I know I'm a few days late with this, but I wanted to post it anyway. This Thanksgiving we had a large, multi-family get together at our house. Our final headcount was 28 with 11 of those people being under the age of 13. It was definitely a full house, but a good time! Lots of family, lots of food, lots of fun. And lots of scanning the ads to make our Black Friday shopping lists (:
To prepare for Thanksgiving, J decided that we needed a new TV so we could watch football the right way. Just kidding. Actually, I'd agreed to let him look for a good deal on Black Friday, but he found a better one the Sunday before. So instead of focusing our Black Friday preparations on TVs, I got to focus on, well, everything else. I'd already arranged to have Zach spend the night at my mom's house so J and I could both go out shopping. Since Isaiah still refuses to eat anything that comes out of a bottle, he had to stay with me ... which meant taking my 6.5 month old baby Black Friday shopping. In years past, when I started Black Friday shopping at 5:30AM, that might not have been so bad. This year, however, I was the naughty mom who left the house with baby in tow at 11:45PM to start shopping ... and returned home at 6:30AM. I got some looks here and there and a few comments from some men who were waiting in line near me about how brave I was to have my baby out shopping with me at three in the morning. Said men eventually got more information than they wanted regarding WHY I had my baby with me when their comments didn't stop after one or two remarks. It's funny how quickly they stopped after processing my comment about how Isaiah "won't take a bottle." Despite having Isaiah with us, our Black Friday shopping was pretty successful. We managed to score some good deals on things for Christmas for the kids, I got a new Shark Steam mop, and J got a BluRay DVD player with a surround sound system and a few new video games -- Christmas came early for him.
And now, because no Thanksgiving post would be complete without a little cheesiness, I leave you with some things I am thankful for this year:
1) Healthy children, healthy family, and a healthy me.
2) A warm, safe place to live where there is always food on the table.
3) A husband who makes me feel so loved, is always there for me when I need him, and who works so incredibly hard for our family.
4) The ability to stay home with my children. Even if it is not the way I'd have dreamed it and they drive me crazy at times, I do feel lucky to be home with them.
5) Not having to do a single bit of cooking on Thanksgiving morning! (and yes, Thanksgiving was at our house. Thanksgiving was potluck style and everything we contributed was made by J. So lovely!)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Home Improvements!
As promised, here are the before and "almost after" pictures of what we worked on the past two weeks. Just for fun, I've included pictures of what the rooms looked like when we first bought the house too :)
First up, the playroom:
And the living room:
First up, the playroom:
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| October 2008 - Right after we bought the house |
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| October 2008 - New Paint |
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| November 2008 - New Carpet :) |
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| November 2010 |
And the living room:
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| October 2008, View 1 - Right after we bought the house |
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| October 2008, View 2 |
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| 2009 - New Carpet, New Paint |
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| October 2010, View 1 - New Furniture |
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| October 2010, View 2 |
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| November 2010, View 1 |
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| November 2010, View 2 |
Monday, November 15, 2010
What We've Been Up To:
Where does time go? I just don't understand how it can already be the middle of November! Things that have happened in the last two weeks:
Zach and the new(ish) neighbor boy, J, got together and played twice. They seemed to get along really well. I'm so happy to now have a boy in our neighborhood that is Zach's age. (There is already a baby boy a few months older than Isaiah on our block.) I really like the J's mom too. It's so nice to meet a mom that I have things in common with - like the older stepkids and husbands, not a huge fan of toy guns/violence, etc - and nice to meet a mom my age with a kid Zach's age that doesn't have a whole lot of growing up left to do. Those seem to be kind of hard to come by. I'm hoping to find a time when just the mom and I can get out together, but I'm not sure when that might happen, seeing as how she works weekends. Hopefully we can do it sometime.
Isaiah turned six months old on November 13th. Wow. I don't know if I'm more in shock by the fact that my baby is already six months old or by all the things he has mastered before turning six months old: rolling over both ways (ok, no huge surprise there), sitting up without support, crawling, and the latest one - going from a crawling position to sitting all by himself. After trying so hard for not quite two weeks, he finally accomplished it on November 9th. At the rate he's going, he is going to be walking by the time he's 9 months old. Haha, if he waits that long! I'm anxious to go to his well-baby appointment this week and find out exactly how big he is now and where he falls on the growth charts. Breaking out and washing all the 12 month clothes for my big boy is one of the things on my ever-growing agenda for this week.
Jerome and I have been working on some home improvement projects. After going back and forth about replacing the trim in our house, I finally caved and agreed to let Jerome do it one room at a time. We started in the "playroom" (what is supposed to be the formal dining room) and the family room. It made sense because we were wanting to repaint both of these rooms. It got off to a slow start - I think Jerome might have been feeling a little overwhelmed on where to start once we got the existing trim off - but thanks to my wonderful sister and brother-in-law (and their kids :)) we managed to crank out most of the project over the past weekend. I'm torn between posting pictures now while it is almost done and waiting until it is actually 100% finished. I think I'm going to go with pictures while it is almost done, but it's going to need to wait until later tonight. Right now I have a kitchen that is waiting for me to finish cleaning. The playroom and family room are looking awesome, but the rest of the house and housework have been sorely neglected!
Zach and the new(ish) neighbor boy, J, got together and played twice. They seemed to get along really well. I'm so happy to now have a boy in our neighborhood that is Zach's age. (There is already a baby boy a few months older than Isaiah on our block.) I really like the J's mom too. It's so nice to meet a mom that I have things in common with - like the older stepkids and husbands, not a huge fan of toy guns/violence, etc - and nice to meet a mom my age with a kid Zach's age that doesn't have a whole lot of growing up left to do. Those seem to be kind of hard to come by. I'm hoping to find a time when just the mom and I can get out together, but I'm not sure when that might happen, seeing as how she works weekends. Hopefully we can do it sometime.
Isaiah turned six months old on November 13th. Wow. I don't know if I'm more in shock by the fact that my baby is already six months old or by all the things he has mastered before turning six months old: rolling over both ways (ok, no huge surprise there), sitting up without support, crawling, and the latest one - going from a crawling position to sitting all by himself. After trying so hard for not quite two weeks, he finally accomplished it on November 9th. At the rate he's going, he is going to be walking by the time he's 9 months old. Haha, if he waits that long! I'm anxious to go to his well-baby appointment this week and find out exactly how big he is now and where he falls on the growth charts. Breaking out and washing all the 12 month clothes for my big boy is one of the things on my ever-growing agenda for this week.
Jerome and I have been working on some home improvement projects. After going back and forth about replacing the trim in our house, I finally caved and agreed to let Jerome do it one room at a time. We started in the "playroom" (what is supposed to be the formal dining room) and the family room. It made sense because we were wanting to repaint both of these rooms. It got off to a slow start - I think Jerome might have been feeling a little overwhelmed on where to start once we got the existing trim off - but thanks to my wonderful sister and brother-in-law (and their kids :)) we managed to crank out most of the project over the past weekend. I'm torn between posting pictures now while it is almost done and waiting until it is actually 100% finished. I think I'm going to go with pictures while it is almost done, but it's going to need to wait until later tonight. Right now I have a kitchen that is waiting for me to finish cleaning. The playroom and family room are looking awesome, but the rest of the house and housework have been sorely neglected!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Halloween and New Friends
Halloween was so much fun. Zach dressed up as Woody from Toy Story and really got the whole Trick or Treating thing this year. He amazed me by saying "Trick or Treat" to people when they answered their door - he normally is pretty shy and won't talk to most people at all. To see him get so excited was such a joy. Jerome's mom and K came over and answered our door so we could both go out with Zach for a bit. K dressed up in her Lady Gaga costume so we could take pictures of the kids all dressed up. She made a GREAT Lady Gaga, and even won $20 in a costume contest at a party she went to earlier in the weekend. And you can definitely tell Isaiah is not the first kid in the family - I only snapped a handful of pictures of him in costume, none of which were of him by himself. I'm blaming the fact that he fell asleep soon after he got his costume on, but still ... I think I might have to dress him up again and have a little photo shoot. No one will have to know that it was actually a few days into November, right?
Here are a few pictures of the kids in costume. The one of K and Zach is my absolute favorite! I may have to get it printed and frame it.
While Trick or Treating, I made it a point to finally introduce myself to a family that moved in down the street a month or so ago. I'd been told by another neighbor that they had a little boy and are expecting again, so I was very excited to meet them but, being a little shy, I had never taken the initiative to walk down there and say hi. The mom was super friendly and it turns out we have a lot in common - older stepdaughters (1 for me, 2 for her), 3.5yo boy (me) and 4yo boy (her), both watch extra kids during the week. I told her to feel free to stop over and play sometime, and was feeling very excited about the prospect of finding a friend on a block that is primarily older couples with grown children and younger couples with no children. As we were walking to the next house, Jerome told me that I'd better make sure the house is clean in case they decided to drop by ... well, they decided to drop by today (super awesome) and my house was less than company ready. Oops! She didn't seem to mind too much, but I sure did! It was nice to visit with another adult though, especially on a day when I don't get a ton of adult contact since J has class tonight, and I think we hit it off fairly well. Lol, we even exchanged numbers. However, I do think it may be time I give the whole FlyLady thing another shot so that I can stop living in CHAOS ...
Here are a few pictures of the kids in costume. The one of K and Zach is my absolute favorite! I may have to get it printed and frame it.
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| K, Zach, and Isaiah |
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| Passed out before the action even started |
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Big News!
We have big news! But because I'm so bad at blogging, most people reading this probably already know what it is. I'm going to tell you all anyway :)
This summer Jerome and I made a big announcement regarding a secret we'd been hiding, some of us better than others. (Ahem, I would be one of the others. Oops.) WE'RE MARRIED! After J's hot sauce packet proposal in October 2009, we discovered that we'd both been thinking about a quick wedding before Isaiah entered our lives. We ran out and got a marriage license - valid for 6 months - and then did nothing. Once the excitement of the holidays and the recovery period thereafter were over, it suddenly hit us that our marriage license was going to expire and we weren't married yet! But now there really was no time to plan a wedding, nor was I excited about the prospect of looking like a giant marshmallow, walking down the aisle 7 months pregnant in a wedding dress. We settled on quietly getting hitched at the courthouse on a Friday, so that the following year we could have a ceremony/party on our one year wedding anniversary. On March 12, 2010 Jerome and I were married at the Stillwater Courthouse with Zach by our feet, Isaiah in my belly, and two good friends by our sides. And once we were married, we didn't tell a soul ... or at least, we weren't supposed to!
The plan to keep it a secret and have a ceremony on our one year anniversary has gone by the wayside for several reasons. We finally came clean in early July and told our families and friends the good news. In hindsight, I wish we would have skipped the idea of having a ceremony in 2011 and just invited our families to come to the courthouse with us ... but we didn't. What's done is done, and though we don't have a date set right now, there will be a celebration at some point! Personally, I think it's a pretty good excuse for a party.
This summer Jerome and I made a big announcement regarding a secret we'd been hiding, some of us better than others. (Ahem, I would be one of the others. Oops.) WE'RE MARRIED! After J's hot sauce packet proposal in October 2009, we discovered that we'd both been thinking about a quick wedding before Isaiah entered our lives. We ran out and got a marriage license - valid for 6 months - and then did nothing. Once the excitement of the holidays and the recovery period thereafter were over, it suddenly hit us that our marriage license was going to expire and we weren't married yet! But now there really was no time to plan a wedding, nor was I excited about the prospect of looking like a giant marshmallow, walking down the aisle 7 months pregnant in a wedding dress. We settled on quietly getting hitched at the courthouse on a Friday, so that the following year we could have a ceremony/party on our one year wedding anniversary. On March 12, 2010 Jerome and I were married at the Stillwater Courthouse with Zach by our feet, Isaiah in my belly, and two good friends by our sides. And once we were married, we didn't tell a soul ... or at least, we weren't supposed to!
The plan to keep it a secret and have a ceremony on our one year anniversary has gone by the wayside for several reasons. We finally came clean in early July and told our families and friends the good news. In hindsight, I wish we would have skipped the idea of having a ceremony in 2011 and just invited our families to come to the courthouse with us ... but we didn't. What's done is done, and though we don't have a date set right now, there will be a celebration at some point! Personally, I think it's a pretty good excuse for a party.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
So ... What's New?
Has it really been over two months since I've blogged? Oops. I guess I have some news to share: Baby Boy#2 is here!
Also known as Isaiah Jerome, Baby Boy#2 arrived at 5:47am on Thursday, May 13, 2010 weighing 7lbs 7.8oz and measuring 19 inches long. My labor and delivery were relatively quick and easy, and Isaiah was born 100% healthy. I'm happy to say that Zach is adjusting to Big Brotherhood very well, my only complaint being that he loves his little brother perhaps a bit too much. Isaiah is growing very big very quickly, which is fun to watch but a little bittersweet since he is my last baby. I can't believe he is already 6.5 weeks old!
Life is starting to feel more normal, and I am definitely feeling much more human than I did those first few days/weeks after Isaiah made his debut. However, I'm now feeling the effects of spending Isaiah's first 6 weeks doing pretty much zero housework: my house is a disaster! It doesn't even feel "just messy" right now; it feels downright dirty. It's completely wearing on my nerves today, but how do you scrub a house when you have a 3 year old, a 6 week old, a lot of junk to deal with and papers to file, and not enough hours in the day?
My goals for today are to make this week's meal plan & grocery list and tackle the living room and playroom (the rooms are adjoining with no door between them). This includes folding and putting away 3 baskets of laundry, clearing off the desk in the playroom and finally bringing the desk down to the basement, and finding a real home for my knitting stuff - the corner behind the recliner isn't going to cut it anymore! I'm guessing I'll only get as far as the laundry ...
Also known as Isaiah Jerome, Baby Boy#2 arrived at 5:47am on Thursday, May 13, 2010 weighing 7lbs 7.8oz and measuring 19 inches long. My labor and delivery were relatively quick and easy, and Isaiah was born 100% healthy. I'm happy to say that Zach is adjusting to Big Brotherhood very well, my only complaint being that he loves his little brother perhaps a bit too much. Isaiah is growing very big very quickly, which is fun to watch but a little bittersweet since he is my last baby. I can't believe he is already 6.5 weeks old!
Life is starting to feel more normal, and I am definitely feeling much more human than I did those first few days/weeks after Isaiah made his debut. However, I'm now feeling the effects of spending Isaiah's first 6 weeks doing pretty much zero housework: my house is a disaster! It doesn't even feel "just messy" right now; it feels downright dirty. It's completely wearing on my nerves today, but how do you scrub a house when you have a 3 year old, a 6 week old, a lot of junk to deal with and papers to file, and not enough hours in the day?
My goals for today are to make this week's meal plan & grocery list and tackle the living room and playroom (the rooms are adjoining with no door between them). This includes folding and putting away 3 baskets of laundry, clearing off the desk in the playroom and finally bringing the desk down to the basement, and finding a real home for my knitting stuff - the corner behind the recliner isn't going to cut it anymore! I'm guessing I'll only get as far as the laundry ...
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