BIke Crashes and New Beds

Alrighty, I think this will be the last post to get me caught up for a little while.  Make sure you scroll down and catch up with all posts I've had to post in bulk! 

After getting home from Indiana we made some major changes with Jayce in regards to sleeping arrangements.  He's never been a good sleeper anywhere other than his crib, so traveling with him is always added stress getting him to sleep and nap regularly.  This time rather than hauling the pop-up tent we got for him to sleep in to Indiana and once again NOT using it, we decided to just leave it at home and let him sleep with us, which is what he usually does anyways.  After the first couple nights of that I decided that Pregnant Mommy has enough sleep issues of not having her maternity pillows without adding toddler in the bed on top of it.  So Jayce got his very own air mattress on the floor next to Mommy and Daddy's pull-out.  He did surprisingly well considering how the tent or anywhere else usually goes, but he did spend the majority of the night sleeping on the floor after rolling off the air mattress.  Oh well, he still slept!! 

Part of my thinking during this process was, we need to transition him to a toddler bed soon anyways, with the baby coming and him just a few months from sharing a room with Riley, so what better time to start than now.  So when we got home I took the side rail off the crib and turned it into the toddler bed like we did with Riley.

Just like Riley he spent the first few nights sleeping on the floor after rolling out of bed.  But by the third night he had learned to climb back up in bed, and now more than a week in, I think he's cured of falling out (at least on a regular basis!)

So Step 1 of bed transformation is complete!!!  YAY!!  Step 2 will come in the next couple Months.  We will move the crib (and all of Jayce's things) into Riley's room, officially moving Jayce into Riley's room to get the nursery ready for baby.  Step 3 will come later, just before baby, or a few weeks after, when the boys get . . . shhhhh!!!! . . . bunk beds for Christmas, and we move the crib back into the nursery for baby.  I found a bunk bed set that I like (Riley's friend Greg got some when his brother Jaxon moved in to make room for their new baby brother Liam) and have decided to get them bunk beds - Since Riley absolutely will NOT stop talking about it now!!  ;)  But recently I found some plans online (have I mentioned how much I LOVE Pinterest!!!) to make your own bunk beds.  I was so excited, since we need a full bed for guests still I wanted a full bed on bottom and a twin on top bunk bed set.  It's been hard to find that, especially in wood, and black to match the room, without spending a fortune!  But these plans are simple, made with basic lumber in a mission style, and will get me the bunk beds I want at a SUPER CHEAP price!!!  YAY!!! 

In other news . . . Riley is all banged up!!  Earlier this week he crashed his bike while riding with Daddy and skinned up his chin, shoulder and knee pretty good.  Then later he fell while playing at Greg's house and added his thumb and elbow to the trauma list.  Of course he's fine, but milking it for all it's worth!!  Little stinker! 

This week I had to forgo crochet items to work on a painting for Lacey and new Baby Liam.  I had promised to make this for her, and was running out of time.  I finally started on it Sunday night, only to have her go into labor and have Liam on Monday!  Talk about Timing!!  So I finished it as quickly as I could and had it ready the day after they got home from the hospital.

I was so happy to be painting again, I always forget how much I miss it, and am looking forward now to doing the baby's nursery, once we find out if I'm painting Blue or Pink!!!  Only a little over a week until we find out . . . and I'm going stir-crazy waiting!!!  I've already got two room ideas picked out (blue dot circles for a boy (see Pinterest for examples) and pink/white/brown cherry blossoms for a girl - the same I've had picked out for years!!!) and I'm itching to get started on them - either of them!!  I guess first I should get started on the changes to Riley's room to make it ready for Jayce though.  With the addition of bunkbeds I'm going to have to paint over the dragon mural - I know, there will be tears at that one!!!  But don't worry, I'm going to re-do it - ON CANVAS so it's transportable!!!  I'm also going to do a tiger one for Jayce to add to the room, to make it more "his" too. 

But I've also got Severance Days coming up and a lot to do to get ready for my Booth.  Things are going good so far, I finished up all the projects I wanted to have done and are just working on a few simple extras.  Now all I have left is the little things, tags for prices/sizes, signage, and I'm currently exploring techniques for stamping my logo on bags.  We'll see how that goes.  A few more purchases of fabric for tablecloths and decor to make my tables "appealing" and I'll be all set!! 

Coming up next week is the ultrasound for the baby . . .Boy or Girl?  You'll have to wait and see!! Then Mommy is leaving for MOPS Convention!!!  Yay, Finally travel without kiddo's!!!  This will be nice, a much needed break!!!  Such an inspiring and uplifting time - I can't wait!  Then the week after Riley starts Kindergarten!  Oh boy . . . can't believe I have a Kindergartener!!  Ugh!  So look for Many More updates throughout the month of August!!  I'll try to be more regular about it!  ;)   Have a good rest of the week everyone!

Trip to Indiana

Ok, I'm WAY behind on my updates!!  Sorry, it's been a busy week since we got back from our trip, and I've been having internet issues again with getting pictures up, so I'm FINALLY getting around to doing this.

Two weeks ago (ugh, yes it's been that long) we boarded a plane bound for Indiana!  And Mommy was once again reminded how stressful it is flying with two small children.  With Daddy's work training and the fact that Jayce can still be a lap child, we only had to pay for 2 tickets, but it' wasn't really worth it in my mind.  Because of work paying for Cam's ticket, we had to book separately, which meant separate seats on the flight.  Not too big of a deal considering that I just sat with the two boys and asked the person sitting next to us to kindly switch with my husband a few rows up!  Which they were happy to do rather than sit next to the mom of the two rambunctious boys!!  But that time sitting there waiting was still stressful for me.  Not to mention the flights, both flights were delayed slightly, but not until we had boarded the plane.  So we sat there strapped in, not even taxi-ing.  That's the worst!!  Jayce will go to sleep on a plane, but not until we are in the air and the hum of the full throttle engines drowns out all other noises and distractions.  So there we sat with our screaming child until take off.  The plus side . . . My friend Cathy (whose little one Ryder is just a few months older than Jayce) had just flown to Cancun with her family, and swore by using Dum-Dum suckers for the landing to keep them happy during the pressure changes.  She even gave me a few so that I didn't have to go get any!!  AND THEY WORKED WONDERS!!!  Candy isn't a constant treat in our house, so this was a big deal, and on top of that it took their minds off the rest of the issues associated with landing.  Jayce ended up with a blue raspberry flavor and so that was interesting to explain to everyone as we de-planed, My Son's Mouth is Blue from a Sucker!!  But it worked!!

After some confusion with cars and car seats at pickup, we were on our way to Grandma & Grandpa Louie's house.  We spent the majority of our time there, hiding out indoors from the heat (just like in Colorado), but the boys had fun playing with all the toys in the toybox.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning!  We took almost Daily trips to visit Grandma Wilson, Tuesday for a Luau that the home had for residents and Families.  It was cute and the residents seemed to really enjoy it.  But once again it was hot, and we didn't stay long.

Wednesday we had plans to go Swimming with Aunt Anna.  She just moved into a new apartment that has a pool (indoors and out) so the boys were excited to splash around in the water.  It looked like rain so we headed to the indoor pool to be safe from lightning.  However, after getting in and getting wet, they came and told us that the roof wasn't secure enough to be safe from lightning and we had to get out of the indoor pool as well.  ?????  OK????  So, we went to Grandma Wilson's to spend some more time with her!  Jayce and Riley had fun showing Grandma just how much energy they have on a daily basis!!  

Thursday we took a trip to the Children's Museum, always a favorite!  There was so much to see with the new Hot Wheels and Lego's Exhibits, but I think the favorite is always the trains!  Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Louie for going with us!!

Thursday night we drove up to Noblesville (since we were halfway there anyways) to see some good friends the Cazee's.  They have two girls and the youngest is just a year older than Riley.  He and Charlotte hit it off fantastically!!  They had so much fun playing and running around!  It was so wonderful to catch up with old friends!

Friday was our usual Family Dinner with the Louie's.  It was so great to see everyone!  And congratulate my Nieces on their great accomplishments - Caitlyn is now a Double Dutch WORLD Champion!!!  And Maddie placed as a Champion on her Genealogy 4-H project, taking her to the State Fair!  Way to go Girls!!  And Congrats to Caleb too, since I didn't get to congratulate him in person, on his Blue Ribbon Drawing!!  

Once again Riley had way too much fun playing with Vanessa . . . so much that things turned painful!  ;)  All are ok, minus some hurt feelings, but it had been a long day of playing.  It was so good to have intelligent, adult conversation!!  I don't get that much anymore and that evening provided for lots of it!!  Ahhh.  So good to see all the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins!!

Saturday we packed up and headed to Unkie Rodgie's house before the airport.  That was a relaxing time!!  Literally, Kathie and I soaked our feet in some of my favorite Pink Papaya products while the boys spent the morning running inside and out trying to decide if it was more fun to play in the backyard or inside with all the people!  As always Unkie Rodgie gave the boys toy cars to play with and take home, and this was perfect after the trip to see the Hot Wheels at the Museum.

The flight home was another stressful, delayed flight, but we made it home safely and I can honestly say I was happy to be back in Colorado.  Traveling with kids is getting difficult, and its only going to get harder when the new baby comes.   So we are currently re-evaluating our travel plans (timing, transportation, etc) for future trips back to see family.  Of course, Family can always come out to see us!!  ;) 

Denver Zoo

Oh wow, am I behind!!  Over weeks ago now, we took a trip to the Denver Zoo with some friends.  It was a crazy morning and we had to make a side trip to the Hospital after our good friend Jan was taken by ambulance on her way to meeting us.  Thankfully she's ok now, seems she had an anxiety attack of some sort while driving.  She missed out on the zoo, and we missed her, but we are just so happy that she's ok, and thankfully to all the helpful people that took care of her on the road and in the hospital.

So after our crazy morning we didn't make it to the zoo as early as planned and had to cut the visit short because of the heat.  But what we did get to see was GREAT!!  They have a new Elephant exhibit that is absolutely wonderful!  Of course we went straight there.  It was neat to see the new elephants, and all the space they have for future expansion.

We also visited the "tidal pools" a little splash area for kids to play in, and it was a great cool-down.

Our other favorite stop was the Big Cats.  Most were inside keeping cool, so we got to see a lot of them up close and personal!  Along with a new leopard kitten, and the Snow Leopards!!  I think those may be my personal favorite!!  We rarely get to see them, and when do they are just laying around in the shade, but this day they were walking around, jumping, and even playing!!  It was almost magical to watch them float through the air and pounce on each other so silently!  I could have watched them all day!!

That pretty much took us through the trip to the zoo, we saw more animals than that, but with 4 boys and two exhausted Mommies, 4 hours was enough for us!!  SO since we were that far south, we made a little side trip so that I could introduce our friends to Steak n Shake Milkshakes!!  We figured that after corralling the kids, first at the emergency room, then the zoo we could treat ourselves!  It was Yummy!!

And since we were so close, we also visited IKEA!!  I am now in love!  I never understood all the hype when IKEA came to Denver, but that's because I was an IKEA Virgin!  Now that I have been, I'm obsessed!!  And I can't wait to go back!!  So Cool!!!  Thank you Cathy, for introducing me to the fabulous-ness that is IKEA!!!

Then it was home to pack, because soon we were off to INDIANA!!

Birthdays and Bike Riding

Happy Birthday to Daddy!!  Yesterday was his birthday and we had so much fun celebrating it!  Riley helped me wrap the presents a few days ago and has been bugging me since then if we can give them to him yet!  Apparently he told Cam not to look in the closet either because "that's where the presents are hidden."  ugh!  Oh well.  Then we pull them out of the closet to take to Cam and Riley hands him one and says "Here, This one is your Water Bottle."  We are definitely gonna have to work on secret keeping!  Anyways, We got up yesterday and the boys helped me make Lemon Dessert, one of Cam's Favorites, from his mom's recipe.  Riley especially liked licking the spoon and bowl after mixing the cream cheese/cool whip layer.  Then we met Daddy at the park for lunch.  It was nice to spend some time with him.  We had Brats and Corn-on-the-cob for dinner, and of course Lemon Dessert for dessert.  I got out some candles to stick in the "cake" and only got out 5.  My reasoning was Cam is 32, so I'll get 3 and 2 candles.  So I pull out the 5 candles and Riley counts them and says "Daddy, You're 5 years old, I'm 5 too!!"  It was so cute!! 

Along with his new water bottle, he got some new running socks, an insulation tube for his camelbak, and a new screwdriver set.  It wasn't much (everything else on his list was super expensive and way past my technical understanding of cars!), but I hope he knows how much he is appreciated and loved for his birthday. 

In other news!  RILEY CAN RIDE A TWO WHEEL BIKE NOW!!!!  He's such a big boy, and keeping him off the bike now is a challenge!  He loves it!  It took a few times up and down the sidewalk, and a few tears for him to realize that he could pick his feet up and put them on the pedals, but once he did there was no stopping him!!  You can watch the video Here. 

We haven't done much else the last week.  I've been crocheting up a storm the last few weeks.  I've got my first festival coming up, and after evaluating my inventory I realized I'm really behind.  But I've worked really hard the last couple weeks to make up some ground.  A BIG THANK YOU to my husband for being so understanding and giving me the time I need to work on everything.  I've gotten a lot accomplished.  Here's some pictures of stuff I've done the last few weeks.  I'm especially proud of the animal hats (they are the hardest and most time consuming).  Just a few more baby blankets, scarves, and girl's hats to go!!  Check out everything I have for sale at www.babybeardesigns.net  and/or LIKE my Facebook Page here.  And you can always place an order by emailing me at babybeardesigns@yahoo.com. 

Next week is a trip to Indy!!  Can't wait to see all our friends and family!  Look for lots of pictures afterwards!  Have a good week everyone!