How we are doing...

 Most of my posts so far have been mostly in the need-to-know, what we've been doing, new baby, or Leon catergories.  But I thought I'd sit down and share a little more about how we're actually doing.  We'll start with the most important:

Leon

Leon had a pretty rough time adjusting to this move.  It really didn't go over well with him at all.  However, I'm happy to say that after 2 and half months he is finally getting more and more comfortable and adjusted.  He went to nursery at church today without crying (HORRAY!) for the first time since we got here.  He doesn't have to be right outside the shower when I shower - he'll play in the playroom or in my bedroom.  He's not afraid of his massive closet anymore.  He actually went downstairs all by himself today to play (I was in the shower and when I came out I started to panic because I couldn't find him anywhere - I went downstairs and he was happily playing with his trains).  His speech has really taken off.  He surprises me daily with the words/phrases he picks up and the sentences he puts together.  He's become very observant - On our way to church today, he saw McDonald's and shouted out (with joy) "french fries!".  A few weeks ago he started calling me "Mommy" instead of "Momma".  He is very gracious - he says "thank you, mommy"  just about everytime I compliment him or give him something.  His temper tantrums have declined signficantly since we moved.  He now can count up to 5 and knows most of this colors.  AND, when I ask him if he wants a baby he usually says "Yes" while shaking his head up and down.  It's adorable.  I love the kid and every time he does something cute or sweet or funny I wonder how on earth I was lucky enough to have this little boy be my son!  He's just awesome.  The one bad thing we're still working on is getting him to sleep in his own bed throughout the night - he just gets worried without us there with him.

Kyle

Kyle has been having to make a lot of changes when it comes to his work situation.  His commute is much different - driving into the big city requires a lot of dealing with traffic and rush hour.  He is getting used to how different the work enviroment is at this new company, but I think he's liking it.  It's different but not bad.  He's got another one of his crazy actuarial exams coming up right before the baby is due.  His study schedule is pretty intense which isn't so enjoyable.  However, there's light at the end of the tunnel - if he passes this one he only has one more and then he is done!  Forever!  Yay!  He's told me that he really likes the area and the people he works with.  He is also enjoying having a yard that only takes 20 minutes to mow instead of 2 hours and having a house that doesn't have an endless list of improvements to work on.  Despite his busy work and study schedule and the stress that comes with both, he's been so awesome.  He's been helping me with all my house projects and with Leon.  He's making life around here great.

Me

I miss home - mostly my friends and family, my favorite photography locations (I haven't had much success with scouting places out here), and the convience of just knowing an area for so long.  However, I do like the area for the most part.  I've been making friends with ladies from church and they're great.  I joined their book club and have been invited to a couple of ladies nights which have been a lot of fun.  I really like our new house.  I love that all I have to do is paint and decorate and keep it clean.  That's ALL!  It's really starting to look like a lovely home for us.  I can't wait to show more pictures.  Most rooms are very close to being photo worthy.  As far as the pregnancy goes, I'm already very uncomfortable.  I'm huge and I still have 12 weeks to go - people keep asking me if I'm having twins or their eyes get really wide when I tell them the baby is due in November.  I'm not usually too offended when this happens because I agree with their thoughts - I'm big and I know it ;)  I'm already having contractions which stinks.  But luckily everything else is going great, so I'm not going to complain too much.  I miss taking photos.  However, I'm not feeling to creative while being big and it's nice having the free time.  I'll start things back up in the spring.

Baby #2

He's nice to me.  Well, other than the whole making me huge thing, giving me contractions, and being up in my ribs most of the time.  He lets me sleep when I need/want to and he lets me get things done.  I appreciate it.  His room is going to be so stinkin cute when it's gets done.  We are still are debating on names.  We've got a list going but we just can't decide.  Here are some of our options (the ones I can remember at least):  Owen, Oliver, Ollie, Greyson, Griffin, Charlie, Ray, Ethan, Everett, and James.

P.S.  Check out our little adventure of feeding the ducks at a nearby lake here.

Leon's Big Boy Room

The first room I really started working on when we got here was Leon's room.  I pretty much knew what I wanted to do so it really didn't take much, just time and some money.  I loved how it has turned out so far.  There's still a little bit more to do - I have a wall shelf to paint & put up and some other pics to frame.  But here is what it currently looks like:

A little collage of some of my favorite things in his room (top to bottom): 1) his new green quilt, a train pillow I made him, and our favorite family photo hanging up 2) Mr. Potatoe Head - he's just cool 3) Leon playing with Mr. Potato Head in this room 4) A poster I made with this saying 5) Books from the libray that are kept under his night stand that we read before bedtime everynight 6) The wonderful Ikea bookshelf - I absolutely love this thing

Leon's room has a massive walk in closet too (which is good because eventually the boys will share rooms).  It's barely even filled up with things right now.  I wanted to make a little reading nook for Leon.  One of these days I want to stamp glow in the dark stars all over.

I loved how it's turning out.  Leon likes his room too - he just isn't so sure about being in it alone though.  It's just one of those things we've had problems with since we've moved.  HOWEVER, Leon slept ALL NIGHT for the first in his own room, in his own bed, without mommy or dadda, since we moved in.  That's gotta be a good sign that he's getting more comfortable.

Counting

Leon is picking up things left and right.  His speech took off after the move and is getting pretty good at talking.  He is also learning many of his colors - I think blue and orange are his favorites.  In the last week or two, he's been counting.  He started out with by saying "1, 2, 3, GO!" but now he counts while going up the stairs or putting his trains out.  Today we worked on counting to 5 and he got the hang of it pretty well.  I tried taking some video of him.  It didn't turn out wonderfully - he gets a little distracted when the camera comes out, but it does show him counting to five (it goes by pretty quick).  Take a look:

I love this boy!  I'm loving this stage in his life - although I could do without the temper tantrums and hitting, but all the rest of it is incredibly fun!

Totally Worth It

When I found out that our county 4-H fair had a $8/person admisson I was pretty ticked.  Seriously, $8????  We really wanted to go (for the fair food and the demolition derby) so we decided we'd chance it and hope that the $16 admission would be worth it.  It TOTALLY was and here is why:

Watching Leon hold and eat a corn dog.  He's not much of an eater so this was a big deal to us.

Seeing Leon's mouth turn blue as we shared a blue rasberry-cherry snow cone.

Seeing Leon's reaction to the demolition derby. 

It was everything from concern to gittiness to totally getting into it to cheering with the crowd.

Leon is yelling "car craaaaash"  in these photos.

And having a really wonderful evening with my family.  We had so much fun.

My Plan for the Baby's Room

So for baby #2's bedroom, I've decided that I don't want to do a theme but a color scheme.  I don't want to get too caught up in doing a theme when I'd just end up changing it in a couple of years.  I want it to be simple and classic with a contemporary design.

Here's the color scheme - blue, green, gray

I've started to make a quilt already.  I've already have the top done (this is a not-so-great pic of it).  It's simple, fun, and incorporates my chosen color scheme.  I just need to find someone to quilt the back and front together for me so I can do the binding.

This time, I'd really like to get a nice, comfortable rocking chair (we moved the chair we used for Leon into our living room so we need a new one).  I'll cozy it up with pillows, cushions, and a ottaman.  OR maybe a nice upholstered glider similar to this one.

Other things I'm hoping to do:

• a bird mobile, like this one, with the left over quilt fabric
• family photo(s), temple photo/silhouette, and some other artwork
• some pretty, simple white wall shelves
• repaint Leon's old dresser and use it as a dresser/changing table
• big monogram letter(s)

Also, I'm getting tired of calling this baby "baby #2"  - I could use some ideas for boy names if anyone would like to share!

I wanted to do more pics in this blog post, but blogger isn't allowing me to link any pics through URL - so sorry for all the silly links.