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Wearing Grandma Gogo's eyeglasses

 

Mashed potatoes

 

 Skiing with Daddy

Showing up in Mommy's bedroom with toys

 

Handsome boy

Too tired while trick or treating. Needing a break.

J. Crew model

 

16 Weeks

Up until about 3 weeks ago, I thought I was having a breeze of a pregnancy. No major cravings (expect for that one weekend craving sour watermelons which resulted in my buying a 10lb bag online), no major issues and almost no nausea. I had one week of extreme tiredness but overall I thought this was a piece of cake.

Once I hit my second trimester, my nose and stomach all decided it was time to "act" pregnant. I am at the point of getting sick every time I open my refrigerator door, walk by Daniel's bathroom or throw something in the trash. Dave is being a great help by doing the dishes, cleaning up the kitchen and putting food away. Thankfully, our house cleaner takes excellent care of my toddlers bathroom.  It's not one smell or another that get me, it's just smells in general. Today, I knew I needed to eat so I made myself 2 flautas from the freezer. Once they finished baking, I knew there was no way I could eat them. Thankfully, Dave hadn't eaten lunch yet!

I definitely have a bump going on. I'm not a big fan of posting belly shots of myself. They sort of freak me out. But, I did try on the bump pillow at Pea in the Pod the other day while shopping for maternity jeans. Sorry, folks! That's all the photos you are going to get.

 

Dave is out of town this week for work, home for the weekend, then gone again the next week. I'm sure some tiredness will creep up on me. I'm just praying the stomach craziness goes away.

Master Suite Remodel

This past spring we began a major remodelling project of our master bedroom/bathroom and closet area. I'm not going to post all the pictures of the before project, just know we knocked down the wall in between our bedroom and closet, moved a doorway and enlarged the closet significantly. The project took close to 2 months and we lived in the bedroom while we were under construction. If I had to do it over again, I would move out in a heartbeat. The house was constantly dusty and filthy. The noise was manageable, but having to cover our bed with heavy tarps each day was too much.

The reason I'm just getting around to posting pictures of the remodel is it took me FOREVER to get the master suite accessorized and decorated. I just got the photos up on the bedroom wall last week. I'm still not done, I am waiting on a framed photo for above the mantle and once baby #2 arrives, we'll fill the last wall in the room with pictures of him or her.

All the accessorizing credit goes to Lisa Ismert. My sister in law, Crystal, is great friends with her and Lisa styled Crystals house. Crystal raved about how wonderful Lisa is and it turned out Lisa lived fairly close to me in Colorado.

Bedroom Wall Gallery and Mantle Art

 

Looking into bathroom from bedroom

Cabinetry by Creative Cabinetry, in Breckenridge, CO

Lime green towels on double hung towel rack 

Double vanity with Cosmos Granite

I fell in love with this granite a few years ago at a Parade of Homes house.

 Linen Closet and pull out hamper

Shower with 2 rain heads, 2 body sprays and a hand wand. All electronic controlled with pre-set temperatures.

Granite shelving

 

Walk in Closet with 5 sections of hanging clothes, 2 dressers, 1 hutch and tons of shoe storage (every girl's dream!) All of the closet shelving is from More Space Place in Frisco, CO.

 

The master suite remodel felt like it took forever, but it was so worth it. I am in love with my bedroom and closet and my husband has his dream shower. I love remodeling projects! The master suite remodel was planned over a long time and I'm so glad I was able to put on my "General Contractor" hat once again and oversee all the little details.

 

Now, I need to get Lisa to come back to Breckenridge and style my living room and kitchen!

#2

So things have been a little quiet in blog-land. Sorry about that. I've been trying to wrap my mind around some crazy news...

We are having a baby!

This came as quite a shock to us, as we've always been told a biological baby wasn't possible for us. Well, God had different plans for us. Daniel will be a big brother sometime around May 20, 2013.

So far, I'm feeling great. We found out about the baby in the beginning of September. I have had a little nausea, a week of extreme tiredness and some intense cravings. That's about it, so far it's easy-peasy!

My cravings are kind of funny, well at least to me. When I want something, I want it right then and cannot stop thinking about it. Last night, I wanted spaghetti and meatballs. Two weeks ago, I obsessed over sour watermelon candy. When I couldn't find any in the local stores, I ordered a 5lb bag online. Unfortunately, it took 2 weeks to arrive and then the craving had long gone.

Overall, now that the news has set it and we've been able to pick up our jaws off of the ground,  we are thrilled about the baby!

PS-thanks for hanging in while I've been silent on this blog. Now that the news is public, I'll try to do a better job in posting.

Bike riding

Daniel went on an almost 2 mile bike ride yesterday while I went for a jog (GASP!). Once we got home, he was too tired to walk up the stairs.

Model

A few days ago, my brother texted me the photo below...

My first thought was "What the heck? What is my kid doing in this ad?!?! I didn't allow this!" It took me a few minutes to place the photo and recalled a shoot he was asked to be in early in the fall. A photographer in town was putting together a shoot for a local medical clinic.  I ran into her several weeks after the shoot and she expressed she didn't like the way everything came together and her and the practice scrapped the idea and went in a different direction. I guess months later, she sold some of her stock photography to the clinic for some ads and Daniel was the subject.

I got in touch with the photographer and she sent me some of the images from that day many months ago.

Daniversary Camping Trip

We have made a commitment as a family to be intentional about spending Daniel's Family Day together doing something fun. To celebrate our first Daniversary, we packed up our car and headed south to the Buena Vista area to go camping for the weekend. The car was so packed, Daniel didn't have as much room as he's used to. He wasn't happy about it.  (We are in serious need for a new and larger vehicle)

As soon as we arrived, Dave and I started to set up camp and Daniel started riding his bike around the campsite. Dave's favorite camping snack is Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream cookies. So, of course I had to buy a box and introduce them to Little D.

 

Saturday morning we went for a drive to explore the old mining town of St. Elmo. I love Colorado history and the mining heritage we have here. The town was worked hard to keep the buildings intact for people like me to explore. It was a perfect day to wander around the little street.

 

After lunch in Salida with our Breck neighbor who owns a gallery there and Daniel's nap, we geared up for a hike to Agnes Valie Falls in Nathrop. It was an easy half mile hike into the falls. Well, it was easy for me. I wasn't carrying a 40 pound 2 year old on my back.

The falls were beautiful and Daniel loved climbing through the river bed.  He got soaked, of course. But, that's what little boys do and you just have to roll with it.

 

We ended the weekend with a trip to Kay's Dairy in BV for ice cream. It wasn't as good as I remembered it to be, but after a weekend camping, we deserved a treat.

Our weekend was great! Daniel was amazing at the campsite and sleeping in a new and strange place. We are looking forward to more weekends in the tent all this summer and in years to come.

Georgetown Train

Last week, Daniel and I joined our friends from Texas at the Georgetown Train. Daniel is into trains this month so it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I'm not a big fan of characters and I don't feed into character t-shirts, toys, etc. Daniel knows who Thomas the Train is, but we certainly don't focus on Thomas.

The entire time we were on the train he repeated, "choo-choo". At first it was super cute...after the 39th time in 5 minutes, well...what can you say?

He was fascinated with everything going on around him.

While we were waiting to board the train, Daniel tripped and fell onto a wooden barrel. He scraped up his skin around his eye.

While this wasn't our first visit to the Georgetown Train, this was the first time Daniel was really into it. He seemed to "get" trains so much more this time riding. I'm sure we'll make this a regular stop on our drives down to Denver.

Before & After

Disclaimer: This isn't a post poking fun of Daniel in poor taste. My son was HUGE when he came home to us one year ago. He was massive in size and reminded me of a bowling ball with hands and feet. I fell in love with his chubb and general squishy-ness but was concerned that we were raising the next contestant for The Biggest Loser.Thankfully, he's slimmed down!

Time lapse of 1 year...

July 20, 2011 vs. July 18, 2012

 August 2011 vs. July 2012

 August 2011 vs. June 2012

 October 2011 vs. May 2012

August 2011 vs. July 2012