Thoughts for Thursday: Making Progress

Today I am linking up with Home of Malones and East Coast Chic for Thoughts for Thursday!  At the beginning of the month, I was talking about all of the things I felt needed to be done in order for us to get more settled.  Slowly but surely over the course of the month, Brandon and I have been making our way through the list and getting things done.  

Here is the original list and this is what we've done:

• Moved toys out of #2s room, with the exception of the exer-saucer 
• Moved bookcases into the basement tv room (and I love them there!)
• Moved Nat's toys from basement into the playroom. However, we did move her car down there since it's bigger and my co-worker gave her a princess tent that her girls had outgrown that she absolutely LOVES!
• Removed toys from living room, with the exception of her little table and two puzzles (which we rotate) because it looks adorable in front of the window.
• Purchased window dressings for dining room and I CANNOT wait to get them up!
• We moved the chest from the main space into the kitchen where the dining room table was. I love it there but I am still on the lookout for something else for either there or the basement nook to create a serving bar.
• The hammock is officially outside in it's forever home.
• Brandon's parent brought the dining room set last weekend and I am loving how it fills the space!
• After a few (hopefully) quick appointments tomorrow morning, Brandon and I will be painting the living room gray!  I am BEYOND excited for this!

I think we're making progress!  We still have to get the corner china cabinet from Michelle, hang a mirror over the fireplace, paint the wood paneling and give the brick in the foyer a face lift but we're getting there.  Slowly but surely our home is coming together! 

weekend wrap-up

Can we just talk about the fact that somehow we just had the last weekend of July already? I cannot believe how quickly that month went by! It was a busy month and this was quite a busy weekend!  Prepare for a ridiculous photo dump post.

Saturday morning we had a very brief visit from Brandon's parents as they brought down their dining room table and chairs.  Lori is getting her our dream farmhouse table which meant they were getting rid of their dining room set. Brandon and I jumped at the chance to scoop that table and fill some of the empty space in our home.  I have always loved Lori's dining room set and am excited to have a Wilkinson family piece in our home. It fits perfectly and I cannot wait to show off the room when it's finally done!

someone was as excited as Mama about getting new furniture :)

Sharing donuts with Farge :)

After our visit with Brandon's parents, we headed to Zac's first birthday party. Natalie was a little overwhelmed by the number of people there, but she handled it well once she found Jordan's dog.  Poor Lacey.  Jordan did such a great job decorating the house.  Everything was adorable and perfectly in theme.  She is super crafty and talented and does not give herself nearly enough credit.  She throws a great party.  It was nice to get a chance to visit with Jordan's parents who were in town. I absolutely adore them.  Her mom is a total hoot.  After many of the guests left, Nat and Zac had a chance to really play and it was precious.

Sunday meant leftover donut holes for breakfast which Natalie thought was the greatest thing ever.  We made our typical trip to Target and spent the afternoon playing outside with the water table.  Natalie worked on perfecting her side-eye. She's getting too good at it.  

seriously. the sass.

She has discovered the arm chairs at the dining room table and is obsessed with sitting in them even though she knows she is not supposed to. She loves to push buttons and see how far she can push us. It's hard not to laugh sometimes.  She put her little feet on the table and quickly learned that's a no-go, but my God does that girl tests her limits with her father. 

We did not escape the weekend without a few meltdowns.  I had to photograph this one because it killed me. She was crying because she couldn't move the chair that her chair was blocking. Bless her every loving heart. 

However, that sums up how I feel about the fact that it's Monday.  Here's to hoping it's a good week and that everyone had a great weekend!

Friday Favorites

1. Farmer's Markets.  We live so close to so many really great farmer's markets.  This past weekend we scored one of the best watermelons I have ever had. Natalie and I have been in watermelon heaven this week :)  I cannot wait to see what we find this weekend!

2. Girlfriends. I say all the time that I have the very best girlfriends but it's the truth! Last weekend I had a girl's night with some of my coworkers that I am friends with and it almost made me reconsider changing jobs. I am super lucky to have found this really amazing group of ladies and know that they will always be in my life.

3. Birthdays! Today one of my best friends is having a traumatic mom moment.  Her son Zac is turning ONE.  How is that possible? I feel like I was just bragging about his birth.  I am so proud of the mom that Jordan has become and I cannot wait to celebrate Zac! In honor of the little peanut's birthday, I had to share one of my favorite pictures of Natalie and Zac.

Natalie adored her little buddy from day one :)

4. Freebies.  My co-worker Angela posted on Facebook the other day that she was giving away two play tents that her daughters have outgrown. One was a princess tent. I knew immediately that Natalie would shit a brick and absolutely love it! This morning when I came into my office it was sitting on my chair. I cannot wait to get this home and set up!

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! We have an action packed weekend planned over here full of family visits, birthday celebrations and hopefully a trip to the farmer's market! 

one year: four big changes

It has been a big year for the Wilkinsons. And while, yes, 2015 itself has been a big year so far, I am actually referring to the last 365 days.  What a wild ride it has been.  We have had four big changes in the last year and I think all of them are pretty exciting.

Our first big change came in September of 2014.  Brandon accepted a teaching position within the county. This was a big change.  It meant no more carpool breakfast dates.  It meant, essentially, seeing Brandon about two hours less a day than I was used to.  And it meant splitting up our daycare drop-off/pick-up responsibilities.  He was probably thrilled to end our morning commutes together. This has been an incredible opportunity for him and I am so proud of all that he has accomplished.

Our second big change came in March when we moved into our new house.  Moving had not really been on our radar but it was a very pleasant surprise.  While we both miss things about our townhouse, we know that our new home is where we are supposed to be.  Not long after we moved in, Brandon and I were talking about the house we picked.  I confessed that I wasn't 100% certain it was the house but I was tired of looking at houses and the home sale/home buying process. It had everything we wanted (2 full baths, 4 bedrooms, a big yard, etc) and it could be the house, but I just wasn't sure.  Now, we are so completely in love with our home and we know we made the right decision. 

The third big change was the new daycare.  Natalie had been with her previous daycare for 10 months.  Ms. S was the only person to watch Natalie who was not genetically related to us.  We were sad to end our relationship with her, but knew we didn't have a choice because of the incident.  We quickly found Ms. C and fell in love with her! The new daycare has been a welcome change and one that everyone has adapted to quickly!

The final big change is one for me.  Now that it is posted on our practice website and all the proper people have been informed, I can share the news.  After five years, I am leaving my position at SGF.  It was such a hard decision to come by but I think this new adventure will be a good one for me.  I have accepted a position at an area cancer center doing a mostly administrative position.  I will miss the patient care aspect of things; however, it will be refreshing to be in a position where I will be using my degree :) I was anxious about starting something new, but Brandon put it so perfectly.  If our little girl could start somewhere new and thrive, so can I!

What a dang 365 days it has been for our little family.  Each of us starting a new adventure of our own while also starting a new chapter of our lives in our new home.  It will be exciting to see what happens in the next 365 days!  

Friday Favorites

Jumping right into things this morning...

1. Dirty Chai. I had never in my life heard of this but now I am in love and am consuming one riiiight meow.  I was at Starbucks on Monday morning and I guess I looked a little worse for the wear. My FAVORITE barista in the world, Alice, I guess took notice and while making my chai asked if I had ever had a dirty chai. It's a chai with a shot of espresso. I had not - I had not even heard of it! She said "this one is on me, happy Monday" and I couldn't help but be happy. 1 because the drink was delicious and 2 because there are good thoughtful people out there in the least expected places. 

2. Our new daycare.  Don't get me wrong, I loved our old daycare. She was an incredibly nurturing woman and I am sad about how things ended with her; however, I am thrilled with how the first week has gone with our new daycare. Natalie is thriving!  She has picked up some new words and made a new friend. I am feeling very relieved that things are going as well as they are!

3. New-old purse organizer. My MIL gave me the above purse organizer from QVC [similar here] a few years ago and I loved it.  But then I went through a wristlet phase and left it in the purse I had been using.  I was looking through purses earlier this week for a gift card that I thought might have been tucked away and found the purse organizer instead.  It was like Christmas. I forgot all about the gift card (which I really need to keep looking for) and spent about twenty minutes re-organizing my purse. I am in love all over again!

4. This quote.  It's funny how you find things like this at just the right times.

It's a short list since it's been a crazy week and I am so happy it's finally over.  I am looking forward to a girl's night with my friends from work and a fun weekend full of farmers markets, shoe shopping for the mini and maybe some rainy day baking :) 

Happy Weekending, y'all!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was an absolute blur. I have not been sleeping well the last few nights so I am not sure that I know the difference from Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, Natalie and I ran some errands and played inside. We found a most ridiculous radio station out of Baltimore that plays the best assortment of music.  I am talking 80s, 90s, 00s, current pop, hip hop, country. It's absurd and Natalie absolutely loves it. She has a very eclectic taste in music these days and it's fun to see her reaction to new songs. 

While we played inside, Brandon worked in the yard. We have had so many rainy weekends (and then the daycare mishap) that he hasn't had much time this summer to do the things that he wanted to do.  It was nice that he finally had a Saturday to do some work.  He has been hellbent on getting the fire-pit looking a better way. He took one of the pot-holes that we already had in the backyard and the stones from the front walk that we didn't want and made much better use of them!  While he still says he has a lot of work to do - he is MUCH happier with the way things look now.

before

after

Sunday was spent in the typical fashion.  On the deck enjoying a straw-ber-rita and watching the little miss play in the water. That girl is a total water baby.

I am hoping that this week goes as quickly as the weekend did! This is our first week with the new daycare and I am excited to see how things go. Big changes happening for our little family! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and wishing everyone a good week ahead!

Friday Favorites

What a dang week.  As I mentioned previously, we had a little SNAFU with daycare and had to share that responsibility for the last three weeks until we found a new one.  Thankfully, we found a new one and Natalie will start there next week.  We think this is a very exciting change for our little family and only anticipate good things!

1. Taco Tuesday, Target and Tantrums. How are these three things related?  Well, on Monday night Brandon and I realized that we needed taco supplies. Brandon graciously offered to pick them up on his way home from work the next day, but I foolishly insisted that Natalie and I take care of it. After a failed attempt in the morning to get her in the car for lunch downtown to celebrate my friend Caitlin's birthday, I made a second attempt that afternoon. She was perfect. We got into Target and picked up odds and ends and then it was time to get down to business. As we turned from the bread aisle into the taco aisle, all hell broke loose. She started screaming. I grabbed taco supplies and threw them into the cart.  I did not want to be banned for life from the Target with wine. I basically sprinted to the milk fridge, when Natalie saw it she began mooing at the top of her lungs.  Good God get me out of this store. She mooed until we made it to check out where the lovely teenager ringing us up observed that we "must really like tacos".  In my blind panic, I went a little overboard on the taco supplies... we'll be good until mid-August.

2. Farmers Market. On Wednesday we went to lunch with my friend Jordan at the Farmers Market by work.  I have been wanting to check it out for quite some time now - like two months.  It's every Wednesday and it's so cute.  It has fresh fruits and veggies, fresh flowers and food trucks.  Jordan and I have decided we need to go more often.  It might replace my Starbucks addiction since Starbucks is raising their prices... again. 

3. Hank.  Good gracious that dog is so patient and loving.  So many people questioned my sanity when I said we were absolutely not getting rid of him because I was pregnant. He was my first baby and he has been so good with Natalie. He has been such a wonderful companion to her this week and I am forever grateful that he lets her have her way with him.

4. Birthdays. Wednesday my best friend Caitlin celebrated her 27th birthday!  I am so blessed to have her as a friend and Natalie is one lucky little girl to have her in her life! While I am bummed I did not get to celebrate with her this week, I know we'll get to celebrate soon!

5. Natalie. She has been an absolute spitfire stink pot this week. She has really kept me on my toes. She has been mean and cranky and nasty but sweet and funny and silly. This week was another big reminder of just how young my baby really is. Sometimes I wonder if we're ready for another baby but this week gave me my answer: Nope. I know a pregnancy is 9 months and she will grow up a lot during that time but I think I need more time before I can make the leap. I need to be able to focus my energy on Nat for awhile longer.

Hope everyone has big fun weekend plans! Today is my Monday and Friday at work so my sense of timing is really thrown off. I haven't planned a single thing for this weekend and I think it might be better that way!

Thoughts for Thursday: list time!

Last week I wrote about my struggle to get settled.  I know we have only been in the house a little over 3 and a half months, but I feel like this happened much faster in the townhouse. Perhaps because that space was quite a bit smaller and we didn't spend 95% of our time chasing a toddler around! I decided that I should do what Brandon and I always do when we need some sanity: make a list.  So I did, two in fact, of the big and little things I wanted to accomplish to feel more settled. So far, I think this is working out well and I can visualize things much better now.

Little Things:

• Move toys out of #2 room
• Move bookcases from tv room to the basement family room
• Move Natalie's nook toys upstairs to tv room
• Remove toys from living room
• Get window dressings for big main space window
• Find small table for kitchen
• Move chest from main space to previously Natalie's nook
• Move hammock outside... again.

Big Things:

• Paint upstairs main space (I am looking for the perfect gray.)
• Paint brick in foyer (a project I am SUPER excited about!)
• Get dining room set from Brandon's parents
• Paint wood paneling in hallway/main space white
• Get corner china cabinet and a twin bed from Michelle's house

We have already started tackling the little list and I am really loving how things are turning out.  We moved the toys from her basement nook to the playroom and got the toys out of #2s room.  We also moved her books from the main space into the tv room. We really, essentially, turned the tv room into a playroom and it is the best. I don't know why I didn't think to do this in the first place!

The weird empty spaces have been really killing me and now that we have solid plans for at least one of them and somewhat fluid plans for the other, it feels so much better. I am in hopes our indoor projects will be done by the end of the summer. I would love to feel more settled sooner rather than later.

our day in numbers

Sorry for the radio silence over here. It's been a crazy few days with Natalie. Monday we had a good day and I went to bed feeling sad that I have to work and send her back to daycare next week. Tuesday she was queen sourpuss and today, well today I earned my glass of wine and debated making a paperchain countdown until Monday and then the guilt of feeling that way consumed me so I decided I earned two glasses of wine. 

Here is what our day looked like by the numbers:

0: the number of naps taken today. 

3: the number of words in Natalie's new favorite phrase "let me go" which she waits to use at the top of her lungs and only if we are in crowded public places.

6: the number of meltdowns we had today... before noon. 

8: the number of people who gave me nasty looks as my child had a meltdown in the parking lot, effectively making me feel about 4 inches tall.

17: the number of crayons I picked up off the floor over the course of the day.

34: the number of minutes it took me to get my daughter in her carseat after lunch today.

584: the number of times today I questioned if I could be a stay at home mom or not.

Needless to say, it's been a long day over here and one that warranted a nice warm hot bath to detox while praying that tomorrow is a better day. Please for the love of God let tomorrow be a better day.

Friday Favorites

1. Sangria + Tapas.  Last Friday I went out to dinner with my high school girlfriends. I had forgotten just how much I love La Tasca. There are few things better than sitting around, drinking sangria, eating yummy food and gabbing with your girlfriends on a cool summer night. 

2. Two Men & a Baby Daycare. Natalie has had the time of her life this past week with Brandon and his brother Evan. She has both Daddy and Unkie wrapped around her little finger. Brandon would probably kill me if he knew I put this picture up :)

3. Pre-bedtime dance parties. Every night this week Natalie has insisted upon listening to "you make loving you easy" by ZBB and dancing before bedtime.  It's adorable the way she squeals with delight as the song comes on; however, I am pretty sure Brandon would be happy if we didn't have to hear the album again for awhile :)

4. Nandos + Best Friends. Yesterday was hell. I have spent the entire week working on a presentation that my boss is taking to the UK. We had three days to do what normally takes a week because thanks to daycare isssues, I won't be in next week. With an hour to tidy up the presentation for final review, the network at work went down. Jordan saw my distress and suggested we get out of the building before I cried the ugly cry. Jordan treated me to a full of carby happiness lunch at Nandos. With a full belly and a happy heart, I was able to start from scratch and just about finish the presentation. I'll have to bring Nat into the office next week to finish things up. 

Hope everyone has fun and exciting things planned for the 4th! We're excited for more time with Unkie, good homemade BBQ and sparklers! Plus, the miss has some cute outfits planned! Follow along with us on instagram!

Thoughts for Thursday: trying to feel settled

So a couple of weeks ago, I confessed that my baby fever has started coming and going. We're on a lull right now.  Natalie has started the terrible twos (four months early) in the last couple weeks and I am questioning if reproduction is ever going to be a good idea again. But in the midst of the last round of baby fever, I started to question almost all of the furniture placement choices we had made since we moved into the new house.  I am having a hard time feeling like we're really settled in the house lately. 

When we bought our house in March, we knew the three upstairs bedrooms were going to be for tiny humans and/or tiny human things. Our first priority was getting Natalie's room together and I really love how it turned out.  The smallest of the three rooms became the tv room because we knew we didn't want a tv in the main space on the upper level.  The room we call #2s room is just an empty room. I did move some of Natalie's big toys in there when we were trying to figure out what to do with the upstairs main room - I think we've settled on dining room - but now I am having second thoughts, not about the dining room but about the toys being in #2s room. Hence today's post - I have to talk it all out and Brandon thinks I am bat shit crazy for even thinking about this right now, but I want to feel more settled.  I am a control freak, I need to feel more settled.

I have so many questions about the tv room, #2s room and the basement space we call Natalie's nook.  We never use her nook - so shouldn't we do something more practical there?  Would it be wrong to put a wet bar there? How much longer can we keep the book shelves in the tv room before I tie Natalie's hands together so she can't pull the books off the shelves and hide them? If we do keep the bookshelves in there, should I anchor them to the wall? How will that work since they don't sit flush? Where will Nat's things that are in #2s room go when we have #2?  Will fixing these things now really help me to feel settled? Ugh. 

So I have decided to make a list of the things that need to happen inside the house sooner rather than later.  This list will not include the major projects (redoing the laundry room to be my pinterest inspired dream space, revamping the master bathroom to get rid of the horrible red wallpaper, replacing the wood paneling with true wainscoting, etc), but rather it will be a list of the things we can do that I think will help me feel settled in the new house. I need to keep reminding myself that we've only lived there for three months. 

Did that really happen?

Life has been crazy lately. We have been without daycare since June 12th.  Yep and I have to put this all in writing and journal it because it still seems so absurd to me and in a few years I want to remember the details so I can look back and laugh. That will happen right?  I will one day be able to laugh about all this - this terribly stressful situation that has easily given me 10 more gray hairs.  I will leave out names and identifying details because at the end of the day, Natalie spent 10 months being truly loved and cherished by our daycare provider and we were devastated to see our relationship end this way.

About a month ago, our daycare provider told us she would be going out of town for two weeks. She had planned to be off June 12th (we knew this well in advance) as her daughter's best friend was getting married and she would be attending the wedding.  But she let us know that she was leaving on June 15th to go "home" to visit her family.  She said she would be back on June 27th and reopen on June 29th. After a mini-meltdown, I got my shit together and Brandon and I came up with a plan. His mother would come stay with us for a week while school was still in session and then Brandon would be home for a week.  We would survive. When Brandon picked Natalie up from daycare on June 11th, he was told by the provider that she would text us when she got home. Sounds lovely, that would be perfect.

Sunday afternoon we still hadn't heard from our daycare provider. Brandon called a couple times and finally left a voicemail Sunday night.  Monday morning when I got up for work, we still had no text, emails or phone calls from her. Brandon was frustrated. I told him I would look for a back-up daycare provider for the following week in case we didn't hear anything. I too called and left a voicemail. It is now Wednesday - three days into the work week and we have yet to hear from our daycare provider. No phone call. No text. No email. Nothing.

We are very fortunate that Brandon is a teacher and is off this week; however, next week starts summer school. Then what to we do? By the grace of God, we found another daycare provider. I started a search Monday morning as a back-up plan for next week.  She seems absolutely lovely and Natalie really got along well with the other children when I went to visit her on Monday afternoon. Bonus: she is less than a mile from our house. However, she is off all next week but promises she really will be open on July 13th. 

Brandon and I volleyed ideas around about waiting it out for our current provider to see if maybe she would be home next week.  After much deliberation, we decided to end our contract with her and start a brand new adventure with the new, closer to home, provider.  I sent our former provider an email as she still was not answering the phone.  What about next week?  More ideas volleyed around and we settled on me taking 4 days off week since summer school is Monday-Thursday so Brandon will be home on Friday anyways. It will be an unexpected staycation with my girl. While there is a lot going on at work and the idea of not being there stresses me out, a mama's gotta go what a mama's got to do.  Besides, Brandon and Natalie have gotten to have a few weeks of special bonding time and I am looking forward to having some of my own.  

So cheers to a few days off next week with my best girl and a new daycare adventure. I think this will be a really good change for her.  There are not only more children at the new provider, but there are children closer to her in age and I really think she will really thrive with Ms. C.  We are sad to leave our current daycare, but we need to do what's best for our family. I am still shaking my head wondering if this is all really happening.