1) How are design/decorating decisions made in your house?
2) How do you think they should be made?
Friday, September 14, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
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;-)
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;-)
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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:-)
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:-)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
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.
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.