A Walk to the Park

We are loving the warmer weather.  This is from last week, so it was still a little cool.

come on spring...

...please bring with you healthy babies.  Their many colds have resulted a sinus infection in Mama.  Sinus infection equals laying around, wads of toilet paper (no tissue on hand), and pulled curtains.  Laying around results in a trip to Home Depot.  Whoa.  You ask how that connection developed?  Well, Mama lays around and becomes increasingly frustrated with all the projects that haven't been started or finished. 

Ugly grainy photo taken with my phone.  At least it was cloudy so my head stayed pretty clear.  Big projects are being done.  Maybe pictures at the end of the week?  That is a bold statement as I am committing myself to finishing them by then.  We'll see.

family walk

Stella had fun walking Phoebe.  She started with Callie...

...it was a bit much, so we switched her to Phoebe.

Potty Training

I thought this would be easier.  We purchased the first potty chair last May or June?  Stella was a little young, but soooo excited.  She would sit down and just "go" for fun.  Then we decided to wait until we settled into our new home, adjusted to life as a family of four and Stella was fine with the transition from in home care to school.  Here we are.  She does great during the day at school; sometimes she will go the entire day with dry diapers.  So, with the snow storm welcoming spring, Ben and I knew we would not be doing much this weekend.  I bought some real "pantsies" (with princesses and tinkerbells) and we locked ourselves in.

This was actually taken today, so a lot of the snow had melted already.  What a welcome Spring.

Saturday, was fairly good...only one accident.  She seemed excited about the potty chart I made, excited about one M&M, excited to dance with us when we cheered her on.

Sunday, not as good.  The excitement seemed to have worn off.  She did not care as much.  Although when I threatened to put a diaper on her, she was all drama.  At one point, I knew she needed to go.  I kept asking her, pleading with her, telling her...PLEASE SIT ON THE POTTY...NOW.   She looked right at me and very sweetly said, "nope."  "Stella, do not get TINKERBELL wet."  Keeping her eyes locked on mine, she proceeded to piddle right where she was standing...in the Living Room. ARGH.

I told Ben I felt like I was reliving the scene in Nemo when he touches the "butt." 

Esme's Room

This poor room.  When we moved in August, a week before Esme was due, I decided I wanted the same look as Stella's nursery in our previous house.  We had painstakingly measured, penciled, taped, painted, re-taped, repainted creamy beige on beige stripes.  Since Esme was an planned emergency cesarean, we knew we had exactly one week to get her nursery done.   I was semi nesting, and on bed rest, and also going crazy that we were living out of boxes very quickly approaching a family of four.  So Ben began the measuring and taping process.   The first off white stripes were applied...beautiful.  Then the second, creamier stripes were painted, only they weren't very creamy.  Something was wrong.  This was not the right color.  Imagine a cold gray white stripes with a creamy, warm, beige-y white.  Imagine a 10 month pregnant Mama looking at the discolorment, cursing Lowe's, and realizing there was no time left to change this.  Towards the end of my maternity leave, I grabbed the sage green intended for the Master bathroom and started painting the beloved stripes.  I needed something that didn't hurt to look at.  The end result matched, and was prettier to look at, but I thought it didn't "fit."  Esme is so sweet and pretty.  I felt like she needed more than the neutral, green and yellow.   After looking at Ashley's (Under the Sycamore) nursery I was inspired.  I borrowed her idea for a ceiling fixture and thought of Sherbet (think lime, orange, lemon).

The wall with the window is a very light orange.  The rest of the walls are cream. 

These are both Etsy prints.  Most of the art/prints in our house is now from Etsy if not random photos.  The print with the two birds watching over their egg is how I felt with Esme.  We had so many ultrasounds, and then the emergency cesarean, I felt like we were watching over her constantly.  

I still have some butterflies to put on the wall, but I am pretty happy with it.  Esme loves the ceiling fixture above the rocking chair. It is pretty, like Esme.  Thank you Ashley for the inspiration.

  One last shot.  This is a painting my Mom did for Stella's nursery.  I have kept it in Esme's room because it matches, but I think it also fits her; she is such a happy baby.  I plan to take this to Hobby Lobby to get framed in something chunky...and pretty.  The Butterflies would look good over here too.

The Master Bathroom

When we first bought this house - we knew that we were going to have to put some elbow grease into it.  We had really hoped to avoid it, but it was such a good deal and after four offers deep on four different houses we were happy with "good bones."  We just needed to update...everywhere.  This is original wall paper from 1985, when the house was built.  Awesome.

BEFORE:

Keep in mind that these pictures were taken when we did one of our walk through - so these are not our things or toiletries.  I love the mauve tile. Sarcasm people.

Not that you wan to see a toilet - but I thought I would share the carpet (around a toilet - ewww) and the wooden toilet seat.

DURING CONSTRUCTION:

So, first we had the carpet ripped out.  Then, Ben and my Dad removed the big overhead fluorescent light beam encasement (not sure how else to describe it).  Of course, the wallpaper was removed as well.  Ben spent a lot of time scraping glue off the drywall with a putty knife.  The toilet is in the tub as Ben started the tiling (yeah, that was fun).

AFTER:

There is a lot of light in this bathroom - probably should have had my flash on.  Don't laugh at me, the tags are on the rugs because I was debating on them.

I love our new bathroom.  Thank you Ben and Dad for doing the floor and the wainscoting.  

This is just for the vanity shot.  This was a beast to paint.  Just a small preview of the kitchen.  We are getting geared up for that next.  I jokingly call this the "poor man's reno."  For now, we didn't rip out the vanity, tub or shower; we just used a lot of paint and updated all hardware (ok, resurfaced the walls and floor too).  Not sure if you can tell, but the walls are a gray - really pretty, really soothing.  

Here I Am...

I have missed you blog!  Blame it on the time change and lack of camera cards!  I have so much to share over the next few days.  I have made some changes to the girls' rooms, Stella has a new big girl bed, the sewing and the machine is out.  Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! 

Her hair is getting so long.  

I usually let her watch one movie.  Lately she has been choosing Disney's Princess Songs.  She is captivated by the words that light up for you to sing a long.  Every thing is princess with her lately.  Anything pink is labeled "princess."   She calls her new bed her "big girl princess bed."  We didn't teach her this.  We dressed her blue and gave her cars, green blankets and shoes with tigers.  She has chosen the path of pink and princess.  I love that she is going to be a girly girl like her Mama.  

Esme...flopping like a fish.

Daddy's Home!!!

More Stella Talk

Following Daddy around this morning...

Stella:  What's this Daddy? (holding up his shoe horn)

Daddy:  It's a shoe horn.

Stella: Oh, neat.

Stella leaves Daddy's closet and finds me, while still holding the shoe horn.

Stella:  Look, Mama!?!  It's a shoe Horse-y!!!

I can't imagine what she is envisioning.

Splish Splash

I promised Stella we could go outside today after her nap; take a walk, go to the park, etc.  But, it rained.  I knew that meant the park was a no go.  Have you ever tried to slide down a wet slide?  I also could tell by looking at the sky that a walk was out too.  I didn't want to chance getting too far from home in case it started coming down hard.  So, we got out our rain boots and "stomped" in puddles in front of the house.  Stella had a blast.  Esme seemed amused watching.  I did discover that our road is fairly even and well kept.  In other words, there were not really any puddles or potholes.  There was enough water for a two year old though.

Oh, I love them.