First World Problems

1. We exclusively used the Keurig for so long that I've forgotten how to make a proper pot of coffee. Anyone have any ratio suggestions? I think I use a different one every time. So basically, you never know what you're going to get.

2. Why is it so hard to pick out a bottle brush? And a sippy cup? Too many options.

3. Its time for Ty's 6 month photo shoot and I have no idea what he's going to wear or where we're going to take them. He'll be taking these solo so I need to find something super cute. And carve out the time in my schedule to go buy it.

4. Lately, most of my emails are from Pinterest. Not surprisingly, people seem to be really into quotes and house stuff right now. Ever so often I get the urge to go through and tidy up my boards - you know, clear out the ones that are stupid, re-organize the ones I'm keeping - but I feel guilty about deleting a pin that has been repinned a million times. So I usually keep it. Anyone else feel that way?

5. I wish I could choose which posts from some bloggers show up in my GoogleReader. Or maybe its just time to clean out my reader. The bad is starting to outweigh the good on some of them.

6a. (plucked from my Tweets) People who don't know what they want annoy me. Particularly brides.

6b. If you don't have a wedding date, why are you buying a wedding dress?

7. I dont have time to play the Sims. I really want to find that time.

8. I hate that so many companies have jumped on the Facebook bandwagon. I feel like I'm missing out on promotions because I'm not on Facebook. I'd re-activate my account but the idea of doing that just...ech, it just sounds terrible.

♥

Our Keurig is on leave

We are coffee drinkers here in Smithville.

And we have little to no tolerance for our coffee maker leaking or failing to make our coffee whenever we tell it to.

A few months ago our Keurig started acting up. It wouldn't brew coffee! Hubs managed to fix it before I ran out to Starbucks and it worked fine up until a couple weeks ago when it started leaking. Hubs hasn't figured out how to fix that yet.

Y'all. A leaking coffee maker is an accident just waiting to happen. So I went out and bought a cheapo 12 cup Mr. Coffee and put our Keurig on unpaid administrative leave (lol).

Part of me is over the novelty of it all and wants to get back to the task at hand: consuming copious amounts of coffee. But another part of me hopes it's just going through a phase ( it's only a year old).

I guess time will tell. Well, Hubs will tell cause he's it's only chance of making a comeback since I'm not paying to have it looked at and I'm not handy. Lol.

Purees, High Chairs, and Sitting ...Oh My!

Tyler's first meal in his highchair.

 The last couple of weeks have been big for BabyKakes.

• He started eating food. At exactly 5 months and 1 day old. His first meal was a bit of multigrain rice cereal mixed with breast milk. I could go on all day about how you're supposed to introduce food, but I went with my gut. He's had organic sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans and peas, and most recently, apples and strawberries. He loves it all.
• He also ate in his high chair for the first time....which means he's mostly sitting up! Yes, milestones all over the place. Auntie Dani helped me pick out the high chair that was a gift from his BomBon (Hubs' mom). I love having a dedicated place to feed him and am thinking about leaving a basket in the kitchen to hold bibs and washcloths for easy access/cleanup.
• We've also increased his bottles from 4oz to 6oz. He's still supposed to get most of his nutrition from breastmilk/formula, so its nice to pack fewer larger bottles. More food for our greedy guy and less bottles for us to wash. Win-win situation.

Ty is still the sweetest baby and we thank God every day for our little guy who eats like a champ, cries minimally, grins at everyone, and sleeps through the night. We got lucky and we know it.

♥

Adding a few more House Goals to the list

Is it possible to reasonably expand my list of House Goals? Because lately I've been obsessed with:

Mirrors in the dining room.  The walls in there are completely blank. I think a miror would be totally chic and maybe some open shelving on the wall across from the window for extra storage.

Source: bostondesignguide.com via Patti on Pinterest

Finding a wall to paint in chalkboard paint.

Source: 4men1lady.com via Patti on Pinterest

Creating a custom closet feel in our walk-in closet. Getting an actual custom closet in the master is not happening right now. At least I dont think. In the meantime, I'm going to get some assistance. She doesnt know this yet, but I'm going to recruit Naima to help me with ours. She has some of the most organized closets I've ever seen. Ever.

Source: tumblr.com via Patti on Pinterest

Removing our nasty bane-of-my-existence shower door and putting up a rod and cute curtain. Hubs is NOT feeling this idea right now. Gonna have to be really strategic to pull this one off.

Source: westelm.com via Patti on Pinterest

Redressing our bed. Our current comforter can be a bit warm so I'm thinking of going back to the white comforter cover and doing a lightweight quilt underneath for some variety.

Source: homegoods.com via Patti on Pinterest

Hang something on the wall behind our bed. Its just so empty back there right now. I'm really feeling this whole behind and next to the bed setup and am on the hunt for the components.

Source: conspicuousstyle.com via Patti on Pinterest

Finding a cocktail ottoman to replace our coffee table. Ultimately we want to replace our sofas, but the coffee table is this year's priority. Our glass one is an accident just waiting to happen when Ty starts pulling up.

Source: roomstogo.com via Patti on Pinterest

I think I'm officially adding all this stuff to this year's list. If I'm going to work on them I may as well get some credit for crossing them off my list, right? Right.


♥

2012 Goals

This whole thing started when I was trying to decide what I wanted to do to the house this calendar year. Mostly becasue of the whole limited time and resources thing, I needed to prioritize my (seemingly neverending list).

Well, after I came up with what seems to be a reasonable list of projects to tackle, I started thinking about the work I wanted to do on myself this year. Again, I started jotting down some areas that I'd like to work on. Not resolutions per se, but goals to focus my attention in the upcoming year.

House Goals

• Closet solutions - Our closets (all 8 of them) are varying degrees of hot messes. I want to de-clutter, organize, and come up with better solutions for storing our belongings.
• Figure out DVD storage - We've amassed quite a DVD collection and what we're currently using is completely inadequate. Before Ty gets too mobile, we'd like to figure out a way to store the DVDs while leaving room for our collection to grow.
• Purchase a grill - This is just a matter of selecting a grill and buying it. It just needs to happen before August because we're planning to grill-out for baby's first birthday party (tentatively scheduled for August 11th)
• Start saving for a fence - Before we can build a fence we need a survey. And money. The last estimate we got, and I believe it was a conservative one, was $3000. We will definitely need to start tucking away cash so that we can maybe build the fence in 2013.
• Get a headboard for our master bedroom - We have a king-sized bed and I'd like something upholstered. Or maybe dark wood. We'll either purchase something or I'll DIY...once I decide what I want.
• Create frame collage in living room - There's an odd wall (the other side of the stairs) that is just asking for something fun
• Hang more drapes - our bedroom and the living room could really use some drapes. Trifling-ly, I already have 3 sets of long white drapes waiting to be hung in our bedroom. No clue what I want to do in the living room. Maybe navy and white stripes. Maybe not. 

Patti Goals

• Be less lazy - I think we're all lazy but sometimes I really need to follow through. So that means fold that basket of laundry when it comes out of the wash, or clean up the kitchen as I'm cooking (or done eating), or being more proactive about going to bed at a decent hour. This whole is dedicated to doing better.
• Move more - I've already lost what little weight I gained during my pregnancy, but I dont want to become sedentary. I'm still going to start running and my running partner has suggested we shoot for a 5k later on this year. I think it will be quite a challenge.
• Blog more - I have to remember that all posts aren't long and involved. Sometimes I can just pop by and say hi. Sometimes I'm pretty sure I could pacify you with a picture of the baby doing something cute (which he does a lot). I'd love to share my life as it happens rather than briefly summarize it (waay) after the fact.
• Pack my lunch more often - This goes hand in hand with being less lazy. I usually have the food (or can add it to my grocery list to pick some lunch solutions up), I just dont pack the lunch. And with it being so cold lately (I have to remember it is winter), I'm not motivated to leave the building to grab lunch.
• Have less debt - This mostly pertains to paying down the debt we do have (and not accruing any additional). This will be my main financial goal until the stinky debt goes bye-bye.
• Appreciate my people more - I have the best friends. I'm incredibly blessed to have them in my life and this year I want to find ways to show them that I appreciate them loving me and my family.

I know these two lists, as they currently stand, are manageable. Now that I've declared them publicly, I'm looking forward to working on them and hopefully sharing my progress here on ye old blog.

♥

2011 in Review

2011 was a hell of a year.

That's Hubs on the right, right after they'd been pinned with their badges - no clue what they're discussing.

January - Hubs graduates from the Police Academy. We finally find the house we're looking for and by the end of the month we have a contract on it. Oh, and I'm (thankfully) still pregnant.

February - I don't remember what happened, but I know sometime around this date the house situation imploded. I tried very hard not to get too stressed out, but it was hard. Underwriters are no joke; they will be ALL UP IN your business.

March - Mom turned 60 and had a fabulous party in South Florida. It was on the water and I sweated out my hair (noteworthy because prior to then, that hadn't happened in about 5 years). Oh and mom asked me to make her some programs and table numbers. She had an open bar, a DJ, and the food was on stations all around the room. It was awesome. After mom's party, we found out we were expecting a boy. And on the very last day of the month we closed on our house.

Welcome to Smithville!

April - We move. Actually, Hubs and the movers moved us. I went to work that day. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds. My MIL came up that weekend to help us unpack. That was...less amazing. But it was nice to be essentially unpacked almost immediately.

Approximately 29 weeks along

May - I turned 29. Hubs and I spent the day doing stuff I wanted to do - I got my nails done, had a prenatal massage facial, and ate some delicious stuff. Hubs is cut loose from his 20 week field training period and has his own patrol car. Towards the end of the month Mom hosted a baby shower for me at her house. The travel part went smoothly and I had a fantastic time at the shower. Krissi came down from Gainesville and I realized (for about the millionth time) how much I miss her.

My cousin Cheryl, Me, Miss Toni, Mom, and Krissi at my shower (mom's house)

June and July - These two months were kinda a photo-less blur. I had 2 more baby showers and strangers finally noticed I was pregnant. I also finished up several house projects (we painted, purchased furniture, hung drapes) and started prepping the baby's cloth diapers. We recieve a ton of baby gifts and I finally buy my stroller (yes, its as awesome as I thought it would be).

Ty's birth announcement. Images by Rachel Melton Photography; Design by Sarah Luke of Less Ordinary Designs

August - Tyler is born a couple days before his due date. Exactly 2 weeks later, Hubs turns 28. I start breastfeeding. Ty had his days and nights totally mixed up so I was basically a zombie for the next month or so.

I needed one of these for posterity. Taken late one night on the webcam

September - Naima gets married! It was a mad dash to get my 'maids dress altered so that I could actually wear it (it was entirely too big). Mom comes up to coordinate the wedding for me and MIL comes up to babysit. I have a bit of champagne at the wedding. First drink in almost a year. Ty also has his first trip to Columbia, SC to visit with my in-laws.

Image courtesy of Rachel Melton

October - Hubs and I celebrate our 2nd anniversary in Chattanooga. Of course we take the baby. This month he starts sleeping through the night, in his room, and in his crib. Important milestones! I go back to work after 9 weeks of maternity leave and determine there's no way I'd cut it as a SAHM. Ty starts daycare and wearing cloth diapers part-time (in the evenings and on weekends).

Image courtesy of Rachel Melton

November - We take family photos at Piedmont Park. I host my first Thanksgiving dinner. All but the cranberry sauce and Honeybaked ham (that MIL brought) was made from scratch. Oh, and I got dinner on the table early. Total rockstar.

I love these baby socks. Taken Christmas day.

December - MIL turned 50 and we ventured back to Columbia to celebrate. We spend Christmas in South Florida and Ty officially has his first two airplane flights (he was an angel). We rent baby gear to cover us while in Florida and spend a ton of time laughing with family and friends. Oh and I bake, alot.  Hubs and my co-workers enjoyed homemade oreos, snowballs, sugar cookies, and red velvet sandwich cookies. Everything was delicious.

Like I said, 2011 was a hell of a year. But in an amazingly good way. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings.

♥

Merry Christmas

Popping in to wish you and yours a very merry holiday season!

♥, Patti

PS -  I miss blogging. I really do. And at least once a week I compose a post in my head. Never seem to make it to the blog to jot them down. Ahh well, here's hoping I do a bit better next year :)