Goals

On January 9th I made a list of my goals for 2014. I like the idea of accomplishing goals rather than making resolutions.  It seems more do-able.

 

This is my list:

 

1) At the beginning of each month write a one page list of things to organize and then finish doing it by the end of the month.

 

2) Wash all of my make-up brushes once a month.

 

3) Every month fill a box of stuff to donate.

 

4) Save enough money to go to Disneyland in January 2015.

 

5) Paint the master bathroom.

 

6) Stain the master bathroom cabinets.

 

7) Stain the linen closet cabinets.

 

****

 

Here is my rationalization for each one.

 

1)  At the beginning of each month write a one page list of things to organize and then finish doing it by the end of the month.

 

I have all these little projects around the house that I never get to because I always say I will do them later.  Most of them involve organizing paperwork and ultimately don't take much time.  I'm tired of putting them off.  It seems overwhelming to try to tackle an entire house full of projects at once though, so by taking a whole year to do it  maybe I will be successful. 

 

This was my list for January:

A. Order monthly pictures for Spencer and add them to his album (I was only missing 4 months for Spencer).

B. Order monthly pictures for Elliott and add them to his album (I was missing 14 months for Elliott).

C. Buy a new album for Elliott and add his birth announcement, baptism invitation and invitations for 1st and 2nd birthday parties.

D. Add pages and portrait studio pictures to Spencer and Elliott's scrapbooks.

E. Buy a new portrait scrapbook and add family pictures.

F. Order pictures and add content for 2012 and 2013 for anniversary book and Christmas book.

 

This is kind of like Inception where we keep going deeper and deeper into analysis, because I want to discuss "F" a little bit.

 

I have 2 memory books that I have been keeping for years.  An anniversary one and a Christmas one.

 

Each has a page for 1 picture on the left and lines to write your memories on the right.

 

(anniversary book) 

(Christmas book) 

I have always been really, really good about keeping these books up to date.  And then Elliott was born and we had such a terrible 2012 that I didn't feel like writing anything down.  So 2012 didn't get done.  And then neither did 2013.  But since it was on the goal list Michael and I sat down one night and did it.  And it took, maybe, 30 minutes.  It was totally silly to have avoided it for so long.

 

2) Wash all of my make-up brushes once a month.

It is recommended that you wash your make-up brushes once a week.  I wash mine once a, oh let's be honest, once a year.  That's definitely not enough.  I don't think I can go from once every 365 days to once every 7 days, but once a month is possible.

3) Every month fill a box of stuff to donate.

Time to clear some clutter.  I feel like this is easier now since we don't have to save a bunch of stuff for another baby and we don't have to keep anything that we might use in our next house, because there will be no next house.

4) Save enough money to go to Disneyland in January 2015.

Elliott will be 3 and it will have been more than 3 years since we last went.  It'll be time.  We're excited.  I'm excited to go and not be pregnant and not end up in the hospital in Anaheim.

5) Paint the master bathroom.

I have no time limit on this goal.  I could do it on December 31st and it would still count.  I'd like to do it before the summer though.

6) Stain the master bathroom cabinets.
Ditto this.

7) Stain the linen closet cabinets.

And ditto this.

Family pictures

 I realized recently that I never shared the family pictures we had taken the day after Thanksgiving.  I meant to, but then I got all caught up and busy with Winston's daily visits and Elliott's birthday and the holiday season.

 

So here, 2 months later, are our day after Thanksgiving family pictures!

 

I had this one made into a canvas for my parents and it is also hanging in our entryway. 

You have no idea the stress I encountered coordinating everybody's outfits.  Nobody else cared, so it all fell on me.  I think I did pretty good, especially considering Nathan and Kendra had to bring their clothes from Florida.

 

Last summer I bought a 16 x 20 frame at Hobby Lobby for 80% off and I've have waited a long time to put something in it.  This is in it now.

I might need to be concerned about how angry Elliott seems to be.  Perhaps a little counseling will be in his future.

 

Nathan and Kendra used this in their Christmas card.

Now that Nathan and Kendra are having a baby in May, these pictures are almost out of date.  The plan is to have new pictures taken on the beach in Florida.  It's my plan and think it's superb.

Long weekend

We spent the long, holiday weekend in Tucson.  It's only been a few weeks since we were there for the holidays, but we are pretty busy in February and won't be able to go back until early March.  Christmas to March seemed like too long so we snuck this weekend into our schedule.

 

We were pretty busy all weekend, but took very few pictures.

 

Saturday morning. 

 

We split up when we are in Tucson....Daddy and Spencer in what used to be Nick's room and mommy and Elliott in what used to be Nathan's room.  Someday our kids will be old enough and Michael and I will move across the house to the guest room and leave our kids in their own rooms.  Someday.

Elliott was kind enough to turn his body perpendicular to mine during the night.  He left me a little edge to sleep on.

Megan and her family moved to Tucson a few weeks ago.  She now lives about 1/2 a mile from my parents.  I will, no joke, see her way more now compared to when she lived 20 minutes from me.  We spent the morning playing over there.

On Sunday Michael and I left the kids with his parents and went to see American Hustle followed by Saving Mr. Banks.  It was a delightful day totally free from siblings fighting and toddlers screeching.

 

Spencer spent the night with Michael's parents on Sunday night and went hiking with Papa on Monday morning. 

While Spencer was out in nature I was having coffee with Chelsea.  But I didn't take any pictures. Michael and Elliott ate cereal together at the island in my parents kitchen.

 

I am obsessed with Elliott's little face in this picture.

I also think it is funny that he has all of a sudden switched to his right hand for eating.  Perhaps he is not a lefty or perhaps he is actually ambidextrous.

We got home this afternoon and after a few hours of unpacking, doing laundry, organizing, preparing for the week, grocery shopping and eating dinner, we stuck the kids in a warm bath with candles burning on the ledge.

A busy weekend followed by a warm bath and an early bedtime are a surefire way to guarantee a quiet night.  They were both asleep within minutes.  That hardly ever happens!

A project, an update and a request

I was already planning on doing a post with a million of pictures of Elliott.  That today is the 16th and he is 2 years-1 month old is purely coincidence.  I thought about loading pictures and writing this post last night, but honestly, I was tired and just wanted a good night's sleep.  I needed it because I got up at 6:00 this morning (that is reaaaaaalllllly early for me) so I could exercise before going to work. 

 

I don't even know who I am anymore.

 

Last weekend I was looking at pictures of Spencer doing some crafts before he turned 2.  It made me feel kind of guilty that I haven't done as many projects with Elliott.  I also haven't started taking him to any classes and I know that we started with Spencer when he was 21 months.  Poor second child.  I made it a point to do a fun, messy project with Elliott this week.

 

I settled on some soft, moldable foam made out of shaving cream and cornstarch.

We did this on Wednesday morning after Spencer went to school and we watched a little Mickey Mouse clubhouse, which causes me to have strange flashbacks of Spencer being 2.

 

I turned up the heat, plugged in a space heater and stripped him down to his diaper.  He was really mad at first, but I think he was just upset that I took his clothes.

 

It didn't take him long to really get into it.

This was my snowman.  Elliott trashed it in less than a second.

He took a long bath after our messy project and then a fantastic nap.  I had him in the world's most matching and yet, somehow, totally clashing outfit for his nap. 

 

It's too bad that this kid has such huge, random tantrums when it comes to taking his picture, because we could totally make some money from his child modeling career.

So, Elliott is 25 months old.  2 years and 1 month.  He was still a baby last month when he turned 2, but now I see very little baby left in there.  He's a toddler.  Eeek!  He's a toddler.

 

We did a little photo shoot outside for his monthly shot.

 

The camera was on the wrong setting here.  Somebody, probably Elliott, put it on candlelight.

I am done doing actual monthly updates, but these are some of the things I want to remember.

 

I can't even estimate how many words he has.  A thousand, maybe.  I'm not kidding.  He blows me away with the things he says.  He is using 2 and 3 word phrases regularly and 4 and 5 word sentences sometimes too. 

He knows the colors blue, green, yellow, orange, red, brown, pink and purple.  He can point to them as well as label them.

 

He knows the shapes triangle, circle, square and rectangle....again pointing and labeling.

 

He can sing his ABCs, including the "now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me."

 

He can count to 20.

 

This is the official picture, BTW.

He's obsessed with being naked and every time we change his diaper he has to run around the house "nakies" and show whoever else is home.  Sometimes that is just Ginger and he will request, "Ginger nakies".

 

He wants to sit on the toilet multiple times a day but has only had 2 times where any actual pee went into the potty.  We are not pushing him, at all, to be potty trained.  It is all him.

He loves Elmo and Curious George and Mickey Mouse.

 

When he says "shower" it sounds like "chowder".

 

All of his "s" sounds are turned into "h".  Example: "snake" is "hake".  But "Spencer" is "Pensuh", because he also chops up his consonant blends. 

 

He says his name like Ejiot.

OK.  That kind of turned into a monthly update.  Sorry. 

 

Let me end it with this.

 

#1.  In 20 more posts I will be at my 1,000th post.  I need ideas for something cool to do.

 

#2.  My blog started as "A Beagle and A Baby".  Then, when Elliott came along, it changed to "A Beagle, A Boy and A Baby".  Well.  I don't really have a baby anymore.  What should I do?  Should I just do "A Beagle and Two Boys"?  Is there anything more creative? 

 

I need ideas for both!