Ottoman Makeover

Our coffee table has seen better days! We bought it for a whole 50 dollars 5.5 years ago when we got married. It has served us well but it was definitely in need of some TLC. I have always wanted to turn it into an ottoman but I had no confidence in my ability. Well, the combination of a new sectional making the coffee table look even worse and Lincoln becoming more mobile we decided it was time to make a change. We figured that even if we messed it couldn't look any worse than it did now.

I went searching on the internet and found this as my "inspiration" piece. The part I like the best is the type of fabric (looks durable) and the tufted style on top. The negative about this is that it cost 115 dollars and I'm cheap, working part-time, buyin' formula and I'm not interested in spending that much money on this piece. So, we set off to convert ours.

Here is the before picture of our coffee table:

Our coffee table has an edge around it that sticks up about two inches tall. In order to "build up" the middle we decided to purchase a piece of plywood that would help make the middle section level with the edges. We glued it down with some gorilla glue.


Next, in order to make the coffe table "tufted" we had to drill holes before we covered it in foam and fabric. My lovely assistant drilling the holes for me.

Next we covered the whole thing in foam. This is the part I would have done differently if 'do-overs" were possible. We bought a piece that was long enough but not wide enough. We cut the extra off our ends that we did not need and pieced it on the sides. In the end it made the sides a little lumpy and they are not the "lovely lumps" that the song refers to.






I covered the buttons with the same fabric, threaded them throw the pre-drilled holes and then used washers to tie them off underneath. And here is the finished project!

We did this project in October and we are so glad we did. It was right as Lincoln was learning to pull up. This has helped with some softer landings in his pulling up and now his walking. It has held up well too. After totalling the expense, I think this cost us about 50-75 dollars to make over. We are quite proud of our handy work.

For Pop-pa

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Showering Baby Rowin.

On January 2nd we threw a baby shower for Beka and her bundle of baby boy. She is due February 12th which is the day after (gulp) Lincoln's first birthday. It has been fun to watch her be pregnant because she is literally pregnant the exact same time I was last year. The shower was at Beka's sister-in-law Erin's house which (by the way) is the cutest house! Here are some snapshots of the decorations -- they were a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e

All of the hostesses with the mostess. Can I say that since I was one? O well, guess I can since its my blog! Ha!

Me with the b.e.a.-utiful mom-to-be.

Baby Rowin Conner will be a blessed little guy to have Beka and the soon-to-be Dr. Conner (graduating from dental school in May) as his parents. Exciting days are ahead for this little family! We love you Conners!!!

I Walk the Line

Our little Johnny Cash dressed in his all black demonstrating his version of Walking the Line. Here are 4 videos cut and pasted into one to show Lincoln's latest walking skills.

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Eleven Months Old. {on 1/11/11)

How fun is it to turn eleven months old on 1/11/11. I can hardly believe the big "ONE" year old is around the corner. Cory was looking at Lincoln's hospital picture last night and he was said "that seems like so long ago." It seems like so long ago in one moment and in other moments it seems like yesterday. We are so blessed to have a handsome, healthy and happy baby boy and not a day goes by that we are not grateful.

I have been asked by several people how I keep Lincoln from attacking the blocks each month. Truth be told, this photo shoot became a group effort around 5 months. Cory takes the picture and I use real car keys (Lincoln's favorite) and shake them above Cory's head to get him to smile. It works for about 4 seconds, he attacks the blocks and then we take a break for me to reset them and do it all over again. We repeat this cycle, on average, about 3 times each month. Ha! Good memories. Here are this months outtakes for your enjoyment.

And here is the winner! 11 month stats:

• He is about 29.5 inches long and weighs about 22 pounds.
• He is still wearing size 3 diapers during the day and size 4 at night.
• He can still wear some 6-9 months clothing but it is starting to be mainly all 12 month clothing
• His shoe size is about a 3-4
• He takes 2 naps a day -- morning 9:00 and afternoon 1:30. The morning one is often 2 hours and the afternoon about 1.5 hours.
• He goes to bed usually around 7:30 a.m. and wakes up at 7:00 a.m. And he now sleeps in a sleep sack b/c he does not like to be cold.
• He has had some waking at night in the last month but I think the holiday festivities, off scheduled and strange beds threw him off. He has done great now that we have been home for a while.
• He pretty much eats only table food now -- LOVES grilled chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, deli meat, diced fruit (all kinds), mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, yogurt melts, puffs, banana nut cheerios, some applesauce and baby food on occasion
• He still drinks 4 bottles a day. He LOVES the bottle. The coming month or two will be sad as we transition him away from that.
• He drinks from a sippy cup like a pro and loves to drink water; maybe that is b/c that is all we have let him drink! Ha.
• He just got his 7th tooth (its on the bottom) and I think I can feel the 8th one (also on the bottom) but not see it yet.
• He can stand up on his own without holding on to anything AND on January 4th as we were waiting for the Sugar Bowl to start he took two tiny steps towards me from the ottoman. He will only take steps towards me or Cory but not on his own towards on object or anything.
• He cruises furniture very well and crawls super fast
• He loves his "lovie" and when you lay it out on the ground he crawls over to it and lays on it until you say "Awww...sweet baby Lincoln" and then he pops up and giggles.

• His favorite toys: ANY type of push toy or he will just some toys into a push toy, balls, cars, books and the mesh-food feeder with a piece of ice in it to chew on
  
  

• Dislikes/Scared of: men, the oven mit b/c Cory uses it as a puppet and the snowman we have placed in front of the TV to scare him away from pushing all the buttons
• His words -- mama, dada, hi (with a wave), bye-bye (with a wave)
• He loves to wave and say hi to random strangers in the store while riding in the shopping cart.
• He signs -- all done and claps for "more." We are working on teaching him the signs for please and thank you
• He loves to hand things back and forth
• He had tubes put in this month and I can tell a big difference. Now when he gets a congested nose it doesn't automatically turn into an ear infection but rather clears up after a day or two of saline spray.
  

• He celebrated and loved his first Christmas
  

• He is not a fan of Santa.

• He went to his first Razorback sporting event this month -- basketball game vs. Tennessee. Razorbacks won.

Lincoln, Lincoln

I can hardly believe it has been 11 whole months! Where has the time gone? You have recently begun pointing at objects and babbling a word as if you are naming the object. You do not enjoy being alone. You will play by yourself for a little bit but then you crawl around to find us. You are extremely interested in what we are doing and stand at our leg waiting to be picked up so you can see what we are doing. You love for us to play with you on the floor. You do not always want us to play with you but you do want us to at least be IN the room with you while you play. When strangers talk to you you will turn your eye brows down at them. You are extremely observant and curious about your surroundings at all times. You love to look at and play with other babies and children. You are getting soo big and we could not be any prouder of you!

Love, Mommy and Daddy.

Lincoln's first attempts at walking

On January 4th while we were waiting in the Sugar Bowl to start Lincoln took 2 steps from the ottoman to me. Cory and I both looked at each other on shock. We are counting that as his first steps! We shot these videos tonight in an attempt to catch it on video tape. These are some very short video tapes for the fam to see him in action. He can actually do a little better than these videos but this is all we were able to get on tape. Enjoy!

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Pig Soooiieee

On Saturday, we took Lincoln to his first Razorback basketball game. He was amazed at everything! He sat for the first several minutes taking it all in.

He would clap when the fans clapped

He would point at the court and look at us like "What are they doing?"

He definitely loved all the timeout activities but became bored when there was not as much action as he wanted. He was easily distracted and hard to get a picture with. :)

The last 8 minutes on the clock he became pretty fidgety and wanted down to crawl and explore. Since that was a gross option we didn't want him to do that so we took turns standing up with him and walking around. All and all it was a very fun afternoon. We look forward to more games with him. O. And the Razorbacks won. They beat Tennessee and it was a GREAT game.

Somebody loves their daddy!

Tonight I was practicing with Lincoln on saying mama and every time I would say mama he would say dada! I was getting no mommy-love tonight! Needless to say -- Lincoln loves Cory a lot!

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Christmas 2010 {Part two}

After Christmas we headed to P-town to have Christmas at Mimi (Cory's mom) and Poppy's house. Pretty soon after we hit the door there it was non-stop action. Cory's twin brother and his family -- Cody, Jessica and their two daughters Mady (2.5 years old) and Lucy (7 months old) also joined us. So, three babies 2 and under means that there was always something going on!

It went something like this with the three of them -- Mady wanting to hug and love on Lincoln, and Lincoln on her, Mady telling Lincoln what to do and what not to do (ha!) and then Lincoln trying to play "with" Lucy by taking her toys, pulling her hair and laying on her. We had stay on top of it to make sure they had fun and not tears were happening! Ha! With all of this going on we were lucky to get ANY pictures! When I got home and looked at the pics I only had ones of the babies. We didn't even think to get together for a group shot or anything! O well, we got some good ones at Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures from our time there.

Lincoln playing us some Christmas songs!

Photo opt in front of Mimi's tree.

Lincoln with a little Santa on his bottom! Love these pants!


Sweet Lucy-Pie playing with her toys.


Exhibit HH: Lincoln taking the toy from Lucy! Ha! Mady with her new rain boots. She enjoyed walking around with just one of them on for some crazy reason!
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Lincoln got 2 push toys and to say that he LOVES them would be a total understatement. This picture definitely captures his excitement!

The babies playing together!