Laundry Room Finished!

We finished the laundry room!  

We bought this old door for $5 at the Habitat for Humanity Restore to make a counter top over the washer/dryer.  Christopher's parents let us use the cabinets we had taken down from their lake house kitchen.  Which is so wonderful because cabinets can be pricey.  Thanks, Lee and Heath! Last on the agenda was to create a curtain for the wire racks that we put back up.  This fabric was actually a shower curtain on clearance at Target for $13.  We used the staple gun to put the fabric on a piece of wood and then screwed it into the ceiling.

And finally...here is the "before."

And here it is all finished!  Clean, orgainzed, and updated with plenty of storage space.  Of course this is the cleanest it will probably ever be.  But it makes for a nice picture :)

Dirty Laundry

Our laundry room is OUT OF CONTROL.  Here are a few pictures AFTER I hauled out a million random junk items.  So maybe these pictures don't look too bad.  See the top shelf in the first picture.  Now imagine that ALL the shelves were filled with stuff just like that one.  Mostly stuff that we don't need or use.

In case you were wondering, one of those boxes is actually a "smore maker".  A birthday gift from my husband about 4 or 5 years ago.  Somehow it has made it with us for about 3 house moves.  Please ask him how many times we have used it and then let me know if you think it is time to donate to charity. 

I always keep this door closed when people come over...it is kind of our dirty little secret.  haha.  We ended up getting a new washer and dryer (our dryer broke last weekend and I sold the washer on craigslist).  So, that is motivating us (me) to reorganize and make this space a little more user friendly.

We have a few fun little ideas in store and will be working on some of them this weekend. I can't wait!

Because I never want to forget...

the mess my 15 month old can make in a matter of minutes.

Christopher appropriately calls her "Hurricane Ashlyn." 

A sick baby

There really is nothing worse.  Poor Ashlyn had a rough day yesterday.  She could not keep anything down and just wanted to be held.  Even though I hate that she was feeling bad, it was a sweet day because we laid on the couch and snuggled and watched movies.  Other than about 10 loads of throw-up laundry and a sick baby, it was a glorious Saturday.

Around 4pm Chris and I decided it would be a good idea to get out of the house for a little while.  With a baby who had been throwing up all day.  Not the best idea.  BUT, our dryer is broken and we wanted to price out our options for a new one.  Yesterday was not a good day to have a dryer not working properly.  We literally had clothes and towels and sheets and everything else that Ashlyn managed to contaminate hanging all over our house.

As we were pulling into the Sears parking lot, Ashlyn starting throwing up again.  All over herself, her car seat, the floor mats...you get the idea. 

Your options are somewhat limited at this point....So, we let our sweet little girl sit in her vomit all the way home.  Windows rolled down so that her momma did not get also get sick in the front seat.  And my dear husband cleaned everything up when we got home.  What a guy.

She slept great last night and had milk and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Other than being super sleepy, she seems like she is getting back to her normal self. 

Little Newman #2

We are expecting round #2 mid July. Ashlyn will almost be 21 months by my due date, which means, yes, we will have two little ones in diapers. Lots of fun!

Ok, maybe this is kind of a weird picture.  But I never took a picture of my positive pregnancy test with Ashlyn...so I thought I would for this one. 

The more I think about it the weirder it seems.  I am actually debating right now whether to post it or not.

I guess I will.  You don't have to look at it if you think it is kind of weird too.  Just know it says "pregnant" and skip to the next paragraph.

I will be 15 weeks this Sunday and have been feeling SOOOOOOOOOOO much better for the past 3 weeks.  I actually think I was a lot sicker with Ashlyn than I have been this time around. 

I also feel like I have been eating really weird stuff.   I stopped eating meat early last spring...but have been CRAVING red meat for the past 3 or 4 weeks.  I ate a cheeseburger from McDonalds a couple of nights ago.  And secretly wanted another one after I finished it along with my fries and orange Hi-C. 

Tonight I am making tacos.  With lots of seasoned taco meat.  I can't wait.

The only thing I have not been able to eat is chicken.  I ate Chickfila biscuits almost every morning when I was pregnant with Ash.  They made me sick...really sick...and I would still go back for more.  But this time around the thought of chicken has just really grossed me out.

We find out on Valentines Day what #2 will be...stay tuned!

15 months

This little girl has brought so much joy into our lives.  She loves to "sing" while we are driving in the car.  And dance anytime she hears music.  She loves all kinds of different foods...and definitely has become more interested in feeding herself.  Still sleeping about 12 hours at night...and two 1:30-2 hour naps during the day.

She likes milk.  But refuses to drink it cold.  I guess there could be worse things.  At least she will drink it.  Even if it is a minor inconvenience to have to heat it up every time.  She does not say a lot of actual words even though she "talks" all of the time.  Sometimes it is just nonstop jabbering.  I love it.

Her favorite book right now is "Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer."  It is a Hallmark book that my parents recorded themselves reading.  At the end, it plays a song and lights up.  She LOVES it.  When I tell her to go and get a book off of her bookshelf, you better believe that is the one she tries to find.

She makes the sweetest, funniest faces that melt my heart every time.  Here are just a few...

Ashlyn's BFF turns 2!

We celebrated sweet Ava turning 2 on Saturday. Christopher and I also celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! My parents were in town for the weekend...and it was sooooo nice to have a few extra pairs of hands to keep up with Ashlyn.

Here are a few pictures from the party. Ashley made so many cute decorations. It was lots of fun...all the girls decorated cupcakes and colored on the table. I love low key & easy parties. And this one was just perfect!



The sweet birthday girl.  Happy Birthday Ava!  We love you!

"New" chairs for the office

We have been looking for chairs to provide some extra seating in my office.  Found this cute little pair at His House for $25.  They were pretty disgusting.  And the seats were covered in plastic.  Can we say 1973?

After we got the gross plastic and fabric off, we just recoved the cushions using a staple gun.

I did not sand.  Just two coats of primer.  I sometimes think sanding is a waste of time :)  I am sure some people would disagree but when you are working in a two hour window (afternoon nap), you save time where you can.

Paint color ended up being a mix of:  current office color (Ashes by Behr), a random bit of leftover black satin paint, and a bottle of gunmetal gray acrylic paint. 

Of course Miss Ashlyn decided to wake up just as I was doing the final coat.  She had her own brush and "paint" to help keep her occupied.

 I had to put the chairs on the table to finish painting them because of an extremely curious 15 month old.

And the finished product! Yay for 2 new chairs!