We're almost there! Almost done with our bathroom project, which has gone from a simple paragraph into it's own entire post. I don't want to post it until everything is 100% done so I can show "final" pictures instead of "well, we're almost done" pictures.
Here's a preview the final results:

I should be able to post the final results early next week along with the complete step-by-step nightmare that was this project.

This summer has been really fun for me to enjoy the art of garage-saling. I'm not usually one to scope out garage sales. There's not much they offered the childless version of me. However, now that I have M.D. I am thoroughly enjoying the fact that I can purchase gently used items at garage sales for him, scrub them up with antibacterial junk, and he can play with them for 1/100th of the price. I do have rules. No teethers/bottles/anything that will spend 99% of its time in his mouth. It also has to be in pretty awesome condition for me to consider buying it. I also tend to gravitate towards items that I have wanted to buy new in the stores and then end up finding at sales. I don't like to buy stuff just because it's there and cheap. I want it to actually serve a purpose.

Here are some of my most recent (and proud) garage sale finds:

WAGON :)

I purchased this wagon at a garge sale during my lunch break from work. It was too good of a deal to pass up. It's in good condition and M.D. LOVES riding in it.
Retail Cost (New): $100
Garage Sale Cost: $10

COWBOY BOOTS :)

These boots were an awesome "investment" item (mostly because they weren't much of an investment at all!) I found them at a garage sale near my work and they looked brand new. I asked the woman who lived there if they were new and she stated her son had worn them 1 day for "Cowboy Day" at school. ONE DAY?!?! They're too big for M.D. right now (he's in size 5, they are 10.5) but I know he will love them when they fit! They are also just fun to have around right now and they will be the perfect decoration accessory for his party in a few weeks :)
Retail Cost (New; I did actually look this up because the boot still had tags): $65
Garage Sale Cost: $5

Yup...I'm LOVIN' the discounts :)

11 Months Old....YIKES! That means we're only 1 month away from, well, we're not taking about that yet. Let's just say little M.D. isn't so little anymore and my baby is seeming less like a "baby" every day. Although, he still likes to be cuddled like a baby so that's awesome in my book.

Name: M.D.

Age: 11 months

Weight: 21 lbs (est)


Length: 30" (est)

Eye Color: Bright Blue

Hair Color: Blonde

Favorite Food: "Big Kid Food" M.D. no longer will go for any type of puree or really anything that's fed to him on a spoon (unless it's Daddy & Momm's food). He particularly is fond of Mac 'n Cheese, Cheerios (O's), and any kind of fruit.

Favorite Toy: Wooden Blocks, Musical Train, the dishwasher, the cupboards, the stereo system (see where I'm going with this...)
 
Favorite Game: Peek-A-Boo (he now pulls the blanket off his own head when he wants to play), Unload Mommy's kitchen cupboards, knock down the wooden block tower, chase the dogs.

Teeth?: 4 on the bottom, 4 on top (starting to see the K9 teeth coming in...)

Mobility: Crawls normally, pulls himself to stand on EVERYTHING, can climb up the
stairs, will take a few steps if holding on hands and/or a push toy.

Vocabulary:
"Dada" Says this 100 times in a row when Steven gets home from work...he now understands the association of that word to that person. It's really adorable.
"Doggie" We've gotten that one a few times now
"Bye Bye"
"Mama" Only when he's tired and/or sad
"Whoa!" Not exactly a normal word for a baby to learn, but we yell it out when he knocks over the wooden block towers I build up for him, so he now loves saying it whenever he hears someone else say it.

 Likes: Talking, crawling, exploring, playing with things that are not
intended to be toys, dogs, other kids, snuggling, singing, reading
books, riding his wagon,
 
Dislikes: Mommy trying to get him to drink from a sippy cup when all he wants is his "Ba Ba" (bottle). UGH! We've had some major battles over this lately (I'll save it for another post)

I'm not sure if I even mentioned this in the blog, but about 2 months ago M.D. decided that he was not going to sleep in his crib anymore. At all. Ever. He started waking up multiple times in the night SCREAMING, and when we would try to lay him back down he'd throw a massive fit. We finally started bringing him into our bed when he'd wake up (to save sanity...and get more sleep) and he'd fall right to sleep as soon as his head hit OUR pillows. We delayed getting back into the crib routine out of fear of losing massive amounts of sleep during the work week. Then it just became habit, a bad habit. He wouldn't go to sleep unless we were all 3 in bed together (OUR BED) and so his bedtime progressively got later & later & later. He also wouldn't nap in his own crib so weekends were spent trying to get him to go to sleep in our bed which required one of us laying down with him (not such a bad thing...except weekends are our time to actually get things done around the house).
Well, we finally decided this past weekend we needed to try to break the habit. We followed Nana's age-old rule of 10 minutes. We lay M.D. down in his crib at bedtime, after lots of snuggles, a few books, and a "Ba Ba". He screamed, of course. We waited. 10 minutes. Went back in, lay him back down, turned on the mobile, spoke soft sleepy words, and left. He screamed. We waited. 10 minutes. Went back in, same routine. We took turns. He went to sleep. Two 10 minute screaming sessions were all that it took.
The next day, Saturday, M.D. started acting tired during the day. Naptime. I took him and laid him in his crib. Turned on the mobile. Left the room. Silence. A few minutes later, some screaming. 10 minutes. Went back in, same routine. Left....sleeping baby.
Saturday night it only took one "shift".
Sunday night, no shifts. We have officially re-sleep trained our little boy to go to sleep in his crib at night and naptime in on weekend.
PHEW!!! :)

Whelp. I'm officially insane. I'm that freak-show lady at the department store everybody is whispering about. Or in my case, the crazy lady at Cub, Target, and Home Depot.
"Oh my gosh is she talking out loud to herself?!"
"Weirdo!"

Yup. That's me. Thank GOD I usually have M.D. with so I just look like an overly attentive mother who has decided to broader her child's shopping experience by talking to him like an adult throughout the whole trip.
"Okay now we need eggs."
"I think I have a coupon for that."
"Nope, we definitely aren't getting orange juice at that price."
"Where do they keep the exterior paint?"
"Which color samples should we get?"

This was me. Correction, this is me. I noticed it first on my first solo grocery shopping trip in probably 3-4 months. I had my list (detailed) my stack of coupons, and apparently brought to the store we me my newfound inability to shop without talking to myself. Out loud. People actually looked. I wish I had blutooth so I could have pretended I was talking on the phone with someone. It would have gone over better.
I drove home thinking, gosh what is wrong with me?! Oh well, it was a fluke. I had a complicated list of ingrediants I usually never buy. I was overwhelmed. I had to talk myself through it. Right?

M.D. and I ran a couple of errands after work on Monday. We went to Home Depot to look at bathroom paint, front door trim paint, nail hole patch kits, and other random items I don't understand. As soon as we entered the store it started again. Racking my brain (OUTLOUD) for what we needed, where we should look, this doesn't match, this matches, this would look nice, how much does it cost!? UGH. The same scenario played out at Target. I literally couldn't stop it. If I stopped talking outloud I couldn't remember what I needed to get next.

On the drive home from Target the lightbulb went off in my head. I figured it out. I know the answer.

My brain is full.
Literally full.
I can't hold any more information, memory, reminders, lists, anymore. It's full. Checked out. So...in order to function in my daily life I now need to constantly spit out portions of my brain through spoken word so I can allow room for the other items which are filling it up. If I speak my grocery list outloud then I don't have to remember it anymore.
I can't think "inside" my head anymore.
There's no more room.


I keep noticing it more and more. I didn't even realize I did
it with M.D.'s diaper bag until this past weekend. I pack his whole diaper bag
for a trip out and then re-state everything in it out loud to myself (or whoever
happens to be within earshot). Okay, this might be slight OCD as well. Either way....

I'M SO SORRY!!
I have literally abandoned this blog (for the past few weeks) like it's a puppy on a Sarah McLaughlan commercial. Honestly, it's bad. I've had requests for different types of posts & have broken promises to have those posts up in a timely manner. I'm the worst blogger ever.
Whatever.
Not really.
I will say, however, that I find it EXTREMELY frustrating when my favorite blogs don't update for a while. I've discontinued "following" them for that reason alone.
So, I'm sorry.
Don't stop reading.
I'll try not to stop writing.

Some quick updates (because there's WAY too much to fit into one post).
1) We booked our plane tickets for our Florida vacation.
This is VERY exciting. A) Because we are going to be staying on the beach B) Because it's our first official family vacay with M.D. C) Because it's vacation...there's literally nothing better!
I can't wait to post about that, but you'll have to wait until October (because that's when we are going).

2) We spent this past weekend at a tractor pull. All. Weekend. It was actually a blast. M.D. LOVED the tractors, and the petting zoo, and the lawn mowers, and the tractors, and the hay, and the tractors. It was an all around good time!

3) We have some (minor) home improvement updates coming soon. Well, they'd better be "coming soon". I made a list of things I wanted to get done before M.D.'s first birthday party. It's not important, really, to get it done by then...but I always work better with a deadline. We're hoping to start the "painting" portion of the list this weekend. YIKES. Painting blows! I'll make sure to post updates as soon as I have them (hopefully next week!)

4) M.D. officially has the "favorite kid" at daycare title now. Miss Michele had to choose 1 kid to ride along as she brings her pre-schooler to pre-k in September and guess who she picked?! Yup. Who would've thought. I guess I should say, who would've though 6 months ago. We officially have gone from colic to the happiest baby on the block. Karma can work in good ways as well!

I had a request from a reader to do an update on the Honest Co products that I'm still continuing to use. Basically, how did they work out?
Here's the deal...there are some products that I still absolutely LOVE.
There are others that I love, but haven't used recently.
There are some that I don't use anymore.
There are some that I don't like.

We'll work from bottom to top....don't like is up first.
Sunscreen. The Honest Co sunscreen is a great idea (in theory). It's all natural sunscreen so you don't have to feel guilty about slathering your baby full of chemicals every day of the summer. My issue with it. It's SO GREASY! It's literally like rubbing lard on your baby. They get all slimy and slippery. M.D. has such light hair that we have to always put sunscreen all over his head. When we'd use Honest Co sunscreen it would look like he had rolled around in grease before we left the house. Not flattering. We're done with the sunscreen.

Don't use anymore:
Handsoap. It's for lack of enjoying the product, it's just that it's not really worth it for me to have them ship me handsoap when I can buy organic handsoap in my local retail stores (for the same price). I really like it, but I just don't use it.

Love, but haven't used recently:
Healing Balm. I really love this stuff (in the winter). It works great on M.D.'s chapped face, bottom, legs, arms, elbows, etc. as well as my chapped hands! We haven't had much use for it this summer but otherwise I'm definitely a big fan.

LOVE!!!
Laundry Pods & Dishwasher Pods.
I seriously cannot get enough of these. Not only are they cheaper than the store-bought poisonous brands, but they work great! I only use Honest Co. dishwasher pods EVER, and use the laundry pods all of the time as well.
One exception, when I was using cloth diapers I would use an Honest Co. laundry pod PLUS a hint of Dreft. The reason? Honest Co. laundry pods are SO natural that they don't really have a scent. If your clothes go in smelling like bonfire, they come out smelling fresh, but not like you get when you pour scented detergent with them. It works just great for me. Steven's gross work clothes are washed by the Honest Co pods and they come out awesome. However, for some reason when poop (smell) & pee went into the washer on the cloth diapers, the natural scent-free pods weren't quite enough to the get the smell out. They were clean, but still kind of weird smelling. That little bit of Dreft went a long way in just giving them a cleaner scent.



There! Now we're (pretty much) caught up.
Here's a photo-dump to close out the post :)

Pinterest. What can I say about Pinterest. It's my addiction. My obsession. My everything...(too far on that last one). I LOVE Pinterest.
For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past 2 years, let me explain what Pinterest is.
It's crack.
100%.
In every way, shape & form.
Except it's not illegal...although some may argue it should be.
It is addicting.
It's easy to find.
In the beginning...it makes you feel great. Confidant. Happy. Full of goals & dreams. You can do ANYTHING when you're on Pinterest.

You pin recipes, home decor ideas, outfit collaborations, blog posts about babies, kids, weddings, workout routines, the list goes on and on.
You organize your "pins" onto boards where you can catagorize your pins so you can reference them easily when you decide to actually DO whatever it is that pin is telling you that YOU CAN DO.

And then, you do it. You pick a pin, and you execute it. And, inevitably, 9 times out of 10. you fail.
There's actually multiple blog posts about Pinterest Fails. There's one called "Pinestrosity" that is completely made up of Pinterest fails (she succeeds sometimes...).

It's the downward spiral. The come-down off the drug.

It's like watching Bob Ross on PBS paint his pictures. Looks SO easy. Then you try it. Nightmare.

Needless to say, SOMETIMES I try pins. I've had pretty good luck...with recipes.
I decided it was time to try something for M.D. I have an entire board devoted to "ideas" for him. Decorations for his nursery, activities, foods, etc.
We started yesterday, embarking on our Pinterest road.
It wasn't a fail...technically. But it wasn't like the picture either.

Here is my pin. The "picture" if you will. It linked to a blog where the author posts lots of ideas for activities with toddlers. M.D. is not a toddler yet, but he's advanced ;)
This was specifically a "sensory activity". A prime example of another way Pinterest mind-effs you. You suddenly feel you don't do enough "sensory activites" with your child. Between clothing, bathing, playing with toys, reading books, cleaning up, feeding, cleaning up, singing, etc. you need to find time for "sensory activities". Well Pinterest, I found time.

The recipe was simple. Mix 8 cups of flour with 1 cup of baby oil. I went to the store. I bought a plastic tote, a giant bag of flour, and about 100 other things we "need" around the house.
This is what happened:

I didn't buy baby oil.

When I got home I searched Pinterest for OTHER "Moon Sand" pins and found that vegetable oil was used as the liquid ingrediant in the others. I had vegetable oil.
You're supposed to mix the flour and oil together really well with your hands until it forms a soft sand-like substance. Whatever. I mixed it together. It was chunky and weird. Not smooth & sand-like as it was supposed. I figured, whatever, this is a Pinterest activity after all. It's not meant to go right.
I mixed it up in the kitchen. It was raining outside. Damnit, we WILL do this sensory activity. I decided we'd do it in the kitchen. I knew it would make a mess. I just didn't know how quickly.

M.D. dove right in. He's obsessed with the sandbox at his daycare..and at the park...and God's sandbox at the beach. I pretty much knew we had a winner of a pin here.

Did I mention the dogs loved EATING the moon sand? Oh yeah, obsesed. You would've thought it was bacon flavored. It ended up being a big bonus because, in the beginning, when little bits of moon sand landed on the kitchen floor, the dogs would eat it right up. In the end, they couldn't keep up.

M.D. saw the dogs eating the sand. Why not? He gave it a whirl. Not exactly what he was expecting.

And then this happened....

Yup. M.D. figured out how to tip the container and we dumped about half of the moon sand onto the kitchen floor...and started smearing it around...still technically a "sensory activity".
Did I mention I purchased a broom when I was at Target?