Friday Things
1. Joseph has been much more interactive this week (he’ll be 16 weeks on Monday!)… some of his new “tricks”:
– Now when he babbles and talks, he throws a loud scream in there. He’s not crying, most of the time he’s smiling, but it’s like he realized he can make noise come out of his mouth and he wants to do it ALL.THE.TIME.
– He’s grasping toys now and bringing them to his mouth… he’s actually trying to put everything in his mouth, including burp cloths, my arm… basically, anything he can grab.
– He’s also starting to grab at my face, touch my nose, put his hand in my mouth. It’s the cutest thing, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to start living in a perpetual ponytail!
– He also broke his own sleep record this week, clocking 11 hours straight one night! It’s been about ten days now that he hasn’t slept for less than 8.5 hours in a row.
2. We are slowly getting settled into our new house and are working on making it our home. Many of you asked last week why we moved… long story short – we bought a house two years ago when we got engaged and knew it was going to be a short-term plan. We were in a busy neighborhood off of a busy street, and we wanted more privacy, more quiet, and, ideally, some woods. We’re now nestled into a cul de sac in a smaller neighborhood in a much quieter area, and we get to have this view off of our back deck:
3. So far we’ve seen cardinals, goldfinches, groundhogs, deer, and there are two robins’ nests under our deck and at the front of our house. My husband was throwing a tennis balls in the backyard with the dogs and it accidentally hit the deck… immediately a handful of little baby birds stuck their heads out of one of the nests!
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4. Einstein and Duke have totally settled in and Duke is doing a MUCH better job with the steps, thank you to everyone for your tips! After lots of practice, he seems to have mastered them and goes up and down on his own now.
5. Earlier this week, we had a locksmith come to change the locks on the house. As he was leaving, he mentioned something about volunteering at Gettysburg and my husband’s ears shot up. He’s a U.S. history and WWII war buff, and these two ended up talking for at least an hour. He was also chatting it up with the Internet installer for quite some time. Luckily, we don’t pay these people by the hour ;-)
6. Do you have a summer bucket list? Kristen has been making them every year and they always inspire me… I might actually make one this year!
7. Speaking of summer, I still haven’t gotten my hands on a soft serve ice cream cone yet. I must make that happen ASAP.
8. Two of the things we’re going to need sooner rather than later are bar stools (the ones we have are counter height, and we now have a bi-level island so we need bar height stools) and area rugs (our first floor is hardwood and tile). If you have any recommendations for great places to buy either of those things, lay ’em on me!
9. Exciting news… Brown Eyed Baker is now mobile friendly! If you view the site from your phone or tablet, you may have noticed that the site is looking a little different. You should be able to view it much more easily from your mobile device now… if you have any issues or feedback, please feel free to share!
10. TGIF! It didn’t take Einstein long to find his new “spots” in the kitchen :)
We recently decided to invest in some “good” stools b/c we end up eating most of our family meals up at the kitchen island. I stalked the Target website until these were on sale and they were running another promotional discount, ended up paying about $66 each. WE LOVE THEM! They are really wide, provide a nice seat for your bottom and the back support is just what my husband’s bad back needed. We have the charcoal color and I just love them. I think they also come in bar height, we have the counter height. I couldn’t see spending $200+/stool with 2 little kiddos at home. http://www.target.com/p/threshold-brookline-tufted-24-counter-stool/-/A-14831618#prodSlot=medium_1_5&term=counter+stools
Michelle – I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday! The first one is always so exciting! I’ve recently found a lot of really nice rugs at Home Goods, Pottery Barn and Pier One. Your view is spectacular!!!
I love dash and albert rugs. They aren’t too expensive, and go on sale at times. We have an indoor/outdoor one in the kitchen. It is nice to walk on barefoot and cleans up so easily with soap and water.
Have so enjoyed watching your little guy grow. You have an amazing view from your deck as we do. The beauty of PA is city out the front door wilderness out the back. The dogs will love it. Our Schmoe and Sydney enjoyed every inch of our 43 acres of walking trails. And the creek,
We opted for the cheapest rugs we could find. So much outdoor activity meant we needed something that wore like iron. Go with a man made fiber like olefin. We have purchase two from Home Depot over the last 16 years. The first lasted 13 and we just got tire of looking at it. But it was not worn. It holds up to cleanings and dirt.
At the doors in vest in what I call mud catchers. They are commercial and you can get them in a variety of sizes and colors. The beauty is you take them out and hose them down.
If you are only going for glam, it will cost you a lot in replacements because they do not wear well. Wool, silk, cotton suck up dirt and retain stains.
Good luck!! Many happy years in your new home!
Grandinroad and Frontgate have the best bar stools. Pricey, but worth the investment.
Happy first Mother’s Day! Boys are the best! I have all tile and hard wood so the rugs help a ton with noise and softening the room. I’ve gotten most of mine from wayfair or overstock. Never any color issues or quality problems….and the price was great!!!
We bought our bar stools at Target and love them! They’re the nice upholstered ones and they’re very comfortable. We also use them as our daily dining chairs and they’ve held up well.
Oh, forgot to say on the bar stools, they are new, not used, and have free shipping. If you don’t do it already, what I now do is look other places, then check EBAY for better prices and/or free shipping. The first couple of bar stool offers I looked at have free shipping :)
for rugs, and curtains, BRYLANE CATALOG has the best choices, at really good prices. It’s online. As for bar stools, but seriously, EBAY… I have really bad knees, and so I got an MDs exam stool from a medical supply store to use for cooking. paid $200 for it a few years ago. Now my back needs some support too, especially if I am spending a long time in there, so I looked at rolling stools either secretarial of medical ones, and checked EBAY, and they were at least 1/3 the cost of other sites. I just looked and they have metal ones, adjustable height, $129 for Three. And if your state has no sales tax, it’s good, because most sellers don’t charge it no matter where they are located. if your state does, then you have to add that unpaid sales tax when you do your income tax for your state, at least in NY you do. (which added up to a mean surprise to me when I added it all up last year, because I went NUTS on EBAY last year on copper stuff, and china, and sterling flatwear. now have separate sets of china for Autumn, and bought up Spode Christmas tree, plus added to my Old Country roses set, because the prices were so good..but the unpaid taxes added up! Oh and there were VERY good buys on gently used and vintage table cloths, napkins, etc..went a bit berserk there…got those heavy duty woven cotton table cloths that fit a 6′ table for $10 each!! just beware, it’s addicting. I gave EBAY up for Lent, and that helped me break the overspending habit. Now i go with something specific in mind, and I don’t browse :)
and the baby sounds like he’s a bit ahead in development, and lucky you to have a good sleeper! He is cuteness plus!
Michelle,
Joseph is gorgeous. It’s unbelievable that he’s been sleeping so well, You’re lucky. My hubby and I moved to the distant northern NYC suburbs 17 years ago and love every minute of it. So glad the fur babies are getting used to the new home.
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day.
Annamaria
Try remnant city for rugs. We moved into a house with main level hard wood floors in December and went to remnant city on a random trip to see what they have. We are close to the Wexford/warrendale location, but they have second location off 51. Family owned joint which I prefer. We got 8×10′ and 10×12′ rugs with finished edges/binding at a dollar per foot for a little over $500 total. Came with leftover remnant too.
I look forward to Friday’s posts just to see that gorgeous baby :-) Such a handsome little man.
Adorable baby..fabulous view..Happy first Mother’s Day!
Joseph just gets cuter and cuter! Happy first Mother’s Day! :-)
After searching for many months, we found our rug at IKEA. We needed a larger (8x10ish) area rug, and they had a good price on one that matched our decor and was super soft. We’re very happy with it!
We just ordered a large area rug from RugsUSA, and it’s great. Seems to be good quality, and looks just as it was pictured on their website. It was on sale for 75% off, so it was a great deal! We’ve now bought 2 sets of barstools from Garden Ridge (although Garden Ridge is no longer here anymore), and they’ve been great as well. Nothing fancy, but they still look new, even with 2 little ones :)
Happy Mother’s Day!
Check these area rugs. We have purchased three and they are great!
http://www.lonestarwesterndecor.com/cowhiderugs.html
I love IKEA for rugs – super fun and affordable. And Joseph is adorable!