Newest on-goings

I feel like I should really have more to show for what's been going on here and why I feel like I've been losing my sanity.

The List of excuses of things going on here…

1. First, Cheyanne woke up with a cold two days before her birthday. I thought I had escaped the germs with as much Lysol as I had spraying around this house. Wrong. Three days after her birthday, guess who woke up sick too. I'm still battling this cold a week later.

2. The day before Chey's birthday, her Daddy left for a few months so, you know, things got pretty crazy at that point.

Here she is opening presents with Daddy right before he had to get on the road.

3. The night before her second birthday, I started her on night time prayers. Its not something I've ever been good at doing on a regular basis, but at age 2, I think she's old enough to work it into our nightly routine. She is so cute during prayers. We fold our hands to say a quick prayer first then we go through the list of "God bless"es. "God bless Daddy. God bless Mommy. God bless Nana and Skipper." Etc. The list is long, especially when I think we're done and we say amen, then she folds her hands again and says "More Mom." Who can say no to that? So, we keep going. She doesn't really add names yet, but she repeats everyone that I say and gives a little giggle after each. Baby prayers are so precious, especially when we say "Thank you Jesus" at the end.

4. Before Giant left, we installed chair rails in the front living room. I've been slowly finishing those the last week, filling nail holes, sanding, caulking, and up next priming and painting. Chair railing makes such a difference in a room.

Before: I believe in real before pictures, so you get to see all the junk that was really there during prep.

 After: So far. By the end of this week, the rails will be painted white to match and look fantastic.

5. Potty training has begun. My little girl is a potty going machine… most days… if naked. If not naked, its fair game. I have even introduced her to big girl panties hoping that will help with the idea of clothes on still means we need to pee on the potty. Not much luck yet with any clothes on, but we're working on it. Ah, the dream of no more diapers!

This is how we spent a lot of time on day one. Movies, juice, and pottying.

 Sometimes things got silly and she found other uses for her potty.

6. I finally got around to doing something I've been wanting to do for a while. I painted the inside of our front door. The Giant doesn't even know exactly what I did yet. I love it. It makes the front room look really good! I can't wait until that part of the house is finished. At some point I'll get around to putting up drapes and pictures. One day.

Before: I didn't think to take a complete before picture, so I this is a minute into the project.

After: Love. Soon that blue wall will be repainted to something other than blue- anything other than blue. I loathe that blue.

7. The dog decided to quit listening to me whatsoever the minute that the Giant left the house. She normally is a pretty good pup. The last few weeks have been less than stellar. I'm not sure whats going on besides the fact that she is missing her Pa, but there have been days that between cleaning up from a toddler and chasing around a dog, I thought I might actually lose it. We'll be starting Obedience 101 classes at the end of the month- or someone/something might lose their sanity or life.

She seems to be spending more time in her bed than normal. Here she is not too happy with me, but you know what, that's what you get when you chew on my rug!

AND

8. Cheyanne's picked up a few new winning words that I hear all day. I'll share the most winning ones.
Nope!
Nope Mom!
Uh uh!
Nah!
Uhhhhhh nope!
More M&Ms peeez!
What are you doing Mom?
Oopsy!
and my personal favorites…
No way!
or even better…
No way Mom!

At least its not "No way Molly" this week. Where did she learn this stuff? I cringe every time I hear no way come out of my sweet little angel's mouth. So, yes, things are still on going here.

I've got projects going all the time, but I wish I had more to show you than I do. On the list this week is to start decorating for fall. It may still be in the 80s each day but Starbucks' Pumpkin Spice Latte is a weekly treat of mine which means it must be fall. I look forward to this time of year all year. I've been pinterest'ing all the pumpkin recipes I can find these last few weeks to start prepping for fall. Up this week, I'm thinking some pumpkin banana bread. How good does that sound?

I've got more to update you on, but for now that give you an idea of where we've been lately.

A pup's got to eat

And my animal loving little girl will make sure no pups go hungry, even if they are plastic. I love how compassionate she is with animals, no matter what kind.

Puppy was thirsty.

 And hungry.

 Lola was confused. "No Rora." Its puppy's turn.

Alright, fine. Here. Eat this.

Not done yet.

Now we're done… and bathing.

Oh boy. Cheyanne loves to get into any kind of mischief these days. As grossed out as I got when she was manhandling Lola's food, I think its pretty awesome to see her pretending with her puppy and starting to use that imagination on her own. 

When you first have a baby, everyone says the same thing. "Enjoy this time, they grow up so fast." You roll your eyes and say "yeah yeah" not completely able to agree yet. Well, I now completely agree with that overused statement. She really is growing up SO fast. I'm so blessed to watch her grow, even if it is faster than I'd like.

A new addition

No I'm not pregnant. Let's just get that out there right now before anyone thinks otherwise!

By popular demand…. let me introduce our new little one here in This Wood House.

Her name is Lola (this week at least while the Giant is away). She is a 4 week old yellow lab mix that we adopted on Saturday. She and her brothers had been dumped in a box somewhere near a dumpster. Thank God they were found. Who does that? It kills me to even think about those poor pups left alone in there. There loss is our gain though.

We already love her so much. Cheyanne can't get enough of her new best friend. 

With how much Cheyanne loves animals, it was only a matter of time before we got a dog for her. I think being home with me all day by ourselves was getting a little boring for her, something I've always felt guilty about. Not anymore. 

They play all day long and crash hard at night time. They even take naps at the same time during the day right now, not that napping is hard for a 4 week old puppy. She does a lot of that these days. 

Isn't she precious? Welcome to the Wood house Lola!