The Bucket Bath

 We have lived in our house for a month now, well, as of tomorrow anyway. Woo hoo!

That means that our bathroom (the one with the tub in it) has been torn apart for a month now. Boo!

Luckily for Gabe and I there is a functional shower in the basement, so at least we have somewhere to freshen up. Unfortunately, as Miles is not a fan of the shower we had to come up with another solution.

  Thus the bucket bath was born.

Pregnancy: Numero Dos

I feel awful that I haven't blogged about this pregnancy at all. The only post I have made got lost in the midst of three other catch up posts.  It's not that I haven't wanted to or that this pregnancy is less important or special than the first, it's just been so darn crazy around here I can barley keep up with it all.

So, even though I don't have any belly pictures, I thought I should jot a few things down. Ya know, cause I really do want to remember everything about my sweet little babe and how he/she got his/her start. 

Since no two pregnancies are the same here are a few comparisons:

1. Miles: Emotional wreck; couldn't stop crying and I was super clingy with Gabe.

    Baby #2: Emotional + MEAN; I know I'm being awful and short tempered, but I can't seem to stop it. 

    Sorry to everyone that has been around me the last few months.

2. Miles: Some sleepiness, but overall I felt great and had good stamina.

    Baby #2: My body wants to go into hibernation to grow this baby. If I sit for 5 min I'm out for the count.

3. Miles: Easy peasy no queasy; I felt great with that kid.

    Baby #2: I was so nauseated my first trimester. I longed to throw up just for some relief. It never came.

Now that I've entered my second trimester things have calmed down quite a bit. I'm still crazy tired all the time, but that could also come from chasing a three year old and trying to fix up a 60 year old house. Gabe has been an all-star when it comes to putting up with me and my insanity in addition to his own stresses.  Miles has been such a good boy and so patient with me when I am unable to wrestle or rough house like we used to. He seems really excited to be a big brother and I think he's going to do a smashing job.  

I planned to be more on the ball this time around and take belly pictures each month from the very beginning, well we are now nearly half way done and I have yet to snap a one.  Which is unfortunate cause at 17 weeks I am already HUGE!  I think I've got a bigger bump now than I did with Miles at 20 weeks. I started showing much earlier with this pregnancy; around 7-8 weeks I couldn't suck it in anymore and by 10 weeks I had to wear baggy shirts so as not to reveal our secret to soon. 

It has been quite the adventure so far. The pro/con of being so busy with work, remodel, three year old, husband, etc is that this pregnancy is flying by.  On one hand I'm so excited to meet our new bean, but on the other I feel kinda bad that I haven't had time to get wrapped up in the pregnancy like I did with Miles.  Well, it is what it is and at this rate our new addition will be here before I have time to put the crib together.  

See you soon kiddo.

You Had a Birthday Shout Hooray!

My baby turned THREE today.

I can't believe that it was three years ago that we welcomed this sweet little guy into our family.  What an adventure it has been.

Since our house is still a major work in progress and we have been stressed to the max lately we decided to keep Miles' birthday simple and just spend the day together instead of trying to plan a party.  

Spending the day with my two favorite people made for the perfect day. I sure hope Miles felt the same way. We spent our day playing with balloons, playing with new birthday toys, exploring the Discover Gateway Museum and eating cake.  Seriously, does it get any better than that? 

Miles had such a great time at the museum. There was so much to do we had to do it all twice just to make sure we thoroughly covered everything.  After a few hours Gabe & I were beat, but I think Miles could have kept going all afternoon. Definitely a place to visit again.

After a few hours at the museum we went back home to open presents and have cake. 

We were shocked to find that our sugar loving boy would much rather play with his new basketball hoop than  eat a piece of oh-so-delicious German chocolate cake.  He was polite enough to pose for a few pictures though.  

 It was such a great day and I'm so grateful for my little family.

The last three years have been full of exhaustion, laughter, tears, booboos, new adventures, and pure joy.  Nothing could have prepared me for the ups and downs of parenthood, but I am so grateful that our Father in Heaven trusted me enough to be the mother of this sweet little boy.

Happy Birthday Miles. 

We love you!

xoxo, Mom & Dad

Our House {"Adventures" in Home Ownership}

Well, we finally moved into our house.  It took a little longer than we thought it would and we ended up having to spend a few nights in a hotel.  The oh so strong polyurethane smell from refinishing the floors lingered a little longer than expected.  Since I'm prego (see Christmas post below) neither Gabe nor myself felt comfortable with me being in the house un-ventilated.

Anyway, we finally moved in on January 1st and the next day (Jan 2nd) we decided there was no better time than the present to start with some major demolition.  We brought in reinforcements (Gabe's uncle's) to help us start the renovation on the main floor bathroom.  

The tub and tile wall surround need to be replaced or refinished, the walls need to be painted, the floors need to be addressed and the vanity just needed to go.  It was an original, built-in unit straight out of 1952.

The demolition went a lot quicker than we thought and before we knew it we were left with this.

Not so pretty is it? 

We have cleaned it up a bit and started preping the walls for paint, but overall it still looks like this.

Since it was a holiday my mom had the day off and was coming down to help me organize the kitchen and keep Miles entertained.  When she got to the house she said, "Umm, your front yard is flooded."

WHAT?!

Gabe and his uncles went to investigate. They seemed baffled, went downstairs to make sure we had turned the water off to the house and when they came back upstairs Gabe said, "The basements flooding and the water's coming in fast!"

WHAT?!

To make a long, oh-so-stressful story short during the process of our bathroom renovation and turning the main water valve on and off the main water line to our house busted. Yea, busted - after LIVING HERE FOR ONE DAY!  Our neighbors tried to make us feel better by telling us that ours was the last on the block to have the main line break.  Yea, didn't really make me feel better.

We had some plumbers come out and assess the situation. After getting a few estimates we found someone who was actually reasonable, only problem is they couldn't come back and fix the problem for 3 days.  So they hooked us up with "temporary" water until they could fix it for good.

Finally on Friday (a little later than expected) they brought in the heavy equipment to tear up our front yard and replace the main line.  

The pipe they removed was covered in rust holes and they suspected that it had been leaking for a very long time. We had also noticed that our water had a weird smell and taste, which has since been resolved. So in the long run it was probably a blessing that is broke so we weren't drinking contaminated water.

At least someone enjoyed the whole experience.

*PS - notice our beautifully refinished floors in the above picture. They make my heart happy.