Life

Potty training is still going on, we have good days and bad.  He's doing so great!
Baby sister is rocking Kindergarten, getting more and more confident with her reading :)  Big sis is rocking 3rd grade.  We struggle through History, she thinks it's boring. lol I'm trying to find ways to make it more fun for her...

This week I've decided I've had enough.  Though in the past 2 years I've had many of those moments.  But I am still holding onto 20 pounds from baby boy's pregnancy.  I just can't lose it.  I look at pictures of myself from pre kids and I was SO skinny.  I hate that I can't lose this weight.  On top of which, I'd like to lose an additional 5-10 pounds from the girls pregnancies.  So 25-30 pounds is my goal. I'd love to lose it by my 35th birthday, in August. I'm really hoping that b/t avoiding my carbs and working out, I can lose this stupid weight!!!

Not much else is happening.  Thankfully life is boring! :)

Potty training

Almost exactly 3 years ago (sounds crazy!) we found out baby #3 would be a boy.  My first comment to hubby was "you will be potty training this one!"  I was terrified of potty training a boy.

Fast forward to about 6 months ago, hubby starts mentioning baby boy needs to be potty trained.  I was dreading it and I didn't feel ready, as well as didn't feel he was ready yet.  So I waited.  Till last week when I decided I'd be doing it soon.  then came this past Tuesday, we were out of diapers, but I had already bought pull ups.  So I thought maybe I'd wait till next week b/c we had been out Monday and Tuesday all day, I knew we'd be gone most of Thursday morning and I wanted a full week home to start.  Hubby said I just needed to bite the bullet, with 2 other kids we will be out and about a lot.

Which brings us to Wednesday.  I put him in pull ups, and we began potty training.  He had 3 incidents where he wet his pull up, but each time he told me immediately after.  There were times that I'd take him and he'd pee in the potty, which he thinks is hilarious!  And then once he actually came to tell me he needed to go potty and went!  I was impressed by how well he did on the first day, I wasn't expecting any of that!

Today he did #2 in his pull up, he had gone to bed in his last diaper and woke up VERY wet! lol  So after I cleaned up, we tried going potty but he wouldn't.  We left the house at 10, I tried taking him 2x to the potty while we were out, he wouldn't go.  We got home and had lunch.  He kept telling me he didn't need to go.  I finally took him at 1 to the potty, he was DRY! He went potty and did so good!

I'm so impressed and excited at how well he is doing.  I hope he keeps doing this well.  So far he's been easier than the girls :)

Getting Crafty

So I've been over my house decor for a while, but it became one of those "I'll update the look after we move" since we're looking to move soon.  Anyways, with the flood and new floors, I kinda decided to do some updates, just small things that I'll keep for a while, even after we move.  I bought a new area rug for the living room.  I had a 5x7 in teal there before, but moved it to the playroom to get a bigger one for the living room.  The one I fell in love w/ was from wayfair, but $200, so I decided to check out Ross and found a similar one, gray and beige, for $60.  Um, that's a no brainer there! lol  I also got some pillows in gray/aqua for the couch.  I bought new lamps b/c the ones I had were not only 11 years old, they were broken.  Actually I had already tossed 1 of them.  

Then came the task of what will go above the couch.  I am going for a "Fixer Upper"/Joanna Gaines look. lol  I LOVE the style.  So I found this thing on pinterest that I fell in love with.  So here we go, my quick weekend project.

First I found an old frame in my garage.  Thankful for #1 decluttering and #2 an artist husband who has a ton of old frames just sitting there. 

 So I have this paint, oh how I LOVE this paint.  I painted my dining room table this color (yes it's kinda of a nightmare with children).  It's called Crisp Linen white and I just love this color.  So I painted the frame, 2 coats. 

 Here's the frame all painted.  Now because I planned on distressing it, I didn't paint it perfectly, though I wanted a nice coverage because the frame was black.  After the paint dried overnight, I sanded the edges.  It has some designs on it and I really wanted that to pop.  I sanded all that to distress it. 

 Here's the frame all nice and distressed.  Next the husband helped me with this part, I attached chicken wire (bought on amazon for $8), to the back of the frame.  We used a staple gun for that part, and because I have no strength, my wonderful husband did that part. 

I LOVE the way it came out.

 Then came the fun part, attaching the boxwood wreath ($20 Target) to the wire.  So simple but so pretty! 

 And here it all is, above my couch.  The room still has a ways to go, but I'm happy with the simplicity of it right now.  I can't do much else until we move.  I love the minimalist look, which I did not have pre flood.  BUT it's SO easy to keep things clean now, so I'm going with the less is more look from now on! 

This is what I copied from pinterest.  I had planned on getting the little pennant banner and put our last name on it, but I am not sure if I still want to do that. 

at the end of the rainbow

For a while we kept wondering why God would allow our house to flood.  We're renters right now, this flood affected us, but we weren't responsible for the cost.  In the end our insurance covered all costs, which meant our landlord got new floors and a new downstairs bathroom at little cost to him. lol  So the joke was, "well what are WE getting out of this"..

To be honest, I dunno that we got anything out of it.  It did force us to PURGE a LOT and organize a ton of stuff downstairs.  The house looks incredible now, as long as you don't go upstairs ;) So some friends have said I gained peace of mind.  The floors are beautiful, and our closets are organized, we got rid of stuff we weren't using, and we even cleaned out the garage, which had been long overdue!
And for that I am thankful for the flood :)

So this is my favorite part, the dining room.  Hubby's desk used to be in front of that window, and now we moved it to another room.  Which makes our dining room HUGE! lol  And if you'll notice, our dining room serves as our school room. 

This is the table you see when you come into the house.  

The living room, the dining room is off to the left, it's one long room.  This is the view from the stairs.  I got a new rug, new pillows and new lamps.  We'd had the same pillows and lamps for 11 years!  It was overdue! I'm channeling my inner Joanna Gaines and love it!  I have a project in the works for an art piece for above the couch :) 

This is the playroom.  That rug used to be in the living room, but with tiled floors now, I wanted a bigger rug for the living and I wanted it gray :)  Because of the flood, I was forced to go through toys.  I got rid of a ton!  The playroom is now less overwhelming and quicker for the kids to clean up! 

I have definitely adopted the "less is more" mentality.  Having less junk makes the house feel less cluttered and easier to clean!  I love it!!!!