patio progress

Yes! There has been MUCH progress on our outdoor patio! Do the happy dance!

I LOVE crossing things off my list and making things look super cute!

So, on the patio, we:

1. Painted the patio furniture - we used a "jade" spray paint - all 11 cans!

2. Put up our umbrella - already purchased earlier this spring

3. Picked up 2 galvanized tubs for planters - one we put a mish-mash of flowers in, the other we used for a few herbs

4. Bought an outdoor rug - on sale, too! PLUS, I had a $10 off coupon! Go me!

5. Planted a few other pots of flowers

So, just to jog your memory, here is what it looked like before....

And here it is AFTER!

(sorry for the blurry pic, it's from my phone...camera battery was dead, oops!)

I LOVE all the fun colors and how it livens everything up!

We still have a lot more to do including:

1. Cleaning up the landscaping - we are considering taking out that HUGE fluffy bush (in the top right corner) - it's just massive, and we feel like if we take it out, it will open things up. Also, we need to trip up all the bushes, including the one pictured in the top right corner. I think we can take a lot off the bottom and make it look more like a tree!

2. Clean up our water feature and make sure it's working.

3. Pressure clean and paint the patio flooring, stairs and railing - right now, it looks okay, but it's definitely something that needs to be done in the future!

4. Add some more COLOR with more flowers!

What do you think?

The skinny...on being skinny.

Okay, this is going to be my "rantin' and ravin'" blog post.

I'm healthy. I eat (a lot). And I'm still breastfeeding. And plan to for the first year, at least.

No, I'm not sick. I'm not starving myself. I'm not trying to lose weight.

So, if you are worried about me, please don't.

When I got pregnant, I weighed right around 130 pounds. It was the holiday season, and I had put on a little extra weight from all the glorious food - chicken and dressing with extra gravy? Yes, please. Usually, I'm between 120-125 pounds. I think when I went in for a pregnancy confirmation at the doctor's office, I was right at 130.

And I gained a good bit of weight, too. Well, after I was through the first 25 weeks of all-day-sickness. Yes, it lasted around 25 weeks for me.

Anyways, I kept gaining right up until Annie Louise was born. I think at my last check-up appointment which was on my due date, I was right at, or a little over 165 pounds. So, all in all, I gained around 35 pounds - I'm 5' 4", so that was pretty average weight gain for my height.

See picture below that was taken on my actual due date - 40 weeks preggers.

Side note...Boy, do I miss being pregnant! I know y'all probably think I'm joking, but aside from the morning sickness, I LOVED being pregnant! LOVED having people ask me my due date, loved having people dote on me, loved eating for 2, loved having those nightly foot rubs by B.

When Annie Louise was born (all 9 pounds, 2 ounces of her), I was in my maternity jeans for about the first week after her birth. Then, I was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans.

Breastfeeding is the best diet, y'all. Especially if you have a BIG baby that nurses non-stop.

You eat MORE than you did when you were pregnant - well, at least I did.

And the weight came off.

And off, and off and off some more.

Right now, I weigh 105 pounds. Yes, you read that right, 105 pounds.

I don't think I have weighed that amount since 5th grade. I used to have a booty, hips, curves.

And they are gone. I have no butt, no hips and the only curves are my breastfeeding twins.

So, a lot of people - pretty much every single day - say something about my weight. People have expressed concern to my parents, family and friends.

"Is there something wrong with LeeLee? Is she eating?"

No, there is NOTHING wrong with me. I'm basking in the glory of the diet known as breastfeeding.

Will the weight come back?

I'm sure it will. But for now, I'm going to enjoy my extra-large bowl of ice cream. With chocolate sauce. AND peanut butter sprinkles. Thank-you-very-much.

The bad thing about my weight (and loss of butt and hips) is that NONE of my clothes fit. I had been hanging on to a ton of stuff thinking that my weight would come back once Annie Louise started solids. Not happening.

So, this weekend, I decided to go through my entire closet (which by-the-way, was piled up about 4 feet tall with clothes, oops) and try on every single thing. If it fit (and I knew I would wear it), I kept it. If it was too big (or not my style anymore), then it went in a pile for the consignment store. Usually, I donate all my stuff to Goodwill, but there are quite a few good pieces in there, and I need to try and make some $$$ on it so I can buy some new things.

Here is my pile of stuff to consign....all clean, pressed and on hangers!

I know that not everyone experiences the kind of weight loss I did with breastfeeding. Everyone is different. And it may not happen with our next baby, who knows!?

But I do know that I am healthy and loving being a breastfeeding mama in this season in my life!

9 months old!

Annie Louise -

9.months.old.

This is NOT possible. It seems like just yesterday, we were getting ready for your arrival. Well, really, mommy was secretly hoping that you would stay in her belly for forever. I'm not going to lie, I was really scared. But nothing would prepare me for you. Not any class, not any advice, not any book. You are full of personality and sass. Sometimes I call you sassy pants - you are your mother's daughter, that's for sure. I love your smile, your giggle, your "toofers" and the way you are such a mama's girl. I can't believe I am already planning your first birthday party...can we just rewind time so we can experience it all again?! We love you, doodlebug and can't wait for a summer FULL of fun!

Weight: 17 pounds, 3 ounces (40th percentile)

Height: 30 inches (95th percentile)!!!!!

*Dr. Rosser says you are going to be a lean, TALL girl!

Sleeping patterns:

Most of the time, you sleep through the night. I have noticed that you are waking up a couple times...I think you are wanting to sleep with mama and daddy!

Eating habits:

Blessed with a good eater - you like most anything we give you! Nursing between 5-6 times a day and eating at 3 main meal times. You love squash and sweet potatoes and any fruit, you devour it!

Discoveries and accomplishments:

You are scooting/rolling to most places now. I feel like you are about to crawl at any minute. You are pulling stuff off your shelf in the playroom and making a mess! After we play, we sing the "clean up" song - I hope you'll be an organizer/cleaner like mommy is! You love to play "pea pie" with daddy, and you love for him to scare you! It's so cute to watch you "look" for him, and your giggle is too.cute.for.words!!!!

Highlights:

One of my favorite things to watch you do now is dance with SheShe! We gave her a card for mother's day that plays the "chicken dance." You LOVE that music, and you get a BIG smile on your face when you and SheShe start dancing! You are such a ham, and you LOVE to be the center of attention!

Adventures in spray painting...

Well, more progress is being made at our house. B and I are LOVING sprucing everything up and making everything more "us."

I decided on Friday night that it was cool enough outside that I would attempt to start spray painting our patio furniture. We have some hand-me-down rod-iron patio furniture that was given to us by my great-aunt. It was kind of a hunter green when we got it, we couldn't decide what color to paint it, so we decided on black (it's easy).

It's been sitting on our lonely patio for about 3 years now, and it needs some color in its life!!!!!

Excuse the blurry picture below (I took it on my phone) - but TA-DA!!!!!

After a bit of cleaning off (notice the bird poop on the black one?) - they were ready to spray! It took me 2 whole cans of spray paint to cover ONE chair. Stupid me only purchased two cans of spray paint to begin with....looking back, did I REALLY think only two cans would cover four chairs and a table?!????

That's mommy brain for ya.

Anyways, I'm THRILLED with the turnout and color, and I think our bright orange umbrella is going to make the perfect combination!

I was so excited about the color, that I was actually outside at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning spraying another chair....I don't even want to know what the neighbors think of me!

Oh, I forgot to mention that my sweet hubby went out on Friday night and purchased 11 (!) cans of spray paint! Hey, it's better than buying a whole new set of furniture, right?

We also purchased a two galvanized tubs and planted a few flowers and a little herb garden, too! I'm excited to finish painting the furniture so we can get our umbrella out and enjoy some summer evenings outside!

Anyone else sprucing up their outdoor living?

Progress....

So, I'm excited to say that we have crossed a couple things off our ENORMOUS list! (see previous post for said list...)



In the past few days, we have:

1. Painted our master bedroom.

2. Cleaned out and purged - we are going for a clean and no-clutter bedroom.

3. Totally "flipped" our room (since we eliminated the television in our bedroom, we didn't have to let plugs and cables dictate where we place our furniture) - it feels so much bigger now!

4.. Purchased NEW bedding - I found something at The Company Store that I liked, but we opted for the CHEAPER option at Target, and I LOVE it (and the price tag)!

5. Purchased new lamps - again, at a great price!

6. Picked up a few picture frames to match our look at Marshall's.

7. Painted our master bathroom.

8. Picked up a new shower curtain and bathmats to match.



As you can see, we (mainly my amazing husband) have been BUSY!

I, on the other hand, have been busy with a sweetie named Annie Louise!



I have also learned a few lessons so far...

1. Paint samples are $3 at Lowe's, and they are worth it! (Plus, they were having a buy one, get one free sale, which means we made $1.50 each for a sample for the bedroom and bathroom). It's nice to paint a sample and let it "talk" to you!

2. I am a MASTER at using paint tape! Who knew?!

3. My husband will stay up until Lord-knows-when to finish a project.

4. Full/Queen quilts are never wide enough for a queen-sized bed. Opt for the king-sized quilt. Thank goodness, I kept all my receipts!

5. When painting, you are most likely going to create a big mess in your OTHER rooms - hello, my house is in shambles right now!

6. Don't just trash your old things - you never know if you have another family member who might be looking for what you're getting rid of! (Duh, my old bedding goes PERFECTLY in one of my mom's guest rooms!)

7. Completing these projects with my husband has been so fun! We have truly enjoyed looking at all the different things (bedding, paint, accessories) - B has been such a trooper to go to all the stores with me, too! And there is no better conversation than the ones that happen at 11 o'clock at night while you are taping off your bathroom....



Once we get everything back in order, I'll post pictures!

Please don't judge me. House BEFORE pics...

Welcome to the Casa de LeeLee and B. Please don't judge me based on these pictures. I'm a very clean and organized person, I have just acquired too much "stuff" in the past 4 years, thrown it into a room and called it "decorated."

Not anymore, my friends. It's time to purge, clean, organize and STYLE!

This is the front of our house. I love our sweet little yellow house. Don't love the overgrown landscaping and bushes-that-need-to-be-trimmed.

Plans for the front/outside of our house:

1. Clean up landscaping.

2. Freshen up mulch.

3. Clean & freshen up porch & sidewalk - new wreath, cute sign to go by sidewalk.

This is our back patio. I love a patio, but we rarely spend any time out here because it gets a lot of sunlight = it gets HOT.

Plans for the back patio:

1. Re-paint patio flooring, steps and back railing.

2. Paint patio furniture - already have the spray paint!

3. Put up umbrella - hello, it's been sitting in our garage for months!

4. Clean up and freshen up.

5. Fix water feature - see that galvanized tub in the bottom right corner? It's actually a cute water feature, it just needs to be cleaned up!

6. Put wagon in garage.

7. Possibly get an outdoor rug?

We have an ENORMOUS backyard. Like crazy big.

See those chairs sitting back there?

Well those are some cute Adirondack chairs sitting INSIDE our fire pit.

Plans for backyard:

1. Clean up Adirondack chairs and set them AROUND the fire pit. Duh.

2. We would also like to eventually put some pavers/stones around the fire pit. We may have to wait for those as $$$ is the key!

Inside our sweet house.

Plans for the living room/den:

1. Above the couch, we want to make a gallery wall of pictures and artwork with barnwood frames. We already have a ton of barnwood frames, so we just need to get some pictures printed and get started on that!

2. I have already bought some fun green fabric to make 4 pillows for the couch, and last night, we found a couple of throw pillows for cheap at TJ Maxx, and they match perfectly!

3. We're hoping to score a couple of inexpensive wicker ottomans (with storage capabilities) to go in front of the couch - anyone know where we can find some for a good price?

4. I'm hoping to find a rug - one that's big and colorful. The thing with rugs and our house is that our dog, Turner, destroys them. He LOVES to run through the house, and a lot of times, he ends up snagging/pulling them. Has anyone else had this problem? I found a jute rug at World Market that I LOVE, I just don't want to spend any money on something he will tear up...suggestions, please!

5. We need to get rid of baby gear that we don't use anymore (i.e., the swing and bouncy seat)

6. Re-arrange/purge bookshelves. Looking at this picture, I realize just how messy and crowded they look. I want to STREAMLINE and organize BIG time!

7. I'm obsessed with the Ikea green boxes (we have some in our office) - they are great for magazines, books and DVDs (plus they are super cheap!). So, I'm hoping to figure out what we want to keep, put it in a box and get rid of everything else!

8. I'm going with a navy and green color scheme in this room, so I want to use only those colors on the shelves.

9. I want to line the bottom shelves with big baskets for Annie's things - she doesn't have too many toys and things right now, but we spend a lot of time in this room, so I want to be able to just pick her things up at the end of the day and put them in "her" baskets!

10. We also want to get a new entertainment center. The one we have is OLD. B had that ugly old thing in college - it's all scratched up and worn out. I want something with drawers/openings for baskets or boxes where we can store DVDs, video games and movies. And something that doesn't look too bad would be nice, too! B and I have picked out a nice, inexpensive one from Ikea - hopefully, we can make a trip there soon!

11. You can get a glimpse of our china cabinet in the left-hand side of this picture. B and I bought this piece for $50 when we got back from our honeymoon. It's the first piece of furniture we bought together - it's gorgeous, but doesn't really fit with our living room right now - so off to storage it will go!

12. My mom has a really neat china cabinet that she's not using at this time, so we're going to take it off her hands, paint it green to match the den and put our china and serving pieces in there. I have NEVER used my china to date, but I know one day when I have a beautiful dining room, I will display it proudly!

Kitchen

Plans for our kitchen:

1. Love the kitchen - not too many plans here. Just organizing and freshen-ing up! (notice a theme here?)

Eating area beside kitchen

Plans for the eating area:

1. Move our antique red and white enamel table from the office to the kitchen. The legs need tightening up, but that's about it. This black table with either get passed on to another family member or put up in storage, as it is a nice table and chairs.

2. I have some really cute and colorful wooden chairs to go around the table.

3. Make a cute "eating" station for Turner - right now we just use a mish-mash of bowls and things for him. I would like to make him something cute!

Laundry room/nook

Plans for the laundry room/nook:

1. I have already organized all the cleaning products - I just need to make labels for each basket.

2. I want to either wallpaper this room with some adorable gingham paper, or paint it a fun color.

Hallway

Plans for the hallway:

1. Create a gallery wall of frames and art. We have tons of pictures that need to be framed, as well as a few pieces of artwork from some of our family members - hopefully this will be something we can start small and make bigger!

Annie Louise's/guest bathroom

Right now, this room is a mess! It used to be our "pretty" bathroom, now I'm wanting to liven it up and make it cute for our sweet girl.

Plans for AL's bathroom:

1. Finish shower curtain - my mom and I bought a fun, bright shower curtain from Target, and we made big appliques for it - now it just needs to be finished!

2. Change our accessories and make it more fun (the lamps, artwork, etc) - spray paint is GREAT for this!

3. We need a cute and colorful basket to sit on top of the countertop for towels.

Playroom/office

Please excuse the mess in here - I was taking pictures as Annie Louise was dragging everything out. That's her NEW favorite thing...pulling things OFF shelves!

Plans for playroom/office:

1. Organize toys and crafting materials

2. Paint desk that's in our garage to match - it's going to be teal blue!

3. Get a new desk chair - hopefully, Ikea will have the $22 red one I want!

4. Make a wire/twine hanging place for manner cards (those are the cute cards I scored for almost nothing...they are the inspiration behind this room)

5. Create a gallery of frames for pictures and artwork - I have some really great photos of Turner that I would like to use in here!

6. Purchase a new light fixture - we like the sun ceiling lamp from Ikea - we already have the flower wall lamps, so the sun will look so cute!

7. Find a rug!

Other side of the playroom where our computer sits

(that's the table we're moving to the eating area)

hey, where did that baby come from????

A look at the playroom from the door - I have a lot of organizing to do!!!!!

there's that cute baby again!

Master Bedroom

Sorry that the light in the pictures is so bad...

We are hoping to create a calm and peaceful bedroom - we don't want too contemporary, but we do want something that is more young and appropriate for us.

I mean, we are kind of hip and all!

Plans for our bedroom:

1. Paint - we have picked out a grey color. This room gets a TON of light, so we want to do something a little darker to balance all the natural light it gets.

2. New bedding (something for a couple on a budget) - we used to co-sleep with a big dog named Turner. I am proud to say he hasn't sleep with us for the past couple of months - I am sleeping MUCH better and not waking up covered in dog hair. He pretty much destroyed all of our nice bedding, thus the need for something new.

3. New curtains (again, budget is key)

4. Fix the frame above our bed with wire and clips so we can hang pictures on it.

5. New lamps (budget, budget, budget)

6. Get rid of television...I'm kind of nervous about this one, but I know having a television in the bedroom isn't very good for, uh, romance....

7. Streamline and organize!

Master Bathroom

We want our bathroom to be an extension of our bedroom - right now, the two rooms are not cohesive at all. Hopefully, we can change that!

Plans for our Master Bathroom:

1. Paint a lighter shade of the grey we are using in the bedroom - there are no windows in the bathroom, so we want it to be lighter in here.

2. New shower curtain to match.

3. New rugs/bathmats to match.

4. Streamline/organize.

5. Re-cover the top of my little stool - leopard print doesn't go very well with the colors we have chosen!

6. We BIG time need to organize our closets. Every other room/closet is pretty organized, but you do NOT want to look in our closets!

So, as you can see, we have LOTS to do. B asked me why I was putting this all on the internet for everyone to see, and I told him that I hoped it would keep me accountable to get these things done! Plus, I want to have AFTER pictures, too!

Anyone else out there doing the same thing I am doing, and can you offer any advice/tips!?!?!???

I'm so over my house.

Literally.

We have been in this house for nearly 4 years. And I'm dying for some changes. I guess it started when we began decorating Annie's nursery last year. It was the first room in our house that we painted since moving in. When we bought our house, it was pretty much move-in ready for us, so we didn't do any painting/changing at all.

And now, I'm ready for it.

So, we changed our tiny office into a sweet nursery. Then, we changed our guest room/office/catch -all-room into a playroom/office. And I LOVE both rooms. In fact, Annie's nursery is probably my favorite room in the whole house. And coincidentally, it is the only room in the house that I don't want to make any changes to besides organizing!

I have big dreams for my sweet 1,100 square feet house.

But, I also have little pockets. With no moo-lah.

So, I have created a room-by-room re-model/freshen up plan for my house (and put it in a notebook with budgets, pictures, ideas, etc.) Those of you that know me well, know that I love to plan...and decorate. B and I are trying to pinch pennies and figure out ways that we can make this house more LeeLee + B + AL, on a budget. It's kind of funny how our dreams and plans change with age...we used to talk of big vacations and new cars, and now we swoon over hardwood flooring (we WILL have hardwood floors one day!), lighting and countertops. I guess that means we're finally growing up.

I am going to try and take before pictures of each room and give you our "plan of action." Most of the rooms will not have big changes - mainly our master bedroom and bathroom are in for the big overhaul. And by big overhaul, I mean NEW paint!

/br>Hope you'll stick around to see more!

8 months old!

Well, Annie Lou is turning 9 months old next week, so I figured I better get her 8 month old post up....where in the world do all the hours go in a day?

8 months old....

Doodlebug,

Here we are at 8 months old! Mommy finally feels like she knows what she is doing...took us a while to get here, but it was an adventure! You are really so much fun now - you love to dance and play! Everyone can start clapping and singing "Go Annie! Go Annie! Go!" and you will show off like a ham! I can't wait to sign you up for dance classes when you get bigger...you love music, and you giggle when mommy and daddy do funny dances! You are the light of our lives!

No weight and height check-ups this month...you are KILLING mommy's back, though! I have to beg daddy to rub my back each night!

Sleeping patterns:

You are still sleeping through the night like a champ! We are so blessed with a good sleeper!

Eating habits:

You are such a good eater! Blessed again! You still nurse 6 times a day, although I have noticed that you aren't spending as much time nursing. I feel like you know the good stuff (solids) are coming, and you want that! You get so excited when you see us heating up your food...and if we aren't fast enough, you let us know!

Discoveries and accomplishments:

You are starting to get into stuff more - you reach for EVERYTHING in sight! You LOVE books. Love them! Mommy and Daddy try to read to you every night after your bathtime. You especially love the books that your SheShe, Great Granny and Great Papa recorded for you. And you are a talker. You love to talk talk talk! Oh, and we may have a crawler on our hands before too long. You are getting up on your knees and rocking back and forth. Most of the time, if you see something you want, you just roll to it, which makes mommy laugh!

Highlights:

Everyday is a gift with you, doodlebug! I love watching you discover this great big world around you! I hope that you share my love of books and reading, too!