Ikea trip

Well, we finally made it to and from Dallas. My mom stayed home with Liam, and it was amazingly wonderful to go on a road trip just Gabriel and I again. Thanks, Mom.

We left early Saturday morning (5 am...) and drove straight to Ikea. Aside from some problems with faulty toll booth bill changers, the drive was a breeze. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that it only took us 4 1/2 hours to get there.

Have I ever mentioned before how much I love Ikea. Sure, some of their stuff is not the best quality, but it's all oh-so-practical and you can't beat the price. We spent a good 4 hours browsing through and loading up a cart with everything on our list. The goal was to get everything we needed to change Liam's nursery into a room for two brothers. We were able to get everything we wanted and even had extra money leftover... Special thanks to everyone who gifted me with spending money for my birthday.

the loot:

• a big boy bed and mattress for Liam


• two sets of sheets for his new bed


• a blanket


• a pillow and pillowcase


• coordinating fabric for some sewing projects in their room


• two small chairs for the craft table


• organizing tubs for a new storage/diaper changing station we're going to build


• a Liam-sized mug


• pots and pans for his play kitchen (birthday gift...)


• a picture frame


• a step stool (for the Grays...)

After Ikea, we hopped onto yet another toll road and zipped further down into Dallas. I had a gift card to Teavana that I was itching to spend. The traffic leading up to the mall was bad. Taking over an hour to go 3 blocks bad. At this point, Gabriel had an I-want-to-be-anywhere-but-here meltdown, but I was determined to make this stop. This was the nearest store to our home, and I really wanted that tea. So, we endured and were amazed at the crowds inside the (quite swanky) North Park Center Mall.

I ended up with 2 ounces each of loose leaf Assam Golden Rain, Masala Chai, and English Breakfast, all of which are hearty black teas (it's getting to the point where I need that caffeine fix to get me through the day...). Thank you, Ben and Carolyn, for such a thoughtful gift. I will continue to enjoy it with each and every sip.

After we made it out of the crazy mall madness, we stopped at Toys R Us to buy Liam an Elmo. Yes, an Elmo. I have been letting Liam watch Elmo on the computer, and it has reached the point of infatuation for him. He talks about Elmo all day long, sings with Elmo, and even talks about Elmo in his sleep. We decided he needed an Elmo of his very own. So we got one.

It turns out my mom got him one, too.

Except hers blows kisses and says Elmo loves you. Clearly, her gift trumps our non-automated Elmo... So, the Dallas Elmo will be going back to Toys R Us, and Liam is still loving his verbal Elmo. Thanks, Mom.

After a stop at Whole Foods for some not-so wholesome pizza and gigantic slices of cake, we drove home.

It was a long, but so enjoyable, day.

Liam is a big fan of Ikea, too: everything has to be assembled. He helped Gabriel hammer together his new chairs and kept saying, "Fun!"

The big boy bed

We had planned to buy a twin-sized mattress and just put it on a slatted base directly on the floor, but we were pleasantly surprise to discover that Ikea carries inbetween youth-sized beds. It's bigger than a crib/toddler bed, but smaller than a twin. And less expensive. The mattress and bed, including the slatted base and guard rail, all totaled less than $100! That's an Ikea deal for you.

Liam loves his new bed. Especially the frog blanket. He is sleeping in it as I type. We'll see how the rest of the night goes...