9 Months

      Dear Colin:

Today you are 9 months old! We can’t believe how quickly your first year is flying by! We’ve already started talking about how to celebrate your birthday.

During these last three months you have made leaps and bounds with your development.

-You have gotten 3 teeth and the fourth one is working its way out.

-You have started eating regular food. You’ve had pork, chicken, fish and lots of fresh fruits and veggies. You can thank Uncle Trevor for introducing you to cake frosting and pickle spears!

-You have learned to sit up all by yourself. You love to sit on the floor with all your toys spread out in front of you. Although you don’t really play with your toys, you mostly hit/punch them.

-You like to pull the visor on your car seat all the way down. This gives you a better view of Mommy and Daddy in the front seat!

-You can also stand up for a few minutes all on your own while leaning against a chair.

-In the last month you’ve really found your voice. You love to scream with joy (and anger!). You make lots of raspberry type noises and find it hilarious when we make the same noises back to you. It won’t be long before you’re saying your first words and talking non-stop!

      - You learned to spit – much to our dislike! But you look so cute when you do it!

This summer also gave us a lot of family time to go out and explore our city. We have gone to the state capital, the state fair and Saylorville Lake. You also had your first experience with swimming at a local wading pool. You liked it until the water got on your belly. You enjoyed your own personal wading pool in the back yard much more.

 You and Mommy had to spend a week without Daddy while he was traveling for work. You were very impressed with your first visit to the airport! We missed Daddy a lot but luckily the week went by fast! In a few weeks we have to do it all over again, only this time he’ll be gone for almost two straight weeks. You’ll also be starting a new daycare soon. Jill is very nice and we’re all excited for you to start with her.

We can’t wait to see how much you’re going change in the next three months and what you’re going to learn. Every day is so much for fun us as we watch you learn and grow.

We love you to the moon and back,

Mommy and Daddy

Redecorating

Recently I sat in my living room and realized I was surrounded by a sea of brown...brown furniture, brown and beige curtains, beige carpet. My soul was craving some color and vibrancy (is that a word? it is now). It just so happens I had that day off work so I packed up the kiddo and headed to Target to get some color scheme ideas. It was a big day for baby C, too. It was his first time riding in the cart like a big boy (aka sitting up front sans car seat). Please forgive me because I seriously teared up. My little bebe is turning in to a little boy :-(.

Moving on...

I quickly settled on lime green and grey. These two colors would be a nice contrast to the brown furniture since replacing it wasn't in my budget. Side note, throw pillows in the bedroom section are ridiculously cheaper than in the home section. I saw these and almost fell over. They were PERFECT!

Next on my list was to find the right curtains. I knew instantly that these curtains were it. They were not cheap (I needed four panels, they cost $30 for two panels) but I love that they are thin enough to let some light in but thick enough that people can't see through them.

{{Excuse the lack of photos. I'm new to this whole documenting-your-whole-life-in-photos thing}}

Once I got my loot home, hung up the curtains and threw the pillows on the couch...the room was still missing something. The mirror that sits between the two windows just wasn't working with the new scheme.

See? Not good.

Once the hubs got home, I quizzed him on what should be done with it. Paint? Trash it? I didn't want to trash it. It's actually a nice mirror and it's nice having one near the door so I can do a quick lipstick check before leaving. So we settled on painting it. The hubs suggested orange and I was totally down. The room needed a pop of color...and it's just paint. It's easy to change if it doesn't work out.

TA DA! Much better

The mirror turned out much better than I expected it to and it really just brings the whole room together.

Couch with pillows

At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to leave those two paintings where they are. We got them in New Orleans on our honeymoon and I was worried they would look too small for the space...which they do. Plus they're centered on the wall but not over the couch so it looks sort of funny. But I bought some red cube shelves to hang between them and that yellow one is going to get moved over so it's even with the end of the couch. Hopefully that will help fill up the wall space so it won't look so empty.

Still on my list of improvements is to paint that bookshelf next to the couch white and convince the hubs to move an oil painting on the other living room wall...it matched the old decor but not the new and improved!