And what a Big Boy I am!!

I’ve grown too long to continue having my monthly photo on the blanket that Auntie Michelle made me, so I’m moving on up!  To my chair that is…

Don’t worry- I may not look excited, but I am..

It’s just hard for mom to tickle me and take the photo at the same time!

These days I can do so many more things!  I can hold up my head all on my own, I prefer to stand up than sit down, and I love to blow raspberries. I’ve even been sleeping in my own crib for over 3 weeks.  Mom and Dad are very happy, but I bet they’d be even happier if I slept through the night! I’m gonna keep them guessing on that one!

So last weekend vannyB and I went shoe shopping while Mr. vB went motorcycle riding with his boyz.

I have been searching for the perfect black flat now for weeks, okay months, but have come up empty handed every time.  Not sure exactly what I’m looking for, but everything I’ve seen is either too flat, too boring, too expensive, or not in my size.  This trip was no different.  I went up and down the flat aisle at DSW about 20 times…I saw several black flats but nothing really, how should we say,  “hit the spot”.

That’s when I decided that I needed to think of this in a different way.  I wanted a pair of basic flats that I could wear with jeans, casual skirts, and shorts once it gets warmer.  Why did I think that black was the only solution?

Enter Metallics- Gold, Bronze, Silver, call it whatever, as long as you call it shiny!

As soon as I changed my mind set, a whole new world of shoes screamed out to me- TAKE ME HOME!

And who was the lucky pair??

Well it’s shoe of the month February, that’s who!

LeSportsac Devin Boat Shoe… $49.95

On the more casual, boating shoe side, but oh so comfortable!!  And they really do go with everything!

Yeah for Metallics!  I deem them the “new black” for Spring/Summer 2011.

Happy February 15th everyone!

Hope your Valentine’s Day was better than mine and Mr. vB’s!!

We both woke with fevers, aches, chills and other unmentionable symptoms. {guess who never got their flu shots??}

Luckily vannyB was in good spirits and off to daycare he went while mommy and daddy spent the day in bed.

Today we are feeling somewhat back to normal.  I’m running a small fever and am terribly congested, but other than that I’m feeling just peachy!

Thought I would share some latest photos of the boy.  They make me smile and I hope they do the same for you!

I’m such a big boy now! I can play in my johnny jumper and my excer-saucer with the help of some extra blankets!

I can’t get over how red his hair looks in photos!  In person it has a twinge of strawberry blonde, but these photos make him look like he is a red head! {not that there is anything wrong with that!!}

Here’s to feeling back to 100% tomorrow!!

is coming to an end! {sniff, sniff}

This coming week this momma has to put her nose back to the {work} grindstone.

It’s okay.  More like- I’m okay.  I knew it wouldn’t last forever and it has truly been an amazing experience.

In just 3 months, my little squish has gone from a newborn that only slept and ate, to a big boy that can now hold his head up, smile, and even coo!

I love watching him grow and change and he seems to learn something new every day.  It makes me sad to think that I won’t be there every second to watch for these new accomplishments, but work is a must.

I know it will be good for the both of us. {I keep repeating this over and over in my head}

Plus thinking about this cute little face waiting for me at the end of each work day will make my day just fly by!

**Disclaimer-Not trying to be a debbie downer, just keeping it real over here at b&t.com.**

So I’m finally getting around to revealing our boy’s nursery. {i know, i know.. it’s been a long time coming!}

There are still one or two projects that aren’t totally finished- but I have learned to be ok with it. Trying to use a power tool with a 10 week old strapped to the front of you isn’t the easiest {or wisest} thing to do.  Without further ado…

Here is what van’s nursery looked like this time last year.

{the view from the hall into the nursery}

{the view from the master bedroom into the nursery}

{the view from the nursery into the master bedroom and hall}

Over the next 9 months we worked hard painting walls…

Painting Tables…

Building barn doors…

Building Diaper Changing Areas…

Picking Crib Fabrics…

And a ton of DIY projects…

Shew!! That makes me tired thinking of it all.

Take a look at the Finished Product!

Here are some of my favorite details of the room…

The photo collage wall with the DIY bulletin board.

The Farmer’s Market Epergne that I searched months for!  It is the perfect place to store all the diaper changing necessities!

The glider nook.  This is the perfect spot to feed my little dude and read to him.  The yellow nightstand was actually in my room growing up and currently houses van’s {ever growing} book collection.

And last but not least, the custom made crib bedding by my mums.

So there it is! Hope it was worth the wait.

Van loves it and that makes all the hard work worth it!

Dishwasher that is!

We had been “wanting” a new dishwasher since our kitchen renovation last year, but it hasn’t been in the budget. Unfortunately {or fortunately} the old dishwasher bit the bullet this past week, so we were kinda forced to make room in the budget for a new one.

Off to Sears we went on Friday night and purchased us a fancy Kenmore Dishwasher.  {by fancy I mean 1. it now matches our other appliances and 2. it will actually clean whatever you put inside it} Then bright and early Saturday morning Mr. vB and his handy-boy, vannyB, got to work taking out the old and putting in the new.

Here’s the old one..

{Please excuse the dirty dishes on the counter.  Hand washing dishes is not one of my favorite things.}

And here is the cute Handy-boy again, incase you missed my previous post.

Here Mr. vB has started to remove the old one.

Water was standing in the bottom of it, so we made sure to run the rinse cycle to clear it out.

But apparently we didn’t get IT ALL out.  Can you see the wet rug in the above photo? Here’s a better shot…

Mr. vB had to straddle the wet spot as he installed the new dishwasher.

But we got it in, got it hooked up, and it works marvelously!!

Here it is with a nice clean counter-top above.

Hooray for Clean Dishes!!!