Home Renovation: Update

One might think that since my blog has lately been all about the adventures of life with Alec that the home renovation has come to a complete standstill.

Happily I can report it hasn’t. It may not be moving along at the fast clip it once was in the days before Alec entered our lives…but I think we’re not doing too bad considering we just had a baby this year.

As you know, there was the big porch re-do. And honestly we still haven’t finished it…and seeing as it is 35 degrees out, I can confidently say it has become a spring project. I’m a bit bummed about that, but life goes on…and I know it will look so cool when it is done.

But other projects have been begun, and finished as well, that I just never got around to bloging about. Dave has spent much of the summer staining and shellacking like a mad-man. Some of the doors we installed upstairs are now stained, as well as the railing for the stairs (which isn’t installed yet---but we’re getting there), and a curio cabinet for our dining room for my ever burgeoning teapot and teacup collection. He also stained the 3 oak book cases with glass doors for our bedroom which will someday be built into the wall.

We also had our friend, the “Bob Villa” of wiring and electricity, come over and he added 2 new outlets to our living room. Since we have an old 1920’s bungalow…there aren’t a lot of outlets. Our living room had 1 to be exact. So, we had an extension cord going from the dining room around the wood column into the living room for the TV. Alec has found great joy with this extension cord and we knew it had to go. So, we had an outlet installed behind the entertainment center, as well and a cable outlet to hook our cable directly into, an outlet behind the couch for the lamps we might have someday, and he also installed a phone jack (Since the current one was way the hell on the opposite side of the room that our phone was). The joys of a cord free life. Alec was so sad to see them go…

We have also been continuing to organize our Den and the Art Studio, and tossing tons of crap and clutter. I can actually see my studio now. It’s lovely!

The bathroom re-do is currently in discussion and is snowballing every day. We had decided for a Christmas gift to one another we would buy ourselves a pedestal sink (So romantic, huh) to replace the skanky wood 70’s sink we currently have and a nice cabinet to go over the toilet to replace the quasi gun-cabinet looking thing above our toilet. I kid you not. It looks like a gun cabinet. I will post pictures before we remove it. But we are now talking about fixing the ceiling in the bathroom as well because some nimrod painted the ceiling with CRACKLE paint. Why on earth would anyone do this? It’s a bathroom people, with lots of moisture! Needless to say, all those lovely cracks are trapping moisture and getting really funky. So, what began as talk of replacing the sink, is slowly evolving into a complete aesthetic over haul of the bathroom. I wouldn’t mind replacing the sink and bathroom hardware, along with the towel rods, and any other hardware in the bathroom as well.

Also currently in discussion is going back upstairs to complete the numerous projects that were begun but never quite completed. Those bookcases still need to be inset into the wall, the reading nook is still not finished, and albeit the closets are built...they need organization! We hope to get a good start on these this winter, and now that the little guy is mobile it's sometimes easier to get projects done...it is also sometimes much harder. Gotta love the little guy...

Some of the things we hope to begin next spring and summer are:
Hardwood floors upstairs
A complete overhaul of the stairs and replacing the banister
Buying, staining and installing into the wall a dresser in the bedroom
Installing the bookcases into our bedroom as well as bookcases in the hall
A retaining wall
A new backyard fence

Is this a bit unrealistic, yes....But we always make a huge "wish" list and then as the summer progresses we re-evaluate what will get done and what will be put on the back burner. We also find, the larger the list...the more we inevitably get done. So this is the game plan, wish us luck...

The Diaper Blues…

For those of you who have never experienced a fussing child at 4:30 in the morning because he has wet himself…you are blessed.
Since the little dude has been sleeping through the night for months now…these new nocturnal happenings suck! He’s been wetting himself off and on for over 2 weeks now and it’s wreaking havoc on everyone’s sleep. By the time he’s changed into new pajamas and the linens are changed….he’s bright eyed and chipper and ready to start the day. I’m sure he thinks to himself, “It may be 3 hours earlier than I usually wake up, but hell, everyone is in here…let’s go play!”

Every night we keep adjusting the diaper thinking we that we’re just putting them on askew or too loose, since he has become the wriggling man during changing time. But we finally figured out that it’s not us. It’s just that he is getting bigger…and thus he is peeing like a MANIAC and the diapers can’t hold it. Fascinating stuff, isn’t this? Bet you’re glad you read my blog today!

But the diaper gods have smiled upon us, and in my last ditch effort to afford us a good nights sleep….I went on the hunt. And yes my friends. They make such a diaper for this very thing. The night-time diaper. Will it work? Stay tuned…

UPDATE: Yippeeee!!!! They Work....We are all now blessed with sleep once again, and everyone is happy once again!

The holidays are almost upon us!

Wow…where the heck is time going lately? That seems to be a common phrase in my blog lately…that is…when I actually do blog!

Life is going well. Alec is growing by leaps and bounds and coming up on his 1st Birthday soon! WOW. There was much discussion as to the birthday plans. The current trend is to have big birthday parties for the little guys, especially on the 1st birthday. We’ve been to many, and they are rollicking events with kiddies everywhere, toys, food and birthday cake. They were fun…and we contemplated it. But after much discussion, we decided to do a small affair. Since in reality Alec won’t remember this momentous occasion, we decided to do a small family event. It may not bring in the loot for the little guy, but he doesn’t need much and tends to keep himself entertained with a sock (don’t ask) ….and in truth it would probably be too overwhelming for him to have a ton of people and chaos anyways. We were really excited at the thought of throwing a big shin-dig, but we decided we should have a party he will enjoy, since it is his day and not ours.

As Alec’s birthday is right around the corner …Christmas is not far behind...3 days to be exact! We are looking foreword to Alec’s first "True Christmas," seeing as he was only 3 days old last year. We are planning on going all out this year! He is already enamored with all the twinkling holiday lights and we picked him up his first holiday ornament. A little snowman bell with a lime green hat. (Note: For some reason he loves lime green, if it’s lime green he’s drawn to it. Hmmm...What does that mean?) But he loves his ornament and his eyes light up whenever he sees it.

I love the holidays and having this little guy in our lives just makes it even more special. We are truly doing well and for the first time in months...life seems to be settling into a happy routine. We are adjusting to our new lifestyle and the wonderful and sometimes chaotic effect Alec has had on our life.