Before and during

So we bought the "Love Shack" back in October. A lovely shack on 19 acres!

 This is a picture of the front of the house before. Kind of sad really. My sister says it reminds her of someplace that should have 25 people living in shifts.

 This was the "blue room" before. What you can't see in this image are the pencil marks on the wall that say "I want to kill you". Time for an exorcism!

 This is the pink room, which E has claimed as her own. The lovely pink paint covers EVERYTHING including the outlets, switch plates, and back of the doors.

 Does have pretty hardwood floors and nice WIDE hallways.

 The kitchen will be completely gutted.

and this side porch will be ripped off to make room for the new addition.
Now I'll try to post some side-by-side before and during pictures. Have to see how fancy I am

Before

.

During

View from kitchen before

View from living room (and kitchen) during

Side porch view of front of house before

"Side porch" view of front of house during

And what I REALLY love are those 19 acres for E and P to run around.

Potty training and diaper hoarding

So the big E is now a bit over 3 years. We're a bit late getting our act together with potty training. Somehow, I expected daycare to take a bit more of an active role. Thought someone would tell us "it's time". Switched from pull-ups to padded training pants about a month ago. Once she got used to that we switched to the big girl underwear. New milestone of the day. Same pair of underwear all day. No accidents! No poops today either, which seem to be much trickier than the pee. But still!

In retrospect, I kind of wish we'd kept her in cloth beyond the first year of life. Now that we have baby P in cloth, my goal is to keep him in until he's ready to potty train. Skip disposables and pull-ups all together. With that in mind, I need to replace some diapers he is outgrowing, which means I get to add to my diaper stash. I'm coveting  a few of the inexpensive models. I seriously have an obsessive shopping problem. I covet, I browse, I lust....and then I buy. Need to cut that out as all of our money right now needs to go to daycare and/or the home remodel that Baby Daddy is working on. Will post before and during pictures on our little love shack tomorrow.

Finding my balance

So baby P arrived on 12/8/2010, and I feel like my head is above water. Have been able to get out and about, handle dropping big sister E off at day-care, and get dinner on the table most nights. Need desperately to get out and go grocery shopping, but that won't be happening today. Baby daddy is off deer hunting tonight and there is no way that I'll be venturing to the grocery store with both kids in tow. One at a time is all I can handle out in public.

Trying to come up with a useful to-do list for next week as well as plan menus for the coming week so that I'll know what I need to get when I do make it out the store. Got two new kitchen toys as Christmas presents, the Ninja Master Prep and an electric pressure cooker from Cuisinart. Have used the pressure cooker once and the Ninja a few times...excited to see what they come up with. Also trying to be health conscious in my shopping and recipe prep. I think the automatic post-partum weight loss has left me about 6 lbs above conception weight, but that weight wasn't one I'm happy at....so weight loss is my next personal goal.

Speaking of which, today is new years day. Goals for the year:
1) Find engaging ways to enjoy my toddler.
2) Keep baby P happy and healthy.
3) Plan menus for the week in advance . . . freeze some meals for my return to work.
4) Get active and shape up.
5) Be nicer to the dog . . . it isn't his fault.

Getting ready for number two...

Getting ready for number two is quite a bit different:

1) No nursery to get ready. We don't have an extra bedroom ready for this little one, therefore, we're just trying to make room in our bedroom to cram in the changing table and a bassinet (for now). The weight limit on that is 15 lbs, so I think we'll have to find creative crib space soon.

2) No name. Seriously. No name. With number one, we had a name picked out before we even knew for sure she was a she. We have a short list, but I'm not even convinced we'll end up picking something off the short list at this point.

3) I was super crunchy-granola and well behaved (in some ways) with number one. Sorry number two! Number one got special nail polish and nail polish remover, no artificial sweeteners, and very little caffeine. Poor number two didn't get quite the same degree of maternal paranoia. Here's hoping that it truly doesn't make a difference.

High school reunion . . .

My 15-year high school reunion is scheduled on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Exactly 8 days away. The official class reunion is at a local wine bar, with an "all-class reunion" the same night at a local college dive bar (sorry to anyone who loves it) with sticky floors. . . one of those places where guys usually line up outside the ladies room just to have the opportunity to grope someone as they walk by (I got into trouble once by returning this favor with a forearm to the chest followed by a large beverage to the face).

There remains some possibility that I may drag myself to the wine bar (my hesitation stems from the very large pregnant belly I'm currently sporting). The thought of trying to waddle up the rickety steps to the bar downtown seems somehow obscene. Regardless of whether or not I make it to the reunion, I'm hoping to get to see a few good friends who are traveling into town for the event. The only drag about our reunion always being at Thanksgiving is that some of my friends from school who no longer have family in the area are never able to travel back to town for the event. Maybe the 20 year will move away from the family holidays so that more people can make it back.