All Boy

Ok, as much as I hate the statement “When you have _____, you’ll understand.” But it’s true. There are so many things about parenting that I didn’t ‘understand’ until I actually became a parent. And even after being a parent to a little girl (a VERY rough and tumble little girl mind you), there were things I still didn’t get about parenting a little boy. How different can they be, right? I mean we are the same parents, raising them in a pretty darn similar manor, Mallory’s such a Tomboy, I’m SUCH a tomboy, what could be the big deal?!

Holy Cow! Wesley is SUCH a BOY! If it can be climbed on he’s on top of it, if it’s not bolted down he’s moving it, if it had a surface he’s banging on it, if it’s piled up he’s pushing it over, if he’s holding it it’s in his mouth, if there’s an opening he’s crawling through it and if it’s a command he’s ignoring it. It’s amazing how different boys and girls are (even if you thought your girl acted more like a boy).

To Wesley everything makes a ‘Vrrrroooommmmm’ sound (cars, rocks, bark, food, baby dolls and toy baby buggies) and everything is known by a grunt and finger pointing.  At 15 months Mallory looked at the underside of her shoe and said “momma dis is dirty.” At 15 months, with all his grunting Wesley sounds more like an orangutan than a human. He likes to wrestle and shove things over, he’s great at throwing things (though very good at not doing it in the house), can actually dribble a soccer ball about as well as I can (not saying much about my soccer skills), and loves to be naked! Oh and he can throw a text-book tantrum like nobody’s business (face on floor, arms and legs flailing). He had about a 15 second attention span for books and absolutely NO interest in TV no matter what’s on it (whereas Mallory was obsessed with both of them by 6 months). It’s all very funny/amazing/annoying. He makes me smile all day long as he runs around the house giggling and screeching… as he chases after Mallory, Sonny or Krush. (Heaven help whichever one he catches…. Because it is full-force WWF-style belly flopping time)!!!!!

Home Improvement

I think I might have a problem… I’m pretty sure that I am addicted to home improvement projects. I love the challenge of transforming something that I already have in my home that I am not super in love with, into something that I love, love, love and did myself (for way cheap).
My latest project has been taking those ugly 1980’s shiny oak cabinets that are in both bathrooms and the kitchen and bringing them into the 21^st century. (So for I have done both bathrooms, it only took 4 days… and that was due to drying time). The kitchens next on the list but is going to take considerably longer because I’m going to re-paint the walls and try my hand at tiling too.
Anyway, back to the bathrooms… I removed all the doors and drawers, power sanded it ALL down (drawers, doors and bases), primed and sealed, sanded again, painted 1^st layer (I used a color called espresso bean), sanded again, then did another 1-2 paint coats (depending on the area and how it covered). I think it turned out beautiful… and with minimal visible paint strokes!!!!! As I was about to replace the doors, I realized that the old hinges were a sickening gold/brown/rust color. So I cleaned then and spray painted then a mat-silver color. I added some cute new pulls to the drawers and cabinets and some new towels in the guest bathroom, and Ta-Da!!!!!! All for $157!!!! (Double Ta-Da). It’s a ton of work, but I’m hoping that since I took all the proper steps it’ll stands up to wear and tear.

I think the most difficult part of the entire thing (as side from allowing adequate drying time) was keeping the kids out/off/away from it all. I utilized books, nap-time, snacks… and a FEW Curious George episodes. Today as I was using the power drill to create the holes for the pulls Wesley was watching in deep fascination… after a few minutes, he reached out his hand, touched the drill gently, grunted twice (as if giving his approval) and walked away! It cracked me up! He’ll already in love with power-tools and he’s only 15 months! SUCH a boy!

A Little Scare

Wesley has had quite a day... to say the least. It all started this morning when we had a 9:45 doctors appointment for his 15 month check up. Stats and physical were all good, until Dr. Notch got to the heart. The doctor picked up a very low grade but present systolic murmur (i got yo hear it too). In vet-med about 50 percent of the puppies I see have a murmur of some sort. They almost all eventually goes away...apparently its the same in human medicine. And 99 percent of those murmurs are not a big deal, but there was still that small chance that our little buckaroos murmur would be in that one percent that would resolve or would need treatment of some sort, so the doctor recommended we had it have it checked out. So Wesley had his oxygenation monitored, blood pressure taken, chest xrays, vaccinations and a EKG all between 10am and noon! Quite a lot for a 15 month old to handle. Poor guy zonked out on the short 5 minute car ride home. Mallory was a trooper and a huge help...actually she was the only thing that entertained him and got him quiet during the EKG. We already have all the results back and praise the Lord all of it looks normal!!!!!! The murmur should be monitored but it is anticipated it will go away!
Oh and this is how they take chest radiographs on babies...crazy, huh? Its like some old-time torture devise.

Happy Mother's Day

2 years, 9 months and 26 days ago I became a mother...and my life forever changed! It took having a baby of my own to truly know love. The deep, soul-filled, pit of your stomach sort of love. The sort of love my own mother daily gave me...but I never understood (and maybe still don't). Love is funny...there are so many levels. It truly is infinite. Just 15 months ago I was still trying to figure out how in the world I could possibly love another baby as much as I love Mallory... then just like that Wesley is born, and I do!!!!! Never again will I ever underestimate the power of love. Especially the power of a mothers love!!!!!
So for every mother out there 'Happy Mother's Day!'
Oh and in case you are wondering, yes that's a mother's day black eye Wesley got for me. Such a sweet, thoughtful boy!

Graden Project

Once again in true "Me" fashion I started a project and didn't take a before shot... it wasn't until we were arms deep in dirt that I even thought about it. Like I mentioned before, since we are staying in our sweet little house I wanted to get some project done and the garden was at the top of the list... the only thing is, is that projects cost money... and the reason we aren't moving yet is because moving cost money... which we are trying desperately to save...you understand the dilemma. Always up for a challenge I decided that we could re-do the backyard/garden area for just about nothing. The area was originally a 2 level raised bed that ran the length of our back fence. Great spot, super sunny. But it started fall apart a few years ago... and there was no saving it this year. Plus it had a ton of unused pathway-type space that I thought would be nice to actually USE.
Anyway, I convinced Matthew that I had a better design and that we could do it WAY cheep by re-using the existing wood (heck, 'up-cycling is TOTALLY in right now... so not only are we thrifty but we are trendy). The entire process took about 10 day (because there is a TON of dirt to move. I happened to have a handful of days off in a row, so I actually did most of the work. Not that I'm bragging, but I am pretty darn proud of myself... I was out there with the pick-ax, circular saw, power drills, hammer, jig-saw, shovels, paint, stain, sanders, and wheel barrel. I was a regular Tim-The-Tool (wo)Man-Taylor! It was fun! We were able to re-used most of the wood but cutting off the dead/rotten areas, re-used the dirt (and even added it to other flat/boring places in the yard to give some depth), re-used the rest of the paint (left over house paint from when we moved in), most of the PVC pipe we had, cut the wine barrels to turn them into the herb beds (and also new larger homes for my standing rose bushes along the front/side), re-used the flag-stone from last years patio project... so all we really had to buy was new front boards, a few new PVC pipes, the hardware, veggie and flowering plants, a gallon of paint and the ground cover bark. All in all I think this yard/garden redo only cost about $250! Not bad huh?!?! Oh plus I did a bonus mini-redo on the very front flower area under Wesley's window. I pulled up all the rotting wood border and replaced it with large stones found around our yard, planted flower, ran drip and put down the landscaping bark. It looks pretty. Sorry no picture yet. Speaking of pictures... I don't know what the deal is... and why the computer is cutting off the right side of these photos... but the options are; deal with it, not have me blog or throw the stupid computer out the window. :)