Nebraska Home Tour: Playroom Wonderland

Here is the first in a series of posts showing our new home in Nebraska.  I cannot say it enough, we are blessed with this new place---we have so much more room to spread out.  We came from 1000 square feet and only two bedrooms so I hardly know what to do with all this space!

First up--Playroom Wonderland.  This is probably one of my favorite rooms in the house.  Previously, we used our living room as the primary place to play and since I do not like toys just sitting out everywhere in plain site on a regular basis, it meant we had to be creative with storage and clean up.  Although we (Addison included) clean the playroom everyday before nap and bedtime it is wonderful for the children to have a place to play together and spread out.  And the adults have their own space; I do not take these separate areas for granted!

This is sorta the guest quarters too since there is a half bath off this room.  We use the bed as a couch for reading time.  The playpen is for Caleb's daily independent play time--and to keep big sister from knocking him over when I am out of the room.

 Addison calls that her "Castle".

For the artist during art time and when we work on letters/numbers (which, sadly, has been rare lately).

 Can you tell how we spend most our time?  READING! 

My FAVORITE memory of the play room already is walking in to find Addison reading "The Lorax" to Caleb; she has most of it memorized so she told the story quite well!

Music Corner.

My mom's BEAUTIFUL stained glass.  An A and a C for the princess and prince of this playroom wonderland.

Happy, Happy, Very Happy 9 Months Caleb!

9 months!!! Wow.  Our sweet Little Caleb, is 9 months now, it just cannot be true.

Weight. 23 lbs 8.5 oz (three weeks ago); 81 or 91% (I can't remember)
Height: 29 inches (three weeks ago); 86%
Diaper size: 4
Clothing: 18 month, busting out in length!!!!
Overall: We KNEW Caleb was a sweetheart deep down inside and now that his tummy trouble is figured out, he is just simply a sweet joy to be around.
Dairy:  We decided to have his 9 month vist about two weeks so we could have the visit before the big move to Nebraska.  To summarize, NO dairy until 15 to 18 months.  The doctor recommended when we wean to a cup At 12 months, to start with plain almond milk.
Mobility: He is going nowhere fast.  He rolls around but no crawling and THANKFULLY no walking!
Talking: He can say baby, daddy and addy
Cup: He LOVES using a cup and does FANASTIC using it
Eating:  Boy, looooves to eat!!!  He is eating lots of finger foods now and he loves it!!!

Dearest Caleb:  Your smile lights up a room and your cackle is contagious!  I am so thankful to see to see you feeling well, FINALLY.  I will always regret how long it took to discover your intense allergy/intolerance to dairy.  I hate that MY diet hurt you, but I know the benefits of avoiding formula so long was worth the pain.  Thank you for being our sweet, sensitive, cuddly little boy.  Love is not strong enough to describe how we feel about you!!!!

Fathers Day Pictures

I surprised Matthew with some pictures of the kids for Father's day. It was perfect timing because we had pictures taken of Addison around the same age as Caleb was for these. Now he has updated pictures for his NEW office in Nebraska. THANK YOU THANK YOU to my wonderful friend Sheila for taking these photos, you did an a,axing job as usual!!! Enjoy everyone!!

I.  LOVE.  THESE.  SWEET.  BABIES!!!

Happy Birthday Matthew!!!

My mother came to visit for two weeks around memorial day. While she was here, we put our cooking to the test and celebrated Matthew's birthday a tad early. We made him the candy themed cake below. I hear it tasted delicious; I was on the elimination diet, so I will take their word for it :)

I have a video of Addison "decorating it" but I cannot find it.  I will post it later.

Sight Seeing While We can

Just before the heat waves started we did a little D.C. Sight seeing; we don't have much longer to see the sights because in just THREE weeks will be in land locked Nebraska.

I decided to drive into D.C. to meet Matthew after work for a picnic followed by sight seeing vs my usual metro. I ALWAYS metro in but thought driving against traffic would get me there faster and maximize time. Nope. Took an hour and a half to make the 15 mile drive!!! I will not miss d.c. Traffic!

Anyways, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and walked over to visit the Jefferson Memorial. This sight was on the short list but we are just ow making time to visit. The weather was beautiful, the kids were giggling and it was a perfect evening!!