The Wooden Spoon

Oh yes, it is time to purchase one of those! I don't know about you guys but my mom used to pop us with a wooden spoon when we were bad. I noticed some friends of ours from church had one for their 9 month old. With Kate's latest outburst, mama (me) is getting a wooden spoon. So maybe after a pop or two and some time out, we will know who is boss. Kate has started this little sad face when her feelings are hurt. It truly breaks my heart. However, I can't have a spoiled rotten brat on my hands so I will reassure her that mama still loves her. I just didn't think Kate was going to be the type to push the envelope. She does....on everything! Some days it is a fight to change her diaper (1), put her clothes on (2), get her in the car (3), and normally some type of small outburst when we are somewhere (4). This Big Ole Preggo is exchausted! Anyway, now that I have a child that definitely challenges me, I secretly hope all kids challenge their parents at one time. I know that is bad for me to feel that way, but why should one get off fancy free when others have to work so hard. Ha!

Now look at my precious angel (haha):

Bargains!

This was a weekend full of bargains. It started on Wednesday or Thursday when I got word from a Livie and Luca customer service representative that I could go on their website and pick a brand new pair of shoes and they would send them to us. This started with a casual conversation when I asked about the glue they used in their shoes because I wasn't sure if Kate consumed any of it after she was able to pull her pair of Livie and Luca shoes apart. This happened about 5-6 months ago but I just discovered the glue was gone. So after confirmation that their glue was non-toxic I asked about a replacement pair. They agreed! And what is even better is that Kate wore those shoes until she grew out of them. So we are getting a new size 7 for free. Here is that they are sending us:



Next bargain happened on Friday. Mom and I met in Hoover and we headed out to some yard sales that mom had identified in the paper. The first stop was in the Lake Cyrus subdivision. As soon as we walked up we noticed a duvet cover that looked like expensive materials plus shams, curtains and a bedskirt. Mom looked at it for a while considering it for their place at the lake. In the meantime I started looked through the 3 other sets she had. They were all for full sized beds because she had used them to decorate her girls rooms. Mom ended up walking out with a set that was yellow with stripes and a white coverlet. I ended up with a set that had a background of pink, with black and white poodles. It also had black and white stripes on the front and all black and white polka dots on the underside. I was able to wash it all when I got home. Oh...forgot the price. We got them for $30 each. We considered that a pretty good deal considering it was customized made. I will take a picture as soon as we get it on Kate's big girl bed. We decided to go ahead and convert her toddler bed to a full size and get her the guardrails.

Oh to back up a minute. Kate is out of her crib. She climbed out on August 5th, 3 times in a row when she was mad at Don for putting her to bed. So, we had to transform her bed that night. Two days later I heard a thug first thing in morning. Kate was on the floor. Because you can not use the standard guardrails on a toddler bed, we decided to go ahead and convert so we could put up the bedrail for her. We plan on purchasing the mattress this week.

Okay, final bargain of the weekend. Mom called the furniture place where I got Kate's baby furniture. My dad use to work with her father-in-law so the lady there kinda knows our family. Mom was able to get us $100 discount on the crib and changer. Believe me, this is a huge discount! AND, D was able to pick it up yesterday. The particular crib was backordered until October 25th but the lady had it in stock. That never happens at this particular small furniture store but she planned to assemble it as a floor model. Plus she had the changer too! In the color! Awesome! As soon as we get it assembled I will post pictures of it too. Yay for bargain weekends!

3 * 7 = 21...Celebration

Yesterday, my Sweet Pete turned 3 years old (that's 21 in human years folks). We did not do anything special but we did buy him a bag full of dingos (his favorite rawhides) and sang Happy Birthday. If you are not a dog lover like myself, you will never know the joy that a dog can bring to your life until you go out and try it for yourself. Happy Birthday Petey Papaya! Purchasing you that Sunday afternoon in Fort Payne, AL after that nice win over Tennessee will never be a mistake.

Cousin Reid is "2 of Them"

Thanks to Little Hannah Dyer for coining the phrase "2 of Them". Kate's cousin Reid turned 2 last week. We celebrated with him this past weekend at his house in Huntsville. His parents are wonderful meal providers. We had grilled chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs. As well as cucumber/corn mustard vinaigrette, a huge bowl of mixed fruit, yummy ripe cherries, chips, and all the toppings you could want. Then after the food we sang happy birthday to the birthday boy and enjoyed a pull apart cupcake cake. Don's sister and family are headed to Disney World in September so the birthday party was Disney Themed. I know they are going to have a great time! Kate loved being with her cousins. I watched as Ryan led Kate into his room then showed her how to climb on the trunk at the end of his bed to get onto his bed. Then told her to stand up and jump like him. This is when I interceded and told Ryan that we had to go back in the kitchen. Yikes! :) Kate and Reid finally showed each other a little attention. They are only 2 months apart in age so in the past I thought they would be more interested in each other. Kate enjoyed pushing him around on his little trike and then before we left they were busy marking on each other's hands with the washable markers. So glad we could share this special day with Reid and the rest of the Renyer clan!


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Decisions, Decisions!

Baby Bed and Changing Table (unless I change my mind between today and tomorrow afternoon):

Both in espresso (dark wood stain, close to black) -



Also, I am thinking of purchasing this baby jogger to serve as my everything stroller:

UPDATED: Sweet Baby Boy's Crib

I met with the bedding lady today. She is much more organized now then she was 2 years ago but with organization came a 200% increase in the price. Yikes! So I compromised on just a bumper, sheet and possible crib skirt versus getting the pillow and blanket as well. So after looking at all her stuff, and she had alot of stuff, I decided on something I had seen made up before at Storkland Baby in Vestavia. The print is called Cottontail Toile. It looks like this...

http://www.javisdavis.com/images/swatches/0135_lg.jpg

So this print will be on 2/3 of the two long sides of the crib. It goes toile, blue minky dot, then toile. On the 2 side pieces of the bumper, it will be the blue minky dot. Also on all the outside of the crib it will be blue minky dot. (I might get this changed so that one side be blue minky dot and one side be cottontail toile on the side pieces). Anyway, there will be piping of white ribbed chenille separating the pieces of blue minky dot and cottontail toile. She is going to use white and blue small polka ribbon to tie the bumper to the bed. The Sheet will also be white with small blue dots. If I do a crib skirt (really depends on crib) it will be ribbed white chenille.
http://www.javisdavis.com/images/swatches/0388_lg.jpg
Also we will monogram a "F" or our last name on the middle portion (which is blue minky dot) of one of the long pieces.

I am not sure you can picture all of this but the more I think about it, the more excited I get about it. I went in there wanting baby boy and not kid boy. I believe I stuck to my guns. Hope baby boy likes it!

UPDATE: A visual of something very similar -

The Big Reveal

Okay, my title is such a tease. I wanted to inform everyone that Don and I have a name for our little man. Some of you may know the first name. Don and I also concluded on a middle name this weekend. I am going to hold off announcing the name until his birth for the fact that I like to change my mind alot and if I happen to hear something better between now and then, I would totally use it. I think we have a pretty solid name though. Shew!!!! Seriously, that was a hard process. :)

Other big news...Don starts a new job today. It is for the same company doing something very similar to what he was before BUT (and that is a big BUT) he will be working in the corporate office along the river in T-town (versus the old, yucky refinery) AND he won't have to get to work until around 8am versus before 7am at the refinery. It should be an 8-5 job. I can not express how thankful that this landed in Don's lap at the time it did. Before he told me about this new opportunity, I was watching him leave earlier and earlier every morning (we are talking like before 5:30 to make his 45 minute commute) and he would come home later and later. It was wearing on him and I could tell it. He also was taking his lunch so he was basically having no breaks during the day. Then out of no where they decided in the corporate office that they needed someone with Don's knowledge of the refinery (D basically is in charge of planning aspects, he makes sure they have enough room in tanks for the different types of products they produce). He had to do alot of reports with the last job. Hopefully not as many on this end. And one more BIG thing, he doesn't have to carry around that stupid next-tel phone that looks like a circa 1980 first cellular phone every made. No more calls in the middle of the night from some Joe not knowing what to do. YAY!

I go tomorrow to decide on baby bedding. Fun! I'll fill you in on my findings.