New Chair

A month ago, Ryan and I found two free chairs by the side of the road. They were in perfect condition- very sturdy. The look just needed a little updating. And I had a vision for them after reading Remodelaholic about a chair reupolster project.

Friday night, Ryan and I set out to remove all the previous fabric and staples. This took a lot longer than we anticipated. We ended up working on it until midnight. I had to take care of one armrest the next day after we got some sleep. We tried to get out every staple (even from the bottom) and to remove the fabric still in tack just to make it easier to replace with the new fabric. When I do the next chair, I will not take that much time, because the staples on the bottom don't matter. And I did not refabric the chair in the same way so for next time, there will be no need to keep the old fabric in one piece.

I finished up the last armrest on Saturday morning, and then Ry sanded it all down for me. When my parents got here, my mom gave the chair the first coat of black paint. While Ry and I went out for my birthday, mom finished up the last coat of paint and got it ready for the fabric. When Ryan and I were out, we picked up foam, spray adhesive, and fabric.

On Sunday, we spent most of the afternoon stapling all the foam and fabric to the chair. I'm so pleased with how it all turned out! Looks completely different than before! It will be the perfect chair for my photography studio. So excited!

BEFORE (Don't mind the dusty seat- it's been in our garage):



AFTER:

Before and After

I have never participated in the before and after that Monica at Pixel Perfect hosts on her blog. But I wanted to give it a shot today. I took these pictures of Orin playing outside this morning. I think he wants to be just like daddy!

SOOC(Straigt out of Camera):

Edited:


The photo was taken with a Canon 50D using my 50mm f1.4 lens. And I edited in Lightroom.

Head over to Pixel Perfect and check out more before and after edits.

15 Months

Orin turned 15 months and had his 15 month doctor's appointment on the same day. He is learning and changing so much it is hard to keep track of what all he can do these days. He is really taking an interest in animal sounds (cow, duck, puppy, monkey, fish, elephant). He can sign please, more, and all done. He knows where his teeth, nose, hair, and feet/toes are. And he loves to do "so big" and to wink at us with both eyes!

He is a very busy boy and I can hardly keep up with him. He is constantly into something he should be such as the cupboards, the toilet, Daddy's papers on the office desk, Mommy's scrapbooking supplies, or just climping up on the fireplace. He's our little monkey and it is all I can do to keep him contained and entertained with his own toys.

He LOVES to play outside! It doesn't really matter to him if he is swimming, swinging, out back in the garden, on a walk, or playing at the park as long as he is outside.

We are still going strong with cloth diapers. They haven't even fazed him and there have been no leaks during the day or night. We are really pleased with the results and with how much money is being saved each time I put a new cloth diaper on him.

Here are the stats from his appointment:

Height: 32 inches (75%- no growth from his 12 month appointment)
Weight: 24.4 pounds (50%)

He is really starting to show his will and to throw fits when he doesn't get his way. If mom won't give him her cell phone or if dad won't share something that he is eating, or whatever it is that he seems to want at the time and doesn't get, he will definately let you know that he is not very happy.

But we love him so much and can't believe that he is ours. We are so thankful for his little life and can't wait to see what all he learns in the next 3 months before his 18 month old appointment.

We are so proud of uncle Benny! He graduated from college a few weekends back and a few days later landed a great job in his major. We went home to attend the graduation and to celebrate with Benny. Little Man stayed home with my aunt and uncle. He would not have lasted for more than an hour, and it ended up lasting 6 hours by the time we drove there, waited, took pictures, and drove home. But here are the pictures from the weekend of those of us who were there at the ceremony.

Cloth Diapering

Today is day 1 for cloth diapers! Everything has gone really well with them so far! No leaks and easy to put on and take off.

During my pregnancy, we had considered cloth diapering with Orin, but we were totally overwhelmed with the number of options available. And at that point, we thought Orin would be in daycare, and we knew that most daycares won't accept cloth diapers. So we quit researching and just stuck with the disposables.

The reason I'm considering switching now is because a sister of a friend from high school uses cloth on her baby boy. Now I had someone to ask about options and what works best for them.

I placed a small order of prefolds and diaper covers to try them out.

And today is day 1. So far, so good! The only big difference (other than the obvious differences) is the bulkiness of the cloth. This may cause problems with his smaller shorts (12 month), but I'm not sure yet as today he is wearing a 24 month outfit.

These diapers don't even seem to faze him. They add a whole new dimension of adorableness if you ask me. :) Oh, and as for the broom, it's his new favorite toy to drag all around the house.

Tulips

Our town celebrated Tulip Festival recently. A time when the whole town slows down to enjoy authentic Dutch costumes, dancing, parades, carnival rides, and special Dutch treats. We had a crazy weekend with the festival and my brother's graduation, which meant that we had to cram all the fun into two days in order to make it back home for the graduation.

So Orin skipped naps and we made it to two parades, ate carnival food, and enjoyed lots of Dutch treats. Orin got dressed up and took pictures by the tulips and he even got to ride the carousel with his daddy. Orin did remarkably well sitting through the parades in his stroller. As long as we kept snacks handy and my water bottle, he was very content. He even danced when the bands marched by and smiled and laughed at the horses when they came through. It was fun to see his excitement for it all now that he is old enough to get something out of the celebration. Here are some pictures.

Orin and his little friend, Hazel, took pictures together in their costumes.










Orin and Daddy

Hanging out on the big wooden shoe


Family Picture

Orin with his cousins

Orin on the carousel!

Mother's Day 2010

I celebrated an unbelievably sweet Mother's day with my two men a few weeks back already. They really made the day special…well really the whole weekend was wonderful.

The weekend consisted of a date night for dinner Saturday night, church and brunch made by Ryan on Sunday, a long afternoon nap, and no dishes or cleaning for me to do all weekend. It was amazing! I loved just being able to play and love on Orin and Ryan without worrying about cleaning up the kitchen or making sure another load of laundry was going. We finished up the weekend with a quick photo shoot of my baby boy and me.

This boy

makes me laugh

and smile.

He keeps me very busy

chasing his silly little self around.

But I wouldn't change it for anything.

This little man

brings so much joy

and excitement to my life.

I'm so very

BLESSED

to be his mama.

I'm so thankful to God

for the gift of this little life.

I love you little man. All the way up to the moon and back down to the dirt. Times a million.

Garden

This past Saturday, we spent most of the day outside planting our garden. We thought we would start small by only doing a few vegetables like tomatoes and green beans. But we ended up planting six things. We really like the "idea" of a garden, but not so much the work it takes to keep it up. So we'll see how it goes. We still need to fence the area before the rabbits come and enjoy all of our hard work.

I made signs for each of our vegetables. Ryan said it looks like we are part of an elementary class growing a garden. Hello! Who used to be a teacher?? I made them to help Orin learn about what we are growing and what all of it will look like. It doesn't matter that he is too young to understand anything about a garden yet. We'll hopefully keep them from year to year to reuse.

Here's what we are growing:






Orin had to check out what was going on and to make sure Daddy was doing it correctly. But really, Orin just wants to be wherever Daddy is. Can you blame him?


Offering Daddy his help with the shovel.

Orin wanted to do some planting too.






Orin helped Daddy water everything once we were done planting. The hose ended up not being able to reach far enough, so they used the watering can instead.



Now lets hope we grow some veggies!