Audrey's Growing Up... :(

Next summer update...how quickly Audrey's growing.  Like the weeds I pull out of my flowerbeds!  I can't believe she'll be one next month!  She's really beginning to turn into a toddler and not so much a baby anymore :(  She's learning so much.  She just picked up waving although she's not very good at it yet, and she knows that we give goodnight kisses IMMEDIATELY after we finish saying family prayers at night.  Seriously, she beats us to it and will plant a big one on us if we aren't paying attention!  

She's moving around so much that we had to get some baby gates.  Her favorite thing to do with this one is to give kisses through it to whoever is on the other side.  Also she likes to hold hands through it or stick her feet through it.

Audrey is chasing the cats around everywhere!  They hate it!  They are still very good with her, even though we have to tell her, "NO!" when she pulls their tails.  Still working on being nice to others.

Audrey is getting such a personality, and her new thing is she loves to SCREAM!  The more we ignore it, the louder she goes!  She also likes to shake her head no.

I love this little girl with all my heart...I never knew that I could love someone as much as I love Audrey.  Sometimes I feel relieved when she goes to bed because she's worn me out, but I'm always excited to get her out of her crib the next day, even when she wakes us up earlier than we want!  She's such a blessing to us.  I don't know what we'd do without her.

Summer Project: Decorating the mancave/playroom

Okay, so while I was looking through some of my old posts, I realized that last summer as I was documenting our remodel upstairs, I promised pictures of when it was finished.  I never delivered!  We've been slowly adding decorations and organizing over the course of the year, so it's probably good that I waited, even if unintentional.  We still have some more organizational issues, but I think since we got the bed in, the upstairs is pretty much done!

So, let me remind you of a few things.  The purpose of this room is office/playroom/mancave/extra bed if needed.  I originally had some small decorations planned for this room, but when we found out we were expecting and we had to convert the downstairs office into a nursery, I PROMISED Kyle that if we had a boy, he could do a superhero theme in the room and I'd let him decorate it.  He was so excited about that.  He was pretty disappointed about not having a boy simply because he wanted to decorate with superheroes so bad!  So, since I got to decorate the nursery (if you're curious or forgetful of what I chose, click here), and I saw how sad he was about a missed opportunity to decorate with his stuff, I told him that he could take the entire floor to use for his superhero things.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning and Kyle was five!  So he began making plans for the room, and really, I was a mere consultant on where to hang things or what looked better.  He chose the paint, the floor, everything!  He'd never been so eager to get to work on decorating!  And then he was also excited that we were having a girl :)  Now he doesn't have to share his stuff with a boy.

To remind yourself of what this process took, click here and here and here and here.  

Let me take you on a tour of Kyle's pride and joy!

As you come up the stairs.

Kyle collected Entertainment Weekly superhero covers..this isn't even all of them!

Kyle has more action figures than are displayed, but his absolute favorites HAD to be out for him to enjoy!

Sitting on the shelf is a Superman record.  It's an episode off an old Superman radio show.

The bottom is a button that we hooked onto the wall.

Because of the vaulted walls, posters that were unframed were our friends!  This took a LOT of 3M strips!

 Remember the start of this poster stash?

This is where Kyle likes to hang out the most in this room.  He has a comfy recliner that my grandparents gave to us, a minifridge, a TV with all his old VHS movies and game systems...

I think it's ridiculous that he had this many superhero magnets.  But he did.

This blue tote I bought is supposed to house snacks that he keeps up here.  However, he eats them too quickly to keep any here.  So mostly it's got his coolie-cup, some wipes in case there's a mess, and his batarangs.

These are actually dog toys!  They squeak when you squeeze them!  It's pretty cool to hang these off the blinds because from further away they sort of look like they're flying.

These are tin posters.  Some of these Kyle found at stores, some I ordered online for him.

I think we need to come up with a way to hid these cords.  I'll figure something out.  But for now, here's how the gaming center looks.

Yes, this is signed by Adam West.  Yes, my daughter's burp cloth is also superhero.

Cheesy girl demanded my attention while I was taking pictures!

Obviously we have an organizational issue over here.  I'm still working on that.

I love these posters...only $5 apiece at Five Below!  They were out of the Hulk, though, so we're waiting on him to come in the mail. 

Kyle likes to do some artsy things in his spare time, so here's his art area.  His Joker cards are above the window.

These were drawn by Mike Norton (Blue Beetle) and Art Baltazar (Superman).  Kyle waited in line to get these drawn and signed personally at the comic book store in Muncie.  Which reminds me that we have a George Perez drawing and autograph put away somewhere that we need to get framed and put out...

We have a former closet that is now just a small room off the art area.  Currently it's where Kyle keeps his boxes of comic books and his bookcase and the catfood.  It also needs some attention.  Another organizational project for another day, I guess.  Although this project I don't get to do!  I don't know anything about how he organizes his comics, and I know I'll be in big trouble if I mess up all 600+ of them.

I have two shelves on this bookcase for my books!  Haha!  Although, to be honest, I do keep most of my books in my classroom at school.

Remember the bookcase project?

It doesn't photograph well, but the orange-looking bulb here is actually red.  Perfect for our room!

More dog toys!

Probably my favorite part of the room!  The map is of Gotham City (Batman).  This comic book is the first one Kyle ever owned.  The little picture on the desk says "Superdad: Not all superheroes wear capes".  And I love this picture of Audrey in the outfit our friend Kim made us!

This is just where we're keeping fans, spaceheaters, toys Audrey isn't ready for yet, and diapers.

This is a program signed by Michael Uslan (the producer of the Batman movies) from when we saw him speak on campus during spring break of 2011.  Wow, that seems like yesterday.  

So included in this post is the bathroom as well...although it's not superhero.  Kyle wanted to do it, too, but we weren't replacing the shower and there are large pink stripes on the shower glass, so it just wouldn't have worked out.  It's pretty plain, just paint, new floors, and a decorative towel and some soap, but we rarely use it.  It's mostly just the cats' bathroom, as that's where we keep their litter boxes.

So there you have it!  I didn't think I would enjoy this room very much, but I actually LOVED helping Kyle decorate!  It's so bright, colorful, and different from the rest of the house that it's so nice.  It's a fun place to be and it's totally appropriate for a hangout place.  All in all, I'm glad we decided to decorate like this!  Also, if you come by, ask Kyle to show it to you.  He loves showing it off :)