Guess Where I Slept Last Night!

In our new room of course! It was a little strange, but wonderful, to go to sleep there last night. I think I woke up with a smile on my face for possibly the first time in my life (I'm not exactly a morning person). It was just so bright and beautiful I couldn't help but beam. I can't put in to words how much I love the new space, upstairs and down. The family room is just as great as our bedroom. Yesterday all three kids had their own things out on the floor and there was plenty of space for everyone. My mom was playing with Lily, Jay was on the computer right there with everyone and I was just soaking in the togetherness. I LUV it!!!

It's Getting Exciting People!!!

It's been a while since you've gotten a construction update. It's not because nothing is happening. It's mostly because I have not made time to post. Today is an exciting day. The inspector came yesterday and did the final inspection. Matt passed and that means we can move in to the area. That's all fine and good, but the carpet didn't go in until today. I think we'll be spending some time tonight moving stuff in to our new rooms! We still need bars in the closet and glass around our shower, so it's not a fully functional bedroom yet, but it's getting close. It's strange and wonderful all at the same time to have these new parts of our house that we can actually use now. I'm actually not sure I want to sleep in there tonight because we don't have window coverings yet and I do NOT want to wake up at the crack of dawn, but I might anyway just because I can;-)

Here is our contractor, Matt, putting the hardwoods in our closet. They are done now, but there is stuff on them so I can't really get a good picture.
Here is our sink. We need to get a new vanity because that one came damaged:-(

Working, if not enclosed, shower.

I think you can tell what this is. It works too.

Here is the family room and you can see the office area to the left.

This is our room all carpeted and ready to go!

She Asked!

Lily asked to use the potty this morning! She was in her chair at the table and she said something along the lines of "blah blah blah potty." I asked if she wanted to use the potty as I got her up. "Yes!" She exclaimed in the clearest way she has ever said it. She dashed off upstairs and she did. It make me wonder if I should try to train her. If we should use underwear instead of diapers. She seems a little young for that, but I don't want to lose this enthusiasm she has for it. Up until now I've just been of the opinion that every stinky in the potty is one more diaper I have to change...woo-hoo! Now I'm not sure if I should be trying to help this potty thing along.

NINE!

Lily just brought me a number book opened to the page with 9 strawberries, pointed and shouted, "NINE! NINE! NINE!" This brings the total number of numbers (did you follow that?) that she recognizes and says to 3. They are 2, 8 and 9.

She is so cute when she counts. If she has more than one of something she will move the items 1 at a time from one place to another saying "Two, three" over and over until she gets to the end. It's quite adorable.

Out of Curiosity

1) How are design/decorating decisions made in your house?

2) How do you think they should be made?

More Progress

Yellow family room. I like it.

Window trim in the bedroom. You can also see the outlets with wall plates if you look.

Wall tile in the shower.

I love standing in the new bedroom. I just look around and feel so happy. I LOVE the color. At first I thought it was too bright. I think it was because I saw it when it was still wet. After it dried I liked it more. The finish was pearl for the first coat because Jay doesn't like flat. He wanted a shinier finish. I love the flat look for walls, but I deferred to Jay and he "compromised" by going with pearl (one step above eggshell and one below his preferred satin finish). After the first coat Jay deferred to me because he did not like the color at all. I tried a sample of another blue, but decided to go with the first blue because it made me sad to cover it up. So the guys did a coat of flat summer blue and I LOVE it. It might appear a little bright to some, but I really like it. I really love it with the white trim. Matt was very patient with me when I asked him to wait so I could look at the color samples in the light of the bedroom. He was also patient, though he did tease me quite a bit, when I twisted Jay's arm decided to go with the original color.

I also love the way the bathroom is shaping up. I love the colors, the cabinets, the tiles. I just love it. I can't wait to move in!

Lily's Potty Breakthrough

So, the other night (whenever I wrote that blurb, I knew I wouldn't remember and that's why I wrote that) Lily and Ryan were in the bath. Lily stood up, bent her knees and grunted a little. I asked if she had to use the potty and to my surprise she looked at me with a thoughtfully cocked head and said, "Yeah." It sounded like on of those in passing type yeah's you might get if you ask someone if they like their sandwich. For a second I didn't really believe her because she knows when you ask a question and usually replies with a "yeah" or a "no", but I'm not sure she always understands what she is answering. I believed her a little more when she reached her arms up for me to take her out of the tub. She hardly ever wants to get out of the tub. So I dried her off and held her on the big potty since I had not yet retrieved the little on from the basement. She didn't do anything on there, so I put a pull up on her and ran down to the basement to get the potty. I grabbed some cleaner and paper towels on the way back up. I sprayed and cleaned the potty as fast as I could whilst still making sure it was good and clean. [ a little aside: I sprayed the blue shield piece before I realized she wouldn't need it. It was a bit strange pulling it off since I've been through two boys who needed it before her, but I quickly threw it in the sink so I could get the parts that mattered clean.] I sat her on the little potty and Ryan realized he had to go too, so he did his thing. Lily got up and down, up and down. When Ryan got down she pointed to the big potty indicating she wanted to go there. I put her little seat on and she sat up there and produced. We cheered and celebrated, Daddy even ran up from downstairs. She LOVED all the attention. Maybe that's why she continues to love sitting on the potty.

She has used the potty quite a bit since then. She is no where close to not needing diapers, but she knows what to do. Most times I ask her if she wants to use the potty she says yeah. Every time she does she manages to do something. She likes using the big potty better than the little one. She has done all her stinkies on the big potty. Sometimes she will do peeps on the little potty, but if she needs to do more she will get up, take the seat and put it on the big potty. Then she holds her arms up and waits to be lifted to her throne;-)

We're Getting Closer

Tile floor is in in the bathroom.

Tile floor in the shower.
Our bedroom walls are painted.

Our family room is painted(picture to come) and the switches and outlets are in place.
Woohoo. We're getting closer:-)

The First Pre-school Drop Off

Today was Ryan's first day at Preschool by himself. Yesterday we went together and we spent about an hour with half of his class and their parents. They had some free time, then circle time and a craft that we helped them with yesterday.

Ryan has afternoon preschool, so we had Coffee Break this morning then came home for lunch and went to drop him off. I brought my camera (of course!) I can't believe I was the only one. Oh well, I'm not going to miss having a starting preschool scrapbook page just because I'm the only nerd with a camera! One other person had a camera yesterday. Maybe all those kids went to pre-school at 3 years old too so their parents didn't think it was a big deal. It was a big deal to me. ANYWAY, today was much less involved for me. We waited outside the door with the rest of the class until the teacher came and opened the door. I gave Ryan a kiss and he walked in to his classroom stopping to give me a big "cheese" smile in the doorway. Lily and I started to leave and guess who started crying...Lily! I never thought to prepare her for taking Ryan somewhere and leaving him behind. As we walked away she cried and said, "Where Yai-ya?!" [translation- Where's Ryan?!] "Wan Yai-ya!" [I want Ryan!] As we walked out the the car I explained to her that Ryan was going to preschool. We would leave Ryan at preschool. Lily and Mommy would go home and then we would come back and pick Ryan up. Amazingly enough she stopped crying. I totally expected her to fall asleep in the car because it was nap time, but no dice. So we did our normal nap time routine. I put her in her crib and finished her songs. She was still, so I started to walk out. She popped up on her elbow, waved with her other hand and said, "DYE-dye! Dye-dye!" Somehow I actually took this as a good sign, maybe because she was smiling. A couple minutes later I hear a very distressed sounding "MAMA! MAMA!" I found her straddling her side rail with a mixed look of terror and pride. ::Sigh:: By this time I figured she wasn't going to get a full nap anyway since Ryan had a short day, so I let her stay up. I'm hoping that wasn't a mistake. I changed a load of wash, talked to the contractor, tried to pick out a carpet color and paint color for the family room and checked out the progress on our bedroom color. Then it was time to pick up Ryan. Lily and I waited patiently in that same hallway for the kids to be dismissed from class. Ryan was called to come second. He seemed to take a while, but had a huge grin on his face when he finally appeared. He came out and threw his arms around me. I asked how preschool was and he said it was good.

It was drizzling, so we got his Diego umbrella out of his backpack to walk the 10 yards to the car. It wasn't really necessary, but it makes him feel cool. In the car I asked what he did today. He said he played with trains and drew a picture of himself and that's it. I probed him a little more and he added that he played in the kitchen. I asked if he had circle time and he said, "Yeah, but it was boring. They just talked for a long time." I could almost feel his eyes rolling from the front seat. I asked if he had a story in circle time and he said, "No. It was boring. They just talked." I asked if he listened to what they said and he said "Yes, but it was boring." I asked if they did the weather for the day and he perked up a tiny bit and said they put up a rain cloud. I'm thinking he is not a big fan of circle time. I asked if they did a craft and he said they just drew pictures of themselves. Then he giggled and said he called his picture of himself "Rockman" because he drew it like a rock. I'm not sure what that means, but he seemed amused. I asked if he was ready to go back tomorrow and he said, "No." At first I was surprised because he seemed like he had fun and he said he liked it earlier. I understood as he continued, "because circle time was so boring." I pointed out all the other things that were fun and he changed his tune.

I guess he has forgotten about the dreaded circle time by now because I just asked if he was ready to go back to school tomorrow and he jumped up and exclaimed, "YES!" Ah, the mind of a 4 year old.

Pictures from the day:

Come on mom! Let's go in.

Down the hallway to his classroom.

In front of the classroom.

Going in.
Too bad the focus is so bad because this is a cute picture of him saying cheese for me (I didn't ask, he just said it) as he went in to his classroom.

Breaking News

Lily did a stinky on the potty! More later.

Oh the Milestones They Keep a' Comin'

We went to Ryan's preschool for the open house today. It was a nice classroom and the teacher seemed sweet. It was kind of crowded and very loud, but I think that was more because of all the parents and siblings. They had two classes in the same room and Ryan was a little overwhelmed. The teachers had made a scavenger hunt which was a fantastic idea because there was just so much to take in I think we would have missed a lot. Ryan looked right at the bookshelf 3 times before he found the books. That was with looking for one item at a time! He liked it and he can't wait to start Monday.

Lily can now climb into and out of her crib and she does it often. This girl worries me!

On the Party

As I laid in my bed last night I was thinking about my post and I realized it might be taken the wrong way. I almost couldn't fall asleep- almost, but I was really tired. So I wanted to clear up any misunderstanding. When I wrote the other post I was really lamenting in my failure to plan an engaging party. I don't want anyone to think I was complaining about the kids or the number of people. I was actually really touched that so many people wanted to come celebrate Ryan. It was really just that I had it planned a certain way and so much of it didn't quite turn out the way I planned. Over all I think it turned out fine. I *think* Ryan's guests had fun and Ryan remembers his party fondly. That's really what matters. Thanks to all those who came. We enjoyed your company:-)

Jabber, Jabber

Lily is talking up a storm lately. She still babbles at us with a look on her face that makes you sure she knows what she is saying even if you can't understand it. She likes getting any response, but she delights in it when you recognize what she has said and repeat it back to her. She lights up like a Christmas tree. More and more I am recognizing words when she talks to me. She seems to be speaking multiple new words each day now. I guess this is the verbal explosion I've read so much about on Erin's blog. I can only guess because to be honest I've never actually clicked through to the articles she links. It's really fun to watch her discover. This week she has been repeating cause and effect experiments constantly. Whether she is flipping the switch to turn the light on and off for as long as someone will hold her there or trying to make people laugh again with the same antics that made them laugh the first time she relishes the accomplishment of causing something to happen. She giggles every time the light goes off and every time it come back on for her. She is a pretty fun baby, but don't get her started on a back and forth scream contest with Ryan because that might bust your ear drums. The girl can shriek.

Did I forget to mention that today is Lily's 18th month-day? Yep, 18 months flies when it's your baby. I can't believe she's already a year and a half old! My sweet smiley girl with giggles galore is growing up. Okay, she's not headed off to college yet, but she's not really a baby anymore either.

Ryan's Party- Flop or Fun?

Curious George..it was the theme of the day. I'm not sure the kids really fully appreciated the theme, but I had a lot of fun putting the party together. I created several games and activities based on George's adventures. I planned on taking full advantage of our unfinished floors in the addition by putting paper on the walls and letting the kids paint. So I had that all set up. I went about starting the activities trying to introduce the book as I went along. I knew I wouldn't be able to read all the stories to the kids, but I thought they might sit still for ONE! I started to read Curious George goes to School, but it was obvious no one was paying attention, so I paraphrased until I got to the point I wanted to make about mixing colors to make new colors. Then I was going to give each child red, yellow and blue on a paper plate to mix. That idea feel by the wayside when one of the kids took a brush and dipped it into the first paint I put on the first plate and walked across the room with it to the wall. ::sigh:: So I picked up all the plates and moved them close to the wall and then added the other two colors after the kids had already started painting on the walls. I never got the chance to introduce the second activity. I was going to tell them about George's surprise party where he found a box full of decorations and decorated the room for his own party. I had streamers and paint brushes for the kids to use in a box over by the wall that was to be decorated. We were going to do the streamers first before it got too messy with paint. Too late. We didn't end up using the streamers, but the kids did enjoy painting on the walls even if they didn't know why they were doing it. I guess the kids ended up being more like George than I thought. They found the box and decorated, just like him. Some were also too curious to wait for me to give them paint. They opened some they found behind me and some even thought it looked tasty. ::sigh:: We had two ice cream activities for Curious George goes to an Ice Cream Parlor. First we stuck the sprinkles on the ice cream George was holding on a poster. This game may be a little more advanced than I thought. I think some kids do not like the idea of not being able to see. It was all good though. I think everyone enjoyed it in the end and the other kids were too young to get upset about it not being fair. I declared everyone a winner, gave out stickers and tried to herd them all up to the ice cream table. I thought this would be a huge hit- Make your own sundae with all sorts of toppings- Who wouldn't love that?! Some kids did really like it, but some didn't even want ice cream! By the time that was done I had just about given up on organized games. I had another craft and a couple more activities, but the kids were having fun playing with toys in the living room and sometimes you just have to go with the flow. I changed gears and we sang happy birthday and opened presents. Then it was free play. Some kids decided to paint again and some decided to just play downstairs. It's funny because I went down with the kids and most of the other adults stayed upstairs. The adults were louder- by quite a bit. The kids actually managed to have some organized game action and painting fun. I felt a little bad for ditching all the adults, but I figured if they were being that loud they must be talking to each other and I needed to make sure the painting didn't get too out of hand;-)

Poor Ryan for a lot of this was coming up to me and saying things like, "It's so crowded. Can I go up stairs and play?" I kept reminding him that his friends were all here to see him and that as soon as they were gone he would be asking me to play with them. I think he kind of realized, but it was of little consolation to a child who likes quieter more focused play. I was right. As soon as all his friends were gone he was asking about them and why they couldn't stay to play. ::sigh:: It's really my fault that it got so out of hand. Usually I am a firm believer in the one guest per year of the birthday child's age. Last year I let Ryan invite 4 kids in case one couldn't come. Two couldn't come, so he ended up with only 2 guests and I felt bad about it. So this year I let him invite 8 kids since half couldn't come last year and if half couldn't come this year it would make a nice 4 guest party. Only two couldn't come...oops. I figured we were good up until the last day. I was even worried that we wouldn't have 4 guests. I got one last minute(and I mean the person was walking out the door to come to the party) RSVP and I didn't fully account for the affect toddler siblings would have on the space, so there was a lot going on. Don't get me wrong, I love siblings and parents, but when you have an average of 3 extra people per guest and you've set up for less guests than you ended up having it gets kind of crowded. At one point I thought I should just plan back to back play dates with 5 kids next year;-) I'm curious to see how other people handle things at this age. I'm thinking with almost every kid we know in pre-school it's going to be a normal thing for them to get dropped off places, so maybe I'll have just the kids next year? Do people still do that? I don't think I've seen a party like that with my kids yet. No wonder the home party is growing extinct, it's nearly impossible to do! The problem with that is I so much enjoy Ryan's friends' parents. I want to spend time with them too. Oh, the dilemmas. The bright side is that having too many friends is a much better problem to have than not having enough. I still have to figure out what I am going to do about next year and Zach's birthday. I'm not as worried about Lily yet because she will be 2. I can handle 2 guests plus accessories;-)
Maybe next year we will just have more of a free play atmosphere. I feel like such a bad party hostess if all the kids are about doing their own things though. I'm about to give up this whole home party idea(which I love) and join the masses by throwing a gymnastics or Chuck E Cheese party next time. It's not like I saved any money by doing it at home with all the decorations, food and supplies. I just love the idea of having friends over to the house where we can do the old fashioned party thing. I really enjoy planning the Ryan's parties too. I love to take a theme and run with it. The games, the activities, the fun I love it all. Sometimes I long for a simpler time with backyard picnics, good friends, simple games and simple fun.