The Redesign Into the Big Girl Room

Since we're (hopefully) getting ready to move, I've been looking at all sorts of ideas for Aria's room. While I love her current room, it's just really not "her." It's sweet and soft and soothing, and if you've been reading here for any amount of time, you understand that Aria's just not "soft and soothing." So I've been looking on Pinterest to get ideas for her new room (another good reason I give when I've spent hours on there!) I would really like to do bright, fun colors, and since she's still quite girly, I'm thinking hot pink with teal and lime green would fit her perfectly. I've recently found a theme that I've fallen in love with. 

Source

I'm hoping that I will be "artistic" enough to pull it off lol. The only thing I would change here is switch out the yellow for the lime green. I haven't decided what I want to do with her furniture yet, since it's currently painted the same pastel colors as her walls. She'll also inhabit my old daybed once the baby comes. (I can't believe she's almost old enough for a "big girl bed!") You can see the original blogpost for this GORGEOUS bedroom by clicking here. This woman's eye for design is fantastic.

When did your kids get their "big kid rooms?" Did they, or their unique little personality help design the room, or did you plan it yourself? How often have your kids changed their bedrooms? I remember my middle brother had the same one all the way through, but the baby brother changed his ALL the time - maybe that has to do with personalities? 

Return from Sabbatical

Ok, so I didn't take an official "sabbatical" or anything like that; it just sounds better than coming back and saying AGAIN "hi. i'm back. oops." So I'm calling my preceding leave of absence a "sabbatical."  I didn't at all intend to stop blogging for a while - in fact, I was planning fun things to do the end of February when our family was smitten down with the flu. In fact, it felt like it lasted about 2 weeks; nothing new or interesting was happening, we were just trying to survive the massive congestion, the fevers and the wracking coughs. And - since we're all aware of the principle of inertia - when you stop blogging for two weeks, it takes a tremendous amount of energy and inspiration to begin again. Well, at least for me in does. Not much of an excuse, but there it is.

So, anyways.... there actually has been quite a line-up of interesting events that occurred here in the Wardell household while I was away. Aria's vocabulary has increased exponentially. She can pretty clearly communicate exactly what she wants now, as long as it's a food item, Elmo or a bath. And since those are the kinds of things that she asks for most frequently, we all have a pretty good grasp on her current "needs." She's also learned to express a desire to go outside to walk, to go to bed, to read a book and to "go!" It's been great actually being able to have mini conversations with her, and I really love this new phase of her communicative, adventurous little personality.

We have also been in the process of buying a home, which is beyond exciting for me. We are simply waiting on final paperwork approval, and we will be closing on our brand new condo. It really is perfect for us and had a perfect price tag. It also has that necessary third bedroom, which brings me to the last big thing that's been going on in our lives which is....

That Aria is going to be a big sister! :) We're all very excited about this addition to our little family, coming in October. Pretty much all of the male relatives (which really is the majority in our families) are hoping for a little boy addition, but I think we'll all be happy no matter what :)
Next month, I would like to do a polling contest of my readers both here on the blog and on Facebook for what you think we'll be having. I haven't decided a prize yet, but I'm sure it'll be wonderful :) I'll also be hosting a contest to see who can come up with the best solution to the blog name once the baby is born, since Aria will have to start sharing the attention, but that will be later in the year.

If any of you out there are still reading, I thank you. I know I'm probably the most inconsistent blogger on the planet, but hopefully things will start picking up around here again. After all, it is almost time to start potty training.... 

Aria's Facebook announcement about the coming baby :)

I'm Elmo and I Know It

Because of Aria's new found love for Elmo, I tracked down this video again and let her watch it. She's in love. I hope you enjoy it half as much as she did. 

Elmo's in the house!

Sometimes I forget how fast my baby girl is growing up, and just imagine her being a toddling, sputtering baby forever. And even though I get sad thinking about how fast time is flying, there are so many cute and fun things that happen as a toddler grows up. Aria hit one of those milestones this week, and fell in love with Elmo.

Now, I'm not normally a believer in love at first sight, but A-bug has proved my thoughts on this subject incorrect. From the first time she saw the commercial on TV advertising Sesame Street on Broadway coming to Detroit, she fell in love with "Melmo!!" It didn't help the cause when we turned on Sesame Street the first time and watched "Elmo's World." There were so many big alligator tears when it was over, she was almost inconsolable.

Yesterday, to remedy the problem of only being able to see "Melmo" once a day, Mimi decided to take Aria to Walmart to get her her very own Elmo. From the time they walked in the store, and Aria was told that they were going to find "Melmo," she was looking around and saying every 30 seconds, "Melmo? Melmo?" When she finally spotted him on the shelf, I think the entire store became aware of her absolute love of Elmo. She hasn't let go of her new little friend since, taking him to naptime, bedtime, mealtime and any other time you can imagine. She won't let anyone else hold him, and forget about putting him away for a few minutes - it's just not going to happen.

Is there a toy that your little one has gotten incredibly attached to? Maybe another Sesame Street character or maybe Barney? Mine growing up was my Cabbage Patch doll that I still have and Aria still plays with. There's just something about that first love that never goes away ;) 

Aria carrying around 2 of her favorite things -
her new Elmo and her sippy cup :)

"Thank you, Mimi for the Elmo!"
(check out that amazing post-nap hair!)

Procrastination and Pink Skin

Once again, I've been a delinquent blogger mom. We had a rather average week, and I was having some serious blogger's block. We went to the grocery store, the gymnastics studio for playtime, Aria's wonderful babysitter came on Thursday so Josh and I could have a night off with some friends, and now Aria's watching Saturday morning cartoons in between building with her blocks and pushing her blankets around in her grocery cart. She keeps walking around the house looking for "dadaddy" even though he won't be home from classes till around noon. Just an average week with my not-so-average girl.

We did try a bathtime activity that I had seen on Pinterest yesterday, and I can't say I can recommend it. I mean, it really did sound like a good idea at the time, but I clearly didn't think all the way through it... The activity pin on Pinterest says to put some food coloring in ice cube trays and then freeze the cubes.

Aria in her pink bath water

 Then, when the kids are in the bathtub, you put in the colorful ice cubes and let them chase the colors around the tub. I thought this would be a perfect idea for Aria since she has chased around little fuzzies in the tub for, no lie, 5 minutes solid before. 

I was very aware that the cubes would melt, and not last for 5 minutes, but what I didn't think about was the food coloring completely coloring the bath water....and my daughter's skin. Because the only food coloring I had was red, the water turned bright pink, and so did Aria's skin. So Aria got 2 baths yesterday; the latter to clean off the mess the first one made. Because of the excessive amount of work this caused, I cannot give my endorsement to this Pinterest idea. (Although, I will admit, I was kinda hoping her hair would turn as pink as her skin did, but it was not to be.)

Photo Credit

Aria's love for reading has not diminished in the least; if anything, she loves them now more than ever. 

She'll walk up to the bookcases and ask for a "bookie," which normally refers to one of her two favorites - the Dogs and/or Cats book.

These books have photos of real cats and dogs in them with added fun - some have real "fur" to pet, or a squeaky toy to squeak or a tab to pull to make a tail twitch. Aria never gets tired of these adorable books, and I would really like to get the rest in the series.

I've had several people ask me if Aria likes playing with her kitchen (mainly the family members near and far who contributed to this amazing play area at Christmas.)

Aria playing with her kitchen the first
morning after it was assembled. 

Aria's completed kitchen with food
and cooking accessories.

Well, she does. She really loves getting out her pots and pans when I'm cooking dinner and lay them out on the kitchen floor and pretend to cook with me. She also loves pouring "drinks" from cup to tea-pot to carafe back to cup. She hides her pacifier in the microwave and her shoes in the oven. Ok, so there are still some parts of it she'll need to grow into, but that's the fun of these kind of toys - kids will play with them for years!