Twelve Months (One YEAR!)

Dear Titus,

At 12 months you...

• You weigh 22 pounds.
• You wear size 4 diapers and 9-12 month clothes (definitely still need shorter pants).
• You sleep from about 8pm to 7am. You take two naps around 10:30 and 2:30.
• You have had 5 ear infections in 4 months, its been really awful. Right now we are on our 5th antibiotic plus Zyrtec in the morning and Benadryl at night to cut down on the drainage that is causing the infections. If this doesn't work you will have to get tubes, so we're hoping this will be the combo to get you healthy!
• You LOVE waving. You love waving so much that when I tried to teach you to clap you just waved at me some more.
• You still dislike your car seat but the iPad helps a lot. We'll probably turn you around soon because you are so unhappy.
• You don't really care much about eating and still like baby food a lot (you don't reject it in favor of table food like a lot of babies your age). I can never really tell if you're full or if you want more food because you just want out of your high chair.
• You don't like sitting in the shopping cart or stroller very much. In general, you hate anything that keeps your from crawling/trying to walk. And straps are like your worst nightmare! Most of the time you stand up in the shopping cart.
• You love bath time so much you will crawl into the bathroom throughout the day and stand at the side of the tub and giggle.
• You still love ceiling fans.
• You like to play in the yard, you could grab sticks and grass and hold them in the air to observe them for like an hour straight. You are so curious and detail oriented, you check everything out with great concern!
• You have started putting sounds together and say a lot of words like "glargle glargle" or "blurb" or "drawler." You have even said your first real word, "dog." You stand at the screen door and watch Bosco and Lucy and say dog (which kind of sounds like "dock").
• You love Yo Gabba Gabba.
• You like watching and chasing the vacuum! 
• For whatever reason you love when I watch you play in your crib, or the "big bed" (mommy and daddy's bed) for that matter.
• You chase the dogs around the house and laugh/scream hysterically because you get so excited. They run away trying not to get caught which only makes you want to chase them more.
• You think it's fun to get your temperature taken with the forehead thermometer and you try to do it yourself.
• You love to dance and it has become my favorite thing that you do!

Oh sweet boy, what a year it has been. Things are so much easier and more entertaining at 12 months! You are such a loving snuggler and you give away smiles and giggles so easily. Everyone always comments on how much they love your laugh- I hope your joy continues to be infectious in years to come. Everyone says to cherish these baby moments because they go by so fast, and I can attest to the fact that time has, indeed, gone by very quickly. We are so lucky to call you our son and could not be more grateful for every minute, day, month, and year that the Lord allows us to shepherd you and fall even more in love with our short, wobbly, adorable, little boy. I can't wait to see what year two will hold and the many adventures we will have as we learn more about each other in the days to come. We love you to the moon and back, precious Titus.

First Birthday Party!

 

Spring Mantle Decor

I got a few questions from the pictures I posted of my Spring mantel decor, so here is how you can do it in your own home if you want!

The first element I used for the mantle was the weathered barn wood frame Garland made for me and I first featured at Christmas. It's just some old wood that he nailed to a couple pieces of framing to hold it together. Extremely easy project!

Then I took off the Christmas wreath and replaced it with this book wreath I made a couple years ago. I LOVE this wreath, it goes with anything! You can see that mine is different colors because I used a few different books and hung it on my front door, so they aged different colors in the sun. Make sure if you use different books that you do a better job of spreading out the roses so you don't get clusters of one color or the other (like mine).

If you want to do a wreath on wood like I did here's the easy trick: Buy a 3M hook and hang it on the backside UPSIDE DOWN. Then just tie a knot with the string around the hook as shown here. Genius! Thanks Pinterest!

Next I lined the frame and wreath with the mercury glass vases I made this summer. This was a super easy and inexpensive project, probably totaling $10-15 for 10 vases.

 Wild flowers from Hobby Lobby on half off! Oh, how I love that place. 

 I stacked some old books I got at a garage sale on both sides just to give plenty of variation on height.

Lastly I made a fabric garland to hang down from the mantle. This was my favorite part! I went and bought fabric scraps from a fabric store for $7 and that was the total cost! I used twine I already had and a lot of elbow grease. Depending on the type of fabric you get will depend on how easy or difficult your project is. A couple of my fabrics had stitching or were just really thick and it took a lot of effort to cut through. The plain cotton fabrics were really easy though! All in all it probably took me 3 hours to make and it's about 5 feet long. Here is the tutorial I used, but it's pretty self explanatory.

All in all the whole mantle probably cost me about $35 including the vases, wreath, books, barn wood frame, flowers, and fabric for the garland. Easy update for spring, now we just need to weather to catch on to the change in season! Happy crafting!

Dirty Thirty Party

My sister-in-law, Christen, wanted to throw my brother a surprise party to celebrate his 30th birthday. We settled on the theme "Dirty Thirty," so think camo, deer heads, tank tops, trucker hats, and lots of Little Debbie snacks. Here is what came of it!

He was genuinely surprised!

Cardboard is a staple of hillbilly decor

The "Pisser," aka, the bathroom

Hang a clothesline through the room

 Some "tabacky" (Big League Chew)

 mustaches, tattoos, and candy cigarettes

 Classy decor! Fake flowers in an empty 2 liter bottle

 Drinks chilled in a wheelbarrow

 Don't forget to have some puppy chow and Little Debbie snacks as "or derves"

Don't forget the costumes! Cigarette behind the air, torn jeans, and of course, plenty of American flags!

 Flannel, nascar tshirt, and John Deere hat (I'm not really in costume because I didn't have time to change after decorating!)

 Leopard tanks, shiny/skin tight skirt with neon tights, and of course cut-off shirts. And don't forget to include a gun for some good photo ops!

 You can't leave the house without your hair done. Oh wait, yes you can.

 Mustaches for all!

I made Titus a onesie that says "I like my women just a little on the trashy side" with kisses on the back!

 Happy 30th birthday, bub!