Christmas Stocking in March

Well actually it started in November. In November I got an itch to stitch - okay that was bad. Somehow I got it in my head that I wanted to stitch little E a stocking. I have never cross-stitched anything in my life but I am not one to take baby steps. (My first road race was a marathon) Maybe I am just a sucker for punishment but I am going to try and track progress on the stocking on the blog. I have already started looking for the stocking pattern I am going to do for Lee! I want to do a nutcracker!!!

Anyways with the bibi's stocking is going well. I am hoping, hoping, hoping to be finished by Christmas!

Swim Time

I thought it would be super cute for E and her papi to take swim lessons at our local YMCA. While the Y is not particularly convenient to our house and the lessons start at 5:30, which is dangerously close to the beebster's bedtime - I thought what the heck and went for it.

So the lessons are not really lessons. They are more like spend time getting used to the water and paddle after rings and then stick them in your mouth. I also thought it would be good for E to get used to the water because my mother-in-law has a pool in her backyard and I want E to learn how to swim and learn about water safety at an early age. So, after hunting down some Little Swimmer diapers at Babys R Us we headed to class. The instructor there is really great with the kids - there are two others in the class. They chase after these toys and sing songs in the water. E is the smallest in the class but she LOVES it. Each week she gets more and more comfortable. She squeals out in excitement sometimes! Also the last class was a huge milestone for her because the instructor dunked E's head under water! E was not afraid just a little concerned. They did that 3 times so E can start learning how to hold her breathe!

I was kinda of bummed after the last class because tMarch is kind of a busy time for us at Swimworld so I did not think Lee would have time to take E. However he informed me that I should sign up E for lesson in March because they need to have Papi-Bibis bonding time and that he would make room in his schedule for swim time!!!

Question of the day, to join the YMCA or to not the join YMCA?

Friends!!!

Not too long ago E got together with her best Lamaze friend B! They are super super cute together even though they don't really play together. Just watching them interact together is so cool. Also, gives his momma and I time to talk/vent. In case you did not know, being a mother is challenging which is why it is important to have someone to talk to who knows what you are going through. Megan told be about this AMAZING consignment store in Wil-town - more to come on that. I am so grateful that Lee and I were in the Lamaze class that we were so we could meet little B-man's parents!!!

Church Journal Week II

"If you don't have forgiveness in your heart, you won't make it"

So true! What is the point of going around everyday being mad about everything that people have done to wrong you? I imagine it would be pretty miserable. I'm not saying that it is easy to forgive people - especially family members. Life is entirely too short to hold grudges.

Church Journal Week I

"Sometimes you have to go out of your way to help someone"

Totally applicable on a daily basis and I really enjoyed keeping that in the back of my mind all week because that 'someone' could be ANYONE. A stranger, family member, co-worker, friend... And something that actually can be done on a daily basis. I am liking this Church Journal-ing

Church Journal - The Premise

Lee and the beebster and I and my mom and my mother-in-law recently went to Ignited By Truth in Raleigh. We had a really great time and we heard some really inspiring people. One of whom is Matthew Kelly. Long story short he told everyone that they needed a Mass Journal so write down one thing that the Holy Spirit was trying to pound into their head that Sunday for the hour they were are church. I am game but I have a small problem with the verbiage. Liturgy, Mass same meaning - one word in Greek, one word in Latin - but so I can be 100% PC - which is my top priority - we'll go with Church Journal. So that is the premise of the theme of these posts - please feel free to share thoughts/you CJ whatever, this will help keep track of them all. I'll try and post weekly but I'm already a week behind - shocking I know...

Valentine's Day

This was our first Valentine's Day as a family of three. My mom always got us jelly bean, chocolate and I have vague memories of stuffed animals. I wanted to start a similar tradition at our house. E is clearly clearly too small for candy and sugar -even though I caught my mother-in-law giving E some 3 Musketeers bar the other day - but that's what grandma's are for, right. Anyways, Lee said he wanted yellow cake with chocolate frosting so I made pink cake - thank you red food coloring - with chocolate frosting cupcakes with red decorations! They were cute and I can definitely see making them again. For the record the Bibis did not have one - although I have big big plans for the 1st birthday cake pictures.

Rewind to earlier that morning when flowers arrived at work - but they weren't for me. Lee did have flowers for me at home which was so nice. I am much more of a live plant/ live flower person than fresh cut flowers. Its totally more sustainable and I think you get your money's worth. (I am sooo green!)

This post is completely out of order in terms of sequence of events but you will get the point. So in the middle of all this E and I went to probably one of my favorite stores in the Mount (we don't have a very good selection here so no judging) Hallmark!!! Hallmark is sooo great. The Christmas ornaments they have are so nice and the people who work their are so friendly. So with E in tote I got Lee's card and E's card (I made sure she was not looking), picked up a box of candies for Lee - total rip off, only 12 candies for 8 bucks, I will do better next year -, and a little frogman for Lee. I found this super cute frog for E too and it was not horribly expensive so we headed home. Lee came into the cupcakes and the cards and chocolate and he also got me a Yankee Candle - so great! E woke up from her nap and we let her open her card and squeeze her new froggie friend - all on camera.

Well won't you know within the first minute of E having the frog she finds a hole in the back!!! A. just my luck and B. the beebster is so detail oriented it is crazy (she will pick a specks of dirt and find little pieces of junk on the floor rather than play with her toys) So off to Hallmark to exchange. I was hoping for another green frog because the first Valentine's Day with the green frog was already on camera. No luck. Came home with a pink elephant. I was bummed. The next morning I am getting ready for work and E is now playing with the elephant and lo and behold ANOTHER HOLE!!!

I decided to 'throw in the towelette' (as Lee would say) on the stuffed animals and splurged on the squeaky shoes. These things are AMAZING! Every child needs squeaky shoes. They squeak when the child walks and come in super cute designs. A wise sister in law of mine said that she tries to cut the noise level from her house and I totally believe her but for now I am sticking with the squeaks!!! I'll have to do a special post on my sister in law (I have two and both are so great) but one has kids closer in age to E so she is the expert on all things bibis...

In summary Valentines was a start of new traditions but Hallmark better step up next year!

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)

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.

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)

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!

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!!!