Bumbo

H has been doing such a good job of sitting up lately, so we decided to try out his new Bumbo seat today. He seems to really like it... well, at least for a while. He is still getting used to this new perspective of the world.


ooops, eyes closed... let's try again


There we go!


I saw this picture and thought... 'woah, he looks just like me!'

Playing Games

H has a new favorite game - it is called 'kick the blanket off'. He loves to kick his blanket off when he is in his swing, stroller, or carseat. He can now successfully remove it when we cover his head too! Jeff took this video of him talking and playing his favorite game while swinging in his swing. He is sure talking a lot these days! And H even left a surprise for you at the end of the video!

DIY Project 2

I found this TV stand at Goodwill and decided for $15 I could dress it up and make it work!


Here is the before, it is just a wooden stand with 1 shelf and a leather top on wheels.

First we sanded all the sides and then started painting everything. Since our paint color was light it ended up taking 3 coats. Then we took the wheels off and painted some feet for it and put the feet on and wallah!


Here is the After. I cleaned the leather and polished the brass sides, but you can't really tell.



This was an easy and inexpensive fix and I really like it...now we just need a living room to put it in.

I heart my aunts

H got to enjoy some special gifts from his aunts this weekend and I wanted to post some pictures for them. Aunt Amy gave H some precious little doggie slippers and he wore them the other night after his bath, he even went to sleep in them and managed to keep one of them on all night!





He loves his puppy slippers! Thanks Aunt Amy!!

And here is H in his special onsie that Aunt Elyse made for him. I can't believe how fast he is growing out of all of these clothes, but he at least got one wear out of it!





H is so lucky to have such great Aunts! Love to you both!

Project 1

The first of 4 DIY projects is complete and I love it! I made a decorative mirror for our living room. Here's how you can do it to. You will need:

24 X 24 thin piece of plywood

3 sheets of 12 X 12 glass tiles

12 X 12 mirror

mirror glue

clear drying silicone adhesive caulk

paint color of your choice ( I used a light khaki)

Step 1: paint the plywood with 2 coats, make sure to paint the edges also as they will be seen.

You don't need a gallon of paint obviously, but we found this in the ooops paint section at home depot and it was only $5.

Step 2: cut the tiles to the desired size. I forgot to take a picture of the tiles. But they come in sheets and you can cut them in half into 6 inch pieces if you are only going to use 1 color. I chose to use 2 colors and so I cut mine into 3 inch squares and alternated the colors.

Step 3: using the caulk glue the tiles to the board. I put glue on the back of each small square so that not much leaked out onto the board.

Step 4: glue mirror to the center of the board with mirror glue

allow everything at least 12 hours to dry. Then use some sturdy picture hangers to attach to the back and you are ready to hang your mirror! Here's the finished product.


Coming up next... taking a TV stand from drab to fab!

DIY projects

Coming up, an installment of DIY projects. I'm on a fix-it-up kick and have 4 projects I'm going to be working on.

First, I'm making a mirror for our living room. I can't claim this idea, I saw it in a Lowe's Creative Idea magazine and decided I could do it. I started it tonight and will take pictures and post the how to when it is finished.

Second, I'm re-doing a dresser for H's room. This project should be the most labor intensive, but I'm pretty excited about it. I'm refinishing a dresser and then taking out the drawers and covering them with fun fabrics and putting on new hardware.

Third, I got some ribbon on sale and I'm going to decorate a lampshade for H's room. I'm still looking for the lamp and the shade. But it's going to be cuuuuute.

Fourth, I found a TV stand today at Goodwill for $16! I'm going to re-paint it and clean it up... I'm thinking of painting it green right now... maybe something like this?

what do you think? the mirror I'm making has browns and greens in it and so does our couch. The other furniture in the room is a dark brown.

before and after

Jeff reminded me that we had a Baby Einstein DVD that H is now old enough to watch. H loves music anyway. He was totally dancing to the halftime show last night...sidenote...the who? what?
Anyway, this morning we put on Baby Beethoven for H and I have never seen him so happy. He squealed and laughed and danced and then he cried when it was over. Here's the action



And here's the aftermath. He cried when it was over and fell asleep on Jeff's shoulder about 3 minutes later and then looked like this.

I love this book!

Aunt Elyse & Uncle Stephen got this Bible for H for Christmas. My friend Anna Beth had recommended it to me and it is so fabulous. Every night I can't wait to read it to H before bed. He is still learning to like reading. He is getting better though, he used to cry as soon as I sat down with a book, even when he had previously been perfectly happy. Now he will let me get through a few stories before he starts to cry. I sure hope he likes to read, I know his aunts do too!
Anyhow, this Bible paraphrases the major stories of the Bible and at the end of each story shows how it points to Jesus and God's plan for redemption. The illustrations are amazing and I find myself being impacted through reading these stories to H. I'm hoping he too will grow up to love these stories and see God's redemptive purposes throughout history.

3 months old!

It seems like 3 years and 3 days at the same time? I found the first video I ever took of H when he was just 3 days old and had the hiccups. I was incredibly sleep deprived so ignore the dialog and just enjoy the precious little baby! What a great 3 months, H is the sweetest, most adorable baby ever... or at least we think so.

Sweet faces

This has been a really fun stage with H recently. He smiles when we come to pick him up and loves to 'talk' to us. Here are some cute pictures Jeff took today.






This was during H's kick my blanket off game. He kept kicking it off and then smiling really big when we could put it back on him.

Books Jeff read in 2009

Hello All!

Since I have yet to post on our new blog I figured that it was time for me to post seeing as how Erin went to the trouble of creating a new blog. I wrote this back when Erin was posting about all the books she had read, so here are the books I read in 2009.

Culture Shock- A good book for getting ready to move overseas.

Total Money Makeover- While I agree with being debt free I disagree with a couple of parts of this book.

Same Kind of different as Me- I think this was my favorite I read. I don’t recommend books very often but I did recommend this to a friend and he too loved it.

Pillars and Prophets- This was a great book but I left it on the plane at least once. It was a good thing we had something like seven extra copies that we were wanting to give away.

The Richest Man in Babylon- This is another money book that tells a story. The basic idea is spend less than you make, 1/10 of what you make goes to giving and 1/10 goes to savings. Also, don’t invest in something you don’t know anything about unless you consult a third party who knows something about what you are investing in.

The power of a Praying Husband- If you are married or engaged read the book.

Playing for Pizza- My first John Grisham book. It was recommended by a friend and I loved it and started reading some of his other books.

The Irresistible Revolution- A friend let me borrow this book and I loved it. I need to give it back.

Knuckleheads- Yes, this is a children’s book. My sister sent it to me in Iraq and I cried cause I laughed so hard. If you want a funny book to read pick this one up.

The Millionaire Next Door- I found this book and thought it would be interesting and then a few weeks later my uncle offered to get this book for me. It was very interesting. Most millionaires do not live like they are millionaires hence the reason they probably are.

Three Cups of Tea- I loved this book. Part of it may be because I have been in this area and can picture a lot of what is being talked about. Either way read the book it was amazing.

The Expectant Father- Good book for dads to be.

The Summons- Couldn’t put the book down. This was my second John Grisham book.

The Testament- Same as above.


Well those are the books I read in 2009. I enjoyed them all. Have any of you read some of these books or wanting to add any of them to your list? I do realize that I probably enjoy books that some of you would fall asleep to but there are a few I think everyone would enjoy!

ready or not...

we're teething! H is not quite 3 months and his TOP front teeth just started coming in this weekend. I noticed him drooling a lot more and a few times he would cry out like something was hurting him. He has been chewing on EVERYTHING lately, his hands, my shoulder blade, whatever comes near his mouth. So naturally I googled these things and it turns out that babies really can teeth this early. I felt around in his mouth after that and sure enough his top front teeth are starting to poke through! In spite of all of this he has still been mostly smiley and happy - so praying it will not be too hard on him. I can't believe we are at this stage already...time flies huh?