Daxton is 4

Dax turned 4-years-old on Valentine's Day.  He was insistent upon receiving a garbage truck for his birthday...I'm not sure where he got the thought in his head why a garbage truck would be so exciting.  So I found some construction vehicles and tried to tie in a garbage truck of the same scale to go along with them.  Throw a big can of beans in a tupperware box and the diggers and beans now have a permanent home that is so much fun to dig around in and the mess of stray beans are no longer a problem...well, at least not as MUCH of a problem.

 The night before his birthday, I decorated with crepe paper and cut out a bunch of 4s and hung them around the house.  I wrapped the banister in crepe paper and hung streamers from the ceiling in the hallway downstairs leading to Dax's bedroom.

 I got this idea from Pinterest to "wrap up" the birthday person's bedroom door so that they get to bust out on their birthday.  I thought it would be kind of fun, but Dax ended up getting up in the night to go potty, couldn't get out of his room, peed his pants while trying, and then got upset with me the next morning saying that I "trapped" him in his room.  So needless to say, I didn't get to catch the "busting out of his room" on video.  I appologized to him and tried to explain to him that his room was like a present and I wanted him to unwrap the door.  So while I was in the shower, he "unwrapped" ALL of the decorations and came and told me all proud afterward that he did it, he unwrapped his door as well as the rest of the house.  What a waste of a late night...I was really bummed, but couldn't get mad since it was for his birthday.

 Then we made some valentines for his friends and went and delivered them.  Dax was so excited to get to ring the doorbell and run away.  He wanted to do it all by himself and was so excited about it that he asked if we could do this for his birthday every year.  Lucky him, it will be something we can do every year on his birthday with it being on Valentine's Day.  He got so into the "don't get caught" of it all that when we delivered valentines to my parents' house, there wasn't really anywhere nearby to "hide" the car since my parents and neighbors recently had all of their trees removed from their front yards.  We parked in the neighbor's driveway and were hurrying to get in the car to drive away, but my mom came out of her door and was looking around for us and saw us.  Dax was pretty upset about that and said, "Nana cheated!"  Later he told Greg that it was my fault that we got caught cause, "Mom didn't hide good and she was LOUD!"  He cracks me up.

Later that night we made individual pizzas for dinner and then afterward Nana, Papa, Aunt Court, Uncle Joe, Peyton, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Kim came over for presents and cake and ice cream.  Greg once again did a great job with the cake decorating.  We found some construction vehicle candles and used a bunch of signs and cones from Dax's train set to make a city/landfill scene on top.  The "landfill" area looked so disgusting because of the color that it didn't hardly get touched!  It sure was delicious though thanks to Aunt Karianne's yummy frosting recipe:

Ingredients

1 package powdered sugar (16 ounces)

1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)

3 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Beat sugar, butter, milk and vanilla with electric mixer at low speed until well blended and smooth. If frosting becomes too thick, beat in additional milk by teaspoonfuls until the frostingis of spreading consistency.

Makes about 2 1/2 cups frosting.

Works great for coloring frosting.

It was a great day and Dax seemed to have a ton of fun.  

Happy Birthday little buddy.  It's hard to believe that you're 4 and will be going to school next year.  I know you can't wait for the big 5!  We love you Dax.

Cloth Diapers

Due to a recent interest I have with cloth diapers, and also to help answer others' questions and to help introduce them to cloth diapering, I have started a cloth diaper blog. Feel free to follow along and spread the word to others who may be interested.

crazyaboutcloth.blogspot.com

-Brit

Our Newest Addition

Isn't he adorable?! True, I am biased.

So on March 7th I went to my doc appt (being just a couple days over 38 weeks) around 2:30pm. I was dilated to a 3 the week prior so hoping that our little guy would be coming soon. But I did not expect my doc to walk in to my room and say, "Well you were at a 3 last week so I'll check you and if you're at a 4 or more we'll just send you over to the hospital to be induced because I don't want you walking around dilated that much." He checked me and I was at a 4+ and having some good contractions. So his nurse called to see if they could induce me the following day, but the hospital was completely booked. My doc was headed out of town in the next couple days and didn't want me to end up having the baby while he was gone, so the hospital asked if I could be there in an hour. I definitely was NOT expecting that! So we did it! I called Greg and told him we would be having a baby that night. He met me at my parents (where my Mom and sister Court were watching Dax) and we put Dax in his carseat. Greg dropped me off at the hospital and dropped Dax off at his parents house then met me back at the hospital.

I told my Mom and Court they were welcome to join us in the delivery room so they headed on over after dropping Peyton at her aunt's house. It was a party! (Wish you could have been there to join us, Chantel!)

I got my IV put in and finally an hour later they started me on the pitocin and penicillin cause I was GBS positive this go around. That stuff is nasty and burns your arm!

I got my epidural at 6:30pm and then come 10pm it was time to start pushing.

Boston Samuel arrived at 10:08pm after only one push!

He came out with only one short little cry so the doc waited a minute to have Greg cut the umbilical cord. He let out another little cry and that was about it. He opened his eyes and looked around and was sucking on everything from the get-go. He has been a champ at eating!

He weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz and was 18 1/2 inches long.

Daddy giving him his first bath.

Check out those LONG rabbit feet!

What a good big brother Dax is. He was so excited to come to the hospital to see me and loved holding his little brother.

We only had to stay one day and then were able to leave the next. The birth this time around was so much easier and went so much smoother than the first. My labor was only about 6-7hrs vs 14 with Dax.

Boston is such a sweetheart and so mellow. It has been such a blessing!

We sure love him and find it hard to remember him not being in our home.

36 weeks...The count down begins!

Today I am 36 weeks and 4 days along in this pregnancy. The plan is to be induced on Thurs March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. That's only 3 weeks from tomorrow and 22 days to be exact. Eek! Everything is ready and now we are just playing the waiting game.

I went to the Doc a week ago Monday and was told baby's head is definitely down and all these Braxton Hicks contractions I have been having have been doing some good, cause I was dilated to a 1+. They scheduled the induction date and I have another appt this coming Monday. Dax came about 8 days early, and bets are that this little guy won't wait til St. Patty's. I would love for him to come early cause I can hardly wait to see his face, snuggle him, and breathe in that new baby smell. What are your bets? When do you think he'll arrive?

Here are some of the projects that have been completed and chilling in Boston's drawers.

Above are the "baby legs" leg warmers I made using the easiest tutorial online. They were made out of knee-high socks. I'd post the link, but don't remember it and didn't write it down. But I do have the instructions if anyone wants to copy them :) Also, some appliqued kimono tops, a couple binky clips/chains/leashes (whatever you like to call them), a newborn knit beanie, some burp cloths, and a nursing cape (which I was so excited about how it turned out! Recognize that fabric? It was leftover from Daxton's bedding when he was a baby).

Burp cloths up close...don't you love the fabrics?!

And this is what baby B will wear home from the hospital with a gray diaper and the cutest black and white skater shoes I found. So cute! I can't wait to see him in it :)

...come on time! Pass by quicker!

The Boys' Bedroom Makeover...Finished!!

So I finally finished Daxton's and Boston's bedroom. They will be sharing. I came across this color scheme a little while ago and if you know me, you know I'm a nut for Turquoise. I love it complimented with Navy Blue, orange, and tan. So here goes....

This is what you see as you walk straight into the bedroom.

I practically spray-painted everything. Except I was able to find the cute little baskets under the changing table at the Dollar Store! Score! I tried to keep everything low cost, but still look cute. I did pretty well, aside from the fabric.

I spray-painted the frames orange (they used to be a rusty bronze color) and the "D" is just a large chipboard letter that I spray-painted Navy Blue. I heart spray-paint...in case ya didn't notice. You can do so many things with it!! I wasn't able to find the exact turquoise color I wanted in the spraypaint, but this was close enough. So I went with it :) The hooks I found at Taipan for a couple bucks each. They were black rod iron, so yes once again, I spray painted them to match.

To the left of the door is Daxton's side of the room with his bunkbed. I found this car fabric and that's where everything stemmed from. I love it! His bedspread was this tan on the flip side of the stripes (perfect!) and I was able to find turquoise twin-sized sheets, the whole set, at Target on clearance for $7. Again, Score! All the fabrics I purchased at this fabric store called Elaine's by my house that is just like Pine Needles at Gardner Village, only it's bigger!! Let's just say that Greg was not thrilled about this find of mine ;) I could do some major damage in that store!

Daxton's favorite blanket is Navy blue, so once again, it all worked perfect with the color scheme. I found all the chipboard letters up on his wall at Hobby Lobby at 2 for $1. So I picked out the entire alphabet, and the letters that spelled out his name I swapped out for larger letters. Then I wanted the numbers 0-9 to add as well, but they didn't have them. I was able to find them at JoAnn's. I spray-painted everything and then Mom and Court helped me arrange them and hang them using this awesome stuff called "Command Strips" that is like double-sided tape, only really strong and removable too! So I can take them with us when we leave. Not only do I love how this collage turned out, but it is also serving another function at helping Dax to learn his alphabet (he already has his numbers down). He thinks it's fun having his name on the wall too.

To the right of the rocking chair is Boston's armoire and I definitely needed something to go on top. I found this picture frame at DI and the back was broken and it had no glass, so I scored it for $1.

I've wanted to do this saying in Daxton's room for quite a while, but didn't have the moola to fork out to put it into vinyl and have it on the wall. Plus since we are renting, I didn't want to have to leave it behind. So I popped out the matting on the frame, spray-painted the frame, then printed the saying up on my computer onto cardstock and glued it all back together. Voila!

And here is Boston's side of the room.

The lighting is funny so the frames look reddish, but they are really orange.

The "B" I spray-painted navy blue (just a large chunky cardboard letter from JoAnn), and the clock used to be a rusty bronze. I just unscrewed the face and then spray-painted it turquoise. But I'm not loving the tannish color of the face with the blue. It will have to do until I can figure out something else. But I love the shape of the clock and it being turquoise :)

I found some navy blue crib sheets at Target on clearance for $4 (yes!) and then got an all white bumper pad at IKEA for $12. Then I sewed orange fabric onto it alternating with the white. It was originally supposed to be all orange, but the lady who helped me figure out how much fabric I'd need for the bumper pad estimated very wrong, so I didn't have enough and couldn't spend more on fabric. So this is my make-shift attempt at making it still work. For the blanket I sewed the car fabric

and the pillow fabric back to back (both of these are flannel, so they don't need to be quilted cause they cling to each other). For all the pillows I just used a fat quarter or two and sewed them together and stuffed them. So easy!

And there ya have it. I really love having it all done.

Now I just need to fill the frames with pictures and it will be complete!

Celebrating # 3

For Daxton's birthday we made him a chocolate Thomas the Train cake. I did the easy part and baked the cake in the Thomas pan that used to be Greg's brother's when he was little. Greg cleverly frosted it to look like Thomas. He did an awesome job and we had to improvise with the Green frosting because we were out of red food coloring. Dax was thrilled at Greg's cake decorating! Mr. Ace of Cakes right there!! ;)

On Daxton's big day, he and I went over to my parents' house during the day and my Mom watched him while I went to the doctor. He got a Thomas card...

The game Candy Land, and a puzzle with Diggers on it from my

parents. We can always use activities!!

Then we headed home and Greg's parents and siblings met us at our house and gave Dax

presents too. He received Bulstrode the boat that goes in the bathtub and carries Thomas the Train on him. Dax is begging to take a bath now!

When Greg got home from work, the 3 of us headed to McDonald's and had dinner and Dax

played in the playland for a while. Then we headed to Home Depot and got a big piece of smoothe particle board and had it cut to fit on Daxton's bottom bunk of his bed (we recently moved his bed up top as a reward for several dry nights in his bed). Then we went and he picked out the train Hiro (one of Thomas' friends).

We came home and put the particle board on, with his train

mat on top and then Greg built him a train track. Now he has his own "train table" and it's out of the way. Perfect! Dax loves it!

Then we sang Happy Birthday and blew out candles and went to bed.

Happy Birthday Lil Cupid!

Daxton turned 3 yrs old on February 14th, Valentine's Day. Courtney took these pictures for me and I will fill some of the frames in his bedroom with them. I love how they turned out! Thanks Court! You did such a great job :)

This is Dax whining cause he is ready to be done taking pictures. We were definitely able to capture all of his personality in these pictures.

We love you buddy! You have sure grown this past year. You are getting so smart...too smart for your own good sometimes. You are so inquisitive about everything and ask so many questions that Mommy gets so frustrated with you sometimes. Especially all the "Why?"s that have started recently. I simply don't always know "Why", but that isn't good enough for you. You even asked me, at 2 yrs old, "How is Boston gonna come out of your tummy?" I told him we'll go to the hospital and the doctor will take him out. That wasn't clear enough for you because then you persisted with, "But HOW??" I gave up and just said the doc will cut him out and then you said, "But that will hurt you! You'll get bleed!" I have assured you time and time again that Mommy will be okay. I love how concerned you are.

You are still fascinated, entrigued, obsessed with, and loving trains. Anything to do with trains. You're always first to spot a train in a store, on billboards, in a book, or a movie. If there's one in a movie, you automatically love that movie and want to watch it over and over again. But usually just that ONE part with the train in it. You love Thomas and all his friends and know all their names. If I call one by the wrong name, you're sure to correct me. Even if they are the same color, you know whether or not they are the same train. I don't know how you do it.

You got a big tricycle at Christmas time and are doing really well at riding it. You love to ride around on it and every time the sun is shining outside while eating your breakfast you ask me if it's a nice day and if you can ride your bike.

You are so excited for your little brother to arrive and daily you flip up the calendar on the fridge and show me what day Boston is coming on. Now that you have turned 3, you know that's the next big thing to happen. We are set to be induced on March 17th, St Patrick's Day, so we'll see if Boston hangs out until then or comes early. You love babies and are so sweet with them. You love to hold them and kiss their heads, and give them a binky when they cry while saying, "It's ok, don't cry." You will be such a sweet big brother.

You are such a sweetheart and tell Mommy almost every day after I get ready, "You look pretty, Mom." Makes me feel so good :) You'll always agree with me when I show you something I like that is cute or small or pretty. Like when Boston's teeny cloth diapers came in the mail and I had nobody else at that moment to show how little they were. I said, "Look Dax, these are for Boston." You said, "Aw, that's cute." I love it!

You sure love your Daddy and love to wrestle (which you call "fight"), play hide and seek, and build things with. You ask everyday when Daddy is gonna come home. You love to play "hide from the Dragons" or "the dinosaurs are coming! Run Dad." You always want Daddy to tell you stories about trains at bedtime. One time Daddy was telling you a "scary" story about Thomas and his friends and there was a noise in the woods. But it turned out to be just a beaver gnawing on a tree. You still didn't interpret that as not being scary after all, and will sometimes say, "The beaver's coming! It's gonna get you! Run!" So I think that you think beavers are another scary creature. So funny.

You are sure tall and everyone thinks that you are older than you really are. You have been mistaken for being 5 twice now. Which is a huge jump from 2 or 3.

You have never been a good eater and still aren't. You could care less about mealtime and would rather just munch throughout the day while on the run. A lot like your Daddy. Meal time is always a battle with you to "eat one more bite" or "take 3 more bites." You have started even saying, "I ate too much, I'm sick" to try and get out of finishing your meal so that you can go play. You often do this after only 3 bites!

Another thing you do that Mom is not thrilled about, is you have started talking with your hands when you are very adamant about something or I've asked you "What?" 3 times because you mumbled. You'll then start explaining loudly, again, but with your hands. Also you like to argue quite a bit lately too, and with your hands. Often times you won't repeat your whole question, so I have no idea what you are saying. Like one day you asked if you could watch a specific movie after you ate breakfast and I said, "What?" and then you'd repeat, "Movie!" I'd then say, "What about a movie?" Then you'd get frustrated and start waving your hand saying, "I didn't say lots of words I only said one word, I said MOVIE!" It frustrates Mom just as much as it does you.

You sure crack us up and can definitely be a stinker at times, but we love you so much and can't imagine life without you.

Happy Birthday, Bug!

Love, Mom