Axl's Room!

It took me quite a while to decide what I wanted to do with Axl's room when we found out we were pregnant and realized all his furniture needed to be passed down to baby. I didn't feel like we had gotten enough time out of the bears--if you know me, you know how much I love the bears...

I decided to consult my good friend, Natalie, for some ideas and she helped a LOT! I'm not sure it ended up how it would have if she had done it ('cause she is GOOD), but I am REALLY happy with it :)

Axl's big boy bed...complete with the fleece blanket I made to go with the crib blanket, Axl Bear, his taggie made by his Great Aunt Naomi, a pillow from my crib, glow worm, bunny bear, and usually about 5 pacifiers. :)

Vinyl done by Angie. (And a small note to whoever says applying vinyl is easy--you can either come to my house to apply the next vinyl project yourself, or kiss my butt...because I came dangerously close to committing suicide.)

Letters I decoupaged before Axl was born...also another close suicide call :) And the stripes that Axl pets when you ask him "Where are your stripes?"

Thanks again, Natalie for the great advice...I love how it turned out!

My Granny is faster than yours!

Axl and I had the most wonderful opportunity to be a part of something this past weekend. My mom, who has never been a "runner" before about a year ago, completed a HALF-MARATHON! I have never been so proud to be her daughter and seeing her change her life over the past two and a half years has been one of the most motivating experiences of my life. I hope I can grow in my life to be half the woman she is.

Waiting to see Granny run by

My mom is waving between the pink poncho and blue hat :)Axl got a little tired waiting at the finish line AT THE FINISH!

Family Night Egg Hunt

Lake Mingo Egg Hunt

My heart skipped a beat...

...when I saw a package on my front porch this afternoon.

Before having Axl, one of the weird concerns I had on my pregant brain was that I have never been a very good launderer...and I know that babies tend to stain a lot of clothes...so I spoke with many friends and family about a good stain remover and several of them recommended this- Spray 'n Wash Dual Power.


So, before the little AxMan arrived I purchased a bottle and seriously NEVER turned back. This stain remover has gotten us through countless poop stains, many baby food messes, and single handedly rectified an entire blue-ink-pen-in-the-dryer situation.

I typically buy household items in bulk (3 or 4 bottles at a time--you're going to use it, right?) so I was surprised when someone I recommended it to was having trouble finding it anymore...only at Lowes...weird. Next time I needed it, I went to Lowes.

Then came about a month ago and I sent Tyler to purchase it. It wasn't there. Oh dear. I should have looked into this sooner. A little investigation tells me that Spray 'n Wash has been bought out by Resolve. Resolve has chosen not to produce this nectar of the gods. WHAT????

Being two months out from having double the poop stains I panicked, of course. I asked Tyler to please, please, please find it for me.

Being the most fantabulous husband he is--found it, and ordered it, in bulk. More bulk that usual. A case!
But seriously--How much of this stuff will I need for the rest of my life? I'm crunching the numbers and placing my order SOON! Atleast now my pregnancy brain can relax for a while. :)

These days...

Tyler is...

still working 2-10 M-F...boy are we ready for day shift
still attending business school and has gotten straight A's so far!
obsessed with straightening up the garage
enjoying his mornings of PTI and ESPN News and rubbing off on our son

JoAnna is...

30 weeks pregnant
starting to feel ill effects...lack of sleep, hip ache, fatigue, etc
appreciating that she hasn't felt these things until NOW :)
trying to be a good housewife/SAHM, but is definitely still learning...
working on both Axl and Cooper's rooms- Axl's is almost finished and Cooper's is underway
trying to walk a lot to avoid excessive weight gain
loving spending all this time with her husband and son

Axl is...

pointing out every ball, car, and truck he sees
pointing his finger at all puppies and yelling at them
LOVING chili and spaghetti
stomping around everywhere
occasionally peeing on the floor (I suspect on purpose! ...naughty boy)
sleeping soundly in a toddler bed every night, but keeping himself up at least an extra half hour by continuously playing his glow worm
pulling mom's hair
getting tired at about 11:00 every morning and doing this...is he trying to change his nap schedule??keeping up his cuteness that has been going on the past eighteen months...

Cooper is...

healthy (according to Dr. Marcum today)
kicking me.

Boys are gross.

Keep in mind that my child will NOT eat many yummy, perfectly edible foods. So you can imagine my surprise when he comes over to me --gnawing on something-- with THIS hanging from his chin. Seriously? The exoskeleton of a nasty, most definitely INEDIBLE BUG? Axl, I love you, but I can't handle the bug eating.

For Erin

still not sure where he found it, but for the past 20 minutes Axl has brought the blanket to me REPEATEDLY in order for me to fix it like this...

Snuggle

Axl already likes snuggling with his little sister...

Frenemies

Rachel is a close friend of mine at church and her little boy, McKay, is just a bit older than Axl. They spend quite a bit of time together, as Rachel kept Axl some while I was in school, since Rachel has started a part-time job, McKay comes to play with us once a week, and Rachel and I like to hang out... :)

At this age, I think it's hard for kids to make "friends" because whomever they're playing with...they're pretty much being forced to "share" with...so these boys have been learning some life lessons together. It's funny to see how each of them acts when they are at their own house, or the other's house...but altogether I think they're doing pretty well and most every time they are together they share atleast a 15 minute giggling/chasing/silly session.

As they grow, I really do think these boys will be best buds. :)

and, of course...they can always meet on the same page for some mischief. They were each taking turns pulling out a wipe...almost to the end of the box :)

Axl's First Masterpiece

I have tried several times in Axl's short life to model the concept of coloring but he just did NOT get it. In the slightest. The bathtub crayons he received for his birthday (Thanks Julie and Jaxon!) just became another thing he filled his tub cup up with. Most every bath, I would have fun writing something on the wall for Axl, but to no avail. Then, last night, he just started drawing. :) I personally thought the result was beautiful!

(and just for my records...Axl hasn't slept in the crib since Thursday...naps and all. could not be more shocked, grateful, proud, etc. love that boy.)

Really??

...could it really be this easy? I'm pretty much in disbelief that I found my 17 1/2 month old son, on just the second night of trying out the toddler bed, like this...

The sad thing is that after he went to sleep and I finally went to bed, I wanted to go take it back. Scoop him up out of that bed and put him back in his crib where he belongs! I'm not ready for him to be a little boy...not by any means--but I guess I can take this as a message that he really is ready.

Tyler's response was that he was "just proud of the little guy". I suggested that we reward him...after sleeping through the night, only waking once for the yummy, and not even getting out of the bed until after 8 o'clock! So off we went to Target and Axl's limited vocabulary drew him, of course, to these...

We really are proud of him and fully expect nap time to be a different story...but for now I'm just relishing the fact that he seems to have known to make this transition easy on his mama! :)