Living Room Changes

I have two living room changes to write about that we've completed over the past two months. The first is our front "entry" has changed a little.

When we moved things around to accommodate our Christmas Tree, we decided we liked the desk (that we no longer use as a desk since we got our laptop) as a 'drop zone' that separated the large room into two spaces - the living room and the entry way. (It's now standing immediately to the left of the front door). But that left us with an empty wall. We decided ideally if we couldn't knock that wall down (and we have no plans to do that since it would screw with the floors) - we would love built ins that double as some cabinets / storage (for the mess of toys) on the bottom and a display / bar area up top. Its the first thing you see when you walk in, so it better look nice!

But then we realized that that would cost about $1000 - even from Ikea or DIY'd. So that's on hold until we a) put away the money or b) find something better (like a REALLY cool piece from craigslist). In the mean time, we got this 15' plug in light cord from Ikea, lampshade from Target, and light bulb from Lowes. We hung some photos we had had framed but never hung and moved our chairs / table down from hiding in the attic. Its supposed to look like a reading nook and give us more seating when we have people over (which is a lot more often since we had the kids). I love the new light, but not sure if the whole thing looks a little like a dentist office waiting area... if there were fake plants, it probably would. Oh well, we're working with what we have!

But here's the best part. The lamp is a plug in. But its not. Well, not anymore. The husband found a remote switch that has two pieces: 1: you plug piece A into your outlet and your lamp cord into piece A. 2: you put batteries into this white light switch that you can tape or screw up anywhere. It's genius. Seriously. I carried it around for an hour just switching it on and off. That ran us about $16 at Lowes.

The other great idea was all from the husband. He decided some high shelves would fill in the odd gap around our floating TV. Ikea to the rescue again. Now finally have my "mantle" to decorate for the holidays- even if I don't have a real fireplace. For now I'll just turn on the Yule log at Christmas.

Twelve Years

It has been 12 years since my maternal grandmother passed away. I remember how incredibly happy I had been earlier that day; I was away at school and had left my IM "away" status to something like "what an absolutely wonderful day it is". It is strange to think how blindsided we all were; I miss her often.

Even though she had been sick for a very long time, she was still always there. This grandmom was my "crafty" grandmom; the one who taught me how to sew and crochet. The one who made all our Halloween costumes (and who's sewing machine I now use to make my own kids costumes). I miss her on all the holidays and when I see something incredible on Pinterest that I just know she'd know how to make. She was so fun for us kids during the time we had her, and I'm grateful for all the things she taught me.

The photo above is the wreath my mom made for her this year. It's clear to see where we all got it from. Love you Tida!

It's Already 2.2012

Like I said in last week's post, I've been on an unscheduled hiatus from my blog the past two months. From the time I get up in the morning to the time I go to bed I feel like I don't stop moving. Between getting both kids and ourselves ready for school / work, the time it takes to drop off / pickup, regular house stuff (like cleaning, making dinners, and paying bills) added to the increased work load at work and managing to pump / breastfeed on top of all that, I've had little time to blog.

Happily now things have "sort of" slowed down at work and I can get a few posts in here and there. I'm going to start back slowly; no promises or commitments for thrice a week postings; and I'll also be spreading out the content so that I have more time to write them on a more manageable schedule.


So what else have I been up to in 2012? Well, trying to get my work-life balance in order mostly. So I started 2012 like so many others do: with a resolution. That resolution was to make a list of resolutions really; one for each month. But I knew for me these resolutions had to be realistic, doable, and still make me feel accomplished at the end of the year. Important to note that this was the list. Laminated and finalized; no adding other resolutions (like "blog regularly" or "host a game night once a month") and over-stretching myself. Now of course I can do those other things, but my commitment is to do these things by the end of the year, without setting myself up to fail with other 'distractions'.

In January I decided to re-add flossing to my daily routine. Its one of those on-again, off-again things I got lazy with, and (TMI) during my pregnancies I had some pregnancy gingivitis. But from what I've been told, dental health can pay huge dividends in other areas of your health (and later on save you money!).

We also bought tickets for two different concerts (one coming up in March and the other in May). Concerts just didn't seem like all that much fun while I was pregnant so we haven't been to one in a few years!

Here's the others:

• Run a 5K (another thing I missed while pregnant)
• Learn to cook (to save money and get healthy!)
• Clean the attic (get organized... this is our #1 junk spot in our house)
• Get my cleaning plan together (eventually leading to less stress, live in a healthier environment, feel organized and let us have people over anytime!)
• Backup all my photos on DVD & create at least two albums (get organized)
• Learn to use my camera (have fun)
• Figure out how to "give back" more (have fun)
• Take a real vacation (have fun)
• Write a will (this one will stress me out until we do it)
• Rid myself of all the clothes that don't fit or make me feel good (enough said)

For me the over-arching goals of "have more fun", "get healthier", "stress less", "get organized", "save money" aren't realistic. However, I feel I can work towards them by setting smaller goals that "roll into" those bigger visions. I also wanted something to remind me of my goals throughout the year. And because it was fun to me, I made a mixed-font word-map with my resolutions in mind. This is on my refrigerator now. I love it.

McCutie Update

I took a bit of an accidental hiatus over the past two months. Mostly due to the craziness of the holidays, going back to work, and managing two kids when I'm home. I have to say I am egg-sauce-ted at the end of the day and go to bed at 9 or 10 every night. But, on the good side, I'm absolutely LOVING being a mom of two; there has been nothing more wonderful in my life than the gift of becoming a mom!

So here's an update for McNugget @ 18 months:

Dear Baby Girl,

You've grown up so much since becoming a big sister. Your vocabulary now includes all the animal sounds ("moo", "gobble gobble", "neigh", "who who", "ahh-ahh") and body parts we can think of (head, knees, eyes, cheeks, toes) , the words "please" ("pease") and "thank you" ("dando"). You know everyone's name "mama", "dada", and "duunda" of course; but also "troder", "am-e" (gammy), "juju", "alie" (valerie), "car" (sean), "poppop" and "ninnie" are all favorites too.

And for those words you're not saying just yet, you're still expressing yourself ("love you" is a blown kiss followed up by a real kiss and hug) and pointing correctly to almost everything we ask you to. You could finish the shape sorter at 13 or 14 months, and follow rather complex directions (please put mommy's shoes in the middle basket) - and know which bins your toys are supposed to go in (cars go in one bucket, balls in another).

Now at 18 months and 25 lbs, you've been a pro at climbing on chairs and up and down steps (with us by your side of course!) and are starting to get into trouble. The day before your brother's christening we had to take you to the ER for your first set of stitches (you fell onto the bottom step and put your tooth through your lip).

You've officially hit your jealous stage, and are looking to us for extra attention. You have started hitting and pushing a bit, but never maliciously - only for our attention. (After hitting, you always immediately smile and stroke our hand / face and say "niiiiiiice").  But you're absolutly crazy about your brother when its just the two of you - or when you see him at school (and he's pretty sweet on you as well!)

You're starting to get a little crazy about asking for the binky ("ginky"), so we'll be trying to get rid of it in the next few weeks/months. Most of our evenings are spent coloring, stacking blocks, reading, wrestling and playing with your cars. You do love to help out with vacuuming and dusting as well - so we may have to invest in a play broom soon!

Christmas was so much fun, it actually took us DAYS to open up all your toys. You're just crazy about Elmo, though you know all his friends too, so we had a lot of fun picking out elmo pjs, elmo plates and cups, elmo slippers and a new elmo toothbrush for you. And you were the flower girl in your Uncle David / Aunt Ninny's New Year's Eve Wedding - where you completely stole the show walking down the aisle by yourself.



At school you've started to play dress up and use the play kitchen, and in general are excelling at almost everything we put in front of you. You've known your shapes for months, so we've starting to learn your colors and letters the past few weeks. You love when I sing songs to you (itsy bitsy spider, ABC's, and Old McDonald) and can even do some of the motions with songs like "if you're happy and you know it" or "teddy bear, teddy bear"). We've also been working on you getting yourself dressed / undressed. You can pull your socks, shoes, and shirt off if we get it started for you; we're working on the pants now!

Night time is still pretty easy; you let us know when you're tired by twirling your hair. Daddy gives you a bath after dinner, you get a few books read and we say your prayers to you, and then we rock you for a few minutes until you point to your crib.

Last week you wanted me to paint your eyes with one of my makeup brushes, so of course I love to "paint" your eyelids (don't worry, the brush doesn't have any make up on it!) cheeks, and nose as we get ready in the morning. You just love the feeling of the brush and try to peek with your eyelids closed so you can see what I'm doing. As you've aged you've started to look more like me (even though you still have blond hair and blue eyes) and I am so excited about that. And when ever I wear something sparkly (like a shirt with sequins or a nice necklace), you like to touch it gently and say "oooohh". It is so wonderful to have a girl.

Those are the moments I love best; when its still me and you snuggling or playing together. You're so very wonderful and bring us so much joy everyday.

And here's an update for McMuffin @ 4 months:


Dear Boss-man:
The day you were born showed me how much a heart can expand in one day. And every day since then has been another in the best chapter of my life. Before 2 months you were rolling over and smiling. At two months we heard you laugh. The doctor says you physically are more than a month a head of schedule - with the most amazing head control from the day you were born and tummy time at daycare exceeding 50 minutes now (spread out over several sessions each day of course)! At 3 months you started to stand on us when we held you and play in your jumper. That's also when you really started "talking" a lot more to us.

For as physical as you are, you watch your sister and everyone else a lot more than your sister did at your age. We even find you going out of your way to watch the motion of the TV whenever its on in a room. You're still not keen on your binky (which may help us get rid of them for your sister), and you like stuffed animals and blankets much more than she ever did.


You giggle when I "bite" your belly and rarely spit up. You're not completely sleeping through the night yet, but we certainly have gotten quite a lot more sleep than in your first and second months - somedays you can now do stretches from 10 - 4:30 (usually followed by a few days of 10, 2, & 5 am feedings). You're still breastfeeding, and sleep besides our bed in a pack-n-play. While you're still what I'd call a good sleeper, our next goal for you is to help you sleep through the night.


You such a happy baby. You never cry unless you're hungry, though you're not quite happy when people touch your head (no hats for you!), and sometimes get scared at really loud noises (picture wide eyes, quivering lip, and a wail of a cry!). Bath time makes you really calm (unless of course we scrub your head) and you love the feeling of the water. Diaper changes are also a favorite of yours- I think its all the individual attention and eye contact. You can hold things like a rattle and are always trying to put things in your mouth (which also makes you drool a lot the past few weeks!) I imagine we'll have to start rice cereal soon (but I'm not ready for that, so we'll wait as long as possible!)

Like your sister you have my rosy cheeks and are middle of the road for weight (15.5 lbs). Also like her you're above average in height and headsize! To me your best features are your eyes and your smile. I can't get enough of either of them. You are the most beautiful boy I've ever seen - and you look so much like your daddy, though you remind me in certain photos of my own dad.


When we're at home, you spend most of your time with me, and I can't get enough of you (even at 3 am!) I love that one-on-one time providing for you, and am not ready for you to grow up so fast. While with your sister I've been excited about each milestone and anxious to see 'what comes next', I'm a little sad to see yours get here so fast.

Thanks for showing me how easy it is to share my heart - and for being the best little man a mom could ask for.

Love you both so much; squeezes and open mouth kisses.

Mama