Fireplace Remodel by my husband

We moved into our house in June 2008 and kept putting off remodeling our fireplace. Our house was move-in ready, but definitely needed a facelift. Majorly. lime green and yellow for our living room. Yeah.

We finally were forced to tackle the fireplace when my FIL asked for the tile saw back that we had borrowed from him for this project, but it had been over a year of it sitting here. I'm actually thankful, because the end result has changed our whole room.

This is what we were starting with people. Yikes. I would like to blame this on being 1980s tile (when our house was built), except this isn't original. Someone with bad taste lived here.

 

My parents came to visit the first weekend of February, so with extra help to watch the kids, the husband knocked this bad boy out in two days!

and the final result.....

I'm in LOVE. We bought all tile and supplies at Home Depot, and it came out better than I expected. I was very smart to marry a guy who worked as a carpenter while he was in college :) he he

The kids love modeling on it and think their daddy is the best!

 

 

A little life lately post.

Upon getting an email lately that my bestie sent me, I realized I told her about 

a cute saying that Kate has been saying that I've completely forgotten about lately. Why am I not documenting these moments to look back at years from now?

Without further ado....

 

Ben's favorite things lately

Show: Team Umizoomi (he says it's because Katie like it)

Book: The 12 Days of Christmas

Store: Toy Store

Colors: Blue and Yellow

We're working on writing out numbers. He can count to 30+, count backwards and all, 

but writing them out seems to be an issue.

 

Kate lately

"Benny, stop it! stop it!"

"Benny, bad girl!" 

"Mama, Puppy! I clean!"

Show: Team Umizoomi (she calls it, "zoomi zoomi")

Book: What is Christmas? (they must miss christmas a lot!)

 

Sickies

The Sickies have been in our house for the last week.  They started off pretty mild with my son and he just having a slight runny nose.  Then, last sunday, my daughter woke up grumpy.  This never happens.  She is the one member of our house that always wakes up with a huge smile on her face.  Last sunday, though, I got her out of her crib and heard the congestion immediately.  Her eyes were red and swollen, her nose was a stream of yuckiness.  My husband of course chose that morning to go on an early morning hike, so I was left with our two kids alone, our daughter with a temp of 101.0 (at the time).  

The sick little darling

After gathering myself together (trying to brush off that I somehow did this to K), I called my hubby and he came home right now.  I shot out to Walmart and got all the goodies that were needed in this situation.  I'm basically mentioning these products so I can reference this post the next time a kid gets sick (because believe it or not, this has never really happened to our oldest, B!  No sickies for him, especially with a high temp!). 

1. Vicks Cool Mist, Filter Free Humidifier

 This little guy is AMAZING.  We own a Graco humidifier that has a filter (a big no-no in my opinion.  Despite running constantly and always being cleaned out, the filter would only last a few weeks.  And at 10 bucks a pop, it is not cost effective) and a Vicks warm mist humidifier, but this one is by far our favorite.  Especially if you have children, and don't want them to get a possible burn from a warm mist humidifier.  The tank lasts 18-24 hours, and has a little slot on the top where you can add a Vicks strip to it for an added bonus.  Who doesn't like the smell of Vicks when they're sick?  It costs $40 at Walmart, but I saw it last week for $28 on Amazon (I can't find it today, though.  Sold out?).

2. Children's Advil

My daughter is 9 months, so I am able to give her this (you can't give Ibuprofen to children under 6 months, though).  When her fever spiked to 103.1, this brought it right down within 20 minutes.  Alternating Children's Advil and Children's Tylenol every time helps bring the fever down as well, too, but I was all out of Tylenol (duh!). 

3. Nasal Aspirator

The hospital where my daughter was born gave us about 4 of these.  I'd never really used them before, but after this week of the sickies, it is being used multiple times a day.  I find it easiest for my husband to hold K, because little girl loves to push my hands away!  My husband wasn't always there, though, and I still managed on my own.  A must before naps or bedtime, to help your child be more comfortable

4. Jammies all day long

Don't you like to be in your comfies when you're sick?  I'd get my daughter up in the morning and change her into a fresh pair of jammies for the day.  Everyone knows that the zip up kind are a must, right? :)

I also bought some Little Noses Saline Spray, but didn't use it (is that bad?).  I'm also a fan of the boogie wipes, too, as they help moisturize when I had to wipe her raw nose.  Poor little gal, and she's getting two teeth on top of this!  Let's hope the sickies vacate my little daughter really soon!

*Tip for parents when your kids are sick: Drink some Emergen-C everyday, as well as warm water, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, and 1 tbsp honey (I add lemon, too).  Taste's pretty awful, but I managed to avoid the temp that K got and all the gooeyness of the nose!

 

Potty training... Yikes!

We're starting potty training this weekend with B.  He is almost 29 months old, and is finally starting to show the signs of telling us when he needs to use the bathroom.  We've sat him down on his little potty a few times, before bathtime, and he LOVES it.  He's even gone #1 and #2 a few times on there, too.

I'm kind of really nervous.  I know it's going to be challenging, and my patience isn't really that high right now (shocking with two kids 2 and under, right?).  I know to expect lots of accidents, and I know the first few days there are going to be A LOT of those, so I hope I'm mentally preparing myself.  Always prepare for the worst, right?  

Here is where I'm starting with this whole new step in my 2 year olds life:

• Every 15 minutes on the potty, no matter what
• Give a reward for going #1 and #2 on the potty
• Be a cheerleader to him when he does go
• Ready Potty themed books (guess I need to hit up the library!)
• Be consistent (I feel like this will be the hardest thing for us; we get lazy!)

I've got to say, part of me is excited for this journey, though.  Why?  The undies.  The tiny tightie undies that look like little men underwear, with the band at the top that says "gap" or with the adorable little Mickey Mouse characters on them.  I just hope he doesn't poop in them and stain them up! ;) Wish us luck!!

How to win over your Father-in-Law (through food)

I've been with my husband for 12 years, and married for 4.  So let's just say I've known my FIL for a long time.  While we don't have much in common, there is a mutual love and affection between us.  We both love my husband and kids, and we know that the other one would be there for us should we need them.

My FIL is picky, though.  He doesn't say much about the food I cook when he's visiting, but this changed on sunday night.  My in-laws were out for a bit in the afternoon, so I decided to surprise them with some apple crisp for dinner.  I set out to make it knowing that my MIL is a fantastic baker, so I was a bit nervous to see if they'd say anything once they tried my recipe.  Two bites in, my FIL looked up with a big smile on his face and COMPLIMENTED my recipe!!  Win!!  Here it is folks:

Apple Crisp

4 cups apples, peeled and sliced

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled a bit

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix first 3 ingredients together in bowl and arrange in a shallow baking dish, about 10x6x2.  

2. Mix next 4 ingredients.  Add egg and mix until crumbly.  Sprinkle on mixture in dish.

3. Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. 

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Serve warm with ice cream.

Attachment issues

I love being a stay at home mom. I get to experience it all with my kids; the ups, the downs, and the moments that have you calling up your husband at work to tell him about such and such that one kid did or said. I can't imagine being the parent on the other end of the phone, not getting to see whatever happened in person.

That being said, we had a meltdown around there this weekend. We don't have any grandparents that live around us (drive 700+ miles north and you'll reach them!), so my kids don't get to see many other family members a lot. Also, being a stay at home mom and one income family, we don't have the luxury to pay a babysitter to watch our kids so we can go out. I also don't get the kids out enough to play with other kids and other moms (it is something that I always regret, but that's for another day). Well, my husbands parents came to visit us this weekend, and the hubs and I figured that would be the perfect opportunity to get out of the house.. just the two of us. We spent 5 hours early in the day at the state fair, enjoying all the fresh air, fatty food, and getting to spend the time together. Here are some pics..

5pm until bedtime was husband and wife time, though. We made reservations to a wonderful restaurant we'd been meaning to try, and made our way out the door at 5:01pm. Little did we know what happened when we left.

Our 2 year old, B, is really attached to me. I'm with him everyday, and when I have to leave him, he tends to scream. A lot. My MIL told me that the moment we walked out the door, B went screaming upstairs, alone, and hid in his little sister's room (all while K sat in her high chair, content to be with whomever is feeding and paying attention to her). MIL said that after a few minutes, B made his way (screaming) into our bedroom, slamming the door shut. Fast-forward to Sunday morning. I'm getting ready upstairs, hubby is about to take a shower, and B realizes that he's going to be outside, alone, with his grandparents. Cue screaming, banging on the back door, stomping up the stairs (once MIL let him inside), and running into my arms, sobbing and holding on for dear life.

Ok, ok, truth be told, I kinda love it. It's awful, but I love being the one that B runs to when he's hurt or upset, or happy! but I also know it's not good that he's so attached to us, and can't be with anyone else without pitching a fit. If we had the money we'd send him to a daycare for a day, just to get used to other people, but we don't. and I'm at a parenting loss. I'm picturing him 16 years old and still screaming on the first day of school because he's going to be separated from me. Yikes.

Bathtime bubbles

We've started bathing B and K in the bathtub together a month or so ago, and it goes really well. K loves splashing and B is always up for pouring water over her (if he can). K gets all washed first, and as I'm drying her and getting her changed into her jammies, A washes B.

Well, last night I have K all done and we're sitting there watching B get out of the tub. He walks over to where we are and takes his towel off, and then very quickly grabs one of A's glasses cloths and puts it to his butt like he's about to wipe. We're puzzled as to what's going on, when all of the sudden we hear B let out these very loud toots. He has placed the cloth on his butt, though, so that the toots hit it. A and I didn't know what to say, but as soon as B started laughing after he did this, we started bellowing with laughter. It was so funny to see him realize how funny what he did was, and personally, it was funny to see it happen with A's glasses cloth! I'm glad it wasn't something of mine! ;)