A Nursery for Little Brother

Little Brother is due in just 3 weeks and today we put the final touches on his nursery. =)

For Barker we painted the nursery tan and blue and went Monkey crazy.

The Nursery Before Barker arrived

 I didn't want Little Brother to just have an entirely hand-me-down nursery, so I found a bedding theme that could use the monkeys, but also give him his own thing. He got an animal train theme!

From that we picked out the Lion to represent Little Brother so now the Monkey and Lion are hanging out together just as we hope the boys will. ;)

The rest is pretty similar, I plan to add pictures of course once he is here.

I just love this room! Soon I will be able to rock with both of my boys and create more happy memories here. =)

Making Play Dough

With no real plans for this weekend, I was looking for fun things to do with Barker. Sadly it's still way to hot to go to a park and I'm feeling too pregnant to chase Barker around the mall or library. So I got on Pinterest to look for fun toddler crafts and activities.

When I came across a simple play dough recipe I knew that would be perfect! Barker could have his first "cooking" project, and then a new toy as well.

First we gathered the ingredients and put on aprons.

How cute is my little guy in one of his Daddy's aprons? hehe

 Then we measured and mixed ingredients.

This brought giggles =)

Next, Barker got to pick out a color for the play dough. He ended up choosing yellow.

Then just a little kneading and finally it was done! Of course Barker had to taste it.

I wasn't too concerned seeing as I knew it would be yucky and salty, but also edible since it only had flour, cream of tarter, salt, oil and water.

(not a fan of the taste ;))

And now we play!

Not a bad way to spend a Friday morning. =)

Kiss Kiss

Barker's newest "trick" is getting kisses and it's adorable.

Yesterday he was standing next to me where I was sitting on the couch when he said, "kiss! Kiss!" At the time I thought he was asking for Kix cereal as a snack, but then he climbed up in front of me and gave me his cheek. I gave him and kiss and he got down to continue playing. 😍

Since then he likes to pause and ask for kisses throughout the day. Not just from me but from Daddy too. ;) 

He is the sweetest!

Barker's Toddler Room!

We have finally finished Barker's toddler room!
(Just in time to work on the nursery before Little Brother arrives)

Barker is inheriting Brett's old office which happens to have a giant baseball wall already. Brett liked to have his telepresence calls "live from home plate." ;) So we used that to set our theme!

Here is Barker's Baseball/ Cincinnati Reds Toddler Room!

 View from the door.

A closer look at the details:

 Barker's Bed! Complete with Baseball sheets (which he loves), a blanket Brett got at a Red's game  and Mr. Redlegs on the wall. =)

I bought this hutch/dresser/bookshelf from Amazon! On the door side we installed a child lock so I can keep diapers, wipes, crayons, stickers and other items out of reach of Barker, but still have them stored in his room. The drawers have t-shirts & shorts. The rest of his clothes are in his closet. And the books are at a perfect reach for him! =) (He loves to read)

 We got hooks from target and hung one low enough for Barker to reach. He was pretty excited about that.

 We already had this bookshelf. (I used it in college) Now it's a toy shelf! Barker is pretty good about putting his toys away, or at least as good as any 21mo old can be. ;)

Above his shelf is my bulletin board from college that I switched over just for him. He likes to point out people in the pictures. And the medal is from his swim lessons. =)

Brett painted this wall and added the shelf and reds items when this was his office. It's awesome.

The shelf now holds Barker's special Costa Rica Monkeys that Brett brought back from his work trips there. =)


So there is Barker's adorable Cincinnati Reds Baseball Room! He has been sleeping in there for about a month now and is doing really, really well. He now goes to sleep at night without a fuss, sleeps through the entire night (usually), and when he wakes up he just plays with his toys until we come in to get him. It's awesome! Now we just have to see how he adjusts to having a baby brother just two doors down...


If you love his room as much as I do, click below!

Extended Family Vacation

Last week my family (Mom, Dad, Sisters and of course Brett, Barker & Myself) had our first summer family vacation together in 5 years!

Me (And Little Brother), Mom, Dad, Starla, Sierra, Brett, Barker

I'll admit, vacationing while 33 Weeks pregnant and chasing a 21month old around is not always the most restful and relaxing, but having my family there to help and just hang out with was great.

Barker 21mo; Me 33.5wks Pregnant with Little Brother

My parents got a condo near the beach and only 40min (depending on traffic) from our house. Being this close to our due date, I didn't want to go too far. We all started out at the condo, but after one night of tossing and turning in a bed that wasn't mine (probably an old mattress) and suffering through a summer head cold right along with my toddler (don't you love when they share the random illnesses they pick up?) I knew we would need to commute from our house to the condo each day. Without proper rest at night this already fatigued preggo and restless toddler were not going to to make it. I also ended up taking Barker to the doctor and it turned out his cold had triggered a bronchitis flare up and ear infections. He's a trooper though!

Grandma snuggles

 We were able to get in some quality beach time. Barker of course loves the sand and water and was always sad when it was time to go.

An exceptionally windy day

Walking the Beach at Night

 

We also tried out some tasty restaurants.

On Thursday we took a trip to a very hot and humid Busch Gardens.

It was super fun, but after about 20min I knew this would be my last trip before baby. It was just tooo hot. Little Brother was constantly moving around, Braxton Hicks contractions were in full swing and my back and stomach were pretty sore by the end. (Who knew small benches on a train could be so uncomfortable? ;))

The giggles and smiles on Barker's face made it so worth it though, and I love that my family got to really bond with him this week. That's not easy with us all living in 3 different states. Until this trip we hadn't seen my younger sister, Starla, since Christmas!

I'll end this post with a few more picture perfect moments from the week.

And now I have 6 (or less) weeks to relax and prep for Little Brother's arrival! Can you believe it??