The Christening of My New Carpet

The carpet is in and we've finally dug out from underneath the rubble that was our house. The kids' rooms got done on Thursday, the upstairs on Friday and he came back in Saturday to finish the stairs. We're very pleased so far with the carpet we chose and with the job he did installing it. (Plug, if anyone in the area needs carpet I have an awesome carpet guy!) Anyway it took us longer to put the house back together than it did to tear the thing apart because we actually took the time to go through things and we ended up doing some deep spring cleaning. It's a very cathartic experience to get rid of unecessary stuff just cluttering up your house. Anyway, here's Parker's room. We've got white curtain rods and pink curtains to hang and then of course the ceiling fan, which will make it a little bit more feminine. Gid-the-kid's room is exactly the same, just with carpet.

We chose a sandy color for the downstairs.

And something with just a touch more brown for the upstairs.

Our room is the only one that got a major rearrangement overhaul mainly because we FINALLY got rid of the massive water bed frame Travis swore when we got married he'd never part with. I couldn't be happier! Finally you can walk through our room and it's arranged in a way that makes sense. One of these years I'll own matching bedroom furniture (that's the dream anyway) but for now my in-laws were kind enough to loan us an extra bed frame they had downstairs. It works! All I need now is a bed skirt!

And today the carpet got christened. 4 days. We've had carpet in the bedrooms for exactly 4 days. And today the new carpet smell is offically gone and replaced by....

Baby Powder!

So for the last while I've kept the powder, wipes, diaper rash cream, etc down low because honestly Gideon hasn't messed with that stuff in ages. Today I had the boys and late this afternoon I was downstairs rocking Princess P (who was super fussy today for some reason) trying to get her to take a nap. I heard the boys running around in the bedrooms, giggling. They play great together so I didn't think anything of it. I heard them shut a bedroom door, but honestly I was so caught up in my baby girl it didn't even trigger a red flag. Until I went upstairs and found Gavin with the baby powder and Gideon with the Desitin. Apparently they were coating poor Isaac (and each other) in whatever they could get their hands on.

Gavin somehow ended up cleaner than the rest. I'm not going to say he was the ringleader because I don't think there was an innocent party in the bunch, but he did somehow escape the fate of his brother.

I stuck Isaac in the bath and changed the other boys' clothes while Parker screamed from her seat downstairs.

And then Travis got stuck with job of having to vacuum the whole mess up. It was harder than you might think because with every pass of the vacuum a cloud of dust went up and the boys were running around dragging it everywhere.

I'd be upset, but I'm too fried to worry about it at the moment.

Projects, projects & more projects!

It's been a big job, trying to keep Travis busy over the last few weeks. He's been laid off, been back to work, been laid off again, back to work again and now he's off again. We're all very tired of the on again, off again dance. Something more steady would definitelly be nice. He's put in resumes a lot of places and actually has an interview tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed things might work out. In the meantime, we've been doing some projects around the house. First there's the swing set Gideon got for his birthday. It hasn't exactly been warm, but at least all the snow melted (until today anyway.) It took 3 days and daddy and grandpa had a lot of help from one very excited munchkin, but it's finally up. And everyday so far we've had to bundle up and go play!

"I'm flying!" He told me, "Look, mommy! I have wings! I'm flying!"

Other projects include new light fixtures for the hallways and ceiling fans for both kids' rooms. And a new toilet in the master bathroom. None of that has been finished yet, but hopefully over the next couple of weeks.

Right now though, everything else has been put on hold while we get new carpet. Those who have been to my house might remember that when we bought the house, the only room with carpet is the family room downstairs. One of the things I loved about the house were the beatiful wood floors. I love wood floors in general. Well wood, tile, all sorts of bare floors. I just feel like they're so elegant and much cleaner actually. And I think if I lived in a more mild climate, I'd keep the wood floors exactly as they are.

But it's soooooooooo cold here. And when the wind blows it seems like my house is always chilly. Plus it's so noisy. And my 3 year old doesn't walk anywhere. So all day long I hear clomping steps as he runs through the house. So we finally broke down and bought carpet for the bedrooms and hallways. (I'm keeping the living room wood though because I do like the wood floors so much.)

It happened so fast my head is spinning. We made the decision over the weekend. On Saturday actually. So that afternoon we called he guy who laid my parents' carpet last fall. He came out and gave us a bid and took measurements on Monday morning. We went out that afternoon, found carpet we like (on clearance even) and bought it. Since it was in stock, they had it ready the next day and the installer said he could come out and do it this week. So we spent Tuesday and yesterday basically tearing our house apart. And the carpet is being installed as I type this.

In the meantime though, we've got 4 bedrooms worth of stuff crammed into the living room, family room & dining room. I've only seen that show "Hoarders" once because it literally made me physically ill. I got sick just watching it. But right now my house kind of looks like it belongs on that show. So we're kind of picking through the rubble, just trying to survive. Fortunately, the carpet should be completely done by tomorrow evening so we can start piecing everything back together. And I guess the plus side is that it's really motivated our spring cleaning. We're sorting through and making a lot of trips to the D.I. I'll be sure and post pictures whent it's all done. In the meantime, try not to mistake the photos below for aftermath photos from Japan. Sadly this is actually my house.

Funny Kids

So the other day Gideon didn't want to come home from Nana's house. We literally had to drag him into the house kicking and screaming. Then he promptly laid by the front door and kicked and screamed. I ignored the tantrum and walked away, refusing to let him phase me. Within a few minutes it was very quiet and when I came back upstairs, this is what I found. My boy sound asleep on the floor in the entry way.

Princess P is getting vey good at sitting up. She does great in high chairs and her swing and walker. She does pretty well on the floor by herself, but she kind of has a bubble bum, so she tip over a lot and then gets mad. But at least she's cute, right?

Basketball, Birthday & Baby Bumps

Parker can't quite sit up by herself yet, but she likes to sit up and play. So she spends a lot of time in the walker or in our home made play pen. Hey it works, right?

Gideon's party was a big success. It looked very festive (thanks to Eden's great decorating job.) And all his little friends showed up. So we had lots of food and presents.

Well anyway, the birthday boy seemed quite happy about it.

For being abou 15 weeks pregnant, Jesse looks fantastic. This is how she looks normally. In the picture below she's really pushing her stomach out.

Sunday was my boy's 3rd birthday. I woke up so sick I could barely move. I seriously felt like I'd been run over by a truck. So the munchkin pretty much had the best birthday ever because I was too tired to be a good parent.

Since he had a cough and runny nose, he stayed home from church with me, while daddy and sister stayed as far away from us as possible. So he had birthday cake for breakfast, stayed in his pj's all day and ate cheetos and watched cartoons while I vegged on the couch.

That evening I felt guilty for my poor parenting, so we had a picnic on the living room floor consisting of sandwiches, broccoli salad and orange slices. (Thank goodness for all the leftover party food.)

Other than the birthday and trying to get over the colds we've caught, we've been watching a lot of basketball (of course!) Naturally we're all in the spirit!

Oh yeah she's a Tarheel fan too!

Last night we went swimming at Green Canyon with Grandma & her church. Eden came along so Gideon had a great friend.

I somehow don't have any pictures of Parker in her darling swimsuit. But she had a great time splashing and playing in the water. And that's the update from here for now.

Trying to make sense of the Madness!

Okay its now official. I hate the ncaa selection commitee. Most years filling out a tournament bracket is fun and challenging. This year it's just flat frustrating. I have spent the last three hours pouring over box scores and replaying highlight reels and scouting injury reports. But no matter how I break it down the Southeast region just does not make any sense at all. Seriously it's a huge mess. Pitt as the 1 seed is hardly a clear cut favorite. Sure they were the Big East regular season champions but their tournament resume is fairly weak in the modern era. Florida has no business being a 2 seed they were much more deserving of a 4 or 5. I have them packing in the 2nd round. BYU would have been a great pick to dominate this region but since the controversial suspension of Brandon Davies their play has been somewhat erratic and much too dependent upon Jimmer and his scoring super power. Butler is a sentimental favorite having come so close last year. Although the Bulldogs are good, this is not the 2010 squad. Utah State could prove to be a giant killer. Since December they've lost only one game and are, in my opinion, severely under seeded. The whole region is murky at best and leaves one with more questions than answers. I guess I'll have to just make my best guess and wait to see what happens like everyone else.

On the other side of the bracket the East regional is just an absolute minefield. I get so torn anyway because I'm obviously emmotionally involved where North Carolina and Duke are concerned. With any other team I can objectively review scores and performances and pretty well predict how they might fare in the tournament. But when it comes to UNC and Duke I somehow can't bring myself to be objective. I always want UNC to win and I always want Duke to lose. Actually I'd be okay with the Tarheels only winning it all about every 3rd year as long as Duke never wins again. (See I can be unselfish.) Anyway back to my conundrum the East regional is absolutely stacked with talented teams. I naturally want UNC to win but I can be realistic enough to admit that it will be like running the gauntlet for the Tarheels to get to the Final Four this year. Not that it's impossible and not that Carolina is incapable of doing it. It's not going to be a cake walk. That's all.

As for the other 2 regions: In the west I want to see Duke lose early but realistically I have to give them credit. They have talent and experience and loads of confidence as the reigning national champs. Still I can dream and right now my bracket shows San Diego State sending them packing in the Elite 8. Although the prospect of a Duke and UNC rematch in the Final Four is enticing to all basketball fans, I would rather see Duke make an embarrassing early exit. Over in the Southwest the only question that looms is whether or not Ben Hansbrough can capitalize on being the baby brother of Psycho-T. I think Notre Dame is every bit as good a team as Kansas or Purdue, the only question is which of those 3 teams can string together four wins in a row. All of them are certainly talented enough.

The funny thing is that I sit here stressing myself out every year for what? Just to beat my mom.

Surgery

Saturday it got a lot warmer (like 40s) so we had a lot of snow melt. Gideon couldn't stand it, he had to play outside. He got absolutely filthy and muddy, but that' s okay, he had fun. Then it snowed again that night. Go figure.

I got a call last week that Gideon's surgery was being moved up a month. So this morning we were up much too early and at the surgical center before six. Gideon was in a pretty good mood. He kept saying, "Go to the dentist. Fix my teeth."

He was having fun playing in the bed this morning especially when they gave him a new stuffed dog.

Then they slipped a sedative into some tylenol and he got really relaxed. He just zoned out until they wheeled him back. The Dr. said all went well, but they just had to extract those 4 front teeth. So he'll be toothless until his grown up teeth come in.

I have no pictures from immediately after surgery, because he had some delirium coming out of the anesthesia. Basically he FREAKED. He screamed and kicked and thrashed and cried and clawed for like an hour. Seriously he beat up on both me and the nurse. It made me want to bawl. He wasn't totally cognizant, so nothing I could do would calm him down because he wasn't even truly aware it was me. Even after he knew it was me, he sobbed and screamed and cried for another hour.

It took a good hour after we got home before he stopped having meltdowns. He's still pretty sensitive, both physically and emotionally. But right now, the silliness has taken over. I hope he takes a nap this afternoon. I'd really like to go for a short run. But we'll just have to see.

Our first attempt at solid foods...

...was not at all a success. She continued to make faces, spit out the cereal and eventually cry. Oh well. We'll try again some other time.

In other Princess P news, we've had some exciting developments. She's discovered her feet and learned to blow raspberries. So that's all really fun.

She continues to be the happiest, most content baby ever, so we just thank our lucky stars we were blessed with her!