m sorry, but it’s true. I’ve loved sharing furniture I've refinished, projects I've done. To say I don’t have the desire to really do that here anymore feels weird. I’m tired of stats, numbers, people trying to climb some invisible ladder to nowhere. It’s changed. I miss the old days. It’s time for me to stop for now.

My kids (!!!) are the center of my world. Rhett is coming up on FOUR. Rad is A YEAR OLD  and time is flying. I want to document this time. Currently I am having some intense inner turmoil (dramatic again, I know) about where our family will be in the next year or two, and I want to make sure that I'm enjoying and documenting this short, brief, often difficult but still magical time of our lives.  I want to make sure my energy is going toward my little family being cultured and nurtured.

I'm not saying that I'll never post updates of rooms we're working on, our backyard overhaul, or an easy dinner that I might actually cook one day. I feel like this post is becoming dangerously close to a brain dump, but what I'm trying to say is that I'm done blogging about things that aren't about our family.

Being a mom to two little people who need me leaves me no time to try and have a foot or hand in everything. I do believe that I can have it all, but that I can't do it all. You don't get everything all at once and all the time. It doesn't work that way. It's just not my time to work toward some of my goals. I know that time will come. Over the years I have fallen in love with design, art, and learning about creating beautiful environments. One day, I hope to be able to do that full time.

But now my children deserve all of me for these short, short years where they are small. While I am still lucky enough to be their everything. I don’t want to miss my opportunity, and I’m sure I will struggle with wanting to achieve certain goals that I originally had when I started this blog, but they are all that matters. It will be over before I know it, and I refuse to let anything get in the way of being present with them.

So in conclusion of this rambling post, if I wasn't clear, I will only be blogging about our family life from here on out. I don't know if that will mean blogging more or less. Somehow deciding that this will be just another "mommy blog" is hugely liberating.

8/52

a portrait of my children, every week, in 2014

rhett and rad: our rad turned one this past wednesday. :) he and rhett have been brothers for a whole year, and I didn't want the week to pass without documenting them together. they are, by far, the best thing we've ever done. 

a few of my favorite things about their relationship

when rhett goes down for a nap, rad tries to sneak away and goes to bang on rhett's door.

they love to play in the forts we build under the kitchen table.

whatever rhett has, rad wants.

they're created some epic splash-fests in the bathtub and they both giggle hysterically the whole time.

when rhett walks into the room, rad points to him and shrieks. 

part of the bedtime routine is letting them both snuggle in rhett's bed with their milk. they play peek-a-bo with us. :)

rad throughly enjoys being bounced on the tramploine by rhett.

when they are playing toys and rad crawls up, rhett yells out "the giant baby is coming!!"

rhett talks to rad constantly. he narrates everything to him.

when rhett calls for me rad parrots him with "mama! mama! mama!"

and of course the outtakes. :)

i couldn't be more grateful for these 2 little turkeys. :)

(and a video of their first meeting)