Spring Break? I think I might...

It never crossed my mind that after college I would get a spring break again! So thankful for my amazing job, that allows extreme flexibility with AK's childcare schedule. Today is day 2 of our little spring break and I am so proud to say I've been able to "sleep in" both days! With the time change AK is sleeping till 7 or a little later now, and with an amazing husband I've been left alone till after 7am these past 2 days. It may not seem like much to most of you, but its a great feeling to get even 30 minutes of extra sleep.

Yesterday I put in some hard labor here at home, despite the fact I'm "off" all week. After 2 nights of Matt assembling the new furniture, it was my turn to transfer, clean out, and throw out from the old to the new. I somehow managed to empty the old 6 drawer dresser that was located in our closet and move it to the garage all by myself - and a little help from AK. I also manged to carry out both of the old nightstands as well. I guess I'm stronger than I realize, because I didn't even feel sore when I woke up today! Its so nice to have time to be able to clean out and rearrange in areas that get neglected due to lack or time or higher priorities.
The closet has gotten a quick makeover, with shoes being organized, and in place of the old dresser in the closet, I now have my "new to me" sewing table! Now, if I only knew how to sew...ha ha! At least I have a space to sit down and learn now! I know I know, you all want to see photos of these new things and arrangements, but I am usually lucky to get time to write this blog. Matt will have to use his new fancy camera and then show me how to upload them to the computer so I can post them!
Tonight we are going to hang the new curtains (which I got an amazing steal on at Ikea) For almost 4 years I have had no curtains in my bedroom....this is so out of character for me...Every single window in our home has curtains on it! With three windows and a strange 90 degree corner I've never taken the time to save up for all it would take to cover them. But thanks to Ikea, I could afford the curtains, and the hardware to solve my problem. I cannot wait to see it all come together tonight! I've also recently gotten the most amazing 16x20 portrait of my precious baby girl. This is going to be hanging over my new dresser - I am so excited to have this beautiful piece of artwork in my home. Its been quite and investment journey to get these amazing portraits and photographs of my girl's big milestones, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I guess as an adult, "spring break" and "spring clean" are synonymous words, because next on my list is to move some furniture around and out to make my home feel more spacious. You can only imagine what life in less than 1500 sq ft with 2 adults, 2 dogs, and a 1 year old is like. It is tight! Never mind our hobbies and soon to be hobbies of music and sewing! AK doesn't have too many toys but she knows how to spread them out when she's in full play mode and boy oh boy does it become messy around here fast!

If you are a frequent house guest here, you are about to lose your comfy double bed in lieu of a single daybed with a trundle. The guest room/music room is too junked up with too much furniture and objects for me to even want to enter in there. I foresee a storage unit in my near future as well as a garage sale! If you need some furniture and a good DIY project, have I got the pieces for you! If you need to get rid of some stuff yourself, then lets talk and have a joint yard sale! It will be a good feeling to get this place cleaned out and cleaned up - it will lighten the mood around here for sure. I get so bogged down in trying to keep it looking good, and its gotten so hard with so much stuff! What I really want is a bigger house - but that will have to come in time.

I should be sweeping and mopping right now, but I have chosen to take advantage of the early leg of AK's afternoon nap to blog without interruption. At least I can say that I scrubbed both bathrooms before she woke up from her morning nap (which I think I disturbed with my cleaning, causing her to wake after only 20 minutes or so...)

For all you AK fans out there, we have seen some serious intellectual developments lately! I told you about learning what dogs and shoes were, but I haven't told you about her reading her dog books! On the way back from Ikea she read to us from her car seat. It went something like this..."Dug, Duc, Dug, Dug, Dug" as she turned the pages to "Go, Dogs, Go". It was a great sound to hear in the midst of a long day in the car!
She has also learned about doing laundry. I always told her what I was doing, even when she was just months old - and apparently she was listening!! Anytime she sees me in the laundry room she finds dirty (and even clean) clothes in either my bathroom or hers and brings them to me. If I miss something she is quick to put it in the washer (we have a front load unit making this easy for her to do). Maybe its because I'm her mom, but there is some kind of parental pride in watching your child grasp and understand the ways of your life.
About a month ago we made a decision to begin limiting AK's pacifier use to just sleep and car rides or extremely fussy times. This has been the best decision ever! Thankfully her teachers are in agreement with my decision and they keep her "pappy" out of reach during school. I credit this limited pappy use to her recent interest in language development. I hope it won't be long until we don't need that thing at all. But all good things in time. I'm just glad that she currently isn't a finger or thumb sucker as I was.
Most of you know my girl has been a great eater since she discovered real food. She would eat anything anytime. Unfortunately that has slowed down. She is so busy in her actions and mind that she doesn't want to slow down enough to eat much at all and recently she has gotten a bit more picky. However, today I fixed a snack for myself of chips and mango salsa. I turned my back to get a napkin and noticed her reaching right into that small bowl of salsa. As I rushed back to stop her she put those fingers right into her mouth. I was fearful of the slight spicy flavor she was about to encounter, little to my surprise she went back for more at least twice! Who knew! My baby likes hummus and mango salsa....at least mango salsa has both fruits and vegetables!!
Please hold me accountable to the promised photographs of our new room and growing baby girl. I really do need to take a few moments to get that done. In the mean time I'm going to enjoy my spring break the rest of this week, and maybe take AK for a trip to the zoo! We are busy bees until the month of April - and I will have lots of fun things to blog about soon, birthday party, wedding, and more...so stay tuned! With the weather warming rapidly we will be heading south to enjoy some white sand and emerald green waves and I cannot wait to see how different summers will be with an active mobile child!  I hope you will find many hidden blessings in your day today and remember to smile because God loves you!