Master Bedroom

We’ve lived in our house since 2004 and up until last month our bedroom was an embarrassment. It had turned into a de facto dumping ground for worn out clothes, random toys of E’s, and piles of paperwork waiting to be filed/shredded. We didn’t even have anything on the walls. I had framed some collages by Bob Pollard that N collects and some posters but they had been leaning against the wall waiting to be hung for years.

And while I had hung up some curtains I hadn’t hemmed them and they puddled messily on the floor collecting dust. Overall, it was not a relaxing room to spend time in and I hated the idea of other people seeing it.

But no more! We’re planning on keeping the baby in our room for the first little while and so I was motivated to organize and declutter. I shredded boxes of old papers. I hemmed the curtains to get them off the floor. I got a second bookcase to get piles of books off the floor and onto shelves. And then I hung up our art for good measure.

(I made the Chinese-style lattice headboard in woodworking class about 5 years ago.)

These photos were taken at different times of day which is why the wall color looks so different. There are still several things I’d like to do to really finish our room; after I hung up our prints I realized that they had a gray/yellow theme going on which I’d like to carry over to the whole room. I’d like to paint the walls a soft gray, get some some coordinating bedding (maybe something like this), replace the outdated ceiling fan with a fun chandelier, etc… all which will have to wait until this summer at the earliest.

But at least now I like walking into the room. It makes me feel like a normal person instead of someone with a mild hoarding problem 🙂 And with the curtains hemmed and all the junk off the floor the room seems half again as large which is great.

Now on to the baby’s room!

Week 36ish Ultrasound

Since E was a c-section my doctor wanted to do an ultrasound to measure how big baby #2 is looking. Granted, late-pregnancy ultrasounds are notoriously inaccurate but I went in for it today anyway.

Baby girl measured 8 lbs 6 oz which puts her due on the 12th of this month rather than the 31st. But the tech said that the weight was probably high by at least a pound. So…as expected the ultrasounds wasn’t that helpful.

However, it wasn’t a complete waste since the ultrasound showed that she already has quite a bit of hair and big chubby cheeks. It was really cute to see her little hand curled up by her face. I can’t believe she’s going to be here in a few weeks! I’ve been really tired with a cold these last few days but now I’m even more anxious to get a couple last minute things finished around the house.

Project: Chessboard

I’ve made my mom a cutting board and a jewelry box but hadn’t had the chance to make a woodworking project for dad yet. So when it became apparent that I would have a little extra time after finishing my spice cabinet I made this chessboard for him out of curly maple and mahogany.

I found some chess pieces online that kind of matched and shipped everything off to my dad for Christmas. Apparently my dad was very impressed with the pieces (and the wooden box they came in) because after saying how much he liked the gift he went on and on about how nice the pieces were and asked me if I made them and the box. I was a little surprised and after I stammered, “Um, no…but I made the fancy chessboard by hand!” there was a little awkward pause. Ah, good times!

After everything’s said and done I’m happy I got the chessboard finished in time for Christmas. It came together pretty quickly and it was fun to make. My dad’s a really great guy; with his health issues it felt good to do something nice for him.

Christmas Recap

We’re finally getting back into the swing of things. E came down with a cold over Christmas that morphed into what I think was Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (SUCH a charming name). Last week he developed a few little sores around his mouth but other than that seems to have been spared other symptoms.

As soon as the sores appeared and I suspected HFMD we quarantined ourselves at home so as not to spread it around so New Year’s was pretty quiet. N and I watched The Wire on DVD and snacked on cheese, summer sausage, and a shrimp tray from Costco. When we kissed at midnight I realized that it was 10 years ago exactly that N purposed which made me feel kind of warm and gooey inside (ten years!)

Even with being under the weather E had a nice Christmas. We got him a few things and our family and friends sent him some thoughtful gifts that he had a lot of fun unwrapping. He has been really into robots lately so this Alphie robot that my parents sent was a big hit.


Watching E’s face light up when he saw everything in the morning was a lot of fun.

N really outdid himself this Christmas…he got together with my thoughtful SIL and BIL (who works at Adobe) and got me a copy of the Adobe Create Suite Master Collection! It’s amazing to have a copy of the latest full suite of programs like Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Flash, etc… I like to tinker with design programs but since I’m just an amateur I could never afford the $$$ it would cost to purchase the suite retail. So I was really thrilled and grateful to N and Miranda and her husband for setting this up. I can’t wait to dig into it and see the updates Adobe’s made to the programs.

As awesome as that gift was N had an even bigger surprise waiting for me under the tree. (But it deserves its own post later.)

2010 in review

2010 was an interesting year for our family. I’m glad that I blogged pretty regularly this last year because paging through my archives reminded me of all sorts of things I’ve already forgotten.

  • We made a couple trips to Seattle to visit family and to see the Magnetic Fields in concert.
  • I had an early pregnancy loss but am now finishing 2010 quite pregnant with a baby girl.
  • We saw some great movies at the Sundance Film Festival.
  • E caught and suffered through approximately 187 colds and bugs.
  • I conquered my shyness and some awesome local bloggers in person.
  • I started scanning in old family photos.
  • I started (and then stopped) cooking new recipes every week.
  • I finally got to fulfill a weird dream of mine and walk around on the salt flats.
  • We drove to Medford, OR (in one day!) to visit N’s sister Gwyn and her family.
  • N and I attended some fun concerts in the park.
  • I took a photography class.
  • E turned 3.
  • I turned 30.
  • We went to Korea on our first overseas trip as a family.
  • Both of my parents began intensive treatment for various ailments (prostate cancer and Hep C).
  • I finished building my spice cabinet and a chess board for my dad (pictures of the finished projects to come)
  • I finally got a new phone.
  • I came in second in our office fantasy football league.
  • And we had a lovely Christmas in which N outdid himself once again.

I’m going to try and keep my goals for 2011 pretty manageable. I have a feeling that the first month or two after the baby arrives are going to be kind of crazy but when I emerge from the fog I’d like work on things like

  • Resuming cooking a new recipe weekly for Cookbooks on Trial.
  • Rededicating myself to daily scripture study and drawing closer to God.
  • Rejoining Weight Watchers (I’m excited to try out the new points system) and exercising regularly
  • Taking more photos

I’d also like to learn how to thrive and not just survive as a mother of two. I know a ton of people have more than one kid but I was just starting to feel like I knew what I was doing when it came to mothering E and I’m a little bit nervous about how I’ll handle going from one to two. But at the same time I can’t wait until our little girl arrives (in about 4 weeks!)

Great deal on EW Subscription

We had a wonderful Christmas and I’ll get some pictures up soon but I wanted to quickly post about this deal since I don’t know how long it will be up for.

Right now On Amazon you can get a 1-year subscription to Entertainment Weekly for $15(!) N and I have subscribed to Entertainment Weekly for a couple of years and really like it. It’s fun to get a magazine every Friday and while I don’t always agree with the writers it’s a nice way of keeping up with movies, tv shows, and books. Plus our babysitters love reading it when they come over.

Our current subscription is almost over and the best deal the notices I’ve received in the mail have offered is about $80 for two years, so this is really a steal. I just signed us up for it. The subscription does auto-renew itself which for this price I don’t mind but you should be able to manage your subscription via your Amazon account.

Merry Christmas!

E is excitedly counting down the hours until he gets to rip into the presents he sees stashed around the house.


I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a joyous new year! I plan on spending the next little while relaxing with E and N and enjoying their company (and if there’s time I’ll hopefully squeeze in some baby/home improvement stuff around the house).

I might check in here and there but otherwise I’ll be back to posting regularly on Monday January 3rd.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Letting go a little

I think I’ve mentioned before how easily I get sucked into “the idea” of things. I get a picture in my head and then inevitably feel disappointed when things don’t work out as well. This habit has only gotten worse since I had E because while I see so many opportunities for Magical! Childhood! Moments!, E is not always predictable or more accommodating than you would expect from a three year-old.

After seeing Santa at our church Christmas party was a big hit I thought I’d try and take E to the mall today to see Santa again and take a photo. I had a vague goal of getting to the mall around 10am but by the time we actually there it was already noon. And the line for Santa was a hour long.

I actually stood in line with E for a little bit and while he was good he started to get antsy after about 10 minutes. I did a bit of soul searching (“But we’re already here and he’s dressed in a cute outfit that will coordinate perfectly with Santa’s suit!” vs. “There’s NO WAY he and I are going to be able to stand in this line for an hour–it will get ugly.”) and then we got out of line and I took E to have a ride on the little train that chugs around the mall instead.


He loved it. And then we left the mall, went grocery shopping and came home–the end.

So, while we didn’t get an overpriced photo with Santa this year I think I might finally be learning to let go a little and sincerely put E’s interest ahead of the craving I feel to create and document Magical! Childhood! Moments!

(I also learned that if I want to do Santa photos next year I’m going to take the kids in November.)

Good Enough to Eat

I saw these pre-assembled gingerbread house kits at Costco a while ago and picked one up to decorate with E. We decorated it last night and he was surprisingly good about not eating the candy pieces unless I told him it was okay. But now every time he walks past the kitchen table he sticks his face inches away from the house, staring at it, and declares that he wants to eat “the Christmas house.” I guess we’ll see how long his self-control holds out.


Santa

Last night we went to our church’s Christmas party. There were rumors about an appearance by a certain special someone and I was curious about how E would handle it. Luckily his face lit up when Santa walked in the room. It was pretty cute.


Sadly the professional photographer who volunteered to take photos of the kids had her camera knocked over and her pricey lens broken (thankfully it was insured) so I only have a few photos I snapped with my phone.

I know I was supposed to learn my lesson about pushing E into what I think will be Kodak moments after the disaster that was the Yo Gabba Gabba live show but now I’m thinking it might be worth it to take E to the mall and get a real pictures with Santa.

Am I being utterly foolish or do you think it will turn out okay?