Drywall and babies and tiles, oh my!

Here's the updates I haven't been updating:

Little md: growing like a weed. He is so precious. He grins and coos and is more often than not a calm happy roly poly baby. I am so thankful we were blessed to have him join our herd. He is the easiest baby to breastfeed in the world. He only nurses for about ten minutes, usually every three hours. He already loves his big sisters and watches everything they do intently. The other night I cried a little to realize how fast the time has gone and how fast it will continue to pass us by. Before long I will be baking his first birthday cake in my new kitchen and wonder where the last year went...or I will be pulling my hair out over the latest Little m stubborn streak and wondering how to get crayon out of carpet...either way--the future promises to be an adventure.

The girlies: Gosh they are precious too. Little d is so smart. I know she is going to do so well in school. Ahhh. Kindergarten. I am having the worst panics about sending her away most of the day. What ever will I do without my constant little companion? Both girls are still testing their limits. I am still finding myself at wit's end. But I know that things will work out. I just have to be consistant. Little m has such a personality. I wish I could capture everything she does on video. She now has an imaginary friend....Lisa.

Today they were pretty well behaved. The reason?

Little Miss Perfect: We ( my mom and I) are keeping her while my sis in law goes to work. She works part time and so on wednesdays and some fridays, we get to keep her. She is a precious precious girl. So tiny and perfect. And you should just see her tiny perfect mouth. And the little fingernails...ahhh I could go on and on. It's so funny to learn her little habits. I am just thrilled that we get to spend the time with her. And Little d is such a great helper. She spent all day entertaining both babies.

The hacienda: We are getting drywall up. So excited about that! I still need to decide on the texture pattern. Did you even know that was a decision to be made? Sheesh. The details are endless! I've also chosen the countertops in the kitchen and tile for the bathroom...I think. But I am still on mission to find a subway tile for the backsplash in the kitchen to match the countertops. Oh and paint. We may be starting to paint as early as next week and I still haven't chosen the interior colors.

A word about the tile. I have been on the record several times saying that I will never have tile in my house ever! But then I saw this tile. And I fell in love with it. I am not even a fan of blue, but now I want this seaglass stuff in our master bathroom. Click on the link above and you can enlarge the picture.

And since that site is sooo chock full of beautiful tile. I fell in love with this to use behind the stove and vent hood.

Oh who knows? I seem to be on a tile binge!

Off to get the girls out of the bath. Someday maybe I'll write an actual entertaining post. Or except my award...

She started another one...

post, that is. Let's see how long this one takes to complete.


Reasons it may take awhile:

1. Laptop is toast. Thankfully we only used it to surf. No pictures lost.


2. Kids bath must be cut short so we can spray three (3!) wasps nests outside.


3. Headache.


4. Determined to work on organizing house and not on wasting time on computer.
   

First, thanks for the support. You guys are like a pair of super strong hosiery. Wink!

I had my root canal last week. It was not to horrible. Except. There was going to be an except right? He couldn't get the tooth numb. Oh how I grin even as I remember the fun we had. So he hit it with the stuff. Then waited five minutes. Could still feel my lips and stuff. So he hit it with some more stuff and massaged my gums. Fun! Then he said 'let's see if that nerve is sleeping.' Guess what? It was not. SO then he drill into my tooth and shoots it with some more stuff right into the nerve I guess. And the bonus...it makes your heart pound like you are running a marathon. Gahhh! Glad that's over.

Day three of typing this post:

Sooo I have a bruise on my cheek from the root canal. Purdy.

Is it wrong to say I am fed up with my children's behavior? Fed Up. Well not the little one. He still has time to learn to be a little hellion. As of right now, after requisite meltdown, they are whining in the tub. Little d is calling Little m "the worst". And this is of course "the worst day ever!" Until tomorrow...that will be the worst day ever. Pukity puke puke blech! Soooo tired of this situation that happens several times a day.

Still typing on the same post...not even sure how many days...but--kiddos are being really good today. I actually got laundry accomplished and made banana bread. Can you imagine?

I recieved a blog award from Penny so I need to close this post up and start working on accepting that one... hope to get to it soon!

Chaos

Someday I will look back on this time in my life and maybe think "things sure were easy then." But here in the present its a little not easy, in fact maybe I'd go so far as to say chaotic. Before I get to the details let me first say I have the most blessed life I could imagine. I have a wonderful husband, three whole and healthy children and we are building our dream home.

Prior to Little md's birth things were verging on the out of control. House in shambles. (No I'm not tossing that word around loosely.) Kids on a schedule that defies gravity. Behavior that needed to be checked.

Now that he's arrived, it's been multiplied. I keep thinking, "when we get to the new house it will all fall into place." Well, some of it will. Just by the nature of the house being 1000 square feet bigger, and all on one level, some organization will happen naturally. I mean my kitchen size will double, so therefore, all of the bottles and sippy cups and bread and bags of chips won't have to sit on top of a counter. And the office will be just down the hall from the garage where we will usually enter the house, which means mail can be handled there...not on the kitchen island, counter...floor (yes it's that bad.) And there will be a bench/cubby area at the back door for shoes, purses, backpacks (gulp-that's just around the corner) and keys.

And somewhere in the back of my sleep-deprived befuddled mind I seem to remember an adjustment period for Little d when Little m was born in the behavior department. It's as if she took out her frustration of having to share the spotlight on me, not the new baby. And I am truly thankful for that. I don't have to block books being thrown at the baby's head, I just have to put kids in timeout...alot. Today Little d was in special form. She was in timeout several times and got three spankings. Talk about testing limits. Then tonight when bathtime hit, Little m threw such a fit that I only washed her hair and the top half of her and then dragged her kicking dripping body out and got her dressed.

So I'm hoping after the post-new baby adjustment wears off, we'll see something that resembles order again. But Little md is 8 weeks old. How long of an adjustment do you suppose it will take?

The good news. My kids are well behaved in public.

And speaking of the world outside these four walls...that house we're building? When will it ever be done? I get so annoyed that D spends all his time off from his job-job working on the house. And it's not his fault. If he doesn't work on the house, how will it get finished? Answer--it won't. And when he's not working at his job-job or working on the house, he's working overtime to make extra money to pay for that house. See? Can't fault him for that either. But where does it leave me--resentful, restless, and for that matter sleepless.

On the subject of sleepless: We are both exhausted. He is running himself silly from place to place and I am nursing a newborn and trying to reign in two heathen monkeys. I am starting to think this tunnel doesn't have a light at the end. {No, that's not a post partum depression sentence.} I've started practicing visualization. Soooo not like me. But I have. When things get particularly hairy, I picture something in the new house. A wall of a new paint color. A cabinet pull. The front door. Anything to distract me from the crazy.

Sometimes it works. And sometimes I sit at the computer and type a blog post. Which may take three days to write. Like this one. PS I'm over double checking and editing for a while. Please excuse the typos. And misspelled words.

Funny Remote Story (or two)

Everybody has one of those right?

First I should explain that we have three TVs in our house. One in the living room. One in the office/guest/completely trashed room. And one in our bedroom. We also have Dish Network, so we have two remotes that control the dish. One is for our bedroom and the other controls both other TVs. Make sense?

So the TV in the office also has a seperate remote that controls On/Off and volume.

I just realized that I actually have two funny remote stories...bonus for you.

Anyway. Tonight Little m wanted to watch Disney in the office (we were finishing up bath time) and the dish remote was downstairs in the living room. I told her that she had to watch was Dad was watching downstairs and then left the room to get Little d out of the tub. I was drying Little d off in the office (hey don't question our routine-it works) when Little m comes running in the room yelling Hannah Montana and waving the dish remote in her hand. She had gone down and stolen the remote from D (who was sleeping in the recliner) and came back upstairs. I don't know why, but this struck me as extremely funny.

Okay my other remote story. A while back--maybe last year, I was up in the office--probably scrapbooking. {Sigh. I miss that a little.} When I decided I wanted the TV on. So I looked for the remote and couldn't find it. I yelled downstairs to ask if anyone knew where the remote was. Little d in all seriousness said "mom, there's this button on the front of the TV and if you push it, it turns the TV on."

Oh and then while I was typing this post, this happened...



But it was worth it.



And this is my other little poser.



Mwah!!!

So you want about a thousand pictures of our new floors?

Suuuure you do!

Laundry Room:
Kitchen:

Kitchen, from the great room:

Back door in great room. I didn't want carpet right at the back door...

Bathroom 2:

Dining room:

Okay off to bathe girlies...

Quick House Update

Finally we have a real roof! Not just tar paper. It is soooo satisfying to see the exterior mostly done. (The red door has to wait to the end, so it doesn't get scratched up during construction.)

Here's the backside ;)

And now for a little interior work... This is our stained concrete floors. The pictures were taken with D's camera so I'll have to get some better ones next time I'm out there.

Okay off of here....just had to get these uploaded!

Possessions

This morning I got an email about Grandma's stuff. Specifically it was letting everyone know that since they are predicting a strong hurricane season, if you want anything from her house you should speak up now. The siblings (meaning Grandma's kids) are getting together and will try to meet all requests.


There was no need for a will. Of the fourteen kids there will be no bickering.


So my parents, brother and I brainstormed about anything we might want from Grandma's house. My Dad sent Grandma some China from the Philippines when he was stationed there during Vietnam. Seven of the plates were broken during shipping. So it's 24 settings minus 7 plates.


I crocheted a prayer shawl for her several years ago in a soft heather blue. I also gave her a birdfeeder shaped like a pair of hands. And the coffee mug with Little d and Little m's pictures.


My brother remembered that Dad made a wooden lighthouse for her that was turned on his lathe.


Mom remembered a cross with the face of Jesus on it.


And so it went. Different memories of Christmases and times past. Stories with each gift. Visions of her opening her gifts at Christmas.


This sorting through things and dividing out is not about holding on to these possessions. I mean, what will I do with an "I Heart Grandma" Disneyland mug? Rather, it's about holding onto the memories of someone we cherished.


****************


For the last few months, well since Memaw passed away, Poppy has been visiting us more often. He comes up here at least two times a week. My parents don't want him left in POC alone, so if they are both going to be up here, they bring him too. And I've really enjoyed it. And the girls have warmed up to him.


Every time he visits he brings some little trinket for them. For a while it was my grandmother's beaded necklaces. And I remembered just about every outfit she wore with each one. Now it's other things. And they all bring back memories.


It seems that all of her things bring back memories for him as well and it's hard for him to have them around. He also loves to give things to the girls.

It's funny how possessions can evoke such memories. I look around my house and think that in the new house I want to really concentrate on only hanging onto things that have meaning, or that I love. Not just random clutter. We'll see how successful I am at that!

Little md update: He weighs 13 pounds and six ounces (at 6 weeks). He's 23 inches tall and his head is 15 1/4. My little chunk! Last night he let me sleep for four hours. In a row. An all time record. Repeat performance welcome...

Side note: It took me three days to write this post. Hmpt.

Has it been that long since I posted??

Yes, why yes it has! Whew. Who knew three kids would be so much work? I have hired a full-time nanny that goes by the name Mimi. She's cheap, thank goodness, but comes highly recommended...in case you haven't figured it out--I'm talking about my mom. She's practically lived with us since Little md's birth. What a Godsend.

How do women do it? Am I just particularly inept? I mean how do you fix a meal for a starving five-year-old, physically put a scratching two year old in timeout while breastfeeding a newborn? It can not be done by one person. And this kind of situation happens more than once a day.

I'm also trying to figure out if breastfeeding is just particularly draining on me. I mean I have zero energy most of the time. If my mom wasn't here to handle some of the night shift when D's at work I would not be conscious most of the time. I'm already cranky and short fused as it is. How do other mothers breastfeed and manage to have clean clothes, dishes....children? Oh and the sore...areas....of breastfeeding. A little taxing with every other thing going on.

A lot of stress comes from the fact that Little md is kind of high maintenance. He's on an iron supplement as per doc's orders, but Tuesday when we go in for a checkup and I'm going to discuss his iron levels to see if he still needs to be on it. I forgot to give it to him one whole day and half of two other days, and during that time he seemed less fussy.

Monday I have my six week post partum check up. Fun.

Thursday I have a root canal. Even more fun.

And because all that is not enough. Now is decision time on the house. Cabinet finishes, counter colors, call about alarm system, try to afford appliances, tile work--yes or no?

But the roof is on finally--I mean the shingles are. But they put the vents in the wrong place. Sigh. Here's a picture of the back of the house my bro sent today. What do you think? Did I choose good colors for the outside?

Okay I know it's not the best picture. Maybe soon I'll get out there and take some pictures. Maybe soon I'll sleep more than two hours...doubt it!

;) It's all good.....

Just some random thoughts involving money, teeth, and politics.

Oh and blogging.

Money: Tonight on the phone with D (he's at work) we tracked new house expenditures. Looks like the overall cost of the home will fall below budget. We are on track and that makes me vastly relieved. Please please please no surprises!

Teeth: I'm sure I've posted before about my horrible teeth. But I'm too lazy to look up the post and reference it. So just take my word for it. My teeth are horrible, and I floss daily. Yesterday I had my teeth cleaned and checked because one of them, here's a shocker, is getting sensitive and randomly causing pain. Today I visited the endowhatchamadinger and drumroll...I need another root canal. Seriously, why do I bother with the good teeth hygiene? I mean other than stopping bad breath. I brush twice (sometimes more) and floss every day. Even now in my very sleep deprived state when all I want to do is fall into bed and hibernate at the end of the day, I manage to floss at least six times a week. Blech.

Politics: I'm no fan of Obama, but who gives a poop if he visits the oil spill. Honestly? I don't know why conservatives are making a huge deal out of it. Of all the crap he's pulled and is pulling, this is the least of our concerns. In fact, didn't he respond faster to the oil spill than to the shooting at Fort Hood?

Blogging: I don't have time to visit my favorite blogs anymore. If I give the girls a bath (like now) I take a few minutes to peek at some. But of the hundreds on my list, I only check about 15 on an every other day or so basis anymore. Boo. Hiss. But life is just to full of other stuff right now. I foresee only more stuff in the future. I am trying my hardest to keep up this blog, because more than anything I want it for the kids future reference to how whack-job their mom really was...as if they need this thing for proof of that. ;)

Bonus topic-Scrapbooking: Not gonna happen anytime soon. Not even sure about Little md's birth announcements. I'm even thinking of packing it all up and just putting it in storage until the move. And it's shocking how okay I am with that.

Guess I should go get the littles out of the tub before the little man wakes up to feed again. Take care blog-land...

Paint!

Today the painters started on painting the exterior. I'm so excited!! Can't wait to see the trim finished and the red front door! Here's some pictures...

Front of house:

Side of house:

Back of house:

And yes, that's Little d in some of the shots. Did I mention that I registered her for kindergarten yesterday? Trauma! I know she will love it. At least, I hope she does. But me, I don't know how I'll survive. The good news is her school is very small. I think (as of now) she'll have 13 in her class. They have 26 kids registered so far and they divide the kids between two classrooms. I am loving that she will be in such a small class!

Ahh. Growing pains for me!

supa supa stars

We've been partying like rock stars around here. Staying up all night--eating chocolate all day. Fast times--

Even Little md gets in on it. As seen here, he is laughing (ok, smiling) at his sisters dancing antics.

Party on people--party on.

PS the painters are working on the exterior of the house this week...hope to have pictures to share soon!

Day to day

Turns out blogging has taken a back seat...to life.


The rash mercifully has left and some of my sanity has returned. It started leaving around week three of Little md's life. He, by the way, is a month old today. Time has been flying this last week.


The girls are doing well. Although there have been some sibling like growing pains. And testing of the limits. And I fully admit to having trouble enforcing limits, what with a small(ish) gremlin attached to one boob. But I hope that settles down in a short period of time.

Little md is growing like a weed. I can't get over how quickly he got all chubby on me. He's outgrown one size of clothes and two sizes of diapers. Oh and guess what? I have only been peed on three times. Not to bad for a month. His umbilical cord finally fell off at three weeks. Sheesh--talk about overstaying your welcome mister cord.

Okay--life calls--more later....

Little Miss Perfect

Yesterday I had the distinct honor of meeting my brother's new baby girl. She arrived a little after noon on her mother's birthday. What a lovely way to celebrate life--with a brand new one.

Her nickname here will be little miss perfect, because indeed she is absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way, from her teeny tiny eyelashes to her sweet pouty lips.

It is nine kinds of awesome to see my brother being a dad. And I couldn't be more happy for him and my sister in law. It is amazing to watch the sparkle in their eyes as they describe her and her birth...and the miracle that is becoming a parent. It is of course something you can't fully realize until you live through it yourself.

And I am so thrilled they are part of the club. Welcome to parenthood H and L! It's so good to have you as new members!

Just scratching along...

The rash is still going strong. I am now pretty...pretty ugly. HA! And pretty sleep deprived. Little md is a little high maintenance, but it won't last forever. Been there done that before.

I do wish we were already in our new house. Somehow I feel like that would just make things so much easier. Oh well--before too long. In fact we are making progress...

Here's the latest pictures of the siding. D's dad has really been helping him try to get it done.

And today the electrician started! Yeah! After he's done (hopefully this week) we can get the spray insulation and the concrete floors done. And then the drywall--that's getting more and more houselike!!

And besides that...I have reason to believe I will keep my sanity despite the insane asinine itching. Turns out Little md takes a bottle of expressed milk like a champ. {I had to nurse Little m for an entire year before she could be weaned.} I was so worried that he would follow suit. But sigh of relief, he takes a bottle!

Blessed be!

The Recovery

First...God, he's beautiful. I know you all would love to just eat him up, but too bad, he's all mine!



If there is one thing I've learned about childbirth, it's to expect the unexpected.

For my first delivery, I thought I had it pretty easy...right up until the epidural wore off. And then I was a little like "What the hell!?!" I had tearing, cutting, and a cracked tailbone. My God I would cry--literally--if I had to toot! The nurses were giving me pain meds-um the really good stuff that makes your ears ring a little-every three hours. Then there was the breastfeeding pain. And of all three Little d was the best-from-the-beginning-nurser I've had. But still, even with her perfect latch, I had two weeks of knee-shaking pain during nursing.

But I regrouped, learned some things, and prepared for the second delivery.

After Little m, I took my sitz baths regularly, and due to not near as much damage, I recovered very well. In fact the only post delivery pain reliever I had was one Motrin--and that was mostly for back pain that kept me awake. Stupid hospital beds. I also started using Lansinoh cream immediately with nursing...not waiting until soreness set in. So breastfeeding was much less painful as well.

So here I went into this delivery thinking...should be at least as easy as Little m's birth, right?

Wrong.

Even thought Little md is almost 2 pounds heavier than Little m was and even though I pushed four times as long, most of that recovery is pretty easy. Thanks be to God! But my muscles were exhausted. I couldn't understand why until D explained 'well it's like you did situps for an hour...' Well duh. That does make sense. I mean it didn't feel like situps since I had the epidural, but essentially that's what it was. So even though I was looking forward to not hobbling around like a weirdo...that's just what I did for another few days.

But here's where things got truly weird and unexpected. On Monday before Little md was born, I started itching...on the belly. And throughout the week it progressed until my stomach was bright red. Like a really bad sunburn. I thought it was just a normal itchy preggo belly--I've had that before with the girls, but usually not that bad.

And then Friday after delivery and Saturday I noticed it started to spread...to my legs and backside. Hmmm. I thought the rash on my legs was from heat. Everything I was sleeping on in the hospital was plastic. I asked Dr. S about my stomach before leaving the hospital and he said I could use hydrocortisone cream and take Zyrtec. But by Monday, the scratching was driving me to insanity...and this ridiculous rash was everywhere! Legs and arms! Everywhere! I could not stop scratching. It was worse than the head to toe poison ivy I had as a youngster.

I consulted Dr. Google and discovered the answer. PUPPP. Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy. Makes great dinner table conversation. Google it yourself and get a load of the pictures. Umm-mmm good. If you're not brave enough to google it here's the rundown:

• usually starts in third trimester of first pregnancy and then doesn't occur again in following pregnancies.
• usually occurs in pregnancies with boys.
• starts in stretch mark area and spreads.
• usually resolves itself within a week of delivery.
• can be treated with oral steroids in severe cases.
• is "annoying" but doesn't cause any harm to mom or baby.

"Annoying". Are you kidding me? They could use this crap in the place of waterboarding for terrorists.! Seriously. I'll talk--I did it--I stole the Linburg baby--I was the second shooter on the grassy knoll! Just make it stop itching!!!

I finished my course of steroids yesterday. And I am. still. itching. In the worse case scenarios I've seen online, it can last for months postpartum. And I even saw one lady say that hers flares up every time she has her period. Okay. Will not focus on that possibility!

Here's some more tips I've learned. Heat makes it ten times worse. Not being able to hug my family really sucks. Really really bad.

Well that's the rundown of the recovery so far. Hopefully week two will look better. On a positive note:

Day eight...infatuation still going strong...