Mike and McGee

The temptress of the playground

2012-01-28T08:40:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, I was walking Meredith home from school, and I got an earful on the latest kindergarten drama. For most of the first half of the year, Meredith told us that two boys, Julian and Vann, were her boyfriends, and that they didn't like each other.

Our conversation the other day went something like this:

Me: How was school today, kiddo?

Meredith: It was fine. Julian and I are back together.

Me: Oh really? You are?

Meredith: Yeah, and Jace doesn't like that.

Me: Who is Jace?

Meredith: Another boy. He likes me too.

Me: Well, you're very friendly to everyone, so I'm sure he just wants to be friends with you.

Meredith: No, Julian and Jace got into a wrestling fight over me on the playground.

Me: They did?

Meredith: Yeah. They did.

Me: What happened to Vann? I thought Vann was your boyfriend.

Meredith: Oh, I'm still with Vann too, but you know mom, a lot of other girls like Vann.

[Mom's note: this last part is true - all the girls adore Vann]

Me: So you're with Julian AND Vann?

Meredith: Yeah, for now.

Then we turned the corner, and a little boy ran up to Meredith, yelling her name and trying to get her attention. When she turned around, he stammered and suddenly became very shy before saying "hi" and running off.

Me: Is that Julian? Or Jace?

Meredith: Oh, that's Luke.

Me: Who is Luke?

Meredith (very nonchalantly): Oh, he's another boy who likes me.

Our five year old is apparently the temptress of the playground. Heaven help us! I'm afraid the teenage years are going to be very scary at Casa de Mike and McGee.

Zelda

2011-11-18T19:26:00.005-05:00

Princess Zelda Mae Butter Shine loves to lounge on the sofa and watch TV. Our dogs are smart - they always look for the softest place to rest.

Zelda may be way too smart for her own good. Yesterday I found her like this:

Alex had dragged a dining room chair over to the bar so he could climb up and down by himself. Zelda followed his lead and climbed up onto a barstool too, using the chair. They were enjoying cheese and crackers together when I caught her. When I first walked into the room, she was actually sitting on the barstool, like it was the most natural thing in the world for her. She knew she was in trouble too because she immediately jumped down after I took this photo.

It's a good thing she's cute, because she sure is naughty.

Mustache Man

2011-11-18T16:26:00.004-05:00

He did this to himself, with markers. Thank goodness those nice people at Crayola make washable markers. Never a dull moment at our house...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

2011-11-07T07:42:00.002-05:00

No really, he is!

I went to the mall by myself last Thursday - November 3rd - while Meredith was in school and my mom was watching Alex. I heaved a huge sigh and rolled my eyes when I passed Dillard's and realized that the mall had already set up everything for Santa. Enormous tree? Check. Fake fireplace? Check. Fancy wingback chair? Check. Camera equipment for overpriced photos with the jolly old elf? Check. The big guy in red wasn't there yet, but everything is already set up for his arrival.

I love Christmas as much as the next person, and I will confess that I've already bought a few ornaments this year because that's what happens when Hobby Lobby puts out their stock of Christmas ornaments in August. However, I draw the line at decorating my home for Christmas immediately after Halloween. Generally speaking, the earliest I'm willing to put up a tree (artificial obviously) is the weekend before Thanksgiving, and that's usually only done those years when we're going to be out of town for Thanksgiving.

This year, I have decided to go along with the retailers and let Christmas come early. At least in part. You see, I am planning to take my children to the mall this week after school. I'm going to walk them around Santa's set up and talk to them about Christmas and what they want and what our plans are for the holiday.

Then, I'm going to look them both in the eyes and say in my most serious "Mommy means business" voice, "Santa Claus is watching you." If the retailers can stretch Christmas to two months, then surely I can use Santa bribery to get two months of good behavior out of my kids.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:47:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween from Spiderman and his sister, the fairy princess!

This was taken last night before we walked over to a neighbor's home for a costume party. I cut it pretty close this year - I finished Meredith's costume a few hours before we snapped this picture. Her costume also had a tiara, but she refused to wear it. Oh well. Alex surprised us all by actually wearing his hat and eye mask for a good part of the evening.

We can't wait to take the kids trick-or-treating tonight! We hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!

My decor dilemma for Alex

2011-10-15T15:22:00.000-05:00

When we set up Alex's nursery, I wanted to create a cheerful space without spending a small fortune and without repainting the walls. So we re-used the white furniture from Meredith's nursery and we left the walls their existing pale blue (also from Meredith's nursery).

This is how the room looked when he was a baby:

When Meredith was a baby, she transitioned easily from a crib to a toddler bed, re-using her crib mattress and bedding. We were able to keep her in a toddler bed until she was three years old, and then we set up a "big girl" room for her complete with twin bed and what we thought she wanted in terms of decor. As it turned out, when we asked Meredith for her decorating input at age 3, she (not surprisingly) didn't understand that she was choosing bedding and decor that we expected her to keep for quite a while. A year later we ended up redoing her room, and she now has an absurdly pink on pink bedroom.

Getting back to Alex's room... Alex didn't actually use his nursery much. He preferred to sleep in our bed, and we let him because frankly, we all got more sleep that way. Eventually though he needed his own space, and after being in our bed, he refused to sleep in the confined space of a crib or a toddler bed. So we bit the bullet and got him a twin mattress and box springs. Right now it's sitting on the floor (not as far for him to fall), but eventually we'll need to add a bed frame and a headboard of some kind.

We made some additional changes to his room. The changing table went away. The armoire is now holding a television in our room, and the nightstand is once again beside Meredith's bed. We added some enormous open shelving units to Alex's room on either side of the window that provide more than ample storage for all of his toys and books. There's also now a giant train table in the middle of the room. It was originally Meredith's, and it's one of those toys that Santa just really thought she'd enjoy, but the jolly old elf gave no real thought to the size of our home and where we'd actually store such a giant toy. Oops. We've kept all of the artwork and accessories, but they've been moved around a little bit to accommodate the new furniture arrangement.

When we set up the twin bed in Alex's room, I bought an inexpensive sheet set from Wal-Mart, and we used a throw blanket he already had. It was fine for summer, but with cooler nighttime temperatures, he's going to need warmer bedding soon. That, and cheap sheets are apparently very easy for an active golden retriever puppy to tear up. At some point Zelda must've thought the sheets would make a good chew toy because when I went to wash them earlier this week, I realized that both the fitted and the top sheet had doggie holes throughout them. Great.

So that brings us to my present decor dilemma. Alex needs bedding, but I'd prefer not to redecorate his entire room both because of the cost involved and because I really don't know how he'll want his room to look a year or two from now. I've been scouring the internet for inexpensive bedding I could work into his existing room, hopefully without having to replace all of the artwork and other decor. I'd also ideally like to have something that reflects his tastes. Right now he's into cars, trucks, trains, planes, dinosaurs, football, and Spiderman.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

The colors match the rest of the room, and I could probably paint a few dinosaurs on canvas to hang on the walls:

Yeah, it's sports and kind of generic "boy" but he does love football, baseball and basketball.
I like this, and I wouldn't have to change out any of the accessories in his room, but I'm worried this seems kind of baby-ish.
I have always loved the idea of an outer space room for a little boy. I have so many wonderful ideas for a space room, and if we went with bedding like this, I could use it as the basis for some eventual redecoration in the bedroom. My main hesitation is that this bedding is more MY choice. He has never expressed an interest in outer space because let's face, the kid isn't even two yet. I'd hate to buy it, start planning a "big boy" room around it, and then find out in a year or two that he hates it. Ahem. This is probably my least favorite bedding set. I'm not a huge fan of character-branded stuff. I also think this looks rather grown up for a toddler, but Alex does really like "Spi-man" as he calls him. He's going to be Spiderman for Halloween, and it definitely matches his interests, but I'm not sure if he'll still be interested later on.

Cars, trucks, construction vehicles. All stuff Alex loves, and the colors match what we already have. It looks a bit on the babyish side, but then again, it's not expensive so if he wants something different in another year or two, it's not the end of the world.

More dinosaurs. I like the overall look of this set, but the lack of reds and yellows mean that it doesn't really match the existing art and decor.

Another space set. The same issues apply to the above outer space bedding, but the brighter colors in this set do match what's in the room already.

Anyone want to help me choose? What would you pick for an almost two year old boy?

About that Brazilian Blowout Zero

2011-10-08T08:04:00.003-05:00

For the record, I DID go get that Brazilian Blowout Zero, the new version of the smoothing hair treatment that is formaldehyde-free. I have long but thin hair, and the whole process took a few hours. But hey, it was child-free time that I spent having adult conversation while someone else did my hair. In other words, it was pretty darn heavenly. I went to SalonMar in Austin and had a wonderful time chatting with my friend Mar while she worked her magic on me. I did notice some steam coming off my hair while Mar used a flat iron on it as part of the application process, but I did not notice any chemical smells or anything like that.

I had Mike snap a quick picture of me before I went to the salon and again when I came home:

In the before picture, I applied Aveda's "Be Curly" cream to my hair and let it air-dry as I normally do most days. For the "after," Mar applied the Brazilian Blowout serum to my hair and then blow-dried it with a round brush. No touch ups were needed with a flat iron or wide-barreled curling ion.

Unlike other smoothing treatments, you don't have to wait a few days before washing your hair after a Brazilian Blowout. Thus I felt comfortable going for a run that evening. Despite sweating buckets in the July heat of Texas, my hair didn't frizz at all. I declared it a miracle.

I will confess that when I attempted to blow dry my own hair the next day, my results weren't nearly as perfect as Mar's. I did end up using a flat iron to create some soft waves and touch up the ends of my hair, but I attribute my need for additional styling to my less than stellar blow-drying skills, at least when compared to Mar's. On most days, I just let my hair air dry. With the BBZ, I had less frizz than I did in the before picture, and my natural curls were smoother, looser and (to me anyway) prettier. I kept meaning to have Mike take a picture of my hair air-dried post BBZ, but I never got around to it.

The only real downside to the BBZ was that I did lose some volume in my hair. That was most noticeable when I wore my hair straight or in lose waves. Mar said that in her experience, people with finer-textured hair like me tended to have the best results with the Zero, while women with coarser-textured hair would get better results with the regular Brazilian Blowout. After several months, my hair has gradually gone back to more or less its former state. I definitely have more frizz now than I did shortly after having the BBZ, but my curls are still slightly relaxed compared to how they were before I had the treatment. I'm in dire need of a haircut though, so I'm not sure how much of the frizz I'm experiencing now is due to split ends that need to be chopped off. Regardless, I'd definitely consider having the BBZ done again.

Dumb and unambitious

2011-10-07T14:03:00.003-05:00

Alex recently figured out how to open the refrigerator, and he's made our lives miserable since then. We'll look up and realize that he's running across the living room at top speed carrying an open bottle of barbecue sauce he's snagged from the fridge. Did I mention he can unscrew bottle lids too? Yeah, he can do that as well.

To combat this and hopefully prevent fridge mishaps, we've moved all of the glass containers to upper shelves in the refrigerator and tried to limit the number of easy to open items that are within his reach.

We realized last night though that he's thwarted our efforts yet again. I caught him last night in the fridge: he figured out that if he opened the veggie drawers at the bottom of the fridge, he could use them as a stepladder to reach the upper shelves. I pulled him out of the fridge and stomped off to tell Mike what our son had just done. Mike looked at me for a moment, shook his head and said, "Sometimes I really wish our kids were a bit more dumb and unambitious."

So... can anyone recommend a good child-proof lock for the refrigerator?? If I don't find a way to nip this in the bud, I'm afraid we'll find Alex on top of the fridge before too long.

Apathy, blogging, life and deep thoughts

2011-10-05T11:50:00.004-05:00

When my sister and I were growing up, our parents had this tradition where they'd let us choose two Christmas ornaments each year - one that had the current year's date on it and one that we just really liked. My mother kept a master list of those ornaments and the year each was purchased, telling us that someday when we were grown up, she'd give them to us for our own Christmas tree.

One year when we were both moody teenagers, my mom realized that Christmas was fast approaching and we had not yet bought any ornaments. Sarah and I sort of shrugged and said it was no big deal. We didn't HAVE to get ornaments. It's not like the tree was bare or anything. My mother was irritated with both of us, but for whatever reason, we were unmoved by her pleas of "But it's TRADITION."

Finally, she threw up her hands in defeat. She pulled out the master ornament list, wrote down the current year and then beside it wrote "Year of Apathy." She's long since given us our collection of ornaments and bought new ornaments for her own Christmas tree, but she still has that list. And all these years later, decorating the Christmas tree will still usually warrant a mention from her about the "year of apathy" and our refusal to pick out ornaments.

That's kind of how I've felt about blogging lately. It's not like I've spent the last two months just staring at the walls. There's plenty I could have blogged about. I didn't have any major emergency that kept me from blogging. I don't even really know why I stopped writing. I just did. I felt bad about it, but not motivated enough to log on and post anything. I guess, just like with the Christmas ornaments that year, I was feeling apathetic. That's really the only explanation I have for going two months without a blog post, when I'd written on a far more regular basis for years prior to that.

The other day, as I was taking a long walk all by myself (peace! quiet! the ability to think without interruption!) I realized that I missed writing. Not just blogging, but writing in general. I don't write much these days. So I decided that perhaps it's time to log back on, post more, and write more.

I've also come to the decision that blogging as a way of documenting our life is both a good thing and a bad thing. It's a great way for us to look back later and remember the good times, and it's a great way to keep our family and friends up to date on what we're doing. The downside is that I'll never be able to capture it all. I'll tell myself that I'm going to come back and share photos of something once I've had time to sort through the 100+ pictures I took, but then I get busy and I forget. This bothers the perfectionist in me. It's why I could never keep a diary as a kid - I would start one and then feel that I was leaving out too much, so I'd end up tossing it in the trash. Weird, right? I mean, it's not like I was writing a diary for an audience, so who cares if I missed a few days or a week here and there?

It's not just events and photos that I've sometimes left off the blog. From the very beginning, I've censored myself where this blog is concerned. At first that was mostly because of the blog audience: our family. I didn't feel comfortable writing about things like how scared I was that my dad would die before Meredith was born because I knew he was reading every word, and I didn't want to make HIM feel bad. Later, after he passed away, I held off from writing a lot about his death both because I usually ended up crying over my keyboard and because I didn't want my mom to read a post that might upset her. On a lighter note, I also tried to avoid airing dirty laundry and writing about arguments with my husband, even though I might have been tempted to start more than one post with "Men are stupid. Here's why." I figured he wouldn't appreciate that, and well, once he started a blog of his own, I didn't want to give him a reason to retaliate.

That's not to say that I have great plans to turn our blog into a giant confessional or anything, but moving forward, I do hope to write more in-depth posts instead of just "Gee, look at these cute pictures of my kids." Not that there's anything wrong with cute pictures of my kids, mind you, but hopefully I can strike a balance between what I'm really thinking and more superficial things. How does that sound?

Brazilian Blowout Zero

2011-07-29T08:45:00.000-05:00

Over lunch earlier this week, I told my mother and my aunt that I was going to get a Brazilian Blowout Zero this weekend. There was stunned silence for a moment, and then my mother leaned forward and asked in an almost whisper, "A Brazilian is pretty extreme. What do they do to make it a blowout zero??"

It's a good thing I wasn't taking a sip of my drink when she asked or it's highly probably that I would have choked on my Diet Coke.

So, for those not in the know, a "Brazilian" generally refers to a wax in which nearly all of the hair "down there" is removed. Ouch, right? But thanks to a new beauty trend, it also refers to a hair treatment for the hair on your head.

I have naturally curly hair, and I was incredibly intrigued by the idea of a Brazilian Blowout, in which a solution is applied to the hair to form a protein layer around the hair shaft and smooth the hair cuticle. Frizz is eliminated for up to 3 months. A few of my friends had the Blowout done, and without exception, they all raved about it. I will also admit to having some envy over how smooth, shiny and healthy their hair looked. I was especially swayed by the results my friend Brandy had with the procedure - her hair is even curlier than mine, and thanks to the Blowout, she had gorgeous soft curls that were looser than they had been before. I was trying to embrace my natural curl though, and I had some concerns about chemicals in the product, so I opted against having a Blowout of my own.

Then my friend Alli told me about the Brazilian Blowout Zero, which supposedly offers the same benefits of the original Blowout but without releasing any formaldehyde. How perfect is that? So I am headed over to SalonMar to get my own Blowout Zero this weekend. I am looking forward to having shiny, sleek, frizz-free waves and curls without hours of blow-drying or flat-ironing. Check back for before and after pictures this weekend!

Things I never thought I'd say

2011-07-18T14:12:00.001-05:00

File this under the category of "Things I never thought I'd say":

"We do NOT play the guitar with a peanut butter-covered spoon! No!"

Oh Alex!

2011-07-17T11:39:00.000-05:00

I told Meredith to go get dressed so we could run some errands. Alex overheard this, and he decided to go get dressed too. Behold:

Isn't he stylish?

White Walls

2011-07-16T11:33:00.000-05:00

We've always leaned toward soft neutral colors on our walls (Meredith's room being a notable exception) because it makes the house feel very open, airy and restful to us. Most of our common space is painted "Almond" by Olympic. We painted it when we first bought the home is 2007, and while I do like the color, it's starting to feel a bit "blah" to me, a little too close to the infamous "builder beige" that seems to dominate every newly built home around here.

I find myself being drawn to rooms with walls painted in lovely shades of white. It's somewhat ironic that I'm now loving white when I consider all of the times I teased my mother for her refusal to paint her home's walls any color other than "antique white" from Sherwin Williams. She did, by the way, get over her fear of color and now has a beautiful home with yellows, blues and greens on the walls.

Anyway, every time I see a well-decorated room with white walls, I swoon a little bit. Here are a few I'm loving right now:

Kitchen painted in Farrow & Ball's James White:

Anne Turner Carroll's renovated kitchen. Walls and upper cabinets are painted Lime White by Farrow & Ball. Bottom cabinets are Farrow & Ball Mouse's Back, which is similar to the wall color we just used in our master bedroom.

Benjamin Moore White Dove:

More lovely white rooms.

As you can see, white walls don't have to be blah or boring. The absence of color on the walls makes the art, furniture, textiles, accessories and basically everything else in the room really pop because they aren't competing with a strong wall color. I especially love the contrast of rustic natural wood tones with white walls.

Fun and Fruity Summer Drinks

2011-07-15T19:39:00.001-05:00

It is hot here. Absurdly, crazy hot. I am not exaggerating when I say that I got in the car today after going to the grocery store, and the little in-dash thermostat said it was 108 degrees outside in the parking lot.

With all of the heat, the kids are going through cold beverages like they're going out of style. Alex is young enough that he doesn't know what soda is, but Meredith is well aware of the fizzy stuff. I prefer to avoid soda in favor of flavored waters and fruit juices. Actually, I'd prefer that they drink more plain old water, but they generally prefer something that has some flavor to it.

I challenged Meredith today to pick out some Crystal Light On the Go drink mixes and see what fun and fruity drinks she could create. Needless to say, it was a messy but fun process. I managed to snap a few pictures before she got lemonade and fruit punch all over the kitchen. I give her major props for not breaking a single glass. Way to go kiddo!

My master drink mixer:

Meredith decided that her drink mixes needed to be "very icy cold and refreshing" because it's so hot outside. I like the way she thinks.

We came up with a lot of fun recipes and wanted to share two of our favorites. The first is Meredith's special Slushy Strawberry Lemonade.

Take one Crystal Light On the Go Lemonade Packet

Pour contents into cup and add water.

Stir.Remove one container of DelMonte's strawberry Fruit Chillers from the freezer.

Scoop strawberry fruit chiller into a pretty glass. You could just add it to the lemonade but that would overflow the glass and according to Meredith, drinks are just better in pretty glasses.

Pour lemonade over strawberry fruit chiller. Stir and add a fancy straw.

Perfection!

Meredith's other excellent creation is the Ruby Red Surprise.

Mix one packet of Crystal Light On the Go Fruit Punch mix with water.

Bust out your favorite frozen red fruits. Meredith picked strawberries and raspberries.

Stir in a handful of frozen berries, in place of ice cubes. They'll keep your drink cool, and if you're lucky, your kiddo will eat the fruit when the drink is all gone.
Don't forget a fancy straw, of course. Based on our experience, I'd say that Meredith's Ruby Red Surprise is quite wonderful, but it is probably best made outside and given to kids right before bath time!

Yummy! I did ask her why she named it "Ruby Red Surprise" and she gave me her best "Are you serious?" look and said, "M-om, it's because it's a RED drink, and it has RED berries inside as a surprise!"

We also happened to find a peach version of the fruit chillers at the grocery store today, so we've picked up a pack to freeze for Daddy to enjoy with the Peach Iced Tea mix from Crystal Light. Hopefully he will enjoy her addition to his tea! I have a feeling we'll be drinking a lot of slushy, fruity, dressed up Crystal Light until this heat wave ends.

Note:
1. “No monetary compensation was provided by Crystal Light or Glam Media for this post”
2. “The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Crystal Light”

McDonald's - not one of my better ideas today

2011-07-13T21:49:00.000-05:00

We had a lot to do this morning, and more going on later this afternoon, so I thought that we could kill some time mid-day by going to McDonald's. I could feed the kids lunch and let them run off some energy in an air-conditioned indoor space. Awesome, right? In theory, yes.

Here are some things I learned today:

Alex is now able to climb to the very tip top of the indoor playscape at McDonald's.
Alex is not, however, able to get down from tip top of the indoor playscape.
Meredith is not able to coax her brother down either. She is, however, able to squeal loudly that her Mommy is IN the playground, thus attracting the attention of everyone else within earshot.
All of those tubes, climbing spaces, and slides in those fast food playgrounds are not made for grown ups. They'll support the weight of an adult, but not the overall size of one. You have to be very flexible to fit into those spaces.
I am, in fact, small and flexible enough to squeeze myself into those spaces, but not without giving giving myself a serious crick in my neck.
If you must go up to the top of a playscape like this to retrieve a stuck toddler, go out with him the way you came in. Despite what you might think, the slide is NOT the fastest way out.
Alex loves slides, but if he's traumatized from being stuck, he will not willingly go down one, which means that I'm THAT mother who pushed her kid down a tube slide because it seemed easier than trying to turn around.
No matter how steep the pitch of a curvy, twisty slide may be, a toddler is capable of stopping himself mid-slide if there is a grown-up crammed into the slide behind him. For half of the trip down, I did an awkward scoot in which I tried to lift Alex up enough for us to slide, all the while he was trying to brace himself against the walls of the slide.
If there are other Dads in the vicinity, they will not offer to help you retrieve your child, even if they are clearly in much better shape than you are.
They will, however, sit at their tables and laugh at your predicament, and then when you are finally free of the playground equipment say to you, "Too old for that shit, huh?"

Once rescued, Alex returned to his seat to eat another french fry and pour milk all over himself. ~headdesk~

We've officially reached the point where Meredith is generally easier to handle when we're out and about, and Alex is the impulsive and difficult one. I think we're done with McDonald's for a while.

Bathroom remodel

2011-07-11T13:44:00.000-05:00

No, not our bathroom, unfortunately.

I've been working with a client on a really wonderful master bathroom remodel, and it's finally all coming together. We are picking up the rest of the pieces for the new closet storage system tomorrow. The tile for the floor, shower floor, and shower walls arrived today - ahead of schedule! We snagged an awesome granite remnant for the vanity top, so my client is able to get the beautiful greenish granite he loved at a fraction of what it would normally cost.

Hopefully within the next week, it will start to look like a bathroom again as drywall, tile and the vanity all go in! I am so excited about this, and I cannot wait to share pictures of this remodel!

Today is a comedy of errors

2011-07-05T11:10:00.002-05:00

It's only 11 am, and I'm already looking at the clock and thinking, "Is it bedtime yet?" That's pretty bad.

Our day started fine. Better than fine, even. Alex slept in a bit, and the house was clean. Life was good.

Then we realize that Meredith's beta fish, Choo Choo, had chugged his last during the night. I broke the news to her while Mike disposed of the dead fish. Her little face crumbled and she sobbed hysterically like her heart was broken. Then she asked in a small voice if we could get another fish. I really don't want another fish, particularly since my husband - who is supposed to be in charge of fish care at Casa de Mike and McGee - has slacked off on tank cleaning lately. But I succumbed to the pitiful look on her face and told her yes, we could get another beta fish.

Mike left for work, and the kids and I waited for 10 am to roll around. You see, we're interviewing babysitters. Real babysitters that we pay to show up at a certain time and entertain the kids so we can have a life. We've never had real babysitters before. We've traded off childcare duties with friends before, and we've let family members watch the kids, but for whatever reason, we never hired a regular babysitter. I took the giant leap and set up a bunch of interviews this week. Meredith in particular was very excited about this and had her own set of questions for the candidates. You know, important questions like, "Do you like Rapunzel?"

Ten o'clock came and went and the babysitter did not show up. I had already written her off when she finally rang the doorbell at 10:25. She offered no excuse for her tardiness, so I opted not to say anything. Actually, I was too busy trying to corral the dogs to say much. Dexter does not like strange people in HIS house, and Zelda is just your typical poorly behaved puppy who wants to jump all over anyone who enters the house.

I escorted the potential babysitter into the living room and gated Zelda in the kitchen, where she barked a constant high-pitched bark until she got herself worked up enough that she tripped over both food dishes and spilled dog food all over the kitchen floor. At that point, I ended up letting her out, and spent the rest of the interview trying to keep her from licking the babysitter to death.

During the interview, Alex got mad about something trivial and flung himself on the floor and screamed. Meredith interrupted a few times with questions of her own, but she was pretty well behaved. The babysitter didn't have much to say in response to my questions and didn't have any questions for me, so it was short and sweet.

After she left, Meredith got mad that Spongebob Squarepants wasn't on television, and she threw an epic tantrum because everything her brother wants to watch on tv is "lame and boring." Insert giant roll of the eyes here. She then ran off with the remote control and threw an even bigger fit when I took it away from her.

Alex then slipped in the dog food that was all over the kitchen floor and cried. Once I got him calmed down, I had to drag Meredith out of the freezer because apparently 11 am is the perfect time to scream for gelato or ice cream. I got yogurt for both kids and went back to the kitchen to clean up dog food. I was interrupted multiple times by Zelda trying to eat Alex's yogurt because he won't. stay. at. the. table. with it. Lots of screaming, followed by Alex wearing more of the yogurt than he ate. I don't know how it got all over him, and I don't want to know.

I had a few moments of peace before more screaming began. This time because Meredith was in my closet, digging around for craft supplies to use, and she'd locked her brother out of the room. Neither one of them was supposed to be in there, so more crying and yelling followed as I escorted both of them back to the living room. A few minutes later, Meredith stomped back into the kitchen and said, "ALEX THREW MILK ON MY HEAD!" Sure enough, she had milk droplets on her head, chest and arms, and a few feet behind her, stood her brother, holding his sister's cup of milk and grinning proudly. Milk was confiscated, Meredith was dried off, and Alex was sent to a short time out, which of course meant more screaming.

It is not even noon, and I'm already ready to tear out my hair. We have another babysitter interview at 1pm, and I'm hoping that my kids can get the tantrums out of their system before then. I may try to bribe Meredith with the promise of a new fish if we can get through the afternoon without a major fit.

Is it bedtime yet??

Zelda

2011-06-27T18:27:00.005-05:00

Zelda tends to lay like this. It looks horribly uncomfortable, but it doesn't seem to bother her. The first time she did it, I immediately thought, "Oh crap. Someone broke the dog."

But since it doesn't bother her, I'm inclined to think that perhaps she's just really flexible.

Either way, we're quite taken with her. Oh sure, she chews on everything, she cries whenever we leave the house, and she still isn't totally housebroken, so I'm constantly cleaning up dog pee. Despite all of that, we love her to pieces, and we can't imagine our family with her sweet little puppy face.

40th birthday party

2011-06-24T13:11:00.002-05:00

Mike is turning - gasp - 40 this summer. He is less than thrilled by this. I would really like to have a party or do something special to celebrate the occasion. My dear husband knows how I love to plan everything, and he's thwarting that desire by refusing to commit to anything. He won't even help with a tentative guest list yet to at least give me an idea of how many people he might want to have celebrate with us. I mean, are we talking 10 people and we can all fit on a pontoon boat on the lake, or are we talking 30 people and a bunch of kids so we need to plan for a bigger location? These are all crucial details!

Anyway, Meredith has listened with interest to various party ideas I've suggested, and she's very excited about the prospect of a party for her Daddy. The other night the subject came up again over dinner. Meredith straightened up in her chair and announced: "Daddy I know! You could have a NINJA party!"

Mike did his best to stifle a laugh at the thought of a ninja birthday party. Meredith took his laughter as a positive sign and pressed on: "Daddy, it will be PERFECT. We will have ninjas and margaritas and cupcakes!"

At this point we both burst out laughing at the vision Meredith had created. Ninjas, margaritas and cupcakes. Sure, why not? Meredith was undoubtedly pleased with herself, as she clasped her hands together and said, "That's it. It's settled. This will be the best birthday EVER."

I'm wondering how disappointed she's going to be when Mike's birthday comes and goes without ninjas.

2011-06-22T09:10:00.005-05:00

This morning I laughed hysterically as I read The Bloggess's post "Pick Your Battles."

Have you read it? If not, click over, read it and then come back. I'll wait for you.

Are you back yet?

After reading this, I sent the link to Mike and added, "Be forewarned. This is totally something I would do." He thought it was hilarious.

Then I thought about it some more. Her husband's reaction and his dislike of the enormous metal chicken was a big part of why that post was so funny.

This is the man I married.

The man who fathered my children.

After careful consideration, perhaps I'm the one who should be forewarned. I can totally picture my husband buying a giant metal chicken and sticking it in the yard because he thought it was awesomely bad.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T23:01:00.000-05:00

Since it's Father's Day, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures of Mike with our children. Some days it's hard to believe we've survived five years of parenthood! Happy Father's Day, my dear husband!

In the hospital with baby Meredith. Yes, his shirt says "Who's Your Daddy?" Silly man.

Mike and Meredith

Our last weekend in North Carolina

In Texas, cheering on the Hogs during basketball season.

Post bath snuggles and silliness

Father's Day in Texas, 2007

Carving pumpkins together, 2007.

Playing in the park, 2008. Photo by Lyndsay Stradtner, Life in Motion Photography.

Pirates at Halloween, 2008

Christmas kisses, and a husband who is a very good sport when it comes to silly costumes, 2008

Storytime with Daddy, 2009

First day of preschool, 2009

Snuggling with Alex, a few hours after his birth.

Alex's first Christmas.

Foot flying, 2010

Watching the Super Bowl. Geaux Saints!

Almost too small Easter hat, 2010.

Alex's baptism, 2010.

Exploring central Texas, 2011.

Fun at the beach, 2011.
Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband! We love you so much!

Happy 5th Birthday Meredith Caroline!

2011-06-01T08:26:00.000-05:00

Five years ago today, I was doped up on whatever good stuff was in the epidural and waiting for our baby girl to make her appearance. If you'd told me then that I'd deliver my next child in my bathtub, and that he'd weigh 11+ pounds, well, I'd probably have assumed the drugs were making me hear things. It's amazing how much your perspective can change once you settle into your role as a parent!

The moment Meredith was placed in my arms and I looked into her big dark eyes, my whole world changed forever. I've had mothers-to-be ask me before what to expect when you have a baby. I've tried to articulate the millions of ways in which your life changes, but I don't know that it's possible to fully grasp just how profound the change is until that tiny new person is handed to you.

I remember riding in the backseat of the car with her as Mike drove us away from the hospital, my hand resting on her little arm. I was overcome with a sense of panic. What if we break her? What if we screw her up? What if she hates us? What if we suck as parents? Why the hell don't these little suckers come with instruction manuals???

Five years and many sleepless nights later, we haven't broken her. The jury is still out over whether we've screwed her up. I guess we'll find out in about 20 years or so. In her teenage-like tantrums, she's already yelled things like, "I hate you, you've ruined my life." At four kiddo? Really? Don't you think that's a tad melodramatic? Five years in, we've decided that "sucking as parents" is pretty relative, and all things considered, we probably don't suck, although Meredith would probably tell you otherwise if you ask her on one of the days when she's been sent to her room for a timeout.

The one thing that really amazes us about parenthood is how fast the time seems to fly by. It seems like just yesterday we were taking turns walking the floors with Meredith at night, or teaching her how to hold a crayon so she could create artistic masterpieces, or sitting under the dining room table with her and her stuffed polar bears as we pretended we were a big polar bear family living in a cave. How can it be that the tiny little person who changed our lives so profoundly is headed off to kindergarten in a few months??

This is our girl at five. She loves the outdoors - jumping on the trampoline, playing on the swing set, helping us in the garden, making "houses" for bugs and caterpillars in the backyard, and exploring the woods near our house. She picks flowers from the garden and wildflowers from the green spaces in our neighborhood and makes beautiful bouquets for Mommy. She loves sports, especially soccer and swimming. She's still our little frog in the water. She loves anything related to arts and crafts and will spend hours painting, drawing, cutting, gluing and decorating. She is a born nurturer and takes great care of her little brother, our pets, and her baby dolls. She has wide and varied interests, loving everything from My Little Pony to Star Wars.

Happy Birthday sweet Meredith Caroline! The first five years have been a wild and wonderful ride, and we can't wait to see what you have in store for us this year! We are so blessed to have you for a daughter.

Happy Birthday Dad

2011-05-15T22:42:00.003-05:00

Today my dad would have been 62.

Happy birthday Dad. We love you so much, and we miss you more and more each day.

Meredith and the bluebonnets

2011-05-11T07:26:00.000-05:00

The bluebonnets were a bit sparse around Austin this year, probably thanks to the dry spring we've had. We found a small patch at a park, so we took the kids out one April evening to snap a few pictures. Trying to get Meredith and Alex to sit still next to each other AND look at the camera was apparently asking the impossible. I got a few snapshot-y images of the two of them looking very awkward and unhappy about being photographed together, along with a few photos of Alex running around. Meredith wasn't thrilled about posing with her brother, but she was willing to pose by herself for me.

So here are a few of our almost five year old girl with the Texas bluebonnets.

I love this last image of Meredith at the edge of a dock. The wind was blowing in her direction, making small waves lap at the dock and at the edge of the lake. She closed her eyes and held her arms out with her palms facing the water, and for a few moments, she was still and quiet and just took in the feel of the wind, the sound of the water, and the warmth from the setting sun behind her. She feels everything so intensely.

Meet the newest member of our family!

2011-04-23T19:04:00.000-05:00

Our family expanded today, by four furry little feet.

Meet Zelda. Or Princess Zee as Meredith calls her.

We'd been stalking Petfinder, Craigslist, and the listings for our local Humane Societies, searching for the right new addition to our family. Mike and I narrowed our options to a handful of breeds. We both wanted a female, as we thought our terrier mix, Dexter, would do better with a female roommate. We both wanted something that would eventually be bigger than Dexter and sturdy enough to play with the kids. We both preferred a puppy so Dexter would not be threatened by the sudden appearance of a larger dog in the house.

After months of searching, we met a couple whose two Golden Retrievers had a litter of puppies. The additional pups left the owners in violation of their lease, so they needed to find new homes for the puppies ASAP to avoid a hefty fine. We met them today and fell head over heels in love with the adorable puppies! We passed their interview, and we left today with Princess Zelda.

Meredith and I headed off to Petsmart today to stock up on puppy supplies because frankly, even a free puppy like Zee will cost you money. As I type, Zelda is curled up in her enormous dog bed, snoozing away. Dexter is curled up next to me, in what I am sure is an attempt to reassure himself that he's still my top dog. He'll need some quality walk time to feel better, but overall, he's handling the new addition very well!

I think our family is officially complete!

Meredith wants a new sibling

2011-04-07T19:55:00.005-05:00

We're hearing more and more often that Meredith wants a new sibling, preferably a baby sister. She'll keep Alex, of course, but she isn't exactly enjoying Alex's toddlerhood. He climbs on top of her when she's relaxing in the rocking chair. He gets into her toys. He isn't exactly gentle when he plays with her. We've tried explaining that even if we had another baby, it would eventually become a toddler too, and she'd have the same issues she has now, but with twice the siblings. She refuses to be swayed.

The other night, I snapped this picture of Meredith and Alex, hanging out together in the rocking chair and watching "Toy Story 3."

After I took the picture, she said, "See what I mean? He doesn't even fit in my lap anymore. That's why I NEED a new baby. A baby sister would be good, because then she'd be little longer and not big like my giant ole brother."

Undressed. Sort of.

2011-04-06T15:30:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you get the shirt off, and sometimes the shirt gets you.

GOOD "green" dishwashing detergent!

2011-04-06T07:11:00.000-05:00

On a recent post about using natural, eco-friendly cleaning products, I lamented that we had not been able to find a phosphate-free automatic dishwashing detergent that we liked. We tried Seventh Generation, and while we like most of their other products, their dishwashing powder left white streaks on all of our pots and pans.

In response to that post, our friend Brandy commented and suggested we try "Bright Green," which she said we could find locally at Randall's grocery stores.

Bright Green is a Safeway brand, and you can read more about it by clicking here.

I headed off to Randall's and bought a box of detergent. It is definitely more expensive than the standard non-green detergent, but sadly that's pretty much par for the course when it comes to most environmentally-friendly products. We've since run multiple dishwasher loads with Bright Green powder detergent, and I can officially say that it rocks! No white residue! I'm hooked. I don't normally shop at Randall's, but I'm prepared to make a special trip over there to pick up this stuff.

Note: we were not compensated in any way, shape or form by Safeway/Randall's or Bright Green for this post. We just really liked it and wanted to share. We figure if we had trouble finding a green dishwashing detergent that actually worked, others might be in the same boat.

Haircuts by Mom

2011-04-05T16:58:00.006-05:00

Alex had his first real haircut a few months ago, and he's been in dire need of another. I am super duper cheap though, and I hated the idea of spending $20 every few months for a toddler to get his hair cut. I thought, "Really, how hard could this be?" Famous last words, right?

Mike and I talked about it this morning and decided that since I did a pretty good job grooming Dexter last week (I picked up a grooming kit with electric clippers from Target for a mere $30!), I could probably do a decent job cutting Alex's hair with Mike's electric razor. Plus, Alex doesn't really talk in coherent sentences, so if I screwed up, he wouldn't really be able to walk around telling people, "My mom sucks at cutting hair." I decided that I'd go for it, and if I screwed up, well, I could always just tell people that he took Mike's razor to his head and I had to try to repair the damage. Nothing like blaming your one year old.

"Hey Alex, can Mommy cut your hair?"

"HELP!"

Okay, okay, it wasn't that bad. I had him sit on the edge of our bathroom sink, facing the mirror. I set Mike's electric razor on 6, started at the front and worked my way back, following the hair's natural direction. I then decided that was too short and moved down to a 4. I used a pair of scissors to even up the bottom by his neck and to trim a few pieces on the sides that tend to curl out a little bit. He wriggled around quite a bit too, but he seemed pretty into having his hair cut. Overall, I think I left it a little bit on the long side, but I can always cut it shorter later. Too long is a much better outcome than too short!

All done!

See? Not too bad for a first attempt, right?

The hunt for cupcake bedding

2011-03-28T08:12:00.000-05:00

As we've shared recently, we are redoing Meredith's bedroom in head to toe pink and lots of cupcakes. It's going to be gooey, girly and fun! We knew Meredith wanted her walls to be pink, but we didn't want to choose a shade until we had the bedding in hand, as colors can vary online, depending on the computer screen.

I came up with a lot of ideas and inspiration pretty quickly in terms of art and accessories, but bedding proved to be a bit more difficult. I suggested to Meredith that we use theme-free bedding in shades of pink and white, so she could swap out accessories and artwork later on if she tired of cupcakes. She very vehemently rejected that idea. So I headed to Google in search of cupcake bedding options. While cupcakes are definitely trendy right now, the trend hasn't reached all the way to bedding, at least not for "big" kids.

TrendLab has this cupcake bedding set, but only in crib-size. It's cute, but obviously the wrong size, and the color scheme wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

Unfortunately, I soon learned that products live on in Google image searches long after they've been discontinued. I thought this bedding had potential, as it was not ALL pink, but it was no longer available:

This option from Target was also adorable, even though it looked more purple-y than "true pink" as Meredith called it. It went out of stock before we could make a decision on it.

I also found several options that had potential, but they were all offered ONLY by retailers in the UK, and they were not available for shipping to the US. Like this set from Marks & Spencer:

Even though it's obscenely pink, I loved this set because I thought I could convince Meredith to go with a slight hint of pink on the walls when paired with bedding like this.

Or this set, which I believe was available from Asda and Next:
This green set was available at Target and Walmart, but the colors didn't mesh well with what Meredith and I both had in mind:

I was beginning to give up on the idea of finding a bedding set pre-made. I saw several cupcake quilts online, along with some very cute fabric. In a moment of sheer delusion, I thought, "I could make that," even though I've never, you know, made a quilt before. A former decorating client of mine very generously emailed me an incredible amount of information on quilting... and I quickly became overwhelmed at the thought out trying to sew a quilt.

However, if any of you dear blog readers are better at quilting than I am, here are a few quilts I found online:

Once I'd recovered from my delusions of quilting grandeur, I decided that while quilting was probably out of the question, sewing a basic simple duvet cover was not. Meredith and I went back and forth on fabrics. She wanted something very bright and colorful but with LOTS of pink, and I wanted fabric that was not pink on pink, since Meredith was adamant about having bright pink walls too.

We finally settled on Caleb Gray "Confections" fabric in pink (what else!):

This fabric was everything we wanted: pink but with plenty of other bright and bold colors, sassy and fun without being too frou-frou. It's SO Meredith. We ordered the fabric in late winter and received it a few days later. The bolt size is not wide enough for a twin duvet, so I am going to have to piece the fabric together with one wide piece in the middle and a seam that will hopefully fall at the edges of her mattress. I've pre-washed the fabric already and to my great relief, none of the colors bled. A big kudos to my Aunt Lisa for suggesting I toss a few tables spoons of salt in with the fabric and wash everything on cold for that first wash.

With fabric in hand (but most definitely not quickly whipped up into a duvet cover because frankly, I'm just not that awesome), Meredith and I were ready to choose paint.

Baldness and Meredith

2011-03-26T17:30:00.002-05:00

Overheard at our house today:

Mike: My poor head is so bald.

Meredith: Daddy, they sell Rapunzel wigs at the store. Like you know, from "Tangled."

Mike: You think I need a Rapunzel wig??

Meredith: Yeah. You do. Then you wouldn't be bald. You'd have long, beautiful golden hair! You'd look SO pretty!

I'm now tempted to let Meredith buy a Rapunzel wig for her Daddy for his 40th birthday this year. I think that has "awesome photo op" written all over it.

Our baby grapes!

2011-03-25T22:01:00.003-05:00

As promised, here are a few of our many bunches of baby grapes.

They're pretty puny right now, but they'll eventually be quite large. I spent some time this afternoon pruning the vine to remove some new growth near the trunk, and I added some supports to make sure that no part of the vine is resting on the ground. Apparently resting on the ground = a greater risk of fungus, not to mention a greater chance of being trampled by our wild kiddos.

We're absurdly excited about all of these tiny little bunches of grapes, and we plan to continue to photograph them as they grow. Hopefully we'll have fabulous pictures of Meredith harvesting grapes later this year. She'd certainly be very into the idea of stomping grapes, that's for sure!

We have GRAPES!

2011-03-24T19:55:00.002-05:00

In spring 2009, we planted a grapevine in the backyard and hoped we could keep it alive long enough for it to bear fruit. We cut it back in fall 2009 and again last fall. Mike loops the pieces of cut vine into what will eventually be a wreath. The growth on the vine each year has been phenomenal! I was disappointed at first at the lack of fruit, but eventually I shrugged it off and decided that since the vine is so pretty and grows so well, I could live with the lack of fruit.

This evening after dinner, Mike casually said, "Oh by the way, we have at least 30 bunches of grapes outside."

Say what???

I ran outside to check the grapevine, and sure enough, there are tiny 1-2 inch green bunches of grapes ALL OVER the vine. I'm not sure how long it will take them to mature or how many we may lose over the course of the summer to various pests, but now that we have actual fruit growing outdoors, I'll be doing some frantic reading on growing grapes to see what we can expect this season.

It was too dark to take photos this evening, so check back tomorrow for pictures of our future grape harvest!

Healthcare sticker shock

2011-03-23T21:53:00.000-05:00

As we shared recently, Alex took a nasty fall and ended up in the Emergency Room with four stitches in his head.

We received a statement from our insurance company today listing the total billed amount for Alex's ER visit: $1,265.20. Of that total, the "Amount You May Owe Provider" is listed as $274.99. I say "total," but apparently that was just the total bill from the hospital. We received a separate bill from the doctor for $648.00. Of that, the bill lists an insurance company "adjustment" of $332.82, leaving us with a balance due of $315.18 due to the doctor.

So that brings that total we'll likely be billed for Alex's four stitches to $590.17. That is WITH health insurance. I haven't talked to our insurance provider yet, but my guess is that they'll count that almost $600 as going toward our deductible, which means we'll have to pay it ourselves. I'm going to try not to hyperventilate over the bills, and I'm going to step away from the computer before this becomes a huge rant about the state of healthcare in this country. I'll leave this post on a happier note: Alex's wound has mostly healed, and although it is likely going to leave a scar, it doesn't look too terribly bad. We're incredibly thankful that he wasn't seriously injured.

Greening your cleaning

2011-03-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

Spring has officially sprung - especially here in Texas where everything is abloom - and along with spring, our thoughts are turning toward Spring Cleaning. In honor of our annual tradition of cleaning out everything and ridding our home of dust, dirt, cobwebs and stuff we no longer use, we thought we'd share some of our thoughts on green or eco-friendly cleaning.

About a year or two ago, we started to "green" our cleaning routine. We started slow, ditching products of dubious value. Does anyone really NEED dryer sheets? We tried a few loads without them, and while we definitely had more static electricity in things like fleece blankets, we found that we didn't miss dryer sheets all that much.

The next obvious change: bathroom cleaning products. Let's face it, if you have to turn on the bathroom vent fan so you can breathe while cleaning your shower, it's probably time to switch to a healthier product! We started trying out eco-friendly brands like Seventh Generation and found that we really liked them. Seventh Generation's toilet bowl cleaner is one product in particular we really like. I will confess though: I have not been able to give up Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Yes, they disintegrate, and it creates additional garbage, but I'll admit that few things cut through soap scum and other yuckiness like a Magic Eraser.

We slowly upgraded our cleaning appliances too: our old mop got replaced by a Shark steam mop, which cleans the floor with heated steam. It does use electricity to run, but we found we could quickly clean our tile floors without chemical products. We also replaced our ancient vacuum cleaner with a new bagless vacuum that has a reusable, washable filter.

Mike is the one who moved us further into green cleaning with the creation of his own cleaning products. He started in the kitchen, using kosher salt and lemons to scrub our kitchen sink, and vinegar, water and lemon juice in a spray bottle to clean our kitchen counters. I admittedly had my doubts about using homemade potions to clean our home, but they were surprisingly effective. We found that we didn't miss too many products we'd been using before, and we both loved having cleaner air in our home!

A year later, and we've banished most commercial cleaning products from our home. We still use commercial toilet bowl cleaner (Seventh Generation) and commercial dishwashing detergent (we'd prefer to use a phosphate-free version, but we're having trouble finding one that doesn't leave white residue all over the dishes and the inside of the dishwasher). We'll also admit to still using Magic Erasers now and then.

As far as laundry goes, we've been using Seventh Generation unscented laundry detergent for everything but Alex's cloth diapers. For those, we use Rockin' Green detergent for hard water. Next week we'll be venturing into homemade detergent, combining Borax with Washing Soda and Castille soap. It should be interesting.

If you'd like to test out a few natural cleaning methods, head over to Natural Home Magazine and check out their article on homemade cleaning recipes! Give a few of these recipes a try. You might be surprised by how effective and easy it is to ditch a few nasty chemical products from your home. Greening your cleaning couldn't be easier!

Operation Pepto Bismol Pink Begins

2011-03-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

When Meredith said she wanted a pink room, I had a vision in my mind of pretty little girl rooms with soft, sweet pink walls and muted floral prints. I started looking online for some inspiration.

Here are a few sweet pink little girl rooms I liked:

Via DecorPad:
I loved the striped walls in this room from Better Homes & Gardens:

By Phoebe Howard:

I suggested pale pink bedding, paired with the room's existing pale green walls. I told her we could add lots of pink accessories and artwork. Nope, not pink enough.

I suggested pale pink walls and bedding in a soft blue or green with pink accents. Nope, not pink enough.

She and I poured over my paint fan decks. I'd suggest a shade of pale pink, and she'd vigorously shake her head no and point to a brighter, darker, or more intense shade of pink. I brought home larger paint samples from Benjamin Moore and taped them up around her room. She'd scrutinize them and then insist they were not pink enough. She basically wanted her walls to look as if they'd been coated in Pepto-Bismol. I couldn't help but think of these lines from "Steel Magnolias"...

M'Lynn: It looks like the sanctuary's been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol."

Shelby: I LIKE pink. Pink is my signature color."

We talked about themes too for her room. Did she want a theme? Or did she just want pink stuff? Oh, she definitely wanted a theme, but she didn't like the idea of flowers, princesses, fairies, ballerinas, horses, or any of the other typical "girl themes" that are available in abundance right now.

Finally after a lot of back and forth, Meredith came up with an idea for her room. We were in the car, running errands after preschool one afternoon when Meredith piped up from the back seat: "If I could have ANYTHING in the whole world for my room, I'd want CUPCAKES. Lots of cakes, and cupcakes and cookies and ice cream and sweet stuff all over my room. That would be the bestest room ever."

Once it was established that there would not be REAL cake in her room that she could snack on as she pleased, the ideas started coming, and I found myself falling in love with the idea of a cupcake room. Or, as Meredith put it, "Meredith's Sweet Shop Bedroom." So with that, Operation Pepto-Bismol Pink was officially underway.

The joy of decorating a bedroom with Meredith

2011-03-19T16:32:00.000-05:00

When Meredith outgrew her toddler bed, we decided to move her into our home's other bedroom. When we bought the house, this room had walls about the same shade as Kermit the Frog and a dingy beige ceiling.

We repainted the room a softer pale green color (Celery by Sherwin Williams). We removed the chair rail. We painted the ceiling and woodwork white. For a while, the room was our home office/playroom. It was messy and unorganized and pretty low on the "needs to be decorated" totem pole.

When we made the decision to move Meredith in there, we both wanted to keep the new light green walls. After painting the entire house from top to bottom, we weren't eager to repaint this bedroom. Meredith liked the idea of having a bedroom with lots of flowers and "garden-y stuff," so that's the direction we took.

It didn't quite go as I'd initially planned. I wanted a daybed for her, to save space and provide an extra place for someone to sleep. She wanted an enormous canopy bed and managed to sway her Daddy on the bed issue. She wanted butterfly wall decals. I carefully arranged them on the wall and then discovered the next day that she'd rearranged them. I worked on art projects for her room that went with her chosen theme and color scheme. She used masking tape to tape some giant daisy decals to the wall. They were leftover from her birthday party. I started making a lengthy bead garland to drape around the canopy frame of her bed. She made paper stars and hung them from the canopy with rainbow yarn. I wanted to photograph her in a garden setting and have the photos printed on canvas to use as wall art. She asked her dad to hang her "All About Me" poster she'd made for preschool on the wall instead.

In short, she had her own opinion on how everything should go, and they didn't match mine.

This was Meredith's room in late 2010:

Chalkboard we made for her room. I wanted to mount it on the wall, but she prefers to have it on the floor. We found the ornate frame on clearance at Hobby Lobby and gave it a coat of glossy white paint. The chalk board itself is a scrap piece of 1/4 inch fiberboard we already had, painted with Rust-o-leum's chalkboard paint.

We originally bought this mirror at Wal-Mart about six or seven years ago. We gave the frame a coat of aqua blue paint and hung it on Meredith's closet door, opposite her window.

This is the lamp we originally used in her nursery - we spent about $40 on it at Lowe's. I added beaded trim I found on clearance at a local interior fabrics store. Meredith arranged the butterfly decals herself. I had them spread around the bed area in a much more artsy free-flowing manner. Note the red light bulb in the lamp. That was another Mike + Meredith item that ended up in the room. She uses the lamp as a night-light, and the red bulb IS dimmer than a regular CFL bulb would be. However, the red glow in a dark room also gives her room the glow of a seedy brothel too, so it's most definitely my least favorite item in the whole room.

I added ribbons to plain Ikea curtains, and Mike made a mounting board for me. The curtains hang from antique glass doorknobs. We had a little bit of a miscommunication on the size of the board. I wanted it to extend beyond the width of the window, and he thought I wanted it to be the width of the window. When I realized he'd gone with a smaller board, he'd already mounted everything to the wall, so I decided to let it be.

Close up of the bedding she chose.

So that's Meredith's room. Or at least, it was. This quirky garden-esque room lasted less than two years. Late last fall, we started to hear all about her friend Lily's bedroom. As in, "LILY has a room that is super pink. It's SO beautiful." Or "I love pink. I wish I had a pink room too." And "Mommy, can I have a pink room? I would love it forever and ever and ever. I just don't have enough pink in my room."

I was firmly of the opinion that Meredith had exerted plenty of influence over what was in her room at the time, and I wasn't going to redo everything just because she suddenly loved pink. After a few months though, she wore us down. Thus Operation Pepto-Bismol Pink began.

Our first trip to the ER

2011-03-19T09:14:00.000-05:00

For quite some time, we've patted ourselves on the back over our lack of ER visits. Sure, we've had a few calls to Poison Control, and we once rushed Meredith in to see my former pediatrician when she became very ill while visiting my family in Arkansas, but up until the first week of March 2011, we'd managed to avoid the Emergency Room.

It all started innocently enough. We spent a late Sunday afternoon in the backyard with the kids. We kicked a soccer ball around, pushed the kids on the swings, and watched them bounce on the trampoline. We also did some serious weeding in our neglected raised beds in preparation for our spring gardening.

I had just checked our outdoor clock and was getting ready to head indoors to cook dinner when disaster struck. Alex climbed onto one of our lawn chairs and accidentally tipped it backward. He fell with it and hit his head on one of the limestone blocks lining our raised planting beds. Our poor little guy was bleeding pretty badly from a very nasty gash in his forehead.

I grabbed a clean cloth pre-fold diaper, and Mike used it to slow the bleeding while I got shoes on Meredith and grabbed the diaper bag and car keys. Alex calmed down a little bit en route to the ER, but I was pretty much still in panic mode. For the record: I am not good in a crisis. Not one that involves injuries. Giving birth at home? No big deal. Head injury? Yeah, I'm a basket case. Mike on the other hand, was Mr. Calm. I'm so glad he was there.

When we arrived at the ER, a nurse bandaged Alex's head with strips of gauze to stop the bleeding. While it was certainly more effective than the cloth pre-fold I'd used, it definitely had the effect of making him look far worse off than he really was. After all, a toddler with a totally bandaged head looks pretty pitiful. The poor kid looked like he was wearing a gauze turban. Mike took to calling him "The Turbanator."

See what I mean? He looks like he's recovering from brain surgery or something.

While I waited for Alex to be called back from the waiting room, Mike took Meredith to get something to eat - we'd rushed off to the hospital right at dinner time, and she was hungry. By the time they returned, we'd been moved to an actual exam room in the ER. Not surprisingly, the doctor determined that Alex needed stitches. After some topical anesthetic, an insanely long wait, lots of crying from Alex, several nursing sessions thanks to a very hungry boy who had no dinner, an injection of another anesthetic in the wound itself, and four stitches just above his eyebrow, we were released. Luckily he did not have a concussion, skull fracture or other potentially serious complication. It could have been much worse.

Total time for our first ER visit: 4+ hours.

Alex handled it all remarkably well, right up until the very end when he was tired, hungry, cranky and just plain DONE being at the hospital. He had to keep the stitches for five days, and he did pretty good with that. After the first day or so, he was completely over having a bandage on his head. He didn't mind letting me apply antibiotic ointment or a bandage to the wound, but he usually ripped off the band-aid within the hour.

Five days later, just finished breakfast and getting ready to go to the doctor to get his stitches removed.
In addition to the actual gash on his eyebrow, he also ended up with a scrape and a big knot on his forehead. Mike told him, "It makes you look tough, kiddo. The other babies won't mess with you on the playground."

In response to me asking, "Where is your owie?"

I was worried about how he'd handle having the stitches removed, but it was a piece of cake. He sat calmly in my lap while the pediatrician removed each stitch. He was so brave! He's definitely going to have a scar on his forehead from this, but at least it wasn't a more serious injury. We're all hoping that Alex's first visit to the ER is also his last. At least for the near future anyway.

I'd love to end this post by saying that Alex has learned his lesson about climbing on things, but he hasn't. Not a bit. He's still into everything and on top of everything. Anyone know where I can get a safety helmet and a bubble-wrap suit for a one year old???

Blast from the past

2011-03-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

I have been going through a bunch of our photos for NeNe, and along the way I've re-discovered quite a few pictures I never got around to sharing. I'm editing a few as I go, and we'll likely share them over the coming weeks.

Here's a preview: Meredith at age 13 months, facing NeNe and Papa's front porch. Bless her little heart - she was SO bald.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day: Green Decor!

2011-03-17T08:30:00.000-05:00

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, here are a few very green interiors!

Green and white kitchen, via House Beautiful. To be honest, I probably would not have done a green and white gingham ceiling, but I LOVE the green island and the green plates on the wall!

Green without being overwhelming: sunroom, via House Beautiful. The green wall color is pretty vibrant, but it's not so bright that it overwhelms the space. I love the ceiling paneling!
Green used as an accent color in the kitchen and dining room, via Southern Living.

Lime green bar stools and matching bright green accents in HGTV's Green House giveaway, circa 2008. If you love a bright punch of color in the kitchen but don't feel comfortable going with bold colors on cabinets or counters, choose brighter fabrics for window treatments or use those colors on items that can be more easily swapped out like light fixtures, seating, and accessories.

I LOVE this kitchen by David Prince. He used a gorgeous antique table for the sink cabinet and used a more subtle green on the wall. Beautiful!

Lovely soft greens in a bedroom designed by the always fabulous Phoebe Howard:

I know this bathroom by Sarah Richardson has made the rounds of the internet for a while, but it's lovely enough that it needs to be included here. The green vanity is just perfect with the green accent tile. Love it.
A green upholstered headboard and green pillows provide a bright pop of color in an otherwise neutral room designed by Tracery Interiors.

If you want to go with bold colors, a child's room is a great place to start! I love painting furniture for a child's room because it can easily be repainted if it is scratched or otherwise damaged by little hands. Nursery with kelly green dresser, via DecorPad.

More kid-friendly green goodness by Philpotts Interiors: built ins, vertical storage, and vibrant color!

One last bit of green. Since this is also a blog about our family, here is Meredith circa August 2008, rocking out to some music and sporting a lovely smear or two of green watercolor on her face. Thank goodness it all washes off!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The next big thing: girl rooms

2011-03-14T18:03:00.000-05:00

This post actually began as a daydream I was having about a nursery for a possible future third child. At this point, it's highly unlikely that we'll have more children, but I can't resist dreaming about sweet baby rooms and little girl rooms!

These days, it seems like most girl rooms, particularly nurseries, fall into one of two themes: flower or birds. At present, about half of the girl-specific baby bedding at Pottery Barn Kids has flowers on it. Flowers are big in girl baby world. If you're doing a garden-y theme already, then butterflies, ladybugs, and birds go nicely with that too, and you can find a near endless selection of bedding choices with these themes.

So what do we think is next on the horizon? Well, I'll put it this way: if we were decorating a girl nursery right now, we'd be going with bumblebees. Why bees? It's a fresh take on the whole idea of adorable insects, and there are a multitude of ways to incorporate flower decor, which as we've mentioned is pretty easy to find these days.

There aren't a lot of bee bedding sets out there right now, which is part of the allure of theme. If you do want a theme-y bee set, you could go very gender neutral with a set like this:
If you do choose a set like this, PLEASE don't buy every matching item and toss it all into the room and call it a day. The bedding set is sufficient. Pair it with pale green walls, soft yellow or white curtains and some pretty accessories.

If you want something more "girly" and have a big budget, check out this gorgeous pink bee set from Rosenberry Rooms:

We both love the simple and elegant embroidered bumblebees, but we're both still in sticker shock over the price - $720!

You could also make your own bedding (or pay someone to sew it for you) with a fun print like Michael Miller's Honey Bee fabric:

For a sassier look, you could pair the above bee fabric with this meadow fabric, also by Michael Miller:
Or if bee print bedding is too thematic for you taste, you could easily do a more subtle bee room for a little girl. For a room like that, I'd paint the walls a warm buttery yellow. I love Benjamin Moore's Hawthorne Yellow!

I'd start the bedding with a fabric that has plenty of yellow. I love Serena and Lily's Ruby Sunshine Mosaic Fabric:

Or perhaps this pink sunflower fabric:

Or even this Amy Butler fabric, depending on how much green I wanted to bring into the room:

I'd use artwork to bring the bee theme into the room. We're both madly in love with etsy seller RozArt's bee paintings like this one:

I also love the whimsy of this Cori Dantini "worker bee" print:

I can't remember where I first saw this print, but if you're artistically inclined, it would be easy to make your own version. Bee Kind, Bee Unique, Bee Patient, Bee Beautiful... there are so many possibilities!
My ultimate favorite bee artwork option? This Queen Bee print by Bella Muse:

To accessorize, I'd look for perhaps a pretty trinket box or jewelery box with a bee on it. I love the idea of taking an ornate framed mirror and painting the frame a pretty color and the affixing a few bumble bee jewelery charms to it. I could also see sewing a few bee charms onto a pretty piece of ribbon and gluing it to a lamp shade for an easy and fun bedside lamp.

I really do think that we'll see more options for bee decor for girl rooms in the next year or so. If you can't wait that long for Pottery Barn Kids or other retailers to come up with a fresh new look, feel free to borrow some of our decorating ideas and "bee" creative!

We need a new coffee table

2011-03-13T21:46:00.004-05:00

Our current coffee table is a craiglist find we picked up for a mere $10. We repainted it and changed out the legs and drawer hardware. It worked okay for a while, although Mike and I went back and forth over whether it was too cottage/shabby chic looking for our taste. We've also been massively disappointed in the crummy finish we got with the particular brand of enamel paint we used: it scratches and chips very easily.

Our main frustration with this table though is that it has fairly sharp corners, and Alex runs into those corners on a pretty regular basis. Our current living room set up is pretty wide open with lots of space for the kids to run around... and then Alex spins out of control and runs right into the coffee table corner because he's looking over his shoulder. Or one of the kids trips and fall and smacks a head or other body part on the corner of the table. I was initially worried about the kids running into the corners of the dining room table, but as it turns out, the coffee table is the bit of furniture that's caused the most bumps and bruises inside our home.

So with all of that in mind, we've been discussing what our other options are for a coffee table. Mike would also really like to be able to store blankets and throws in the living room so they're easily available on a chilly evening. We've been tossing around the idea of an upholstered storage bench of some kind to use as a coffee table. We'd need to have an easy to clean surface on the bench, so that points to leather instead of fabric. The problem is that most leather storage benches come in a limited choice of colors: dark brown, light brown, and red. Sometimes you can find ivory. We already have camel leather furniture in the living room, so that rules out light brown, and an espresso would be too dark. Red doesn't match our home's color scheme at all, and neither one of us wants to test out the durability of ivory leather with our children.

Then we stumbled across this:

It's the perfect size for a coffee table, and it has plenty of storage for blankets and extra throw pillows. The color is very bright though, so now we're trying to decide if it's too intense for our fairly neutral living room.

I think the inclusion of a piece like this would take our decor in a more contemporary and brightly colored direction, but then, that's not necessarily a bad thing either. What do you think? Is this aqua leather bench too wild to be a living room coffee table? Or is it an unexpected but fabulous addition?

The next big thing: baby names

2011-03-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

We've been toying with the idea of doing a few prediction posts, and we finally decided to go for it.

We predict that the next big thing in baby names (for girls, anyway), is Annie.

No, not this Annie.

Annie, either as a given name or as a nickname for Anne, has the same adorable feel to it that Ellie, Emmy, Lily and Lucy do, but without the extreme popularity. Anne has the same elegant and old-fashioned but still fresh feel to it that names like Grace, Alice and Rose have, but again, it's not nearly as popular yet. It's also a nice alternative for families who love Anna but want something a little more uncommon.

Recently a friend of a friend nicknamed her new daughter Annie. While waiting for a table at a crowded restaurant last week, we met another Annie, who was about the same age as Meredith. When I meet more than one child in the same town with the same not-all-that-popular name, it's usually indicative of the start of a trend. I watched the same thing happen with Clara several years ago: we knew no Claras, and then within a year, we met four of them, coinciding with the rise in the name's overall popularity.

Plus the rise of actress Anne Hathaway has brought more attention to Anne/Annie, and that may translate into more little Annes and Annies running toddling around the playground soon.
We'll admit: we're pretty partial to Anne/Annie. In fact, had Alex been a girl, there's a pretty good chance she would have been named Anne, nicknamed Annie. I *think* we're done having babies, so odds are against us having a little Annie running around our house - unless of course we can convince Meredith to use the name on a pet!

Dinosaur Tails - I must make these!

2011-03-10T22:16:00.001-05:00

Jessica from "Running with Scissors" recently shared a great step-by-step tutorial for Dinosaur Tails. Check out this picture:

How absolutely freaking cute are those??? I MUST make these for Meredith and Alex. Meredith is a bit on the dinosaur-obsessed side these days, so I'm already picturing her running around the house with a dinosaur tail, roaring at her little brother.

You can click over to Tatertots and Jello to read Jessica's wonderful tutorial. As for me, I'll soon be digging through my piles of fabric to see if I can piece together a few tails without a trip to the fabric store!

New favorites

2011-03-06T18:15:00.000-05:00

Mike snapped these pictures of the kids recently. Nothing fancy - just the kiddos playing in the backyard. I'm in love!

May the Craft be with you

2011-03-04T13:20:00.002-05:00

My favorite midwife and dear friend Kristen sent this to me today, knowing how much Meredith loves Star Wars. Available for now for pre-order from Amazon, I give you: The Star Wars Craft Book.

No, really.

I think we're going to have to buy this.

A new living room in neutrals and red

2011-03-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

E. and T. wanted help with their living room. It was a great blank canvas: a lovely brick fireplace, a new coat of neutral paint and beautiful new hardwood floors. The room looked pretty empty though with just a few sad pieces of furniture, left over from the couple's days of college apartment living.

They asked for help filling the space to create a relaxed and inviting living room for grown ups, no college stuff allowed! I chose a mix of textures and neutral colors in warm tones, paired with red accents. The couple's adjacent kitchen, which opened to the living room, had recently been given a coat of red paint, so carrying the color into the living space was a natural choice.

Here is the decor board I presented to them, complete with several options for windows and chairs:

I can't wait to see photos of their completed living room! If you would like more information on e-decor services from Interiors by McGee, please email McGee_Clopper@interiorsbymcgee.com.

We have another DIY-er on our hands

2011-03-03T21:06:00.002-05:00

Out of the blue this evening, Meredith informed us that our attic is "really lame." According to her, the pull-down stairs are not kid-friendly AT ALL, and she doesn't like them. Besides, there is a lot of stuff up in that attic and a lot of space too, and we aren't using it like we could, she said.

Over the course of a 20+ minute long discussion, Meredith informed us that what we really need are some stairs - real stairs - with carpet on them going up into the attic. We also need a room or two up there with "like carpet and walls and real stuff, you know." She wants to paint these new rooms pink and yellow, and she wants to store toys up there and have a special playroom upstairs.

Oh, and as for the stuff that's already up in the attic, she has a plan for that too: we can keep the pull down stairs, and we can also have a door from the "old ugly attic-y part" into her new rooms.

She also declared to her daddy that HE would build it all, and that I would help him while she supervises Alex. She's thought of everything, apparently.

It seems that we have another DIY-er on our hands!

Fall day in the park

2011-03-02T17:57:00.000-05:00

These pictures are from the week of Thanksgiving. It was a nice day, so we took the kids and went exploring. We ended up wandering around east Austin. The area has had a bit of a bad reputation, but parts are undergoing a redevelopment. If you are looking for an older fixer upper but can't find what you like in your price range downtown, in SoCo or in Central Austin, definitely consider east Austin. We saw a few places that had definite potential. We aren't planning to move, but I could see us living there. Maybe.

We stopped and let the kids run around a beautiful park along the river.

Shorts weather in late November - that's Austin!

Clean up after your dog!
Failed attempt at a sibling shot.

Old trees and the waterfront in the fall - lovely!

Alex

2011-03-01T22:30:00.001-05:00

A few semi-recent pictures of Alex being Alex. He's such a joy! Okay, so technically these are pics from the last few months, but sometimes you have to do a bulk post to catch up and avoid skipping some major Alex cuteness.

Why just play with the train set when you can play ON the train set??

It turns out that the cabinet doors/boxes for Ikea's Expedit units make great chairs. Here our intrepid little DIY-er is doing some work on a door. No worries though - the glue lid was tightly closed!
Greek yogurt is just too tasty to pass up. Unfortunately, licking the container clean usually means that he gets more on him than in him.

And then there are the times when Alex surprises us with his ability to open things we didn't think he could open. We call these photos: When Paint Attacks.

An alternate title for those two pictures is also: Alex's First Call to Poison Control. Meredith had left some craft paint out on the table, with the lid on, and Alex managed to get into it. As you can see, he was not thrilled with the taste of black paint. Fortunately the nice people at Poison Control assured us that the paint was not likely to make him sick. I wiped his mouth with clean wet cloths and gave him water to rinse out his mouth, followed by a tasty nursing session. He calmed down after that, and I made a giant note to self: keep all paint away from Alex. And in case you're wondering, no, the black paint did not come out of his Arkansas Razorbacks shirt. Darn it.

The last of the wild faux-hawk. Alex likes to use his food as a styling gel, and before he had his first big haircut, I combed food out of his hair and into this rockin' hairdo. He'll hate this picture later, I'm sure.
This is classic Alex style right here: t-shirt, cloth diaper, super cool rain boots. Alex loves shoes, and he especially loves his awesome rain boots. They were a birthday present from our friends Rowland and Diana. He wears them all the time. No, really. He does. I dread the day he outgrows them. I predict much weeping and gnashing of teeth until we procure another pair of boots for him.
Note the lack of pants. Our children tend to take a pants-optional view of life, at least when we're at home or in the backyard.

Cardboard boxes make the best toys!

The Toddler Prep look. This picture was taken on a playdate on his first birthday, November 5th (yes, I really am that behind on blogging and pictures). This picture amazes me now because the shirt and pants were pretty big on him then, and they barely fit him now. As in, they're already almost too small. The little shoes he was wearing in that photo were ditched soon after. He's now running around in a size 7 tennis shoes. I swear, he gets bigger every day.

All played out.

The End.

Organization is not always a good thing.

2011-02-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

In addition to decorating work, I have a regular part-time work-from-home job. I receive an assignment from my employer at regularly scheduled times, and I have a set amount of time to complete it and check in my work.

During my work shifts, I try to keep Alex occupied with toys, or I take a quick break to put him down for a nap. For most of my shifts, Meredith is at preschool or Mike is at home and on kid duty. I recently had one afternoon shift though where both kids were at home and Mike was at work. During this shift, I tended to let Meredith watch television or pretty much do whatever she wanted as long as she wasn't causing trouble.

So now that you know this, it should not come as a great surprise that one day during that afternoon shift, Meredith decided that she wanted to organize the pantry for me... and I let her to do it. She was occupied. She was quiet. She wasn't causing trouble. Okay sure, she was rearranging stuff that I'd later have to put back, but I didn't consider that a big deal, given that the pantry organization project had kept her occupied for nearly an hour.

Then I heard her say, "Uh oh."

If you're a parent, you know that "uh oh" is never, EVER a good thing.

This is what I found:
That is the messy pantry floor and Meredith's step stool. And that is maple syrup. On the door. On the stool. In the box of Diet Coke. In the bag of dog food. All over the floor.

Do you know how long it takes to clean up that much maple syrup? I'll spare you details and say that it takes a long, long time. I learned several important lessons that afternoon: 1. Syrup lids do not like hard tile floor. 2. Syrup does not soak into a towel the way that water does. 3. A steam mop is possibly the best invention ever. 4. Organization is not always a good thing. Really. There's something to be said for a messy pantry left un-organized by your 4 year old and free of syrup.

Needless to say, I managed to change my schedule, and I'm no longer working that afternoon shift.

The Return of the Super Gymnast

2011-02-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

Meredith started out in gymnastics at age 2 with a parent-and-tot class. She enjoyed it, but she had a lot of trouble listening and following instructions. After one year, we decided to let her just focus on preschool and the addition of a new baby in our lives.

A few months ago, Meredith expressed an interest in going back to gymnastics. We signed her up for classes again, and we were delighted to discover that Meredith's good friend Lily is also in gymnastics at the same gym! The girls are having so much fun in their class together! I was tickled to watch her in class this week, jumping on the balance beam and attempting a forward roll on the beam.

Here she is, the Super Gymnast, showing off her "fierce" look and new leotard:

No fierce Super Gymnast would be complete without a pair of Dad's athletic shoes.

Parenting Fail

2011-02-03T10:45:00.002-05:00

As you may know, it's absurdly cold here in Texas right now. Like 15 degrees kind of cold. We don't really even have the proper clothing for this kind of weather. Most winter days, Alex wears a snuggly fleece-like hooded jacket from BabyGap. Generally, Austin is a pretty warm place. Just not this week.

Tuesday morning I had to take Meredith to preschool, so the kids and I bundled up in our winter gear and headed for the car. As I was strapping Meredith into her carseat (and struggling to get the straps buckled around her heavy winter coat), I muttered, "Sh*t, it's cold!" under my breath. Meredith nodded at me and said, "Sh*t it IS cold, Mommy!"

Wow. Major parenting fail there.

I tried to redeem myself by saying, "Meredith, you're right, it's VERY cold outside, but that wasn't a nice thing for Mommy to say, and you shouldn't say it either."

She looked at me wide eyed and said, "Because sh*t isn't a nice word, right? And you can only say sh*t when you're a grown up, right?"

Me: Um, yeah, when you're a grown up. But even then, it's still not a nice word, and Mommy shouldn't have said it."

Meredith: "When I'm a grown up, I'm going to say sh*t a lot. Especially when it's cold like this."

I stopped talking after that before I dug an even bigger hole for myself, but I couldn't help but marvel over how she managed to slip a bad word into one conversation three times. Then I said a quick silent prayer that she wouldn't repeat our conversation to her preschool teacher. I haven't received a concerned call or email from her teacher, so I'm hoping she kept that to herself.

It would be nice

2011-01-27T17:24:00.003-05:00

I've spent most of the afternoon trying to supervise both children while helping Meredith clean up her room. In the midst of cleaning, I'm also moving furniture around, priming her bedroom walls, and trying to clean out some of her drawers and boxes and baskets and in the process cull the toy herd a bit.

I might as well be trying to herd cats.

For every box, basket or drawer that I clean out, Meredith and Alex get into something else and dump the contents on the bedroom floor. For every brush stroke of paint that goes on the wall, a little whine comes out of Meredith: "PLEASE Mommy, can I paint the walls too? I promise I won't spill anything." I've painted with Meredith, and I know better. Mike fell for the "I'll be careful and won't make a mess" line when we were painting our bedroom last weekend, and after paint ran in rivulets down the wall and dribbled onto the baseboards, we took her brush away. Wall paint is not for preschoolers. Ever.

So um yeah... today has been mostly an exercise in futility. It occurred to me that if we had one good solid weekend, kid-free, we could do amazing things. You know, after we slept in for once.

For a few moments, as I was tossing out random scraps of paper, broken pieces of plastic jewelery, and holey socks that had no mates, all collected from the bottom of Meredith's closet, I daydreamed about all of the home improvement progress we could make during a kid-free weekend. We could finish priming Meredith's room and get paint on the walls. We could finish the bathroom ceiling and crown molding. We could paint the trim in the bathroom. We could get the new playroom put together. Maybe we would even have time to organize my office-related stuff. And of course, we could do all of the regular cleaning tasks that are a struggle to complete with little ones underfoot: sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing toilets and bathtubs.

We'd have a clean house. A clean house with tremendous strides forward made in terms of our renovation and decorating projects.

We'd never be able to let the kids back in the house again.

They'd run into and after lots of "MOMMY! DADDY! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" and tons of hugs and kisses, the joint forces of Hurricanes Meredith and Alex would have this place messed up in no time flat.

Hmmm... maybe I should daydream of a time when they're old enough to play without tearing up the house? At what age does that happen anyway? 20?

"Don't turn around"

2011-01-25T18:57:00.003-05:00

Meredith opened her very first savings account today at the bank. She was SO proud of all of the money she'd emptied out of her piggy banks and carefully sorted into quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies. I filled out all of the paperwork, and then the very sweet lady at the bank let Meredith dump all of her change into the change counter. Meredith thought that was absolutely fabulous!

She's now amongst the savers. Our explanation of compounding interest was enough to convince her to at least temporarily part with her money. I'm just waiting for her to start digging around in my diaper bag for loose change, now that her piggy bank is empty.

As we left the bank, I remarked on how incredibly grown up she was now that she had her own bank account. I said, "Meredith, you are growing up SO fast! Sometimes I think I'm going to turn around, and you'll be 30." Without missing beat, she climbed into the car and replied, "Then don't turn around."

I love her sense of humor. I love that her remark was EXACTLY the sort of thing my Dad would have said.

Some of Mike's work

2011-01-25T15:21:00.003-05:00

We're asked a lot about Mike's work as a video game level designer and occasional environment artist. He works mostly on first-person shooter games for the Xbox 360. Here is an example of some of his work:

He did environment art on the zombie map for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Turn up the volume and click to play.

I'm not much of a gamer myself, but I think it looks pretty darn awesome!

Uh oh. Look out below!

2011-01-21T21:51:00.002-05:00

Alex can JUMP now. Yes, jump. As in both feet leaving the ground at the same time.

He has spent the last week or so stepping up onto a little stool a few inches off the ground and then trying to jump off of it. He was so close! This evening, he stood in the kitchen and jumped on the tile floor. He botched the landing and ended up on his bottom, but he got up and immediately tried again.

Our wildly enthusiastic reaction to his new-found athletic prowess combined with his desire to do anything and everything his big sister does has resulted in Alex trying to jump off anything and everything. Fortunately Mike was right there and was able to catch Alex when he attempted to jump off the much higher stool in Meredith's room tonight.

He is already a climber, and apparently now, he is a jumper too. Look out below! If Alex makes it to age 2 without a visit to the Emergency Room, it will be a miracle.

You know you live in Texas...

2011-01-18T14:16:00.003-05:00

You know you live in Texas when you hear on the radio that your Governor's inaugural (happening today) will include some 1500+ pounds of brisket and another 1500+ pounds of kielbosa sausage. You know you've lived in Texas for quite a while when this news about barbecue 1) does not surprise you and 2) makes you want barbecue for lunch.

When Real Estate Agents abuse Photoshop

2011-01-15T20:57:00.001-05:00

We love to browse local real estate sites, as well as Realtor.com. It's a great way for us to see what's out there, see how various renovations are paying off for other homeowners, and get inspiration for what we could do with our own home.

With all that browsing, we've seen a lot of house photos that are just plain awful. Sometimes a real estate listing photo is awful to us because the room in particular is cluttered, dated, or even dirty. Other times the photo is awful because it was taken by someone who had apparently never used a camera before. Then there are the listing photos that are awful because they were attacked by a real estate agent who abuses Photoshop.

In pursuit of gorgeous house photos, Realtors (or their photographers) often turn to Photoshop. We've noticed that a lot of the higher end homes on the market seem to be spruced up a bit in Photoshop. For example, check out this multimillion dollar home, currently on the market in Austin. Photo via Realtor.com:
Beautiful, right? Now, perhaps a professional photographer took the above image, and perhaps he or she happened to be at the house at just the right time of day to capture a stunning purple sky and a perfect reflection of the home on the water. We're willing to bet though that Photoshop was used to enhance the colors of the sky - if you look closely at the edges of the house on the upper left side of the photo, you'll notice that the sky is blue. It's also blue in between the trees on the far right side of the photo. The photographer probably also adjusted the levels to bring out some of the details in the home without overexposing the lights in the windows. Speaking of those glowing lights in the windows... if the sky really was blue when the photo was taken, that warm glow was likely added in Photoshop.

Overall though, it's not THAT bad. Yeah, it looks kind of fake, kind of like the too perfect images that homebuilders usually have in their marketing materials. But it's not horrible. Someone who is not familiar with processing digital photos might not even notice that the photo has been enhanced. If you're buying a house, you're going to go look at it in person, so if you arrive and the sky isn't REALLY purple or the windows don't quite glow at twilight, you probably won't feel all that deceived, and it's not likely to affect your purchase decision. In other words, we'd consider this to be a somewhat abusive use of Photoshop but overall a relatively honest enhancement in that it doesn't attempt to deceive a viewer as to the state or condition of the property.

So what constitutes true Photoshop abuse in a real estate listing? Well, check out the back yard of this Austin home, also currently on the market for just under $300,000:
The "grass" is an obvious BAD Photoshop job. It looks like the user just clone stamped a small patch of grass repeatedly. The small tree in the midst of the grass is not in focus, which has us wondering if it was cut and pasted from elsewhere in the photo or from another photo altogether, especially since it doesn't cast a shadow beyond what appears to be a big shadow from the house. There is a giant Photoshopped fern that appears to be growing out of the big tree on the right of the picture. Our guess is that the homeowner had a half-dead fern in a pot somehow attached to the tree, and a very unskilled Photoshop user attempted to make it look fuller and more healthy. Some of the trees and greenery in the background are over-sharpened while others nearby are out of focus, which means that something may have been badly clone-stamped or blurred in a misguided attempt to make the back of the yard look better or to hide the back of a neighboring house.

So what does the home's backyard really look like? It has a big tree and some sort of stone patio. Beyond that, we really don't know. From the bad Photoshop job, our guess is that the backyard is full of dead grass or bare patches where a dog tore up the yard. We're also guessing that the backyard isn't quite as private as it appears in the above photo. If you look carefully you can catch a glimpse of the home that backs up to this one. It's somewhat obscured by the blurry/overly sharp greenery in the back. We're willing to bet that that green house is not nearly so hidden from view.

Just for fun, here is an image of the front of that same house, also abused by a Realtor with no Photoshop skills:

Look - more fake grass! The grass in the front yard is so badly Photoshopped that it appears to be swallowing the stone path! Is the front yard completely flat? Does it slope downhill at all? We don't know, and neither do you because all of the grass is Photoshopped to look like a flat green sea. If you look closely at the bushes near the front door, they're a bit blurry on the bottom, especially the one of the left. It makes us wonder if the bush is really that neatly manicured or if it is swallowing the equally blurry front steps. This is Photoshop abuse, pure and simple!

If you are trying to sell a home right now, well, first you have our complete sympathy because it's a tough market. That aside, if you're selling your house, insist that your Realtor use a good photographer. There are many agents who work with professional or semi-professional photographers to create images that show of your home's best attributes. The absolute last thing you want is an using a point and shoot camera - or even worse a smartphone camera - and then trying to "fix" the pictures and the house or property in Photoshop. If your property does have such blemishes as a bare yard or overgrown greenery, fix it in real life before anyone whips out a camera!

If you've seen Photoshop abuse in real estate listings, we'd love to hear about it! If you want to see more extreme examples of truly horrible real estate listings, check out Lovely Listing. Enjoy!

Bedding, Meredith and Decorating

2011-01-10T15:34:00.002-05:00

We, or rather I should say, I, am redecorating Meredith's room. Apparently she felt that I had too much influence over how her big girl room turned out, and she's not happy. She never did like the green wall color in there, but I thought if I added enough bright colors, she'd get over it. She didn't.

For months Meredith has pestered me about redoing her bedroom. She says she NEEDS pink walls and new bedding. She and I went back and forth about her room. I suggested some small changes but keeping the existing bedding and accessories. She said no. I suggested painting the walls and leaving everything else the same. She said no. I asked her what kind of room she wanted beyond "pink", and she wasn't sure. I suggested princesses. Then fairies. Then a tea party-themed bedroom. I suggested butterflies, flowers, bunnies, and other cute critters. She said no.

Finally after an endless amount of debate and discussion, Meredith came up with an idea. She presented it to me one afternoon when we were out running errands and said, "Mommy, if I could have ANY room in the whole world, this would be my dream room!" I thought about it for a few minutes. I tried to picture what she was describing in my head. Then I realized that our daughter is remarkably creative, and that it would be an absolutely ADORABLE room. How could I say no?

We came home and I hopped on the internet to look for ideas. I put together a very rough idea board for Meredith, and she loved it, minus the bedding I'd found. Oh yeah, and the paint colors too. I was going for a subtle hint of pink on the walls, but sassy-pants over here wants PINK. Vibrant, saturated, casts-everything-in-the-room-with-a-creepy-pink-glow PINK. Needless to say, we haven't agreed on a wall color yet. If she's this opinionated now, I hate to see Meredith as a teenager...

On to bedding. Meredith's chosen theme for her bedroom does not offer a lot in terms of pre-made bedding sets, so I suggested using a solid or simple pattern duvet with more interesting accent pillows. I figured this would also make it easier to change things up a little bit if she got tired of her chosen theme and wanted something a bit different. I should have known though that the child whose bathing suit had to match her birthday party decor last year would have other ideas.

She didn't like my bedding suggestions and wanted something more thematic. We finally found one duvet set today that she loves. It's sold in the United Kingdom. In fact, I found it on Amazon's UK site. Amazon's UK site, however, does not ship bedding to the United States. I emailed the seller and asked if there was any way they could do a private non-Amazon sale and ship this to me. I'm still waiting for a response.

I explained the situation to Meredith, and she said, "Well, if they can't mail it here, why can't we just go there and get it ourselves?" This then required an internet trip to a map of the world where I showed her just how far Texas and the UK really are from each other. After establishing that it was definitely NOT feasible for us to travel to the UK to pick up bedding, I showed her several fabrics I'd found online that I thought I could sew into a duvet cover and sham. She pointed out the fabrics she liked best and then asked how soon I could have her bedding made. I pointed out that it takes time to sew stuff, and that I can't just whip up a bedding set overnight. She gave me a funny look and said, "Mommy, making bedding is EASY. You just cut a big square."

My four year old daughter is without a doubt my most difficult client.

I was on such a roll...

2011-01-03T10:59:00.003-05:00

Happy 2011!!!

We finished 2010 and started 2011 with a giant burst of productivity that included:

Installing a beadboard-type paneling on the ceiling in the kids' bathroom
Installing giant built-in shelves in Alex's room
Setting up a toddler bed in Alex's room
Rearranging the living room
Rearranging the master bedroom
Cleaning out the fridge
Taking down all of the Christmas stuff
Cleaning out part of the garage
Doing a TON of laundry
Cooking a bunch of chicken and hamburger meat and then freezing it in small sections to be thawed out as needed for various recipes
Choosing a new paint color for the master bedroom
Coming up with a plan to eventually convert our formal dining room into a 4th bedroom

As you can see, we've been busy. I was SO proud of our productivity. Last night, as we folded laundry, I commented on how much we'd accomplished in just a week and told Mike, "I am kicking 2011's BUTT!"

I got up very early this morning, thanks to sinus problems that left me unable to breathe while laying down. By 8 am, I was dressed, Mike was dressed, Meredith was dressed. Homemade blueberry muffins and lots of coffee had been consumed. Alex had been changed. Diapers had been washed and hung to dry. Meredith's backpack was packed and ready for preschool. I sat down to work, and Mike left to take Meredith to school.

He called me a little after 9 am, and I could hear Meredith sobbing hysterically in the background. Um yeah... preschool starts TOMORROW morning. How's that for a mom fail? Apparently in all of my 2011 butt-kicking, I neglected to double check the preschool schedule. I was on such a roll too. Perhaps though one of my New Year's Resolutions needs to be to keep an organized calendar.

Christmas prep - almost done!

2010-12-24T11:26:00.003-05:00

The house is (mostly) clean. The presents are (mostly) wrapped. Dessert for tomorrow - homemade cheesecake - is in the oven right now, and I'm about to put chicken tacos on to cook in the crock pot for dinner later tonight.

We're taking the kids to an early Christmas Eve church service and then coming back to the house for a Tex-Mex Christmas Eve dinner with margaritas for the grown-ups. Then we'll be rolling out the gingerbread dough to bake and decorate cookies for Santa, despite Mike's suggestion that perhaps Santa would really prefer a bourbon and coke.

Once the kids are in their jammies, we're all snuggling up together in the living room to watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas." Gotta give a huge thumbs up to Time Warner Cable for having both shows available on demand for those of us who didn't have our act together enough to buy the DVDs in advance.

Then hopefully the kids will go to bed at a decent hour, and Mom, Dad and NeNe will be able to relax a bit and get some sleep before what we expect will be an early Christmas morning!

Oh, and if we're lucky, we'll get a niece for Christmas! Aunt Jill and Uncle Dave are expecting their first baby any day now. In fact, the due date was December 19th. So we're all anxiously awaiting any baby news from Delaware! Come on baby girl, don't keep us all waiting much longer!

You WILL sit still for this picture!

2010-12-22T17:00:00.002-05:00

NeNe and I took the kids to the Domain today to do a little last minute shopping. Since the kids were both dressed in Christmas attire and were both in a relatively good mood, I thought I'd try to get a few pictures of them together.

At one point, I put them both on a bench together and asked Meredith to put her arm around Alex so he wouldn't fall. This is what I got:

I actually have a whole series of pics like this one where he's trying to escape, and she's trying to hold onto him, and he looks like he's being choked. Ahhhh... precious family memories, preserved forever.

Christmas Vacation

2010-12-20T10:49:00.004-05:00

NeNe arrived last night for a Christmas visit. Plus Mike is off for Christmas for TWO WEEKS! We're beyond excited here!

On the agenda this week: a visit with Santa, an evening spent enjoying Christmas light displays, lots of hot chocolate (even though it's really not that cold here), a visit to Meredith's new preschool (NeNe wants to see the school), some last minute Christmas shopping, making a gingerbread house, lots of gift-wrapping, lots of cooking and baking, some renovation tasks around the house, church on Christmas Eve, maybe some ice skating, lots and lots of playtime with NeNe, a delicious holiday dinner, cookies for Santa, and a lot of time spent counting our blessings.

New appliances

2010-12-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

We are less than romantic when it comes to gift-giving. First, we both pretty much suck at the element of surprise. It's not uncommon for Mike to come home from a shopping trip and say, "I got your birthday present today. Can I give it to you now?" I'm just as bad. Plus our birthdays are only about two weeks apart, so we often end up buying something we both really want for the house and calling it a joint birthday present.

This year for Christmas, we decided that we wanted to give each other a new dishwasher. Romantic, isn't it? Our current dishwasher is about 12-13 years old, and it's not very effective at removing gunk from dirty dishes. In other words, we rinse heavily before putting anything in there. Plus we figure that in the last decade or so, appliance manufacturers have likely made some gains in energy efficiency, and with a new dishwasher, we could perhaps save both water and electricity over the long run. The biggest issue though is the noise. That sucker is LOUD. Because our kitchen is open to our living and dining room, a loud dishwasher is pretty annoying. We can't run it while having dinner because we can't hear each other talk. If we run it while someone is watching television, you have to drastically increase the tv volume to hear over the dishwasher.

After scouring Home Depot's Black Friday ads and reading product reviews online, we hit the store the afternoon after Thanksgiving. We ended up ordering an LG dishwasher that looks similar to this:
We splurged on the hidden controls so we can operate the dishwasher without worrying about little hands messing with the control panel. Alex is pretty bad about that. Unfortunately the dishwasher is on backorder, so it's likely going to be early February before it arrives. I guess that makes it both a Christmas AND a Valentine's present? I unloaded the dishwasher this morning and noticed a lot of standing water in the bottom of it. We both hope the old dishwasher can hang in there until February!

In the meantime, we reached our breaking point with our master bathroom toilet. It ran. Constantly. Our water bill was going through the roof, and the noise from the toilet drove us both crazy. Back we went to Home Depot.

We came home with this new guy:

It's a dual flush toilet that uses very little water. At only $118, it's also very budget-friendly. Mike had it installed that afternoon, and he even hooked my diaper sprayer up to the new toilet. As an added bonus, the button on top to flush is out of Alex's reach. Not that we leave him alone in our bathroom or anything... he could do some serious damage if he got his little hands on the diaper sprayer. We're now quite happy with our eco-friendly toilet, and we're enjoying some much needed peace and quiet in the master suite. Well, okay, maybe not peace and quiet, as Alex is still sleeping in our room, but you know what we mean.

Then, as fate would have it, because we'd already shelled out $$ for a new dishwasher and a new toilet, our clothes dryer died. And I mean DIED. I loaded it up, turned it on, it started, and then it stopped. Forever. I had to wait until the weekend for Mike to have time to take it apart and work on it. I probably could have called a repairman, but I figured if my fabulous hubby could DIY this sucker, we'd save a lot of money. I'm cheap that way.

So for about half a week, I hung everything to dry. Diapers, shirts, blue jeans, everything. Naturally, this drastically slowed the pace of laundry in our house, as I only have so much room to hang dry clothes. I avoided changing sheets on the beds, as I had no idea where I'd hang queen-sized sheets to dry. The temperature had taken quite a drop too, so using our outdoor clothesline wasn't much of an option either.

By the weekend, Mike was tired of wearing stiff as a brick, highly wrinkled blue jeans, so he took apart the dryer and tried to fix it. Our dryer (and washer) were bought from a friend back in the late 1990s. Mike found a part in the dryer that he thought needed to be replaced, but he discovered to his dismay that he couldn't locate a new part anywhere. I guess that's what happens when you own an older appliance. Gone are the days of appliances lasting 20 years. It makes us sad that everything seems to be made disposable these days.

Anyway, Mike declared the dryer dead, and off we went back to Home Depot. I was adamant about not spending a lot for a new dryer, mostly out of bitterness at my husband. You see, I want to remodel our laundry room. The ugly vinyl floor needs to go. It needs a new coat of paint, and I'd like to redo the shelving/storage in there. Mike thinks my idea of a tile floor in a closet-sized room no one ever sees is ridiculous, and he refuses to do it. So if he refused to tile my laundry room floor, I refused to spend a lot of money on a fancy dryer no one (but me) would ever see. I won out - on the dryer, not the floor - but only because we'd already bought a dishwasher and a toilet and didn't have a lot of money to spend on a dryer anyway.

Our main requirement for a new dryer: it had to be in stock and available for us to take home THAT DAY. Mike also wanted a fairly large dryer so we could dry bedding and other large loads of laundry. We settled on this Maytag dryer:We had to go to more than one Home Depot to find one in stock, but the sale price of just $297 was worth the extra drive time. It fit easily in the back of our van, once we laid down the back row of seats, and Mike was able to install it that afternoon. By Sunday evening, I'd caught up on all of the laundry, changed all the sheets on all the beds in the house, washed diapers, and had everything folded and put away. Mike referred to it as Laundrypalooza.

So there you have it: a new dishwasher, a new toilet, and a new dryer. Merry Christmas to us. And we sincerely hope that nothing else breaks or dies in our home, at least for a while, because our budget is shot.

Christmas cards

2010-12-16T09:33:00.003-05:00

Last year I totally blew it on Christmas cards. I did a photoshoot with both kids, and I tried to create a card with the resulting images. I just wasn't happy with anything, and with time running short, I ended up not printing cards. Mike was of the opinion that since we'd just sent out birth announcements for Alex, the lack of a Christmas card wasn't a big deal.

I was determined to do better this year. I had a concept in mind, but I just couldn't execute it. Alex just wasn't old enough to understand what I was asking him to do. I won't go into specifics because I think I might be able to pull of that idea next year.

Mike and I had the kids dressed in nice outfits, sitting against a white backdrop. We snapped away and hoped we got something good. What we got, to be honest, was a lot of "eh, that's not bad" combined with an awful lot of "that would be a good picture if..." If Meredith was smiling. If Alex was looking at the camera. If Alex wasn't screaming and throwing himself on the floor.

I ended up throwing a bunch of images together in Photoshop to create a collage, and I decided that was good enough. Since becoming a parent of two, I've embraced the concept of "good enough." It doesn't have to be perfect, it has to be DONE. And done it is.

I initially called this image an outtake, but it ended up as one of the images on the card because, frankly, this is just so "them." Alex was eating because he refused to sit still without something to munch on, and Meredith was being, well, Meredith.

Dad Fail

2010-12-13T16:12:00.002-05:00

Two recent "oops" moments, courtesy of Dad:

1. Last week, Meredith and Mike were having a conversation, and she kept saying, "What? What?" So he threw out, "Chicken butt!" as a response to all of her "whats." Meredith is 4, and anything remotely related to potty humor is incredibly funny to her. She now throws out "chicken butt" multiple times a day, usually said with a very long southern drawl.

2. Mike has a few creative and colorful versions for various songs. While listening to Christmas music recently, I overheard him singing "It's the most wonderful time... to drink beer!" Now our daughter is singing her dad's version of the song. We're both crossing our fingers and hoping she doesn't use that version at her church-based preschool.

On a less inappropriate note, the other day, I heard Alex screaming and Meredith yelling "Get back in there!" I immediately checked on them and found Alex struggling to get out of a laundry basket full of clean clothes, at the same time Meredith was trying desperately to keep him in there. When I asked what she was doing, she responded, "I'm TRYING to play Christmas Story, but Baby Jesus won't stay put in the manger." Alex is a very uncooperative baby Jesus these days.

Fabric love

2010-12-12T22:51:00.002-05:00

I saw this fabric tonight, and I'm loving it.

I don't have the slightest idea what I'd do with it, and to be honest, I also don't know that the color scheme would really work anywhere in our house. But I love it. I'm tucking this away in the "would be awesome to use in the right room for a client" file.

Exercise, week 1

2010-12-05T20:11:00.002-05:00

I started a new exercise plan to try to shape up, slim down, get in better health, etc. I finished week 1 last night.

I've been taking Dexter on daily walks, and I've created a monster. If we haven't gone for a long walk that day, he will sit on my feet and whine. Then when I finally reach for my athletic shoes, he goes into a crazed frenzy of whining, yelping, hopping up and down, spinning in circles, and generally being super obnoxious as I try to get my shoes on my feet and the laces tied. By the time I attempt to put the leash on him, Dexter has reached such a level of excitement that I begin to wonder if he's on the verge of a heart attack. Apparently if you're a dog, the thrill of peeing in new and different places is cause for sheer jubilation.

Most nights, I take Dexter out for a walk/jog as soon as Mike gets home. It's usually dark by then but Dexter is absurdly overprotective and feels the need to bark and/or growl at everything from passing cars, other pedestrians, and other dogs, even those safely behind fences. Plus we live in a pretty safe neighborhood, so I don't mind the later night walks. We usually go about 2 miles, doing walking and jogging intervals.

In our first week, Dexter and I have walked/jogged just under 14 miles. 13.97 to be exact, based on data from Map My Run.

I'm trying to add in some cross-fit type exercises like sit ups, push ups, squats, lunges, and exercises with free weights. I've been less diligent about that, probably because Dexter could care less whether I'm doing sit ups in the middle of the living room. But you'd better believe he's going to let me know that we haven't gone for a run!

So there you go. That's what I've been doing every evening instead of blogging.

Silent Night

2010-12-04T23:02:00.003-05:00

Last weekend, Meredith fell asleep in one of the living room chairs while watching Animal Planet on television. They had a show on about polar bears, and after repeatedly exclaiming how cute the bears were, Meredith drifted off to sleep. I ended up carrying her to her bedroom after I snapped this photo.

Big boy hair.

2010-12-04T16:06:00.002-05:00

Alex got his first haircut today. Sniff, sniff. Mama got teary-eyed during the haircut. Fortunately they were very nice about it and even gave me a little plastic baggy with a lock of his hair in it. Yes, I realize this sounds insane to those of you out there who don't have children. There's just something emotional about your baby being big enough for haircuts.

I actually came very close to canceling the appointment, as I thought that perhaps his hair wasn't all that scraggly. In the end, I went, and although he looks WAY too grown up with his big boy haircut, I have to admit that he also looks pretty darn handsome. Not that I'm biased or anything.

The drawback to a ceramic garden stool

2010-11-15T19:26:00.002-05:00

We have a white ceramic garden stool in our living room. It looks a lot like this:

Photo via kaboodle.com

If you follow design and decorating trends at all, you've probably seen a million garden stools placed in various living rooms, bedrooms, family rooms, entryways, sunrooms and every other room. Despite the "garden" part of the name, I don't think I've ever actually seen a garden stool IN a garden.

Anyway, I bought a garden stool and put it in our living room. It's next to the green upholstered rocking chair that has seen better days (thanks Meredith) but that we keep because I can't NOT rock my sweet baby boy. It's the perfect place to put my glass of water, a book, the television remote, etc., and it doesn't take up nearly as much space as my end tables do.

There is a downside though to owning a garden stool. At least for us. Alex discovered that he can insert things in the little holes in the stool. On a semi-regular basis, I tip over the stool and dump out the contents. Today's haul: 4 pencils, 6 ink pens, an emery board, a set of nail clippers, 3 popsicle sticks, 5 crayons, 8 colored pencils, 1 clothespin, and 1 pixy stick wrapper left over from Halloween.

If it fits through a hole in the garden stool, Alex will stick it in there. If you're ever at my house and you're unable to find a writing utensil, check the garden stool.

It's the little things

2010-11-09T10:29:00.000-05:00

It's the little things in life that make me happy.

True story:

One evening Alex had a nasty diaper. I'd had a really rough day, and I wasn't feeling very good. Mike changed Alex into a new diaper and new pajamas. He then put the dirty clothes in the laundry room, and then smiled at me and said, "I've got this," as he headed to our bathroom where our cloth diaper sprayer is located. He rinsed the diaper and insert, put them in the pail, washed his hands, and then came back into the living room and picked up Alex again.

I told him how much I appreciated him doing that because I KNOW how much he dislikes rinsing dirty diapers (not that anyone does like it, but you know what I mean). I told Mike that it was small gestures like changing a nasty diaper and rinsing it, all without complaining, because he knew I wanted to rest that meant so much to me. It's kind of like when you have your first stomach bug after getting married, and your new husband offers to hold your hair out of your face while you puke. That's love right there. Forget flowers, forget candy. Real love is being there when you puke or dealing with a baby's poop. That's love.

He laughed when I said that and then said, "That's why I married you honey - changing a diaper is cheaper than buying you flowers." Okay, so he's not exactly the sentimental type, but the point is, it's the little things that we do for each other that demonstrate our love and that have the potential to bring us great happiness.

This morning, Mike knew I'd been up a lot during the night with Alex and that I'd had a rough day with the kids on Monday. He let me sleep in a little bit, and then he took Meredith to school for me. That simple act absolutely made my day. Why? Well because driving to Meredith's preschool, getting the kids out of the car, depositing Meredith in her classroom, getting Alex back in the car and driving home burns an hour of my day, all during what it normally Alex's morning nap. By taking Meredith for me, he essentially bought me an extra hour in my day, an hour during which Alex slept peacefully, and I managed to wash diapers, do the dishes, clean up the kitchen, and clean up Alex's bedroom. I still haven't had a shower yet this morning, but I'm so far ahead of where I thought I'd be this morning, that I'm blissfully happy. Dirty, but happy.

See, it's the little things in life that make me happy.

It's been one of those days.

2010-11-08T12:28:00.000-05:00

It's been one of those days... and it's only noon!

I was up well before the sun this morning, thanks to a case of insomnia. I tried to put the early morning to good use by taking Dexter for a long walk/jog around the neighborhood. It was cold out, but we had a nice time.

I came home, Mike got ready for work, and I sat down at the computer to work. Then he left and pretty much everything fell apart.

- Alex screamed, cried, and threw tantrums for most of my work session this morning. I nursed him and got him down for a nap only to have him wake up crying about 15 minutes later.

- Meredith decided that the ONLY way she could tolerate me sitting at the computer and working is if she could style my hair while I worked. The next thing I knew, I had a half dozen q-tips wound tightly into my hair and then hair-sprayed in place. After a bit of a struggle, I managed to extricate the q-tips - along with a handful of my hair.

- Alex got awfully quiet, so I went to check on him and realized that Meredith had left the door to the master bedroom open when she went in search of q-tips and hairspray. I found Alex standing on Meredith's stool, happily patting the bathroom counter top and tossing whatever he could reach into my sink.

- Meredith wanted a snack but then spent a good 15 minutes hemming and hawing over what she wanted. She finally settled on some cashews. I got them for her and went back to work. A few minutes later, Alex toddled past the office with Meredith's bowl of nuts in his hand. When I called out, "Alex, STOP!" he shoveled a handful of nuts into his mouth as fast as he could. Today I discovered that Alex does NOT have a nut allergy. Thank goodness. I managed to get most of the nuts out of his mouth before he choked, but I'm pretty sure he ate at least one.

- Alex seemed to be of the opinion that crying and flinging himself on the floor was the best way to spend the morning, so as soon as I finished my morning work assignment, I sat down again to nurse him and hopefully get him to go to sleep. Meredith decided this was the ideal time to "rock out" with Alex's toy guitar, just a few feet from his head. When I threatened to remove the batteries from the guitar, she then resorted to putting a cardboard box on her head and running around the living room yelling "BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! I AM A ROBOT!" It was only the ominous reminder "Santa Claus is watching you!" that convinced her to quiet down. I pull out the Santa Claus warning on a very regular basis from Halloween until Christmas Day. Then I'm screwed. I really think we need a Valentine's Fairy or something who only brings candy to good little boys and girls, because I could really use a good threat like that for after Christmas.

- Alex dozed off again, and I carefully placed him in his crib. When I came back into the kitchen, Meredith was making herself a sandwich. She managed to get all of the ingredients on the bread - and on the counter - but then thought it would be a great idea to eat mayonnaise straight from the jar. I have no idea if she double-dipped or not, but to be on the safe side, I should probably get a new jar of mayo.

- Alex's second nap of the day lasted a whopping 20 minutes before he woke up again. We had to retire his baby swing, as he no longer fits into it - and he weighs too much for the swing's motor to really swing him - and he's just not napping well without it. He's never been a great napper, but now it's downright horrible.

- Meredith and I had a nice lunch together while Alex slept. After he woke up, she sat down at her desk to draw a picture while I prepared lunch for Alex and sat down with him. A few minutes later, she burst into the room and shrieked, "LOOK AT ME! I'M A KITTY CAT!" She had drawn a nose, whiskers and spots all over her face in black marker. The markers now live on top of the refrigerator where she can't reach them. She is currently in the bathroom scrubbing ink off her face.

- After checking on Meredith and her face-washing, I returned to the high chair to find Alex tossing his lunch down to Dexter one bite at a time. After each bite, he carefully wiped his hands in his own hair. Needless to say, he's going to need a bath soon.

I am not exaggerating when I say that all of this occurred in the span of less than 4 hours. This is my day so far, and it's not really even halfway over. I'm counting the hours until bedtime.

One year ago today

2010-11-05T21:04:00.002-05:00

One year ago today, in the wee hours of the morning, Alexander William entered the world. He arrived quietly and peacefully in the warmth of our bathtub, surrounded by family and a few really wonderful midwives.

I can't begin to put into words just how much our lives have been enriched by Alex's presence. We are so very blessed to be his parents. I told Meredith the other day, "I'm such a lucky mama to have two great kids like you and Alex." Her response: a very casual, "Yeah, you are."

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet precious boy. We love you so very much!

May the Force Be With You.

2010-10-31T20:57:00.003-05:00

Our little Yoda had an awesome first Halloween! He and Princess Leia had a blast trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.

I'm off to bathe two very sticky kiddos and then hopefully get them to bed just as the sugar rush wears off. We'll be back tomorrow with more pictures.

Happy Halloween!

Birthday cake is good.

2010-10-31T16:18:00.003-05:00

Mmmmmm.... birthday cake is oh so good!

Alex perfected the cake "face plant" as also performed by his big sister when she turned one. Our children apparently really, really love cake.

We had a wonderful time at our son's first birthday party! We're off to celebrate Halloween now, but we'll be back with more pictures and birthday details on Monday.

Backyard transformation

2010-10-26T08:28:00.000-05:00

Okay, so this isn't the ENTIRE backyard, but we combed through some of our photos, and realized we had a bit of a time lapse series we could share as to how one corner of our yard has changed in the 3.5 years that we've owned our home.

This is a "before" picture, taken before we closed on the house. The tree in the corner was not planted deeply enough to establish a good root system in the rocky soil. Mike ended up pulling it out of the ground with his bare hands.

March 2007:

August 2008:

We'd removed the dying tree and filled in the hole it left behind. We planted four crepe myrtle trees in that corner, knowing that they'd eventually provide some shade for the yard, since the sun sets in that direction. You can see our little gazebo-thingy in this picture too. It blew apart in a bad storm less than a year later. We don't recommend them if you live in a windy area. Along the fence toward the right, we added a raised bed (not visible in this photo).

June 2009:

Sorry - we realized that we don't have a picture of this section of the yard sans people. In the spring of 2009, we added a small raised bed in front of the crepe myrtle trees that contained a mix of herbs, flowers, and a small Satsuma Mandarin orange tree. We also planted a grapevine along the fence in the back. Nearly all of the limestone blocks used to line our raised beds were either already part of the yard (the house had a bed area defined when we bought it, but there was nothing planted in it) or salvaged from discard piles from new construction homes in our neighborhood (get the builder's permission first!).

April 2010:
This photo was taken right before I built the raised area for our outdoor fire pit. In the fall of 2009, Mike used limestone blocks to connect almost all of our raised beds into one large bed that curved around the back of our yard and encompassed the previous raised bed that we'd built in front of the crape myrtle trees. We lost our orange tree in a freak Texas snowstorm in February 2010. In the above photo, Mike had started filling in the new expanded bed with plants. You can also see our fountain in the corner of the photo. We installed that in May 2009. In April 2010, Mike expanded the area around the fountain and started filling it in with plants too.

October 2010:
You can see from this recent photo how much everything has grown in! It's quite the change from the backyard of 2007! Our crepe myrtle plants have nearly double in height in the last year, and the plants we added this spring in our expanded bed have exploded with new growth.

We are SO happy with how the backyard is growing and changing! Our hope when we bought our home was that we could transform the barren backyard into something lush, shady and peaceful. We wanted it to be a place where our children could play, and where we could gather with family and friends to enjoy the outdoors and the beautiful Texas weather. So far, I think we've accomplished that goal!

"The God of Cake"

2010-10-25T12:22:00.002-05:00

Have you seen Hyperbole and a Half? If not, you're missing out on one of the funniest blogs on the internet.

One of her newer posts, "The God of Cake", could easily be subtitled, "This is Something Meredith Would Do."

We both laughed until we nearly cried.

Read it. Enjoy. This is what raising Meredith is like.

Pictures of the kids - a little of this, a little of that.

2010-10-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you slack off on blogging? The need for a giant post full of a bit of this, a bit of that, and tons of pictures of the kiddos.

Meredith's idea of cleaning up her room: tossing everything in the closet. She was SO proud of herself for coming up with that "great" idea. It was really hard not to laugh at her enthusiasm. She then dutifully helped us really clean up everything.

If only we could get her to pick up her toys on a more regular basis...

With cooler temps each day, we've been spending more time outside with the kids.

That means more time sitting in the sandbox and making sandcastles.

More time swinging.

And a lot more time jumping.

I even get up there and jump with her from time to time, but mercifully there's no photographic evidence of that.

Alex has fallen in love - with apples. He swiped Meredith's half-eaten apple one day, and it was love at first bite. I don't particularly like to give them to him because I worry about him choking, but he loves them SO much. Just look at that happy face!

Enormous Honeycrisp Apples from HEB are the best!

We have a lot of pictures of Alex in his high chair. If he's contained, he can't grab the camera. He loves the camera in a "Give it to me so I can take pictures and slobber all over it" kind of way. If we're in a familiar environment - like our home - the camera is automatically more interesting than anything else around him. I have countless blurry photos of him toddling toward the camera, followed by extreme close-ups of baby hand and baby face. Meredith used to do the exact same thing.

"Ooh! Are you taking pictures? Lemme see!"

"I'm making this face because you're moving away from me. Hold still and let me grab that lens."
Alex also really loves straws. They're quite tasty, I hear.

Meredith's latest favorite outdoor game is "making soup." She borrows a big bowl from the kitchen, fills it with water, and then she collects a variety of herbs and flowers from the garden and stirs it all together. If she makes soup for you, you are expected to comment on all of her ingredients, smell the rosemary, basil, sage or oregano as it goes into her soup, and then, if you're really brave, you might give it a taste. She'd really like to make soup using a bunch of the dried spices in the kitchen, but Mommy is mean and won't let her do that anymore. When you dump half a bottle of cinnamon into a toy pot filled with water, you tend to lose your kitchen spice privileges.

Meredith often asks to hold Alex, but he's really too big for that. He doesn't exactly fit in her lap anymore, and she lacks the upper body strength to hold onto him very well. Usually she settles for snuggling with her brother in the rocking chair. Alex thinks that snuggles with big sister in the rocking chair = an invitation to plant slobbery wet baby kisses on her and then pull her hair.

I love that last picture. They are so very close. I didn't expect that, at least not as this young age. Alex adores his big sister, and Meredith is so nurturing and patient with her little brother. They often run off together to play, and I'll find them a bit later, taking apart the train table or playing with Meredith's collection of toy cars and trucks. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they both grow up some more and he becomes her stinky, dirty obnoxious little brother. In the meantime, we're enjoying their incredible sibling bond. Life is never dull with these two around! We are so very blessed.

Painting with Alex

2010-10-24T22:10:00.000-05:00

Note: We're going to back-track a bit over the next week or two to try to catch up on some posts before we bore everyone to death with "Alex is turning 1" posts.

We keep Meredith's easel on our covered back patio, so she can paint without making too big of a mess. Alex discovered the paint recently, and he was very interested in painting with his big sister. We handed him a brush and a container of messy paint and turned him loose.

"So I can paint whatever I want, right? Even the concrete?"

Okay, maybe turning him loose wasn't the best idea. We got a piece of paper for him instead.

Unfortunately, the damage was done. He had already figured out that he could paint on something other than paper. Like the concrete. And his leg.

"YOU call it mess. I call it ART. You got a problem with that?"

Random-ness + a little Halloween

2010-10-24T14:14:00.000-05:00

1. Alex's birthday party is next weekend. I'm still in shock over that. How did this year fly by so quickly??

2. Halloween is next weekend, and I have not bought a single piece of candy yet. Probably for the best, as Mike and Meredith would go through that stuff in no time. We usually buy at least a half dozen BIG bags of candy and go through it all on Halloween night. The number of people trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is INSANE.

3. Halloween is next weekend, and we have yet to visit a pumpkin patch. We're headed out this afternoon to get a few big pumpkins for the kids.

4. Alex has fully mastered walking, and he's getting faster every day. He's still enormous for his age, tipping the scales at just over 27 pounds.

5. Now that he has walking under control, Alex's vocabulary is exploding. He seems to have a new word every couple of days. The latest: Ah dun (all done), YAY, and laaaaay-tuh (later).

6. Meredith is having a really hard time waiting and waiting and waiting for Halloween to be here. She asks every. single. day. "Is it Halloween yet?" She was very irritated after she helped Mike decorate the front yard with spooky Halloween decorations, only to find out that she still had WEEKS in front of her before it was time to trick-or-treat.

7. Meredith is dressing up as Princess Leia for Halloween, and she insisted that Alex go as Yoda. He doesn't seem to care either way, so we bought both costumes for the kids. This is the first time in two years I haven't had to sew Halloween costumes. It's kind of nice. I really need to get off my rear end though and take some pictures of the kids in their costumes.

8. I'm almost finished reupholstering a slipper chair for our home office. I love it, but frankly, the pain-in-the-rear factor is very high when it comes to reupholstering furniture. The legs are still off the chair, and with the base sitting on the floor, it's low enough that Alex can climb on top of it. He's very proud of himself.

9. Speaking of our home office, we recently swapped out rooms. What was our breakfast room-turned-my home office became our dining room, and what was our formal dining room became a home office for two. It still needs a lot of work, but so far, we love the changed layout. Pictures coming at some point.

10. Decorating has kept me extremely busy, hence the lack of blogging recently. I am likely going to just work with the clients I have right now and not accept more until after the new year. I don't want to overextend myself or provide less than great service to my wonderful clients. I'm hoping to try to squeeze in more blogging here and there because we really do enjoy sharing our family and our life with our friends.

Now it's time to have pumpkin muffins with the kids, and then we're off in search of the perfect Halloween pumpkins! We leave you (for now) with a very scary sight: we call it "Yogurt Monster!"

I'm in love.

2010-10-13T12:45:00.002-05:00

I tried them on today, and they love me too.

Having children made my feet spread, and I am now sporting what Mike refers to as "duck feet." Thanks, honey. After Alex's birth, flip flops were about the only shoes I owned that still fit in the width. I ended up buying several new pairs of shoes, with the focus more on functionality than style. With cooler temps around the corner though, I wanted to look into some shoe options for fall and winter that were perhaps a little more stylish.

That's when I saw these boots and fell in love. They're even comfortable to wear! I will adore them from afar for now, but once payday comes and the bills are paid, these boots may have to come home with me.

I'm quite certain...

2010-10-09T22:05:00.002-05:00

... that my dad has cooked up a giant pot of his famous jambalaya, and there's one heck of a party going on in heaven tonight. Arkansas won. Alabama lost. LSU beat Florida. The only way it could have been any sweeter is if Arkansas had held on and defeated Alabama last weekend. I'm quite certain that dad is watching and enjoying himself tonight.

Deep thoughts and questions from Meredith

2010-10-08T14:29:00.002-05:00

On the way home from the fabric store today, Meredith peppered me with tough questions:

"Why did Papa die?"
"Why do so many people miss Papa?"
"Why was Papa special?"
"What happens when you die?"
"What is heaven like?"
"What does Papa do in heaven?"

I answered every question as best as I could. I tried not to cry, although I'll admit that my voice broke a little as I talked.

She pondered all of my answers and was quiet for a few moments. Then:

"Mommies and Daddies drink an awful lot of coffee. What's up with THAT?"

Sometimes I really wonder about the random stream of consciousness that seems to flow from her brain and out of her mouth.

For the record, I told her that coffee has caffeine in it, and Mommies and Daddies need caffeine to give them the extra energy to keep up with wild kiddos like her and her brother.

Random ramblings from a chaotic day

2010-10-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

I forgot to set an alarm clock, so of course, on a day when I needed to get up early, both of our children chose to sleep in. I had less than an hour to get everyone dressed, get lunch packed, and get out the door and off to preschool. If you saw me out and about today, well, you saw me looking like I'd just rolled out of bed.
I love school days because it usually means time to work on decorating projects, craft projects, and time to spend one-on-one with Alex.
I hate school days because although I love the preschool Meredith attends, I hate that it's so far from our house. By the time I drive there, get the kids out of the car, drop Meredith off or pick her up, get the kids (or just Alex) back in the car and get home, I've blown an hour of my day, and I do that twice a day on school days.
I need a bigger table space for sewing.
I am learning to say "no", but only because I'm pretty busy already. I had to tell a friend that we couldn't get together for a baby playdate tomorrow, and I felt bad about that. I had to tell the preschool that I couldn't attend a volunteer meeting this week too. Between window treatments I'm making for a decorating client and some tutus I agreed to make for someone else, I'm swamped.
I totally forgot (until about 30 minutes ago) that I have a conference call/meeting for my "real" job this evening. I talked to Meredith about behaving herself during my call, and I feel confident she'll behave. Then there's Alex... I'm just going to have to hope for the best there.
I made great progress in sewing window treatments today while Mer was at school because I discovered that Alex would play happily beside me if I gave him scraps of fabric.
Unfortunately, before I made that discovery, I also discovered that Alex got into a spool of aqua blue thread and wound it all over the living room.
Meredith spent the ENTIRE ride home from preschool peppering me with questions about characters in books we've read in the last few months and episodes of TV shows she's seen recently. Some days I'm just all questioned out.
I caught Alex toddling down the hall, sucking on an ice cube. He got it from Meredith, who pulled a tray of ice cubes out of the freezer and put it on the kitchen counter, "because the ice was too cold. It needed to warm up some." We need to have another talk about ice...
Nothing interrupts your train of thought like hearing your four year old yell, "Eeeew! There's POOP on the floor!"
It's sad when you can hear a statement like "there's poop on the floor" and not immediately know whose poop you're going to find. Luckily for Meredith and Dexter, Alex was the guilty party. He gets a pass for being a baby.
I really need to wash diapers again. I feel like I wash diapers all. the. time. I don't regret going cloth AT ALL, but yeah, it's lots of laundry.
Some days I think life would be a lot easier if I had more than one dishwasher in my kitchen and more than one washer and dryer in my laundry room. But then I stop and realize that having two sets of appliances doesn't mean that I have twice as much time to load and unload them.
A facebook friend offered to pay me to make some tutus for her daughter. She needs one of them by this weekend. Tulle is half off at Joann's beginning on Friday, so I'm debating whether it's worth the savings on fabric to make a special trip over there, considering that I drive near a Joann's on preschool days. I'd have to take Meredith with me on Friday though, and taking her into Joann's fills me with fear and dread. It might be worth the lower profit margin to just go tomorrow with Alex.
I found what I think is a great piece of furniture at a great price on Craigslist. I think it would be perfect in a client's home, once it's been sanded and re-stained and the hardware is updated. If I can get the owner to come down on the price a little, I may be picking up furniture tomorrow. I hope it fits in my car.
I need to get to the store to pick up some items for Alex's birthday party. I can't believe we're already planning his party. I could probably wait a few weeks to get these items, but I really want to cross something else off of my To Do list, and this seems like an easy item.
I will admit though that I'm avoiding a trip to Hobby Lobby because I KNOW that I will not be able to resist the urge to buy some spiffy crafting supplies for some projects I'm doing for my future niece's nursery. I really HAVE to finish a few things for current clients before I do fun projects for sweet baby Izzy.
If the teeth hanging out just inside Alex's gums do not pop through soon, I may go crazy. Teething = hell.
Do all four year olds have serious attitude problems, or is it just our child???

Mike and McGee, old school

2010-10-05T18:23:00.001-05:00

We had several people email us to say that last night's anniversary post was worthless without pictures. We didn't want to relive the wedding in photos since we did that last year (check the October 2009 archives for Wedding Anniversary-palooza if you really want to see them). Instead here are a few old school pictures of us, all taken before the blog began! Enjoy!

*We were actually going to do a post of photos of Mike and McGee through the years, but then when we looked back at our photos we realized that after we had Meredith, we pretty much stopped posing for photos with each other. After her birth, 95% of our photos are pics of Meredith. The remaining 5% are pics of one of us with Meredith. Oops. We officially resolve to take more photos of ourselves, in addition to the million of so pictures we take each month of our admittedly adorable children.

Six years ago

2010-10-04T21:39:00.000-05:00

Six years ago, we stood on the beach together and exchanged wedding vows and rings. We had no clue what was waiting for us in the years to come. The last six years have been an incredible roller coaster ride of highs and lows, good and bad, unimaginable joy and incredible sorrow, and we've made our way through it together.

I can honestly say that I love my husband more now today than I did six years ago on our wedding day. Every up and down, every bump in the road, has brought us closer together and strengthened the love we have for each other. I am so very blessed to have Mike by my side for the journey that is life.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. I love you.

Hungry feet?

2010-10-01T17:52:00.003-05:00

Meredith got dressed up in a "fancy" outfit (ie, mismatched clothes), smeared some of my makeup all over her face, spritzed herself VERY liberally with my perfume, and then declared that she was ready for dinner. She wants Chinese food from her favorite local place, Hunan Ranch.

When her attempt to dress for dinner failed to sway me, she tried a new tactic.

Meredith: Mommy, my foot is really, really hungry for Chinese food.

Me: Your foot?

Meredith: Yes. My foot NEEDS dumplings.

Me: Which foot?

Meredith: This one (points to right foot). It is STARVING for Chinese food. It needs at least five dumplings.

Me: Really? I didn't know that feet could be hungry. How do you feed your foot?

Meredith: Well, I crumble up a dumpling in my mouth, and then my tummy sends it to my foot. Duh.

Duh indeed. I wasn't expecting her to say that. I appreciate her creativity, and I'm seriously considering ordering Chinese takeout now. Perhaps my foot needs Chinese too.

Empty your pockets!

2010-09-29T12:53:00.003-05:00

I do all of the laundry in our house, and I have just one rule: empty your pockets. I don't check pockets. Mike wears cargo pants/shorts a lot, and it's just too many pockets to check when I'm already checking the kids' clothes for stains that have to be pre-treated. Over the years, I've washed his passport, his wallet, a bunch of receipts, a few tools, and NeNe once washed his cell phone when she was visiting and very helpfully tossed a load of laundry on to wash for me. She doesn't check pockets either. It's hereditary, I guess.

Over the years, Mike has gotten much better about removing things from his pockets before tossing his pants on the floor. Last week, he neglected to check his pockets. When I tried to empty the washing machine, I noticed that clothes were catching on something. I managed to untangle all of the clothes though, and that's when I noticed this:

That is a flathead screwdriver. The tip of it is wedged into a hole in the little spin-y thing in the washing machine. It was stuck about halfway down the washing machine, so at least a third of our clothes were wrapped around the handle. It took me a good 15 minutes to get that sucker un-stuck, and I had to bend the tip (and ruin the tool) to get it out.

I showed Mike the damaged screwdriver and the above photo when he came home that night. He looked remorseful, promised to check his pockets next time and then said, "This is going on the blog, isn't it?" You betcha.

Feeding yourself is hard work.

2010-09-29T07:45:00.002-05:00

It's just so darn exhausting to feed yourself!

Actually, he does this a lot lately. Dinner's not over until Alex falls asleep in his high chair. If he'd nap longer during the day, he would not be so tired by dinnertime.

Fat Joey Knitwear, among other things

2010-09-28T12:42:00.000-05:00

We are super excited that Mike's sister, Jill, is blogging again. She's hilarious in "real life", so we're looking forward to what she comes up with for her blog. Jill is busy baking our very first niece - Susan Isabelle (aka Izzy) is due this December! Ah, little girls are so much fun!

Auntie Jill is also busy with her fledgling side business, Fat Joey Knitwear (warm as kitten), which sells beautiful hand-knitted scarves, hats, booties and other goodies made by Jill herself. She has quite a stash of some really amazing silk yarns and other luscious threads! Jill donates a portion of her proceeds to PAWS animal shelter in Philadelphia, PA, and Heifer International, so she offers both a great opportunity to buy a fabulously cozy treat for yourself or someone else all while supporting two wonderful organizations.

We would LOVE to show you Jill's awesome website showcasing all of her work, but she hasn't finished her site. Hint, hint, Jill! In the meantime, you can visit her blog, The Incredible True Life Adventures of Jill, Dave and Fat Joey. And soon to be baby Izzy too!

Master bedroom, then and now

2010-09-27T17:21:00.000-05:00

In between decorating jobs for clients and juggling life with Meredith and Alex, I'm trying to work on a redesign for our master bedroom. We started the space and never really finished it.

I began with a duvet cover from Restoration Hardware, and I've gone back and forth over whether I really like it or not. I considered ditching it all together and starting over, but Mike loves it, so it will stay. The problem is isn't really with the duvet cover though. The problem is that I bought it and never had a plan to go with it. I just bought it, slapped it on the bed and got distracted by all of the other rooms and projects in our then-new house. The bedroom was filled with old furniture and random leftover items we'd had forever or borrowed from other rooms in the house.

As an aside, I often see this same problem with clients. They start a room with one item they like, but because they don't have a plan, the room ends up feeling incomplete. I'm totally guilty of this where our bedroom is concerned because it just wasn't a priority for us. It became more of a priority when we decided on a homebirth, and I realized I might be giving birth in that room. Suddenly I wanted it fixed. As in, yesterday.

We put in some inexpensive nightstands, added some swing arm sconces, and put in a few accessories. It still felt massively incomplete and WAY too blue, but it was the best I could do while hugely pregnant, especially considering my complete and total lack of funds.

So, this is the room when we bought the house: a decent-sized open space with high ceilings, two windows, ugly carpet, and, OMG isn't that blue paint awful???

Taken from the doorway:

To your right, when you enter the room - this is the door to the bathroom.

To your left, when you enter the room - this is the other window and a very odd-shaped closet. The main master closet is in the bathroom.

This is the room as it's been more or less since Alex was born. Too. Much. Blue.

It's hard to tell from the photos, but we did replace all of the puny baseboards with 5-inch baseboards. The headboard and footboard (which is missing two posts because we felt like they overwhelmed the room) were mine in college. The enormous mirror used to hang above our bathroom vanity. We took it down and framed it when we put medicine cabinets in the bathroom. The cabinet holding the TV is ancient and in pretty bad shape. The TV itself is pretty old too. The chaise is easily the nicest piece of furniture in the room, and although it is used most days for either a place to toss laundry or a place for Meredith to jump, we like it and would like to keep it. I hate that Dexter's dog bed is one of the first things you see when you walk in the room. Alex's crib doesn't fit in here very well either, but that will likely stay put for the time being. The two windows came with 2-inch white faux wood blinds, as did every other window in our house. The ceiling fan with light kit is a builder basic item that came with the house, and it's pretty ugly.

So that is the "then" and the "now." I refuse to call it a "before" and "after" when SO much needs to be done! As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am working on a redesign for the room. The whole room is getting new paint - a cozy gray with brown undertones. I haven't decided on a ceiling color yet. The bedding will stay, per Mike's request, but the headboard and footboard need to be replaced. I'm trying to decide between something upholstered and something with a dark wood tone. The windows need to be trimmed with new wood frames, and the white blinds need to go. We'll be putting in matchstick blinds, framed by drapes. The swing arm sconces will stay, but the ceiling fan/light kit is on the way out. The nightstands and mirror will get new paint, and I'm trying to decide on new knobs for the nightstands.

We'll be putting in a new armoire for the television, new artwork, and new accessories. I would LOVE to put in new wood floors when we redo the bedroom, but I don't know if we can swing that financially - I'm hesitant to buy wood floors JUST for one room in the house, and then realizing later when we can afford to buy floors for the rest of the house that that particular flooring has been discontinued. I would also love to do something really interesting with the ceiling in terms of wood paneling, but Mike is not a fan of that since he'd have to do all of the labor.

Because of other design commitments, Alex's upcoming birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, it will probably be the new year before we can really focus on the master bedroom. In the meantime, we'll share a few options we're considering for the room and a few sneak peeks as we work on new room!

He's got quite the arm!

2010-09-27T10:47:00.003-05:00

While snapping some pics of Alex for his first birthday invitation last week, I managed to catch him mid-throw. He loves to roll balls back and forth with us, and he's recently started throwing balls too. He throws with his right hand (not unexpected since right-handedness is dominant, but still interesting since Mike and I are both left-handed, and we have two right-handed kiddos), and he almost always throws overhand.

He can entertain himself for quite some time with a ball. He hurls it halfway across the room and then crawls after it at top speed and then repeats this process until he finds something more interesting to do. Ahh... the joys of having a little boy!

French Pillow

2010-09-23T15:49:00.004-05:00

I am so in love with this burlap pillow from Petit Coterie.

It may need to come live in our master bedroom.

First day of 4 year old preschool!

2010-09-23T12:32:00.000-05:00

Okay, so we're not quite a month late on this - just a few weeks!

Meredith started preschool at the very end of August. She LOVED 3 year old preschool and was SO excited to start 4 year old preschool. We'd already visited the classroom and met her teachers and some of her new classmates.

The night before the first day of school, she woke us up repeatedly. And by repeatedly, we mean like, oh, every hour or so. Between that and Alex waking up during the night, no one really got much in the way of sleep. In frustration and desperation, Mike finally told Meredith that he was closing the door to our room, and that she was not allowed to open it or call out to us unless it was a life and death emergency. Then he closed the door.

When the alarm clock went off in the morning, this is what we found when we went into the living room:

We let her sleep as long as possible and then hurried to get her dressed and fed in time for Mom to take a few first day of school pictures.

A bit of a side note here: Last year, I spent an absurd amount of time decorating Meredith's school bag and making sure that she had a cute little nap sheet and blanket that matched the bag with her chosen ladybug theme. This year, I realized the night before school started that her new purple tote bag was hanging unadorned and empty by the front door. I rummaged through my craft closet and managed to do a quick decorating job with some fabric paint and buttons, and then I shoved one of Alex's extra polka dot crib sheets in there and called it a day. Mercifully, Meredith thought my quick decor was awesome, because after no sleep, I could not have handled a tantrum over tote bag decor.

Here is our big 4 year old preschooler on her first day of her LAST year of preschool. Sniff, sniff. Where does the time go??

Showing off her bag.

Jumping with excitement when I told her that I had enough pictures and it was time to get in the car.
Meredith has now settled nicely into the preschool routine. Despite some of her initial frustration about new rules and new responsibilities, she's adjusted to it all and as expected, she loves school.

Calls from the boyfriend

2010-09-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

Meredith's boyfriend Noah called her tonight and left a voice message for her. Normally I would be really bothered by a boy calling my little girl, but Noah's mom is my best friend, so it's all good. They live in Arkansas, which means we only get to see them during our visits to NeNe's house.

Meredith practically bounced off the walls with excitement when she listened to his voice mail and begged me, "Can I call him? I want to talk to NOAH!" When I called my friend Kelly, she laughed and said that Noah was so upset about Meredith not answering the phone that he wanted to call my mom and talk about it. Apparently teen angst starts rather young these days.

So we let them talk. They talked. For a long time. About Star Wars, and Meredith's imaginary friends (she has a lot of them), and their pets, and what they're going to be for Halloween and what they're doing at preschool, and what they like to watch on television.

As they finished their conversation, Meredith said, "You're my boyfriend. I love you Noah."

When I got back on the phone with Kelly I had to ask: "Did she let him get a word in edgewise?" Not very many. We need to work on that. Boys like it when you let them talk from time to time.

Quick outtake

2010-09-21T21:59:00.004-05:00

I'm going through all the photos I took of Alex today. Poor little guy - in a few of them you can tell that he's not feeling very good.

Here is a quick outtake though that I just absolutely love. I love his toothy little smile. I love his wisps of hair, even the ones that have grown past his ears and need to be trimmed. I love that you can still see right there in the front where Meredith cut a chunk of out his hair. I love the twinkle in his big brown eyes (just like Daddy's!). I love that he was delighted to put on a Texas Longhorns jersey. I even love the drool on his chin.

Sweet Alex, you are growing up way too fast!

Aaaaahhhh-lix!

2010-09-21T19:43:00.001-05:00

I've really needed to take some photos of Alex for his birthday party invitations (really, how is it that he's almost a year old already?), but he's been sick and cranky, so I kept putting it off. Today I managed to squeeze in a quick photoshoot during a few non-cranky moments.

This evening, I sat down with Mike to look over the photos. They aren't great, but there are a few with potential. I think I can make it work. As we perused the photos, Alex sat on Mike's lap, watching with rapt attention.

I pointed to a photo of Alex and said, "Who is that?"

He grinned at me with his trademark wrinkly-nosed grin and then said, "Aaaaaah-lix!"

Mike and I both stared at each other in surprise and then said, "That's RIGHT! That's a picture of Alex!"

I clicked to the next photo and tried again, "Who is that?"

He grinned again, "Aaaaaah-lix!"

So there you have it - the kid knows his name and can say it! I was beginning to worry that months of us calling him, "Baby Man" would confuse him, but apparently it didn't. We are so proud of him!

Mike and McGee

The temptress of the playground

Zelda

Mustache Man

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Happy Halloween!

My decor dilemma for Alex

About that Brazilian Blowout Zero

Dumb and unambitious

Apathy, blogging, life and deep thoughts

Brazilian Blowout Zero

Things I never thought I'd say

Oh Alex!

White Walls

Fun and Fruity Summer Drinks

McDonald's - not one of my better ideas today

Bathroom remodel

Today is a comedy of errors

Zelda

40th birthday party

Happy Father's Day

Happy 5th Birthday Meredith Caroline!

Happy Birthday Dad

Meredith and the bluebonnets

Meet the newest member of our family!

Meredith wants a new sibling

Undressed. Sort of.

GOOD "green" dishwashing detergent!

Haircuts by Mom

The hunt for cupcake bedding

Baldness and Meredith

Our baby grapes!

We have GRAPES!

Healthcare sticker shock

Greening your cleaning

Operation Pepto Bismol Pink Begins

The joy of decorating a bedroom with Meredith

Our first trip to the ER

Blast from the past

In honor of St. Patrick's Day: Green Decor!

The next big thing: girl rooms

We need a new coffee table

The next big thing: baby names

Dinosaur Tails - I must make these!

New favorites

May the Craft be with you

A new living room in neutrals and red

We have another DIY-er on our hands

Fall day in the park

Alex

Organization is not always a good thing.

The Return of the Super Gymnast

Parenting Fail

It would be nice

"Don't turn around"

Some of Mike's work

Uh oh. Look out below!

You know you live in Texas...

When Real Estate Agents abuse Photoshop

Bedding, Meredith and Decorating

I was on such a roll...

Christmas prep - almost done!

You WILL sit still for this picture!

Christmas Vacation

New appliances

Christmas cards

Dad Fail

Fabric love

Exercise, week 1

Silent Night

Big boy hair.

The drawback to a ceramic garden stool

More deep thoughts and questions from Meredith

It's the little things

It's been one of those days.

One year ago today

May the Force Be With You.

Birthday cake is good.

Backyard transformation

"The God of Cake"