Jetted Tub

It works!

Still no shower walls yet - or floors or a complete toilet - but this is progress. Mark put up the green board (waterproof drywall stuff) last night in preparation for the shower walls, but before we moved the large back wall piece of the shower in the bathroom we noticed some damage on it. We're trying to figure out what we can do, whether the damage is repairable or not. Depending on that, this may be weekend #4 with guests and only one bathroom.

Ah, the pains of progress.

Busy Household

Here's a glimpse of our living room this holiday season. Festive, fun, and filled with things to trip over.

With all the family in town and continued home renovations the last couple weeks, it's been hard to find time and creative energy to write. But here's a short rundown of our latest events:

• We had a successful Thanksgiving with smoked turkey ala Mark, lots of pumpkin pie, and a new fangled cranberry sauce recipe (mmm, port). It was such a treat to have my parents and Chris & Carol in town to celebrate.
  
• We decided to exchange some Christmas gifts a bit early, so now we have a beautiful new mini-camcorder to play with (Thanks Mom & Dad Neely, Mom Synowiec, and Cathe & Adel!). We've taken lots of video already and Taylor loves to watch playback of "the baby" (a.k.a. herself). I'll see if I can post some clips soon.
  
• The bathroom went one step forward and two steps back - the tub is installed and the jets work great, but more walls were torn out and the toilet is only partially functional. Plenty of work left to do before we're out of town for Christmas...
• Taylor and I stumbled across a FREE children's craft event at Lowe's on Sat morning. They gave us a kit for making a little gingerbread house with a roof that opens, and candy-themed stickers to decorate. I built the house and Taylor added the stickers. She even got a free Lowe's apron with a gingerbread man patch (you get a patch every time you participate in their craft events - offered every other Sat). I think we'll try to go back next, next Sat to see what the new activity is.
  

I had a really hard time getting Taylor to sleep tonight. We've been staying up so late this weekend that her schedule is off by a few hours. She finally fell asleep on the couch a couple of hours ago and I found myself compelled to do some online shopping - partly for books about getting children to sleep and how to wean from nighttime feedings. We must work on sticking to routines as well; they make parenting much much easier.

I suppose I'll attempt getting us both back into bed now. It'll be much more comfortable than me trying to squeeze onto the couch with her for the rest of the night!

Not Moving After All

Mark found out this morning that he didn't get the job in Dallas. While we are a bit disappointed, it definitely takes a lot of the pressure off of our home renovation timeline. And, it's nice not being in limbo anymore. Uncertainty makes you feel like time has stopped and you have no idea what you should really focus on - do you keep living in the moment or do you try to plan ahead even though the future is unknown? Though I was excited to entertain the possibility of living a new city, I didn't want everyone around me to feel like I already had one foot out of the door. 

Thinking about moving makes you evaluate all the great reasons to stay - and we have a lot in St. Louis: a great church, a great Bible study group, amazing friends, fun activities for Taylor, and a cozy house (no matter how many improvements we might think we have yet to make).

Despite the news, I'm still in redecorating/rearranging mode. I came up with so many neat ideas and got such good advice on fix-ups in the last few weeks that I still want to try it all out.  I'm really excited about actually getting to make my custom curtains now! I was worried that the pretty fabric we bought would continue to sit in plastic bags for years until we were settled in a new house. But now I have some motivation to focus on the projects I had lamented not doing over the last few years - like framing pictures and hanging them on our very bare walls.

Plus, all these decluttering ideas I've had will be nice to implement for the joy of making our home a more pleasant and welcoming place instead of merely depersonalizing to make it more sellable.  I'm still holding out hope for some nice Black Friday sales at Lowe's and Home Depot on light fixtures, etc too. Actually, I'm excited for Black Friday in general.  Last year was my first to go out to the stores in the wee hours of the morning, and I really enjoyed it.  Amazon also had incredible deals that whole day and a few days following, so Mark and I already know we'll be logging plenty of time searching for gifts there.

In other news, the permit has not yet been approved for work on our guest bathroom, which means it will sit in demolition mode for at least a few more weeks.  Sadly, we will not have a second shower to offer our guests until after Thanksgiving...but maybe it'll be done before Christmas (??).  At least the toilet and sink are still functional.  And if I rehang the towel rack and mirror, it will be as if nothing changed.  I'll just rig the shower curtain somehow to block the gaping hole of the icky tile shower-that-was.

Let the countdown begin - one week until Thanksgiving! Mark and I will be hosting my family this year - our first time ever. After my cleaning/decluttering/rearranging madness has subsided I'll begin planning the shopping list and such. I can't wait for homemade pumpkin pie - my all-time favorite.

Last week in review

I was about to go and trim Taylor's fingernails as she is sleeping (one hand and two feet down, one hand to go), but then I remembered that quite a bit has happened in the last week and I wanted to blog what I could now before Taylor wakes up!

House rundown:

• Covered over concrete graffiti with leftover concrete we had in garage. It seems to have worked.
  
• New formica countertop in master bathroom for around $20 (from Hoods). Mark and friends made the necessary cuts and we saved a LOT of money.
• Inside doors are in process of being painted white. The hallways look fresher and cleaner already. The goal is to have them finished before the weekend.
  
• Mopped kitchen floor with bleach, but grout stains are still there. Must try alternative solutions, likely involving hands, knees, and a toothbrush.
• Other potential projects this week: buy and hang trim and mantle for fireplace, remove layer of wallpaper glue from guest bathroom, remove wallpaper from master bathroom.

Taylor rundown:

• Taylor and Samuel really enjoyed the dinosaur exhibit at the Science Center (From a distance and hands on). At first they were a little apprehensive about gigantic creatures moving and roaring, but by the end they were waving at even the scariest ones.
  
• Our Parents As Teachers representative, Meg, said Taylor listens to directions extremely well and seems to be very in tune with emotions (noticing expressions in a book - angry, sad, etc. She also hides her face from me now when she knows I'm upset with her).  Meg was also impressed with Taylor's drawing technique, that she uses only her fingers and wrist to draw now and that her strokes are small and purposeful.
• On Sat, after church in the sanctuary, Taylor did her FIRST unassisted forward roll (somersault). She has become quite a gymnastic daredevil lately, doing jumps and back-flops on the bed every evening.
• Finally, Taylor is actually starting to put her shoes on by herself on the correct feet. It seemed before that she preferred having them on the opposite feet, but she's been coming around.

Other news:

• I smashed my left pinky finger/fingernail pretty badly when opening up our running stroller on Saturday.  It got caught in a section that snaps closed.  The tip of my finger is still red and swollen and very sensitive, but it's getting better.  Thank God it wasn't Taylor's finger, or the situation could have been much worse (see Maclaren recall)!
• We'll have visitors this weekend (Yay for Ann and Jon!) - the beginning of our holiday madness.  After this weekend there won't be much of a break until after New Year's.  We'll be squeezing in home renovations when we can.
  

Ok, Taylor is up, it's time for breakfast and we need to get ready before gymnastics.  Have a great day!

Another full weekend

No word about Dallas yet.  We've been getting more done around the house though.  On Friday, Mark took a home plumbing certification exam at Florissant City Hall so he would be approved to do work on the bathroom.  He passed!  Then yesterday, he dropped off his plans for the bathroom to the City in order to get a permit for some of the work.  He's hoping he'll be approved to do the minor electrical work required if we install a jetted tub (a potential incentive we've been considering for prospective buyers).  Mark finished painting the front of the house this weekend and installed a new light fixture in the kitchen (quite an ordeal as the ceiling started falling apart around the hole).  And I did some yard work and indoor organization.

On Saturday, we went to the evening service at church and again when we went to pick up Taylor we were told, "Your daughter is so funny."  "What did she do this time?" I asked.  They told me that she somehow managed to take her ID sticker off her back, gave it to the workers, and then ran all around the room to avoid them as they tried to put it back on her.  Then she tried to take out the trash from the room.  The workers assured Taylor that they would take care of it.  She was also a hit with her little purse, which I let her take in with her.  Half the time we leave the house now, she insists on taking it.

We had a "first" this weekend as well - when Taylor woke up from her nap on Sunday, instead of beckoning me to come and get her, she called out "Daddy!"  Mark was just putting away some tools outside, but when I told him his daughter had just requested him, he kicked off his shoes really quickly and ran in to greet her - relishing the moment.  He came out of the room holding her and within a minute Taylor was fast asleep in his arms, so content.

And yesterday was another cool moment with Taylor.  I was busy in bedroom and my cell phone started ringing so I asked Taylor if she could run to the living room and grab it for me (I think it was probably in my purse).  Within a minute I heard her little feet running back and she appeared at the door, phone in hand.  What a smart little baby!  I was so proud.

Today we're headed to the Science Center with Sarah and Samuel to check out the new dinosaur exhibit.  I think the kids will get a kick out of the life-sized animatronic models.

Photo Friday

All the girls are bundled up for walk

Pot roast with mashed potatoes, carrots, and cauliflower

Improvements on the left: Newly painted window frames, pillars, and door.
Trimmed bushes and removed tree by front door.

More work in store for front: Rotten wood and chipping paint

Bathroom demolition begins

Sunday Fun Day

Taylor and I are feeling much better. We're on the right schedule (even going to bed at a better time) and just coughing a tiny bit. I took her to a follow-up visit with our pediatrician who said she could maybe justify giving her antibiotics if I was really concerned about the cough, but if she was that apprehensive I figure the best course of action is to wait and see a little longer.

The childcare workers at our church think Taylor is hilarious. When we picked her up after the service last night, we heard the whole story: Taylor was playing when she noticed that one of the children had a runny nose. So she went to the changing table, opened a package of wipes, and wiped the child's face. Then she proceeded to wipe all of the children's faces...and then the walls and other surfaces. After that she went back to the changing table, got out a pair of latex gloves and put them on, and then she grabbed a diaper and started walking around with it (perhaps looking for a doll or a child in need of a diaper change). And during all of this, she would occasionally get distracted by the music they were playing in the room and break out in spontaneous dance [the woman telling me the story then acts out the arm flailing and head banging].

Oh my goodness, our child is so funny. When Mark and I picked her up we found her carrying two purses (one on each shoulder) with a diaper tucked inside. The childcare worker also said that she was amazed with Taylor's comprehension, that Taylor understood absolutely everything they said. What a smart cookie.

Today begins another stint of intense home repair. While Mark works on the baseboards and repainting around the door frames, I'll be working my way through the piles of laundry and dishes. Mark's mom is coming back into town this afternoon and will be here until Thursday helping us out. We'll likely know the outcome of the Dallas position by Wed (definitely by the end of this week), so we can adjust our repair schedule accordingly.

Home and readjusting - plus home adjustments!

Sorry there was never a Part 2 to my "On my way home" post. We didn't end up having anytime in Tokyo to use the computer before the trans-Pacific flight and I don't think any free (or moderately priced) internet stations exist in the Dulles airport.

Anyway, long story short, we made it home safely with extra seats on every flight. Though we had a few rough spots during travel, overall Taylor was very very good and we survived the sleep-deprivation and the airplane food and the close connections.

The only sad news: Taylor picked up a cough in KL and I ended up contracting it after we returned, so at points we've been feeling pretty miserable. But lots of sleep is helping us recover.

There's a possibility we will move to Dallas! Mark has applied for a position with Boeing down there, so while we await the interview process and such, we decided to get moving on some of the home repairs we've been intending to do for so long. Whether we move in the next couple of months or stay in this home for 5 more years, this stuff needs to be fixed.

This weekend, Mark filled holes in our door frames and baseboards and then mudded around the door frames where there were gaps in the paint. Yesterday, he power-washed the house and the back patio, built a brick border around our backyard garden, and trimmed half of the trees. Then he and his mom started repainting the front of the house. Quite a bit of work done, but a lot more left to go!

Over the next couple of days they will do more painting, plant some bushes, and start some of the inside repair work. By the time we're done (in a few months?), we hope to have two newly redone bathrooms, a finished fireplace, a couple of freshly painted rooms, and new curtains and blinds on every window. Whether the curtains will be generic or my lovely handpicked fabric all depends on if we're actually moving or not.

Last night we tried the first meat from our 1/4th of a cow (a Missouri-raised, grass-fed cow). We made spaghetti with ground beef. I could tell a difference as soon as I plopped the meat in the pan. The raw beef smelled so much better than the stuff we usually buy at the store. In the final product, I think the meat was more tender than usual. I'm really looking forward to trying out new recipes for the cuts of meat I've never cooked before - brisket, pot roast, flank, etc - that showcase the meat more.

Outdoor progress

Here are a few pictures from two weekends ago when we revamped our backyard. We removed bushes from the area right next to our patio, Mark hacked down our pine tree on the back side yard, Nancy and I planted flowers, and then we had tree removers come during the week to take down our gum tree.

Taylor in her sunhat and SPF shirt

Removing bushes and rocks

Mark's new grill


Gum tree is gone

Home improvement

Yay! Our "Pink Room" is no more. After a weekend of hard work on the part of Mark's mom, sister, and brother-in-law, our guest room is wallpaper free and painted a lovely shade of off-white. The big project now is to put all the furniture back (it is currently residing in our dining room). And, once I actually sew curtains for the kitchen, I will move on to making some for this fresh, new room as well.

Also, within the last few weeks I've done a major purging of our kitchen cabinets and basement shelves. I threw out garbage bags full of expired food (ugh) and have been sorting through the dishes and other kitchen gadgets we have in an effort to donate what we don't need.

Big news from this weekend - Mark washed our cars!!! It's an annual event, so I was pretty excited to see them white again. Mark was surprised to see how shiny they could be and is motivated to wash them more often.

On the baby front, Taylor has been doing really well eating bananas. She especially likes it when Mark feeds her and protests (scrunches her nose and gives us airy snorts) when he waits too long between spoonfuls. I think today we'll begin avocados.

Taylor's babbling is also improving and I can hear that she's capable of saying "Mama" now, though she probably won't use it as a proper name for awhile yet. She's also sitting up very well and her crawling stance is getting better every week.

Pottying at night has been going well. I was so scared to start, but now we have a good nighttime rhythm with few "misses". The Nekkie Blankie I purchased (used, half price!) is perfect for any misses (ahh, peace of mind) and I have a little Tupperware container next to the bed to rest her bum on/in as she nurses and pees. I much prefer this to having her flail for several minutes as she wakes to pee and worrying about a leaky nighttime diaper (and diaper rash for that matter). I've read that pottying her will help her become dry at night sooner, so I'm excited about giving this a go.

Mark and I have been exercising together nearly every day this last week. Mark's lost a lot of weight (has about 10lbs left to go) and I'm stabilizing around 5lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight. With the help of Trader Joe's and some farmer's market shopping, I think we'll be well on our way to FIT.

Good week so far

The past couple days have been really good and so far today is turning out well too. Taylor has been on a nice sleeping and eating schedule, I've been able to get lots of cleaning done around the house while she's in one of the carriers (above), Mark has started on some projects that he had neglected for a looong time, and Phoebe has been very well behaved while running free in the backyard (now that Mark improved the fence).

Actually, thinking back, the weekend was great too! On Saturday, we went to the St. Louis Brewfest in Forest Park. It was the second time we'd been there. The first was right before I got pregnant and this time around we have a tiny baby to tote along with us - pretty good timing if you ask me. We bought the tickets in advance which was such a good idea because the afternoon time slot was sold out before we even arrived! Mark and I sampled about 26 different beers of the 100+ they had available. I had really missed tasting some of those over this last year of pregnancy! The ground was so muddy and I was grateful we had Taylor in our Beco carrier instead of trying to maneuver a stroller in that crowd (like some people did!). The more I use carriers, the less I can think of situations in which strollers would be better. Taylor slept almost the entire time!

(This is the Earth Day Festival a couple of weeks ago, but we looked pretty much the same)

Afterward, we went to Trader Joe's and picked up a beautiful bouquet of flowers as my first Mother's Day treat. On Sunday, Mark decided to spoil me by taking care of the baby all day while I did whatever I wanted (which was to clean!). He treated me to Einstein Bagels for lunch and India Palace for dinner (mmmmmm!). We tried to find a good movie about mothers on Netflix online, but sadly they didn't have anything. I think most of the movies out there about parenting seem to focus on fathers. Maybe the everyday life of mothers taking care of children isn't interesting enough to film...it's just too real and ordinary. Mothers only make good film fodder when they are neurotic.

Some days I'm probably neurotic enough to star in a film, but most of the time I'm just a regular mom who cleans a whole lot. A good day for me means that I've done most all of the laundry and put all the clean clothes away, I've ironed or steamed Mark's shirts for work, I've managed to find or make something for us to eat for dinner, and I washed all of the dishes before bed. A really good day means I was able to squeeze in some exercise, reading, and message board hopping as well. A fabulous day would be if I could do all of the above AND run an errand out of the house! I don't know if a fabulous day is really possible, but one can always hope.