my tree

After living with my tree project for 24 hours, I decided it needed another color.  Here's my officially finished project!

caleb's nursery

Before Charli was born, I went all out decorating with cutesy matchy-matchy decor for her nursery.  I had the entire crib bedding set, diaper stacker, lamp, valances, baskets, mobile and even wall decals and a large butterfly to hang on the wall.  Most of this stuff had been purchased for me for the baby showers, so it wasn't a big deal to use all of it.  When we were waiting on Caleb's arrival, however, we were on our own!  I knew I wanted a woodland animals theme for his room, and I found a sweet bedding set that I really liked & thought would look good with the wall color.  While I did purchase much of the entire set, I didn't purchase everything because it was getting to be expensive!  I was feeling a little guilty, though, because Charli's nursery was so well decorated, and now Caleb's walls just seemed so bare!  After browsing Pinterest, I decided to do something decorative with his name.  That was great for the big wall, but I really wanted something else to decorate the changing table nook so that he had something to look at while we were changing him.  One of the pictures on Caleb's bedding is of a tree.  My sister had suggested painting that tree on the big wall before I decided to do the name thing, so I scaled it down & painted the tree on this little wall!  I sketched the tree trunk and then painted it in.  Then I made a leaf template & cut out some sponges to paint the leaves.  I'm really happy with how it turned out, and Caleb seems to like looking at it!  Here are some pics of his finished nursery.

welcoming baby caleb!

Baby Caleb has arrived!  He made us wait until after our due date, but when he was ready, he came fast!  After only 3 hours of labor, Caleb made his appearance in record time.  Now we're home & learning how to be a family of 4!

 He's a big healthy boy!



charli's 2nd birthday party

We celebrated Charli's birthday with friends & family on Saturday, June 30th.  I chose an ABC theme, since Charli loves her letters!  I was able to coordinate the colors of the party decorations with the colors on her ABC blocks.  I also ordered her a super cute ABC dress with matching hair bow!  She seemed to have so much fun playing with her friends.  She loved having us sing to her & blowing out her candle.  She also really liked all her new presents!  We were very proud of how well she did with all the people there.  She's growing up so fast!

charli's 2nd birthday!

Charli had a very busy week being the birthday girl!  On her birthday, Rob took off work, & we took her to Living Treasures Animal Park & then to McConnell's Mill for a picnic.  She absolutely loved seeing & feeding the animals!  It was the first time Rob & I had been there, and I can't wait to take Charli back!  We had lunch at McConnell's Mill, and then Rob took her down to see the bridge and the water.  After dinner, we had Nana, Opa & Granddad over for cake & popsicles.  Charli loved having us sing to her, she made us sing again!  It was a super fun day!

pymatuning

For Father's Day weekend, Charli & I took Daddy camping (with his parents) in Pymatuning.  Charli was so excited to sleep in the pop-up, & did very well!  On Saturday, we took her over to the spillway to see the carp & geese.  She loved feeding them & watching them eat!

almost summer fun

We got Charli a new pool because she had outgrown her tiny baby whale pool.  She was a little hesitant to get into the pool the first time, but now it's the first thing she runs to when she gets outside!  She's so entertaining, and we've really enjoyed watching her splash & play.

 She loves to pour water, especially over something like her Elmo. 

She says, "Oh no, OH NOOO!! ELMO!!!"

 Stuck!  It took her a little while to get out of the pool this time.

Little Miss Saggy Bottoms.  This is why you use a swim diaper in the water!!! 

Maybe she has a calling to be a plumber one day.

charli's big girl room

After months of agonizing and worrying about how best to transition my little bug into her big girl room and her "new" crib, the day finally came.  I ran out of excuses & could no longer procrastinate when we got her "new" crib from my parents.  It was the last piece.  I was encouraged when the next day, she wanted to play in her new crib three times & even told me twice, "sleep new crib."  The night I planned on trying it out, however, Rob (Bert) decided he wanted us to camp in the backyard.  He got out the pop-up, put the pack n play in, and I was very hesitant.  When I was all out of excuses as to why we shouldn't camp in our backyard, I gave in.  We talked it up with Charli, she played in her pack n play a few times that evening, and when 9:15 hit, I asked her if she had sleepy eyes & she walked right to the camper, let us pray & put her in her pack n play and fell asleep!  We didn't hear a peep from her the whole night!  We all woke up fairly refreshed at 8 AM!  Not too bad!  All that to say, I guess I didn't really need to worry!  That silly peanut can sleep anywhere, for which I am very thankful.  So right now, as I type this, she's sound asleep for her very first nap in her "new" crib in her big girl room!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  -Philippians 4:6

 Charli's big girl bed -- when the time comes!

 Her "new" crib

Pretty paintings I got for my baby shower with Charli.  I finally get to use them!

And the pretty $5 dresser Rob & I refinished!

my 21-month-old!

Charli is now closer to two than she is to 18 months!  What a big girl!  She's such a joy & so much fun to play with.  Her giant teddy bear pictures are becoming more & more difficult to take successfully, though!

 giving mr. bear kisses

 showing mr. bear her pinecone

big sweet smile

peanut butter pinecones

The weather has been so amazing lately, Charli & I have spent a lot of time outside.  On Tuesday evening she was finding pinecones for me.  With each one she picked up, she was so pleased with herself, so I decided it was time to do our first project together!  We were going to make pinecone bird feeders.  I tried to think out logistically how this was going to go to avoid as much mess as I could, but of course, with a toddler, that's impossible!  I thought if I spread the peanut butter on the pinecones, she could sprinkle the seeds on.  That worked for a little while, but then she put her seed-covered hand in her mouth.  After that, I just rolled the peanut buttery pinecones in the seeds & she just dunked her hands in the peanut butter jar & ate!  They turned out pretty well and I think the birds will be happy!  Someday I'm sure she'll be ready to do projects like this, I just need to be patient!

 Yum!

 Our completed bird feeders

 My peanut butter cutie

A quick pretend ride on daddy's tractor after she's all clean!

gender reveal party

It all started during lunch at work about 2 months ago.  A coworker was reading the newspaper as usual and came across an article about a gender reveal party.  He thought it was right up our alley, but we didn't think about it seriously--at least at first.  The more we thought about it, the more we thought about how fun it might be!  When you are pregnant the first time, everyone is so excited about your announcement, it's all you can think about and there are showers, parties & so much excitement.  When you are pregnant for the second time, however, people have already anticipated your announcement, and you rarely get a shower.  Plus, you're so busy chasing around the toddler to really think about the little life inside you very much.  So with that in mind, we (read, I) started to plan our gender reveal party.  The biggest hiccup to our party was that our ultrasound was going to take place on Monday, February 20th, but due to parental vacations, we couldn't have the party until Sunday, March 4th!  It seemed like such a long time to wait, but we did it, and it was well worth it!  Plus, it was kind of nice to go into the ultrasound not wanting to know the gender right away.  We were so happy & relieved to see a healthy baby squirming around!  Here are some pics of the party!

Our healthy baby

 We got some great baby name suggestions :)

 Our friends & family voted boy

 banner

 The old wives predicted a boy, too!

 Yummy cake

 Completely surprised - We both were thinking girl!  Charli must've known something we didn't!

So excited to meet our little boy in July!