ORGANIZING FROM WITHIN

I spent today organizing.  Organizing a lot.  But if you look around at my house, you might not be able to tell.  And that's because I tackled something that I haven't really focused on before - our paper storage. AKA the filing cabinet.  AKA where papers go to die.  Okay, that was a little dramatic.
At one time, all of my files were very organized.  That was when I was fresh out of college and had very few things to file.  Fast forward about eight years, and the originally organized system had been reduced to a mess.  I had a few files that were in great shape, mainly our medical bills and our taxes (kind of need that one to be in order), but everything else was a hot mess.  What also happened is that what 23 year old Katie thought was an important paper worth filing, 31 year old Katie realized didn't need to be kept after all.  So today was the day to tackle that.
There really wasn't a method to my madness.  I would just go down to our filing cabinet (which is in the storage part of our unfinished basement, which may be part of the reason I didn't like to spend much time in front of it), retrieve a chunk of stuff that I wanted to sort through, keep what was necessary, and shred the rest. Then repeat the process.  When I was done, this was my damage.

There is one bag hiding in this picture, but in reality, that's seven bags of shredded paperwork.  And a 2+ inch thick stack of file folders that were to be recycled.

Although there is not a lot of visual benefit to this task, it was really rewarding.  I think for me, when things get disorganized, whether it would be drawers, countertops, closets, etc., I get stressed.  Which is interesting, because I am definitely the main clutter causer in our house. But I have been working on cutting clutter for a long time (hello purge process), but this one task has been hanging over my head for quite some time.  And now it's done, and I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I feel like my whole house has been freshly cleaned and organized...even though it's definitely not.  But the weight is off my shoulders, and the next time my house is clean and organized, I'll be able to enjoy it that much more.
To make a productive day seem even more productive, I do have to report that I washed, dried, and/or folded five loads of laundry, ran to the supermarket, unloaded the dishwasher, and did a few other random things around the house.  It probably isn't much to some people, but seriously, I'm thrilled with myself.

TODDLER ACTIVITIES

We are at the age with Mason where the attention span is generally short.  I have found a few things that can consistently keep his attention for about 15-20 minutes (ahem, Toy Story), but I don't like to rely on TV for that too much.  So I have been trying to come up with activities to try with Mason that will be new and fun.  At least for a few minutes.
So I'm sure I saw this on the Internet somewhere, and I'm sure many people have done this before, but for my first activity with Mason, we tried a version of no mess finger painting.
Step 1:  Scoop some paint into a large Ziploc.  In my case, I had some sort of Crayola washable paint, but I'm sure almost anything would work.
Step 2:  Tape to window.
Step 3:  Go to town.

This activity probably lasted us about 15 minutes, which is a win in my book.  We have done it twice so far, and I have to admit the second time wasn't quite as exciting.  But I'm hoping that it was just Mason's mood and that we will be able to do this activity more often.  This is a pretty big change from the kind of craft projects I did before Mason, but that's okay, I'll take this any day.  I am looking forward to finding and trying new activities and projects with my little toddler in mind.  (Note:  water color painting didn't fair so well with us!)

ONE AND A HALF

Today is the day.  Mason is 18 months old.  One and a half.  And for some reason, that is striking me as a real milestone.  You would think I would have had these feelings when he turned one, but at one, I think babies are still babies.  He was walking, but still wobbly.  He was eating on his own, but not very well.  And now, in these past six months, the boy has changed before our very eyes from a baby to a genuine toddler.  Here are some of my general thoughts and reflections on who we like to affectionately call "the boy"... 

You have so much energy.  Just watching you run (not walk, full on run) from room to room or toy to toy wears me out.
You love trains, especially Thomas.  You play with trains every day at your sitter's house and then all night and weekend long with us.
You are getting more and more words every day.  For awhile I thought you would never speak, but rather only communicate in animal noises the rest of your life.  You have proven me wrong, and now you regularly say Mama, Dada, Gramma (arguably the funniest one!), Grampa, Papa, Bebe (my sister Betsy), Minnie, shoes, cheese, choo choo, uh oh, football, and basketball.  You didn't learn those sports words from us, kid. 
Speaking of animal noises, you have those down, too.  You know lion, tiger, bear, dog, cat, owl, birdie, goose, sheep, cow, horse, fish (the best), elephant, giraffe (the other best), crab, seahorse, and snake. You know what each of these animals are and can identify them in books as well as a frog, duck, and raccoon. 
When you eat, you take a bite and then throw your fork or spoon on the floor immediately.  We are working on that.  Because of this, we haven't pushed their use, but recently you fed yourself a couple of bowls of cereal as well as applesauce, and you kept your spoon in hand! 
You are very romantic.  When I ask if I can have a kiss you turn around and lean back with these romantic eyes and give the best open mouth kisses.  We are going to have to talk to you and address your technique before high school, though. 
You still don't sleep through the night.  And you know how to be naughty.  Yes, you really know how to be naughty.  For example, sometimes you hit the dog.  When you have done it time and time again and haven't listened to me, I will tell you, "Mason if you hit her again you are going to get a spanking."  So what do you do?  You hit her, incredibly softly. I am constantly finding myself having to decide if you did something wrong or if you are just tricking me.  Sometimes I just look at you and tell you that we had you to make all of our parenting mistakes on so that if we have additional children, they will be perfect. 

I received what I think is a complement from a coworker (which was later told to me by my boss).  He was commenting to her that I must just really love my son, because not a conversation goes by where I don't bring him up in one way or another.  It's true.  I am obsessed with that kid.  Even the naughty and challenging parts.  Mason, you have made us laugh, cry, and everything in between since the day you were born.  You are just incredible.  And you are getting so big.  Could you stop that, please?  Just stay little. 

TWAS A GREAT CHRISTMAS

It is now the new year, and I am overdue on my Christmas recap.  Quite honestly, I'm overdue on a lot of recaps, or just posts in general, but this one will have to do.  Christmas this year was both fun and trying at times with a toddler who is into everything.  I don't have many pictures, but you may notice in them that my tree was only decorated where little hands can't reach.  Although there were several tears shed about not being able to touch the pretty ornaments at free will, I still wouldn't change his curiosity for anything.

The little munchkin received the cutest Christmas jams you ever did see. You can barely see it in the picture, but under his elbow is a santa. Mason knows what Santa says, too, and can usually identify him. Listening to him say "ho...ho...ho" with the big pause in between each syllable is super cute (O is his favorite letter, which is may be why this was easy to teach him).
Christmas morning, we opened our presents in the dark.  Mason's big Christmas gift was his train set, which we knew would be a hit since he loves the set at his sitter's.  We set it up after he went to bed the night before, so that it would be right there for him in the morning.  Groggy Mason lasted for about a minute, and when his mind registered what was in front of him, he went right to work.

I have to share this next picture, too, because there is a funny story to go with it (at least to me).  Our laptop battery is dying, and a while before Christmas, Byron had said just to make the new battery his gift. Right.  I had already been stashing away extra money for an entire year because I knew I was going to get him an iPad.  But I didn't let on. However, the first time they tried to deliver it, I wasn't there and hadn't left the proper forms to receive it, so a note was left at our door that they had tried to deliver packages...from Apple.  And of course Byron read it.  So I still didn't let on.  And even when Mason had taken the wrapped present and essentially launched it off his high chair and Byron freaked out because it could be breakable, I still didn't let on.  Freaked out on the inside but maintained an "ain't no thang" composure on the outside. So when Christmas morning arrived, Byron totally thought he was getting a battery for a gift. When he opened this up, he said in a tone like he already knew what it was, "Oh yay, it's a - what?  Is this what it really is?"  Yes.  I totally surprised him.

And those were my highlights.  Yes, we had more family around, more presents to open, and more good times to celebrate, but those two people (and of course Minnie) are my world.  I really enjoy just being with them, and this past week and a half without work has been such a special time.
The last snapshot of our Christmas is the view of the tree that ended all of my recent nights.  I am no photographer, and I can't achieve the beautiful bokeh you will see other places, but this is still special to me.

I hope that everyone had a merry Christmas and is looking forward with hope to the new year.  I hope to share some of my own thoughts and resolutions for the new year soon!

STOCKINGS

Now that we are officially past Thanksgiving (and survived), I am in preparation mode for Christmas.  Making these stockings was something that I had been wanting to do for a long time, and admittedly, I have been doing it for a long time.  You are really going to laugh at me as I tell you the back story on this little project.  I think I bought the fabric and found the pattern to make these three or four years ago.  I had them cut out two Christmases ago, but didn't get them sewn together in finished state until last year.  Oh, except for one little thing - there wasn't a way to hang them.  But now, after a grueling four year process, I can finally call them complete.  Tada!

Yes, I am displaying them in the bathroom, but that was the only place I had readily available hooks.  I think I'm going to go the Command Hook route (easy) and since we don't have a fireplace, I'll just hang them on our console (last seen here), though if little hands start to get too curious, they might have to move.
The tree went up yesterday, and this year I went with the "no color" color scheme (mostly clear, gold, and silver ornaments).  I'll have to get a picture up of if for sure.  It is funny because I only decorated the top half, again, because of curious little hands.  I really hope that I have time to work on a bit more decorating and holiday crafting.  I have a fabulous (in my opinion) idea (thanks, Pinterest) for ornaments and I would love to make initial tags for our stockings, too!

A THANKSGIVING TO REMEMBER

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  This year, we spent most of our Thanksgiving holiday in an unexpected place - the ER.  Yes, a few days prior to Thanksgiving, Mason had developed a little cold, and it progressed worse to the point that he was having severely labored breathing, vomiting, and our nebulizer at home couldn't provide him enough relief.  I spoke to the on call doctor around 11, and she said if things didn't pick up after one more breathing treatment to go ahead and bring him in.  To the ER.  Ugh.  We gave him the treatment and it just didn't last, so in to the hospital we went.  The ironic thing is that Byron had decided that we should eat at noon this year, when we are normally 2-3 pm type of people, so at least we got a good meal in before the real adventure started.
Fortunately, my dad, Mason's BFF, went with us.  They checked us in fairly quickly and the doctor was able to treat Mason with steroids and stronger breathing treatments.  He perked up pretty well, but they still kept us around for almost six hours before finally letting us go home.

Look how cute he was!  Thankfully the ER had a Thomas video and some toys for us to play with.  Keeping this normally very active toddler corralled in a hospital bed was pretty challenging, especially when connected to a toe monitor.  Grandpa was a huge help to us and we are very thankful he gave up some of his relaxation time to be with us. Fortunately, they let us go home that evening.  We did have to do round the clock breathing treatments, so those middle of the night alarms and the fact that Mason stayed up from 3:30 am were a bit of a challenge, but I am very grateful that we weren't in the ER for anything worse!

A LITTLE SWITCHEROO

I got a wild hair and decided to make a small switcheroo in our house. So what once lived here...

Now lives here...

We needed something to make this area look more intentional, so I just centered the art on the wall and bada-bing, bada-boom, there you go. (Do you like the toys and playing child that I didn't move out of the way?)  So far, I like it.  I am thinking about putting some shelves up where that print used to be.  But they would definitely have to be high enough that the little adventurer in our life doesn't try to climb them.  I know I saw a picture of something similar recently.  Must be the picture in my mind!