Passion for Repurpose

This entire year has been the longest of my life, I think, but October seemed like it would never end. We didn’t go trick or treating but Quinn still got dressed up for Halloween and watched the other kids walking by Aunt Lori and Uncle Greg’s house to get candy from Haleigh. He’s the cutest BB-8 I’ve ever seen, even though he wasn’t a fan of his headpiece 😄. 

It’s finally November and since the stores have been putting Christmas stuff out since early October, I guess it’s Christmas season. I wanted to take cute pics of Quinn and get our Christmas cards ordered but that hasn’t worked out thus far. He needed a haircut so Philip attempted to cut it two weeks ago. He did a good job but cutting a baby/toddler’s hair is a multi-step process and the back still needs some taken off. Around his ears is all jacked up because I tried to cut it and he did not hold still 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️. The day before I planned to attempt a photoshoot, he must have skinned his nose on the rug outside because he had a nice big scab for several days. That delayed my venture, of course. When I finally did take a crack at it, he was in a terrible mood and I got one good photo. I’m hoping this week we’ll have more luck. 

I told you all about lowering our bed last time and that’s been working out great, but I also converted his bed into a toddler bed, hoping to entice him into wanting in it. It didn’t work 😂. However, he does enjoy playing in it so maybe one day 🤷🏻‍♀️. I lay with him in our bed at bed time until he falls asleep, and then I create a “baby nest” by surrounding him with pillows, believing those will stop him from rolling out of bed. This may or may not be true but it makes me feel better anyway. It would be so much easier to slip away once he’s asleep if he didn’t always have a body part touching me. I think he was onto me the other night because when I tried easing away from him, he would fling a leg over me or scooch back up against me 🤣. Once he’s out he sleeps through the night but getting him there can be a battle sometimes. He still usually naps twice a day and when he hasn’t taken his afternoon nap by 4, I start to get anxious because we walk the dogs when Philip gets off work and strolling is a surefire way to put him to sleep. Naps after 5pm mean a late bedtime, something neither of us parents want 😂. Riding in the car will also usually knock him out so if you see me appearing to be driving around aimlessly, I may or may not be scheming to get my kid to nap 🤷🏻‍♀️. 

I hate when the time changes and it gets dark at 5:30. That will make walking the girls difficult. It’s also getting colder and a certain little boy doesn’t like to keep anything on his feet 🙄. I had to change him into footie pajamas to walk the other day so that his feet would stay warm. He’ll want his shoes on to go but about as soon as we get out of the driveway he’s trying to take them off. I bring a blanket but he won’t leave that on his feet either 🙄. So if you see us out and my kid has bare feet, just know that I tried 🤷🏻‍♀️. He loves to wear his shoes inside though. He still brings them to one of us several times a day wanting them on, only to be taken off a few minutes later. You shouldn’t assume that just because he wants one taken off, he wants them both off. That would be silly and most likely result in a screaming protest 🙄. 

Having no problem wearing his shoes inside 🙄 

Holding Dad’s finger on our walk 😍. 

He’s been in a good mood lately, which I obviously prefer, and that makes him fun. He enjoys pouring, stacking, and destroying things. Ya know, fun stuff. He’s been giving us his “snoot” face often and has even evolved it into a “flying snoot,” where he turns his head and then brings it back around in a snoot 🤣. He steals anything he can reach, gives you a look to make sure you know, and then runs away, usually to hide in the corner in the living room. This is especially true when he finds a piece of dog food on the floor 🤦🏻‍♀️. As soon as I catch him, he spits it into my hand. That is, if he hasn’t already chewed it up 🤮. I think we may be missing out because that kid loves any food with lots of flavor and he sure does enjoy sneaking dog food any chance he gets 🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m not gonna try it but I’m just sayin’. 

He stole the lid to my water bottle while I was filling it up and then ran to his hiding spot 😆. 

Snooting 

Quinn’s becoming more independent with eating, using a spoon with little spilling and stabbing with a fork. When we give him a taste of something and ask if it’s good, he gives an emphatic nod of approval if he likes it. Or sometimes he shakes his head “no,” even if he likes it 🤪. His expressive “yes” is super cute though and we laugh when he does it. We also laugh when he dances because he has recently learned to do it while standing and it’s precious. 

He can use utensils but eating steak with your hands just sounds like more fun, doesn’t it? 🤦🏻‍♀️🙄😆 He stole that right off of my plate. 

See? 😉

He’s becoming such a good helper, putting groceries away, throwing things in the trash (that may or may not belong in the trash 🤦🏻‍♀️), transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer, etc. Our washer and dryer are in the basement and the door is kept closed. He loves going down there but resists coming back up. Philip’s office is in the basement so I try to get Quinn to go back upstairs without a tantrum so that he doesn’t disturb him. One tactic I’ve used is letting him “ride” in the laundry basket with the clean clothes I’m taking up with me. He loves doing that, however, he doesn’t always wait for me to finish folding the clothes before he decides he’s ready to go and just crawls on in the basket 🤦🏻‍♀️. Speaking of clothes, I had him dressed in a cute outfit the other day when we went to my brother’s house so that Lori could watch Quinn while I went to the eye doctor. My niece commented about how his socks matched his outfit and I said, “yeah, you know why his socks match his outfit? Because I dressed him. If Uncle Philip had dressed him, his socks would be unlikely to match each other.” Philip doesn’t like his socks rolled together so when I put them away, they go into a section of his drawer all willy nilly. He chooses socks at random and doesn’t care if they match each other. Hell, he doesn’t care if they’re fully intact as he often wears socks with holes in them, at least until I notice and throw them away 🙄. Anyway, he knows this is a pet peeve of mine, of course, so he intentionally mismatched Quinn’s socks (mind you, I do mate and roll Quinn’s and my socks so he had to do more work to put on two that didn’t match 🙄) when we going to my brother’s house another time. He made sure I knew and put Quinn’s shoes on over them before I could change them. I went to get one of the mates to take with me to change then when I took his shoes off but he stole it out of my pocket and pretended to get one wet in the sink 🤬. I took Quinn in his disheveled state but I removed them as soon as we got there 😉. Philip’s so ridiculous. He (and maybe you) claims that I’m the ridiculous one but he’s (you’re) wrong 🤪. He also intentionally dressed him in mismatched pajamas tonight. Those will get changed first thing in the morning. 

He’s still cute but...

Doing laundry 😊

Watching a train go by after his ride in the laundry basket 🤣. 

Mopping under the table after watching me do it 😍. 

Making dinner 😉. He insists I get these out for him all the time—mixer, air fryer, and waffle iron. He played putting condiment packets from restaurants in them for at least 15 minutes 😂. 

I’m excited that this week brings Election Day and the end to all the campaign bullshit. I wish the reward for voting early was that you no longer had to hear or see campaign ads. I’ve been getting so many texts and calls. LEAVE. ME. ALONE. Seriously. 

I went to a funeral this week. My Uncle Ralph’s wife, Carilyn, passed away. I was nervous about going amid a pandemic, as funerals are ripe for hugging and germ spreading. Every person except one wore their mask the entire time though and I tried to stay away from that one relative who can’t follow directions. As Big Jim says, just “F***ing Follow the Guidelines!” Seriously. Anyway, as funerals tend to, it was a reminder that we should always tell people how you feel (if you have something nice to say. Otherwise, just shut it). I thought about my one great aunt and who almost always show up for everyone’s events to support them—baby showers, reunions, birthday parties, even funerals during a deadly pandemic. I notice and appreciate that. A lot, actually. So if you’re reading this, Aunt Linda Ebert, thank you. I hadn’t spoken to my aunt Carilyn in a while. The last time I saw her may have been at my baby shower. I’m really not sure. We used to spend holidays together but then they made other plans a few years ago and that was okay. My uncle called me to tell me about her passing and it just meant a lot to me that he still thought to tell me when I hadn’t really been in touch with them for a while. It’s easy to forget about people as we get lost in our everyday lives. 2020 has been a roller coaster but I hope we remember what we learn during these difficult times. I know I’ll try my best. 

Anyway, it’s a 2for1 kind of night because I finished Quinn’s kitchen and have another repurpose to share. I had a ton of bottle lids from my breast pump bottles. I never used them (not that that matters) because I didn’t store the milk in the those bottles after I pumped but I kept them thinking I could do something with them. Most of the bottles got tossed though; couldn’t recycle due to COVID 😔. I used them to make a game for Quinn. I printed pictures of family members and adopted family members and put them in the lids, and then I covered them with resin so they wouldn’t come out. We’ll use them to practice identifying people, saying names, following directions to find specific people, grouping boys and girls, and possibly using them for a fishing game. 

Lid pictures

Finished kitchen 😊. I mounted his microwave over the stove. The paint has gotten scratched some from play so I’m going to touch it up and put mod podge on it. 

Wipe container for sink, PVC pieces for faucet and handles. Painted with metallic spray paint. Aside from the price of the drawers, which I didn’t purchase for this purpose so I’m not counting them, I have about $10 invested in this makeover. 

The girls are doing well. They’re goofy as ever. The other day they held me hostage in the bathroom, trying to extort a toilet paper tube from me. They have an unnatural love for cardboard. 

I finally get the baby to bed and still can’t go in the bathroom alone 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️  


Sophie likes to sleep in our already crowded bed. I try to tuck her in on the couch to convince her to stay. It sometimes works but usually doesn’t 😩😝

Sansa is a multipurpose dog—she serves as a pillow, a stepping stool 🤦🏻‍♀️, and a vacuum. Seriously, one of the best things about having a dog is not having to clean up all the food a toddler throws in the floor 🤣. 

She really is comfortable 😍

I have no words. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Stay safe. Do your civic duty and vote tomorrow so we can get this damn election over with and move on with our lives.