House Changes: Sydney's Room

I don't know why I feel so compelled to post about changes I make around the house, but I've been meaning to for a year now (eek!), so I'm not wasting any more time!  (Perhaps I feel so compelled because this blog is what I do instead of scrap booking.)

The first post is about Sydney's room.  If you click here you will see the pictures of Sydney's room right after we moved and got it all organized.  It looked so warm and homey!  Now it looks a little...hospital-ish, what with all the white, but oh well.  It's more functional now, and we will not live here forever, and I am already looking forward to decorating her room in our next house (which I'm planning/hoping for her to share with Lorelei!).

Anyway, here are the current pictures of Sydney's room:

I think I need to "talk" as I go.  The biggest changes in the room are that the crib is now a toddler bed, and the changing table is gone (I moved it downstairs last March).  Since the bed is no longer a crib, her crib bumper has also been removed, which takes away a lot of the color that was originally in the room.  Her green rug has also been removed because she threw up on in in October 2011, leaving it permanently stained.  Also, I had to take off her pink crib/bed skirt, because the rails of the toddler bed made it impossible for the skirt to hang correctly.  (I can't wait to put it back on so that it will hide the toys that are under the bed!)

We converted her crib to a toddler bed this past September.  I had originally purchased a toddler bedding set, but then I realized the bed rails would make it nearly impossible to "make" the bed (neatly, at least).  So I returned the bedding, and revived the pillows from my full-sized Shabby Chic bedding set:

I'm happy with the set up for now.  We switch between this sheet:

...and a pink gingham sheet that matches her curtains.  She either has a pink or a white pillowcase, and she covers up with whatever random baby blanket happens to be clean.

This basket now holds dolls instead of blankets:

Her armoire now sits flush against the wall instead of catty-cornered:

Here's what the far wall looks like now that her changing table is gone:

(The closet door that remains permanently open hides the dollhouse from immediate view.)

The reason the room is more functional now is because I moved TON of toys upstairs last year, as soon as Sydney could climb up and down the stairs alone and could be trusted to play in her room without me in there too.  I moved the princess shelf from downstairs into her closet, and I love it:

My goal is to have as few toys toys downstairs as possible, and moving this shelf upstairs really helped.  I also try to rotate their toys once a week (the toys under her bed are the ones that are currently out of rotation), but I usually end up doing it only twice a month.

There you have it!  And in case this post was super boring to you and you even made it this far, here is a picture of Sydney at 16-months old, Lorelei's current age:

Since it's been a week...

...I suppose I can provide a little update with some pictures.

Valentine's Day was uneventful, unless you count another trip to the ER (the morning after Lorelei got her head glued back together) for them to slap a big piece of tape on her head.  Because Lorelei sleeps on her stomach and therefore rubs her head back and forth on the mattress all night, I was worried that the glue wasn't holding properly.  The doctor said the wound looked fine, but she was also concerned that the glue might come off if not protected.  So, like I said, the solution was a giant piece of clear packaging tape that had a fancy medical name but that I'm sure I could have purchased myself at the nearest Post Office.  Hmph.  I immediately began dreading the day we had to pull the tape off, because it was stuck right to her hair.

Check out that lone tear.

I did not get a good picture of the girls all dressed up in their Valentine garb because they were wild heathens all day long.

 

They were even especially wild at the dinner table:

That is not allowed, L!

Aren't these Valentine place mats cute though?  I got them last year on clearance at Pottery Barn Kids:

Here are the flowers I got for my birthday:

People always comment on how tiny Lorelei is, but I just laugh because they obviously haven't had a close enough look at her legs:

The girls were sitting together all cute on the porch one evening and I tried to take a picture, but it didn't work out because Sydney tried to hold Lorelei's arm too tightly:

Which made Lorelei make this face, and my scolding caused Sydney to do this strange thing with her finger:

Yes, that is dirt on Lorelei's mouth.

But Sydney was happy a few minutes later after she put the white puppy in this cup:

Sometimes Sydney's stuffed animals need to go to the bathroom, and then get a diaper change:

Gross, right?  The potty part at least.  Don't worry, she washed her hands afterward.

Lorelei has started throwing an occasional fit:

 
But once you get a little food in her and let her put on a pair of Sydney's shorts over her pajamas, she's happy again:

 

 

 

And back to Lorelei's head...yesterday we went back to the ER for help to remove the tape, and the result was much better than I expected!

Happy weekend!

Week 7: 21 graces

Normally I work on my "21 graces" post all week, but this week I am sitting down to a blank page the day the post is due ('due', ha!).  It's been an odd week, what with the 3-day weekend in celebration of President's Day, and a roller coaster of a week, because both of my dear grandmothers are in the hospital and seesawing between doing alright and not doing well at all.  So.  Here goes...

1. Meeting friends at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center
2. Good-for-the-soul discussions with said friend while the kids occupy themselves at LMCD
3. Making a last-minute decision with your neighbor to hold a joint Saturday-morning garage sale
4. A successful garage sale!
5. Dropping off all unsold garage sale items at the thrift store
6. Checking out the next book club read from the library ("The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak)
7. Using our unexpected garage sale earnings to go out to dinner (all of us), go out to lunch (me), see a play (me), and treat ourselves to Starbucks (Chet and me)
8. A Sunday lunch date with friends, followed by a local production of the musical "1776"
9. A birthday party with a bounce house (because it means Sydney sleeps like a rock that night!)
10. Another three-day weekend (I feel like we just had a three-day weekend...not complaining though!)
11. An early-morning family Target trip
12. Chet's projects (he decided to make a stainless steel watchband on his day off...I don't think I've mentioned on this blog how ridiculously thankful I am that he's not a video game guy)
13. Sydney's Tuesday afternoon dance class creating automatic structure to our Tuesdays (especially after a three-day weekend when it's hard for me to jump back into a normal weekly routine)
14. Finally making a phone call that I've been meaning to make for weeks
15. Leftovers for dinner (I know I've listed this before, but, man alive, it's something I'm thankful for each and every time!)
16. "The Star-Spangled Banner" reminding me every morning that it's 8:00 a.m.
17. A Diet Dr. Pepper from Chick-fil-a -- is it the Styrofoam cup or the crushed ice that makes it so delicious?!
18. A great children's resale shop find (a smocked Easter dress for Lorelei)
19. The doctor removing the tape from Lorelei's head and finding a nicely healing wound underneath

20. A long nap (Sydney -- she woke up Thursday morning not feeling well, and it seems like most of the time sick = a short, restless nap)
21. Both girls in bed and asleep earlier than usual

Week 6: 21 graces

1. A clean load of bleached, white laundry
2. A previous Saturday-morning commitment disappearing from my calendar
3. Figuring out Lorelei can imitate cows, cats, horses, and ducks
4. An early morning Walmart shopping trip (getting it out of the way opened up our whole weekend!)
5. Spontaneously congregating at the neighborhood playground
6. Saturday evening family frozen yogurt dates
7. Capturing hilarious pictures of the girls
8. Publishing an important-to-me blog post
9. Praying for my husband as he gears up for a very busy work week
10. Hobby Lobby
11. Getting in and out of Hobby Lobby without breaking anything
12. The freedom to pick up dinner to avoid a huge kitchen clean-up (even though I had ingredients to cook a meal)
13. Time to myself in the morning for a haircut and reading in the adjoining coffee shop
14. Going on an organizing/rearranging frenzy

15. FaceTime
16. Writing out Valentine cards (even though they're going to arrive late -- eek!)
17. Book Club
18. A quick trip to the ER (emphasis on 'quick'...more about that in this post)
19. Valentine candy
20. Chet unexpectedly arriving home from work by 5 p.m.
21. Relaxing in the evening for the first time since the weekend

Thursday Thoughts/Lent Update

Thursday Thoughts: There is never a dull moment around here.

Lent Update: It's only Day 2 of Lent and you're already updating us?

Don't worry, I don't plan on providing daily Lent updates...that is completely unnecessary.  I will say that I successfully did not use my phone, iPad, etc. unnecessarily yesterday while the girls were awake (or when they were asleep, for that matter), but I had to consciously put it (my phone) somewhere where I would not absentmindedly reach for it to "check something real quick."  I also did not watch any TV.

I did not, however, go to bed by 10:00 p.m.

***If the sight of blood scares you, stop reading now!***















Here's why:

Don't worry, it looks much worse than it actually is.  (Otherwise I would have called you, Mom and Dad!)  Poor little thing; she really is the walking wounded these days.  Here's what happened.

Chet is working late this week, and I had a book club meeting yesterday evening.  I dropped the girls off at my neighbor's house (not just any neighbor, a certified child home care provider neighbor) at 6 p.m., with plans to pick them up by 8 p.m.  I received a text at 7:40 p.m. that Lorelei had tripped and hit her head on a plastic toy box, and that there was a 1/2 inch cut on her head.  I sped home.

Getting a cut on your head is bad enough, but add it to the fact that she tripped and face planted into a little stool earlier in the morning and got a bloody nose.  And to the fact that she did not want to take an afternoon nap yesterday and was exhausted.

Anyway, I arrived at my neighbor's house at 8 p.m., determined that, yes, she probably needed a stitch or two, and called Chet to tell him to Come Home Now.  Sydney stayed with Chet, and Lor and I headed to the ER.  We pulled into the ER at 8:55 p.m. and were headed home by 9:50 p.m.  (Quick, right?  I don't think they liked the sight of blood trickling down a 16-month old's head.)

By the way, the cut was not bleeding when I picked her up at 8 p.m., but by the time we reached the hospital it had started to ooze.  It wasn't gushing (even though it might appear that way in the pictures); I just wasn't wiping the blood away since we were already in the hospital and didn't want to touch the cut unnecessarily.  The doctor assured me that she was fine and that head wounds bleed easily since the head is so vascular.

No stitches necessary; the doctor glued her head back together.  He doesn't even think there will be a scar. 

She was super upset while we were in the ER, but not because she was in pain (at least, I hope not).  She was mad that they put a hospital band around her ankle, and that strange people kept touching her, and that one of the techs offered her stickers (she's not a sticker lover like Sydney), and that she was exhausted and just wanted to sleep for crying out loud!  As soon as we walked out of the ER she was happy again.

So that is why I didn't make it to bed by 10 p.m. last night.  I'm also sure I was only half asleep the entire night, with my ear trained to her baby monitor -- good thing we have no plans today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

In case you didn't make it through my last post...

...here are some pictures!

My last two attempts at extremely professional photo shoots with the girls have gone awry.  But they're still funny to look at (in my opinion):

Sydney: I'm only going to use my mouth to smile
Lorelei: What's on Syd's shirt?

Sydney: I'm going to check Lor's pulse
Lorelei: No, really, what's on her shirt?

Sydney: I can't find a pulse!
Lorelei: Cool bow!  If I pull it really hard maybe all her hair will come out too...

 

Both: Let's try to look really out of it!

These were the very best pictures I could get:

Then Chet tried to get them to smile by asking them to make various animal sounds.  Here was the result:

Sydney: Quacking
Lorelei: Mooing

Lorelei still mooing (it's her favorite)

Sydney acting like a vampire while Lorelei continues to moo

 

Sydney: Probably barking

Lorelei: Doesn't know how to bark, so either neighing or meowing