Why I don't post:

Between projects and a 90% off sale at a Roberts downtown

(it was closing.... it was like Christmas!),
I've not had time to post. Oh, and of course, children too.
See?


Cabinets Hung! Painting done! Little hanging rod in between! Vwala!
(Yes, I know the paint line doesn't match with the window. It's ok- the window won't be there more than a year or two anyhow. I also know there is no sheet rock on the ceiling. If it bothers you, you can come do it yourself.)
PS- its dark blue, not black.


Little drying rack finished, painted and hung!
We're (I'm) going to modge podge green? blue? paper on the faux wood filing cabinet and use it to hold patterns, crafty stuff etc.

Took a glass jar from a Christmas white-elephant party and put "glass frosting" on it.


It now looks like this- you can kind of see the "E."
The filler/fake fruit was a buck at the sale. Ok. I can spend a buck. They're neat. They look like they're made out of leaves.


I love the "Home Fabrics" store. Cheap cheap fabric. Made pillowcases for the big room. I just covered old pillows or pillows from DI.


From the 90% off sale. $4.99 instead of $49.99 for these two!


Made the wreath from a book I needed to burn or throw away. Not sold on it yet. Do you like it?

We'll post pictures of outside later. It's too dark for the camera.

Mealtimes.

Things started so innocently. You eat your Peanut Butter. You eat your rice cereal.

I'd rather not, thank you.
"I wan-ta treat."

I said, "No thank you!"

"Cookie?"

Rolling

Little Lady has discovered rolling over, at least in one direction.
The only problem is she rolls over when she is supposed to be sleeping, and gets stuck on her back. Before you point out the obvious, I know, babies are supposed to sleep on their backs. Mine are unconventional and only sleep on their stomachs. The first few times she gurgles (probably proud of herself). At first we (I) rolled her back. Then she did it again, and again, and again, and again. Not as much fun now. This could get old fast. Or in King's words, "Sounds like a fun game with less and less replay value."
I guess we're going to have to stop rolling her over and she's going to have to learn how to sleep another way. Wish us luck, or hope she learns to roll the other way fast!

Joy

Dear son. You were a joy today. It wasn't anything extra-ordinary you did. You were just being you. This morning went fast as we stayed busy cleaning and tidying up the house getting ready for Aunt A. to arrive from Indiana. You L O V E the vacuum and "helped" by playing our usual game of chase (I vacuum, you run from it or stand in front of it- depending on your current mood). You giggled and laughed and ran laps around the couches the whole time. You only cried when you ran up from behind me just as I pulled my arm and the vacuum backwards. Ouch. Now we know your head is tougher than the vacuum handle. We haven't seen Aunt A in about a year, but you ran around saying, "E, B, Aunt A." all morning! (She loved it- she loves that you know her from the video chats we do.) Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle S, and Grandma Dawn met up here for lunch. We tried to get you to take a nap, but you were a bit too excited to have cousins here- and special events mean special privileges- so after you got out of bed three times I just let you stay up and play. You followed cousin B around like a puppy. You loved playing in the sandbox with him! Once everyone left I sent you downstairs to play while I helped sister. After a few minutes of hearing nothing (never a good sign) I went downstairs and there you were, fast asleep. You were all curled up on your stomach and had "Mr. Bear" tucked under one arm. I wanted to freeze that moment and keep you as my little boy. I carried you up to the window-seat upstairs hoping you'd wake up on your own. (I knew you'd be tired, but it was better to keep you up and risk your grumpiness than let you nap now and be up till ten!) Nope.So I prepped the kitchen for cookies and then whispered in your ear, "Do you want to come make cookies with Mommy?" I got the sweetest, "Ok!" in a sleepy voice with eyes half shut.

First, however, you propped up Mr. Bear and made sure he was ok, and then you took my hand and came to help.
And help you did! In ways only a two-year-old can. You ate pinches of sugar and brown sugar (while liking your fingers after each bite- not to worry, we washed them again!), helped "stir" with a wooden spoon and by holding the back of the mixer while I did the actual mixing. You even snatched dough from the cookie sheet, took bites, and then put them back- and all the while was my sweet, helping little boy. I could not help but smile as you grabbed a handful of flour out of the bowl to taste that as well. You didn't like it- and dusted your hands back into the bowl.... mostly.
You could. not. wait. to eat those cookies. You blew on them as I pulled them out of the oven and instantly wanted one. We had to go play primary songs on the piano to distract you while they cooled. You told me which songs you wanted to sing and played right along with me. I love playing with you!
Once you got a cookie, you popped the whole thing in your mouth (flat-handed push!) and were thus covered in gooey chocolate. Not to worry- you like your hands clean, so you wiped them on the dishtowel. When I mentioned I needed to clean up the mess, you grabbed the same dish towel and proceeded to "wipe up" the floor on your own without me asking. The mess was really just spread- but just not seeing it (out of sight... out of mind...) and the fact that you wanted to help made it all ok.
Afterward you pushed your stool up by the fridge and started singing the ABC's by yourself. "A,B,C,D,E,F,G, H, I, K,K, L, .....uh,uh, oh, P! Q, R, S. T, U, V. W, X, Y and Z. Now I know ABC, next time... sing me!" You are adorable.
Thanks for being so forgiving. Sometimes I get upset with your two-year-old stubbornness and curiosity, and then I'm reminded that you're only two, and you do so many wonderful things. You love to help. You love to sing. You love to play with sister. Yesterday you put all your toy trains on her chest and tried to pry her hand open to have her hold one. You put your train tracks all around her chair and then looked at me and exclaimed, "Nice Brother!" Yes. You are a nice brother. You give her kisses, and hugs (squashes). You play peek-a-boo with her. You try to hold her whenever she is laying down or crying. You mimick my, "Come here, Baby." and, "It's ok, E."Thank you son.
Thankyou for being so loving and sweet.Thank you for being my joy.

Busy

I was informed by my parents that I was not posting enough. When I explained that I had two children to take care of they insisted that meant I should be posting two times a day- one for each child.

I think they've forgotten what it's like to have children. Or at least little ones. Which is funny, because Brother tears their house apart every time we're over.

Extra Emollient Night Cream is non-toxic.

Yesterday morning was a bit of an adventure.
It started out normally with me feeding Little Lady in the living room when Brother wandered off to play. Or so I thought.
Pretty soon it got quiet. Too quiet. This generally means trouble. Moms- you know what I'm talking about. I called out to Brother and got no response. I pacified myself into thinking he'd gone downstairs to play in our toy room.Nope.
A few minutes later I hear him calling out for me and crying. Since its not as easy for me to go him while feeding sister, I tried to get him to come to me. He didn't come. I didn't think too much about it. He's two. He's stubborn. I figured if he wanted me badly enough he'd come. He never came. After a few minutes he was still calling for me, so I put down sister and went to investigate. Lo and behold he'd gone into our guest room- aka my dumping grounds for baby carriers, diaper bags, anything I want out of sight- and had been rummaging through the diaper bag. What did he find? Lotion! Extra Emollient Night Cream (Mary Kay- great stuff) to be more exact.
Now you need a little background. Sister has INCREDIBLY dry skin. Thank you eczema. We lather her up with lotion and hydro-cortisone cream about twice a day. Not to be left out, Brother usually asks for lotion too- so we put a little on his hands and face now and again. Well, true to his two-year-old-itis, he'd tried to put lotion on "all by himself" this time. We are talking
GOBS. SMEARS. MOUNTAINS of lotion all over his face, hair, shirt, hands, arms etc. The picture does not do the amount justice. (Man! You're going to have great skin tomorrow!) He'd closed the door, but couldn't open it again thanks to the amount of lotion on his hands (and now the door knob). Hence the crying, and not coming part of this story.
Brother was also saying "Yuck, Ick," and trying unsuccessfully to clean out his mouth.
Fantastic.
He'd eaten it as well.
Well, I took a picture, called King- and we came to the consensus that we thought he'd be ok. I hurried and cleaned him up and then-just in case- went to try and look up the ingredients of night cream on the internet. I was hoping not to see any toxic warning labels. Well, finding the exact ingredients was harder than I thought- so I typed, "child ate lotion" into google. Not much. I tried, "Is lotion poisonous?" Bingo. Some article came up about some hand-creams being poisonous! PANIC!
I frantically called the Mary Kay Customer Service trying to determine if theirs was indeed in the poisonous category. After a recorded, touch-dial to select, delay I was transferred to a real person. By now I was getting frantic. I hurried and asked if she could look up the ingredients and any warning labels for their Extra Emollient Night Cream and told her why. Instead of a prompt response, she started asking for my name, my address, my phone number, my son's name. My thoughts (and some spoken words) were, "NO! Not a time to fill out the survey/ customer information! LOOK UP THE PRODUCT! I WANT TO KNOW IF HE'S EATEN SOMETHING TOXIC." "Sorry, mam. This is procedure." Then I got put on hold. She came back on the line and very slowly read me the ingredients. "WELL, IS IT HARMFUL IF INGESTED?" "What is your son's name again?" "CAN WE SKIP THE SURVEY?! IS IT HARMFUL?" "Hold on mam, I'll need to transfer you." Hold. I hung up.
Called back again. Got someone else. I hurried and explained the situation again and she said the other lady was following procedure and now she needed to start again. At this point I'm getting closer to hysteria. She again told me the ingredients (which meant close to nothing) and when I asked her if there were any warning labels she told me she needed to check. AGG! Thankfully, came back quickly and then re-directed my call to poison control who verified that no, Mary Kay's night cream is not toxic. Even if he ate a lot it would probably just give him diarrhea. THANK YOU! A REAL ANSWER. Relief.
I got off the phone and was still so geared up that I had to call King and half-cry out my story. It helped. I didn't poison my son (or let him poison himself). He's going to be fine. He'll live. I'll hide the lotion. Got it.
So today I am counting my blessings. He's two, he's curious, he's stubborn, he won't sleep, but he's fine. He's alive and happy (mostly). I get to hug and hold and scold and love him.
And Extra Emollient Night Cream is not toxic.

Potty Training...

I made it two days. Brother made it less than that. Despite treat incentives, praise, and cheers, he didn't seem very interested after a few times. He became a great negotiator, though.
Me: Lets run go potty, son.
Son: ....pause. I want a sucker. (not the normal bribe).
Me: Well, if you go potty in the toilet, I guess you can have a sucker.
No result.
In a nutshell? We'll try again in a few months...

Dad, you are amazing.

So, another project has been under way lately. At first I tried to keep a secret from King (since it was his idea) but that went down the day one not so great day when it was still out on the kitchen table when he came home from work. What is it? A clothes drying rack...
See?
Just one more piece of hardware needed (I'm spray-painting it so its not gold anymore) and then we'll hang it on the wall. The next sentence is a bit shameful, but it was harder than I thought! My knobs aren't quite level (though I measured more than once!), my rods are all different sizes (measured those lots too!!!... and yet.. we still had to put screws in the side) and the paint job (3 layers later) is still not professional. But, I'm not as humble as I should be. I think its great! I think, "TA DA! I DID THIS!" I get kicked right back into being humble when I think of Dad. He builds what??? Houses. No big deal. So, Dad, you are amazing. Hats off to you. No laughing at my project and my new-found love of power-tools.

Just for Ames

Does this count as updated?
No?
Wait until tomorrow- I'll post pictures of the project I've been working on (not the headboard or the door.... )
Until then, I love you.

A work in progress...

So the two kiddos and I took a little excursion down to Lowes the other night. King had a conference call to make and its easiest to be out of the way (or out of earshot) when you're ... not there. So off we went at 7 pm. Normally close to bed-time mind you. What was I thinking? I wasn't. You wouldn't believe how many different types of crown-molding they had! And you wouldn't believe how hard it was to decide... really. Ask Brother and Little Lady, they loudly protested! Then again, that might have had something to do with the lateness of the hour. I sure hope this headboard turns out.
No pictures yet- I'm a bit slow. As in, I'm not even through sanding. Give me a few days of warm weather and I'll post more.