30 April 2012

Dress Up

Last week I was in the kitchen when Daphne yelled,

"Mama, come look at Christian!  He's Mary!"


































She dressed him up, which is such a big sisterly thing to do.

(And I LOVE this picture.)

29 April 2012

25 April 2012

What To Do in the Meantime

One great thing about buying a new bathtub (besides the new bathtub, of course) is the giant box it comes in.





















And a very creative dad, who if he can't play with the box himself, will make a box castle for the girl, complete with balcony.





















Oh wait, what was I thinking?  Of course he can play with it, too.
 




















As far as the new bathroom goes, we're still waiting on the new flooring to arrive so we can finish.  They said 7-10 business day and it's been 7 business days.  I am waiting patiently. 



21 April 2012

Day 2

We had two good days of bathroom work and now we have a break until our floor comes in.

Our new bathtub and shower look great.  The rest of the room looks a little sad in its slightly torn apart and unfinished state. 

















Daphne really wants to paint the bathtub yellow.  I told her we are definitely not painting the tub, but we will paint the walls!  Just not yellow.

Fixing up the bathroom has put a bee in my bonnet to fix every other room in the house as well.  After the kids go to bed in the evenings I make myself clean for an hour or so, and then I get to do some of the crafty things that I find on Pinterest.  I made some mini chalkboards to label the baskets in my pantry, and when I got up this morning I saw David had taken it upon himself to do some labeling for me. 

















Thankfully, none of these items are currently in any baskets in my pantry.

The kids are great...Christian LOVES big people food.  If we are eating, he also must be eating.  















And it looks like someone may need lessons soon?  Grandma-Great needs to live closer. 


19 April 2012

Day 1

For a couple of years now we've been saving up to remodel our main floor bathroom. This past fall we realized we finally had enough to get ourselves started.

We thought we would just be able to replace the things that needed replacing, mainly the tub, shower insert and sinks, and not work too much on aesthetics. As it turned out, we did have enough saved to not only fix up what needed to be fixed, but get fun new things, too, like flooring, cabinets, mirrors, window and lights. Once we're done, the only original item will be the toilet.

The best part? We're really going hog wild and hiring someone to do the work for us. We usually like going the cheaper DIY route, but with two small children in the house it has been a blessing to let someone else do all the hard work while we try to maintain regular life. Right now it is definitely worth the extra money.

Daphne has been so excited about getting a new bathtub. Apparently that is exciting stuff when you're 3? Periodically over the past few days she has taken her tools into the bathroom to try tearing out our old bathtub all by herself. Eventually she'll come out to tell me it's too hard. (Quitter.)

We've been telling her that Daddy's friends are coming to fix our bathroom for us. Today was finally the day she's been waiting for...Day 1 of getting our new bathroom. As soon as our contractor showed up, Daph headed in with her toolbox to lend a hand.


















She's been hanging around watching them work all day long; her favorite spot, sitting outside the bathroom door talking their ears off. They know all about her broken teeth and her baby brother and shopping at Target and buying new bathtubs at the store.


















It's possible they are wishing we had gone DIY, but Daphne is having the time of her life. Christian just stares at them like he wonders why strangers think they should be roaming freely around his house.

By the way, every time I ask Daphne if she is a chatterbox, she always replies with, "no, I'm a cow." Why does she do this? Because I certainly see no correlation between the two.

15 April 2012

A Spring Outing

It was time to take Christian to one of Daphne's most favorite places...Yo Cream.

Daphne shows extreme concentration when eating ice cream.


















Christian shows intense anger at not getting to eat anything. I should have brought his yams, which right now are one of his favorite foods.


















We're working on a GIGANTIC house project right now so this afternoon was our only down time for the foreseeable future. A very important room in our house is about to be torn apart (hint: it rhymes with 'mathroom'). Taking a break for some Yo Cream was a good idea.

12 April 2012

In the Clear

One nice thing about Daphne's dentist is that he lets her play with all his cool teeth cleaning gear. It is her favorite to spray air and water on things. In this photo she is using the air sprayer to make a pinwheel spin.


















Another nice things about Daphne's dentist is that he did not take any more of her teeth. It looks like The Great Tooth Debacle of 2012 is officially over.

Poor Daphne was not happy about having to visit the dentist again this week. Apparently she didn't think having her tooth pulled last time was fun (cool Tooth Fairy or no). But this week's visit was a breeze. Her x-ray showed that her remaining front tooth is indeed dead but is holding on strong. As long as no infection sets in she should be fine!

We celebrated with some 'yummy juice' at Jamba Juice. Daph loves yummy juice; Christian, it seems, does not.

Easter Finest

Is this not the most adorable thing you've ever seen?






















Yes indeed, matching ties.





































The one in pink is not a fan of cooperating for photographs, but her dress was cute so she needed to be involved regardless. I'm glad you can't see the Cadbury Egg smears down the front of her dress, and it's good this was taken before the yellow bubble water fiasco and before the pee accident.

Lady-like much?

Here we are as 4, pretty much as put-together as we can ever be:






















Impressive.

11 April 2012

Christian: 7 (Whaaaat?) Months

Seriously, I don't think I should even be writing this post because I canNOT believe the boy is 7 months old already.






















I like to think about the timing of events to come by comparing them to the timing of events passed: 5 months ago Christian was 2 months old and it was Halloween. Basically, yesterday. In 5 months he will be one year old. Basically, tomorrow.

What is happening to the world??

(This is why I am fine with him being so tiny for his age. It's like I get to have a baby for a little longer.)

Speaking of being tiny, his scrawny size makes it hard for him to sit on his own. (Also what makes it hard for him to sit on his own is the fact that he has a meltdown every time I set him down, but that is neither here nor there.) His torso is so tiny and weak while his head is so large and heavy that he just tips right over. Sad, really. But he's getting better at it. He can sit for a few minutes at a time.

His favorite words to say right now are "aye-yi-yi" and "a-da-da." He also likes to growl like a tiny bear, which is funny because I don't ever remember Daphne growling. It must be a boy thing. He also likes to wrinkle his nose, and he likes smile so big his entire face lights up and looks like happiness has made its home there. It's quite a sight.

Of course he does not like to sleep. Nighttime is a little better than it had been. (Anything is better than waking up hourly, of course.) He's up usually 3-5 times. He doesn't sleep at all during the day. We've been working on daytime naps for so long (7 months, to be exact) with not much to show for it so I hate to admit that we've kind of given up. I am not opposed to hiring a sleep expert to come stay at our house for a few days and help us, but until then I'm just moving on with life. Daphne was a terrible sleeper the first year and now she's sleeping just fine, I'm sure it will be the same with Christian.

We're on the downhill to Christian's first birthday so I've been scouring Pinterest for party ideas. I bought some straws already. Three cheers for early preparation.

With only 5 months left of the baby year, there has to be something great to look forward to. For me, it's a party with good straws.

P.S. Just like last month, C was not too thrilled that I was setting him down, and setting him down in a laundry basket at that. I am the cruelest of mothers.






































05 April 2012

Egg Hunting

David's work hosted an Easter Egg Hunt that we attended last weekend. Poor Daphne thought there would be chickens there (how else do eggs end up all over the grass?).






























There was the actual hunt, then snack time and craft time. She also got a goodie bag. I will give you 5 guesses as to what her favorite color is:



















I love that Daphne is getting old enough to appreciate and enjoy the holidays. Easter is a little hard to understand, I think, since death/life isn't something a small child can really understand. We have quite a few Easter books that we've read over and over this season to lay the foundation of comprehending Easter.

Of course Daph makes sense of it with her 3 year old brain...and talks about children living with Jesus in His house and playing Easter Eggs with Him.

I'm pretty sure you will find that story in John chapter 59.