Like Mother, Like Daughter ??!!?!

One of the stories that my mom told me that stuck in my head was the time I stuck a playing piece from a board game up my nose. She made me sniff pepper until I sneezed it out. Nice.

I arrived at daycare this afternoon and Madeleine's teacher grabbed me before I read her daily note. She went to wipe Madeleine's nose that afternoon because it was runny and she saw something black underneath it. Upon closer inspection, the black thing was a tiny piece of a tire chip from the playground and she realized that Madeleine's nose looked bigger on one side than the other. Yep, for some reason she thought stuffing a tire chip up her nose was a good idea. Sigh.

Her teacher told me she started stressing and was close to tears because she couldn't get it out and didn't want to call me. I'd have to take her to the ER as it is considered a surgical procedure to have it removed. Apparently this has happened before ...

All is well though. After a few people trying, they managed to get it out. We had a nice chat in the car on the way over to pick up David about not putting things in her nose.

"Madeleine, are you supposed to be putting things up your nose anymore?"

"No Mommy (points her finger at me) Nuting"

Any bets on how long before she sticks something else up there??

Getting Organized

I have been busy attempting to organize things so I have been remiss in posting. We also had a little thing called a flood around here; we were not directly affected but our commute time tripled for a week or so. More on that later.

I need to get back into the swing of things. I have actually been planning meals and cooking again, so this is a good thing. Tonight we had beef kabobs, marinated in Greek dressing from my favorite spice source (Penzey's) with an assortment of vegetables. We learned Madeleine doesn't like asparagus :)

Good news: Our entryway has been painted a nice sunny yellow. We are waiting for the trim to come in so it can get painted and put up in the hallway. All the wood has come in for our stairs so The Stair Guy (aka Jeff) was back this week.

Bad news: The people who did our counter top, who isn't going to earn any glowing recommendations from me, apparently did not seal the sink in properly. It is leaking into the cabinet under the sink. David has called them twice and someone has yet to come down and take a look at it.

Madeleine's birthday party was a success. As always, I made too much food, but that was OK since it meant I didn't have to cook for the rest of the week! My dad and Dave's parents were here for the long weekend.

We bought Madeleine a Radio Flyer tricycle for her birthday. It has a push handle in the back so I can push her around the neighborhood since she doesn't have the hang of pedaling yet. Kathy (aka Nana) bought her an Elmo helmet and elbow/knee pads, which made her happy (if you didn't know, Elmo is King around here). In theory it was a great birthday present. In reality, we get to walk 100 feet or so, she decided she wants to push the tricycle and about 10 minutes later our walk is over. So much for my nightly exercise - I think I'll need to find something else to do!

Happy Birthday Madeleine!!!

Madeleine turns two today. I find it funny that she calls all the kids at daycare that are younger than her 'babies' since I still think she is a baby. I guess she is a little girl ... but she'll always be my baby :)

We are busy here trying to put the house back together before company arrives tomorrow. I am still finding drywall dust and sawdust everywhere. It is looking pretty good though, and should be in good shape for her party this weekend.

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to hop on and wish all the moms out there a Happy Mother's Day.

Things around here have been busy, busy, busy. The kitchen is just about finished and we spent a good chunk of today unpacking boxes and trying to figure out where to put things. I have so much storage space now and I LOVE it. No more storing my roasting pan in the spare bedroom closet!

Vocabulary explosion!!!

It is just amazing the speed at which Madeleine's vocabulary is growing these days.

About a week and a half ago we were driving in the car. David and I we talking when we heard a little voice from the back seat start singing, "Twinkle, twinkle little star ..." Hmm, didn't know she knew that one.

Last weekend we were puttering around the house when she walked into the room singing. I recognized the tune although some of the words were garbled, "A, B, C, D, E, F, G ...". The alphabet song - when in the world did she learn the alphabet song? Monday when I picked her up at daycare her teacher came over to me. She told me she was at the sink cleaning up when she heard a little voice at the table singing the alphabet song. She couldn't believe she remembered it either. They only sing it once a week, if that, at music class.

Granted a lot of what she is saying we still don't understand but she is perfectly content to hold long conversations with us. Usually they end with us agreeing with her - who knows, we probably agreed to buy her a car when she gets her license!

Pink eye - AGAIN

Ah, the joys of having a little one in daycare. This is the second time in 6 weeks that I have had pink eye. I know exactly how I get it too - she loves to point out your eyes, nose, mouth, etc. Problem is, she sticks her fingers in your eyes, nose and mouth. Sigh. My right eye was really red and very puffy on Tuesday. Haven't worn a contact in that eye all week which makes work interesting, especially since I haven't been able to replace my glasses since she broke them last month.

The kitchen is coming together, albeit slowly. Our neighbor (who is a plumber) came over this past weekend and hooked up the cook top, the kitchen sink and the dishwasher. Yeah! Unfortunately the counter top people did not call us to see how we wanted the sink cut in when they saw there were two ways to do it. We purchased a colander and a cutting board that fits into the smaller sink. They missed cutting a lip or something for it so the colander and cutting board do not fit. They are coming by tomorrow to check it out.

I am really, really, really hoping that the kitchen gets finished soon. I am tired of eating food that I do not make. I am tired of having everything be right in Madeleine's grasp. I am tired of living in chaos.

In positive news it hit the mid-60's this week! Madeleine and I got to go out for a walk around the neighborhood once before the rain settled in. Rain today and tomorrow but hopefully it'll clear before the weekend hits. I am ready to clean up my flower beds and scout out a spot for my vegetable garden!

Finally home!

David came home from the hospital tonight - yeah! He'll be home from work until the staples come out and a cast gets put on his leg. Sophie was so excited to have him home she climbed up on his lap as only a 70 lb dog can. I told him that's what he gets for giving her treats all the time!

I came home hopeful that all my appliances would be in there new homes. I hit the button and watched as the garage door opened ... to reveal my dishwasher. I came through the laundry room, peeked around the corner into the office ... and there sat my refrigerator. Sigh. The cooktop is still in the box in the kitchen.

Here are some pictures with counter tops installed. I don't think the pictures do it justice as you can't see the flecks. The pictures have some spots on them - reflection of the sun maybe?

The sweetest sound

I once read a magazine article in which someone (of course I can't remember who it was) said the sweetest sound she ever heard was her child's voice calling her mommy.

I wouldn't know what that sounds like.

Before anyone misunderstands me, let me say that Madeleine is a little chatterbox. She talks on the way home from daycare about her friends. She talks to Sophie when we get home. She is even starting to talk on the phone. She does not, however, call me mommy.

Yesterday we drove down to the hospital to bring David a couple of sandwiches (he is complaining about the hospital food). The hospital is south of us, so as we drove past our exit, a little voice pipes up from the back seat as she starts pulling on the straps of her car seat,

"Hey, Ria, no!! Out here now!"

My daughter does not call me mommy, she calls me Ria.

"No, no Ria. No night-night yet"

"Tank you Ria"

"Peas Ria"

"Hi Ria, how are you?"

and perhaps my personal favorite, yelled from the crib

"Hey, Ria, up NOW"

I've tried telling her that my name is mommy. She looks at me, smiles, repeats mommy and then I am 'Ria' again 10 minutes later. I know (at this point in time anyway) she isn't doing it to spite me - she hears everyone else calling me 'Maria' so of course that what she should call me too.

So, I continue to correct her and tell her my name is mommy each time she calls me 'Ria'. I can only hope it sinks in before her teenage years hit and then she IS doing it to spite me!

And for those who may be wondering ... the counter tops were installed and I am VERY happy with them. Unfortunately there is not a lot of light in the kitchen right now and the pictures look too dark. We need a nice suuny day - no more snow!!!!!!!

Excitement is building ...

The counter tops are being installed tomorrow - yeah!! I can't wait. I am so looking forward to being able to put everything that is stored in the office back into the kitchen where it belongs. Space is getting pretty tight in there especially since my little helper has been pulling stuff out of bags and boxes and off the bookshelves - Holp you! Holp you! It amazes me that someone so small can manage to tear through a room and cause so much destruction!

I'll give her credit where credit is due - she did find a banana in there that I knew I bought for her and then lost. Those that know me know I hate them (blech) so I am happy she found it before it was too far gone.

Back to the kitchen! Here are some shots of what it looks like now:

View from the hearth room


Replaced the big white cabinet with one that is smaller to open the area up more

While we were having the floors refinished, we decided to go ahead and get rid of the carpeting on the stairs. We had already replaced the carpeting in the hallway upstairs with hardwood floors, and Madeleine's room and one of the spare rooms also have wood floors.

Before:

A whole other story, but we are still waiting for the guys to come back and finish the stairs!

I want my kitchen back!!!!!

As some of you know, we started a kitchen remodel the first week of February. We had to repair the water damage to our hardwood floors in the kitchen from the pipes that broke last February while we were out in Denver.

Now, when we first bought the house, I am pretty sure that I made my dislike of the counter tops well known. I liked the layout of the kitchen, I loved having 2 wall ovens and I liked having a cook top. I did NOT like the tile counter tops. Here are a few of the before pictures:

The tall cabinet is going away along with the soffit


View from the hearth room


Removing the wet bar and putting in a pantry


Looks like fun to keep clean, doesn't it?


The one thing I knew that I really wanted was black granite - galaxy to be exact. Black with flecks of gold, silver and copper. Next thing I knew we were looking at new cabinets and of course new appliances, black, to replace the white. That made me happy as I would finally have a refrigerator that was useful. The refrigerator we had was a cabinet depth model and it really didn't hold anything.

Fast forward 10 weeks. My new refrigerator is in the office with the old microwave. We are still eating off of paper plates. The stash of already made meals I had in the freezer is pretty much gone. Soon it should be ready ... although I keep telling myself that! The counter tops are supposed to be installed on Tuesday, so fingers crossed!!

Here are a few pictures of the work in progress:

Totally gutted


With wet bar removed


All the walls are patched up

How to begin??!!??

I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog. I figured it would be a way to keep in touch with friends and family that we have all over the US.

I actually created the page at the beginning of the month but then didn't post anything. All of a sudden it was like being back in college and faced with writing a term paper. You know, you sit and stare at a blank piece of paper wondering how in the world to start it. Start writing, stop, start writing again, continue the process a few times until you are happy with what you've written.

I've decided to take the easy route and just say - Welcome!