Bunk Beds!

Two good reasons you should marry a "handy" man:

One:

And Two:

Ok, so that's actually the same bed.... BUT, there were two, and....together they made these!!

And then we sanded, and sanded, and sanded, and (you get the picture), stained and ended up with bunk beds for the boys!

I had been keeping my eye on Knock off Wood for a while, (which is now called Ana White Homemaker) http://ana-white.com/ If you haven't checked it out yet, I would definitely recommend it!

I had BIG plans to help Matt lots, do about half of the work, but I ended up doing much MUCH less than I thought. Although this sounds ridiculous there were some things that were a lot harder than I expected. The wood, for one, was really heavy. The 4 corner posts are 4 X 4's which were massive, and weighed a ton. The constructed parts, like headboards and footboards were incredibly hard to hold still for assembling. So glad I married a strong man!

Another thing that was hard was using the tools! High school shop class circular saw tutorial does not a tool afficiando make!

Also I was about 8 1/2 months pregnant. And feeling it!

Luckily Matt was more than up to the task! He did a great job and we LOVE them! Especially Joey!

The handsome builder himself:

Mostly I just sanded. I'm not going to lie, it was a thankless, boring job. Matt really needed to be freed up for the assembling and construction and each piece had to be sanded about a billion times. A billion. That was the worst of it.

The pieces were big. They had to be assembled in the boys room. We could have gotten them in assembled, but they would have been so heavy to move (and I was Matt's only help) that it was much easier to assemble them in the room. Stacking the beds was interesting. I didn't go into labor!

Staining in progress. I didn't actually take a picture of the finished product without stain on it. Whoops.

Testing out the bottom:

And then the top:

Looks pretty comfy!

And here is the completed space:

As you can see, we still have a crib in there. And we don't have rails or a ladder on the bed. The wood for the rails and ladder are in the basement, and the plans are ready to go. Right now, Matthew is still in his crib. We didn't put Joey in a bed until he was 3 and I'm thinking I'll wait that long for Matthew. Since sometimes nighttime is still party-time, it's best to have at least 1 boy contained. We'll probably move him sometime after he is potty trained, which we won't even start for another 6 months. (although Matthew did go in the potty the other night, but I'm just pretending that didn't happen :-) I also like that they cannot climb to the top bunk, since playing together they don't always have the best judgment. When we do add the ladder it will be on the side of the bunk and not the kind that triangles out from the bunk onto the floor. The boys room is small and the floor space doesn't need a ladder hanging out into it!

All in all we love it. With all of the wood, screws, stain, etc. (including bedding) it was probably about $350.

The plan was the "Simple Bunk Bed" plan from Ana White's website, although ours is more like this one: http://ana-white.com/2011/03/white-bunk-beds-ladder-instructions (with the ladder attached).

The bunks are "knocked off" from Land of Nod: http://www.landofnod.com/kids-bunk-beds/kids-furniture/white-simple-bunk/f5256

Matt made a few modifications, using plywood instead of slats and also used dowels to stack them, rather than screwing them together. It was interesting holding up the 100+ lb bed while we tried to get the dowels into the holes. I was sure Sammy would just fall out! Hopefully though that will make disassembling easier should we move or decide to use them as 2 twin beds....if we can ever get them apart.

We had such a great time traveling over the summer and visiting with all the Hennesseys and Beardsleys... the only thing that Joey missed, were his bunk beds!!

Some Samuel

We've had a busy last few weeks... we said goodbye to all of our family, we've celebrated Father's Day, and Matthew's second birthday, and we've both started back to work (me with my work tutoring and for the church, and Matt's wedding season has started and, time off for the baby, ended)

In the midst of all that, we tried a photo shoot for Sammy. We did one when he was about 5 days... but alas, he decided he would make that the only time in the day that he was awake. I'll post a few here (Matt has the pro ones on his computer, these are just from my old PAS (point and shoot)).

We did another shoot a few days ago, but I think we missed our "newborn" window. He was asleep but only for a while and we don't have any cute hats with big long tails or fuzzy blankets or giant eggs, pumpkins, flowers, or boots to put him in. Perhaps I will have to learn how to knit.

For now, I think the cutest pictures we have are the unposed...

I think this guy is pretty darn adorable! Never thought I would be in love with so many boys, at once!! :-)

Wordless Wednesday: BBB edition (That's "Brothers Behaving Badly" Not Baby Boy Beardsley, this time)

Happy 2nd Birthday Matthew Aaron!!

This time 2 years ago, we were calling our good friends Jamie and Lexie Mullins to come over to our house to stay with Joey so we could get to the hospital and welcome this handsome guy!

June 14th in the late afternoon we welcomed Matthew Aaron Beardsley, named after his dad, and dad's best friend, into the world. He has big shoes to fill, being named after 2 such wonderful men, but his great sense of humor, big smiles and spirit of adventure lead me to believe it won't be hard. I'm sure I'm not biased at all, either.

Happy 2nd birthday Matthew. I can't imagine life without you!

Samuel William Beardsley

We've welcomed our newest addition!

Samuel William Beardsley was born on May 28, 2011, at 1:26 p.m.

He was 9 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 inches long.

Definitely the biggest Beardsley boy yet!

He, and we are home and enjoying his sweet baby sounds, smells and emerging little personality.

His brothers are so excited! Joey always asks questions about what he is doing, "Why is baby Sammy crying?" "Can I play some music for Sammy?" and Matthew is excited whenever he gets to see him (and he's not stashed somewhere for a peaceful nap). He always asks "See baby?" "Baby, where go?".

It is our great hope that these guys will be thicker than thieves, a great band of brothers, and best friends for their whole lives. (and my great hope that I don't completely lose my mind!)

The Making of a Middle

In lieu of actually giving birth to a baby... I am going to write about my current baby, Matthew, a much promised blog about what is going on with him.

I had great fun looking at pictures of him to use to write this blog. I might have teared up a bit. I can't believe how big he has grown in 23 months and that at this age, Joey was already a big brother.

Matthew has been talking lots. He loves to try out new words and will try to say anything we ask him too, even if he mostly just hums the word. Some of his favorite words to say: "Jojo, where go? more, thank you, dinosaur (this is the newest), choo-choo, truck (cuck), hot, out, up, go, shoes, socks, uh-oh, see-ya" and I'm sure there are many more that I am forgetting about.

Our Matthew is a little comedian and loves to make us laugh. He loves to make Joey laugh and do ANYTHING that his big brother is doing. He must also HAVE anything that Joey has, from salt on his eggs, to the exact same toy at the exact same time.

Matthew sleeps well, but markedly less than Joey at the same age. We have to wake him after no more than a 2 hour nap, and even with that, he can easily go to bed at 8 or 8:30 and wake well rested at 7. He often rocks himself to sleep or shakes the crib (sometimes with eyes half open). He seems to go to sleep best with a car or two and he'll lay on his side and make his "vehicle moving" sound until he lulls himself to sleep. He's pretty relaxed about his waking up and seems to need some time in his crib to play before we get him up, which works well for us.

He loves to eat. Loves. It's so nice after Joey being a bit smaller and a little less eager to eat. Matthew's favorite foods are meats and fruits. He'll pick lunch meat and cheese out of a sandwich first and eat any fruit first (of course), but he's great about his veggies, and very willingly will eat, peas, beans, broccoli, salads, beets, and cooked veggies, like peppers, and zucchinis. He does NOT like potatoes in any form, french fried or baked or even in hash brown form. Weirdo.

His favorite toys are trucks, and especially fire trucks. Truck books, actual trucks, shows about trucks, just driving around and seeing trucks. He's not too crazy about books yet, and not that into coloring or play-doh but give him wheels and he is a happy guy!

While I still wouldn't put him in the same category of management as say, the dog, he is nowhere near as compliant as Joey at the same age. He's just as likely to run away laughing when we tell him to "come here" as he is to actually come, and obedience is more of a teaching process for him. He's also a very emotional little guy and while the highs and lows come and go quickly, taking a toy often looks just like cutting off a limb for 30 seconds, and a good trip down the slide can be akin to a brand new toy.

Even though he's been walking since he was 15 months old he is still ECSTATIC to get out of the house/stroller/shopping cart etc, and be free to run without holding on to a hand. He gets a look of glee on his face and takes off and can go for.ev.er. He is a little turbo and sometimes I am afraid to blink.

I'm afraid with the 3rd coming that I have learned all too well how quickly it goes from the first gaze, to the first steps, to the first haircut, and word and sentence and all of a sudden the baby who you waited so long for has become a preschooler. I cannot wait for Baby Beardsley #3 to come, but I am so glad for every day where my soon-to-be middle child, is still my youngest baby. He is precious and so dear to Matt and I. His smiling face is like nothing I have ever seen and boy, can he make us laugh! I can't imagine not having my "Matthew in the Middle" and I hope he will always know how special he is to us.

Helping Out

Joey has been really into helping out around the house (and especially in the kitchen) in the last few months. Most of the time, it is lovely, as there is really stuff he can do now, (unload the silverware from the dishwasher, return things to their proper place in different rooms in the house, wake Matthew up from his nap and give him toys, etc...). Sometimes it is difficult because he wants to be with me, or Matt, working and we don't always have something for him to do easily.

I'm looking forward to him getting older and being able to do more, and hoping that at the same time, he stays interested in helping and proud of contributing. Any suggestions for how to keep this magic alive are welcome....

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Joey helping with stuff....

In the above picture we were just starting to make Kale chips...

Ok, so that's only 2 pictures... but I took some more today of his latest favorite activity which is helping Matt roast our coffee beans. This is sooo much less expensive than buying them already roasted and Matt really enjoys doing it (and Joey LOVES helping) and I just love that they are both happy and it's cheaper. Joey is responsible for putting the chaff that flies out in the process in the sink, and helping Matt spread and cool the beans, and then pouring them into their jars.

Some of his other favorite jobs/new responsibilities include: sweeping (with his little dustpan and sweeper), clearing his dishes into the sink, cleaning up all the toys in his room and playroom, brushing his own teeth, dressing/undressing himself (this is still a little difficult when something ends up inside out), unloading or loading parts of the dishwasher, and helping cook ANYTHING.

Stay tuned for a Matthew update!