Little Man's Room

It has been crazy around here, with a capital C. Ah!!  After a few weeks of being sick, I decided to be more productive & paint the office and our bedroom.  Words of wisdom…painting at night is an awful idea since the lights create odd shadows so it is impossible to figure out if you missed a spot.  At least now, we have two freshly painted rooms…now it's just a matter of hanging pictures which always scares me because what if I don't like what and where I hang something?  I've also been tackling my retirement plan that I forgot I had from VA (oops!) and then we've had to deal with health insurance with lovely Obamacare since we have our own individual plan.

Needless to say, any free time has been busy so I am allowing myself a few minutes this morning to sip coffee and blog while D attempts to nap.

Deaglan is now full on walking! Hence, why it is now really impossible to get certain things done around the house during the day. One morning last week, he woke up from his nap and just started taking brave steps, further and further away from tables/couches.  He would look over at us so proud! It is so fun now that he has his wheels on the move!  He entertains himself quite well since there is more to explore.  He also loves kicking and rolling a big ball around in circles on the first floor.  Every day he looks less and less like Frankenstein when he walks.  We had a mini-Thanksgiving with some friends last week while they practiced making their turkey.  Kristin captured these shots of D walking and my men in flannel enjoying yummy food. I have been really bad at taking pics recently!

For the longest time, I have wanted to share D's room!  I didn't not want a themed nursery because I knew I'd get tired of  it after a few months.  I really wanted to create a little boy's room with a few hints of nursery.

So I was given a pallet back in the summer and I challenged myself to make a bookshelf for Deaglan's room.  As I worked, I took step by step pictures and of course, I can't find the photos!! I basically just sawed off one little portion of the pallet.  To create the base, I took off one piece of wood from another section of the pallet and nailed it onto the bottom so the books would stay.  I soaked vinegar with steel wool and coffee grinds for 24 hrs to create a brown stain (if you want gray stain, leave out the coffee).  The pallet was fun to work with but I really wish it was easier to take the nails out of the pallet.  I still have a large portion of pallet left to make other things but the thought of dealing with the nails makes me cringe. My only quick solution I had was to saw off the nails but that still took awhile.  Anyway, I am very happy with this little bookshelf & Dealgan is a fan as well.  He likes walking up to it and grabbing off the books he wants.

Um, the teacher in me had to make a reading nook.  Squeezed it under a window in between his crib and dresser.

I used Annie Sloan paint to freshen up an old dresser the previous owners left us.  I really wanted a funky collage in his room to pop against the dark walls.  I painted a few cheap wooden frames from Michael's.   My mom had found the large "D" at a goodwill; it was originally gold but it was too dark against the wall.  Most of the frames have fabric inside which is a great, cheap piece of art! I bought a few pieces of fabric before we bought the house as inspiration for his room.  I hung pom-poms that were left over from my wedding shower.  Can you tell I am a pack-rack with things? I have an old wine box where I keep wipes, cream, lotion, etc.  Overall, I love it & hopefully it is something I can keep on his wall for a few years!

I wanted simple things above his crib so it didn't compete with the opposite wall collage.  I hung left over decorations from his party.  Over a year ago, I made a picture frame note holder thing (thanks for the idea, Katie!) so I clipped photos of D's first days in black and white.  I needed contrast against the wall color so I threw up fabric behind it with thumb tacks to secure it to the wall.

Sick Days

For over a week, we've had a lovely little virus in our home.  It started with the typical runny nose, sore throat…but that turned into an ear infection for Deaglan and tonsillitis for me.  Rory came home today from work with all of my symptoms so I guess it's still here to stay for a bit.  Boo!

With that said, Rory made me soup the other night to to make my throat feel better.  Nothing beats good tomato soup with grilled cheese, especially this time of year.  The recipe he used was from a Comfort Food cookbook we received at our wedding.  It is our go to book when we want a hearty meal.  I was able to find the soup recipe here! The whole time he was cooking he insisted that I blog about it so here we go...

The Gist: He roasted tomatos on the grill while sautéing onion, garlic, and celery on the stovetop.  He added the tomatoes and creamed the soup with an immersion blender.  After patiently waiting for some time for flavors to do their thing, he added the cream and seasoning.  We ended up adding more salt, pepper, sugar and garlic to give a little more flavor.  It ended up being a perfect consistency with a good amount of sweetness but not enough to take away from the tomato flavor.

He also made some awesome grilled cheeses!  Avocado is our go-to when we make grilled cheese because the creaminess melts in your mouth with the cheese.  This time, he also added a little bit of pepperoni to spice it up a bit.

His top secret to making them really good, though, is that he adds montreal steak seasoning to the bread (shh!).  Flavored salt makes anything taste better!

Even though Deaglan wasn't feeling 100%, he still wanted to run around doing his usual shenanigans.  He loves spending time outside.  On rainy days, I keep him away from the back room because he will sit and bang/cry on the sliding doors to go outside.  A few weeks ago, he started walking on his own!  He was so proud of himself and could go a pretty good distance before falling.  Then all of a sudden he stopped trying to walk and I think it's because he wasn't feeling well.  He is started to try it again the past few days but he still loves to have someone hold his hand.

He likes to kick the ball around (inside and outside the house), play in tunnels and slides, play with Uncle Murph & Dublin, and investigate nature.