Making Himself At Home

Dumping out drawers




Lucky boy has 2 playrooms! Loving the new sports toys in the bonus room upstairs - thanks for putting them together Sam!


Daddy's consultant on the baby gates!



Grandpa's helper




Trouble!


Loving having a bathroom all to himself! The pink sting ray is still his favorite bath toy - silly boy! He enjoys stuffing his toys down the new hoop :)


Ready for potty training? Nope - just a fun new toy...

10.8.11: Moving Day!

The weekend was a blur but by lunchtime on Saturday we had all of our belongings at the new place thanks to our fabulous helpers. A huge thank you to Chuck & Amy Woods, my parents, Katie & Sam, and Stef & Troy for all of their help - you guys are the best! E had a blast hanging out with Aunt Amy all weekend - so grateful she came all the way up here to help us with little man for the weekend.






My camera was MIA most of the first week so didn't get a lot of pics but the house looked like a tornado went through it until just a couple days ago. It took a couple weeks but we finally have all the furniture and appliances we ordered, blinds (thanks mom and dad!), and no leaking plumbing. The water heater was probably the biggest frustration as it died on day #3 and we had freezing cold water for a week. After hours on the phone Brian was able to get the warranty company to cover the replacement cost.



It's the little things that make it feel like home - was so excited to get a doormat for the front door :)

10.6.11: Home Sweet Home

It's official - she's ours! We knocked out signing papers at the closing in 30 minutes and then raced up to the house. The appliance delivery folks were so kind to wait 45 minutes for us to get there in exchange for a case of beer. Small price to pay to have a fridge and dishwasher on day one. We stocked it right away with the essentials...





We spent the day cleaning and tackling projects and getting deliveries and installs. Brian's dad drove up from Iowa to help us out all weekend. My parents picked E up from daycare and we had a pizza picnic on the floor and then worked late into the night.


We spent all day Friday on cleaning and projects as well. Brian's dad was such a huge help with plumbing and electrical projects! My mom and I spent 3 hours working on the walls in the bonus room using pure ammonia, scrappers, and lots of elbow grease to get all of the stickers off the wall. Note to self - no child of mine will ever be allowed to put stickers all over the walls or use glue to hang pictures/posters - what a disaster! Most of the walls in the house are in bad shape but we're going to live with it for a while until we have a better idea how we want to decorate before painting. The yard is in embarrassingly bad shape with so little rain this summer but its so late in the season we figured it's a lost cause until Spring. Heres hoping for an early snow to cover it up ;)

Moving Prep

E had several "vacation days" built up at daycare and I had PTO to burn before the end of the year so took a couple of days off to prep for the move. Good thing I had a little helper...


we packed...


and moved furniture...


and went shopping for the essentials!

Baby Bear

Love these PJs! My parents brought them back from their annual fall trip to the North Shore. We'll have to take E back up there in the next couple years - so many fun memories from his first trip last year.

Family Wedding - Chicago

Saturday was my Cousin Kelly's wedding downtown Chicago. It was quite possibly the most gorgeous wedding I've been to, and I've been to a lot of beautiful weddings ;) The ceremony was at Old St Pats, and the reception was at Galleria Marchetti. Kelly is a news anchor/morning show host in Michigan and was a stunning bride!



Trent and I were "over-served" that evening which made for a slightly obnoxious ride home - lets just say my parents were troopers ;)

A huge thank you to my Aunt Pam & Uncle Ken for watching Ethan for us! As luck would have it he came down with pink eye and was under the weather all weekend so he soaked in all of their love and cuddles but wasn't his normal happy-go-lucky self.

Family Slumber Party = Fail

Since we originally planned on getting a hotel downtown Chicago, we figured we'd stay with my grandpa Friday night to make logistics easier on the wedding day. Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear all lined up in a row. The trundle bed is what my mom slept on as a little girl. Ethan had a cold and was thrashing around and making a ton of noise so after 10 minutes Brian and I moved out to the living room and crashed on the couch and recliner.

Gabby!

Found these pics on Brian's phone from our August trip to Chicago - he loved Gabby the Cocker Spaniel and crawled around chasing her all night at the dinner party.

Bye Bye Curls

We were in Chicago the weekend of September 24th for a wedding and my Aunt Darlene was able to squeeze E in for a haircut that Friday when we got in town. His curls sure were cute but after he was mistaken for a girl twice within a matter of days we decided they had to go. My aunt sure has steady hands - E didn't handle this haircut as well as he did the first one and was wailing and bucking like a bronco a few minutes in. Such a handsome guy - thanks Aunt Darlene!

Riding with Bella

Formula + Bottles are "All Done"

We said goodbye to formula at the end of September (yay!) and I just packed away the bottles this week - wohoo! E's old daycare did a great job of working on sign language. "More" was the first one he learned and then "All Done/Finished." Now he can say all done while he signs. A couple weeks ago he started signing "milk" and we're working on "please" now which is pretty darn cute. Here is a pic of the LAST bottle of formula - he takes (cold)whole milk like a champ now!



Super Dad :)

Trip to DC

I got to spend the weekend of 9/17 in Washington DC with my best friend Amy and her fabulous family. It was a very special trip as I got to be there for my goddaughter Ava's dedication. In addition to all the snuggles with Miss Ava the highlight of the trip was staying up till 4am catching up with Amy while watching a Jersey Shore marathon and drinking champagne:)

Here Comes Trouble

Opening drawers and cabinets have been the theme of the month - it's all fun and games until he shuts them on his finger :(

Fun with Grandpa

New Shoes!

To prep E for transitioning into the toddler room we started putting shoes on him when we'd go outside. He was pretty confused at first but got the hang of it quickly. Can't wait until these adorable Nike's fit him (thanks Aunt Amy!) but in the meantime got these neon green kicks on clearance at Stride Ride and a pair of boots for the winter. He's already figured out how to un-velcro them and take them off.