Paint colors = HARD

I have a problem. 

This is my family room which is attached to my kitchen. 

We spend a ton of time in this space. 

All of the walls in the kitchen and 2 of the walls in the family room are Miller paint's Whip. This picture makes them look much more yellow than they really are but it is a very soft yellow/cream. 

We have a brick fire place on one side of the room and wood and white accents as you can see in the picture. 

Our cabinets are cherry and the floors are white oak (very warm color). 

Our couches are dark green leather. The dark green is so hard to coordinate with - but the couches aren't going anywhere. 

See that blue wall? 

I hate it. 

That wall was originally painted the same as the rest of the room and that looked bad. The room needed an accent wall...but I am still not convinced that I picked the right wall as the accent wall. 

Next, the wall was red. 

I hated that. 

Now it is blue. 

I don't know what color to paint it. Or perhaps, that should be the same color as the rest of the room and some other wall should be the accent wall? 

Either way. 

I need an accent wall and I need a paint color. 

Any ideas?

5 Months Old

 One Month

 Two Months

 Three Months

 Four Months

Five Months

At 5 months:

• Waking every 2-4 hours to eat - the 4 hour intervals are few and far between. Mostly, he wakes every 3 or so.
• Sleeps his first stretch of the night in his pack n play next to the bed and the rest of the night in bed with us. 
• Naps approximately 4 times per day. He has no schedule but somewhat keeps his own. He will take a morning nap approx 1 hour after waking up, a mid day nap around 11 or 12, an afternoon snooze around 2 or 3 and a final snooze around 4 or 5. The longest nap is usually the 11/12ish nap which lasts for anywhere from 1-3 hours. 
• Is still a speed nurser and will eat in 5 minutes
• Wearing 3-6 month clothes and 6 month clothes
• Loves to cuddle. 
• Hugs with purpose
• Smiles pretty much all of the time
• Has his pacifier in most of the time and can smile a big smile while keeping it in. Other paci tricks include burping with it in place, spitting up with it in, grabbing it and pulling it out and putting it back in (not always coordinated enough to make this happen), moving it to the side and chewing on it, holding it and chewing on the sides of it. 
• Hates to be alone - will play alone on the floor when he knows you are nearby
• Has "jazz hands" - is always opening and closing his hands, touching your face or clothing, grabbing strings, petting any surface to learn about the texture
• Shakes toys, crinkles them, waves them about
• Passes toys from hand to hand
• Grabs toys with purpose and examines them
• Everything goes directly into his mouth
• Slobbers constantly
• Spits up an absolute ton!
• Knows mom and dad - lights up when he sees us
• Is beginning to discover there is another moving "person" in the house named Trooper. He will grab for Trooper and of course, Troopie like the smart woofie he is will move away. 
• Still 100% breastfed. Has licked 1 banana but has not eaten any solids. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day. 
• Has rolled from tummy to back 2x but while it is obvious that he knows how to do it, he has little interest
• Sits up unassisted for up to a minute (or so) and does especially well when he has a toy to distract him
• Works on tucking his legs up under him and then straightening them (and repeating it over and over) which I believe is the precursor to crawling
• Can stand up holding an object like a table as long as someone is behind him because he is completely unaware of the consequences of letting go
• Loves baths. He is taking baths in the big bathtub and loves it. He plays with his stacking cups and enjoys the water. 
• Loves being naked or mostly naked with just a diaper. Will smile, giggle or squeal when he realizes you are taking his clothes off and is quite smiley and delighted the whole time he is without clothes. I have to wonder if he is going to be one of those kids who takes his clothes off at every chance. I have a feeling he might be. 
• Has been to McCall, ID 2x, Whidbey Island, WA 1x and Eugene several times
• Pays close attention to what we are doing, especially interested in watching us eat!

 Falling over after sitting up like a big boy!

 Bed Head

 Giving Melman the staredown

 "Talking"

 Checking himself out

 Big guy doing a mini pushup

I call this one "the peeper" - He woke up when daddy was taking pics :)

Vegan, Chickens and Whidbey

I am totally biased, but how sweet is this guy?!?! Melts my heart. 

How about some random's since I have been really bad about updating lately - I am getting really good at posting pictures but the meat is lacking. I guess I can only do one well at a time :)

We are thinking about getting chickens. Yes chickens. Ok, we aren't thinking about it, we are getting them - we just need to build the coup. A few thoughts about chickens. Yummy farm fresh eggs. And how about an amazing learning op for Bear!

Now, Nick wants to call me a Cheagen or a Veager (they are words that combine Vegan and Cheater) but I am thinking I am going to give veganism (ish) a try. The ish is because I am not really going to be vegan

I am already Dairy free and I am going to try to go meat free for a month. Here is where the cheat comes in. I'm keeping eggs and I am keeping wild fish. I'm still full time breastfeeding so really, I need the Vitamin A and B12 that I get from these foods. Yes, I supplement with vitamins, but I think these nutrients are important. I feel so good dairy free so I want to just give it a try. 

Bear and I spent the weekend up in Oak Harbor, WA on Whidbey Island with auntie Amanda! Bear loves her! It was stormy and she has an amazing view from her living room of the Puget Sound and it was so fun to hole up inside and watch the wind tear at the trees and make white caps in the sea. 

Cozy. Fun. Good conversation. And Bear slept the WHOLE 5.5 hour drive home (woke up 6 miles from home screaming because he was hungry :(

Sleeping Arrangement

When I say Bear sleeps in bed with us, ever wonder what that looks like?

My growing Bear

This little guy is an absolute delight these days. He is always smiling, he smiles as soon as he wakes up, when he sees us, pretty much all the time.

He is super ticklish and giggly. No sound beats a baby giggling. 

He is exploring the world around him. Learning about textures, delighting in the small details. It is so much fun to watch him discover things and try to see the world differently through his eyes. 

He is a total cuddle. 

He loves all types of music, just like his mama. We are an eclectic pair. Jazz, solo piano, brazilian, chill beats, 80's pop, flamenco guitar, american pop, Euro dance, singer/song writer. We listen to it all. We dance together in the living room like no one is watching. 

What a joy and honor to be able to experience being a mom. It is everything I could have imagined and everything I could never have imagined. 

It is really hard to capture the true color of Barrett's eyes. They are the most amazing color I have ever seen on a person and a big part of me hopes they don't change. They are a very deep grey blue and in the right light, you can catch hints of green toward the center. They are so deep yet they have a warm and inviting look. I love them. 

The Banana

Home Sweet Home

We have done a lot to our house (I need to update our house tour page...it looks different)

Care for a list of what we have done?

Inside:

Hardwoods

Tile floors in entry and guest bath

Full kitchen remodel including all appliances (but fridge), cabinets, counters, sink, faucet ect. 

Full guest bath remodel including sheetrock, bath, fixtures, toilet, floor, sink, hardware, paint, electrical

Paint on all walls in the house

A ton of demolition of old stuff

Back wood french doors

Conversion to gas stove in fireplace

All new outlets and switches in the house

Outside

Level and change slope of backyard

Build gate, arbor

Build Garden

Change out front light fixtures

Demolish front yard (still demolished)

Remove most landscaping plants

Plant some new landscaping plants

Get rid of tons and tons and tons and tons (and tons) of blackberries

Prepare pad in the back of the property for a shop

-----------

There are probably more projects that I cant think of at the moment, but is is safe to say, we have done a ton of stuff to our house. 

Then I was thinking about the things that I would like to complete before I would consider our house "done"

Inside

Finish Baseboard trim, new door trim

Change all interior doors to wood and get a wood door for the front door

Wool carpets in bedrooms

New linoleum for the laundry room, stacked Washer and dryer, floor to ceiling storage system

Backsplash in kitchen

Wine fridge/small sink/coffee area in kitchen

Hide wires for the TV

Complete master bath redo

Double french door to deck in master

Tankless hot water heater

Exterior

New siding (ours is recalled), new exterior paint

Carriage style garage doors

Repaved driveway

Blacktop asphalt anywhere we currently have gravel

Paver path around front of house to paver patio in back

Larger deck with covered screened in area

Landscaping trees and plants

So basically, there is still a lot to do. 

But that really wasn't the point of this post, I let the list get away from me. The point of this post is this. 

I always kind of had my eyes on this being a "starter home" - granted, it really isn't a starter home in the true sense of the word - it's in a great neighborhood, most of the people who live here are middle aged and well established, it is really a nice house and was even before we pretty much demolished and re-did everything and it is on acreage which is super nice. But again, I found myself always dreaming about our "future house." I would even look on the internet for it. And here's the thing - we may well end up moving someday if we end up moving to a different city like say Bend or McCall in the future. 

But here is the realization I had the other day. I really love our house. I love how much like home it has become. I love how "us" it is becoming. I love all the memories we have here from living in it without a kitchen, living on subfloor, one bathroom, being newlyweds, professionals, being pregnant, getting a dog, having a baby. This house really holds so many memories.

In addition, if you notice the list of things we have done and will do, many of them are kind of specialty things. Things that are less about increasing the value of the house for resale and more about making the house a great house for us. Things like wood doors inside and out, wool carpets, tankless hot water heater. These are things that we value but may or may not be viewed of a a value item for potential buyers even though they are "premium" items. 

And for the first time the other day I realized

I can't imagine moving away from here. I really love this house and what is has become and is becoming.