Progress

First coat of paint (mostly) done. Time: 3 1/2 hours. This concrete paint is horribly messy-the splatter factor is off the charts because it is triple the thickness of regular paint. You can see the last little bit of yellow next to the furnace - there is actually a lot more painting to do, but we are doing the laundry area another weekend and just trying to get the main area done before the treadmill arrives. I never did get any painting done last night since it was 10:30 by the time I had everything ready to go. Thank you, Baba, for coming over and watching the kids while I worked today!

On the down-side, our electrician, who we really like, was a no show, but has promised me he will be here first thing in the morning.

We're at it Again

Yep, we have the DIY bug again. We weren't planning on sprucing up the basement, but necessity has driven us to home improvement. In T minus 14 days, our treadmill (the treadmill of all treadmills) will be delivered and ready for set-up. The problem is we have no place to put it upstairs and our basement looked like this:

Note the hanging fluorescent light, the original 70's ceiling tiles, the outdated window, the lack of carpet, and all of our crap.So last week I started organizing, clearing out, donating, and moved a bunch of stuff into the storage room, which is now adequately packed. I am certain the basement hasn't had a good cleaning since the early 80's.

Saturday, Tom stripped off the old ceiling tiles. I will spare you for the most part details about the nastiness that has been sitting for 40 years on the underside of those tiles, but interestingly enough we did find an old wallet up there that used to belong to the home's original owner? It had a very old library card, old pictures, and some notes, so we are going to do our best to find out if the owner of the wallet is still alive so we can return it.

Tom pulled up the rest of the old carpeting while I scraped peeling paint and pulled nails and screws out of the cement block walls. Last week a new glass block window was installed.

Sunday Tom spent the day framing out some of the low-lying heat ducts and at 9:00pm, I am about to begin a massive vacuum and maybe start painting. We'll see. I am anxious to get rid of the dirty yellow paint currently on the walls. Tomorrow the electrician is supposed to install some pot lights.

A Big Boy Zoo Outing

On Friday, this big boy-

and I headed to the zoo for a few hours.

No Baby Tommy.

No Stroller.

Not even a diaper bag.

We did bring our rain boots and umbrella, because it was a cold, wet winter day, but if you read my blog, you know those are my favorite zoo days. Sure enough, we were the second car in the parking lot and had the animals all to ourselves. The leopard was out and rather social, and even more exciting to a little boy......we saw Victoria the elephant get a bath. I was holding P the whole time so I didn't get to snap a picture of the bathing beauty, but we were entertained.

I am trying to do more things with only P, and next month we have a zoo class to attend called "Goodnight, Gorillas" where we'll learn all about animal bedtimes at the zoo. Can't wait!

Isn't it Perfect?

(Today I logged onto my e-mail to find a message from J-crew apologizing that they did not have the bracelet I ordered. Ummm, would have been nice to know before I spent all day yesterday at the mall looking for shoes and a dress to go with my new, beautiful bracelet. We'll see about this).

I have coveted this bracelet on JCrew since I saw it in their catalogue. Well, this morning, it went from being just on sale to extra 40% off SALE! I say when something is under $30 and it is love at first sight, how can one resist? My cousin is getting married in May and this will be my accessory. Ordered and on the way!

Forced R&R

With Tom working so much these past weeks and big projects looming on our horizon, we decided this weekend would be the perfect, much-needed family fun time we needed. The original plan was to meet this family-

up at Seven Springs Friday around 5:00 to kick off the weekend. When Tom called home to announce that he was stuck at work until at least 5:30, I called our guests only to find out that her husband was also tied up at work. So I packed up the car solo with the kids and headed up, arriving at 5:30. Tom was the next to arrive at 9:30pm, and our guests were right behind him at 10:30. My two little ones had colds the entire trip, and that did not make for good roommates (we all slept, or tried to sleep, in the same room). Still, it was just what we needed and it was good to finally see snow (not that Patrick wanted anything to do with it-he refused to even sled ride).

Tommy's Nine Month Check-Up

This guy just had his 9 month check-up.
Weight: 18lbs, 12oz
Height: 30 inches
Cuteness: Off the charts

Quirks: Checking under rugs. Living room, family room, kitchen, bathroom, you love checking underneath of them multiple times a day. I thought you would have outgrown it by now, but I guess I was wrong.
And shoes. You can't resist chewing on a shoe.

Transitioning to two naps a day.

Cutest Valentine's Card EVER

I am posting this now, not because I am organized, but I wanted others to be able to have time to recreate it. I take no credit - I found it on Pinterest and tracked it to this blog http://24-7-365.blogspot.com/2009/02/lavish-me-with-praise.html

After hunting all the stores for cute lollipops, I hit gold with this package of 24 suckers at Sam's Club for only $8! I used pre-cut 5X7 stationary flat cards from Michaels, but it would be fun to do multiple colors of cardstock. I had some trouble getting the font big enough in my basic editing software, so this friend http://www.morrisonmiracles.blogspot.com/ came to my rescue. If I had school aged kids though, I think it would be cuter to have them write a message and sign their name using a photo pen.

The only thing I need to track down is a scrapbooking punch so I can make the hole for the lollipop stem. My regular old-school hole punch wasn't long enough, and when I used scissors to punch through, it left the rough edge showing where the stem comes back through the front of the card.

I hope someone else is able to use this idea! I also thought about getting the heart balloons from the dollar store for a few of P's closer friends and having the string come through like he is holding the balloon.

So now I have adorable Valentine's waiting to be assembled, but I also still have a laundry basket of white undershirts and socks sitting in my guestroom for a record setting 8 days.

Amazing Baby Photos!

Do you love these pictures by mom, Adele Enersen, as much as I do???

I saw a segment this morning on the Today Show about this mom who takes amazing photos of her baby girl sleeping with various backgrounds she creates out of clothing. I am so envious of her creativity and talent! Here is her blog: http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Shirts

It is no secret that in the world of kid's retail, the scales of cuteness are tipped in favor of the girls. I hunted for some cute V-day shirts for the boys to no avail, so the inner crafter trapped in my non-crafter body came up with these no sew, 5-minute shirts. Proud to say I didn't steal this idea from anyone (unlike my valentine card idea)

P.S. One day, along with photography, embroidery, and knitting, I am going to learn to sew.

Step 1: Hit Toys R'Us where I found these red, turtleneck onesies for $3.80 each. Head to Michaels and pick up a $5 iron on letter transfer set. The plain white iron on fabric I couldn't find at Michaels so I ordered online from Amazon for less than $4.00 (I got free shipping because I had ordered some other things).

Step 2: I cut a heart out of cardboard and traced my pattern on the white iron on fabric and cut it out.
Step 3: Iron on the heart, then immediately iron on the letters of your choice.
Step 4: Peel off the plastic from the letters and ready to wear!

Step 6: Have lots of candy on hand to bribe toddler to pose for photos with his unsuspecting brother. Note the drool that appeared on the shirts within the first 30 seconds.

In Progress

Lots going on here, but not a lot of blogging due to Tom (who was not amused by my last post)working non-stop from home. Literally - all day and night. This morning we had a contractor, who came highly recommended, look at our bathrooms and crunch some numbers. I have also been busy trying to clear out our basement so we can:
1. Scrub all the 70's yellow, painted concrete cinderblock walls.
2. Prime and Paint
3. Remove old ceiling tiles
4. Install new ceiling tiles
5. Have the electrician (who was here last week to scout the job) install lights
6. Finish pulling up 70's carpet
7. Install carpet tiles (which are supposed to be fairly easy to do)

All this so we can put a treadmill down there. I know I won't workout though if it looks like the dungeon it is now.

Most thank you's from Christmas are finally done and ready to be mailed Monday, and the last decorations were packed away, but will remain in the dining room until operation basement is completed. Tonight I am working on a mini project that I hope to post soon... Pretty sure I will be useless tomorrow, but I had a good night of sleep last night and four cups of coffee, so I am making the most of this time.

Slumber

Tom notoriously can fall asleep on the couch hard after a long day at work. Sometimes he accuses me of messing with him while he is oblivious to the world.

Sometimes he is right.

I used permanent marker on his foot back on the 1oth, but he never noticed (or not that he told me). I checked last night and it was gone already. It was good while it lasted.

Eat My Words

UPDATE: As of Tuesday afternoon, I am calm, collected, and a million miles away from Sunday.

I had just gotten done telling a friend who is expecting her second baby that I have had surprisingly fewer emotional meltdowns with the arrival of #2 than I did with P. Today for dinner I had a double helping of my words. Cried in the kitchen, approximately 4:00pm. Everything annoys me, patience evades me.

It started a week ago when we returned from Seven Springs and both kids got colds the same day. After a few days of sleepless nights, a week of wiping snotty noses, a week of cranky kids, a week of husband working long hours, and then a few days of me not feeling so great, I lost all capacity to cope when Patrick woke a sleeping baby by kicking on the wall that adjoins their rooms. So, I cried.

Tom gave me a big hug and tried to send me out for a walk so I didn't have to listen to P crying (because I really yelled at him for sitting up and playing in bed for the umpteenth time) or Tommy waking up, but I opted to hit the bed and turned my fan on high to drown out all kids for twenty minutes. It worked. Then at 5:30 the emergency back-up arrived - Baba. I fled the house with husband in tow to a local pub to watch the rest of the Steeler game. I have since regained some sanity, but I worry about getting through tomorrow without being a grouch.

The worst part: I was a little happy when P cried after I really yelled at him, because it was better than his first and second responses, which was to laugh and giggle at me, and better than his third response, which was to yell out a defiant "NO!" when I told him to lie down. (Sigh).

They really are good kids - I know how lucky I am in that respect. But motherhood can drain just as easily as it can fill you up.
Hoping this will be a filling week.

P.S. I absolutely forgot to mention that my date tonight was with our local fire department's newly appointed (and most talented) Battalion Captain! As P would say with applause, "Good Job, Daddy, Good Job"....

Here They Come

That's right, the cute things my kid says are now blog material. This morning Patrick showed me some crushed Captain Crunch cereal on the floor.

Me: What Happened?
Patrick: I stomped on them.
Me: On purpose or by accident?
Patrick: An itsie-teenie-weenie-bit on purpose.

Then driving home from the mall today, P asked me where Daddy was, and I responded by saying "at his office". P replied, "He probably using his special whore (holder)". Made me laugh. This joke just doesn't get old in our house.

Tommy- 8 1/2 months

Poor guy, I haven't been very consistent with documenting all your monthly achievements. I read a friend's blog that talked about finding 4 new teeth suddenly in her daughter, and I decided I should check Tommy again. Yep, on top of the horrid cold he has, there are two, front teeth coming in on the top. That would explain why he was up a lot last night crying his eyes out. So here are some milestones/honorable mentions:

I am not sure what you weigh now, but using the home scale I estimate 20 or 21 lbs. In November you measured size 2 at the shoe store. You started crawling on December 23rdish, but even today you still like to scoot around on your belly instead of crawling everywhere. You like to pull up on everything, and unlike your brother, you put everything in your mouth-fuzz, dirt, leaves, fake pine needles. You go to sleep around 6:30 or 7pm, and usually wake about 6:30am (although 1-2 times a week I still hear you at 5:40am and just ignore you until you fall back asleep). You go back for a nap around 7:30 or 8 for an hour or so, and take another nap around 1:00ish. You seem to be a good eater and I try to let you self feed now as much as possible. You did great the other day with little pieces of ham, processed American cheese, and canned peas/carrots on your tray. Obviously, you like Greek yogurt. You regularly say "Dada" and "Baba", but "momma" only comes out occasionally. You are in size 3 Pampers now.

I love you.

"I Made Daddy a Whore"

Caught your attention? Remember the blog post about the clay pencil holder P made for Tom for his birthday? Well, I wanted it to be a surprise, which is hard to explain to a 2-year-old. Since we have model magic clay that we play with daily, I didn't think Tom would think anything of it if P mentioned that we made him something out of clay. What I didn't count on was P not being able to say the word "holder". Instead (you guessed it), it came out "whore". So for four days, P kept telling Tom he made him a whore. It was pretty funny and Tom was so confused where he picked up the word from, but I couldn't tell him without ruining the surprise.

So, that's the full story on the whore Tom never got for his birthday.

Kid Tested

Now that most of the Christmas presents have been kid tested, here are my mom reviews.

Candy Land: A huge hit with P, but why did they have to mess with the original and change the names of some of the candy spaces?
Baba gave P his LeapPad explorer. Overall I like it, but it is a little slow at times and the apps are too expensive. The interactive books, like this one with Thomas the train, are $20 to download. For One. The other educational videos and games are cheaper at $7.50 to $10, but still, we only have about 5 downloads on it right now and P will be playing those for a long time.

Playmobil Recycling Truck: Santa brought this and I love the details-it comes with two garbage men and three garbage cans. The only worry is that the garbage men have little removable hats and hair that would easily go right in Tommy's mouth. I put away the hats, but have kept the hair on for the time being. I am becoming a big fan of Playmobil.

I had originally seen the Bruder line of toy trucks online, but wasn't willing to pay $60 for one. Just before Thanksgiving, I spotted this one at TJ Maxx for $25! It didn't come with any garbage men, but did have some garbage cans and the whole back tilts like a real garbage truck. This was P's favorite present along with his recycling truck.

Had to share this find: If you have any Thomas the Train fans in your house, Happyhentoys.com has the best selection of Thomas items (we got all wooden for cheaper than anywhere else on the web). The Tidmouth Shed we ordered was $25 cheaper than even Wal-Mart or Amazon. I also ordered 5 or so new trains, and they have specials - I was able to pick up a new Toby the Train without box for $5. They have rare and retired cars as well. There are lots of other toys besides Thomas, and if Santa hadn't brought P's Playmobil truck, I could have bought it from here for 30% off.

This car simulator was a gift from the boys' great aunt. The BAO V8 driver is a simulator, but disappointingly, the pedals and gear shift don't connect to anything and are for decoration only, although they do move. Still, both kids seem to really like it and a car on the screen is guided along a simple road by the steering wheel. I will be curious if they grow bored with it or keep up this interest.

This present was unplanned- one of our new neighbors received a new piano and was offering this one up for grabs. In a few years we want P to start lessons, so my mom helped out with delivery costs (I had no idea a piano was so expensive to move) and it arrived shortly after Christmas. It is quite out of tune, but the kids are having fun with it already.

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year!

Was anyone else discombobulated with the lack of snow this Christmas and New Year's Eve? This was the ski trail on New Year's Day at Seven Springs. On top of zero snow, there was tons of rain, so we couldn't even go for a hike. Instead, we all hibernated inside with some good friends, hit the indoor pool at the lodge, and Patrick played his first round of Putt Putt, 34 holes in fact. It killed me that I wasn't there to see it and take some photos, but I stayed behind to clean up so we could hit the road a day earlier than planned. P came bursting through the door ofter miniature golf more excited than he had been Christmas morning. Rather than picking the two up from the lodge, Tom and Patrick took the lodge shuttle back to the condo-it just happened to be a REAL school bus. P could barely get the words out as he tried to tell me about it. It was his very first bus ride.

This guy was so well behaved thanks to the baby play-yard we used to block off access to the TV, fireplace, and wood bin. He went to bed easier in the pack-n-play than he does in his crib at home. We were the first two up each morning.

The boys ringing in the New Year a little early.

Melissa and Ethan (playing shy)