back to the real world!

I had a little over two weeks off between jobs but this past Monday, it was back to work.  Truthfully, I didn't mind.  I was kinda tired of wearing the same three pairs of gym shorts and tank tops, spending my days painting and picking out ceiling fans.  It was a nice change to blow dry my hair, put on make-up, and wear real people clothes when Monday rolled around.

So far?  I LOVE this new place.  Granted, I haven't even remotely started doing my actual job yet. There will be lots of training and learning before I will feel just a little bit comfortable holding the reins.  But this is a great company, with great benefits. The people are friendly and welcoming and I already feel right at home.  I can't tell you what a relief all of this is during such a crazy time in my life.  I've met some new faces and had the pleasure of seeing some familiar ones from previous work with the agency.  I can't tell you how happy I am.

It's weird - when I was working third shift, people were always telling me "I don't know how you do it."  I thought, do what? I have to work for a living, this (my former) job allows me to be home with my kids on Fridays and not have to send them to the babysitter five days a week.  Sure, that saved us a little money.  But I didn't get to see my kids in the morning.  Ryan was getting them ready all by himself.  I wasn't there at night when they were sick, which made my stomach hurt and my heart ache.  Now, even though they are going to our sitter five days a week, I feel like I see them more, not less.  I definitely get to see Ryan more because I don't have to leave as soon as the kids go to bed.

I don't know how I did it either.  I don't know how my husband did it.  He was home alone with two babies through their first year (and beyond) of not-so-wonderful sleep habits.  You guys? I got a keeper.  We still have a long way to go on the house and some big decisions to make, but things are only gonna get better.

Good stuff.

xo,
~C~

Dear Dexter (15 month letter)

Dear Dexter,

You are 15 months old today!  You are one of the happiest people I know.  Your smile is contagious and people always ask me, "he's always happy, isn't he?"  My answer is, "yep, pretty much!"  It's true.  That's what I think of when I think of you - happiness.

You still have seven teeth.  Four on top and three on bottom.  You haven't gotten any new teeth in about 6 months so I imagine we are all in for a treat pretty soon.  I'm sure it won't change your happy disposition though.  Right?

You are starting to talk more and will repeat anything anyone tells you to.  Sometimes you surprise me by saying something I didn't even know you knew how to say.  You love putting on everyone's shoes and walking around with them clopping on the floor.  You love to follow your big brother around and play whatever he's playing.

You like food - most kinds of food and large quantities of food.  You're still just a little guy though, right around 20th percentile in weight and 50th in height.  You still wake up around 5 or 6am most days, wanting a bottle of warm milk.  Mom's a sucker for those big blue eyes and hasn't made you give it up yet.  Soon though.

Lots of stuff has been going on lately with our new house.  I know mommy and daddy haven't been around as much lately but it's all for you and Theo.  We are making our new house nice.  You are going to have a wonderful place to grow up and do you know why?  Because you deserve it.  You deserve the world, my cute little blondie, and we will do our best to give it to you.

You turned our world upside down, Dex, but guess what?  We wouldn't have it any other way.

xoxo,
mommy

am i totally crazy for this?

One of our non-negotiables when looking for a house was that it would have four bedrooms.  All my close family and best friends live out of state so it's always been important to me that my guests have a nice place to lay their heads at night when they are visiting.

We bought a house with three bedrooms.  

It seemed natural at first that the older child would have the bigger of the bedrooms - we're talking about 30 square feet bigger - but that didn't feel right.  They're only 14 months apart anyway.  After thinking about it, we've decided to see how it goes, letting the boys share a room.  The room is about 13.5' x 13.5' and has plenty of room for two cute toddlers.  I guess my instinct is telling me that they play wherever the other one is, they go to bed at the same time, they get up at the same time...so why not?  Does this seem like a disaster in the making? 

Since we bought a house with just three bedrooms, this seems like a simple solution until the boys are older and express a desire for their own space.  There are some possibilities for a fourth bedroom either in the basement or unfinished attic space later on down the road.  

The only thing I worry about is bedtime.  When we move, we are giving Theo's crib to Dexter and getting rid of Dexter's.  Cold turkey.  Theo will have a new house, a new room, and a new bed.  Oh, and he'll be sharing his new room with his little brother.  Too much at once?  Anyway, I anticipate putting them in bed and then Theo getting out of bed 500 times while he is getting used to his new freedom.  Maybe I'll be wrong, I hope I am, but that's what I worry about the most.  

With them both being boys, playing with the same toys, and being so close in age, it just seemed like a good idea.  We shall see...I'll have to keep you posted on that one.  

Here are a few pictures of recent progress, starting with Dexter's crib bedding (from Amazon, last year's Kimberly Grant Zoom Zoom collection) and the new twin bedding I picked out for Theo (currently at Target).

The base colors - light gray and blue (with one row of tape, getting ready for stripes.

A couple of visitors came by to supervise our work. 

They approved.

They had fun playing with the used painter's tape.

Momma working on those stripes.

Finally - finished paint job and the old carpet is gone.

Momma working on the master bedroom.

Going to paint those window walls some other color - just haven't figure out which one yet. The color of the walls is a light aqua shade.  So pretty!  I'm thinking maaaybe red.  Too much?

If you google "red and aqua bedroom," there are so many inspirational images...oh my.  Here's one that I love.

{source}

Just realized I was ALL over the place with this. So here's the recap... am I crazy for making/letting the boys share a room?  And is red/aqua awesome or what? 

xo,
~C~