Living Room, Ruffles, and Paint

Day Two without Kaelyn is complete. Mom tells me "don't be jealous but she didn't wake up at all last night". Well, neither did I. :)

Yesterday I did organizing and cleaning in the living room. It was looking pretty scary so I had started working on it slowly a few weeks ago. It's not "done" but it's to the point where the remaining items are things we want to keep but they don't have a location. Yet.

I'll be working on storage space soon but I got distracted today. And will continue that distraction tomorrow.

We really like the cat stuff in this area. And this area looked a whole lot worse before these pictures were taken. I don't have a true before picture. Oops.

That's all the remaining clutter in the living room! It's awesome. It's actually a little better now because those bags in the lower right corner have been taken to the recyling now.

I have also done a little bit of sewing. I intended to do a lot of sewing this week but I got distracted....

Look, Breezi... RUFFLES.

If you ever sew with knits, don't try to be lazy and sew with a regular needle. Use a ballpoint needle. Trust me.

My distraction had to do with my family room, entry, and this.

It is THE PERFECT color for this space. I love the vision in my head and can't wait to show you all how it turns out! Actually, I'd show you preview pictures now but I just don't have any.

My Bangs

I have been thinking about getting bangs for maybe about a week. On Saturday, I told Kimmi and she said "let's do it today!" So we did.

I wasn't sure how well I liked it at first. I didn't hate it, but it's quite a change for me. So far it seems like it's still easy maintenance. I'm liking it more and more.

I finally figured out that I look like Lisbon from The Mentalist. Josh and Kimmi concurred. Mom said I'm much cuter.

I am starting all these paragraphs with "I". Jamie and Kevin said I'm smokin hot and that Jared got a new wife. Jared says it's cute.

I. (Um, couldn't figure out another way to start this with an I.) The consensus is definitely that it makes me look young. I'm making everyone say youthful. I didn't really need help to look young.

Ramen Noodles vs. Pizza

I really did it.

I just compared the nutrition facts of ramen noodles to pizza.

At least this particular type of pizza (Mama Cozzi's mega meat) totally creams ramen noodles.

I'm never having ramen again.

Unless it is homemade.

Maybe.

(Pizza is still better.)

In the suburb, the mighty(?) suburb, Kaelyn sleeps tonight

Remember this post when I listed my 2011 to do's? Or this or this post about Kaelyn's sleeping... um... habits?

It is a constant up and down battle. I can't really call it a battle though because I'm not fighting real hard. Slow and steady wins the race. Right? Right??? Ahem.

Lately, I've realized that sometimes Kaelyn needs additional unwinding time after she is ready for bed or a nap. (Jared does not always help with this.) I just shut the doors and for the most part ignore her. If she gets out of bed, I set a timer (on my phone) for five minutes. If she isn't back in bed by the end of five minutes, I put her back. I don't let her get into the drawer of the nightstand but I don't stop her from opening closet doors.

Since starting that, I've been surprised at how often she'll get back into bed before the five minutes are up. Doesn't mean she stays there. But she will get back in.

She has started staying in bed longer when she wakes up over the last few weeks. She rarely gets out of bed by herself when she wakes up. She calls so I know she's awake and then she waits. Sometimes she is still laying down when I get up there. She also knows that her pacifier goes in her bed and that she isn't allowed to walk around with it (she still tries, but she generally is very good about taking it out when I remind her).

I can say that except for once or twice in the last several months, Kaelyn sleeps in her own bed! This is awesome. It would be even more awesome if it were in her own room but hey. Baby steps.

I can also say that except for once or twice in the last several months, Kaelyn does not sleep the whole night through. She still wakes up for a drink and if she doesn't get it, she keeps asking. Sometimes she can't find her pacifier (and she's pretty lazy at looking for it). She wakes up, on average, twice a night. Sometimes more. Sometimes less. Usually twice.

At least I can count on her sleeping at least until 7am. This week it has been later (this morning she didn't wake up until 8:30!!!!!) but she has also gone to bed later.

Naps vary anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 1/2 hours. Yesterday was a rare case at 3 1/2 hours (and then refusing to get out of bed for the next 1/2 hour). Today she woke up at 1 1/2 hours. She called out but then stayed quiet so I thought she went back to sleep. I went upstairs 30-45 minutes later to put something away and she sits up in bed. So now I'm not sure if she was asleep for that time or just laying there quietly waiting for me to come upstairs. Either way, I'm happy.

Our bedroom will seem a lot bigger once a crib is no longer in there.

Kaelyn's a Big Girl

Kaelyn has been showing me lately that she deserves to be called a Big Girl. She's not the smallest or the skinniest  kid but she is less than 50 percentile. And her hair still reminds me of a mullet.

Speaking of her hair. I've tried clips (Kimmi found some that are little enough for her sparse, short front hairs) but she doesn't leave them in for very long. Headbands stay on a little bit longer. And hats are a hit or miss.

Today she came to me with a ponytail holder that she had found. She tried to put it in her hair by herself (like she puts on her headbands) but obviously, since it was too small, that didn't work out well. She asked for help. Knowing how she is about everything else in her hair, I didn't think it would stay in very long.

It is still in! I took {horrible quality} pictures and she's gone off to read books, have a drink, snap herself with a rubber band... She hasn't tried to take it out once.

What a sweetheart!

What I really wanted to write and remember was that we were eating breakfast (German pancakes) and she wasn't in her highchair. She took a bite even though it was still too hot for her liking and then spit it out. "Oh no!" In the past, that's all she did while I would pick up whatever fell. This time she ran off and came back with the hand towel and said "excuse me!" while pushing my chair so I knew she wanted me to move. She wiped up the whole area.

This also brings to mind another Big Girl incident. A few days ago, I was changing up my family room (again). The way the couch and the toy thing was, she kept climbing on the toy thing and falling head first onto the couch. It made me too nervous the way her neck was bending some times so I just moved the toy thing. I also took the time to put chairs and a table there.

The table was something like $12 from craigslist. It's a metal base and a glass top.

The chairs were $5.99 from Goodwill but they were 50% off that day so I grabbed all four of them up (the other two are blue and still in the basement because I don't need them all up right now). They need a paint job. I'll get to it. Sometime. I bought them last year because I knew I wanted them someday for Kaelyn. That day has come.

The second day it was up, she tried standing on the table to look outside. "Oh no! Mommy! Help!" (Why is it that everything is said with an exclamation mark now?) She now learned why I said not to stand on the table as the glass top can tilt. Since then, she hasn't tried to get on it again and instead stands on the chair to look outside.

What happens instead is that whenever that cats sit on it, she tells them "all done" and tries to get them off.

I love watching her grow up. I have no sniffles or tears about my little baby being such a big girl. Probably only because I know another baby is in my future (NOT AN ANNOUNCEMENT). I will probably get the blues when I'm on my last child.