New Lamps and a Celery Eater

I mentioned earlier that I was looking for a particular lamp base from Target.  Well, the lamp I wanted has officially been discontinued, so I was left with no choice other than to buy two new lamps.  After many, many returns and exchanges at a few different stores, I finally found the lamps I wanted and the shades I wanted. 

Lamps - Target; Shades- Lowes

I LOVE the way they pull the bedroom together!!

Totally unrelated:  Yesterday Jacob was having some chicken noodle soup with a piece of leftover French bread for lunch.  I realized it looked sort of... prisoner-like... so I offered him some celery with peanut butter. 

I have to interrupt my story to say that serving celery should earn me MAJOR mom-points, as it is one of the very few foods I don't like.  We had it in the house because I was making soup.  It's okay in soup.

Anyway, he liked it!

Guess this means I'll have to (gulp) serve celery every now and then.

Dolphin Love

They say that after a while, you start to resemble the thing that you love. 

I'd say they're right.

Big Boy Room Ideas

This morning I'm doing some thinking/planning about changing the crib into a toddler bed or twin bed.  (His bed converts to either.)  I don't want to do it too early because he likes his crib, and I don't want to take that away from him.  However, he's regularly slipping out of it, and I think it might be safer just to make the switch. 

So I looked at Pottery Barn Kids this morning and this room jumped out at me:

That's the mural Jacob has in his room now!!

I'm pretty sure it's the exact same one!  The notes on this mural say that you can use a dry erase marker on it, but we won't be testing that! 

The bedding they show with it is called Greyson. 

Love the bedding.  Also love this option:

Of course, what completes the room for me is the Discover lumbar pillow, which comes in the red and blue plaid or the green and blue plaid. 

I could die from the cuteness. 

Wednesday Randoms

•  Isn't this weather great?  This is how January should be: cold enough to wear a coat but no snow!

• Jacob and I went to the library this morning, and some of our friends were there.  The Normal Public Library has a great Children's Room that has Legos, puppets, and all kinds of other toys. We ended up playing for two hours.

• I have been hunting for a particular lamp base from Target to match an existing one I currently have on my nightstand.  (Did I mention I got a new nightstand for Christmas? Yay!)  Now I need a matching lamp-- are you with me?  Anyway, this is what I need:

     

It's only available in stores, except it's not available in any of their stores!!! They have a similar one, but similar isn't going to cut it.  I talked to Target yesterday, and they said to wait a week or two, in case it suddenly came in stock again, but I think I'm going to have to buy two new lamps.

• We watched Celebrity Wife Swap last night and loved it.  Ted Haggard's wife traded places with Gary Busey's girlfriend.  Entertainment at it's finest.  Don't judge. 

• Did I mention that I accidentally got my hair cut right before Christmas?  Well, the haircut wasn't an accident, but the actual way my hair was cut was an accident.  A tragic, tragic accident.  (Not that I'm being dramatic or anything.)  I honestly don't know what happened.  I took the same picture to the same stylist and I left with... heavily layered hair that's so short I can't wear a ponytail anymore.  I know, I know, it will grow.  But right now, looking at it makes my heart very small and black.  (Not that I'm being dramatic or anything.)  I priced extensions a few days ago, but Frank (probably the only one of us who has any sense when it comes to this tragedy) says no. 

• Happy Wednesday- only two more days until the weekend!

Escape Artist

All of a sudden, over the course of the last few weeks, Jacob has been saying new words, doing new things, and seeming more and more grown-up. 

One of his new talents is escaping from his crib.  He wasn't a good napper last week, and he howled at being put down, which is uncharacteristic of him.  One afternoon, I was downstairs, trying to tune out all the noise upstairs when it finally got a little quieter... and I realized he was standing RIGHT BESIDE ME! 

By the third time (third!) he slipped out, he wised up and didn't make a peep, but I could hear his little feet running around the room.  When I came upstairs, I saw this:

His wipes were all over the floor, along with his pants. 

I kinda had to laugh. 

Then, this morning when Frank went in to get him from his crib, he had already gotten out, stood on his trash can to turn on the light, and was playing happily in his room. 

He can easily slip out of the crib now, which I think is pretty cool and terrifying at the same time.  His new behaviors remind me constantly that the rules of the game are changing, and he is becoming his own little person. 

Bring on the big-kid bed!

Post-Holiday Decorating Slump

As promised, the tree and decorations came down on December 26.  I don't like looking at all of the Christmas decorations knowing everything is over (plus I'm neurotic), so it had to come down. 

Now my house looks bare.  For the life of me, I can't remember how I had things arranged before I rearranged them for Christmas. 

I've visited some decorating blogs as well as hit up some home stores around the area (there aren't many) and have come up with ABSOLUTELY ZERO inspiration.  It seems I'll have to wait another week or two for all of the Christmas stuff to clear out before seeing anything new. 

I would leave you with a picture, but I got nothin'.....

Christmas Week 2011

It's been a busy week! 

Last Tuesday, we went to Frank's parents' for a few days, something we do each year.  And each year we talk about all the time we'll have for visiting, relaxing, etc, but the time always flies by! 

We admired the pretty decorations;

We hung out with Brett (Jenna, unfortunately, came down with strep on the second day of our visit, so we didn't see much of her.);

Both of Frank's grandmas celebrated a birthday- on the same day!

And Frank's Uncle Jeff celebrated his birthday as well.

There were lots of cuddles

A little mischief

and a lovely family dinner.

We drove home on Christmas Eve and woke up bright and early on Christmas morning. 

(Stupid cat ruined my shot!)

 It didn't take long to open presents!

After that we were out the door again, this time headed to my parents'.  We took a quick picture in front of their tree.

Then Brian and I took a picture with our boys.

This picture looks so calm, but Caleb is still Jacob's sworn enemy.  I think the only reason Jacob looks so agreeable in this picture is because he stole Caleb's cat.

Dinner was eaten, and presents were opened.

And eventually a Christmas truce was drawn.

We had a great time celebrating with all of our family this year!