Pet the Dog

Okay so I'm coming out of my brief hiding because I don't want to forget these moments from today.

"Momma we made Valentime's at school today for to give to my Grandma and Grandpa!!"

The look of pride and excitement on his face was priceless. I on the other hand had to walk into the kitchen to compose my thoughts and hoped he didn't ask where/who his grandpa is.

We've been playing this game at night that the kids "invented" in which John and I are dogs. Yeah, it's great fun, we have to bark and sit and they tell us we're bad dogs and then they feed us imaginary treats. John asked Luke tonight what his name was and Luke said, "Your name is Pet the Dog." We were rolling with laughter, how awesome a name is that. Seriously if we ever get a dog we're naming it Pet the Dog. Is it me, am I weird or is that hilarious?!

Ellie is full of positive reinforcement for everyone. No matter what you do she says, "Good job Mom...Good job Dad...Good job Lukey."

PS John is taking a state exam tomorrow, let's wish him good luck.

Taking a step back

I've been home all day with a sick Luke. I'm pretty sure he threw up about 8 times in 6 hours. My mom was here in the morning to help keep Ellie entertained, thank God. He asked me to rock him for the better part of the afternoon as his fever spiked, Ellie would dance about his feet and he'd tell her, "please don't bother me right now." The dry-heaving was the worst. All in all I washed every towel we own, every slipcover (7 in all) on the 10 year old Ikea Ektorp sofa, my handmade crocheted blanket was not spared, as were 3 different sets of pjs. Pretty hellacious. We are now wondering who is next or are we in the clear?

So while I spent the day moving from room to room, cycling laundry, fighting an insane amount of loose feathers that fell from every couch cushion (if you're curious Ikea really uses real feathers in their Ektorp cushions), and failing to do any work-while-home-work, I realized it's just time to get back to basics. I have removed the facebook app from my iphone. Gasp. This is huge for me, I'm that quintessential FB oversharer and I think I've hit my quota.

The turning point was that I had put Luke back in his bed, he was passed out asleep and then I heard Ellie coughing and I thought she was throwing up so I went into her room. It was a false alarm with the sick thing but regardless we cuddled and she repeatedly said, "I got mom, I got mom, I got mommy mom mommy." Then we heard a thump and a thud and as we went to check on Luke we found him passed out on my bedroom floor. He woke up and dragged himself to my room for some reason, delirious with sick or something I'm not sure. He was burning up so I held him on the floor in the hallway between our rooms as Ellie played with a toy in the living room just 6 feet from us. He stared at me blankly with flushed red, burning cheeks as I stroked his hair and sang him a song. Then Ellie's toy made a funny noise and for some reason it snapped him out of his blank and listless stare and he smiled at me and laughed. The three of us laughed together and in that moment I knew I was missing out by always having the iphone in the palm of my hand. We sat there on the floor in the hallway for a good 15 minutes, no iphone, no computer, no television, just us.

So I think for awhile I'm also going to sign off on this blog thing and go old-school with this. I think 2011 is going to be about perspective and simplicity. I'm planning to have more hallway laughs than I ever have before.

What we did this weekend

Okay so truth be told, John had THE surgery this past Thursday. You know the one, the one that involves a bag of frozen peas. So to while away the hours we stopped at Minogues on our way home for some brews and there I saw the fruits of Trampoline's labor, just sitting on the shelf looking pretty. I've seen IPA out and about but I had not yet seen Brown and there it was. Always cool to see things you've designed out in public.

The next morning Luke "called" me on his "phone" to say that his name was Parker, that he was a construction worker and he wanted to go to Minogues. Um, okay. Sorry dude, we went last night without you. So he sat in our bedroom and watched This Old House. Curious, will he be the next Bob Villa?

We sported some Nine shirts as we hung around the house with a recouping daddy.

He said to me, "mama, I have room here, why don't you lay with me?" So I did.

And then he looked out the window longingly and said, "Mama, what should we talk about? Let's talk." And then I melted. He came up with some crazy story about a farm and then we hid under the covers and laughed. Look at that face, how could you not want to cozy up with him? And you can see our new front door right behind him:)

Sunday morning he looked at me and said, "Mawm. Next week I want to marry you." I said, "oh, okay, where are we going to get married?" He said, "the mall!"

Then we went to the mall with Ellie but without Daddy. We did not get married there. We came home, had lunch, Ellie went down for a nap and while John put his feet up we headed out to the backyard to play. Grandma came over and helped us build a hill to slide down. We made snow angels and laughed as I tried to hoist myself down our "hill".

We had hot cocoa and did a puzzle. I made soup and lasagna (it's Luke's favorite thing at the moment). As John was getting Luke into bed he told John he was going to marry me and that Ellie was going to marry him.

A simply perfect weekend.

House Warming

When I was applying to colleges I thought for certain I was going to major in Interior Design. I always loved decorating, paint colors, fabrics and rearranging furniture. Somehow along the way I was swayed into graphic design which ended up being my chosen major and I've never looked back but a soft spot remains for that love of interiors. Our house, while small and inefficient for a family of four with 1050 square feet has been a labor of love. We redid the floors before we moved in, painted every room in the house, had a new roof put on, a new front window installed and this summer we had the house painted, added an awning, updated all of the exterior doors, and rebuilt the rotting front porch.

Here are the before and afters, we've come along way baby! (please note that most of these photos are of poor quality, not at all styled, and were taken before we had kids hence the sparse nature of the house. The after picture of the outside of the house does not do it justice at all. It's kind of embarrassing as a graphic designer but it's what I have at my disposal right now.)

Before:

After:

Kitchen with the awesome ivy border, non-working stove and well you get the idea.

I painted the cabinets, we bought a new gas stove and put in all new lighting throughout the house.

The living room before:

After with a fresh coat of paint and refinished floors:

It currently looks like this:

Dining room:

The bathroom before:

After with new paint, cabinet and lighting:

In 2011 we plan to update the kitchen and take the bathroom from a rotting, leaky floor to one that looks like this:

Fashion Forward

My one main resolution for 2011 was to amp up my dress code. I am fortunate enough to work in a relaxed environment, one that does not discriminate jeans from the office attire. Having been pregnant for nearly two years straight, along with dumping a ton of money into expensive formula and all things baby, my wardrobe tanked along with our checkbook. I have been stuck in a jean cycle and some of them were not good jeans either. Even long before kids were in the picture I put myself in a role of wearing mainly black dress pants. I had convinced myself that skirts were only for summer because I thought I was too tall for heels and I didn't think the combo of flat shoes, skirts and awful stockings did much for my self-esteem. Confusing and messed up right? Somewhere along the line though I embraced heels and I like them. I like that I'm tall and try as I might to frown in the mirror at my reflection, what stands between me and the mirror is my daughter who is vying for her minute of primping. I have bit my tongue many times from saying, "ugh, I'm so fat, I hate myself." Last year I swore I would end that cycle and I have. I am accepting me more and more as time goes on. I am wearing dresses to work with heels and wedges and *gasp* stockings (more like tights, but whatever). After wearing the same belt for longer than Luke has been alive (is that the saddest thing you've read!) I have invested in some from Target and what a difference they make for an outfit, why have I waited so long? My hope in all of this is that when you feel better you beget better. Good comes from good. There are so many situations out of my control that I can't do anything about, but I can change my own way of thinking and accepting which in turn with morph into a mother of children with much less of body image problem than I carry with me.

What makes me laugh is that I found this the other day and smiled. Then I stumbled upon her and of course I just obsess over her.

Unexpected Day Off

We woke up to this:

I went to work and saw this from our front office window:

Then I got the call to go home. So I did. The last 3 hours of this day have been as decadent as a slice of flourless chocolate cake. I am blessed and happy.