Thursday, November 22, 2012
For the non-facebook members
I posted this just now after capturing it on film yesterday. Camille asked for the tongs and then found Ethan. She then carefully "clipped" his hair with the tongs. She was being incredibly careful and probably was thinking, "wait, this isn't really working as I had intended" when looking up at the tongs. Sweet, funny girl who just wants to grow up so fast. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So grateful for so much, love to all!
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Happy 1st Birthday Ethan!
The cake has been put away (stored in happy bellies AND on the counter),
the guests have left, the presents opened, the toys picked up (oh,
wait, that's not really true) and the birthday boy has been tucked into
bed. Ethan's birthday celebration has been spread across beautiful
fall days, just like the days following his birth. A celebration that has more
details than are in this post that will be written down and hopefully
transferred to this blog sooner rather than later. For now, this proud
mama of a sweet 1 year-old and a sweet (with a little spice) 3 1/2
year-old is going to bed.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Inside Part Deux
More of the inside...
The kitchen...one day I envision the kitchen painted a color of some kind and having the cabinets white.
Love the bay window/eating nook but it desperately needs some sprucing.
View from living room/family room into kitchen (the living room /family room is very open).
Looking up into office/guest room/bonus room (is this just a term in the southeast?)/FROG (Front Room Over the Garage, even though it really is only half over the garage)
Camille's room -- at first she picked the yellow room, then on moving day, she changed her mind. She's been happy ever since.
Looking into Ethan's room (yellow)
Random shot of downstairs bathroom -- hard to get a full picture. The blue accent wall is kind of nice but I think it makes an already small room, seem even smaller.
Master -- love the double corner windows. Curtains? Pelmet boxes? (Molly -- I will need lots of help if I go this route!) Roman shades? Something other than these icky metal blinds.
The nitty gritty -- the kids' bathroom in need of repair. This is the least offensive picture!
Ahhhhh, storage! Huge shelf in garage that we are only beginning to reap the benefits of.
Another angle of the eating nook (light has to be changed...all in good time).
So, I am open to any ideas for decorating (on a budget!). We will slowly but surely reach our goals with this house but most of all, it feels wonderful to be settled. Let the fun decorating begin!
The kitchen...one day I envision the kitchen painted a color of some kind and having the cabinets white.
Love the bay window/eating nook but it desperately needs some sprucing.
View from living room/family room into kitchen (the living room /family room is very open).
Looking up into office/guest room/bonus room (is this just a term in the southeast?)/FROG (Front Room Over the Garage, even though it really is only half over the garage)
Camille's room -- at first she picked the yellow room, then on moving day, she changed her mind. She's been happy ever since.
Looking into Ethan's room (yellow)
Random shot of downstairs bathroom -- hard to get a full picture. The blue accent wall is kind of nice but I think it makes an already small room, seem even smaller.
Master -- love the double corner windows. Curtains? Pelmet boxes? (Molly -- I will need lots of help if I go this route!) Roman shades? Something other than these icky metal blinds.
The nitty gritty -- the kids' bathroom in need of repair. This is the least offensive picture!
Ahhhhh, storage! Huge shelf in garage that we are only beginning to reap the benefits of.
Another angle of the eating nook (light has to be changed...all in good time).
So, I am open to any ideas for decorating (on a budget!). We will slowly but surely reach our goals with this house but most of all, it feels wonderful to be settled. Let the fun decorating begin!
Monday, August 27, 2012
Going Inside
So, yes, the house has an inside too! These are a random assortment of shots of what it was like during the first week or two -- some things have changed like we have actually put a few pictures on the walls and made some floor space for people to walk around (helpful, I know). Eric has done some amazing work on the outside (e.g., lawn, gutters, crawl space, etc.) that make the house "work" which is critical. I'm usually playing with the littlest residents of the house while he does that work so no pictures...I'll capture the "along the way" and the "after" of the yard but you will just have to imagine what the crawl space and gutters look like.
The last and most important load of the move in my car.
Into the house...kitchen (eek! Needs color badly and that light, from the 90s?). Trying not to be too negative in my comments seeing as how this will be our decor for a while, until at least one child is not in day care. Alas...yes, the plaid couches came with us! I think I will have an entire post dedicated to these gems some day. Still no slip cover, still no recovering, just sticking with the in-your-face PLAID! for a little while longer. Yep.
Yey for gardens! Camille chose to plant a watermelon first. She is a gal with lofty goals and I love it!
Nice, flat and wide backyard. Still wooded just not incredibly secluded.
And this, dear reader, is how Camille spent a good majority of the first week we lived here. Caillou (he's just a kid who's four...) took residence and well, hasn't left, yet. Camille and Ethan didn't start their new day care until a week after we moved. At first I thought it would be very difficult caring for them in the midst of chaos but with my mom here (ever so grateful) and an incredibly efficient husband, it went rather well. Sure difficult at times, there were many good, life-and-this-house-are-just-messy-right-now times.
Ever-smiling sweet boy loving a new place to crawl! And cruise and soon (oh no! wait Ethan, you were just born! Slow down!)
The door...to lots of opportunity and potential!
I do love the large windows and skylights in the living room. We are stuck with the large, heavy entertainment center for a little while longer and I am not thrilled with it being the focal point in this room (oh, wait, maybe the PLAID! is the focal point) BUT...we'll work on it. Yes, those are speakers on top of the said entertainment center that one day will rest on speaker stands.
Looking from dining room (now serves as playroom/sitting room) into kitchen.
Looking into the master (on the first floor)...I love the arched doorway. I never thought I would like a downstairs master bedroom but am liking it. And, we scored a spa-like bathroom that at first I thought EXCESS! But now, it feels like an oasis!
More pictures coming soon...
The last and most important load of the move in my car.
The POD just before its shipment and delivery (the POD system was fantastic).
Into the house...kitchen (eek! Needs color badly and that light, from the 90s?). Trying not to be too negative in my comments seeing as how this will be our decor for a while, until at least one child is not in day care. Alas...yes, the plaid couches came with us! I think I will have an entire post dedicated to these gems some day. Still no slip cover, still no recovering, just sticking with the in-your-face PLAID! for a little while longer. Yep.
Nice, flat and wide backyard. Still wooded just not incredibly secluded.
And this, dear reader, is how Camille spent a good majority of the first week we lived here. Caillou (he's just a kid who's four...) took residence and well, hasn't left, yet. Camille and Ethan didn't start their new day care until a week after we moved. At first I thought it would be very difficult caring for them in the midst of chaos but with my mom here (ever so grateful) and an incredibly efficient husband, it went rather well. Sure difficult at times, there were many good, life-and-this-house-are-just-messy-right-now times.
Ever-smiling sweet boy loving a new place to crawl! And cruise and soon (oh no! wait Ethan, you were just born! Slow down!)
The door...to lots of opportunity and potential!
I do love the large windows and skylights in the living room. We are stuck with the large, heavy entertainment center for a little while longer and I am not thrilled with it being the focal point in this room (oh, wait, maybe the PLAID! is the focal point) BUT...we'll work on it. Yes, those are speakers on top of the said entertainment center that one day will rest on speaker stands.
Looking from dining room (now serves as playroom/sitting room) into kitchen.
Looking into the master (on the first floor)...I love the arched doorway. I never thought I would like a downstairs master bedroom but am liking it. And, we scored a spa-like bathroom that at first I thought EXCESS! But now, it feels like an oasis!
More pictures coming soon...
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Finding Nemo
We began our hunt for a house in the early summer of 2011, having fun on the weekends looking at houses in the Hillsborough area. (Post about Hillsborough in development). In late summer, we found a charmer tucked back in the woods on a street called Lyric Circle. The kitchen needed work and the floor plan (two potential kids' bedrooms on the main floor with the master on the second floor) was sort-of hard to figure out but the setting was idyllic. Thrilled with the possibility of being 20 minutes away from work, a 10 minute drive to close friends and in a setting like a campground (but with all the amenities of home) we put in an offer. That was the late afternoon of a weekday. At 7:00 we got a call from our realtor saying we had been outbid (a full price offer on the place had come in at 6:00 AM that morning and the owners jumped on it). Whoa!? That can happen?! Little did we know, that was the first of a series of real estate debacles we were about to experience. Buoyed (yeah, I just said buoyed) by 2nd trimester energy and a strong desire to not have baby boy Hexdall sleep in a dresser drawer, we pressed on.
Next, we found a beauty of a house very close to the charmer, on a beautiful street with other beautiful, well-maintained homes. It was a foreclosure, which did not scare us but probably should have. All looked good until the inspection. It was bad news after bad news: mold, hole in the roof, bathroom fixtures would all need to be replaced and, the kicker: coliform in the water. Now, coliform alone is not that much of a problem. But, it means that there could be other nasty bugs in the water too. Goodbye! Given I was about 36 weeks pregnant, the idea of having bad water for bathing, cooking and let alone drinking gave me the heebie jeebies. Moving on (we hoped).
Next, Ethan was born! Not much of anything happened until early January when we started looking again. Nothing struck our eye until a brand new house came on the market in a new subdivision. (Suddenly, we shifted from a charming house in the woods to possibly living in the 'Burbs). Pretty much 3 hours after seeing this home, we put in an offer. The wheels were finally spinning, we thought! Then we saw the contract: they're locking us into what? They (massive builder company) have how many lawsuits pending against them?! We ran. Having learned that it really isn't worth pursuing something, especially a house, that gives you a bad feeling in the beginning.
Next! We had often looked at houses in a neighborhood called Cornwallis Hills, where some good friends of ours lived. Each of the houses, however were in bad shape or just did not "fit." We gave Cornwallis Hills (now Camille sees the entrance to our neighborhood and says that the sign says "Camille's House") another shot. The house was nice, but, we weren't sold. We liked a lot of the features, but it lacked some others we had hoped for. It was in a good school district, but it just wasn't perfect. Hmmm...quite the conundrum. As we walked out of the house, a woman across the street was sitting on her front porch. "Are you all looking at houses?" she asked, with an air of hope in her voice. "Boy are we!" we didn't say but we did say, "yeah, we're just looking at options."
Well, we looked at her house and it was a beauty -- large, wooded backyard, too many bedrooms than we really needed but oh to dream, great kitchen, paint colors we liked, etc. Serendipity! Providence! We Eric and I mouthed to each other!
(Skipping a bunch of boring financial details).
The hitch was, she was on the fence about selling. She lived in this interesting world where compromise just didn't exist. SO...here we were: we had a house that was next-to-perfect across the street from a house that was farther from perfect but had a lot of aspects we really liked. And, is there really ever a perfect house? Well, this long story made longer does have a happy ending. We decided to settle in this not-so-perfect-but-perfect-for-us house.
Now, back to Nemo. In our now-perfect-for-us house, when we looked at it as potential buyers, there were fish. Lots and lots of fish. In the garage. (All in their own tanks of course). The owners bred clownfish for a second living and boy was it a living! The man of the house, upon his exit loaded up his plumbing truck said, "these two are work $100K each!" (Whaaaat?! Maybe you could have used some of that $ for a cleaning service when you moved out! I think now). So it wasn't all bad that this couple bred fish because...fish breeders depend on their fish food. And their fish food must stay cold (?). And the couple had a bonus large freezer in the garage that stayed with the house (niiiice). AND, if the power goes out, the fish have to stay alive and their little fishy food has to stay cold sooooo, a generator is a must! Yes, with this house, we got a generator that kicks in minutes after a power outage that basically runs the whole house for a few days. For my husband, this massive piece of electrical equipment was in the "pro" column. The extra freezer spaces was also in the "pro" column for me. The potential for fishy smell, definitely a con. But, as luck would have it, we have never smelled anything fishy. Really.
So, Nemo took a while, but it is now ours. As I think about this house, it has many wonderful features that I love. It also has a "blank slate-ish" feel. Sure the only two rooms with walls that have any color on them are the kids' rooms (and it is a horrible paint job) but that means potential! Lots of potential. And, most importantly, it is home.
Next, we found a beauty of a house very close to the charmer, on a beautiful street with other beautiful, well-maintained homes. It was a foreclosure, which did not scare us but probably should have. All looked good until the inspection. It was bad news after bad news: mold, hole in the roof, bathroom fixtures would all need to be replaced and, the kicker: coliform in the water. Now, coliform alone is not that much of a problem. But, it means that there could be other nasty bugs in the water too. Goodbye! Given I was about 36 weeks pregnant, the idea of having bad water for bathing, cooking and let alone drinking gave me the heebie jeebies. Moving on (we hoped).
Next, Ethan was born! Not much of anything happened until early January when we started looking again. Nothing struck our eye until a brand new house came on the market in a new subdivision. (Suddenly, we shifted from a charming house in the woods to possibly living in the 'Burbs). Pretty much 3 hours after seeing this home, we put in an offer. The wheels were finally spinning, we thought! Then we saw the contract: they're locking us into what? They (massive builder company) have how many lawsuits pending against them?! We ran. Having learned that it really isn't worth pursuing something, especially a house, that gives you a bad feeling in the beginning.
Next! We had often looked at houses in a neighborhood called Cornwallis Hills, where some good friends of ours lived. Each of the houses, however were in bad shape or just did not "fit." We gave Cornwallis Hills (now Camille sees the entrance to our neighborhood and says that the sign says "Camille's House") another shot. The house was nice, but, we weren't sold. We liked a lot of the features, but it lacked some others we had hoped for. It was in a good school district, but it just wasn't perfect. Hmmm...quite the conundrum. As we walked out of the house, a woman across the street was sitting on her front porch. "Are you all looking at houses?" she asked, with an air of hope in her voice. "Boy are we!" we didn't say but we did say, "yeah, we're just looking at options."
Well, we looked at her house and it was a beauty -- large, wooded backyard, too many bedrooms than we really needed but oh to dream, great kitchen, paint colors we liked, etc. Serendipity! Providence! We Eric and I mouthed to each other!
(Skipping a bunch of boring financial details).
The hitch was, she was on the fence about selling. She lived in this interesting world where compromise just didn't exist. SO...here we were: we had a house that was next-to-perfect across the street from a house that was farther from perfect but had a lot of aspects we really liked. And, is there really ever a perfect house? Well, this long story made longer does have a happy ending. We decided to settle in this not-so-perfect-but-perfect-for-us house.
Now, back to Nemo. In our now-perfect-for-us house, when we looked at it as potential buyers, there were fish. Lots and lots of fish. In the garage. (All in their own tanks of course). The owners bred clownfish for a second living and boy was it a living! The man of the house, upon his exit loaded up his plumbing truck said, "these two are work $100K each!" (Whaaaat?! Maybe you could have used some of that $ for a cleaning service when you moved out! I think now). So it wasn't all bad that this couple bred fish because...fish breeders depend on their fish food. And their fish food must stay cold (?). And the couple had a bonus large freezer in the garage that stayed with the house (niiiice). AND, if the power goes out, the fish have to stay alive and their little fishy food has to stay cold sooooo, a generator is a must! Yes, with this house, we got a generator that kicks in minutes after a power outage that basically runs the whole house for a few days. For my husband, this massive piece of electrical equipment was in the "pro" column. The extra freezer spaces was also in the "pro" column for me. The potential for fishy smell, definitely a con. But, as luck would have it, we have never smelled anything fishy. Really.
So, Nemo took a while, but it is now ours. As I think about this house, it has many wonderful features that I love. It also has a "blank slate-ish" feel. Sure the only two rooms with walls that have any color on them are the kids' rooms (and it is a horrible paint job) but that means potential! Lots of potential. And, most importantly, it is home.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Happy Father's Day (x2)!
As we move(d) from May to June, we experienced THE big girl bed (and the successful sleeping...well, not 100% successful, tonight we had several ups and downs for various reasons one of which included being convinced there were pirates in the corner of her bedroom), more sibling fun and lots more movement. Ethan is crawling all around and he is so proud of himself. I can hardly believe the stage of what-on-earth-can-I-have-you-play-with-during-diaper-changes-so-you'll-stay-somewhat-still-for-5-seconds already. Didn't we JUST bring you home from the hospital?! He must have gotten word that he needed to start moving as we are moving! More pictures and updates soon but seeing as how last week at this time, we weren't sure this was all going to come to fruition, I don't want to jinx it. I will believe we are in our new home when I am surrounded by boxes and when I feel the aches and pains of having lifted said boxes. Til' then...
Happy Father's Day!
I know this is sideways, which is annoying, but it was just too cute not to post.
Back to packing, or sleeping.
Happy Father's Day! Lots of love to you all.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Feeling Fortunate
Fortunately, February has been less dramatic on the health front for us starting with a clean bill of health for Camille on February 1st. It seems that the unexplained bruising was a combination of factors: amoxicillin allergy, Vitamin K deficiency (temporary it seems) and a string of relatively minor illnesses (stomach bug, a persistent cold and an ear infection). We were so grateful to be able to leave the appointment with the hematologist WITHOUT having to make a follow up appointment. We then headed downstairs to the second floor of Duke Children's for Camille's annual appointment with the Cleft Palate Clinic Team appointment. More good news! We didn't really need to have the team tell us that Camille was developing fine but, it's always nice to hear compliments!
Here's the little punkin' testing out Ethan's teething toy.
It's February, already? February brought the three month mark for Ethan but no well check so we don't know his stats. That said, he is weighing around 16 pounds and wearing mostly 3-6 and 6 month clothes so he's growing fine. He is at day care two days a week until I go back to work full time, around late March. Fortunately, I have been able to divide my maternity leave up. So, I'm learning the positives and challenges of working part-time. More on that later...
I wonder how many requests I'll get for this picture!
Sporting the hair-up-glasses-on-hole-in-shirt look a lot lately, but it was nice to be reminded recently to have pictures taken of yourself with the little ones. So true.
First she chooses my socks, then she gives me all of these toys?
Here's the little punkin' testing out Ethan's teething toy.
It's February, already? February brought the three month mark for Ethan but no well check so we don't know his stats. That said, he is weighing around 16 pounds and wearing mostly 3-6 and 6 month clothes so he's growing fine. He is at day care two days a week until I go back to work full time, around late March. Fortunately, I have been able to divide my maternity leave up. So, I'm learning the positives and challenges of working part-time. More on that later...
I wonder how many requests I'll get for this picture!
Sporting the hair-up-glasses-on-hole-in-shirt look a lot lately, but it was nice to be reminded recently to have pictures taken of yourself with the little ones. So true.
First she chooses my socks, then she gives me all of these toys?
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