Two & a Half.

Call me crazy, but we could really use something to celebrate these days...so why not a half birthday?

Liam turned 2 1/2 today!!

We had a little mini celebration with my parents, with half a cake and a small gift. Liam had a great time and we all had a great day! 

Can't believe my baby is halfway to 3!!

Happy 2 1/2, Liam!!

Running the Rails

Liam is completely obsessed with trains-- it started as a general affinity for all trains, but quickly, he turned into Thomas fanatic.

We have Thomas trains. Books. Underwear. Cups. Shaving Kits. Toys, toys, toys. And while I hate character shirts, the look on his face when I gave him one was totally worth it. (I don't let him wear it out of the house unless it's underneath something!)

We're lucky to have a really active railroad system in Birmingham-- in fact, our house backs up to a track, and we love to take Liam out on our back deck and watch the trains go by. This weekend, the weather was gorgeous and for the first time in well over a month, no one was sick!!

This weekend, instead of making a trip to the zoo (our go-to nice day activity), we decided to take the kids down to the Peanut Depot to get a bag of hot roasted peanuts. We sat on the curb and ate them, the way I used to with my dad and gradddad.

(And no, I don't willingly give Liam Dr. Pepper to drink-- but occasionally, when picks ours up, I'll let him have a sip. I always tell him it's his "special treat.")

 When we were done, we climbed up on the tracks that separate the south from the north side of town and let the boys run. And run. And run. A train came by about every 10 minutes, and since there are about 6 tracks together, we could just move over and let the boys watch it go by.

They were (filthy &) in heaven.

 

It's the little things, you know?

Easter Pics

Smocked jon jons, peter pan collars & knee socks... Oh My!

 Last year, the boys had their pics taken with a live bunny at school-- but I dreamed of having "real" Easter portraits done. I felt like Jack was too little last year, so we put it off... and I didn't think about it again, until our photographer emailed me a few weeks ago to let me know that she was doing some Easter mini sessions with chicks, bunnies and a lamb and wanted to know if I was interested. Ummm, yeah!

The boys are at an age where they won't really pose-- but they were so sweet and cute with the animals & I'm SO glad we did this session. These are some of the shots I took-- I can't wait to see what Lauren got!!

 

It's rare that the boys get super dressed up, but when they do, I melt into a big old puddle of southern mommy.

Last year, we bought these sweet matching baby blue gingham jon jons with smocked bunnies (complete with pom pom tails!) and the boys wore them for Easter. I'm pretty good about buying outfits after the holidays (for 50%+ off!) and putting them up for the next year-- but for some reason, last year I didn't. 

Not wanting to spend a ton of money on new outfits, I crossed my fingers and tried these on the boys last week. Miraculously, they fit even better now than they did last year! You'll laugh-- at 16 months old, Jack is rocking a 3m size jon jon and Liam, at almost 2 1/2, fits perfectly into his 18m size! It can be tough for me to fit them sometimes, but (short) jon jons work so well for us, because there's no waist and I don't have to worry about the length.

I need to find a new pair of shoes for Liam (poor kid squeezed into a pair two sizes too small for these pics), but other than that, we're ready for Easter!

Sorry for the Silence

We have been so very sick-- in a funk that has been so difficult to get out of.

This has been a particularly difficult winter for us-- we have caught every. single. germ. within a 100 mile radius. Every time we get well, one of us comes down with something new, which then passes between the kids and I. Rob miraculously never catches anything!

About 4 weeks ago, we were hit with the stomach bug, AGAIN. This was the 3rd time since Thanksgiving. It started with Jack, moved to Liam, then to me.

We got well.

Then Liam came down with a fever-- about 104, and it lingered for days and days, so we took him to the doctor. Ear infection. He was out of school for a week.

A few days later, I came down with congestion, glands so swollen I could hardly turn my neck, ear pain, etc. All signs pointed to a sinus infection, but my trip to the doc-in-the-box handed me a diagnosis of walking pneumonia (confirmed by a blood test). I got a z-pack, took it and started to feel better.... but then a few days later, it came back with a vengeance. Another trip back to the doctor confirmed that I reinfected myself because I didn't toss my toothbrush the week before. The doctor suggested using a new toothbrush every single day for the next week. 10 more days of antibiotics. 

In the middle of that, Jack came down with a nasty cough & a 102 fever. Knowing what germs have been floating around our house, I took him to the doctor immediately. He was diagnosed with a viral upper respiratory infection which we just had to wait out... but the doctor was concerned about some wheezing he heard. We did a nebulizer treatment in the office (horrible) and we're going to keep an eye on it. I have asthma and it is possible that Jack could have it too.

And in the middle of THAT, I started having some trouble breathing & chest pain & tightness. Back to the doctor. Chest xray (clear), antibiotic injection, steroid injection, 2 breathing treatments and an inhaler later, I finally got to go home.

We're starting to feel a little better... but we're not there yet. We are so ready for spring: Warm weather, sunshine and wellness!!

Hopefully, I'll be back to posting on a regular basis soon!

For the Boys: Bath Paint

 Back in October, I wrote about how much fun Liam & Jack have taking Glow Baths-- I surprise the boys with them about once a month. They still love them, but it was time for something new!

I used an 88¢ can of sensitive skin foaming shaving cream & mixed it with a few drops of Wilton gel food coloring that I had left over from cookie baking. 

So easy, so cheap, so fun!!

I'll use slightly less food coloring next time-- I wasn't sure how much it would take to saturate the shaving cream and I found out that it didn't take very much! There was a little bit of color left on the tile once I sprayed off the "paint," but it came off immediately with Clorox Cleanup.

The boys had a blast and we'll definitely add this into our rotation of fun baths!

Happy ♥ Day!

I had so many sweet friends reach out to me yesterday, concerned that Valentine's Day might be a difficult day for me-- but honestly, it really wasn't. The love I celebrated with my boys overshadowed any lack of romantic love, by far.

The boys and I put together some gifts for their Marmi & Poppy (my parents) to celebrate yesterday afternoon. After seeing this flip book on Pinterest, I HAD to attempt a similar book with Liam. I made a few changes-- I added the hearts in Photoshop instead of photographing post-it notes (Liam never would have stood still for that!) & I had my wallet size books printed at My Publisher instead of printing photos and stapling them together. Instead of leaving the back of the pages blank, I asked him, "What do you love, Liam?" and put each of his answers on a separate page. I love how they turned out.

Here they are!

While I would have loved to have involved Jack in that project, it just wasn't happening. So, I decided to take a series of Valentine's themed photos of him to frame. (You simply can't go wrong with pictures as a gift fo grandparents!) A special thanks to my friend Sarah over at Dear Emerson for the idea of using wrapping paper as a photo backdrop!

My parents showered the boys with sweet treats at the their house, then I brought them home to a pizza dinner, followed by some lovey-themed gifts from me.

New books, wooden cars, zoo animals, m&ms and chocolate hearts.

And speaking of books, I *may* have cried when I read this to Liam last night. Hormonal/Emotional moms beware!

Happy ♥ Day, All!

Instagram Photostrips

I  ♥ Instagram.

I downloaded Instagram when I had my Droid, but I started using it regularly once I got my iPhone. I have an amazing DSLR that I use on a very regular basis, but the camera on the iPhone is pretty impressive and it's much easier to carry around while I'm chasing after the boys than a clunky camera bag.

I love it because, almost always, I see things that make me smile: Moments in my friends' lives while they're on the go. The drama of FB is absent, the commentary of twitter is gone and it's usually just sweet snapshots of people I care about.

I take TONS of pictures of the kids each week, and almost every day, I'll post a pic of one or both of them on IG. The problem is that just like any other digital camera, those pictures don't usually see the light of day. They live on my phone and I don't give them another thought after I post them. 

There are some great ideas on Pinterest about what to do with your Instagram pics-- some companies make books out of them, others make magnets. My favorite idea was photostrips like you would get from a photobooth-- the square shape of the pics lends itself to that kind of formatting. I came across a few blogs that had photo tutorials of how to make them, but none of them had a template available for download. So, I made my own & I'm sharing it with you!

 I created two templates. The first is of one photostrip-- It's 1.5"x6", holds 4 pics and all you need to do is open the file in Photoshop, insert your pic as a new layer and resize it so that fits into the boxes. The second is a set of 3 of the photostrips centered on a 5"x7" document-- these are great for printing at local photo places. I uploaded mine to Walgreens as a 5"x7" photo, had them print it, then just trimmed it down.

Here's how they looked when I picked them up:

 

I used my paper cutter (you could use scissors) to trim them:

 

   And here they are!

 

    You could print these on photo paper, card stock or anything else that you like! I love how they turned out and can't wait to hang them up at work.

I have one other project in the works for an Instagram Photo Display-- the next time Silhouette offers a 40% off coupon code, I want to order the Limited Edition Advent Calendar from 2012-- its clips are perfect for a photo arrangement and it would be easy to swap out the pics!

 

 How do you display your Instagram Photos?

   

Click here to download the .PSD template for one Photostrip. 

Click here to download the .PSD template for three Photostrips. 

**Because these are Photoshop files, you will not see a preview in Google Docs when you click on the link-- however, if you save the file, then open it in Photoshop, you shouldn't have any trouble viewing/manipulating the file.**