21 Month Phrases

Carter turned 21 months old this week! Not much has changed about his behaviors since my 20 month update, but I wanted to record some of the phrases that he's saying now that he's starting to put some words together.

"Ho Daddy/Mommy" (Hello, Daddy/Mommy.)
"Bye Daddy/Mommy" (Bye, Daddy/Mommy.)
"Righ Back" (I/He/She will be right back.)
"Watch Choo-choo" (I want to watch Chuggington.)
Typical.

"At-sigh Sheesh" (I want to go outside and play with Fischer.)

"No, Sheesh" (No, Fischer.) 

Ahhh, life with a labrador brother :-)

"Daddy/Mommy sues"(Those are Daddy/Mommy's shoes.)

"Daddy/Mommy seat" (That's where Mommy/Daddy sits)

"Daddy/Mommy eat" (Daddy/Mommy, I want to try some of what you are eating.)

"Daddy/Mommy juice" (That's Daddy/Mommy's drink.)

I guess he really likes to point out things about us - very observant! 

"Hap Pees" / "Pees Hap" (Help me, please.)

He uses this one correctly too - like when he's stuck/frustrated. 

"Read da boos" (I'm reading the books. / I want to read the books.)
This is what I hear in the monitor as soon as he wakes up everyday. 

I will come back and add to this list as I think of more...this is all I could come up with for now :-) 

PS This is also the age that Carter will be when he officially becomes a big brother (unless Miles is more than 6 days overdue - Mama is hoping that is not the case!!)

Big Boy Bed

As promised, here are some pictures of Carter's "big boy bed." He absolutely loves it!

He has done a fantastic job transitioning to sleeping exclusively in this bed. How did we work the transition? Well, he went to spend a week at his grandparent's house, and I decided that we would start making him sleep in his bed as soon as he got back (since, at that point, he was no longer "used" to his crib...). I think this worked great! 

UPDATE ON SLEEP HABITS: I haven't had to stage any more campouts like I mentioned in THIS POST. It really only took 3-4 "correctional moments" for him to get the point that "when we put you in the bed, you cannot get back out." The harder thing for him to understand is what to do when he wakes up early. We've had a few 6am wake-ups, but we just put him back in bed and tell him it's not time to get up yet. This has worked so far. This morning, however, we heard a lil' voice reading his "boos" (books) at 4:30am. I got up and found that he had turned on his light, and was sitting in his bean bag chair surrounded by books he had pulled off the shelf :-) I could tell he was still tired but thought it was morning time, so I turned off the light and put him back in bed - explaining that it was still night time and he needed to keep sleeping. He cried for about half a second and then went back to sleep. I really think he understands me when I talk to him about his bed/sleeping habits, so now when he gets in the bed, I remind him of the "rules." Call me crazy, but I really think the "review" may help! 

The rails on it are different, but I love them both! On one side, there is a more "permanent" (but completely removable) RAIL that basically pinches the mattress and the bedding - not only does it hold Carter in, but it also keeps the bed made on that side! The OTHER RAIL is slightly less hardcore, but it still does it's main job of holding Carter in. It also folds down, so that I can make the bed. I have a thing about made-up beds. It takes 2 seconds and makes the whole house feel cleaner!!!

Carter's nightstand is an old organ bench that our neighbors were throwing away. It's the perfect height, and once we painted it - it looks nice too! Not too bad for free. It holds his lamp, monitor, and 2 favorite books. Right now the faves are his Adventure Bible Storybook and his My Favorite Bible Songs book.

The light switch has an EXTENDER on it that we got in a 3 pack. We put one in his bedroom, bathroom, and playroom. He LOVES THESE! He is so proud to be able to turn on and off the lights!!! As I mentioned previously, the downside is that his little light may be on at 4:30am now :-) Oh well! At least he wasn't wandering around his room in complete darkenss! 

Our big boy loves his room, and we couldn't be happier! 

Embroidered Lamp Shade Tutorial

I've been getting crafty lately. I needed some lamp shades for the boys rooms. I wanted something cute, cheap, and something that matched the rooms. It's pretty hard to find all of that rolled into 1 lamp shade, so I set out to make them instead. It was really not that hard.

First of all, I found these great shades at Hancocks for $12.

It's an adhesive lamp shade! I also bought a half yard of fabric that matched each of the boys' rooms. I used a round shade and a lighter weight gingham for the nursery and a square shade and heavier weight upholstery fabric for Carter's room. I would highly recommend using the square shade and heavier weight fabric - they are both WAY easier to work with and the heavier fabric hides more of the imperfections!

I used the template that came with the shade to cut my fabric. I left extra all the way around so that I would have some to tuck under.

Then I folded under a small portion all the way around the edge of the fabric and straight stitched it to keep the edges looking nice. 

Next, I measured the center and embroidered the monogram onto the fabric. 

Then I stuck the fabric to the shade. This seems like a simple step, but there's a lot of positioning, sticking, smoothing, undoing, and repeating involved in this step! Again, the heavier weight fabric and the square shade were much easier to work with here. 

Finally, I took my hot glue gun and tucked and glued the extra fabric around the top and bottom edges. It's not perfect, but it works!

The finished products? 

Cute - check

Cheap - check

Matches Rooms - Check

I'm a happy girl!

POST BONUS:
Here's a picture of the guest room valence that I made while my mom was here. That room desperately needed something to frame the bed, and this valence did just the trick!

He's a Big Boy - It's Official!

We've been working on a lot of things around here lately. One of the most important things we've been working on has been freeing up our crib, so that we can make it baby-ready (raise it, put a mobile back in it, clean up the bedding, etc..)! That's right, C-man no longer sleeps in his crib. He has moved into his big boy room! He LOVES the fact that he is now a big boy. He wants to hang out in his new room all the time - mostly reading...

When I ask him if he's ready to go to sleep or take a nap in his big boy bed, he gets a BIG smile on his face and runs upstairs saying "Stars." That is because we left the (approximately 1.5 million) glow in the dark stars that the former owners of this house had adhered to that bedroom's ceiling. I'm actually glad we did now. Carter LOVES the galaxy on his ceiling, and I'm not complaining about his excitement.

In all honesty, the transition was going PERFECTLY until today. He slowly started getting more and more comfortable, and today he woke up and came out of his room at 6am. We calmly put him back in bed and told him it wasn't time to get up....he went back down until 7am. Then at nap time, I had to lay on the floor by his bed with my wooden spoon discipline tool, so that he knew he could not get out of bed when I put him down for a nap (which he did a few times before getting the point). It may take a few more camp outs like that one, but so far so good!

I'm so proud of my big boy, and I'm feeling much more prepared for Miles's arrival! Here are some pics from around the room...

Kevin made these PALLET SHELVES to hold his books. Click on that link to take you to the tutorial. They are a hit with everyone! Grandmama added the bean bag chair while she was here - it is also a hit :-)

I made the cornice board just like I made the ones in the PLAYROOM and embroidered a circle to go on it. I found a styrofoam circle at Joann's, embroidered the fabric, and hotglued the fabric to the circle. I attached the circle to the cornice board with pins, so that it is removable.

Here's the close up. I love how it turned out :-) 

His night stand was just painted when Grandmama was here, so the area around his bed is not photo-ready yet, but I'll post another update with pictures of his actual bed! 

Nursery Update

My mom came up to visit for a few days, and we worked hard! My mom loves a good project, so my project for her time here was to finish everything that needed doing before Miles is born :-) Ha! It was no small goal, but we (almost) accomplished everything on my "MUST be done before baby" list. I still have a few things here and there, but nothing major. Thanks, Mom!!!! Here are some pictures of our nursery. I don't have pictures of the whole crib yet because we still have a few things to do to make it baby-ready.

I made his lamp shade...I'll show you how in a later post. 

I made these prints too! I posted about this HERE.

Kevin made the shelf and squares and painted the plane & train, Mom and I painted the letters!

Here's a close-up, and YES, that's a pic of Carter for now, but soon it will be one of Miles :-)

I'll be back to post pics of the baby-ready crib soon!

We are also completely prepared in the diaper/wipe area now thanks to our wonderful Sunday School class. I had a diaper and wipe shower the other day with my good friend Sandra (who had her baby boy this morning!). Thank you to all our wonderful friends! We are blessed.

Happy Easter!

"But He was wounded for our transgressions,

He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."

Isaiah 53:5

"He is not here; for He is risen, just as He said."

Matthew 28:6

Thank you, Lord, for the precious gift of eternal life paid for by Jesus on the cross. Thank you that Jesus is alive and waiting to see us in Heaven!!!

Happy Easter!


(See THIS POST for details on Carter's outfit.)

Play Time

Daddy
    - (n.) the best playmate ever