Thursday, March 29, 2012

Dear Harper,

Dear Harper,

You light up my life. Every day you manage to do something that amazes me. You are the most independent, intelligent, and strong-willed baby boy I have ever come across. If you want something, you figure out how to get it. It is pretty incredible really. You can climb on top of the dining room table and place yourself in your seat. You can get up the rock wall on the swing set and put yourself down the slide. You have figured out how to hold your little tee ball bat properly and already have a great swing. You open the kitchen pantry, grab your treat of choice, open the box, and feed yourself. You really love Girl Scout cookies but who can blame you? (Your mama was a girl scout for 10 years.)


Every morning you wake up and I go grab you out of your crib. You reach up at me and smile with those incredibly adorable dimples and my heart just melts. I bring you into our room and we cuddle up and watch a "movie." Yes, any time you see a television you point, smile, and say "movie" over and over until we turn on a cartoon. And you can't be fooled... if we dare put on a show that we want to watch you know the difference and grab the remote and try to change it yourself.

Watching you grow up is so rewarding but I wish it would slow down a bit. You still have your sweet, quiet, and cuddly moments but for the most part you want to go, go, go! You have so much energy! If I sit you down at the park you usually want to run as fast as you can down hills and in the opposite direction I am going.

It is fun seeing parts of me and parts of your daddy in your appearance and personality. Most people say you have my big eyes and button nose and you have your father's beautiful curly hair, olive skin, and perfect lips. We both have dimples and you definitely have them too. You are stubborn and determined like your mama and you are observant and analytical like your dada. You love to figure out how things work and fit together. Nana bought you a toy that is a little farm with blocks. Each block fits into a different slot. The toy was meant for kids 3 and up but it is your absolute favorite. You will sit and figure out which slot each piece fits into. When you get stuck on a piece (usually the octagon) you let out a screech and try to force it in the hole. Your face turns bright red and I can't help but laugh.


You, my sweet child, have changed me for the better. I used to get caught up in the thoughts of having a great corporate job, a big house, and a fancy car but now I just want to figure out how I can spend as much time as possible with you. I don't care about the fancy job title or the wraparound porch and rather than a Porsche, I hope for a minivan. Yes, I said it. I want a minivan! I want one with automatic doors and a DVD player. Since your arrival I have turned into a big sensitive cry baby. I don't know what has come over me but I can't help but cry all of the time. Every time I think about sending you to full time daycare I cry, cry, cry! When I think about your first day of kindergarden I am an emotional wreck. If something happens to a little boy in a movie, I absolutely loose it. Hopefully I get over this cry fest soon. I don't want to be the sappy mom that embarrasses you all of the time.


Harper Michael Huffman, I love you more than your will ever know. I am so blessed to have you as my son. I love you with all of my heart and I am so proud to be your mama.

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."

Love always,
Mom

Monday, March 26, 2012

Nursery Craft Project #1- COMPLETE

I made a fun keepsake frame for Harper's hospital hat. Harper's sweet Auntie Elaine gave this to Harper and he wore it all of the time. When I was sorting through his old stuff I couldn't part with it. I decided to buy a shadowbox frame from Michael's and make it a piece of art. The frame was less than $5. It was black so I decided to paint it white. I found a piece of scrapbook paper that matched his nursery decor perfectly. Then I tacked the hat down to the box. I added his full name, date of birth, and weight and I think it looks perfect. It is up on his wall right under his "little man" print. 

What do you guys think? It is a great sentimental piece for his nursery and it was super easy to make. 




Sunday, March 25, 2012

Guest Bedroom Update!

The Guest Bedroom is almost complete! I have a few more details to add. I still need to buy the matching shams for the bed. I started a craft project and I am in the process of making no-tack message board. And I found a massive picture frame from Michaels. It holds a ton of photos. Unfortunately it is a black frame so I am going to paint it the same color as the shelf. After that, it will be complete. In the meantime I wanted to share the updates I made.

I decided to re-do the arrangement on the photo shelf. I loved it before but I decided to mix it up a bit. We had an INCREDIBLE pet portrait done of Fender. The artist is out of this world. We also had Harper's first silhouette made. It was so cute I had to put it up.


I had an Etsy artist design this print for me. I wanted something that incorporated Spartanburg and South Carolina. And I wanted something that looked like burlap so it would match the duvet comforter. She made my vision come to life. The little heart is right over Spartanburg. I love it!


I found the wooden "H" at Hobby Lobby. It was Gold so I decided to spray paint it navy. 


This is the silhouette, Fender painting, and one of our favorite photos on a canvas from Josh Norris.



I filled some of the empty space with this dresser from Ikea. I LOVE IT! It is really narrow so it fit the small space. And the drawers pull out and hold shoes. I will take a picture with the drawers out so you can see how it works. It is actually really neat! 


I moved the "Be Our Guest" pears to this dresser. I added a silver mini frame with a picture of my dad when he was a baby.


I found the circular mirror and candle holder at Ikea. The wooden picture frame is from TJ Maxx Home. I really like this space and I think the mirror helps make the room look a little bigger. 


I purchased this awesome acrylic photo from Erin Condren. I love it! She also makes the world's BEST agenda calendar! I need to blog about it sometime. It is fab!



It is getting so close I can hardly stand it. I love when I finally finish a big project. I am trying to decide which big project I am going to start next. It is either the master bedroom or craft room. Both are going to take a whole lot of work! 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Super Excited!

Exciting news! My favorite Etsy print shop is featured on Zulily today! I purchased some of Harper's   nursery artwork from this artist and his work is really incredible. The quality of the prints is amazing. They are very bright and vibrant! Most of the prints are on Zulily 50% off! They start at $9.99. This is an absolute steal. Make sure you check out trafalgar's square sale before they sell out! 

I think I am going to buy the dog print for Harper. His walls are pretty full but I think it could look great framed on his book shelf. And he loves to look in books, point to any dog, and then he barks. He will get a kick out of this print! 


Here are a few of my other favorites: 

Mail Thief

Several weeks ago I purchased a few items from Sugar Boutique. If you haven't checked out Sugar, make sure you do! They have a GORGEOUS selection of clothes. Some of the items I bought were Mother's Day gifts for my mom and one was a dress for myself. When I came home from the West Coast, Erik said he never received a package. So I decided to call the store and see if they had a tracking number. The girls were extremely helpful and tracked down the package. It was delivered a few days after I purchased it. 
I assumed it got lost in the mail so I called the USPS. They opened up an investigation and learned it was delivered to my home and left on the front porch. I was baffled. It was a pretty large box so there was no way we could have missed it. 

A few days went by and I got a strange feeling that maybe someone stole it. I felt kind of violated. I had no idea where to begin looking for a mail thief. But then I spoke to a friend who is a local police officer. Apparently stealing mail is a VERY serious crime. In fact, it is a federal offense. Theft of US mail is investigated by the US Postal Inspection Service and is a Federal offense for which the maximum penalty can be incarceration in a Federal Penitentiary. 

I decided to start my own investigation. A sweet boy lives down the street and I pay him every so often to come and mow the lawn and help plant flowers. I went and spoke to him first. I told him that someone stole a box off my porch and the first person to tell me who is was would get 20 bucks. Sure enough, 5 minutes later one of the teenagers in the neighborhood came over and told me he saw another teenager steal the box. He saw the kid grab it off my porch and then bragged to the other kids that he was going to sell whatever was inside to a pawn shop. These darn teenagers are really getting mischievous these days!

I had to make a choice, call the police and get the child in some serious trouble or go and confront him myself...  

The hard part... the boy is an incredible tennis player. He plays on Dorman High School's Varsity team and is expecting to go to college on tennis scholarships. I am pretty sure if I called the cops and he was convicted of stealing the stuff he would get kicked off the tennis team and his entire future would be down the drain. Not to mention he would get sent to the Juvenile Detention Center. I decided to confront him myself. 

I think I scared the crap out of the kid. I explained the severity of stealing mail and told him several kids saw him take my package. At first he denied it and exclaimed, "Why would I steal your box? What would I do with a woman's dress?" He just told on himself. I never told him what was stolen from me I just told him it was a box. He knew he was caught. "If you didn't steal it then how did you know there was a dress inside the box?" But he continued to deny it. So I told him the police would proceed with their investigation and he could get kicked out of school and off the tennis team. I said if my stuff was returned in 24 hours I would drop all of the charges. Twenty minutes later his buddy showed up at my door with a bag full of my stuff. I'll be honest, I wanted to slap the kid across his face. But I smiled and thanked him for returning my belongings and told him that I would tell the police that they could drop the investigation. 

I found out today the same child has vandalized our neighbor's car (with black spray paint), has spit in young girl's faces and cussed at them on a daily basis, has pooped on a neighbor's front porch, and ruined the community pool. Oh I forgot to mention he egged two houses and spray painted another neighbor's garage. People have tried to talk to his father and he doesn't seem to care that his child is the neighborhood terrorist. 

What do you think we should do? Should I go speak to his father? Call his tennis coach? Reach out to him personally? I feel like a lack of parental guidance is probably his main issue and he is seeking attention. But at this point he is terrorizing the young children in the neighborhood and causing a ridiculous amount of problems. I would appreciate any suggestions! 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Ultimate Chase

We have entered a new stage of life. It is what I like to call, "The ultimate chase." My child likes to run away from me and does not like to be held for long periods of time. This is way different from the sweet cuddly baby I am used to. Harper likes to climb, he likes to run, and he likes to demolish things. Yep, he is all boy. I'm afraid this phase is going to be the end of me. I feel like I spend 90% of my day chasing him or picking up after him.


Yesterday we went to the park. Did he want to play with the other kids? Nope. Did he want to sit down and eat ice cream? Not a chance. He wanted to climb the gigantic rocks, the stairs, and anything else that looked remotely dangerous. So I spent my time CHASING him. He does not like to be chased. And he does not like to be removed from the things he is climbing. So we had lots of red faces and screaming all afternoon. Where did my sweet, easy, carefree child go?

And to make it even worse, he is actually REALLY good at climbing things. He figured out how to climb up the rock wall on his play set and go down the slide all by himself. This can't be normal for a 17 month old?! He has been going up and down our staircases at home for many, many months. He can even climb up into bathroom sinks.









Has anyone else had similar issues? How long does this phase last? Or is this completely normal for little boys? And what age is a good age to start to discipline him? He is too young to understand timeout or taking away privledges. I think he understands the word "no" but he does not listen to the word, it just pisses him off. Any advice would be appreciated!
 
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