Levi is Five Months Old + his Woodland Nursery

Age of Baby: 5 months

Size of Baby:

• Weight: 17 lbs 3 oz (up to the 63rd percentile), + 1 lb 8 oz from last month
• Length: 26 inches (down to the 53rd percentile), + 0.5 inches from last month
• Head circumference: not measured

Levi is wearing a size 2 diaper, though it's starting to get a bit snug. He is wearing 3-6 month clothes, though some of the 6-9 month clothes fit a bit better! ;)

Immunizations:

• None this month

Doctor's Visit Summary:

No visit this month.

Picture of Baby:

Here is Levi's 5-month picture in the 12-month onesie. His eyes are still blue (though it's hard to see in this pic) and he has some spiky little hair growing in on top of his head - about 1 cm long right now! :) His hair is pretty light, but darker than all of his brothers' hair, I think. He is an adorable little fuzzy-headed chunkster.

And here is a comparison of all four of the boys at five months, just for fun. Levi continues to take the prize for heaviest of the four, and continues as 3rd for height. Ethan was 27 inches long and weighed 16 lbs. Noah was 26.5 inches long and weighed 16 lbs 6 oz. And tiny little Amos was just 25.5 inches long and weighed 14 lbs 3 oz. Maybe it's a good thing Levi is four years younger, or he could end up passing Amos in size in a few years! Ha! Levi definitely has his own look, but I still think he favors Noah more than Ethan or Amos (who both crack me up here with their faces).

Accomplishments this Month:

• Sitting up in stroller for walks
• Went to his first live performance

Levi seems to be extroverted like his Daddy. He loves to see everything going on around him and people watch when we're out. So we decided it was time to let him sit up in a stroller for our family walks, instead of lying back in his carseat, snapped into the jogging stroller. He loved it! I think it makes him look way too big, but such is life. :'( He really enjoys being outside for long walks with Daddy, Lego and his brothers. Mommy tries to go most of the time, but sometimes enjoys a silent house while she gets lots of things accomplished at home!! ;)

At the end of February, Ethan's 3rd grade class gave a musical performance at the monthly PTA meeting. Levi really enjoyed listening to them sing and watching them dance (much more than Ethan enjoyed it - sigh). He was the perfect audience. :) Singing to him is usually the best way to get him calmed down when he is upset. It doesn't matter if you even say words. Humming works, too. Same thing goes for playing music on our phones. He loves to listen and watch the videos.

Once again, I wish I could report that Levi was sleeping through the night, but he's still not consistently. He'll sleep anywhere from 1 (on a super rough night) to 11 hours straight though! He was doing pretty well near the beginning of the month, but has since regressed again in the last couple of weeks. Also in the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to get him on more of a schedule during the day, including naps in his crib! I often run errands in the mornings, so he'll normally get a bit of a nap in his carseat while I'm out, but he's started taking afternoon naps of about 1-2 hours in his crib now. It's a start. I've continued to nurse him every 2-3 hours during the daytime for 15-25 minutes. He eats about 8 times in a 24-hr period. My plan is to start solid foods at some point soon. I'm hoping that may help fill his tummy a bit more so he'll sleep a little better! Given the fact that he's doubled his birth weight and he's also done it plenty of times, he should be able to sleep through the night. Sometimes he seems hungry (I guess it's hard to keep those chunky thighs if you don't eat all night) when he wakes up and other times he just needs comforted. It would be great if he would learn to put his paci in himself at night so I didn't have to get up to do it! ;)

In other exciting news...I finally finished decorating the nursery! Given the fact that we still haven't repainted Amos's room, I guess Levi is lucking out that his was completed first! ;)

I purchased the adorable Peanut Shell Woodland Dreams crib set at Babies 'R Us. Sadly, they are closing all of their stores, but this set may is hopefully available elsewhere as well. I also bought the changing pad cover, pillow and blanket there as well. All of the wall art was purchased at Hobby Lobby (the letter "L", the "be strong & brave sign", the metal geometric fox head, and the wooden arrow), except for the gray light box, which was from Target. I also purchased the starry globe nightlight and the navy room darkening curtains at Target.

The crib and dresser have now made it to all 4 boys (despite Amos's best efforts to destroy them)! They were also from Babies 'R Us, over nine years ago! The glider and ottoman (where I end up spending half my night too regularly) were purchased from Babies 'R Us before Noah was born. Adorable baby not included. ;)

It's hard to believe that the next time I post, half of his first year will already be behind us! The days may be long, but these years are flying by!

Basement Renovation: From Drab to Fab

We started our basement remodel about a year ago. It's amazing how different it is now! It was something we knew we wanted to do when we bought the house about 1.5 yrs ago, and things finally settled down enough for us to start on it. Well, there was that and the knowledge that we would have a third little kiddo in nine months, further decreasing our free time/ability to get anything productive done! Haha! So, it was time to get busy making it happen.

It started out as two separate, mostly finished rooms. To get to the back room, though, you had to go through the unfinished space. It was a bad layout and the rooms were poorly finished (office-grade carpet with no padding, sagging ceiling tiles, dingy fluorescent lights, etc), so we didn't use them for anything but storage. We think the previous owners must have actually used the rooms as offices, because there were no less than 4 different phone outlets, with multiple lines. We wanted a media room, though, like we had in our Georgia house. A room where Josh could put a big TV, surround sound, and all of his other fun big boy toys. ;) We were tired of having the living room on the main level cluttered with toys. With 2 small boys, it was in constant disarray. So, the "man cave," if you will, would also need to include room for toys for the boys. We wanted to set it up where we could enjoy the TV area with the boys right nearby to keep an eye on them. So, Josh (with help from a willing and eager Ethan) started by ripping down the wall between the two rooms to create one big room.

We were able to take everything down except a support pole in the middle. The only way to remove it would mean re-bracing the top, a very expensive job (as in more than the entire project cost), so we decided we would just live with the pole. :)

Hello, open room! Next, Josh cleared out all of the bracing, and began patching the walls back up. He hung new drywall pieces, reinforced the edges of the beam, and painted everything.

Next, the nasty carpet had to go. It was a lovely shade of green and all (um, yeah), but had no padding, and was actually glued to the cement.

Here we are before and after carpet.

The room felt 100% better already! Next, we painted it our favorite shade of green (LaFonda Wild West Green - Valspar 6006-4A). We actually love it so much that we've used that same color in every house we've had now! Then, out went the big fluorescent lights, and lots of new canned lights were installed. No more dark, dingy space. The ceiling tiles were also in rough shape and sagging in the middles, so Josh ran some new bars and we got new smaller tiles to replace them. Awesome!!

We covered the ugly pole with a wooden piece that glues directly onto it. Now it looks nice and we don't mind having it there at all. We still need to decide if we want to paint it white or not. And here are the finished pics...

Of course, the room was not complete without a 60" plasma smart TV and surround sound! You know what was even better? Purchasing that TV with credit card reward cards, so it was completely free! Then turning around and using all of the Sears points we earned from that purchase to get a new patio set for free, too! :) Josh ran all of the wiring behind the walls and ceiling tiles so that it would look nice. He also purchased a recessed outlet that fits into the wall, behind the TV, so that no cords would be showing. Love it!

I decided to use mustard yellow and teal as accent colors to the green. I love how they look! I purchased all of the pillows and blankets, and new lampshade, at Target. :) We also bought new, brown DuraBlend leather couches at a local factory warehouse. No use buying nice stuff with three little boys to tear them up!

And I love how my DIY canvases look hanging above the couch. Now we need some updated ones with Amos in them! These particular ones cost me more than $5, as I had to order these large 16" x 20" prints, instead of printing them at home.

Everyone is loving our new family space. It's where we go to watch TV and play, and pretty much hang out all day. It's great for keeping the loud, rowdy big boys downstairs, as far away from a napping Amos as possible! Haha! Now Josh can blare his music, or movies, as loud as he wants, too, after the boys are in bed!

I'm adding details, a little at a time. Can you believe my luck finding this picture frame with my accent colors at Kohl's?? Perfect wording, too, for this perfect picture of all of my boys!! I literally smile every time I look at it. :)

So, we took an unused space of our house and turned it into the most warm, comfortable room yet! Josh did an incredible job, doing it all by himself! He's so handy...and all mine! I've mentioned before how he's stuck with me! ;) I can't wait to start on some of the other rooms (mainly the kitchen and bathrooms) and hopefully do some work with the other side of the basement, that is still unfinished, too! I have big plans for it that will hopefully work out! :)

Menu Monday #35

Well, we survived our first week back to a normal routine. Yay! It was a good week, followed by a great weekend. The temperatures warmed up just in time for the weekend and it was fantastic! We loved having the windows open and airing the house out. Josh and I were both bit by the productivity bug and we both worked on projects all weekend. Mine was my office. I started going through drawers and filing cabinets and throwing old stuff away. So far I have filled up almost an entire large trash bag. Yay! I also finally tackled my "to file" pile. It was at least 3 inches tall. :/ It is now almost gone, and that makes me happy. I still have quite a bit to do in that room, but at least I accomplished a good deal this weekend.

Josh's project was the basement. When we moved in, it was finished off into 2 rooms, but was a lower-end finish. So, our plan for the basement was to take out the wall between the 2 rooms to create one large room that would be the media room/playroom for the boys. So, the time came to finally start that project, as we are growing tired of all the toys in our main living room. Josh made great progress in just 2 days and we now have an open space down there. Next up will be a little bit of drywall work, getting the ceiling framed back up, then new paint and new carpet. Hopefully it won't be much longer and we can call this project finished!

Near the beginning of the demo, with just a small opening...

By the end of the weekend, it's one big room!

On Friday, I was craving some Indian food, so we headed to Sahib, our local Indian restaurant. Yuuuummmm. I splurged this time on some bhel puri (a salad) and a mango lassi (a drink) to accompany my chicken tikka masala. :) The boys had paneer (cheese) tikka masala, and Josh had a super spicy lamb dish.

 

Such a big boy!

On Saturday morning, I made one of our favorites, whole wheat banana bread pancakes, since I had several bananas left. They are always a hit! I had a little helper this time, too. :)

"Helping" Mommy make pancakes...

Topping them with maple vanilla glaze completes them!

Josh took a break from the basement to enjoy some time outside that afternoon with the boys. T-shirts in January?? Yes, please!

Crazy driver behind the wheel!

On Saturday night, we thought pizza sounded tasty, so we headed to Scratch Brick Oven because it's always good. If you're local and haven't been yet, you really must. This time, Josh talked me into a "limited trust" pizza. We let them pick the toppings, with the exception of a few that we didn't want. I am so glad that we did. We haven't had a bad pizza yet there, but this one was by far the best! We could tell it had smoked ham, bacon, sausage, spinach, jalapeño peppers, pickles, mushrooms, and Granny Smith apples for sure. It appeared to have a mix of their red and pesto sauces, too. Everything worked so well together to make a spicy, yet sweet, mix. They really know what they are doing!

The boys love the pesto cheese sticks!

"Limited trust"  - a slice of heaven!

On Sunday morning, Josh made us breakfast. Scrambled eggs with some leftover sausage and shredded mozzarella cheese and Cream of Wheat. A yummy start to the day! We continued working on our projects, with more outside breaks to enjoy the weather. We were pooped by the end of the day, but proud of how much we managed to accomplish in a weekend.

Sunday: Grilled sirloin steaks, oven roasted red potatoes, roasted broccoli

It was too nice not to grill, so that is what we did! Josh handled the steaks, while I did the veggies. I coat my potatoes (diced into small pieces) in a little EVOO, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, rosemary and grated parmesan. So delicious. I coat the broccoli in a little EVOO, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and shredded parmesan.

Monday: Baked chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese green beans

Josh has a work dinner, so it will be something easy for me and the boys. I'll make my own chicken nuggets by coating some chicken breast strips in some bread crumbs and baking them. I'll make Annie's Organic macaroni. It tastes just like the blue box, so the boys are big fans.

Tuesday: Cajun stuffed peppers

I haven't made this meal in a long time, so it will be nice. I love the mix of quinoa and brown rice in the red peppers, and sausage instead of beef.

Wednesday: Tag Pic Pac with chicken, roasted asparagus

I haven't tried making my favorite Carrabba's dish at home yet, so I'm hoping this one goes well. I bought some tagliarini pasta from Fresh Market and I'll follow the recipe Carrabba's has on their website. I like to add grilled chicken to mine. Asparagus should make a nice side for this pasta dish.

Thursday: Pork chops, roasted butternut squash, couscous with toasted pine nuts and cranberries

It probably won't be nice enough to grill, so I'll either use a grill pan inside, or lightly bread the pork and pan fry it. I have missed the squash, so it will be a yummy addition. The couscous is super tasty and a big hit with Ethan!

Friday: Out to eat

We'll grab something before heading to Ethan's preschool's Family Fun Night! :)

Saturday: Out to eat at Scratch

My sister and her family are coming into town for a late Christmas celebration. We are excited to take them to Scratch so they can enjoy some pizza with us!

We have a busy week in store for us this week. Tiny man is 18 months old today, so we have his well-check tomorrow morning. I'll hopefully be back then for an update on how he is doing!

Getting Organized: Laundry Room and Hallway

Happy New Year!! One of my resolutions for this year is to complete all of the projects currently on my to-do list. It's a pretty ambitious goal, but I am hoping I can do it. For the new year, I have created a new page/tab that will keep track of all the projects I want to get completed in 2013! I'm hoping this will help motivate me, and keep me accountable to getting them finished.

First up, I finally got around to organizing a space in our house that was driving me crazy. Our laundry room had become a catch-all for too many things, as it also serves as the entryway into the house from the garage. It had become so bad that I didn't even have room to put my laundry baskets in there anymore (not too impressive, given the size of the room, though), which resulted in the boys using them as "pillow baskets," as Ethan calls them, or seats for watching TV. :)

Hey, brother! This sure is a nice seat for watching movies!

As cute as their pillow baskets were, I really wanted the baskets back in the laundry room, along with the rest of the room cleaned up and organized, so I decided it was time to tackle it! I was tired of looking at the space every time I did laundry, or we left the house. I hate having less room than we did in our Georgia house for this space, but I was determined to make it all work. So, I emptied everything out of the room, to start from scratch. I threw a lot of stuff away, moved things to other areas where they belonged, and then organized what was left! Yay!!

I purchased some inexpensive baskets from Walmart to fit inside the cubbies to hide the contents there, and give it a cleaner/neater feel. They coordinate with the ugly wallpaper that I haven't had a chance to take down yet, so that was an added bonus. I would still really love to paint the ugly oak cabinets white, or cream, like the kitchen/bathroom cabinets, but I don't think hubby will let me. :(

Before and After

I used an old hanging mesh rack that I used to use for sweaters, to hold our shoes, instead of the wire cart I was using. This freed up room on the floor of the cabinet for all of our boots now.

Before and After

I love how this space turned out. I no longer mind going in to do the laundry, and I love that when we come in the door, Ethan puts his and Noah's shoes away for me in their respective cubbie. :)

Another project that I had wanted to complete was a "kids' station" in the hallway right outside of the laundry room, across from the downstairs bathroom. Ethan brings home lots of abstract beautiful artwork from preschool, and I wanted a cute way to display it, aside from hanging it on the refrigerator, as it's getting a bit cramped there. So, I purchased two 11" x 14" picture frames at Michaels (buy one, get one for a penny!), some burlap material, and small clothespins. I wrapped the burlap around the cardboard insert and placed it back in the frame, leaving the glass out. Then I colored the pins black to match the frames (easy to do with a permanent marker!), and hot-glued them to the burlap. Now I can hang his artwork there to display it!

I also wanted a coat hook rack to hang their coats and Ethan's backpack on. I found this cute oil-rubbed bronze one at Target. It's perfect for their little coats. :) To balance the rest of the wall out, I found this decorative mirror and small picture frame (both have an oil-rubbed bronze finish) at Walmart. For now, it's decorated with our last initial, but I'm planning to swap that out for a picture of Ethan on his first day of preschool or one his "official" preschool pictures, then update it each year with a new school pic.

Hallway "kids' station"

I am so happy with how this project turned out and I now love this otherwise under-utilized hallway, which was pretty lonely with just a chalkboard/keychain hook rack. This area of the house is now pretty and organized. On to the other end of the downstairs now...my office is next on my list!

DIY Paint Chip Wall Calendar

Welcome to those visiting from the Money Saving Expert in the UK, and others here in the US from Pinterest. This entry has become quite popular today (12.05.12) after the pic below was featured in an article about Christmas presents under a fiver! :)

Several months ago, while browsing Pinterest, one of my favorite pastimes these days, I came across a pin linking to this page. The pin was for this cute, colorful wall calendar.

Picture courtesy of Cheltenham Road

I also came across another one on this other page, too. This one looked pretty similar, using the same concepts.

Picture courtesy of Maple & Magnolia

So, I was inspired to try making my own DIY wall calendar as well. :) What's nice about this particular project is how customizable it is. For example, instead of using a poster frame like both of these people did, I purchased a floating frame (at 50% off!) at Michael's. It was 16" x 20", so still nice and big, but looks a little fancier.

You can also customize the colors that you want to use. I picked up my paint chips at Home Depot. The Behr brand has some nice big ones in their premium brand, so I chose those. I decided to go with a dark to light to dark trend with mine. I chose these blue-green hues (UL220-12: Urban Mist, UL220-7: Ozone, UL220-3: Tahoe Blue, and UL220-2: Voyage) because I like them (you'll find these colors throughout our entire house!). The calendar hangs in our kitchen/breakfast nook area, which is painted a neutral shade of tan right now, so I didn't need to try to match/coordinate to any particular colors. Each paint chip was big enough to make 2 squares, so I needed 5 chips of each of the 4 colors I used (20 total chips). Measuring everything out, to allow for 5 rows of 7 (35 total squares), I had room to make my squares 2 1/4" x 2 1/4", then space them 3/8" apart. I used a corner rounder tool to punch out some rounded corners because I liked how that looked better. Using double-sided tape, I secured the squares to the back piece of glass. Then I made a longer rectangle for the top to label the month. Once this was done, I simply put the pieces of glass and frame back together and voilà!

I can use a dry-erase marker to write in the dates and what we have going on that day. I like to use a color-coded system that matches up with the colors I assign to each of us in our Cozi calendar. Even though I use this super awesome mobile/online calendar app, I also like seeing the entire month in front of me on the wall. Now that we actually get out of the house most days with activities or appointments, it is very helpful for keeping my sometimes forgetful memory in check. ;)

Along with completing this project, we are finally starting to get more things hung on the walls. We've been in the house for 3 months now, so it's about time! We had our beautiful family pictures taken in April and July this year by Kristy Vest Photography. I decided to hang the most recent ones in our living room. The colors we are wearing match up great with the rug and pillows in that room. :)

We're getting this easy stuff out of the way, then it's time to dig in and get started on the big projects! We're hoping to start our basement remodel soon, along with the back deck/patio overhaul. Hopefully it won't be long before I am posting about those.