Freakin' Funny

We spent the weekend in Wildwood with Aunt Mandi and total carb overload. Pancakes every morning for breakfast, mac-n-cheese for lunch, spaghetti for dinner and ice cream for dessert. I seriously think I gained about 5 lbs. Ugh. The weather was a tad cool, but beautiful and Mandi had lots of fun spoiling Georgia. Mermaid kite? Check. Sand mermaid tail on the beach? Check. Pink mermaid porcelain doll for Christmas? Check! At one point in the weekend Georgia said something funny and Mandi and I both laughed. "Pretty freakin' funny, huh Mom?" Georgia says. I know it's not exactly a nice word, it's really just a word employed for the purpose of avoiding f-bombs, but when she said that, we laughed even harder. We then explained that it's not a good word to use, even if it is freakin' funny and Mommy uses it a lot. Hughie's new favorite word? MINE. MINE. MINE.

Just for Fun, Vintage G-Ro Photos

Lello (Rhymes with jello)?

Hugie loves to walk around with my cell phone on his ear (just like Daddy). This morning he was walking around saying, "lelloooooooo Papa?" One of these days Hughie is going to disappear because I will no longer be able to stand his cuteness and I will have dunked him in my coffee and EATEN HIM.

Georgia's been very sweet lately too. She saw this commercial with these mermaids who actually flap their tails (thank you, Mattel) and has literally been hounding me non-stop for one for weeks.






I told her that if she filled her star chart, we would get one.

"Mommy, if I put my clothes in the hamper can I get my all of my stars and my doll?"

"No, but I'll give you one star towards earning your doll."

"Mommy, if I say 'please' and 'thank you' can I get all of my stars and my doll?"

"No, but you'll earn one star."

"Mommy, if I make my bed can I get all of my stars and my doll?"

"No, but you'll earn one star."

This went on for a week or two, but now she realizes that she really does have to fill her chart first and it's not going to happen overnight. So, we're almost there, 8 stars (out of 42) to go. She actually earned 3 stars last night for finding Hughie's sole binkie before bedtime! I think this will be the first time that she really gets the idea of earning something. It's a very exciting time for me. And for the record, Georgia now puts her dirty clothes directly in the hamper before bath WITHOUT BEING ASKED. We're still working on the rest.

More Perspective (and how it changes!)

I have to post this "belly" picture from when I was about 3 months pregnant with Georgia. I remember at the time being in awe of how "big" my belly was. Of course, I was in total rock star shape when I got I pregnant with her, but still. To look at this picture now I really have to laugh!! I could only WISH that my waist and skin were even close to resembling that now. I cannot wait to get my tummy tuck and ban the muffin top, hangover skin FOREVER or at least until I'm old enough that I don't care anymore. I still have to decide whether I want to torture my body with one more pregnancy or not. ;)

Perspective

I was going through pictures tonight (Josh needed pics of himself to send to his new Brazilian woman, but I digress) and I came across this "before" picture of our yard that really helps to illustrate how much stuff we cleared out of the side yards. Note the corner of the rock wall in each photo.









It may seem as though I'm dwelling on all of this house renovation stuff and, well, I am! I want it all well documented for posterity and so we can look back and go, "I can't believe we EVER lived like that!" ;)

Beautiful Baby

One of my close friends had her son Niko baptised this weekend and she sent the most beautiful picture of him, I had to share. He is such a sweet, happy boy!

Studs

Here is what's left of the ugly bathrooms (note Jerry smashing some lovely salmon colored tile in the one photo). And if you look closely in the picture of our yard you will see new grass growing! Looks like those heavy rains didn't wash those grass seeds away after all.

My Favorite Time of Year

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! And even though it's not "technically" fall yet, I'm getting geared up for Halloween. Today I booked our annual hayride/bonfire at Funk's Farm and ordered costumes for the kids. After that we'll hit Christy's awesome pumpkin party and then it's off to the York Halloween Parade. Sitting in a folding chair along the street to watch cheesy floats, marching bands and homecoming queens?? BRING IT. LOVE IT. Georgia wasn't too agressive last year when people threw candy from the floats, so we'll have to have her primed in advance this year. Then when it's all over and you've come back down from that hardcore candy high, you still have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming in rapid succession. It's not like that depressing breakdown you have after the Christmas build up and realize that you have nothing to look forward to except three cold, dark months of winter, especially when those cold dark months also happen to coincide with basketball season (i.e. basketball widow) AND your fair weathered snowbird mom abandons you. I think I need to start a petition to move Christmas to the end of February. Who's with me????? Wow, so not the direction I thought this post would go.

Yard Sale

Some of my sanity has now been restored! The yard sale was a total pain in the butt, but we did get rid of a lot of stuff and I feel very "cleansed." The kids clothes were a big hit and we only had one hard-core cheapo who tried to talk me into selling her a ton of gorgeous clothes for nothing and I wasn't having it. Two bucks for a beautiful dress in excellent condition is a ridicuous deal and "NO" I will not take a dollar. Geesh. Everything left over we donated to Good Will and I spent yesterday *almost* getting my house back in order.

The bathroom demo is over, if you can believe it. In three days two full bathrooms (and a walk in closet) were completely gutted to the studs. They found newspaper in with the insulation from 1956 (the year the house was built) with articles about Elvis! Right now they're tearing up the floors and rerouting plumbing and air vents. I took some pics but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'm so excited to have a new master bathroom!

Mr. Mom

Good friends of mine recently had a baby boy and now that mom is going back to work, dad is staying home for a few weeks with the baby - full time (they're both television reporters). Mr. Mom is doing weekly news segments and a blog about his experience and I thought I would share.

Here's the link to the on-line article (CUTE BABY ALERT):

http://wfmz.com/view/?id=384830

You can watch his first news segment and link to his blog. For the record, Sebastian looks a lot like Katelyn. Sorry Joel!!

Good bye!!

It's sad to say goodbye to these lovely examples of what happens when decorators in the 50's smoke crack (well, they didn't have crack then, but they certainly had some sort of hallucinogenic drug). I still can't imagine that anyone could EVER (even in the 80's) think that the black, pink and white bathroom looked good. With navy carpet. In a BATHROOM. Craziness.




Something like this will be much better, no?

My house

Right now my house literally looks like a bomb went off. In addition to "yard sale central" living and dining room, I've completely cleared our masterbedroom, two bathrooms and a walk-in closet, in preparation for our remodel. ALL of that stuff is piled in our newly renovated office, which will now be out of commission for a few more months. Now, let's do some math. We have 4 bathrooms and three are completely out of commission, so that leaves one functional bathroom in our house. And it's tiny. And there's no storage in there but for a small medicine cabinet. And I am a total product whore, so bathroom storage is a serious issue. And we're sleeping in the guest bedroom in a QUEEN BED. I know it doesn't sound all that bad, but when you're used to sleeping in a king sized bed with a body pillow buffer from your husband's bony elbows, snoring and blanket stealing, we may as well be sleeping on top of each other in a twin. And not the "on top of each other" that's fun, either. We're married, remember? However, in a few months we will be finished all of our (indoor) renovation projects AND all of my closets will be neat, clean and organized. Maybe I'll even have a Christmas housewarming party!! Until then, pray for me.

Still eating my words . . .

Dressing Hughie this morning was a lot like (you know what's coming, it's my favorite phrase) stapling jello to a tree. Or herding cats. Kicking, screaming, crying, you name it. He does, however, love putting his shoes on. As soon as he's dressed he stops crying, grabs his shoes and hands them to me saying, "shoos?"

Perhaps his behavior is what my dad has described as "binkie withdrawal." This weekend when my parents were watching Hugh they locked the keys in the van along with Hughie's binkie. The same binkie that he carries around two at a time in case he would, perchance, drop one - he's got back up. The binkie that's pretty much been in his mouth non-stop since his birth. So, he went to bed without a binkie and SURVIVED. We immediately jumped at the opportunity to have the binkie fairy come and take it away forever. Night # 2 wasn't as easy as the first, so we had to call the binkie fairy and ask that she return said binkie. She did, but on the condition that Hughie ONLY use it at nap and bedtime. So, here we are. Binkie-withdrawal. It's going to be rough, but he'll be better for it in the long run.

Eating My Words

My recent comment that "boys are easy" was met with this:

You are so in for it!!! I have been trying to warn you but will you listen? No! I am prepared to laugh my pants off in another 5 months. (I know Kara will join me.) Oh, I look forward to that day. heeheehee (my evil laugh)

Thanks Beth! I'm already eating my words. Hughie's newest favorite word? "NO!!" Actually, it's "NO! NO! NO!" together with a shove. All of a sudden he's all about shoving Georgia (or me) out of his way to get to whatever. Georgia likes it because he's not all that strong (yet) and she knows he'll get in trouble for it. Sometimes she even leans in to make it easier for him to shove her. Fabulous!

Beach Pics

I'm finally getting around to posting some pics of our Wildwoon adventures with Zach, Becky, Riley and McKenna. Enjoy!

My head is going to explode . . .

Hughie, aka "Mr. Manners" is now saying "please" (pees with a hand gesture that sort of looks like the proper sign) and "thank you" (ganku). He is also obsessed with wearing shoes (shoos). And even though Georgia just came back from the beach with Mimi and Papa, she's already talking about packing for her trip to Mimi's Florida house.

Our house is in complete chaos, inside and out (you've seen the outside pics). Our dining room is "yard sale central," complete with piles of stuff everywhere. Our living room is "kids clothes central" where I am trying to organize and hang clothes for the yard sale. Our contractor is going to start on the master bath NEXT WEEK which means I have to clean out our bedroom (including furniture), two bathrooms and five closets by Monday. Someone please shoot me. And did I mention that Hughie is attracted to neat piles of clothes like a moth to a flame?

A rare, peaceful weekend

G-Ro (despite her diagnosis with strep on Thursday) went to the beach with Mimi and Papa this weekend, so it was just Hughie, Chris and Me. I've forgotten how much easier life is with one child!! Holy crap. Especially one who doesn't talk! I took Hughie to Dutch Wonderland (just the two of us) and we could get on all of the little kiddie rides. It was just so nice to not hear, "Mom, I want to go on the roller coaster, Mom, I want to go on the roller coaster, Mom, I want to go on the roller coaster, Mom, I want to go on the roller coaster" the whole day. He is so much more mellow than Georgia. Don't get me wrong, he's getting more fiesty by the day (as Georgia did around 18 months), but he's just not even in the same league. Boys are EASY!!