Vanity:

BEFORE

AFTER

Lighting/Mirror:

BEFORE

AFTER

Flooring:

BEFORE


AFTER

I've been waiting to do a new entry until I had "after" pictures of some of the house, but I won't wait anymore. I'll have them soon - we're pretty much done with the bathroom, and now have moved on to painting baseboards and other trim white. We also have to buy new interior doors for the entire house (11 doors). Just the hardware alone (hinges, new doorknobs) that we have already bought was rediculously expensive, but I think it will make a huge difference.

I'm sick. I am achy all over and weak, with an off-and-on sore throat. Craig and Kate have had a cold for a couple of weeks now, and I think Kate started teething again the last couple of days. She has yet to break any teeth, but I think she's teething just the same. My sickness makes me a not-so-fun mommy, but hopefully she'll understand why I'm boring today. I just hope I can function somewhat normally tomorrow. I'm waiting for her to go to sleep right now so I can do the same.

We had a good Christmas with family. Kate and Anna and Amelia got lots of toys, and Caleb scored big with Halo Lego stuff, as well as some other things. Every year we say "we're all taking it easy on gifts this year", and even if we do, it still takes us hours to open gifts. We're not the type that opens all at once - if someone's opening a gift, everyone else watches.

I got an ice cream maker and a vegan ice cream recipe book from my parents and sister, respectively. So I've made lemon sorbet and vanilla-fudge ripple ice cream, which have both turned out really good (and super-easy)!
I also got a hand blender and food processor/blender, so I can more easily venture into baby-food making. Yesterday I made butternut squash puree, and as soon as the pears I bought ripen, I'll make those.
Too bad I have nowhere to store said appliances...this is next year's house project - kitchen remodel. I think every week or so, I stand in the kitchen and try to imagine how I'm going to remodel it to fit another bank or two of cabinets and a pantry, and I end up with a headache. I need to hire an interior designer or an architect or whoever would do that sort of planning, but they cost money...therein lies the problem. Maybe I'll make a video of our house and get your opinions on what to do. That's what Pleo is here for, right - free advice and opinions?? :)

I have a huge list of things to do over the next few days, which getting sick has stood in the way of. I love making to-do lists. Partly for the sense of accomplishment, and partly because I forget everything if I don't write it down, until I remember it when I don't have time to do it. Don't tell anyone, but yesterday I added 2 things to my to-do list that I already did...made me feel good. :)

This is my last month of leave of absence from work. That means I need to make a decision in the next several days and talk to my boss...I honestly don't know how I had time to work before. This is such a struggle for me becuase I love my job, but sort of don't miss it a bit when I'm away.

In other news, I have completely rethought my desire to have a dog. Not because I don't love dogs, which I do, but because just about every house on our street has a dog that barks all day long. I know that's what dogs do, and they can't help it, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. If I get a dog that ends up doing the same thing, I'll be just as annoying to my neighbors. Not to mention I'll have to find someone to watch it or pay a kennel if we go out of town. I'm not sure I'm ready for the responsibility - a baby is enough right now. :) Maybe I should get a cat - they don't make noise. Wait...I don't like cats much - that might be a problem. I'll consider a goldfish when Kate gets older.

Still not asleep, Kate? She confuses me sometimes...before the holidays, she fell asleep in her crib on her own almost every nap and bedtime. During the holidays, we took her swing to my parents' a lot so she would have somewhere to take naps, and ever since then, she's had trouble going to sleep on her own...even in her swing. I've had to rock her for her last 2 naps, and last night for bed. I love rocking her, and it doesn't take long...but I probably need to get out of the habit soon. She also wakes up 2-3 times every night, and I don't know how to break that, either. A couple of things I've read suggest letting them cry themselves back to sleep, but I can't bring myself to do that. We have let her go a while if she's not really crying...just fussing, but she never goes back to sleep - just turns into a full blown cry. Eh, we'll see how it goes. Off to rock my baby...if I have the energy to pick her up.

Happy new year!

One more thing - I'm trying out Swagbucks, so click on this if you want to get started. I earned 7 today by just searching the Internet with their toolbar:

Thanks for the feedback on the house numbers and bathroom stuff.

We painted our house numbers black...and will do the same for the lamps on the garage. Pictures to come as soon as that's done. Same with the bathroom. The tiling of the floor is done, painting of walls and baseboards is done, toilet is back in, and we (and when I say "we" I mean Craig) just need to re-route the sink plumbing, put in the sink, and hang the decorations. We ordered our sink faucet from overstock.com and hope to get it tomorrow.

Let's just say it takes about 5 times as long to do this sort of project as it would without a baby. The jobs that the bathroom remodel requires tend to be loud (sawing, hammering, scraping, nailing, scooting, clanging, etc.), which cannot be done when she's asleep, and when she's awake, one of us is with her so we can't both work on stuff at the same time. I'm not complaining - she's completely worth it. But everything we used to do is either impossible, slower, or more difficult with her in tow. One other example would be after Thanksgiving shopping. My sisters can attest to the fact that Kate was always tired. She wasn't really cranky...usually she was masking her crankyness by her scream of "delight" to try to keep herself awake, but I really only shopped in one store at the mall because she was too tired to just hang out and take it all in.

Yes, I know I have a mother and father who would gladly take her in for an evening while we worked on the bathroom. And I actually was going to take them up on it last week, but Dad was thinking he might be sick so we didn't take our chances. Plus, I can be a little stubborn and refuse help when I should accept it. I think we can all relate to that...right? Hopefully I'm not the only one. :)

I will post before/after pictures of the bathroom when it's done, and I also want to post pictures of the house after we have our Christmas lights up, which will hopefully take place tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Speaking of weather, it's funny how I don't realize how often it rains here until Craig wants to mow the yard and can't get a chance because it won't stop raining long enough for the ground to dry up a tiny bit. I think he's been waiting to mow for about a month. It doesn't rain a TON in amount, but in time...yes. I will admit it. But it doesn't bother me...I love fall and winter with cloudy weather and some drizzle.

As far as the Whole Foods vs. New Seasons goes...I completely prefer New Seasons. I really have no practical reason like price or selection...I've noticed differences to the credit and discredit of both. The reason I love New Seasons is that it is so cute. I reminds me of a grocery store you'd see in a movie like You've Got Mail. Love it.

So, I think the diet is really working for Kate! Her eczema has almost completely cleared up, she's been off any reflux medication for 2 weeks now, and she more often than not has spit-up free feedings. I have actually let her go almost a complete day a couple of times without a bib (gasp)! This is great news for us - to finally have *possibly* found the problem is such a relief! On the other hand, this means I'm dairy & soy free for as long as I'm a source of food for her, which isn't the most convenient (or cheapest) diet in the world. :) But I am managing to find things that make it a lot easier to feel "normal" eating at home...it's going out to eat or to someone's house to eat that's difficult.

Speaking of...I've been doing a lot of baking/cooking lately with this new diet, and I've actually made some really good things I've found online and elsewhere. I saw a recommendation for this book "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World", so I checked it out at the library, and LOVE LOVE LOVE the chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting that I made from that book. I made the vanilla ones, too, and they're good...but if you know me, you know I love chocolate. Whether these cupcakes will truly take over the world remains to be seen...

I also just made a batch of chocolate chip banana bread that's really good, and I found a granola recipe that I love. And with Craig's and my dinner last week I made corn bread with my rice milk, and it was tasty! The only thing I've noticed doesn't taste as good with rice milk is mashed potatoes....and I haven't drank the rice milk straight up. I'm not that brave - I hear it's not very good, and I'm afraid if I taste it, it'll ruin my desire to cook with it. And it's all I've got, so I need to like it. :) I also found two types of "ice cream" I really like. One's made with coconut milk and the other with hemp milk.

I'm a little disenchanted by Kate's pediatrician...I pressed her for more insight into Kate's eczema, and all she could tell me was to moisturize every hour(!). I told her about eliminating soy/dairy, and the results I had so far (as of last week), and she sort of thinks the reflux is better because Kate's getting older, and that the eczema was bad because...it's normal to have eczema and the heaters in the house are drying her skin out. I mean, if it weren't for advice from Pleo friends and research on my own on the Internet, I would have never thought of Kate having an allergy. I'm not saying I know for sure that's what it is yet, but it sure seems like a probable connection, and the fact that she never mentioned it in case I wanted to experiment with my diet kind of bothers me. Am I overreacting to feel this way? I mean, it was so bad that I just wanted to cry for Kate sometimes, felt so hopeless, and thought I might have to give up breastfeeding. And the answers "she'll grow out of it eventually" and "just moisturize all the time" didn't seem to comfort me when my baby was screaming at every feeding, puking all the time, and oozing from open sores on her legs. Know what I mean?

Well, regardless of all this, I'm SO thankful for the turn for the better...I have prayed so many times for her to feel better, and I knew God would give me the strength to get through it with my sanity in tact, whether I could find the solution or not.

Although maybe my sanity isn't in tact...I've lost my keys somewhere in my house and can't find them for about a week now, left my wallet at the grocery store last week, and while making cupcakes this week, cracked the egg into the sink instead of into my bowl. I also have been crashing into obstacles around my house...such as the bed post and the banister (things that are always there and haven't moved...).
:)

This is becoming a long post, I know. I'll cut it off!

We had a great Thanksgiving with our family. Jamie and David came down, and Don and Jean and Derek came over for dinner. We actually got in a game of Catch Phrase - I think it only took an hour or two of waiting for everyone to be available to play (between trying to feed/nap babies).

Today we did a little Black Friday shopping, although an extremely early start time and a marathon shopping day wasn't possible this year with the babies like it was in the past. Tonight we decorated my parents' Christmas tree, and after Craig and I got home and put Kate to bed, I took down my fall decor and will work on getting the Christmas stuff up tomorrow.

It's been so fun to have all 3 babies together. Amelia isn't quite as mobile as Kate and Anna are yet, so she sort of stares and smiles at them a lot. She's so precious - I wish they lived down her so we could see her more (and Jamie and David, too, of course!). Anna is crawling all around, and Kate is sitting up so well now. She also is speaking on command. Her vocabulary is limited to "ba, ba, ba", but she does it when prompted, so I already feel proud that she obeys us. :-D Except when we tell her "shhh" at church when she's babbling during a prayer...we'll have to work on that one. ;-)

1) Our house has brass (gold) numbers on it to show the street address. It also has brass light fixtures on either side of the garage, and had a brass front door handle. We already replaced the door handle with a brushed nickel one. My question is: do you think black numbers and light fixtures or brushed nickel numbers and light fixtures would look better on the house? I'm leaning toward black, but not sure yet. Here's a picture...it's a medium blue house with white trim. You can't see it very well (and I don't feel like going outside right now to take a close-up picture), but the house numbers are just to the left of the garage (under that light fixture).

2) Is Whole Foods or New Seasons typically more expensive? I need to go to be able to feed my dairy-free, soy-free self, and haven't been to either store enough to have comparison shopped at all. What I do know is that it hurts to pay $4 for a loaf of bread and $5 for a small tub of soy-free "buttery spread" (which is actually really tasty, to my surprise). Probably doesn't hurt as much as my baby's eczema, though...I just keep telling myself that!!

3) Tell me about your bathroom remodeling adventures. Did you have a brilliant idea that saved you a bunch of money? Did you get your materials from somewhere that turned out to be a disaster or the best decision, etc?

And, just because...here are a couple of pictures. :)

Kate and her cousins in their Halloween costumes:


Craig, Kate, and me at the pumpkin patch:

Please say hi to my ex-neighbor Becky! :) I miss living next door to her and her adorable baby David. sniff, sniff

I haven't posted in a while because I have such a small amount of time...moving is really difficult with a baby! Especially trying to work at the same time. It's slowly getting better, and we have everything out of boxes. However, only downstairs is there any sort of order...upstairs still has rooms full of junk lying around. And so many projects...the house we moved into was very well taken care of, but there is still a huge list of things we want to do. This includes remodel the kitchen and all 3 bathrooms, refinish the wood entry floor, replace light fixtures, replace doors and hardware, baseboards/window sills, build shelving in the garage, paint pretty much every room, etc, etc!!

It's going to be a while before all the big projects are done, but it's a nice house and we like it. We got new appliances for the kitchen, which are nice, and Craig is (as we speak) installing a new handle for the front door. Goodbye brass...hello brushed nickel. :-)

As for work...I talked to my very flexible and understanding boss, and it looks like I'll be working through mid-November, taking a lot of time off, and making a decision about continuing work after my time off. If I continue, I will be reducing my role...I am thankful for the choice - this company has been good to me, and I really like my job and the opportunities it has given me the last 4 years.

Kate is growing like a weed - her reflux isn't a whole lot better these days, and now she has the added benefit of eczema to it. Thanks to some advice from other people, I'm suspecting she's allergic to something I'm eating...so I've been on a non-dairy diet the last 3-4 weeks. That's not just no ice cream and cheese...it's looking for ingredients like "casein" and "lactylate" in your food. Let's just say that if you're looking to lose weight...go non-dairy.
Anyway, I don't know if that's the culprit, because it hasn't really helped her. So I may now try gleuten-free diet...sigh. It's worth it though...the day her reflux is gone, whether it's just her growing out of it or something I've done, I'm going to go out in the street and dance for joy.

It's late and I'm tired!!
Happy fall!