7 months

Taft turned 7 months at the end of July. July 31st to be exact. I feel like time is flying! Everyone tells you that you blink and your kids are all grown up and I am starting to believe them. I feel like I don't always notice how much Taft is changing till I take these pictures and look at them. He is getting so big! At his 6.5 month appointment he weighed 19.3 lbs and was 27 in long...WHAT?!?
So here is the little man...growing up fast. It never fails that the sign does not last long. Maybe thats why he is 19 lbs...he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth.

Look at that stinker! I hardly had time to snap the picture before...

Lets try something different...

Busted!

One more try...

Are you kidding me mom!

Ah-Ha! I'll show you

Ok...mommy will stop. Lets just play...

Can't believe another month has passed.

Chair Project

So, I have been dying to re-paint my dinning room chairs for awhile now but sometimes its hard to find the time or extra hands to do it. Well having Grammy here for a week was very beneficial not only for Taft but for myself as well. She is such a GO GETTER and she helps motivate me to do things while Taft is asleep instead of taking a nap myself...sometimes she let me rest though : ) My dad was also a huge help when it came to sanding everything down...what wonderful parents I have!!!
I have also been wanting to get two "head" chairs for my table with arms. Thanks to Craigslist I found these guys for $5 a piece! Can't go wrong there.

After driving 30 min to pick them up and having the lady tell me her entire life story (thank you Taft for crying and rescuing us from a very awkward situation) these ugly, but have potential chairs, were mine!
So while my parents were here we knocked these chairs out and got to recovering and painting them.

Took off the faux leather and added some more padding

Stappled the new fabric over the cushion

New cusion for my craigslist chairs!

We even had a little helper : )

Mom starting to paint the chairs

Two done! 6 more to go. This is one of the new chairs and one of the chairs I already had. It was a process with all those spindles. The good news is the color was awesome and my mom took the rest of it home to repaint the guest bathroom!

The end look.

So I have two of these chairs on either end of the table and my existing chairs on either side.

Here is a picture of the table now

I am so happy that we got this done. It just gives the room a little more cheer!! Thanks Mom and Dad for all your help!!

Tafter Pants

Grandpa and Grammy time

Last week my mom flew up to spend the week here and then my dad drove up on the weekend. It was SOOOO wonderful to have them both here and have the extra help. My mom and I did a lot of running around and she was also a huge help watching Taft so that I could get some things done. I think I got more erronds run while she was here then I have in the last month! It was fantastic. Of course our visits and time together are always short. I hate that Taft changes so much between when they get to see him. Someone needs to move...*hint hint*
Its so fun to see my parents with Taft. I love the time they share together. We were also able to sneak in a project that I have been wanting to tackle (more on that later!) thanks to some great helpers : ) Here are some pics form the weekend...

I LOVE this one of Taft and my dad. Look at there sweet faces!

Fun with Grandpas glasses. Everything goes streight to the mouth.

Grammy also spoiled T with some new toys...daddy was testing them out with him. Mick standing gaurd to make sure nothing goes wrong : )

Love you Grandpa and Grandma! Come back soon. We miss you already.

6 months

Im a little late on this post but Taft turned 6 months at the end of June. I can't believe we are half way to a year! I have to say that this last month has been one of my favorite times with him. I can really see his personality coming through and he is really fun to hang out with. We have his 6 month appointment on July 21st so I will know more about how he is growing then but from what I can tell he is getting BIG. This boy loves to eat! I don't think there has been anything that I have given him that he doesn't like. He loves sweet potatoes and avacadoes the best but is also a huge fan of pears! I just started giving him oatmeal in place or rice cereal and he seems to love it. He definitly eats like his dad.
He has also discovered that his hand is now a part of him. I will catch him just staring at it, turning it around and opening and closing it. He uses his other hand to guide the one he is looking at to his mouth...its pretty cute. Some other things he does...

• Shrieks when he is excited
• Shakes his head back and forth
• Gets up on his hands and knees and rocks
• Loves when Mick is around him
• Has 2 front bottom teeth
• Drools constantly
• Loves to be outside
• Loves the books Yummy Yucky, The Big Red Barn, and Does a Kangaroo Have a Mother Too? ( I could probably quote all three of these books by memory!

Here are some 6 month pics. I can't believe how big our little boy is getting!

 This was the best shot I could get before he noticed the sign...

 ...then this happened : )

 This is mid happiness shriek...I think he was enjoying eating the paper.

Summer Project

Stephen and I have been working on our deck for the last month! We spend so much time out there and realized that it wasn't very private so we decided to create a little privacy within our very open space.  It has been a long project and we are still not completely done. Here is what we have done so far. All that is left is staining the entire thing...that will be a piece of cake! (yeah right!)
We also had some great help thanks to Michael and Jane! We love sharing our deck with them...especially when Michael is cooking.
So here is how we started...

 Michael, Jane and Stephen getting ready to tear it up

 Stephen working the saw to cut off the old posts

After our first day...stage one done!

 After the 2nd day...stage 2 done! The trellis is up. Of course we needed to enjoy a glass of wine on our porch.

Plants and Herbs planted

Taking a break from the heat to cool off! Uncle mustache looks like he is focused on cooking.

This is the what our deck looks like now (picture taken today!)

 So excited that everything is growing so well!

 Here is the staining that we have done so far. You can't really tell but we are covering up all the red color with a more natural color...its called Thatch...and I love it!

I will make sure to post another picture once we get everything stained.

I think my heart stopped!

So I officially had my first moment as a mother when your heart stops and you realize "this could end terribly!"
Let me set the scene for you...I needed to go down to the basement to start the load of diapers for Taft since he was almost out. I bring him down with me most of the time because he loves being down there. He lays on the counter on his car seat warm sack and hangs out with his bird. Totally great set up while mom does laundry!

Now...I have known for awhile that this will not continue to work because he is rolling (EVERYWHERE) but I have managed to stretch it out by turning the way he lays and placing blankets around him so that he will not roll off. Today was a different story. I set him down and was standing by the washer loading diapers when I looked over...(praise the LORD) and notices my little man rolling OFF the edge of the counter. Lets pause for a moment and view what our floor looks like in the laundry room...

Oh wonderful! Look at that hard, unforgiving concrete! Note: that is not blood from my sons head just a terrible paint job from the previous owners.

So as I am looking at him roll I don't even think I just slide tackle onto the ground...it was for all intense purposes a total James Bond move. As I am James Bonding it across the laundry room floor I realize I am screaming "Oh my gosh Taft!!" I get there just in time to slide my arm under his head and protect his small soft skull from smashing on the floor ( I realize I am being a little dramatice but this scene is burned into my mind!) I look at him and his flashes me a smile and then realizes that not only did I scare him to death from yelling but he was also free falling from his comfy oh so secure haven...Panic sets in and he crys one of those crys where he forgets to take a breath. We snuggle for the next 5 min as mommy says over and over...I am so sorry I will never do that again and checks for any broken bones or skull franctures. And then we recover. All is good and my little guy is back to his cheerful self. Meanwhile I am still shaking and telling myself "you knew better!!!!" We now have a little set up on the floor that is much safer for when we are down there doing laundry together  : )

Tuesday tunes...I mean Wednesday

So as of late...this is my new obsession...Thanks to my amazing sister Beth!!! I know I am past the time on this but I just love it. I also have my Mumford and Sons Pandora station to thank for this. If you are looking for a great station on Pandora put in Mumford and Sons...you will get some great tunes.

Solstice

"Then followed that beautiful season...Summer... Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy Summer Solstice!!