Home Sweet Home!!

I am FINALLY getting pictures posted of our House. We are definitely not done with everything but we're slowly getting there!! It is starting to feel like home and I absolutely LOVE it!! We have so much space and it is awesome to get to change things how we like them. We bought this house as a foreclosure which was actually in really good shape overall, it just needed a LOT of TLC.

The previous owners took all of the appliances and all of the light fixtures and the blinds...really random and annoying but I enjoyed getting to choose my own fixtures to put in. We got a VA loan and they wouldn't approve us until there were lights so we had to hire someone to put in some super cheap lights to get the loan and then we replaced them all when we got here.

The house was also a complete mess, they obviously had a dog and there was hair and yellow spots everywhere in the house, melted wax on the floors and scuffed walls everywhere. SO..when we moved in we started with cleaning carpets and then tackled painting. Dan's mom came out to help with the painting and she was a LIFESAVER!! We couldn't have done it all without her and it turned out great! Dan did alot the first few days and then he had to go back to work SO..I am proud to say thad I have now learned how to install a ceiling fan/light, and I changed all the locks! It was kinda fun actually to flip the switch and have it actually work!! haha

Anyway, here are the pictures that I have so far!

OUR HOME!!

we need some landscaping help but i'm thinking that might have to wait till spring.

I love the deck on the back!

Entrance

Stairway

Office before

Office After

Loft before (this is actually upstairs I just forgot it and can't figure out how to move it)

Loft after (the stairway and loft are the only places left to paint)

Dining Room Before

Dining Room After

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

The oven we chose if one of my favorite parts of the kitchen, LOVE the double oven!

Eat In Kitchen

Living Room Before

Living Room After

hallway

Downstairs Half Bath

half bath after we replaced the mirror they took

Laundry Room

Garage

Guest Bath upstairs before

After..it's my ducky bathroom!

Callen's Room Before

After

we actually decided to leave it purple, it was easier!

Future Nursery Before

After

Ok, so technically all we did was add the ceiling fan, i'm waiting until Nov/Dec when we find out the sex of the baby to decide what to do with this room ;-)

Guest Room Before..I know..really really RED!

After...the red HAD to GO!

This room is ready for anyone who wants to come visit me!!! "hint, hint"

Master Bedroom Before

After

I love the green color we chose, very peaceful!

Master Bath before

After

Ugh..this room I honestly have no idea what to do, we added towel racks because there weren't any..but it still needs some serious help...any ideas are welcome!
Master Closet..I thought this was 10x more space than we needed, it's about as big as our bedroom was at BYU

But somehow we're managing to fill it up with all our extra storage "stuff"

So there it is!! We still are in the process of hanging things on the walls in various rooms but it's feeling more and more like home everyday!

Happy Birthday to my Baby Girl!

It is hard to believe that two years ago right now I was in labor and tomorrow (the 8th) around noon I had my beautiful baby girl. The last two years have been the most challenging and the most rewarding years of my life. I never dreamed how hard parenting really was, I guess that's probably a good thing sometimes i'm not so sure I would have done it!! haha, j/k. Even though we've had some tough times and at times I really thought I wouldn't make it through Callen is worth every minute and every tear and i'd do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant having my little angel with me.

I can't believe how much she's grown and how big she's getting. Tonight I put her to bed in a big bed not her toddler bed for the first time and she did just great. I can't believe how much she's talking!! She can pretty much repeat anything I say and she is forming sentences, it's just amazing to think that a year ago I was worried she wasn't going to talk, now I can't keep her quiet sometimes!! I love it! I love her little voice and seeing how her mind works. I love my baby girl and I hope she has a perfect birthday!!

Here are some pictures over the last 2 years

NO MORE BINKY!!!!

So this last week Callen got sick and she had all these awful awful sores all over in her mouth. It was so bad that we had to keep her hydrated by squirting water into her mouth with a syringe and even that made her cry from pain. She couldn't eat, drink, or sleep without it hurting. She was absolutely miserable. Her most prized posession EVER is her binky. She was completely addicted to them. WELL, something good did come out of being sick, because of the sores in her mouth, it just hurt too much to have the binky in there. She would cry for it and then when I gave it to her, she would put it up to her mouth, burst into tears and throw it across the room. So, for about 5 days, it was just too painful to use one. Well..being the sneaky mom that I am, I decided this would be a good time to wean her off of it, so I gathered them all up and hid them. After she started feeling better I just left them hidden. She has asked for them a few time, tried to tackle her friend to take hers, and cried just a little, BUT all in all she is doing really really well. In fact, I think it is better without them! She's talking more and actually sleeping more soundly I think. Yay for no more binkies!!!