We have a driveway

fter six weeks of waiting we finally have our driveway! Yay! I never thought I'd be so happy to have a driveway. It's so much easier to play outside with N when we can use the driveway and sidewalks. N runs outside and heads straight for the sidewalk yelling "Sidewalk!!!" Having a driveway means that we track less dirt into the house, we can get the final grade done on our yard and we can start thinking about planting grass and landscaping. D has already started building a retaining wall in the back yard because the concrete pad by the back door is completed. We can walk on the concrete, but can't drive on it for two weeks, so we're still parking in the street, but we can work around that. We can also continue to get quotes on having our ducts cleaned. We were told we wouldn't be able to get our ducts cleaned until our driveway is done because the hoses used to do that work aren't long enough to extend from the truck (parked in the street) to the house. So, now that our concrete is done, we can move on with other things. :)

This too shall pass

Update on the swallowed fork...

For those of you who weren't at my husband's extended family's birthday party gathering yesterday I will give you the scoop. N and I were sharing a bowl of ice cream and cake. I had a plastic spoon in the bowl for N to eat from and a plastic fork in the bowl that I was going to use to eat with. Before I knew it N took the plastic fork, bit into it and bit off the tips of two of the fork tongs. He started to cry when the pieces were in his mouth, so I attempted to scoop them out of his mouth with my finger, but that didn't work. He ended up swallowing them.. Ugh!! N was breathing well, he did not choke or gag on the fork tongs, he continued eating (w/ a spoon), and started to play with the other kids again. Everyone collectively decided that he was probably okay and that we should watch his diapers for the fork pieces to pass. The things mommies and daddies do! D got the first dirty diaper, but no signs of fork pieces. I got the next diaper, nothing. Then, at about 9 this morning the fork pieces passed!!! Yay!! I brought the fork home with me so I could compare the missing pieces to the passed pieces. That way I would know when all the "foreign objects" (as the phone nurse at N's doctor referred to it) had passed. I compared the two and sure enough everything came out okay. The phone nurse at N's doctor said everything should be okay if he passed the objects without other symptoms. I'll spare you those details. She said to monitor his eating and his activity today. She's going to let N's doctor know of our phone conversation and if the doctor has any concerns they will call me back.

I cannot help but think of my Grandma Evelyn while writing this story. Whenever we're in a stressful or frustrating situation she always says "Honey, this too shall pass." Well, in this case, her wise words could not be more true!

Take care,
C

Closing

One quick note in addition to what I wrote below.
We closed on our old house yesterday and everything went smoothly!
D and I were able to sign all the paper work a few days ago, so we did not have to attend the closing meeting Friday morning. I did meet the buyer of the house. I didn't talk to him very long (just long enough to make sure he got the garage door openers) but he seemed to be a nice guy. He complimented us on our work on the house and said he's excited to move in. He said he's painting what was my office and N's room because the colors are not appropriate for his kids. Other than that he is keeping all the other rooms the same.. I told him we had lots of good memories in that house and we wish the same for him.

- C

New pictures!!

I have had several people ask me to post new pictures of our house. Below are pictures taken of the kitchen (composite, so it looks a little crooked), desk in the kitchen, living room, and the "loft."
The kitchen turned out just as I had imagined. It is so beautiful and has so many neat features. My favorites are the cabinet that holds two garbage cans (so N can't get into the trash), the ice cube maker (How did we live w/o an ice maker?), the plug ins in the island, the island, and the sink. The sink is huge! I think we could bathe N in it right now and he's 30" tall. :)

The desk in the kitchen is very handy. I had a very proud moment when I installed the computer all by myself. :) We designed the computer set up so that the cords lace through the counter top and into the cabinet where the CPU is stored. This way the cords are concealed from line of sight and from our son. N really enjoys the desk. He has a keyboard for toddlers that sits on top of my keyboard. We sit together at the desk and play with his keyboard and the software that came with it. N calls this his "A, B, C, D's." He tugs at the cabinet where the keyboard is stored and says "A, B, C, D's" until we agree to play it with him.

The living room is very comfortable. Hanging pictures on the living room walls last weekend made the room feel even more like home. I have placed an order for mini blinds. They are being shipped as they are made. So far we have recieved our blinds that will cover the sliding glass door in the nook, but we haven't installed them yet. I am looking forward to getting the blinds up for the times of day when the sun is blinding, but I hope they don't block the gorgeous light that comes through the kitchen windows in the morning.

D did his part to make the house feel like home... in addition to hanging pictures and unpacking boxes inside the house, he pimped out the garage. Look at the pictures below and you will know what I mean. He built our garbage can and recyling center near our back door. We will eventually add hooks where our brooms, mops, etc will hang. In another area of the garage he built "the loft." I jokingly call it that because it reminds me of the way my roommates and I would loft our beds in college. These shelves D built are great because they store a lot of garage items that we don't use on a daily basis.

I will post more pictures as we decorate (and I clean, ha!). We have N's room all decorated, but I'm not going to post pictures of that for safety reasons...If you saw his room at the old house you pretty much know what it looks like. I kept the same decor because I want the room to feel like home.

Other that that, we are continuing to get boxes unpacked.

People have told me they love to hear stories posted about N, so here are a few:

The other day N was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. He had his milk cup in his hand and asked me to give him his water cup. Once he had both cups in his hands he pushed them around a little, shook them a few times and said "Diet Coke." As if mixing water and milk creates Diet Coke. ( By the way, I drink Diet Coke at lunch every day.)

N is really into singing and pretending right now. I purposely left his Farm out on the table in the pictures I took of the living room. I did this to tell you that he plays with this farm every day several times a day. He pretends to feed the "aminals," combine the field and makes all the animal sounds.

Every night before N falls asleep he either talks to himself or sings. He's getting pretty good at singing his ABC's and counting to ten.... He also likes the song "Shift Work" by Kenny Chesney. Ha! I haven't heard him singing it to yet, but he stops in his tracks and watches the entire music video whenever it comes on CMT. Too funny!!

Take care -C