To Samuel: Year 1

I have already written 3 letters to Luke, now I can't believe I'm writing my first one to Sam! How he got so big, so fast is a mystery to me.

My sweet baby Samuel,
I have never known a baby that is as loving and stubborn at the same time as you are. You already know exactly what you want, you want it right now (you got that from your mama!), and if you don't get your way, everyone knows about it! But you have the biggest smiles for your favorite people: mommy, daddy, Luke, and your grandparents. You are a complete mama's boy, and I totally love that! You hate to be put down. You always want me to carry you around, which gets kind of tiring, but the fact that you love me so much makes me enjoy you clinging to my legs.

Some of your favorite things right now are your blankie and pacifiers. Giving up pacifiers is not going to be easy, I have a feeling. You also love climbing up and down everything. You love cars and you can already make car noises while you're driving them around. You like to "race" Luke around, you pushing your walker and Luke pulling his suitcase. Or basically doing everything Luke does. I'm pretty sure you like to get into trouble. You know what you're not supposed to do and continue to do it, even after being told no. You loooove being in the bathroom, mostly because you're not supposed to be in there. You love food, but mostly starchy foods (like bread, pancakes and macaroni) and fruit. It's become a challenge to get you to eat meat or veggies. You eat a banana every morning and I think that would be classified as your favorite food! You LOVE to be outside. Anytime you can, you race for a door that's opened.

I hate that you've already had to have surgery. Your tear ducts were blocked, and the in-office procedure didn't work, so you had to go under general anesthesia and get tubes put in. It made me very sad to know that you had to do this, but you were a trooper and did perfectly fine!

You can already say several words. Your favorite phrase is "uh oh" as you purposely drop things on the ground. You can also say "mama," "dada," "nana," (banana), "bye bye."

I am so in love with you, your big blue eyes, the way you love me and snuggle me, and even your stubbornness. I love that you have such a big personality at such a young age. And I pray that God will use you in mighty ways. That you will be a man of God, following his path for you.

Love you,
Mommy

Cleaning Schedule

I don't know about you all, but my life keeps getting more and more hectic. And with the chaos that comes with running a house, keeping a toddler entertained and fed, and a very mobile 7 month old out of mischief, I find my household chores getting pushed to the back burner and just plain forgotten about. Which is ironic because I hate, hate, hate living in a dirty house! So I came up with a plan.

I've seen lots of cleaning schedules on Pinterest, but none of the ones I looked at worked for me and what I wanted my week to look like. So I made my own and wanted to share it with you.

I even made it look pretty so I can print it and put it on my fridge.  Click here for a printable version of the cleaning schedule. 

Here's the breakdown: 

The things I do every day include making the beds, loading the dishwasher and running it so the dishes are clean for the next day, putting dishes away in the morning, and a general picking up (which for me is mostly toys, papers, and random clothes that get left out)

On Mondays, I pay bills and do the budget so I am up to date for the week, menu plan (once a month, see post here!), and grocery shop if I need to.

Tuesdays are devoted to the kitchen. Clean the counters, the microwave (if needed), the stove top, empty out old food in refrigerator and clean it, and bleach the sink.

Wednesdays are bathroom days. Clean the toilet (inside and out!), sink, shower, bathtub, and mirror.

I like to do all my laundry at once. I know that a lot of people like doing a load every day, but I get so frustrated if it seems like I'm not making progress on the mountain of it. So, Thursdays are laundry day. Wash, dry, fold, and put away. This is also my day to change the sheets on the bed so they can be washed.

Fridays are general cleaning. Vacuum the bedrooms and the rug in the living room, sweep and mop the wood and tile floors, and dust the living room, dining room and bedrooms.

Saturdays and Sundays are reserved for special projects around the house that my husband and I can do together, like building a mudroom bench (in progress!), cleaning windows, washing the couch covers, mowing and weeding, etc.

Do you have a cleaning schedule you stick to? Did I forget anything?

Under the Bed Play Table

Our latest project was an under the bed play table. I've seen this one floating around Pinterest and loved the idea! A play table, toy storage, and it doesn't take up any floor space. What's not to love, right? So I showed my husband the idea last night and he said, why don't we just take the train table we have and convert it? (He's a genius, I tell you.) Plus, we had taken the train table down a few months ago to have more floor space in Luke's room and it was just sitting in our storage closet. So, double bonus! New table for Luke and more storage space for me.

This is the only before picture I could find.

The only money we spent was to buy some castor wheels (and a couple of screws to put the handles on the drawers).

We simply cut the legs off, so the table was flat.

Then screwed some wood inside and attached the castor wheels. Voila! Now it rolls right out from under the bed when we want to play with it, and right back under the bed when we're done.

My genius husband had another idea to paint the back side of the table top in chalkboard paint (on another night). Then we can draw our own roads and houses!

What do you think?