Monday, February 28, 2011

Nose Squeezers - Product Review and other commentaries

Okay so what do you do when your child cannot blow his nose? Squeeze it out of course!

Well maybe no exclamation point there. Squeezing out E's nose is such a big bummer. She hates it, I'm not a huge fan and Lee can't watch (he hates to see the little Bibis cry). I have given three nose squeezers a whirl and have found a favorite. The American Red Cross one is great. It has great squeezing power and has a pop top for easy cleaning. We got one from the hospital - it is blue - it works well but it is not good at getting everything. There was one in the Safety First First Aid kit I registered for. That squeezer is a piece of junk I think and should be tossed.

Hopefully cold season is on the outs. We have already sat in the doctors office for 1.5 hours for a 5 minute consult and a prescription. Don't want to ever do that again - but I am sure I will. I am thankful that it is just a cold that E is sick with and not something worse. It is so difficult as a parent to watch a suffering child. Last night E was stuffy again and woke up at 11:30 with her shreaking cry and I got her and rocked her and she fell asleep on my chest. I carefully made my way back to her crib and gently lay her down. Shrills of saddness and frustration filled the room. I picked her back up and set up pillows in my bed so she would not fall out and then we snuggled until she was asleep - well after the midnight hour. I was forced to put Miss Wiggle Worm back in the crib at 1:30 because I needed to sleep! Thankfully she did not fuss to much. Times like those remind me that I am a parent to a helpless little life who needs lots of comfort and care (and my favorite of all, snuggles)

Thursday, February 24, 2011

O Christmas Tree


So I had the super brilliant idea when it came to Christmas pics for little E. What's better than a baby exploring a string of Christmas lights??? Ummm... pretty much nothing!!! I know they are well past overdue but better late than never! I must start devising a plan for Easter and maybe I'll ahve them posted by 4th of July. I'm not really into the whole Easter Bunny thing but we'll proably be spending Easter with my parents and Easter baskets are a must there. My mom always has the best hiding spots. Giant Easter egg with a baby and tons of Easter grass??? Okay people now I must find an egg - or at least half of one that E can fit in...








On the Night You Were Born


This book is a must read for all parents and kids. "On the Night You Were Born" is such a great book. My mom gave it to E a few weeks ago. I cannot read the book because it gives me happy tears. Lee always has to read it to her but I love to listen. Seriously go get it and find out why the polar bears are always asleep at the zoo.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Kitchen Renovation Day 8... DONE



Its done done done!!!  Not a second too soon. The kitchen looks amazing thanks to Lee, his brother and a couple other helping hands who worked and worked all week and into the dark on Saturday and today. I came home from work today and I felt like I stepped into another world! Our kitchen is so lovely and so much better than it was before.

Granted there are still a few small things left but it is done. A few things to reflect on:

1. I cannot imagine going through a renovation where we (Lee) did not control when things got done. I cannot imagine being out of a kitchen and our kitchen being spread out about the house for more than 6 days.

2. So glad that we did not do the ascent tiles. I think our back splash is perfect and busy enough.

3. I have never seen Lee more protective of the floors. The Bibita is getting downgraded to a plastic spoon from a metal spoon so when she is playing with gravity she does not scratch/dent the floor. More on that in the next post about the Beebster

4. So glad that we opted to get manufactured hardwood over the laminate.

5. Thrilled that we did not go on vacation and got the kitchen done. I am still doing double takes in there

So that's all. Ask questions/leave comments. I many more ideas/thoughts on the whole process...

Next on tap... The bathrooms???

(I hope Lee does not read that)



Saturday, February 5, 2011

Kitchen Renovation Day 4 and 5 - War Zone







Well nothing that significant happened between days 3 and 4 so that is why there was a delay. Now you can see a huge difference in the kitchen! Lee and his brother worked til 7 last night getting all the tile up. I think it looks amazing, if I may say so.

So let's recap. We picked this tile out after much deliberation at Lowe's. When Lee was putting it up he decided not to put up the accent pieces which I think was a good decision. Also, we scored some manufactured hardwood mahogony floors from Home Depot - the RMT store is going out of business. After weighing the options - laminate, manufactured hardwood or true hardwood - we went with the manrufactured for a couple reasons.

1. The laminate was a lot thinner than we expected
2. The true hardwood has to cure and was a bit out of our price range
3. The manufactured came with a 55 yr waranty and was slightly more expensive than we wanted but it was a good deal.

We had a marathon night between Lowe's and Home Depot but it was well worth it.

From what I understand on Friday getting the board back up that was torn off with the tile was much more of a job than expected but got done. The green walls were primed for the toupe color. There is much action about this morning. Fingers crossed everything will be done tonight! That would be so impressive - renovation in 6 days!!!

I must have side note about our faucet. The Lowe's guy came and hooked up the sink and installed the faucet. Clearly this guy did not know what he was doing because he did not put the faucet together correctly - something Lee and his brother figured out after the fact AND the guy tried to blame it on the brand faucet - a Moen. Built for Looks, Built for Life. Ha! While we are on that topic, the faucet has another problem. It should go from a solid stream to a spray and back a the push of a button. Not so. After giving the beebster a bath the first night we had it, the thing is stuck between the spray and stream settings. This Moen is not everything it is cracked up to be for sure. Will update about that, but there is sure to be some words between Lee, Lowe's and Moen over this!

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Smells Like Paint - Reno Day 3






The smell of paint hit me like a wall as I walked in the house today. But it was a great smell and sight! The counter tops are in and the cabinets and ceiling are repainted. Looks like a completely different kitchen. Still no dinner at the kitchen table and dinner was from the freezer but we are probably more than 1/2 way through. Awesome.

Tomorrow its off to Lowe's for back splash, a decision on wall color and flooring color. I am hoping that the accent in the back splash will have a color we can pull from for the wall color. If you look at the top pic there is a great reddish-orange that would be ideal for the wall BUT our entry way/ living room, which is attached to the kitchen, is red and yellow and we do not want those colors to clash. So that is definitely TBA. As for the floors we are thinking about pulling the dark brown from the granite for the floor. We were originally thinking a light/medium color but the darker wood is more appealing now that everything is in place.

Let's see what tomorrow holds... C'mon Lee!!!