Being a mommy to boys...

Six years ago I learned that I was expecting my first son. At the time I had no idea just what that meant. I was excited to welcome my first child, but little did I know how much learning I was about to do.

Being mommy to little boys means that you know to make sure that the noodle isn't pointing up when you put a diaper on, and it means that you are likely to be pee'd on at least a dozen times before they reach the age of five.

Being mommy to little boys means that you have to be quick on your feet and respond to statements like "OH WOW, MY NOODLE IS GROWING"...it also means you likely know what a noodle is!

Being mommy to little boys means that you check the pockets on all clothing for items like rocks, matchbox cars, gum, and chap stick. It also means that laundry is NEVER done, boys and dirt are one in the same.

Being mommy to little boys means the bottom of your feet are extremely tough, they have to be to endure the shock of stepping on army men or matchbox cars.

Being mommy to little boys mean that you are also a doctor, not from an earned college education...but by experience. Well, it means stopping the boys long enough to doctor their boo boos and dragging them to the hospital for the ones that are more serious.

It also means that you shouldn't grow fond of their teeth...they will most likely knock them out.

Being a mommy to little boys means that you are responsible for teaching them the meaning of "No". It also means you teach them respect, loyalty, and strength.

It means that you have to teach them what love is, and how deep love is.

Being a mommy to little boys means that it is also your job to teach them the differences between women and men.

Being a mommy to little boys means you are a professional temporary tattoo applier and are used to being the "bad guy"...they always choose to be the good guys...

Being a mommy to little boys means you find creative ways to get them to eat things other than chips or ice cream. It also means that your grocery bill will sky rocket....boys eat so much food!

Being a mommy to little boys means that bath time is full on war...you enter the bathroom at your own risk. You are likely to be splashed soaked or pee'd on. It means that your FIRST task after bath time is to pick up any remaining bath toys...or else your morning shower will not go as planned. (stepping on a matchbox car or action figure is not enjoyable at 6:00 am)

Being a mommy to little boys means letting them have the Mohawk if it makes them happy.
(At least it wasn't a rat tail) It means you sit back and let them explore and figure out who they are. You pick your battles...

Being a mommy to little boys means that you have selective hearing. You have the ability to drown out all noisy toys...and ALL BOY TOYS ARE NOISY! 

Being a mommy means you are constantly moving and running. It means holding your breath as you watch them do stunts that nearly make your heart stop.

Being mommy to little boys means you see girls clothing and cringe, you appreciate the simplicity in Under Armour and tennis shoes!

It also means that you give up owning anything nice...they will destroy it. Boys are rough and tough.

Being a mommy to little boys means you know that they are en-grained through genetics to sleep with their hands in their pants. You can't change it...and you just accept it.

Being a mommy to little boys means that it is your job to teach them that they can conquer anything. It means being behind home plate after their grand slam, it also means you are the one their eyes find when they strike out. You are their foundation, you are the one that rebuilds them when they are broken.

Being a mommy to little boys means you are their first love, but you are not the love of their life. It means knowing that at some point you will no longer be the woman that holds their life together. It means that you will have to step back and allow another woman to love them...and pray that she loves them as much as you do.

Being a mommy to little boys means accepting the fact that one day you will look up to your babies and knowing that their soft cheeks will soon turn into prickly unshaven cheeks.

Being a mommy to little boys means it is MY job to make sure that these two boys have the happiest life I can give them. It is my job to make sure that they know they are loved. It is my job to grow these little boys into amazing men.

Being a mommy to little boys means you look at every man and his mother and you see the little boy inside of them and the mother that made him. 

Being a mommy to little boys means that I love my husband the way I want my boys loved. It means I am setting the example for their lives.

Being a mommy to little boys means that right now, I am EVERYTHING to two stinky, wild, and crazy little boys.

First Day of Kindergarten

From the day that I found out I was expecting Bryson I dreamed of days like today. I dreamed of his first baseball game, his first day of school, first prom, graduations, his wedding, his children.

I can not believe that we have already made it to our first day of kindergarten. It just reminds me that we will soon be breezing through proms and graduation. Life passes by so fast!

I was nervous about today, and so was Bryson. I remember how terrifying a new school year is, who will be your friend and what if you get lost. I tried my hardest to hide my emotions and encourage him, remind him that he already knows some of the kids in his class and his teacher is very loving. I have seen her love on her own children, so I know that she will love my child the same way.

Today I held Bryson's hand as we walked through the school doors together. Today we made a memory together, his first day as a school age child! 

He had his head up, his shoulders back and he was brave. I know inside he was nervous, but he never showed it. He walked right into his class, put his back pack up and sat down and begin to color.

He never cried. He never looked back. He was brave and strong...I pray that the REST OF HIS LIFE he embraces life with this exact same attitude. I have spent the past five years trying to teach Bryson about life, but days like today I am reminded that the truth is HE TEACHES ME what life is about.

I am so proud of Bryson! He is an amazing child, with an amazing heart! I hope that the characteristics that we saw today continue to grow as he does! He is going to be an AMAZING man one day...but for now I will continue to allow him to remind me how life is with a child's heart!

I love you so much Bryson Reid, and I can't wait to see you this afternoon!

Oh, and Chubby moved up to the two year old class. Which means NO WUBS, and potty training (hardcore) for him! He is doing great and LOVES his new teachers.

Thank you all for loving my boys...each and everyone of you have impacted their lives in some sort of way. It is amazing to me knowing that each of you in some shape, form, or fashion are helping them grow into amazing men!

Master Bathroom- Update

Last week I posted a blog full of ideas for my bathroom. While I wasn't sure what I wanted the final outcome of the bathroom to be, I knew that I wanted my cabinets fixed. So this weekend I decided to try my hand at repairing them.

This is going to be a long post...I am just warning you :)

You will need the following items:

• Paint (color of choice)
• Stain (color of choice)
• Polycrylic
• Paint Brushes
• Sand Paper
• Wood filler (if you have repairs to make)
• Putty Knife

To start with I had to take apart the cabinets (which were already falling apart). This is simple, you just remove screws, and remove the hardware. It is important to keep the screws with the hardware if you are planning on reusing it. Screws for the drawers are longer than the ones on the cabinet doors. Most cabinets also have smaller handles on drawers. Our cabinets also had OLD child saftey locks on them, they were broken and not useful so I removed them.

The hinges that were on our cabinet were hard to find, so I could not replace broken ones. I believe that since we had real wood cabinets (original to the house) we had these funky hinges. I am no carpenter so I don't know the fancy name for them...but just know that if you have these and they break you will have a super hard time finding a replacement!

After removing the cabinet doors/drawers and hardware  you will need to fill the holes. Most of you will only have two small screw holes, but remember...we had funky hinges. Ours actually went through the doors and the vanity itself. I would have normally used bondo to fill this in, but I had wood filler handy.

Use the putty knife to fill in the holes...make sure you pack it in and it doesn't bubble out. It doesn't really have to be smooth and perfect because you are going to sand it off anyway. This particular type of wood filler goes on purple and dries white. When it is white...you are safe to start sanding.

My cabinets had a few thousand layers of white paint on them...so I used 80 grit to sand with at first. YES, you can use a sander here...I needed some DIY therapy so I just sanded by hand. It actually didn't take too terribly long.

I actually liked the look of the distressed white and momentarily pondered the idea of leaving them like this...but decided I really wanted some color in my life!

My cabinets did not have to be sanded perfectly, I knew I was going for a more distressed look. If you are going to stain yours or paint them more formal you will want to make sure that your sanding is done carefully and any flaws are worked out. Prep work is the worst part of any paint job, but it is what makes the results look the best.

Once the cabinets were sanded and cleaned off (you do not want any extra dust on them) I started painting them. I chose to use chalk paint, I had a cup of this left from The Junque Yard a while back. I purchased it to paint my coffee table (which I did not like blue) and a window that I turned into a picture frame. The Junque Yard has TONS of pretty colors...and I was VERY tempted to go by and snag that lovely coral color that I wanted on the cabinets. I am not so sure that Danny would have let that slide...

I left the drawer fronts on while I painted. You can remove them...it was just as easy for me to paint with them on. Every cabinet and area will be different so chose what works best for you.

Notice that I tried to paint the counter, the paint would not stick. It peeled right off...I sanded and followed all of the tutorials...it just wasn't meant to be. Which was ok...I realized that I didn't like the white counters anyway. We will soon be replacing the counter and getting an under mount sink!!!!

The blue was looking a little freaky right here....all I needed was a pink toilet and blue tub.

Here is the really messy/slightly annoying part. I have stained a lot of things, but I have YET to find a way to do this and not get it all over me. I'm sure the professionals are all laughing at me...

Anyway, once the paint is dry (again chalk paint works best for this method) you apply the stain. I chose dark walnut. I knew that I wanted it to kill down the bright blue and not have an orange look. You can pick any color combination. I would google a color chart before you combine stain and paint and make sure that you don't put cherry stain on top of yellow paint...you will get carrot cabinets.

I have worked with paint my entire life, I can typically just visualize the outcome in my head. Sometimes, I have an epic fail...but thank God the cabinets weren't one of them.

Once you apply the stain you let it sit and wipe it off. The longer it sits the more it stains and dries. I wiped mine off almost immediately, leaving it heavier in the creases. I knew the brown would kill the blue and make it look more green....but here is a picture of the three stages...blue paint, covered in stain, and stain removed.

This step is optional, mandatory for me...but optional for you. I know that our bathroom will be heavily used. I know that the cabinets will take a beating, so I needed to seal them so they will last longer. You can use wax and seal it...to me this takes WAY too long and doesn't protect them as much. You can also just leave the paint and stain like they are...but again it is not as durable. 

For my house full of boys, and a dog I wanted to use polycrylic. It seals it and NOTHING can destroy it! It smells like coconut too...so it makes you think you are at the beach! Ok...not so much but at least it isn't as strong as the stain is! The only real thing to do with the polycrylic is paint it on, sometimes you will get air bubbles in it. Just work those out with the brush and watch for runs.

Give the polycrylic time to dry, it is pretty fast....I left mine alone for an hour or two. For safe measure over night is always good! Then you just reassemble the cabinets. For me this was easy...I could see where the wood filler was on the back of the doors, so I knew exactly where to put the hinges back.

You can see in this picture I did not smooth out the wood filler perfectly, I probably should have...but who is going to know. I used that as a marker to line the doors back up straight. Unless you are changing out hardware you should still have your original holes and this won't be an issue.

As you can see I snatched the white paint off of the counter. We will be replacing the counter soon. I will also be framing the mirror out and adding our baseboards back. We have already purchased new flooring, it is just a matter of snatching up this tile with horrible white grout (NEVER USE WHITE GROUT) and relaying the new tile.

So the bathroom has a LONG way to go before it is done, but just having the cabinets repaired is a wonderful thing! After our house flooded the bottom part was ruined (that's why is is missing) I will be adding new molding soon, but it also needs to be done after our new tile is down.

Before and after, you can't really tell but I painted the walls a lighter more tan/gray color. I will be hunting/making a new shower curtain soon.

So there you have it...how to make over you cabinets. I am thrilled with the results of mine, and thrilled that I get to keep an original part of our house. I love the neat features/woodwork in our home...they just don't make houses like that anymore!