ABC's and 1,2,3's

Little one is 20 1/2 months old.  She is definitely starting to hit those terrible two's.  I have no doubt she will be giving me a run for my money... and my mind.

She really is a joy.  Most of the time she is smiley and snuggly.  She gives the best hugs, I'm talking puts both arms around your neck and just squeezes like she isn't going to see you for a month!  Awesome.

She also loves to dance.  Her favorite seems to be the "Hot Dog" song at the end of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  She raises her hands above her heads just like the characters do.  Cute. Cute. Cute.  Big One never really danced, so this is fun for me to watch.  And I'm certain the reason LO is dancing at this age is because BO dances all over the place.  Maybe the Hubster and I should have danced more when she was little?!

And I'm going to sound like one of those crazy moms now, I'm well aware... but LO can sing her ABC's.  Not perfectly, but pretty darn close!  It is crazy!  I've been trying to get a video but she gets distracted by the camera.  Maybe I'll try it again when the Hubster is off.

And even crazier now, LO can also count to 13.  I'm serious.  I think she usually skips the number six.  But really?!

And just so you know I do not think (or expect) her to be perfect, man does she have attitude.  I'm pretty certain that her favorite phrase is, "NO!  I don't WANT to!"  Please make sure you say that in your head with as much 'tude as you can muster.  Geesh.

She hates to be in the stroller or the Ergo.  Hates.  But seeing as her listening skills are a tad lacking these days she really has no choice.  Again, crazy, because BO was in the stroller until she was 3!  Thank goodness for my Ergo though.  I never leave the house without it.  And as LO is almost 26lbs these days, I also get a fabulous workout carrying her around!

She is also giving me a run for my money at bedtime.  Yawn.

Ok, enough of me being that crazy mom at American Idol saying her kid has crazy talents and sounds like nails down a chalkboard.

I'll leave you with this...

Confessions

I bet you thought you were about to read something juicy and interesting, huh?

Here is my confession.  I like things done my way.  In my time.  You are shocked, right?  There are some things I don't mind help with, one of those things is cleaning.  If you want to help me clean, by all means, I am not going to stop you.  Promise!  But other things?  Heh.

This drives the Hubster insane.  I maybe OCD about somethings, but I assure you, he is too!

So why do you care?  Well, one thing the Hubster is OCD about is finishing a project.  If he has something he is working on he wants to finish it before he does anything else.  I am more of a balance kind of girl in that respect.  Sure you have this thing you are working on, but we also have two young girls and life that needs to be dealt with!  See?  Yes, I want that project done, but you need to clone yourself because you need to spend time with us too!

Again.  Why do you care?

The Hubster and I have decided to remodel our master bathroom.  We had grand plans (and a smallish budget) to begin with.  Claw foot tub.  Stone tiles.  New vanities.  New mirrors.  New fixtures.  New just about everything.

...and then we went to Home Depot.

On our way home (after both girls made it very clear they had no interest in our remodel) I suggested that we reuse our vanity.  The only problem was that something (heat? water) had messed up the veneer/vinyl on one of the cabinet doors, it sort of bubbled?  So I'm hoping we can either find the same door somewhere or somehow my fabulous husband can work his magic and fix it.  Fingers crossed because that would save us $1000.

We looked online at claw foot tubs and I quickly came to the realization that 1. they are expensive 2. they are heavy.  We'd probably have to reinforce the floor.  And without doing any research, I imagine that is not cheap.  Second option is an acrylic tub.  Still not cheap at around $1,200.  So I started thinking... our tub (Jacuzzi brand) isn't terrible.  It works perfectly.  I just hate the fixtures and the tile around it.  Hate.  I think I have the Hubster convinced we should reuse that as well.

So I just knocked off about $2,500 from our remodel and we haven't even started!  He can never again say that I spend spend spend!

We are still in the research and planning phase.  We have some things coming up in the next few weeks so really we won't be able to start this project until the end of August at the earliest.

I'm incredibly lucky that the Hubster is handy.  He can do all of this project himself minus the plumbing (but there may not be any plumbing if we keep the tub!).  It will just take some time.  Guess I will need to keep my OCD in check for this one.

We've been happily married for just over five years now.  Think we'll survive this?!

The Hubster was taking apart the faucet last night until we realized that the fabulous previous owners didn't put an access to it.  You can only unscrew it from the bottom, which means tear up the tiles.  Fabulous.

Ignore the mess.  But you get the idea.  If only we could extend the shower.  A girl can dream, right?

Ignore the dirty mirror please.  Ugly lights.  Ugly fixtures.  We did just add knobs (we had leftovers).  Oh and ghetto trim around the mirror.  The previous owners had grand plans and poor execution - throughout the entire house.  Lucky us.  

Again, what is the deal with the light fixture??

It is so white.  I promise it will not be so blah when we are done with it.  If anyone has ideas, let me know!  This is our biggest design challenge to date!

Party of 28!

So when I was pregnant with Big One we were kind of in a state of limbo.  Living in a rental house for a couple years, knowing we were not planning to stay in the area.  I was working but it was a transfer because we had no choice in the move (thanks to the Hubster).  I really didn't have a lot of friends.  And to be honest, I wasn't really trying.  I've never had trouble making friends.  I'm pretty easy to get along with.  But anyway.  No friends.  No family nearby.  And pregnant (read: emotional).

Not a great combination.  So I found an online forum for pregnant moms.  I lurked for many months, reading but not participating.  This was a group of women that were all due the same month.  Long story short I am very good friends with many of them now.  We have been through a lot as a group.  Births (obviously).  Deaths.  Marriages.  Divorces.  Infidelity.  Health problems.  The "normal" phases children go through.  Lots.

I have been to a few get togethers in the past.  They were fun.  Crazy as you can imagine.  Our first one was when Big One was nine months old.  The kids were just learning to crawl.  It was nuts.  

The next one was when they were about 18 months.  They were all walking around and going in all different directions.  Seriously.  This was the best picture I could get.  Insane.

At almost four years old they follow directions a little better!  We were missing one little girl who decided she was just too cool to sit for a pic ;) but we had eight kiddos under four years old.

We had seven families come to visit.  15 children.  13 adults.  It was loud.  And so much fun.  These women have become a big part of my life in the last four years.  It probably sounds so strange to some, but they really are real friends of mine.

Some of these families traveled a good distance to get to us.  Hours in the car with at least one child.  Money spent on gas, tolls, food, lodging.  I really appreciate the sacrifice.

And we had such well behaved children on Saturday!  They all got along amazingly well.  Toys were shared. Turns were taken.  Lots of hugs.  Dancing.  It was if we had known each other for years.  And really?  We have.

I consider myself so very blessed to be apart of such an awesome group.

Guest Room

So I should have taken some before pictures.  Bummer.  But our basement guest room was just a hodgepodge of leftover furniture we had from various points in our history.  We had a small white dresser and one nightstand I had from just after graduating from college.  A queen sized bed my parents got me for my college graduation present (how is that for practical??).  A headboard that the Hubster and I made while we were in a rental (it was pretty loud fabric as we were not supposed to paint the walls).  Curtains that we had in our bedroom at some point.  And a rocking chair that I found on the side of the road.  Nice.

So it is a little dark in the guest room.  I didn't want it to feel like a dungeon though.  And I didn't want it to be too feminine.  So I sold the white pieces we had.  We bought some old shutters at a second hand store for $20 and spray painted them white and hung it as a headboard.  The Hubster built the matching nightstands on either side of the bed.  He is awfully handy (which makes him even sexier in my opinion).  We picked up a bookcase from Ikea and put it on its side.  Kept the rocking chair.  And my favorite touches were the paintings the girls did.  Big One painted the one on the left and Little One painted the one on the right.  They did a great job.  I am definitely not an artist, but I painted some canvas with the Sweet Dreams sign above the bed.

Not bad, right?  Cheery!  Hopefully our guests like it down there!  We will find out tomorrow!

Spring Cleaning... in July

The Hubster and I have really been on a roll lately.  Just trying to clear things out that we don't use anymore. We have a local consignment board on Facebook and I was able to get rid of a dresser and nightstand and a bunch of baby things.  We made enough money to cover the cost of re-doing the basement bedroom.  That was my goal.  We also cleared out most of the unfinished part of the basement, which was the Hubster's goal.  (Here is where I tell you our basement is the least cluttered, most organized basement you will ever see... but it still drives the Hubster batty that we have things down there that we don't use.  I guess everyone has a little crazy in them.  Heh.)

Then the Hubster decided to touch up some paint in the basement bedroom.  And then he already had that can of paint out, so he figured he would touch up the paint in the rest of the house (I'm not kidding you).  And he decided to hang this window (yes, really, a window) we picked up.

He called me upstairs to look at it, it looks great.  Pics to follow as I'm the only one awake right now and turning on the lights upstairs wouldn't be very nice.

And I said, why don't we take down the baby gates?  And he did.  And it is fabulous!  I hate gates.  In my house.  Hate.  They have been up since we moved in.  And every single time I bring laundry up or down stairs I curse them.  Haaaaaaate.

So hooray for no more baby gates!

I know, boring post with no pics... so I leave you with these gems from this weekend!

Big One had a blast jumping!

Little One is not looking so little with those pigtails!  Geesh!