Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Nuts and Bolts of It

Well, really more like nails and screws. John came to visit us this weekend and boy did he have his work cut out for him! I had a list several pages long and trimmed it down to the "essentials." Most of the work was hanging things and hauling boxess. Here's what we accomplished this weekend.

Storage room is now organized.
Dining room table is functional.
Dining room floor is 75% clear.
Ironing board and clothes-hanging rod installed in Laundry Room.
Curtains, guitars, and tie rack installed in Master Bedroom, as well as several plastic totes of clothes brought down to storage.
Wire racks installed in my kitchen and garage to hold "things."
Key hooks/mail holder put up.
Various pictures up in the play room and upstairs hallway.
Downstairs bathroom decorations started.
And a load of recycling taken away.

The only thing not accomplished this weekend was finding that darned box with the bathroom rugs in it. Maybe next weekend...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Doctor's Notes

The kids went to their new pediatrician today. I liked her and her nurse very much, I just do not like how stressful the appointment was. I felt pulled in a million directions. (Fill out all this paperwork - twice, even though the info is the same. Undress them, dress them, weigh them, etc.)

Declan weighs 30 lbs, and is perfectly 50% on both height and weight. The doctor told him no more milk at night and gave us a plan to be off the sippy cup at night in 2 weeks. We tried the plan at naps and it took 2, 2oz cups of water before he went down. So far, so good.

Abigail weighed in at 17.2 lbs, putting her in the 5th percentile. (On my chart, she was 30%). She's perfect in every way, of course.

The kids loved the office because there were tons of toys. We go back for Abigail's 1 year check-up in early April.

Oh Declan

This morning, Declan was taking the clothes out of the dryer for me. He then comes running into my room with a handful of lint. Yes, he cleaned out the lint catcher.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Maryland State Trooper

Today, while driving home from Steven's appointment at Walter Reed, I saw a Maryland State Trooper car (which is brown and I think kinda funny looking). It was in front of us and then he turned into a turn lane, and then immediately got into the lane behind me. I knew he was going to pull me over, I just couldn't figure out what for. He pulled me over, printed the car, and came to my window.
Trooper: Ma'am, we have a seat belt law in this state and I saw you put your seat belt on when I was driving in front of you.
Me: (Astonished). I don't understand. I've had my seat belt on the whole time.
Trooper: Ma'am, this stop is being recorded audibly and visually.
Me: Sir, I had my seat belt on the whole time. I just adjusted it across my chest.
Trooper: Ma'am, I appreciate honesty.
Me: Sir, I understand. I am not lying. I adjusted the seat belt like this (showed him).
Steven: She had her seat belt on the whole time.
Trooper: Sir, are you saying she had the seat belt on the whole time?
Steven: (slowly getting exasperated) Yes.
Trooper: Ma'am, let's consider this a warning. Have a nice day.

Wow. Really? I now know that Maryland is one of those states in which you can be pulled over for not wearing your seat belt, but I would have loved to see this guy prove to a judge that I was indeed, not wearing my seat belt in the 30 seconds he saw me in his rear view mirror with my husband stating that I was wearing it the whole time.

Jeez, find some real criminals.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

Yes, I'm a Crunchy Mom

As many of you know, I started cloth diapering when Abigail was born. It has worked so well for our family I cannot figure out why I did not start this with Declan. My latest obsession is home made baby food. Not only is it cheaper (think one sweet potato feeds Abi for 3 days (if she ate only sweet potatoes) but its fun. I get to experiment with foods and combinations all while using a Ninja food processor.
So, yes, I am a crunchy mom. And I love it!

Friday, February 4, 2011

One week in...


Well, with one week of unpacking complete, I am proud to say we have one room left! The dining room is full of boxes, there is one box of "odds and ends" to go through upstairs and then there are the boxes in the storage room that need to be organized and stored better. Add to that about 500 footlockers, ok, more like 10 that also need organization and labeling and we are done! My short-term goals are to park in the garage again by the 14th and to be rid of boxes and have a storage solution for each of the remaining things by 1 March.

Our garage is definitely large enough to keep the footlockers in there until we are ready to go through them (that will definitely wait until Steven is up for the task as 95% of the stuff is his). When my brother comes to visit, he will help us put up shelves in the garage to make a pantry. He has many other jobs too, but that is the main one. After that everything that doesn't have a place or use is out!

We have at least two more walls to paint, and I hope to have that completed by 1 April. It should be a reasonable goal, as I can do these walls during naps a few days during a week. I'd also love to start hanging things on the walls, but I'm not sure what is going where, so that will be an ongoing project.

The kids are finally adjusting and thriving here. Declan has made it through the last few days using an open cup at the table. Woo hoo! Abigail has entered that daring stage of crawling and pulling herself up. And, I received some beautiful housewarming flowers from my father today. This was a good week and I can only hope it gets better from here!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

History Repeats Itself

Today, my son locked me out of the house. Apparently, my husband, when he was very close to Steven's age (with a younger sister close to Abigail's age) locked his mother out of the house. Like we needed further proof Declan is Steven's son. Here's the story....

I walked outside to put something in the car. I went to go back inside and the deadbolt was locked. So, I rang the doorbell and Declan came running to the door. He said, "Yes, Mommy?" I said please open the door and he couldn't reach. Well, after several moments of panic (but, thankfully, no crying or screaming from either child) I remembered I had the garage door remote in my car. Now, this is one moment where I am very glad we got that nifty, code to unlock your car system (good one dear!), and I was able to get in via the garage. I went to the front door and sure enough, he had locked it, and in my attempts to open it and his attempts to unlock it, we had jammed it pretty good. The repair man will come tomorrow.

When I asked him why he locked the door he looked at me like I was crazy. He said, "Mommy lock door when Daddy go to work." In his head, locking the door behind someone leaving is what you do. Guess I learned my lesson too. Oh Declan.