August 2013

I don't know if you'd call it "nesting" or not, but this month has definitely been filled with a wide range of preparations - getting ready to close this chapter of life and begin the next one. 

Charlie spent quite a bit of time the first week of the month finishing Bruce's shelving unit for his new room - and it is awesome!  We went back and forth so much on what kind of furniture to put in Bruce's "big boy" room, and we were just about to settle for buying a much smaller (but biggest one they offered) cube storage system from IKEA.  I'm so glad Charlie decided to go with this plan though because it offers so much more storage... which we desperately need in this house! 

just think... where was all this stuff
before we had this?

Charlie made another trip to China for two-ish weeks, and this time I think he had a much better time.  Not only was the work load a little lighter this go around, but they managed to find some time to do a few touristy things as well.

At the Great Wall

While he was gone I tried to make some major progress putting together the odds and ends of Bruce's room.  I organized all his toys, getting all but a few out of the living room, made a curtain valance and bed pillow to match the blanket Charlie's mom made, and hung some of the things on the walls.  I also managed to paint the walls, which is much harder to do with a basketball for a belly that was constantly bumping the wall.  Bruce said he wanted orange and dark blue, so that's what we went with, and I think it turned out pretty fun and not too dark. 

When Charlie got back from his trip, he found an antique wardrobe on Craig's List that we decided to get for Bruce.  Maybe Charlie will build a different one for him later, but we felt like we were starting to run out of time, and think this was a good solution.  It took a little effort to get the calamine lotion/old man smell it came with to go away, but other than that, I think it's perfect. 

There are a few tasks still on the "to do" list before the room is completely done, but it's come a long way from where we started!  Bruce spent one night in his toddler bed, which went wonderfully, but has been terrified to sleep in it since.  So, we set up the pack-n-play in his room, and he can choose which bed he wants to sleep in for now.  We'll start transitioning him to the bed soon hopefully, but don't really feel a need to force the issue yet. 

Which means.... he's done with the nursery!  Over the next couple of weeks we'll work on making that room Abigail's, and will post pictures of the little lady's space next month - along with pictures of the little lady herself.  I can't believe it's already that close!   

Along with working on the two kid rooms, Charlie and I have also gone through every closet, box of "sundries," nook, cranny - even under our bed... and have reorganized and purged so much stuff.  Don't get me wrong, we still have tons of stuff squirreled away, but we can breathe a little easier now, and I think we gained several square feet of floor space in the process, along with some room to grow in the closets. 

Probably the biggest highlight of the month though, was Bruce turning two years old!  It's amazing to think how quickly these two years flew by.  Bruce wanted to have a "drum party" to celebrate the big day, so that's what we planned for, and I think Bruce talked about it every single day of August leading up to last Saturday.  I think he was just a little bit excited about it. 

For his actual birthday, we celebrated with a pancake breakfast and a pizza lunch at Sam's.  Since we couldn't install an oil pump jack in the backyard (his favorite thing ever right now) we settled for getting him the next best thing for a birthday present - his very own miniature vacuum cleaner.  If you've spent much time at all with Bruce, you'll know how much this guy loves vacuums.  He asks to see people's vacuums when we're at their houses, he always wants to walk down the vacuum aisle in stores again and again and again, and he's determined to push mine around our house no matter how frustrating it is for him.  I think it was a big hit.

 

But even better than his own vacuum cleaner, I think Bruce's favorite gift of all was the Drum Party itself.  It pays off to stay connected with my "teacher friends" at the elementary school I used to work at, and the awesome music teachers there let me borrow a van load of various drums to let all the Littles bang on at the party.  It was pretty chaotic and incredibly loud - Bruce was in heaven. 

We had a few friends from church come over with their kids who are Bruce's "friends" these days, and Charlie's mom was able to drive down to join the party, too.  The biggest surprise of all for me though, was that two very great friends from high school even came to celebrate with us.  All three of us had boys within a year of each other, and we think it would be great fun if they grew up to be friends, too.  Leslie and her son, Liam, flew in from St. Louis for the weekend, and Nathan and his son, Caleb, drove up from Dallas for the day.  It was great to see them and catch up a bit while refereeing the tots - trying to get them to play in the same room with each other and actually share toys...  Loved every minute of it.   

 

Can you tell which one's which?

 

The rest of the month has been filled with keeping up with tomatoes, peppers, and okra from the garden, increasing doctor's appointments, and watching Bruce grow up before our very eyes. 

I've made oodles of fresh pico de gallo, bruschetta, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, and chili, along with multiple batches of pepper jelly and pickled okra - and every day we go and pick another big bowl full.  We're going to attempt to plant some Fall veggies this week... call us crazy, but we really do enjoy the hobby.  Maybe I'll even get around to selling some of my pepper jelly again this year, too.  Any takers?





A "fun" surprise in the chicken house



Ever the excitement around here...





I've had a little more time on my hands this month because I quit both of my part time jobs.  I'll still help out with the kids stuff at church, but I'm not writing the curriculum anymore.  Also, last week was my last week to help my attorney friend with her advertising mail outs.  I've really enjoyed both of those roles, but it's really nice to have Bruce's nap time to get other things done.  (For another couple of weeks, anyway!)

Abigail continues to check out just fine every week at the doctor, with no worries or concerns on the horizon.  Bruce had his two year check up this week, and was "perfect" according to the doctor's standards (even though she probably tells all parents that).  At a quarter of an inch shy of three feet tall, he's meeting all of the benchmarks for development and still is talking about the candy the doctor gave him after his blood work. 

 

Bruce has gotten to the point where he'd rather stay at home and play all day instead of run errands with me to pass the time.  And actually, I really don't mind.  It isn't so hard these days to play with him for hours on end without it feeling so redundant and monotonous.  He loves playing in his new room - I think because of all the table space at his eye level.  It's strange to think that such a small change would make a big difference, but it really has.  He spends a lot of his time playing with his tractors, construction trucks, or trains on the tables - with lots of breaks in between to push a shopping cart, stroller, or the vacuum around the house.  We get outside when we can, but thanks to the "heat dome," as the weather folks call it, we're mostly limited to morning walks around the block and evening backyard shenanigans.

 

I guess it's fairly indicative of our summer when Bruce drives
his car up to these two windows and says, "Work Lady give
you ice cream."  Gotta love Sonic...

Bruce also has taken on multiple personas this month, and pretends to "be" different people all the time.  Sometimes he's different family members, like Grandpa.  Sometimes he's different friends, like Jon who plays the drums for our church.  Sometimes he's different animals or imaginary things, like the Booger Man (a farm myth from Charlie's childhood that's funny, not scary) or a Pacheetah (we still don't know what that one is...).  We especially like it though when he's community members, like "Work Lady," who surfaces frequently while completing various tasks.

The next big role that he's going to be playing soon though, is Big Brother.  And even though we haven't talked about it too much with him, I'm still optimistic that the transition will be great.  He gets a little possessive of his toys when friends come to play, but it'll be awhile before we have to worry about Abby trying to take his things away.  He really likes having attention, but I think he'll like having Abby join in on the fun as best she can, and will hopefully understand when he needs to be more independent so I can tend to the baby.  And he really likes "helping" when he's playing with his baby doll.  The other morning he was being so sweet, making her "do" all the things he was doing, narrating the whole time, "She jump on rocks," "She hold puzzle," "Help her eat ice cream."  Until we got to this activity where, "She eat bugs" by the front door.  (In all fairness, bugs do tend to accumulate there...)

All in all, I think he'll be a fantastic Big Brother/Work Lady/Pacheetah, and I'm looking forward to this next season.