nineteen months old

Mom of the year didn't know what day it is! 19 months isn't a huge milestone but I do want to have these entries to reflect on Ethan's growth. It's late and we are still moving in to our new house (overdue on a post on that, too) so let's just say it's a good thing there's a Blogger app on my phone. And forgive me if its wonky! I'll correct it later ;)

{one year ago today!}

He wears 3T pajamas and wants to be outside for about half of the day. We have an awesome backyard now, so that's ok by mama, too. He sleeps in a big boy bed now (full-sized mattress!).

{in his big boy bed}

He is increasingly independent and learning new words every minute, it seems. He started saying "ok" today (just one noteable one!), and I have a much easier time communicating with him what I do/don't want him to do; it's a blessing until he gets frustrated with my words not aligning with his desires and a tantrum ensues. 

He is also a little copycat - it is both adorable and terrifying. I got him on video having a fake conversation on his fake phone and pausing to put the fake person he was talking to on hold to talk to me - put the phone to his chest while he did it. I don't know who he saw doing that, but he absorbed it like a little sponge. My prayer is that I teach him well with my actions... Oh Lord, do I ever need help with that one.

{figuring out how to put on shoes}

And in about 6 more months, we will meet the next baby Haynes, who will probably imitate their brother more than they do me. He is going to be an awesome big brother - I know it!

xo,

Haynes home #2!

We took shifts at the new house today. Austin ripped out some floors this morning, so new ones can go in this week. 

Austin bought a pry bar to get the boards up. And we didn't rip out perfectly good floors! We visited the house two times after deciding to buy it (went twice for that, too) and the longer we were there, the more we realized the serverity of the buckling, bowing, creaking and water damage (dishwasher issue, we think). We realized they weren't genuine hard wood floors, so they couldn't be refinished. We actually think they're original to the 22-year-old house so they've seen a lot of wear. Austin doing all this manual labor saved us $700 on the floor install, however, we still have to work out logistics on getting it removed from the house. We also need a rotting swingset removed if anyone has tips on that!

I went in for the paint in the afternoon. There is so much green in this house! There's also a green room with purple shelves (that's so 90s, y'all). This is how our game room used to look:

I am not into accent walls - personal preference. This one was really bright and  one of the first things you see from the front door. I started by taping it off & cutting in on the edges with primer:

Then I painted one coat of primer. I just needed to cover that green, since going from darker or brighter colors to another color can be really difficult.

Without primer, I would've have to paint a lot more coats of the mocha color. This way, I actually got away with one coat of primer, and not quite two coats of mocha. 

I followed the primer with more cutting in with the mocha color, followed by rolling in the middle. Cutting in can be a painstaking task, but it really saves some time in the long run as you're less likely to mess up your edges. 

BOOM!

I also riddled our home of some woodland animals in Ethan's room (much to Austin's chagrin):

Sayonara, suckers. 

Around this point, I realized I couldn't find the matching paint for this room, but I knew this was a possibility all along. I chose to prime the animals because I will eventually either successfully match this paint color, or I will (sigh....) paint Ethan's entire room. Ugh. I'm pretty determined to match that darn color. And while I made jokes about ridding my house of the creatures, I ultimately made the decision to remove them because Ethan's decor is nautical, and I would rather spend a few bucks on paint than have to toss what I have for him already.

Tomorrow morning, the movers come! It's going to be a crazy place for about 3 days, what with sticky floors and a generally non-child-friendly environment, but come Wednesday we should have beautiful engineered hickory floors with rustic details. (Eeek!) Next week we might look a little more like a home!

Stay tuned...

xo,

18 months... and one to grow on

I am SO late on posting this! We have had a lot going on, so I delayed it to give myself some space to accomplish other tasks, and get a minute or two to rest!

Our little man is 18 months old! The last month has been full of... Moving. We also saw snow for the first time when we visited GiGi's new house in Colorado, however, we really only liked it a lot for a couple days. And it was unbearably cold for a couple days (single digits + Texans = NO GO!) so we played indoors a lot. We finally did find a nicely groomed sledding hill which we loved!

While in Colorado, we accepted an offer on our home, and the sale has been mostly smooth sailing (knock on wood!). We close on Monday (knock on wood again!), and we are really excited to begin the Cypress, TX chapter of our lives. I won't talk about the new house until it is for sure the new house and we have signed the dotted line, but rest assured that we are excited about it! Rather than try to do a lease-back with our house, we decided to stay with my parents. So far we are looking at about 12 days here. Should be a fun & busy place! My brothers & Meghan had all moved out so I thought we should keep them company! 😉

And now for some exciting news for Ethan and the rest of the Haynes fam:

Ethan has been out

Twice as long as he was in,

Which seemed like perfect timing -

So we're starting up again!

Baby number TWO is due

Halloween 2015!

xo,

17 months old!

Ethan is 17 months old today. Time is really flying by! This little boy understands and speaks more every day. He's becoming more independent (or maybe I'm just a little less of a helicopter mom), more opinionated and more adorable every day.

We've got our hands full with showing our house and getting ready for our Vail trip, so this post is a short one, but we have some cute pictures!

xo,

listing

I wasn't sure where to begin this post until I realized that I had totally skipped Ethan's 16 month "birthday". Whoops! Our little man is babbling, half-running, climbing steps, learning words, using his signs better, (I think he thinks the sign for "please" actually means "dessert". Ha!), singing the tune of the a-b-c-d song without the actual letters.. and stealing our hearts every day. So blessed and challenged in parenting this little man.

Excuse the blur of these photos... they were taken right around the 16 month mark, and he truly is a little blur now!

So. Many. Stickers.We love our backpack from Grammie!

Spaghetti is possibly our favorite meal

*Clears a tear* - Ahem.

This post is big for us. If you know us, you know how much love, sweat and tears we have put into our house. We did the thing the people on HGTV's Fixer Upper (watching as I type!) do every episode - bought the worst house in the best neighborhood {that we could afford!} and fixed it up.

I can't estimate the number of hours that we have labored over this home. I've tried to estimate the dollars. The memories of our firstborn homing home to this house, and laboring over it before he did, are something I'll carry with me forever.

Recently, though, Austin accepted a job in Cypress, Texas. It's not far from here (though construction makes it seem much further). We're excited for the upcoming opportunity for him and the growth it should provide for his career! It was a scary, hard decision - as it always is for the sole earner of a family. It's hard to leave something that is comfortable.

We have been longing for a move to the suburbs lately - both of us, for different reasons (Austin grew up in a suburb... I grew up right here!). We prayed for months over it. We had a Realtor come out. We explored several neighborhoods in several different suburbs. No option made enough sense. Our mantra became, "it would be so great to be able to live and work in the suburbs! What a rare opportunity! Those people are so fortunate!"

Then 'those people' became us.

Before I met him, Austin has always said that he is dedicated to going to church in his neighborhood - something that's really in his community. He has even attended churches in which he stood out like a sore thumb. Our current church is located just down the road from us - a total of about 10 blocks, or a 30 minute walk (we have done it). That's rare, friends. Our church has a second location... right by his new work location.

These, among other things, have confirmed and reaffirmed our plan to list our house, and relocate to Cypress, Texas. It's a big leap of faith, even though it appears to be easy. Listing your house is not easy. Selling your house is not easy. Buying a house is not easy. There isn't a house on the market right now that is 'perfect' for us. We don't really know where we will end up. On top of that: we know what the best neighborhoods are, but is that what The Lord is calling us to? The best, the safest, the most comfortable? I want to say yes. I'm not sure that is what He is saying. The world says yes - buy the big house in the best neighborhood. UPGRADE. You deserve it.

This is what The Lord says:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
{1 Corinthians 1:18-21 ESV}

We're preparing our house, and it should be on the market next week.

Pondering these things in our hearts, and praying over them with thanksgiving,

xo,

Sacred Easter - discount code!

I'm currently helping a friend of mine (and fellow BCFer) by reviewing the Lent Devotional she is writing, and I am loving every bit. Becky gets personal while diving into the book of Matthew. She takes a fresh look at Jesus' path to the cross. It's a study that's meant to be taken over 7 weeks, so it covers the entire Lenten period. If you want to prepare for Easter with a dedicated devotional, I encourage you to check this out!

I get to give my friends and family 10% off of Sacred Holiday's Lent Devotional {a study on the life of Jesus in the book of Matthew}. You can check out the products at http://sacred-holidays.myshopify.com/collections/all and be sure to use the promo code ELIZABETHHAYNES at check out to get 10% off!

out with the old, in with... a different old

I sometimes wonder if I'm a special kind of crazy. I did this project in my only down time (evenings) and during naps (not down time, chore time - I postponed chores, which sent my type-A personality into a tailspin). Just this evening I read a devotional on outlining your talents... can my special kind of crazy be my talent? :) I think I say yes, if I get to have such a pretty (and CHEAP!) new dining room set!

For a while now, I've asked Austin for a new kitchen table. We have only bought brand-new furniture from IKEA/Target/Amazon because we can't stand the idea of paying thousands for furniture - EVERYTHING else has come from Craigslist, or other resale sites. While we know furniture is a worthy investment, it definitely puts a dent in the pocketbook, which is rough when you just paid off a car and a bathroom. Ouch.

We have had this kitchen table and chairs for a long time: it survived Austin and his roommate in college (his mom no longer needed it so he inherited it - a VERY nice table for a guy in college!) and we kept it through our early (3.5) years of marriage - until Sunday. We had a garage sale Saturday, sold off a few things, and sold our old table through Craigslist the next day. Since our dining room is Ethan's play room, this table is too large for the breakfast nook.

I think the flowers really sold the table!

I found a set of 6 chairs, which were black, through OfferUp. Austin picked them up and warned me that they might need work, but I didn't realize that meant I'd have to totally re-paint them!

I sanded down some scratches and spray painted them - I used 3 cans and 3 layers on each chair. I then took a piece of sandpaper (150, if you want to know the grit) to attempt to copy the classic Pottery Barn black finish. I rubbed the sandpaper on the edges - careful not to scratch the finish elsewhere - to give it that worn look.

I'm so artsy!

BEFORE: I added wood filler where a cat or dog dug into a seat 

Layer 1

Layer 2 + sanded edges. Hard to see here, but the edges of the top and the front of the seat
have been sanded.

As for the table: we picked it up Sunday, and I doubted my ability to sand and refinish the table from the minute I realized it wasn't an easy patch job. I skulked about it and eventually was persuaded by my parents to attempt the refinishing. We started the sanding process on Monday night with the sander Austin's Grammie gave us (it's a Black & Decker Mouse. We used 100-120 grit), and I finished it on Tuesday with a more heavy-duty one my dad has. Without the electric sanders, it would've been a much harder job!

Top shot! Scratches are worse than they look in this picture

Another "before" angle

This sanding just took a few minutes, but we were getting used to the Mouse

Austin pitched in for the sanding!

Where we paused Monday night

Finished sanding! And my dad's awesome sander.

I cleaned it off with tack cloths (also provided by my dad!) to get all the sawdust off the table, and I swept it off the floor as well. I really didn't want any sawdust to get disturbed and end up on my table. I immediately applied one coat of the stain to the table top, and I wiped as I went (though the instructions said I could leave it on for 15 minutes each time) because it knew it was going to be uneven if I didn't. I let it dry as long as the instructions called for (8 hours, I believe). At this point, you can add more layers of stain every 8 hours, until you like the color. I liked it a lot after the first layer, and Austin agreed, so I started the polyurethane coating today. We kept the garage door cracked for ventilation and to aid in the drying process.

The table - stain only

I painted on one coat of the polyurethane during Ethan's nap on Wednesday, and when Austin got home, I lightly sanded it  the table (220 grit, per the instructions) and applied another coat. Two to three coats are suggested, but I thought my second coat was generous enough that a third would be overkill.

Finished & drying! You can see a  little bit of a shine.

COSTS:

Table: $60

Chairs: $75

Spray Paint: $10

Wood filler: (already had)

Sandpaper: $15

Stain: $5

Polyurethane: $7

Total cost to us: $172

I'm in love!

MAJOR shout out to my 'rents. We used their truck to get the table, we used their sander, they watched our kid. If you want to see service, look at them! THREE of their kids are living with them (Meghan is totally one of us) and they still offer to serve us because I'm crazy and take on big projects on a whim. I also took their advice on refinishing the table, which looks awesome.

I can't wait for Ethan to splatter some yogurt on this bad boy tomorrow morning.

xo