Baby Dallin at 23 months!!

Its so hard to believe my baby is almost 2 years old.  Where has the time gone?  Oh right we spent the first 20 months in and out of the doctors office and hospitals but since then he is like a different kid!  So happy.  So silly.  His personality is soaring and we love it!  We are waiting for his speech to really start to pick up but much like his older brother at this age he uses very little words instead choosing to just scream and get angry when I cannot distinguish between his screams.  Here are some fun pictures of our favorite baby!

 He loves these cars from the hospital and gets so excited when he sees them but when we went to our friends house they had a smaller version with a shopping cart connected to it.  He would not listen to me that it was too small to get into.  So he tried.  And tried again.  and again.  Each time resulting in me having to get a stuck Dallin out! haha

 Dallin wants to be a big kid so bad!  He is often wearing Dawson's helmet or clothes.  He wants to go on bike rides with the big kids and loves to go play in the backyard!

 He is a total Momma's boy but gets SO excited when Daddy gets home!  Literally screaming at the top of his lungs "DADA, DADA!!  Trust me it is LOUD.  He still is not a fan of many other people but he does like a couple of my friends he lights up when he sees them.  :)

 He absolutely loves to EAT.  He will eat anything and everything you give him.  He is drinking salsa in the picture.  Just like my other two, Mexican is his favorite.   

 He loves to do the Al Bundy which sometimes turns into a surprise hand sanitizing!..YUCK

He can reach the counters which means my life is officially over.  He loves to "help".  Isn't that nice?

 He loves making us laugh and getting reactions out of us!

 He has a new favorite toy which is the play laptop.  He likes to be like Mommy and Daddy and do his work.  He spends most of his day opening and closing this toy!

As comes with loving food.....a huge MESS.  He cannot have a single meal without completely covering himself in his food.  Practically requires a bath after every meal.  Yes I'm tired. HA.

 He likes to rub his food all over his face and hair!

 Oh and he thinks hes pretty funny!!!

Even two year olds get warn out.  He still naps once a day and it usually is about a 3 hour nap!  Gives me time to clean up his messes right before he gets up again.  Or I nap also.  :)

 

After our pool trips he is pretty exhausted and usually doesn't make it out of the parking lot!

 And every once in a while he falls asleep in our laps.  Love that!  After almost two years with this baby we are more than in love and cannot wait to see how he grows and develops.  

Few of his favorites:

Balls (any kind and sport, also anything that resembles balls)

Mexican food

Spaghetti/Raviolis

Laptop

Juice

Music

Boxes, batman castle, drawers, cabinets (anything he can open and put things in)

Chapstick 

Markers (which he confuses for chapstick) 

Anything that smells good (loves smelling things, ie baby wipes, perfume, lotion, chapstick)

Mommy/Daddy

Bath Time

Pool Time

Swings

Siblings 

His Buddies, Tanner and Ollie

Says: Momma, Dada, "E-L" Brielle, "Aws" Dawson, "Mour" more, Bite, Ball, Pool, "Ba" Bath, "Yo me" Your mean!

Projects...Staggering Cabinets...bulk Crown...

When we built our house in 2006 we were so grateful to get anything that we did not upgrade very many things. Concerned about money we took what they gave us and ran with it. Of course we love our home but I also like customizing it. We love our cabinets but so do our other neighbors which is why we all chose these when we built. So our kitchen was not unique at all. It looked like at least three of our neighbors kitchens. I have always thought the huge vault in our kitchen needed something more. So I have always wanted to stagger my cabinets but was intimidated by the thought. Well after throwing the idea around with a friend who is also a DIYer she and I were convinced I could do it and it would be fairly easy. Then I started thinking about painting my existing crown molding black. To add depth and character. Then I remembered a tutorial I had read about bulking up existing cabinet crown molding. DING! DING! My idea was born. (ALL PICTURES ARE IPHONE PICS SO QUALITY REFLECTS THAT)

This is the existing cabinets. Straight across with crown molding. Not bad. I mean by most standards this is very nice. Like I said I love my cabinets so I just wanted some character.

Another view of existing..(already taking decor off hence the box on stove.)

First step, unscrew one cabinet at a time and move up to desired measurement. Super easy only two screws in the wall and one between each cabinet. Notice the microwave and above cabinet were last to raise because felt like I better have hubby home to help with the muscle.

Microwave and above cabinet moved up. So happy with the increased space between stove and microwave now! Feel like I increased square footage.

This is the tutorial I was talking about that gave me the idea....http://nestnestingnested.blogspot.com/2011/03/mouldings-easy-how-to.html

Went to work measuring and building my new bulked up crown molding. I used a base molding flipped upside down as the bottom portion. Crown molding as the top portion. Then a strip of decorative molding as the center strip. Nail gun and wood glue.

Decorative strip....

Finished...now to paint.

Spray painted the first one. Then distressed the decorative strip and added some glaze to the strip to give it an aged look and to add depth. Quickly decided I did not like the spray paint inconsistency so I brushed on new paint and painted the other two by hand also.

I added a 1x2 strip to the top/front of the cabinets to just have a more secure tight fit for the new crown molding. This I think was not a necessary step as I opted not to for the last cabinet and it seems fine.

Middle one IN!!!!!

Was so excited with how awesome it was turning out!!!

Second one in!!!!

Another view....

This corner one was more tricky cutting the crown and base because of the angles. It took me a few tries but then I figured it out.

Since this last pic was taken I have finished the faux finish underneath the cabinets. Started to redecorate above the cabinets and cleared off above my fridge (YIKES) looks bad I know. I need to add the original crown to the two lower cabinets now and it is done. Unfortunately the heat hit before I could finish and I will not but cutting crown molding in my garage in 95degree heat. So it will have to wait.

What do you think???

May Surgeries....

In May, both the boys had ENT surgeries. Dallin to remove his clogged tubes and replace them. Dawson to cauterize his nose and to hopefully stop his profuse nose bleeds.

It is always so calming and makes me so happy to see our friend Dexter visit us. I swear that anytime I have anxiety at this hospital he shows up.

Daddy and Daws playing on Dexter's game machine.

Dallin playing in his favorite toy...the car.

Changed and ready to go....

Dallin after he received his Versed. Which is a medicine to calm them and help with anxiety before surgery. LOVE THIS STUFF.


High baby...:)

After surgery...not happy...

Cutest baby...

Still feeling a little high...hahahaha!!!!

Catch Ups...Girl-BOY, Boy-GIRL

Brielle loves to dress like a boy. I know, weird but I am okay with it....;) So she decided to spread the love this time and put Dallin in her dress.!!! hahahahaha

Cute girl, huh?

Silly kids!!