Charlotte: Month 12

+ She really wasn't feeling the pictures this month!

+ Walking!

+ Loves watching Baby Sign Time.

+ Loves snacks and picking what she likes out of the pantry.

+ Can signs "more" and "all done".

+ Points to pictures and says who it is: dada, mama or lola.

+ Weighs 20lbs.

+ I can't believe I have a 1 year old!!!!

The Living Room Take over

Charlotte is slowly taking over our living room! We wanted to add a space for her stuff but also still wanted it to be an adult room since we spend A LOT of time in that room as well.

We decided to add a small bookshelf next to the bar. We picked one up at Target for around $50 and anchored it to the wall. The shelves store some of Charlotte's toys and books. We made the top of the bookshelf into a "docking station" for us.

The shelves above the new bookshelf have been there for a bit. They were also a Target find. They two shelves came with 2 5X7 frames to match. The framed print was our anniversary gift this year and I am kind of obsessed with it! It is one of the "What a difference a day makes" prints that you see all over Pinterest BUT I found one Etsy shop that printed on burlap. I had her customize it to fit a few extra dates but I LOVE it. 

Another major change in the living room was the addition of a gate. I do not understand why babygates are SO ugly! I mean honestly, they are either gray plastic or made of mesh! We had a large opening which narrowed our options even more. We wanted to be able to block off the opening into the living room and keep Charlotte off the tile. The opening use to be a sliding glass door so it is LARGE. After scouring the internet and coming up with nothing I liked, we decided to make our own. Other than coming up with the idea, I was not AT ALL involved in this project. My dad and time spent around $60 on supplies at Lowe's and set to work. They used wood and PVC pipe to construct three panels: two to be mounted and the other to act as the gate. We coated everything with Oil rubbed bronze spray paint and let it dry for a few days before installing. We used a simple latch for the gate and secured it to both walls. SO much better that the mesh gates!

Charlotte: Month 11

-Takes 3-4 steps without assistance

-"Talks" constantly- mama, dada and ola- her version of Lola

- Weighs 20 lbs (and somehow still fits in this 6m onsie)

- Loves to comb her own hair

-LOVES ice cream... paces in front of us when she knows we're eating it

- Drinks water from a cup.

- Claps and waves. 

Highchair Makeover

With Charlotte's first birthday quickly approaching, I have been scouring Pinterest for photo ideas. We have actually booked with the photographer who did her newborn pictures for her 1-year pics BUT I also want cute pictures for the party itself. We have decided to have her party at my parent's house this year and so I started to think about where we will do the smash cake. After seeing lots of pictures on Pinterest, I decided I would keep my eye out for a wooden highchair.

About 2 weeks ago, I had my annual physical (which I haven't done in 2 years since I was pregnant last year) and I noticed a kids consignment shop across the street so I decided to pop in and see what they had in. First thing I saw when I walked in the door was this little guy sitting by the door.

It was pretty beat up and I had a hard time removing the tray. The shop owner helped me fix the sliding tray so that everything was functional. Everything else was cosmetic and could be fixed with some sanding. The shop owner ended up taking $5 off so I scored the highchair for $20! 

At this point I wasn't really sure how I wanted to refinish it. I honestly wasn't expecting to fid a highchair so easily. I found lots of ideas that I liked but these were some of the top contenders: dark stain, Teal chalk paint, or a basic white. 

In the end, I was a creature of habit and decided to go with what I knew I would love. I also wanted it to be something we would get use out of AFTER the party. So while a teal/aqua colored highchair would be fabulous to have at her party, I wasn't sure how much it would get used after. So I decided to go two tone, just like Charlotte's dresser. 

I didn't take step by step pics BUT it was fairly simple. This particular wood did give me some trouble so there were a few more steps then usual. 

1) I wiped everything down with deglosser.

2) I started with the roughest grit sandpaper for the tray and worked my way to the finer stuff until the tray was back to raw wood.  I used three different grits with the finest being 220. 

3) I used the 220 grit paper to rough up the surfaces of the highchair itself. Because I was going to paint that part I did not need to strip it completely. 

4) I removed all the dust. This was the hardest part!! 

5) I used Valspar White Satin paint for the "chair" part. It took 4 cans in total. LOTS of thin coats. The issued I had was some texture that would arise after painting. It was not noticeable but I could feel it so I ended up sanding it down between coats, removing the dust and painting another coat. This did help but it made the process much longer. 

6) The top also has the same issue with texture and the wood really ate the stain. It took 5 coats of stain and 2 coats of poly to get the right shade and sheen I wanted. We applied the stain with cheesecloth and used super fine steel wool between coats to remove any texture. The stain is my go to stain: Minwax "Red Mahogany".  Followed by Rustoleum's gloss spray poly. 

And the finals results are perfect:

I spent $20 on the highchair and $20 at Lowe's on spray paint and poly. I already has everything else on hand from my last project. Not too bad for $40! 

Charlotte: Month 10

+ Weighs 19.8 pounds

+  Stands without assistance

+ Can walk with her walker or holding onto the edge of the couch

+ Says "da da".

+ Tries to say "ma ma".. it comes out "na na" and we go with it!

+ Fights with Lola over who gets the Little People animals

+ Tries to stand up in the tub and thinks its SO funny.

+ Started ISR lessons

+ Favorite food is still Avocado

Father's Day 2014

Since this year was Tim's first official Father's Day, I thought it deserved its own post. I spent a good deal of time putting together his main gift this year. It was fairly simple but getting an almost 9 months old ( at the time) to cooperate is no easy feat!

I had to get my Mother-in- Law to assist: one of us to take pictures and one of us to distract the baby!

In the end I am really pleased with the way it turned out. So much so that I replicated the idea for the grandpas :)

I had a REALLY hard time finding a horizontal triple frame so I ended up having to use a vertical one.  I also ordered some custom fishing bobber cake pops and a sweet card from Charlotte.

We spent a pretty low key day together as a family and Tim loved his gifts. Charlotte is SO blessed to have such an AMAZING daddy! :)

Charlotte: Month 9

+ Crawls everywhere! Starting crawling on Memorial day.. shortly after her 8 month update!

+ Can sign milk: she doesn't know how to use it in context yet but we are working on it!

+ Pulls herself up on anything within reach.

+ Loves the puppies... they never cease to make her laugh. Unfortunately, we had to put down our youngest pup this month who interacted the most with Charlotte. Our hearts are still heavy :(

+ Only wants to feed herself... wants nothing to do with the spoon. Her favorite food at the moment is  avocado.

+ We call her a " puff addict"... she gets SO excited when she sees the container.

+ Has the best giggles.

+ Has officially been out as long as she was in!