Saturday, June 28, 2008

Presents

It's 8:15pm on Saturday night. The hum of saws and nail guns still permeates the humid hot air outside. The renovations continue...

My friend Robin put together a little 'mail baby shower' for me this week. People sent gifts in the mail and Ken and I opened them up with Lucy this afternoon. It was such a fun idea and we got lots of great new clothes for the baby boy to be.

Lucy got a snazzy princess skirt from Robin too. At first she wouldn't put it on, but later in the evening she was posing for photos.


















The bangs continue to grow and I'm still pregnant. But I think this baby will be coming sooner, rather than later...

Friday, June 20, 2008

30 Days

With thirty days to go until my official due date, I thought I'd give you a quick state of affairs and what's on the top of our list in the next month:

The official 'party deck' as Ken calls it is being constructed and I'm hoping this deck will live up to all my hopes and dreams. Those hopes and dreams mostly consist of putting Lucy out on the deck for hours of fun while I tend to a new baby. And then after the new baby and I have bonded, putting myself out there for hours of drinking! So here is where we stand with the deck project. Everyday I'm told they will 'finish it today'. So far, we are only about a three days behind schedule.






This view from the window is where a set of french doors will be. French doors that are still on order...




Next on the project list was to install a simple new counter top. The island in our kitchen had no overhang, which rendered it useless as a place for eating or hanging out (in our already small kitchen). So we decided to go ahead and put in new counter tops for the entire kitchen and island. Seemed simple enough. But then we were told our base cabinets were in such bad shape they would not support the new counter top (after, of course, the old one was ripped out). So then we got new base cabinets. Then new counter tops, then our new sink - but now we have no back splash because the old one had to be ripped out for the new counter top. Asleep yet with boredom? A simple new counter top turned into that plus, new base cabinets that we still need to paint, a new back splash - that we will be paying someone to install and a new sink - which Ken plumbed. Sorry baby, we shall not be able to afford diapers or food for the entire family for several years. But our kitchen will look smashing!





A blurry picture of our island counter top and posts that need to be painted.






I seem to remember going through a home renovation once, and swearing to never do it again. Maybe it was something like 'I never want to go through a home renovation again unless I am 36 weeks pregnant and have a 2 year old'?

In Lucy land, Dora has taken a major back seat. Dora, the one who used to go everywhere with Lucy now lives at the bottom of the bathtub. Thankfully, Boots is there to keep her company during the long nights.



There is a new licensed character in town and her name is SNOW WHITE! Do you feel the love?






Not 2 minutes after I posted this entry, Ken came into the office and noticed a HUGE leak in the ceiling. The new water line to the new fridge had been leaking for a week, and saturated two tiles of the dropped ceiling Ken installed in our office. All in all, it will be an easy fix and we are thankful it wasn't worse. We will be so excited when this is all over and we can enjoy our beautiful house!

Sunday, June 01, 2008

The Life of a Popsicle

It's officially hot and humid down here, but the pools are open and we have lots of popsicles and air conditioning to keep us cool. Lucy has really grown up lately and we are enjoying her ongoing monologue of our daily activities.

Perhaps the biggest change for her has been total elimination of artificial colors from her diet. Through research I've discovered that Red 40, and Yellow 5 and 7 cause hyperactivity in children. This is so well documented, that Britain is actually phasing out these artificial colors from all their food. Honestly, the LAST thing I wanted to do was to add one more thing to the list of things Lucy can not eat, but after only a few days, we all could clearly see the difference. I wasn't giving her large amounts of artificial colors, but I would give her lollipops and selected candies when in situations where she could not eat what the other kids where eating (because it contained milk or eggs or peanuts or nuts). The biggest score was the day I discovered Organic lollipops at Trader Joe's with no artificial colors.

Exciting life we lead, I know.

Other than monitoring everything that goes into Lucy's mouth, we have been busy with LISTS! PROJECTS! WE HAVE A BABY COMING! Our home improvements projects just never seem to end. And neither does this pregnancy. Please, please let this one be even a little bit early. I don't understand how there can possibly be any more room for this baby to grow. I'm maxed out.















































And yes, those popsicles are artificial color free! And cost lots of Mo-ney!