Milestones

I often wonder if Stewart is reaching all of the milestones that he should be at his age. Today I stumbled upon an article about 18-24 month milestones. He is 17 months right now but I just wanted to know what he should know in the next 6 months. Well turns out he's doing just fine. ( 18-24 month milestones) He does the majority of these milestones already and today just reached another one. We were reading a book and he was able to point out both the ball and the car in the book. I'm not one to brag about my kid but I'm just glad to know he's doing what he should be at his age.

Repurpose

Last night I was on etsy looking for a shelf to hang my jewelry on. I found an adorable one and almost got it until I realized that there is a pretty useless towel rack in the bathroom that I could use. Here's how it turned out:

Before:

After:

I love the way it turned out and that everything has a place now. Might need to head back to charming Charlie at west end for something other than black necklaces. :)

Feeling productive?

Ever since I started staying home I have fallen into the rut of not feeling productive. I spend my days cooking, cleaning, playing, going to the zoo, and usually during nap time sitting and watching tv. I have decided that I need something to fill that time when Im not cleaning or cooking. I have wanted to learn to sew for a long time but usually give up pretty quickly. I have a sewing machine that is sitting at my moms unused. Its just collecting dust. So Ive decided its time to get it out. I used her machine last week and made a pillow case out of a fitted sheet from Stewart's bedding because crib bedding doesn't come with one and the toddler set only adds a pillowcase instead of the bumper. It turned out ok as long as you don't look too close at it. It was straight lines and pretty simple. I've been browsing pinterest and there are some great ideas out there on simple things to teach myself sewing. I am excited about it. Its not something that I'll probably make money off of but just a hobby. While I LOVE my new job staying home and LOVE the little man I work for; I just need some me time. I need a hobby!

Anniversary Weekend

We just celebrated our 7th Anniversary. This past year was pretty amazing and we made some pretty big steps in our goals!
Friday Nils took the day off and we went grocery shopping and cleaned the house. Then we had our neighbors over and had a blast with them! They go to our church which we had no clue until about a year after they moved in. They are engaged and will be getting married in 2013. It was fun getting to know them better and know we'll hang out more soon.
We had a pretty fun day minus a few meltdowns on Saturday. We decided to drive to New Ulm to go tour the Schells Brewery. It was beautiful there. We bought a new carrier on the way there to try out with Stewart. I had this vision that he would ride along on the whole tour and love being close to me on my back. Well he lasted 30 minutes in it and once the tour started he wanted out. So I missed the whole tour but Nils enjoyed it. I think the little man is getting his last tooth b4 his 2 year molars. He was crying a lot this weekend and missing naps and so on. We decided that if we go there again we will leave him home and do that trip alone.
Today I didn't leave the house. I wasn't feeling great and really think I just needed a day of nothing.
I am so blessed to have an amazing husband who provides for our family! He works hard so that I am able to now stay home with Stewart and I know I am so lucky to be able to do that. He is an amazing father and I can't wait to see what this next year holds for us!

Here's a picture of me and the little man when he was enjoying his ride...

Oh yeah I have a blog....

Im a good reader of blogs but not so much a good blogger. I have good reason for this. Over the last 3 weeks my mom has been in the hospital twice. She was readmitted on Friday night after being home a week. Her first stay was 10 days. It looks like this stay could be close to that as well. I took her to the hospital both times because she was having trouble breathing. The first time her resting heart rate was 129 and her blood pressure was elevated. This most recent time she was sent home on oxygen and the machine she has can "only" go to 5 liters and her body was not able to take that little. I got to her house this past friday night and her oxygen levels were in the 60s. I knew right then and there that we were heading back to the hospital. She was of course admitted right away. She is 15 liters of oxygen right now and that is what she was one while she was in last time as well. It will take some time to wean her back down off of it and it will also take sometime for them to try and fix what is going on. What exactly is going on is that she is having an allergic reaction to the chemo drug she is on. Basically it is backing up fluid on her lungs and causing her to not be able to breath on her own. Even getting to the bedside commode is a major task and she gets winded. I spent 1/2 of the last stay with her and her friend stayed the other half. Thanks to family and friends Nils and Stewart were talking good care of. This time Ive stayed 2 nights and am home tonight. I will probably be going back tomorrow night. My uncle is with her tonight. I am overwhelmed with all that is going on. She faced this same issue almost 2 years ago. At the time we were in the home study process for our adoption and actually did our first home study in her hospital room in case she didn't make it she was at least part of our process. It was easier to stay with her then when I wasn't a mother and could just focus on her. This time I struggle so much with guilt because I am a mom and need to be there for my son but I also need to be there for my mom. Please keep her in your prayers. She needs to get through this big hurdle and she needs to learn how to take it easy for a while even when she goes home. She doesn't like to sit still and just rest at home.
Id like to say I will try better at keeping this blog up to date but really life is so crazy right now that I can only hope to sit down like this again soon!
On a happy note I'll leave you with some pictures of my adorable son. Seriously he melts my heart! I am so thankful for facetime because we were able to video chat a few times and I was able to teach him how to blow a kiss over the computer!

These were taken on our most recent trip to the zoo with his 2 best buddies.

Leaves

See Mama!!

I really want to climb!

YAY slide!

Bigger slide

Very important conversation!

Come closer so mama doesn't hear our plan to escape!

Over a month?

Ok you'd think with all my "free time" now that I stay home Id actually have time to update the blog. Well I'm not even sure where the last month went. It has been filled with trips to the zoo, snack time, nap time, doctor visits for my mom, cleaning, and a little yo gabba gabba in the mix. This transition to staying home has been much different than I would have expected. I imagined a lot of down time but really the days just fly by and I have no idea where the time goes.
This week was Nils's 1st week at his new job. The days are much longer when he is gone but it was a good move all around. I am excited to take occasional trips downtown to visit him! I am excited for him to take the next step in his career and I am so excited to see where this takes us.

Our long weekend was so fun. We went to the state fair with his birth family, went to the zoo with the 3 of us, had dinner and went to the park with my inlaws, and had dinner tonight with my family. Stewart had his 2nd over night at my moms while we went to the fair. Overall it was a fun weekend!

Here are some recent pictures:

Watching the clock

Im sitting at my desk at work for the last time. Its 10:45am and in 15mins I'll leave for my last lunch break. Soon there will be no more lunch breaks. Once I come back to work I will have 3 hours left. I really don't think it has fully hit me yet what is about to happen. I just feel like its a normal Friday and in 2 days I'll be right back here. I think Monday morning it will officially hit me.