Passion for Repurpose

My goodbye cake from work 😭. 

Everyone wants to know how being a stay at home mom is going. Well, I was questioning this decision on Day 2 when Quinn had spent approximately 36 hours attached to my hip like a baby shaped appendage. The extra clingy days are rough. Really though, I haven’t yet gotten to experience a full week of my new normal. My last day at work was on a Wednesday and this past week Philip took vacation days for most of the week. I’ll have to report back. Someone should probably check in on me though in the meantime; Quinn is developing some super annoying habits 🤣. Like anytime I sit on the floor with him or just crouch down to do anything (including picking up messes that he’s made 🤦🏻‍♀️), he tries to push me over. He gets mad if I don’t let him but if I do, he lifts up my shirt and pokes my belly button 🙄. He has started pushing Philip, the dogs, and other children, too. He thinks it’s hilarious. We thought it was funny when he tortured Soph a bit with trying to grab her tail but now he’s doing it to Sansa also. Her tail is a much bigger target and he’s a much better walker so he can get a pretty good hold. She tries to ditch him but he just holds on for the ride like he’s on a mechanical bull. She whips him around pretty good sometimes. We’re trying to stop this “game” because he could actually hurt her tail and not to mention, she takes enough of his shit 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

Don’t let that cute face fool you. 

As if having a baby attached to me 24/7 isn’t draining enough, when I sit down on the floor to play with him, I have another baby who demands my attention:

🙄🙄🙄. 

Sometimes when he falls down he just lays there all dramatic like and waits for someone to pick him up. I know the saying goes, “Save the drama for your mama,” but no thanks, I’m good 😉.

He fell by slipping on the bath toys he dumped all over the the floor and then laid there expecting me to pick him up. We had a talk about natural consequences 😂. 

He was tired 🙄😂. 

He climbs on EVERYTHING. A few weeks ago I had moved the chair outside to avoid the sun and he saw that as a prime opportunity to use it as a step to get onto the hot tub cover 🙀. Luckily we were right there when he decided to try it or that could have ended badly. He constantly wants put on the furniture and hits the cushion with both hands to indicate that he wants up. I made him stairs by stacking two aerobics steps so that he can get on the chair by himself. Sansa wishes I didn’t, I’m sure 😂. 

 He discovered he can drag stuff so things go missing all the time—the hamper, a bag of trash (filled with styrofoam and cardboard only, luckily), empty boxes, etc. 

Just dragging his bag of trash around the house 🤦🏻‍♀️.
This ended in a time out because he got so upset with me when I took it that he smacked me in the face. 🤬😩

Bedtime is still a mess and evolving. I’ve started taking him into our bed to put him to sleep because rocking him usually results in him flopping all over me like a fish out of water, trying to get comfortable. Once he falls asleep I take him to his crib, where he sleeps until he wakes up and then comes back to our bed 🤦🏻‍♀️. Ugh. Someone tell me he won’t sleep with us forever 🙏🏻🤞🏻. The other night I woke up because he had crawled up on top of me to sleep. In my sleep disturbed state I started thinking about koalas and how grateful I am to not be a marsupial because he would be all up in my pouch 😂🤷🏻‍♀️.

My bedtime view 🤦🏻‍♀️

I do love those nap time snuggles though 😍. 

He does have some habits that are cute and not irritating, like anytime he sees a bink, he automatically has to switch it out with the one that’s in his mouth. He knows where we keep them—assuming they aren’t all lost, which is typical most days—and he’ll go to the edge of the counter and grunt until we let him pick a new one 😂. He has learned how to play hide and seek, usually being the seeker but will sometimes crouch down behind the ottoman when told to hide. When you ask him where someone went, like when they’re hiding, he’ll stick his arms out in a shrug, as if saying, “I don’t know” before he goes to look for them. He loves to put hats on his head. Well, he loves to have *us* put hats on his head. He walks around all proud of himself 😂. 

This is like the 4th pic of him in these pajamas and they’re not all from the same day. Apparently he’s extra dramatic when he wears them. Noted. lol 

He waves to EVERYONE. It’s fun to see how people react to him. Most light up, smiling and waving back. We were on our front porch the other day and he saw two women walking at the end of the block. He waved to them until they got in front of our house. He’s a pretty persistent waver. For some reason he likes to hit his ribs and insists on us imitating him. It makes him laugh when we do it back. He’s also just generally super adorable and lovable. He’s really into giving kisses now, too 🥰. 

Being at home has sparked my creativity, mostly because I’d go crazy if I didn’t have a project to focus on (aside from, ya know, keeping that baby alive and all 😉). That brings me to my repurpose project and I’m super excited about it. It’s actually not finished, which would usually mean I wouldn’t show you just yet but I’m going to. It’s the first and there will be a second and possibly a third. It started because I wanted to get Quinn a kitchen set. After some searching I couldn’t find one I liked so I decided I could probably just make him one. I looked on Pinterest (of course) and that gave me some ideas. I had a set of plastic drawers that I wasn’t using anymore so I transformed it into a play stove. I painted the frame and drawers and used my Cricut to cut vinyl for the “burners” and oven “window.” Aside from buying handles, I didn’t put any money into it since I had all of the other supplies. I’ll be turning a second one into a sink using a wipe container and leftover PVC parts. Philip assisted today with cutting a hole in the top for the wipe container to drop down in.  I hope to show you the finished product in my next post! 

I still need some knobs though so if anyone has some old ones they want to get rid of, I’d be glad to take them 😉. 

Quinn loves to play with kitchen utensils. Our morning routine includes emptying the dishwasher while I make my pour over coffee. He always grabs a rubber spatula, spoon, or whatever he can get his hands on. He has learned to open drawers and loves the one with measuring cups. This is what kept him occupied for a bit this morning:

Yep, that mess is Quinn made. 

I need some help. Our diaper bin is the grossest smelling thing. It does ~okay~ containing the smell when the lid is closed (mostly) but opening it to put a new diaper in is gag worthy. Philip’s solution to anything stinky is to breathe through his mouth like Darth Vader. However, I prefer to use the natural filtration system in my nose and keep the poop particles out of my mouth. This, of course, means I have to smell it and I have an unusual relationship between my mood and olfactory glands, meaning I get ridiculously annoyed when I smell something unpleasant. Like it pisses me off, for real 😂. So someone, please, please, give me some tips on how to reduce the awful smell of baby shit. Anyone??