Friday, June 27, 2008
One more thing
I forgot to mention that I am feeling the baby move around on a regular basis, which is really fun. It is still just little kicks and pokes, but it is reassuring to know that the baby is there and exercising. I don't remember feeling Jens move around so early so much, so maybe this one is going to be even more active than him. Uh Oh for us!
June 26th
Hi Everyone
I am a little tardy this week, but I have been updating you all so frequently that you know what we are doing!
This week we worked on painting and cleaning up so we could leave on vacation. Mike got the whole upstairs painted and I did the trim. The stairwell needs another coat, but everything looks really nice. We are hoping the carpet installers call us soon, since they were supposed to contact us Monday or Tuesday and haven't yet.
We still haven't spent the night at the house--it is so much cleaner and less fume-y at JP and Natalie's, so we have been imposing on their hospitality for a long time. We sure appreciate their willingness to have us.
Jens has been the funniest little helper. He is quite obsessed with scraping down ceilings, and climbs the ladder with a screwdriver to help out any chance he gets. Of course, now that the walls are all painted and the ceilings are all done, we are usually saying "NO! Stop!" But he feels that every ceiling can and should be scraped down in perpetuity.
Jens and I took Casey to the vet on Tuesday to get her shots and get her nails clipped. Now that she doesn't go for walks, her nails get very long and I am afraid of trimming them myself. I need to tough up. Jens was very wild and badly behaved during the actual vet consultation. When we got home, he reported to Mike that Casey was very wild and had bad manners, too.
Also this week, Jens stuck a screw driver in an electrical socket. I was upstairs vacuuming and he was with me checking out all of the tools when suddenly he started crying. I ran into the room and saw the screw driver lying by the socket. His hand hurt, and we talked very seriously about how electricity is dangerous and can really hurt you. He said yes, and very gravely told me that it makes you go "wiggle wiggle wiggle." I told Mike later and he said that is a very accurate description of how it feels. I hope we won't have another such incident and I am grateful that Jens wasn't seriously injured! He has also cut his foot twice this week, despite repeated warnings about wearing shoes, and sliced the tip of his finger with a razor blade tool that somehow got let open. Our house is a serious child safety concern!
One more Jens funny. His bedtime schedule has been so out of wack--even when he is in bed, he isn't falling asleep until so late, so his little body is so tired. Mike and I were talking about how it has been weeks since he had an accident, and lo and behold, he had one Wednesday night. Thursday morning he woke up and sleepily said "My bed is wet." Mike asked why and Jens answered "Casey did it!"
The funniest part is that Mike totally believed him and let him climb in bed with him, until I came in and said "Why is Jens in your bed? His bed is wet!"
Mike answered "He says Casey did it." To which I laughed and laughed. I know that if Mike hadn't just woken up he would have realized how silly the whole thing was, but it was pretty funny to me. Poor Casey--already Jens's scapegoat.
Yesterday we drove to Utah. The drive was very smooth and Jens did great. We were worried about having to make extra stops for the potty, but he held it like a champ and we just made our regular stops in Winnemuca and Wendover. We waved to Gramp's car in Battle Mountain, where the head gasket is being repaired so we can drive it home next Sunday when we pass back through. We are excited to be here with family today. Tomorrow we are packing up again and heading to Yellowstone for a little vacation with friends, which we have been looking forward to for a year. I am excited to go and be with everyone, and I am excited to take Jens to Yellowstone and do outside things with him. Then we will be back here for the 4th of July parade, which Jens has been talking about since last year. I am sure I will have pictures of all these wonderful events to post in the next few weeks.
I am a little tardy this week, but I have been updating you all so frequently that you know what we are doing!
This week we worked on painting and cleaning up so we could leave on vacation. Mike got the whole upstairs painted and I did the trim. The stairwell needs another coat, but everything looks really nice. We are hoping the carpet installers call us soon, since they were supposed to contact us Monday or Tuesday and haven't yet.
We still haven't spent the night at the house--it is so much cleaner and less fume-y at JP and Natalie's, so we have been imposing on their hospitality for a long time. We sure appreciate their willingness to have us.
Jens has been the funniest little helper. He is quite obsessed with scraping down ceilings, and climbs the ladder with a screwdriver to help out any chance he gets. Of course, now that the walls are all painted and the ceilings are all done, we are usually saying "NO! Stop!" But he feels that every ceiling can and should be scraped down in perpetuity.
Jens and I took Casey to the vet on Tuesday to get her shots and get her nails clipped. Now that she doesn't go for walks, her nails get very long and I am afraid of trimming them myself. I need to tough up. Jens was very wild and badly behaved during the actual vet consultation. When we got home, he reported to Mike that Casey was very wild and had bad manners, too.
Also this week, Jens stuck a screw driver in an electrical socket. I was upstairs vacuuming and he was with me checking out all of the tools when suddenly he started crying. I ran into the room and saw the screw driver lying by the socket. His hand hurt, and we talked very seriously about how electricity is dangerous and can really hurt you. He said yes, and very gravely told me that it makes you go "wiggle wiggle wiggle." I told Mike later and he said that is a very accurate description of how it feels. I hope we won't have another such incident and I am grateful that Jens wasn't seriously injured! He has also cut his foot twice this week, despite repeated warnings about wearing shoes, and sliced the tip of his finger with a razor blade tool that somehow got let open. Our house is a serious child safety concern!
One more Jens funny. His bedtime schedule has been so out of wack--even when he is in bed, he isn't falling asleep until so late, so his little body is so tired. Mike and I were talking about how it has been weeks since he had an accident, and lo and behold, he had one Wednesday night. Thursday morning he woke up and sleepily said "My bed is wet." Mike asked why and Jens answered "Casey did it!"
The funniest part is that Mike totally believed him and let him climb in bed with him, until I came in and said "Why is Jens in your bed? His bed is wet!"
Mike answered "He says Casey did it." To which I laughed and laughed. I know that if Mike hadn't just woken up he would have realized how silly the whole thing was, but it was pretty funny to me. Poor Casey--already Jens's scapegoat.
Yesterday we drove to Utah. The drive was very smooth and Jens did great. We were worried about having to make extra stops for the potty, but he held it like a champ and we just made our regular stops in Winnemuca and Wendover. We waved to Gramp's car in Battle Mountain, where the head gasket is being repaired so we can drive it home next Sunday when we pass back through. We are excited to be here with family today. Tomorrow we are packing up again and heading to Yellowstone for a little vacation with friends, which we have been looking forward to for a year. I am excited to go and be with everyone, and I am excited to take Jens to Yellowstone and do outside things with him. Then we will be back here for the 4th of July parade, which Jens has been talking about since last year. I am sure I will have pictures of all these wonderful events to post in the next few weeks.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
More Pictures
For those of you who are interested, I am using my solar cooker today. It has been outside for 30 minutes and is already up to 225. I am making baked beans to go with brats for our dinner. Yum.
A little update on our house projects:
Jens's room is all painted. We need to go back for a little touch up, but it looks great and he is thrilled with the color, even though it is not the color he picked out (highway sign green). He even napped in there yesterday and will again today. Mike put in a ceiling fan for him.
Jens was a great helper Saturday morning while we got the family room ready for carpet. We also had the vents cleaned on Saturday morning so we could turn on the ac, which we definitely appreciate in the 100 degree weather!
This is our family room Sunday. We had it all together just in time for Aunt Karen and Beth to sleep here Saturday night. It still needs paint on the walls, but it is a relief to have a room with furniture and a clean floor!
Last, the hall bathroom, which has been my pet project. I installed the tile and grout, Natalie and I painted and installed the vanity, mirror, light, and sink, and I hooked up the faucet and new shower head. Mike put in the toilet and finished the under-sink hook up, and Natalie and I put in the baseboards, which still need to be painted. Once that is done, all we need is a towel bar and toilet paper holder :)
We still have painting to do and we need to seal all of our air vents and clean up all the garbage outside, then we will be waiting for new carpet upstairs. It is gratifying to see some good progress.
A little update on our house projects:
Jens's room is all painted. We need to go back for a little touch up, but it looks great and he is thrilled with the color, even though it is not the color he picked out (highway sign green). He even napped in there yesterday and will again today. Mike put in a ceiling fan for him.
Jens was a great helper Saturday morning while we got the family room ready for carpet. We also had the vents cleaned on Saturday morning so we could turn on the ac, which we definitely appreciate in the 100 degree weather!
This is our family room Sunday. We had it all together just in time for Aunt Karen and Beth to sleep here Saturday night. It still needs paint on the walls, but it is a relief to have a room with furniture and a clean floor!
Last, the hall bathroom, which has been my pet project. I installed the tile and grout, Natalie and I painted and installed the vanity, mirror, light, and sink, and I hooked up the faucet and new shower head. Mike put in the toilet and finished the under-sink hook up, and Natalie and I put in the baseboards, which still need to be painted. Once that is done, all we need is a towel bar and toilet paper holder :)
We still have painting to do and we need to seal all of our air vents and clean up all the garbage outside, then we will be waiting for new carpet upstairs. It is gratifying to see some good progress.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
June 18th
I just got back from book club, and for some reason I have a little energy today to put up some pictures and write a quick update. Probably because Jens and I took the day off by going to a movie (his first ever at a theater) and taking naps. We saw Charlotte's Web at a theater that does free family movies Tuesday and Wednesday during June and July. It was fun to take him, although I think we was a little worried at first because the theater was big and dim. He kept asking if it was scary. We bought twizzlers, which brightened up the whole experience, and he actually really enjoyed watching the movie. He likes all the animals, although I don't know that he actually followed the story line. This afternoon I tried to finish Mansfield Park for book club, which was tonight, but ended up taking a nap instead. It turns out no one else read it either, so we just had a social night and we are covering it again next month.
House update: it is a wreck. But we are starting to clean things up instead of tear things apart. Hmm. As soon as I wrote that I realized that as I am typing Mike is ripping up a section of subfloor in our room that is really saggy. Mostly we are cleaning up and not tearing apart. We are to the painting stage for most of the upstairs. All of the ceilings except the front room have been scraped and retextured, and the tile is done and grouted, so I am hoping to put the vanity in tomorrow. New carpet will be put in the family room on Saturday morning, which will be really great. It will be nice to have a room where we can actually spread out some of our things and have a place that looks ok, although Mom will probably be helping paint it when she comes.
Here is Mike scraping down the family room.
Jens and JP watching Mike's progress. Jens is real cute--when he is feeling affectionate, he'll put his arm around you.
The last three show progress upstairs. Tile in the bathroom, the office is all primed, and the last one shows me grouting the tile while Jens is "helping" clean the stairs.
House update: it is a wreck. But we are starting to clean things up instead of tear things apart. Hmm. As soon as I wrote that I realized that as I am typing Mike is ripping up a section of subfloor in our room that is really saggy. Mostly we are cleaning up and not tearing apart. We are to the painting stage for most of the upstairs. All of the ceilings except the front room have been scraped and retextured, and the tile is done and grouted, so I am hoping to put the vanity in tomorrow. New carpet will be put in the family room on Saturday morning, which will be really great. It will be nice to have a room where we can actually spread out some of our things and have a place that looks ok, although Mom will probably be helping paint it when she comes.
Here is Mike scraping down the family room.
Jens and JP watching Mike's progress. Jens is real cute--when he is feeling affectionate, he'll put his arm around you.
The last three show progress upstairs. Tile in the bathroom, the office is all primed, and the last one shows me grouting the tile while Jens is "helping" clean the stairs.
Moving Day
Our moving day was a fairly amazing experience. We worked really hard Thursday and Friday to be ready Saturday when people came to help us move. What we weren't expecting was to have SO MUCH help! People kept coming and coming and working and working. I couldn't believe the turn out, and some people brought their whole families and the KIDS were so helpful! People came at 9, and by 12 everything was moved, and by 1 our whole rental was clean including the carpets. We are so grateful to everyone from the ward who came to support us and help us. We never dreamed it would be so easy and so fast. Thank you everyone!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
June 11th
Hi Everyone-
All we have been doing is house, house, house. We are supposed to move in Saturday, but I don't think we actually want to sleep there yet, so we will probably spend a few nights a our friends' the Nielsens.
I bought a carpet cleaner, which is quite nice, and I've used it three times in the front living/dining room area already. I am trying to decide if I should go over it one more time, or just let it be. The rest of the carpet is going out before we move in, but the front room carpet may be staying for a while, and it might be our only functional room for a while, too.
Luckily we've had some great help the last few days, which has helped to move things along.
We've had several contractors out to look at dry rot, the roof, and measure for carpet. All the upstairs ceiling have been scraped down and two bedrooms plus the hallway have been re-textured. This is what it looks like after you have scraped down popcorn ceiling. It is very messy everywhere.
Today Natalie and I installed concrete backerboard in the hall bathroom so we can put in tile tomorrow (we hope), and Natalie put a second coat of paint in the master closet. In the pictures, you can see the tile being ripped out, Natalie and me putting down the backerboard, and the finished room. Okay, finished is a serious overstatement, but progress is evident!
Back at the rental, we have been slowly carrying things over to the new house and cleaning things--the ovens, fans, blinds, etc. It is a pain! I am not sure how we are going to be finished with everything by Saturday night, but we will try.
In unrelated news, I went to my 14 week checkup. It was a little alarming because the doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat (which I still haven't heard), so I had another ultrasound. The baby waved at me and the doctor said all is well and that NEXT time we will hear the heartbeat as well as see it. It is amazing how much baby has grown in four weeks! I am feeling fine, although tired, but that might be because we are stressing and working on the house so much.
Poor Jens has been totally neglected--he is doing pretty well, but it is hard when no one has time for doing the things he likes to do. Although, the new red bean bag and getting to watch Cars while we work is a pretty popular activity these days. (see picture above) I sat down at the new house and did puzzles with him for 15 minutes and it made him so happy. He has been spending the mornings at friend's houses so I can get work done, which he enjoys, but is very different from our normal routine.
Hopefully all will go well in the next few days and we will get monstrous amounts of work done. It is our only choice!
Love,
Alison
All we have been doing is house, house, house. We are supposed to move in Saturday, but I don't think we actually want to sleep there yet, so we will probably spend a few nights a our friends' the Nielsens.
I bought a carpet cleaner, which is quite nice, and I've used it three times in the front living/dining room area already. I am trying to decide if I should go over it one more time, or just let it be. The rest of the carpet is going out before we move in, but the front room carpet may be staying for a while, and it might be our only functional room for a while, too.
Luckily we've had some great help the last few days, which has helped to move things along.
We've had several contractors out to look at dry rot, the roof, and measure for carpet. All the upstairs ceiling have been scraped down and two bedrooms plus the hallway have been re-textured. This is what it looks like after you have scraped down popcorn ceiling. It is very messy everywhere.
Today Natalie and I installed concrete backerboard in the hall bathroom so we can put in tile tomorrow (we hope), and Natalie put a second coat of paint in the master closet. In the pictures, you can see the tile being ripped out, Natalie and me putting down the backerboard, and the finished room. Okay, finished is a serious overstatement, but progress is evident!
Back at the rental, we have been slowly carrying things over to the new house and cleaning things--the ovens, fans, blinds, etc. It is a pain! I am not sure how we are going to be finished with everything by Saturday night, but we will try.
In unrelated news, I went to my 14 week checkup. It was a little alarming because the doctor couldn't find the baby's heartbeat (which I still haven't heard), so I had another ultrasound. The baby waved at me and the doctor said all is well and that NEXT time we will hear the heartbeat as well as see it. It is amazing how much baby has grown in four weeks! I am feeling fine, although tired, but that might be because we are stressing and working on the house so much.
Poor Jens has been totally neglected--he is doing pretty well, but it is hard when no one has time for doing the things he likes to do. Although, the new red bean bag and getting to watch Cars while we work is a pretty popular activity these days. (see picture above) I sat down at the new house and did puzzles with him for 15 minutes and it made him so happy. He has been spending the mornings at friend's houses so I can get work done, which he enjoys, but is very different from our normal routine.
Hopefully all will go well in the next few days and we will get monstrous amounts of work done. It is our only choice!
Love,
Alison
Saturday, June 7, 2008
New House
We have started working on the house. The count down to moving day is on, and can I just say that both of our houses are in a terrible state of disarray? Our current house is just neglected--papers, clothes, toys everywhere. Our new house looks worse now than when we looked at it. The hall bath has been gutted, Mike scraped down the popcorn ceilings upstairs today, and we are making no effort to keep anything clean accept for the carpet in the front room, which might be staying for a while.
I have washed the kitchen cabinets, contact papered them, and scoured the counter tops, so we are starting to move things over gradually in hopes of doing less actual packing and unpacking next Saturday. Today the pantry got painted, so once it is dry enough we will be able to start moving that stuff, too. Also, I fertilized the lawn and I am going to water it like crazy in hopes that it will revive itself quickly, because right now it is in a sad, sad state.
We made a mammoth 2 hour trip to Lowe's yesterday and got all sorts of fun things--a vanity, new sinks, tile, paint, and even a new toilet as well as various other odds and ends (grout, mastic, cement board, lighting fixture, hose, water intake valves . . .). I think Mike has been back to Lowe's at least four times since that mammoth trip.
It is exciting to be able to choose things and make things nice, but also pretty overwhelming. We have sadly accepted the fact that we will not have carpet when we move in. What is there now is so horrible (and now covered with popcorn ceiling goo) that I refuse to live on it or even consider walking on it with bare feet, so we will probably enjoy a sub-floor lifestyle until we get back from our Utah trip.
I have washed the kitchen cabinets, contact papered them, and scoured the counter tops, so we are starting to move things over gradually in hopes of doing less actual packing and unpacking next Saturday. Today the pantry got painted, so once it is dry enough we will be able to start moving that stuff, too. Also, I fertilized the lawn and I am going to water it like crazy in hopes that it will revive itself quickly, because right now it is in a sad, sad state.
We made a mammoth 2 hour trip to Lowe's yesterday and got all sorts of fun things--a vanity, new sinks, tile, paint, and even a new toilet as well as various other odds and ends (grout, mastic, cement board, lighting fixture, hose, water intake valves . . .). I think Mike has been back to Lowe's at least four times since that mammoth trip.
It is exciting to be able to choose things and make things nice, but also pretty overwhelming. We have sadly accepted the fact that we will not have carpet when we move in. What is there now is so horrible (and now covered with popcorn ceiling goo) that I refuse to live on it or even consider walking on it with bare feet, so we will probably enjoy a sub-floor lifestyle until we get back from our Utah trip.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
June 5th
Hi Everyone,
I am back in CA after a whirlwind trip to Ohio for Gramp's memorial service. I am so grateful that I was able to go. It was wonderful to see everyone and the memorial service was truly a tribute to Gramp. Jessie and I did some baking on Sunday, so we provided Gramp's own recipes for refreshments afterwards, and it was fun to talk to so many people who Gramp had cooked for! I am not sure how many people had been given the recipe for crackers by Gramp, but there were a lot of them. The service itself was very nice--Mom and Dad both did amazing jobs talking about Gramp's life, and Aunt Karen was the "mc" and was so calm and did such a good job. Jessie and I sat next to each other, which was nice because generally it meant that if I was feeling a little teary, so was she and I wasn't just sitting there crying by myself. I think we were both worried about being overly emotional during the service, but I think we both got a lot of it out of our systems when we simultaneously burst into tears outside of Gramp's room, where he had my family picture and a picture of Jessie's girls posted on his bulletin board. We stood in his room and cried for a few minutes, then both did pretty well during the memorial. He was such a sweet, loving grandpa and great grandpa. I will miss him.
Most of the trip involved baking and driving. Jessie and I made the Cincinnati to Dayton drive three times, with the Dayton to Greenville drive added on the day of the memorial. The most exciting drive was Tuesday when we were driving through bad weather hoping to avoid tornadoes and lightning strikes. We really enjoyed seeing Karen, Dave, Julie, and our cousins Gabe and Bethany, neither of whom we have seen much but both of whom are very nice and interesting people. Of course we enjoyed seeing Mom, Dad, and Peter, too. Peter is especially talented these days at making completely random and off topic remarks which really spice up conversation.
I was very spoiled on this trip by 1. traveling without a 2 year old and 2. Flying in first class 3 out of the 4 legs. It really is a lot nicer. A LOT. I think it has ruined coach for me forever, not that I ever really liked coach.
Mike did a great job with Jens while I was gone--I don't think they missed me at all. Mike is such a discipline enforcer that I came back to a more obedient less violent child. Good job, Daddy! Maybe I should go out of town by myself more often. I am happy to be home, though, and I did miss them both.
We got the keys for the house on Wednesday and went over last night to walk around and make our list. It is as long as my arm, and there is no way we will get half of it done before we move in, but I guess we will do our best. Today Jens went to my friend Wendie's house and I fertilized the yard, cleaned the cabinets, scrubbed the tile countertops (which are still a vile blue, but at least they are clean and the grout is no longer a mottled black), and put in contact paper. Hopefully we can start carrying things over now and put a few things away in between the rest of our projects.
We are sad to realize that carpet is not going to be installed before we move in, and in fact it probably won't even be in until after our Utah trip, but oh well. We are doing the best we can. Tonight we will go back and remove a toilet and rip up a parquet floor. It will be great.
Wish us luck this week as we tackle home improvement projects.
I am back in CA after a whirlwind trip to Ohio for Gramp's memorial service. I am so grateful that I was able to go. It was wonderful to see everyone and the memorial service was truly a tribute to Gramp. Jessie and I did some baking on Sunday, so we provided Gramp's own recipes for refreshments afterwards, and it was fun to talk to so many people who Gramp had cooked for! I am not sure how many people had been given the recipe for crackers by Gramp, but there were a lot of them. The service itself was very nice--Mom and Dad both did amazing jobs talking about Gramp's life, and Aunt Karen was the "mc" and was so calm and did such a good job. Jessie and I sat next to each other, which was nice because generally it meant that if I was feeling a little teary, so was she and I wasn't just sitting there crying by myself. I think we were both worried about being overly emotional during the service, but I think we both got a lot of it out of our systems when we simultaneously burst into tears outside of Gramp's room, where he had my family picture and a picture of Jessie's girls posted on his bulletin board. We stood in his room and cried for a few minutes, then both did pretty well during the memorial. He was such a sweet, loving grandpa and great grandpa. I will miss him.
Most of the trip involved baking and driving. Jessie and I made the Cincinnati to Dayton drive three times, with the Dayton to Greenville drive added on the day of the memorial. The most exciting drive was Tuesday when we were driving through bad weather hoping to avoid tornadoes and lightning strikes. We really enjoyed seeing Karen, Dave, Julie, and our cousins Gabe and Bethany, neither of whom we have seen much but both of whom are very nice and interesting people. Of course we enjoyed seeing Mom, Dad, and Peter, too. Peter is especially talented these days at making completely random and off topic remarks which really spice up conversation.
I was very spoiled on this trip by 1. traveling without a 2 year old and 2. Flying in first class 3 out of the 4 legs. It really is a lot nicer. A LOT. I think it has ruined coach for me forever, not that I ever really liked coach.
Mike did a great job with Jens while I was gone--I don't think they missed me at all. Mike is such a discipline enforcer that I came back to a more obedient less violent child. Good job, Daddy! Maybe I should go out of town by myself more often. I am happy to be home, though, and I did miss them both.
We got the keys for the house on Wednesday and went over last night to walk around and make our list. It is as long as my arm, and there is no way we will get half of it done before we move in, but I guess we will do our best. Today Jens went to my friend Wendie's house and I fertilized the yard, cleaned the cabinets, scrubbed the tile countertops (which are still a vile blue, but at least they are clean and the grout is no longer a mottled black), and put in contact paper. Hopefully we can start carrying things over now and put a few things away in between the rest of our projects.
We are sad to realize that carpet is not going to be installed before we move in, and in fact it probably won't even be in until after our Utah trip, but oh well. We are doing the best we can. Tonight we will go back and remove a toilet and rip up a parquet floor. It will be great.
Wish us luck this week as we tackle home improvement projects.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)