Kids in stripes

So I've been thinking that it's been a really long time since I've taken pictures of my kids! Shame. Shame on me!

I have to say that one of the most rewarding things about being a mother of two is seeing them love and interact with each other. The first time Ethan reached over and helped Leah get one of her toys just melted my heart. Ethan is always very concerned about Leah and where she is, and is very gracious at sharing his (precious) cars. Because Leah is definitely more mobile now, she is able to be involved with Ethan and likes to be where he is. She's a lot more aggressive than Ethan is. It kinda makes me laugh that she pushes and runs over Ethan more than Ethan does her. It has not been a piece of cake having kids this close together, but I'm so glad we did. It's getting easier every day and I know they will have a great friendship and relationship. (I'm sure with a lot of quarreling and whining in between.)







Oh, and FYI Leah will now eat baby food! She eats both store-bought and home-made and likes to take bites of what we're having. I really don't know what clicked, I tried every other day or so and all of a sudden she acted really excited when I got it out. Maybe she just got hungry enough!

Phase 2: Pulling my hair out because I'm so sick of painting

We have gotten a heck of a lot done over the last few weeks; I need to document! All of the rooms are now painted. That one little sentence does not seem to do justice to all the work that went into accomplishing it. It was a LOT of painting. Also, what people don't tell you, is that it's not the removing the wallpaper that is the tricky part, it's preparing the wall afterward. There were two places in the house where wall paper had been put straight onto the drywall. When we removed it, little bits of the drywall came off and of course lots of glue was left behind. So Ross had to skim-coat the entire wall with joint compound and then sand it and then we had to prime it, and then we could paint. It makes for a long process.

We had help from family and friends, and now all that is left is the trim and the doors. Painting trim is pretty annoying, and now I've run out of steam, so I hope I can get it done before the carpet is in. Ross and his dad have also

- Put new locks and bolts in all 3 doors
- Cleaned out the gutters
- Removed ceramic tile from the entryway (took ALL day)
- Ripped up all of the old carpet
- Removed the old banister and baseboards and
- Started installing the wood (bamboo) floors

It's looking SO GOOD! I'm so excited to be there permanently. This living in both places business isn't too fun. We're *hoping* that we can move in this weekend, but that depends on whether Ross can get the floors installed and whether our order for carpet has come in.

Yay for new houses!!

The living room. Ross is stepping on the tarp that
goes on under the floors, not the wood:

Before, with "schmaltzy" banister:

After:
Before:
After:

Ethan's room. I painted it a sagey grey green:

Master Bath. Hasn't been touched.
We'll just leave that door closed:

Master Bedroom. All painted except the darn trim.
I did start on the window I guess:

Sorry this is boring! That's all we got going on right now.

Grandpa Honey

My Grandpa passed away a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking a lot about him. The things that stick out most in my mind are these:

His love and talent for music. Both of my grandparents (come to think of it, on both sides) are very musically talented. They passed this on to their children, and my dad's love for music (as well as my mother's) was passed to me. It's always been very much a part of our family's life, and this is due in large part to my Grandpa Honey. (I didn't get the talent so much, just the love:))

His love for Geneology. He was quite on top of things and very internet savvy. I was always impressed by his no-fear attitude about technology that is somewhat atypical of his generation.

His sense of humor. Grandpa could always make me laugh. Even if it was at his cheesiness. Guess he passed that to my dad too! (Love you, dad!)

He helped my grandma raise 8 wonderful kids! Sheesh that's a lot of kids. All of their children are such great people, my grandparents taught them well.

I love and will miss Grandpa a lot. I am sure he is somewhere beautiful now.

Phase 1: Remove wallpaper

We've been busy at work trying to get our house ready for us to move in. We have successfully removed all of the wall paper in the entire house. So we thought. I just saw a couple days ago that there is still one more border in the bathroom. Nooo!! It just keeps coming!!

It actually wasn't too bad. We had a little help from Ross' brother and family. But the kitchen was the worst. It came off in one inch little pieces. Ross did that one solo. He is such a hard worker!

Ross has now returned from over a week long trip to CA for some training. My mom came to stay with me for a couple of days while he was gone and we got a lot of painting done. My lovely sister-in-law watched the kids for a day while we went to town on those walls. Man, choosing paint colors is not easy. I thought it was, and I'm not a perfectionist, but now that it's MY house and I have to live with it for quite a while, it's important that I REALLY like it. And I do. I don't have pictures of the rooms painted yet.

Master bedroom: lovely purple with floral wallpaper

2nd bedroom: blue and green plaid with duck border

Hallway: vinyl stripey. (that one came of really easily)

Kitchen: removing old phone

Those names say Jennifer, 7-10-75, and Ashley 10-30-87

Always learning

So I feel kinda sheepish admitting this to the internet, but after a lot of thought, talking to friends, reading your comments, and after even more deliberating, I decided it was not worth it to take his binky away during naptime. AAggh. I know. I took it away and then I gave it back. But we didn't do a huge ceremonial binky boycott, we just said 'bye bye'. (That makes it better... right?) And really, why was I feeling like it was so important that he gets rid of it? I think the pressure came mostly from myself. Anyway, he now uses it for naps, and not for bedtime, and we put it high on a shelf where he can't get to it. And now, I have such a pleasant happy boy who takes naps!! And I think the 5 day stint without his binky has left him more independent and not nearly so attached. So there you have it. Ah, motherhood.

Such a cute little girl:

Look!! A candid picture of ME! With my babe.
(Cause I threw my camera at Ross)

My kids at their best. When their mouths are occupied.

Look are her just sitting up so pretty!

ONE WEEK UNTIL WE CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE!! I can't wait. But Ross has finals the next week, then he has to go to 'training' in San Diego the next, so we won't be moving in until the endish of May. But we can go run around in the empty rooms!

OH! and no headway yet on the solid food. She has tried all of her baby food multiple times. Today we tried pears with blueberries and it was the best response I've gotten yet, only one gag, and it was after successfully swallowing at least 5 bites!

Oh and thanks everyone for your comments! They were much appreciated.

Mothering woes

I've got a couple of questions. I'm writing right now with a little bit of desperation...

Parenting issue #1:

Ethan has had a binky for a long time. But when he turned a year or so it was only for nap time and bedtime. He's been fine with that, but he has now become very attached to it, and will go into his room, grab his binky and blanky, and lay down on his bed just so he can have his binky. He will also sneak around sucking on it at random times. On Thursday night we decided that we would tell him that binky's are for babies and big boys don't need them anymore, but that he can still sleep with his blanket and a favorite stuffed animal if he needed to. He didn't give us any problems. Friday nap time was a different story. We were out and about, so we didn't get back in time exactly for his nap, so we thought we just missed our window. He went to bed fine without it. Same story on Saturday. No nap, but went to bed fine. Sunday we have church at 11:30, missed his nap, then he screamed a lot Sunday night, but eventually fell asleep. Right now (Monday) it is nap time, and he is sitting in his room playing with his cars.

Do I have to sacrifice nap time in order to get rid of his binky??? Is it worth it? We are talking about a kid who has a regular 2-3 hour nap every single day. I KNOW he needs it, because he is a beast for the rest of the day without it. Maybe we can put him to bed at 6:30 or 7. Ugggh.

Parenting issue #2:

Leah doesn't like solid food! She doesn't like rice cereal, nor does she like other baby foods. I have tried bananas, peas, pears, applesauce. I've tried mashing up foods instead of the baby foods. She will NOT have it! This is totally the opposite of Ethan who loved everything and anything we gave him. I'm ready to drop a feeding or two of nursing, but because little Leah will not eat anything else I've got to nurse her. I'm not overly worried, just wondering if there's anything else I can try, or if I just have to keep at it, and eventually she'll give in.

If you have any advice, please share!

p.s. I really love my children most of the time. :)

Easter

We had a fun Easter. Spent some time with Ross' parents in Lincoln and his brother's family. I rarely get a picture of Ethan looking at the camera anymore.

Cousin Matthew:

Hiding with his loot under the table:

And we have the most beautiful trees
in our apartment complex. I am positive that Heaven will be full
of cherry/pear trees in full blossom.

Only 3 more weeks until we close on the house!! We are lucky and the sellers are paying for a chimney lining and a radon mitigation. Also I can't sleep at night sometimes cause I keep thinking of everything I want to do to that house and how I want to decorate it.

Leah is getting really good at sitting up! I need to document it. But poor girly is sick again. Grrr... *hopefully* it's the last time this season.