Easter Bunny and Weekend Activities

It was Noah and I again for the last couple of days and therefore my lack of blog updates.  Kids keep you busy for sure and when I did have down time I took advantage by napping or catching up on some Real Housewives.  Jeff left us Thursday through Saturday and Noah and I tried to keep busy to pass the time as quickly as possible.  We met some friends at the mall on Thursday for some reading time at Barnes & Noble.  We stopped by to see the Easter bunny, which after the tragedy of Santa I thought we would admire from afar.  He did seem pretty intrigued though so maybe next year we'll stop by and say hi. 

To let of some steam we played in the mall play place for the first time.  And let me tell you what total chaos that is! I've never been so scared for Noahs safety his entire life then in that hour.  The kids are running over and into each other non stop with no regard to what anyone else is doing.  The slides are just accidents waiting to happen and I've never seen so many kids fall over and over again.  But the best part, I didn't see one child cry.  Everyone was so excited and happy they didn't even care they were being trampled.  Noah had a great time and was super upset when we left but we made up with a group lunch date to Panera and that was enough to make up for leaving.   At least to me. 

Friday, we spent most of the day packing up loads in the car and moving them to the new house.  Mostly everything from the closets made it over and a couple of kitchen things.  Noah was kind enough to be a great child and hang out watching the landscaper level the yard and I walked in and out from the car a million times.

By the end of the day on Friday both Noah and I started to get sick.  Maybe from all the hard work, but most likely from the stupid mall.  We both hit the couch as soon as we got home and got to sleep pretty early. Saturday we lounged all day waiting for daddy to come home so we could snuggle. And like that, the weekend was over.

This week will go super fast too as we look forward to moving day this weekend.  Today, we close on the sale of our current house and weather we like it of not we'll have seven days to get all of our junk out before the other family moves in.  Thursday and Friday, Jeff and I will slowly move all the little stuff we can put in our cars into the new house and although I do have to work on Saturday, all of the big things will be moving in the U-Haul then.  Sunday we'll be celebrating Easter and I'm sure I'll get no sleep as I spend every waking moment trying to organize and put away our entire life. Noah's room will be the first one to get settled and hopefully by the end of the week the rest of the house will take shape.

Bits & Pieces

I was going through a lot of the pictures of the house and realized it's really been all about the main floor and I've been lacking on the rest of the house, so I thought I would share some random shots of the rest of the house.

They finally installed the carpet around the house.  The stairs are all covered up and ready for Noah to walk all over them.  He's really getting very good and going up and down so I think we're not going to put up the baby gates in the new house and let him go wild.  Maybe a door knob stopper on his door in case he tries to leave his room, but otherwise I think he'll do just fine without the gates. (Also, do you see the wonky glass on the chandelier?  It's driving me bananas and I've got to get them straightened out!)  Of course I'm sure no one would notice except me, right?

The basement and master bedroom also have the same carpet as the stairs, but apparently I've been slaking in taking updated pictures.  The colors turned out nice though.  Pretty close to what I expected which is so hard to do just looking at paint chips.  For the most part (other than the master bath...which I'll get into another day) we really lucked out.

Next up we've got the kids bathroom and mudroom/laundry room. Both in the same dark grey color. I'm torn with this color because I love the dark against white contrast but we failed to acknowledge the lack of windows in either space and this color really looks great under natural light as opposed to indoor light.  In the meantime though, I think it'll stay.

And lastly, a sneak peak at the deck which was just finished yesterday.
(That lake is still looking super cold!)
...and now, back to catch up on some Scandal!

House Update - Kitchen Hood

When I thought about my dream house, I thought about a house with a huge kitchen where I could cook while my kids did their homework. Where we could entertain, and be both in the kitchen and the living room at the same time.  I love to make food for other people but I don't want to be all alone doing it. Since I spend so much time in the kitchen, I also wanted it to be one of the prettiest places in the whole house.  After my closet that is.  So when I thought of all the things I wanted in this space, one of them was a custom kitchen hood. I've never been a fan of microwaves above the stove. Although functional, they really don't look all that great.  A kitchen hood makes the kitchen look so much fancier and can really change the look from casual, industrial or ornate with one simple piece.  We opted to put our microwave in the pantry instead (which is a whole other issue) but we did end up with a gorgeous kitchen hood.

Last week they finally installed our hood and the carpenter our contractor hired did an amazing job.  It was everything I asked, and gave us the feeling I was hoping for; fanci (er), but not too fancy. Still casual, but with a little class. It really pulled the kitchen all together, and other than a good cleaning, this place is pretty much ready to be cooked in.

And another credit to the carpenter for making some pretty corbels for our island.  I drew him a picture and he delivered. That's what I like to see. =)

BUILDING TIMELINE:

Oct 8 (Day 1) - We signed our contract and everything is official!
Oct 9 (Day 2) - Expected ground breaking - delay with permit.
Oct 14 (Day 7) - Pick out front door (similar to this), interior doors, house molding, door knobs, and decking and siding.
Oct 15 (Day 8) - Fireplace picked
Oct 21 (Day 14) - Faucets, sinks, shower heads, toilets.  Also garage door.
Oct 23 (Day 16) - Cabinetry for the whole house - knobs and handles
Nov 5 (Day 29) - Ground breaking - hole digging and laying some foundation.
Nov 13 (Day 37) - Outside brick picked
Nov 18 (Day 42) - Cabinet place again - Changed our minds of the kitchen cabinets!
Nov 19 (Day 43) - Chose lighting, sort of because that was pretty hard. Still have to finalize some choices.
Week of Nov 24 (Day 53) - Pour concrete base - framing basement - finalize light choices and custom island color, custom hood vent and misc faucets.
Week of Dec 8 (Day 68) - Finishing up the framing and starting the roof. Plywood mostly put up all around the house. It's starting to look like a house.
Week of Dec 15 (Day 75) - Framing complete and ready for siding. Roof almost finished. Electrical walk-through, still deciding on lights.  Electrical rough-in and instal of fireplace. Tubs in bathrooms.
Week of Dec 22 (Day 82) - Inspections. Insulation and drywall will be up this week. Final interior finishes picks.

Week of Jan 5 (Day 96) - Siding, finishing drywall.

Week of Jan 19 (Day 110) - Cabinets being delivered, Trim going up

Week of Jan 26 (Day 117) - Cabinetry installed - Custom cabinetry made and installed - continue trim

Week of Feb 2 (Day 124) - Finish trim - start painting 

Week of Feb 16 (Day 138) - Continue with paint. Counter-tops installed in kitchen, bathrooms and kitchenette downstairs. Install tile backsplash in kitchen and laundry room. Install tile in master bath shower and backsplash. Install lighting.

Week of March 2 (Day 152) - Carpet install. Trim and hardware finish. Faucets & sinks.

Week of March 9 (Day 159) - Slow week at the house. Just a couple of touch ups here and there. 

Week of March 16 (Day 166) - Concrete in the porch and garage, Starting the deck. Starting master shower re-do since they didn't quite hit the mark the first time. Touch ups around the house.  Deep cleaning and paint touch ups.

Weekend Cuddles and Temper Tantrums

Noah and I were together alone most of the weekend and as Jeff says he's just so much more emotional when he's with me.  Good and bad.  We laughed so hard and had such a great time, and then there were the times when he was so whiny and constantly wanted to be held and loved by mommy.  It's really such a roller-coaster and at the end of the day when he's finally asleep I'm also ready to hit the bed, even if it is only eight.

On Friday,  Noah refused to fall back asleep after getting up in the middle of the night with a soaked diaper and after two hours of whining, I had enough.  I needed sleep myself.   So I stumbled out of bed, got him out of his crib and plopped him on my bed.   He was out in five minutes.  I thought that was the end of it and I would be back to sleep as well, and although Noah slept soundly until morning I tossed and turned trying to get comfortable as Noah kept inching closer and closer to me.  By the time we got up in the morning I was inches from falling out of the bed.

When we got up it was obvious he hadn't slept that well either with his little toddler tantrums being thrown. I had finally had enough when he picked up the remote in attempts to turn on the TV and watch Doc McStuffins.  When I asked him to give me the remote, he proceeded to throw it on the coffee table and make the loudest noise known to man as Jeff was trying to sleep after getting out of work late in the morning. In that very moment we decided to leave the house and visit our new one as I knew he would be able to run around free and make all the noise he wanted.  It was a much needed break only an hour after he woke up.

Of course, once we arrived at the new house he was like a brand new child, all happy and smiley and cute.  Such is life.

The rest of the weekend was full of these up and downs and although he's rather annoying at times I die for the funny, kissy Noah I get the other half. We managed to make it outside for a while this weekend with the weather being warmed and all. Noah was really itching to get out of the house.  It's like a brand new world since a year ago and it's like he's figuring the outdoors all over again. The snow was all melty and puddley and super perfect for splashing.  I really just let him do his own thing as I followed him around the neighborhood. 

I'm really looking forward to this summer.  As a family, we are really in need of a much quieter life.  One that involves much less work and much more family time; all three of us together.  Work should settle down for Jeff and we should both be able to take a lot more time off.  We're finally going to start sending Noah to daycare a couple of times a week.  He needs to be with other kids and I know they'll teach him so much more than we can at home.  And while that's going on, hopefully Jeff and I will get some much needed alone time during the day.  Hopefully by summer we'll be all settled into the house, and although I know we'll have to do projects here are there, we should be able to do them on our own time.  Life is so busy, it's really up to us to make sure time doesn't fly by so quickly.

Greek Avocado Dip

My sister Laura came up for a visit last weekend and when she's here you better believe we're making lots of food for her tape worms to consume.  She's also always trying to get me to work out with her so I figured I would give her a little bit of my workout routine and slam her with some Jillian.  She's way more fit than me but I kept up right next to her... maybe taking a couple more breaks, but Laura was sweating at the end of it so a success it was.

We also made a new recipe I thought I would share because it was really that yummy.  I'm sure to make it again, especially since it was so easy.  Greek Avocado Dip and some sweet potato fries for dipping.  Ugh, I so want some right now.

Ingredients:
2 Avocados
1 Cup Low Fat Plain Greek Yogurt
1T Lime Juice
2T Parmesan Cheese
Salt + Pepper to taste

Directions:
- In a medium bowl mash the ripe avocados to a paste. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and enjoy!
Seriously, it's that easy.

To make the sweet potatoes, we peeled three potatoes, sliced them into potatoes wedges and seasoned them with salt + pepper.  Drizzled some olive oil and tossed it all together onto a sheet pan. Popped them in the oven for 20 mins at 425.

Inspiration taken from Bobby Deen but we added a yummy extra and made it even easier.

We worked out, got a great sweat on, and ended our afternoon with the most amazing appetizer before dinner. I'll be making these in the next week for sure.

Twenty-One Months

Time is flying and Noah is growing everyday.  He's big and strong and a super smart kid.  Sleep is still going in and out and we're constantly trying to figure out the next sleep issue. I'm starting to get used to disruptive nights and maybe it's just payback for all the good sleep he had as a newborn.  This week we're forecasting a couple of days in the mid fifties and I can't wait to get Noah out to see the sun.  I'm already starting to think ahead to this summer and how much fun we're going to have.  The lake is going to be a new thing for him, especially to be able to be around it every day.  Since we're moving so close to the spring we'll be doing lots of yard work outside and Noah will be enjoining every minute.

In the meantime we're trying to keep as busy as possible inside chipping away at the days 'till warm weather. Noah's finally gotten into all his stuffed animals that have been piling dust since he was born.  He plays pretend with them and makes them kiss each other and mommy.  So cute.

And as he grows he's getting so much stronger.  I really wonder how long it'll be before he's stronger than me.  It wont be long!  In the picture above he was trying to pull daddys legs around the living room after seeing mommy do it.  I could barely do it, Noah just lifted up Jeffs' feet.  It's the effort that counts.

• Stats: Size 6 Diapers | 2T-3T clothing
• Size: 33.5 lbs
• New Abilities: We're working on jumping.
• New Words: Only new word is "baba" although I have no idea what it means. 
• Sleep: We're still pretty normal. 7:30pm-7:30am.  One nap around 1 for about an hour and a half to two.
• Mom Check-In: Gosh I am so ready to move into our new house.  Every time we go over I just want to sit on the floor and hang out.  Not much longer though.  T-one month!

We'll finish up our update with a fun Noah video. =)

House Update - Sinks, Plumbing, Lights & More

We're just hitting the home stretch as we have less than a month 'till move in.  Things are really starting to pick up at the house and getting finished up. Our appliances were delivered and mostly installed and we couldn't be happier with our choices to upgrade the range and fridge.  Bad news for us though, it looks like either the cabinets or the wall was mis-measured and our fridge currently doesn't fit all the way to the back.  So until we find a solution and the builder/cabinet people make the opening bigger, we'll have to deal with the stuck out fridge.  Not everything can go according to plan, right?

The tile in the fireplace was finished of with grout and I'm so happy I changed my original tile pick to this because I love how it turned out! Very light and bright and cozy with the texture on the tile. The smaller scale tile really gives it some dimension and makes it pop.

Our final install of last week were most of the lights throughout the house.  Although we had some standard flush mounts in the bedrooms, hallway and laundry room, we did get to pick out some fun ones in the kitchen, over the island and the dining table.  Oh yeah, and did I mention I have a chandelier?!  I might not have gotten one in the master closet as I wished but this one just almost makes it up.

Up for the next on the month we really just have a lot of the finishing touches.  Quarter round around the baseboards, light switch plates and such.  The big stuff left is mostly carpet, closet and glass installs as well as the final plumbing and sinks.  Not too far left and the finish line looks so close.

BUILDING TIMELINE:

Oct 8 (Day 1) - We signed our contract and everything is official!
Oct 9 (Day 2) - Expected ground breaking - delay with permit.
Oct 14 (Day 7) - Pick out front door (similar to this), interior doors, house molding, door knobs, and decking and siding.
Oct 15 (Day 8) - Fireplace picked
Oct 21 (Day 14) - Faucets, sinks, shower heads, toilets.  Also garage door.
Oct 23 (Day 16) - Cabinetry for the whole house - knobs and handles
Nov 5 (Day 29) - Ground breaking - hole digging and laying some foundation.
Nov 13 (Day 37) - Outside brick picked
Nov 18 (Day 42) - Cabinet place again - Changed our minds of the kitchen cabinets!
Nov 19 (Day 43) - Chose lighting, sort of because that was pretty hard. Still have to finalize some choices.
Week of Nov 24 (Day 53) - Pour concrete base - framing basement - finalize light choices and custom island color, custom hood vent and misc faucets.
Week of Dec 8 (Day 68) - Finishing up the framing and starting the roof. Plywood mostly put up all around the house. It's starting to look like a house.
Week of Dec 15 (Day 75) - Framing complete and ready for siding. Roof almost finished. Electrical walk-through, still deciding on lights.  Electrical rough-in and instal of fireplace. Tubs in bathrooms.
Week of Dec 22 (Day 82) - Inspections. Insulation and drywall will be up this week. Final interior finishes picks.

Week of Jan 5 (Day 96) - Siding, finishing drywall.

Week of Jan 19 (Day 110) - Cabinets being delivered, Trim going up

Week of Jan 26 (Day 117) - Cabinetry installed - Custom cabinetry made and installed - continue trim

Week of Feb 2 (Day 124) - Finish trim - start painting 

Week of Feb 16 (Day 138) - Continue with paint. Counter-tops installed in kitchen, bathrooms and kitchenette downstairs. Install tile backsplash in kitchen and laundry room. Install tile in master bath shower and backsplash. Install lighting.

Week of March 2 (Day 152) - Carpet install. Trim and hardware finish. Faucets & sinks.