Nursery Reveal!

I know, I know. This is like a bazillion years late, but here it is...*drum roll please*... Dayton's nursery! The hubs works so incredibly hard on this and I could not love it any more. I got the inspiration from Pinterest and it all just kind of came together thanks to Etsy, Target, and my very sweet hubby.

The nursery colors are: orange, navy blue, grey, and dark brown. I hope these pictures do it justice. I am definitely not a photographer! (even though I pretend I am sometimes, ha!)

 

You can find the items I used here:

crib, dresser, night stand  |   bedding set   |   drapes (actually duvet covers, Target)   |   rocking chair/recliner

large wall monogram   |   wooden alphabet letters   |   growth chart   |   sports stickers  (Target)

bookshelves (actually Ikea spice racks)   |   rug (Target)   |   week blocks   |   closet bins   |   closet dividers

I have to say "THANK YOU!!!" again to my amazing hubs. He did pretty much all the work in this room. The board and batten (with the help of Grandpa Bishop), all of the painting, hanging, and putting of things together. The room turned out beautiful and I know Dayton will love growing up in it! Thank you hon!!

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!! Along with many people, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the food, the weather, the family time, and the time off of work to relax and spend time at home. We have so much to be thankful for that I cannot even begin to list them all. However, I am especially thankful for my family - my amazing hubby and my beautiful baby. We are so incredibly blessed. God has given us a healthy, handsome baby boy and we could not love him more! I am also very so thankful for our families, our health, our jobs, our friends, and our church and community; just to name a few!

This year, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Rominger's (Brad's grandparent's) house for Thanksgiving. Brad and I were still not feeling great from having food poisoning the previous few days, so it was a little rough getting up and getting ready on Thursday. We made the 2.5 hour drive down there and arrived around 1 pm. Everyone had just started eating (they knew we were going to be late), so we said hello and then joined in. Brad was able to eat more than I was. I just kind of picked a few bland things and ate like a bird. My tummy was not happy. Dayton loved seeing everyone and was happy to crawl around the house, watch his cousins run around, and play with grandma and great grandma. The whole family was there, so we had a packed house! Like I said, I was feeling terrible, so did I take any pictures? No. No I did not. Whoops! Luckily, Sister Karen did. Here's a few of Karen's pictures from the day!

Food Poisoning

Uuuugh. Food poisoning is. the. worst. ever. I have now had food poisoning four times. Terrible! This time, however, seemed to be worse than the previous. Sunday night Brad and I had our cheat meal: pizza roll-ups and chicken nachos. Oh those pizza roll-ups. The hubs loves them and we hadn't had them in a long time, so I figured I would make them and just try to use "healthier" ingredients: fat free crescent rolls, turkey peperoni, and mozzarella cheese. We had dinner around 6:30 pm, put Dayton to bed around 7:30 and then finished getting ready for the week.

Around 9 pm, the hubs said he didn't feel very well so he laid down on the bed for a bit. I told him to go ahead and go to bed. I finished getting things ready and then got ready for bed at 10. Brad was still not feeling great, but we both went to sleep. At 11 pm, he woke me up while he was running to the bathroom...to puke his guts up. Poor guy. He was up almost every 45 minutes sick. After a while, I told him it seemed like he had food poisoning. That's when I got nervous. Around 2 am, it was my turn. At 3 am, I put in the system for a sub and then wrote some sub plans in between my trips to the bathroom. The worst.

Monday morning, we still weren't doing well. Thank goodness for daycare! We got Dayton to daycare by about 8:30 am and basically raced home. I was running to the bathroom as soon as we pulled in. I repeat...terrible. We stayed in bed until about 12:30 pm, then moved to the couch. We didn't get up until it was time to pick Dayton up at 4:30 pm. I wasn't sure how we were going to take care of him that night, but I laid on the floor while he played and was still able to nurse him. Since we were still feeling so terrible Monday night, I went ahead and put in my absence for Tuesday. I hate missing work, but we could barely even move!

Tuesday was about the same. We got Dayton to daycare, but still couldn't eat anything. By lunch time, we figured we should try. Brad held it down. I didn't. Yuck. We took lots of naps and just laid around. After we picked Dayton up from daycare, we stopped by Panera for some chicken noodle soup. Luckily, we both kept it down and decided that even though we weren't completely better, we were well enough to go back to work Wednesday. Let's just say, I barely made it through Wednesday, but my kiddos were so sweet and helpful. They were extra good and we had a nice day. Wednesday night we both started feeling a little better.

I hope we never get food poisoning again. It was terrible. Especially trying to nurse and take care of a 7 month old at the same time!

P.S. - I will never eat turkey peperoni again.

Snow!

Now, all y'all know I'm not a huge fan of snow. Actually, I hate it. Except for the first snow. The first snow of the season is so pretty and I do enjoy watching those pretty white flakes fall from the sky. Thankfully, our first snow was in November and not October, like last year. This year, I was a little more excited about the first snow since it was Dayton's first experience with snow.

We bundled him up and took him outside to check it out. I know, he had no idea what was going on...other than it was cold, but it was still fun for us! He kind of just sat there for a bit, but then he figured out that if he "flapped" his arms around, the snow would fly up. He got a kick out of that! Then we laid him down and he made his first snow angel all on his own! What a chunky cutie patootie.

Playing in the snow.

Haha, sorry but this is funny!

Snow angel

UNI with the Rosbergs

Our friends/neighbors, the Rosbergs, invited us to go to a UNI men's basketball game on Saturday. They are season ticket holders and had 2 extra tickets! We hadn't been to a basketball game in a while, so we decided to go. Why not? We enjoy going to sporting events, it was Dayton's first basketball game, we love the Rosbergs, and the kiddos would have fun too. (Livi is the Rosberg's daughter - Dayton's girlfriend.)

The game was at 1 pm, so it worked perfectly  with meal times. It had started to snow, Dayton took forever eating, and traffic was a nightmare, so we were a little late. We sat right behind the Rosbergs and enjoyed the game! UNI ended up winning and Dayton and Livi got to spend some qt (quality time) together. They are too cute. I'm so glad we have such great neighbors!

The boys and the babies.

Livi is checking to see if it's okay if she holds Dayton's hand.

The mamas and the babies.

I just love those two. I mean...they are so sweet!

Dayton ~ 7 Months

D-Man,

   Oh baby boy, I don't know what we would do without you. You have brought so much love and joy into our lives. You're such a happy little guy. Trust me, I know how spoiled we are. I see our friends kids a lot, and yes, they are sweet, but you are just so happy and full of energy. When we go to small group, you end up being the center of attention. You're just a funny little guy!

   You're becoming so much more aware of things and you're starting to figure out what is going on and how things work. You're also starting a little "stranger danger," but you warm up to people in only a few minutes. You've also started noticing (and yelling/fussing) when I leave the room. You're definitely attached to your mama, and I love every second of it. You like to "find" me in a room and crawl to where I am. When I am in the kitchen, you like to be right under at my feet playing. It's pretty darn cute.

  Your smiles and laughs are so frequent now, but we just can't get enough of them. I hope you always laugh like this. Laughing is good for you and good for us too. I hope you stay a happy, silly little man. It's one of the things I love most about you! I love you through and through.

Love,
Mama

__________________________________

Size: 21 lb   

Hair: Dark brown - you're getting a little more hair, but you still look pretty bald.

Eyes: Dark brown.

Teeth: Going on 4! You have 2 teeth on the bottom and are cutting 2 teeth on the top. They're almost through!

Food:You are definitely a boy! You like to eat kiddo. A lot. Nursing is still going wonderful. It makes me so happy that everything has worked out for you and me. You nurse during the week at 6 am, 5:30 pm, and 7:30 pm. You get a bottle (or sippy cup) at daycare 3 times a day. You usually drink about 15-20 oz. of breast milk at daycare. On the weekends, I nurse you at all of the feedings.

You're schedule is about the same:
6 am - nurse, 2 tbsp. whole grain rice cereal/oatmeal (organic), 2 oz. fruit (sometimes)
9 am - 5 oz breast milk, baby puffs
12 pm - 5 oz breast milk, 2 oz. veggies, 2 oz. fruit, 2 tbsp. oatmeal cereal
3 pm - 9 am - 5 oz breast milk, baby puffs or biscuit
5:30 pm -  nurse, 2 oz. veggies, 2 oz. fruit, 2 tbsp. oatmeal cereal
7:30 pm - nurse

You love being able to feed yourself baby puffs and biscuits. I am just waiting until you won't let me feed you at all! The veggies you have eaten include: sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, carrots, pumpkin, and yellow squash. The fruits you have eaten include: avocados, apples, pears, bananas, and strawberries. You like all of your veggies, but seem not to care for strawberries.

Sleep: You are still a great sleeper! THANK YOU! You sleep about 1.5 hours in the morning after your 9 am bottle and 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon after your lunch. At night, you start to get cranky around 7:15 pm and are ready to go to bed at about 7:30 pm. You sleep all night (even though you move all over your bed) and I wake you up at about 6 am.

Clothes: You are wearing 9 month clothes. 

Words:You aren't saying any words, although you are starting to put 2 and 3 syllable sounds together. Your talking and chattering cracks us up! Sometimes you yell at us as you talk and other times you do this whispering thing. It's so sweet. You are saying "ta", "da", "na", "do", "eh", and "ma."

Development/Activity: Okay, you are crazy!! You are a "go go go" baby...almost all of the time! You like to be on the floor moving. You army crawl way faster than you actual crawl. You're getting so good at crawling though! The farthest you've gone is 8 "steps." Ah! My baby is crawling!! And you're constantly moving. You also love your bouncer. I'm pretty sure you could stay in your bouncer and bounce and sway for hours.

You're starting to show some more personality too. You're a funny little guy! You love to be scared - like if we turn and say, "Boo!" That's how we get you to laugh. You even do this little jump, because we scare you and then you start laughing. It's so funny! That and having something thrown at your face make you laugh. Oh baby, you are all boy!

Temperament: Content. Happy. Just the sweetest guy. You don't really have any fussy times. You get cranky when you're tired or hungry, but other than that...you're happy! Although, you have been showing a little frustration recently when you don't get what you want (reaching for a toy, crawling) right away!

Likes:You like snuggles, napping or hanging out with daddy, crawling, playing on the floor, following mama around the house, playing peek-a-boo, taking your clothes off, baths, your bouncer, smiling, feeding yourself, eating, and watching the dogs. You're very observant. Miss Karyn at daycare says you study things. Ha!

Dislikes: You don't like being tired or hungry and you don't like being in a room where you can't at least see me or daddy. 

Small Moments: My favorite is your laughs. It makes my heart about burst. I would do about anything - and daddy and I actually do about anything - to make you laugh. What I love most about making you laugh, is watching you and daddy play and how he makes you laugh. He can get you to laugh more than I can. I love it because you're daddy doesn't act silly often, but when it comes to you...oh boy, he is a goof! and all just to make you laugh. We love the sound of your laugh little man. Best thing we've ever heard.

Come on mama...more pictures??

So proud of yourself!

Heart = melted.

 Month to Month:

Halloween 2014

I love Halloween. I mean, I really love it. I love decorating, I love the spooky movies, I love the costumes, and I absolutely love seeing all of the trick-or-treaters. They are just so darn cute! This year was especially fun because we had a little guy to dress up! We didn't do too much with him this year since he really doesn't know what's going on. Next year though...we will go all out on Halloween!

Being an elementary teacher, I get a little more of a kick out of Halloween as well. Our school has a Halloween parade that the K-4th graders participate in. The 5th and 6th graders line the hallways and cheer them on as we parade through the school. Yes, us teachers dress up too! A lot of us of go all out too. Why not?? Last year my team was CF football players and this year we were the CF tiger. I love my team and the kiddos love it when we dress up. The Kindergarten team dressed up as various colors of play dough, the 1st grade team dressed up as spices, we were tigers, and the 3rd grade team dressed up as superheros. Fun!

Tiger pj's from Target!!

We originally planned to take Dayton to the Main Street Halloween parade, but it was an especially cold day, and he's a baby, so we decided to just dress up at home and answer the door. Little man was a bear for Halloween. Such a cute little bear. Excuse the sad quality of photos, some of them are from my phone.
P.S. - This costume was size 6-12 month and Dayton barely squeezed in it. I mean, barely.

He's the cutest bear I've ever seen!

Our neighborhood is lots of fun for Halloween for two reasons: 1) there are TONS of kiddos and 2) our neighborhood is zoned for the school I work at, so I get to see my students and other kids all dressed up! It's pretty funny when kids from other grades realize I am a teacher at their school. They are all such good kids. They all took just one piece of candy and all said, "Thank you!" I was very impressed. Well done, parents! I love our neighborhood. It was absolutely freezing that night, so we enjoyed the festivities from home. After a while, Dayton got pretty hot in his bear costume, so we took it off and he wore his birthday suit for Halloween! Haha! Happy Halloween y'all! Hope it was fun!