room by room

Catch the Moment: wk 47

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

Happy Thanksgiving, friends & family! I hope you’re surrounded by the people you care about the most. We will be spending time together with family and taking a much needed break from our ongoing kitchen remodeling project, which has been in high gear for the last few weeks. Initially the thought of being gone all weekend gave me anxiety. There’s a laundry list of things I want to get done before the end of the year but, at this point, it is what it is. What doesn’t get done in 2015 will get done…eventually. I’m looking forward to relaxing and laughing and eating and drinking and being merry for a few days.

323/365: Thursday, November 19th. Ryan has literally been spending all of his time at home working on our kitchen. I’ve been busy taking care of the boys – playing with them, feeding them, entertaining them, bathing them, and putting them to bed. They miss their daddy and vice versa but we’re all making sacrifices to get things done! Especially our good friends James & Erin who had been apart every night since James started the job. Luckily for James, he is done with this job but the work continues on for us around here! With all that being said, I’ve been super impressed at how well Theo is understanding games with complex instructions. Games for 8 year olds. I know I’ve said it since the day he was born, but I really feel like we are in such an enjoyable stage of parenting these boys. Every stage has been my favorite. So far. 🙂11-19-2015

324/365: Friday, November 20th. Speaking of Erin and James, Erin and the kids came along for a little play-date while Ryan and James worked last Friday night. We tossed our ideas about reasonable bedtimes out the window and had fun hanging out and catching up. What’s going on in this picture: Theo is not impressed that Kennedy tore a little piece of paper out of a coloring book and Dexter is investigating. I probably made some smart remark to Theo about it and Erin’s laughing at me. Love these people.11-20-2015

325/365: Saturday, November 21st. James and Ryan back at it…The boys and I ran errands and I tried to do some chores around the house. Theo and Dexter have really been playing well together lately. Saturday night they set up a huge Batman meets Rescue Bots meets Marvel meets Star Wars scene. Material for an epic movie right here. Have I mentioned this before? They’re cute. And awesome.11-21-2015

326/365: Sunday, November 22nd. Grouted and wiped down! BOOM! I’m falling in love with my kitchen that I once hated. Just a few more steps (new lighting, a custom-built booth, replacing all the baseboards, buying barstools, installing our little TV for the breakfast bar) and our kitchen will be complete. 11-22-2015

327/365: Monday, November 23rd. I decided to take some pictures of Sylvie because (A) I rarely ever do and because (B) I truly thought this might be our last night with her. She’s been throwing up a lot and pooping outside of her litter box on occasion. She barely eats and at barely 5 pounds, she’s lost weight consistently for the last 3 years. She’s 11 years old and although that’s not super old, she hasn’t seemed healthy for a long time. A trip to the vet a year or so ago told us nothing – that she was healthy, that all her problems were behavioral and related to our other cat, and that she would live a long time. Well…we love her and we have tried the vet’s suggestions but she continues to puke. We don’t love cleaning puke off of the TV cords or couch or carpet or behind the couch on a daily basis. Ryan took her to the vet on Tuesday and the vet gave us some medicine and more ideas to see if we can get her to gain some weight and get better hydration. Hoping things turn around and she feels better soon.11-23-2015

328/365: Tuesday, November 24th. A pretty sunrise on my drive to work.11-24-2015

329/365: Wednesday, November 25th. The boys were both out of school so I took the day off. We played at home, did a few chores, went out for lunch, and then painted some pottery. It was their first time and it went about like I expected. I was very busy squirting paint, switching brushes, touching up mistakes, and running from one side of the table to the other. It wasn’t quite as relaxing as I remembered it from the last time I went (definitely over 6 years ago) but it was a great time with my buddies and a new experience for them. 11-25-2015

This time next week we’ll be well into the push towards Christmas and everything that has to get done between now and then – shew lawdy.

xo,

~C~

Catch the Moment: wk 45

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

The theme of this week is TILE! That’s right friends, after living in our house for over three years, we are finally getting our kitchen floor tiled. Our good friend James lays tile professionally and graciously agreed to do our kitchen, working nights and on the weekend to get it done. I can’t believe it’s finally coming together after all this time. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen so it’s exciting that pretty soon, I will actually enjoy it rather than thinking about how much I hate it every time I look around. The flooring is going to make such a HUGE difference – this is a major step and it’s looking awesome so far.

309/365: Thursday, November 5th. James was coming over to look at the tile we bought and come up with a game plan with Ryan. Coincidentally, I had a BOGO free coupon for the local bounce place that expired Thursday so the boys and I had a little date night out. Pretty fun for a random Thursday night!11-05-2015

310/365: Friday, November 6th. Ryan’s dad was coming over to help him with a few things that needed to be done in the kitchen before James started work on Saturday. I took Theo and Dexter to the park and then a book fair at Theo’s school. We ordered pizza when we got home and called it a day. 11-06-2015

311/365: Saturday, November 7th. If you can believe it, our 1983 kitchen came with CARPET – gross. So I guess when you lay carpet, the floor doesn’t have to be super level. Or maybe the floors just shifted over 30+ years since the house was built. Regardless, the floor was not level. So James used this nifty self-leveling liquid to straighten up the mess. This stuff is magical! The boys and I were in awe of it. 11-07-2015

312/365: Sunday, November 8th. To get the boys out of the house while James and Ryan were installing backerboard, we went to the Children’s Museum. We hadn’t been since the new TMNT exhibit opened. We loved it! I always think we’re going to stay at the museum for 2 hrs and it turns into an all day event. We didn’t get home til around 3 and the guys were finishing up. They did a lot in the 6 hours we were gone!11-08-2015

313/365: Monday, November 9th. James was able to start laying tile and I thought he made it pretty far for just over 2 hrs – he said they were off to a slow start. Psshhh….I’m thrilled! We chose 12×24 tiles in a herringbone pattern. I’m in love. 11-09-2015

314/365: Tuesday, November 10th. Just a little glimpse of what my living room looks like during the remodeling – yep, all the kitchen appliances are in that back corner to the left of the kitchen table. It’s…interesting. I miss my stove but mostly, I’m just thankful for a big living room. 11-10-2015

315/365: Wednesday, November 11th. The weather is definitely changing and it’s feeling a lot more like fall. It was windy and cool tonight and I was feeling relieved for having ordered the boys winter coats a few days ago. They should arrive tomorrow! The zip-up hoodies might not cut it by next week. Oh well it was a good run… we’ve had fantastic fall weather this year. The boys were ready for warm baths, warm jammies, and warm beds after having dinner out tonight. 11-11-2015

So, here’s a secret about me. I’m not really into the 30 days of thankfulness that has covered facebook for the month of November in years past. Not that I’m not thankful for things. I am . And I’m thankful that other people have things to be thankful for. But by day 20 or so, it’s “I’m thankful for my pillow.” “I’m thankful for my favorite coffee mug.” “I’m thankful for my trash bags.” Overkill. That’s all. With that disclaimer out of the way, I have to tell you that as I’m writing this post – that’s what I feel. Thankful. Thankful for my kids and all the fun we have. Thankful for our home and the ability to make improvements. Thankful for warm baths and warm beds when it’s cold outside. It’s easy to get in a negative mindset when things don’t go exactly as planned, but hey. That’s life and it could ALWAYS be worse.

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: week 17

Posted on by mommyinthemidwest

If you were judging by this post, you’d think we only have one child – Mr. Dexter Jay. I did take pictures of Theo but they just didn’t make the cut this time. Turns out most of the week has revolved around Dexter anyway. He’s been fighting an obnoxious combination of a chronic skin rash and some kind of staph bacteria…they seem to feed off of each other. He scratches the rash and breaks the skin. The staph goes straight to the broken skin and infection sets in. He’s been on several antibiotics in the past 2 months and I’ve lost count of the doctor appointments and follow ups. We ended up in the ER this week and he was admitted for a day to get some strong IV antibiotics for the Cellulitis. What a whirlwind. We are glad to be recovering and out of the hospital now. Thankful it wasn’t worse.

113/365: Thursday, April 23rd. My sweet little babe. I just love his smile. I just want to protect him and keep him healthy and predict the future so that I can prevent this crap from ever happening again. 04-23-2015

114/365: Friday, April 24th. Fun friend dinner night with Layton.04-24-2015

115/365: Saturday, April 25th.  HOLY CRAP there’s a tile backsplash in my kitchen…a day I have been dreaming of for almost 3 years. Now to get it grouted … this week’s fiasco derailed our progress. Layton’s dad came over and spent all day helping Ryan put the natural stone backsplash up and I am obsessed with it. I can see an end in sight to this painstaking kitchen remodel!04-25-2015

116/365: Sunday, April 26th. I had a lot of good photos from Sunday but I couldn’t pass up this photo of yummy tomatoes, cheese, and cilantro that I chopped up for a southwestern pasta salad as the afternoon sun poured in through the kitchen window. Reminds me so much of SUMMER.04-26-2015

117/365: Monday, April 27th. After my class at the gym, I realized I had not taken a picture yet. A beautiful sunset was in progress so I was trying my hardest to get somewhere pretty to get out and take a picture. I discovered that the sun lighting up the trees in the background made for a much prettier picture than the rainbow colored clouds in the sky.04-27-2015

118/365: Tuesday, April 28th. This was the night I noticed that a red spot on the inside of Dexter’s right thigh looked bigger than I remembered it looking the night before. I decided to take him to the doctor the next morning. 04-28-2015

119/365: Wednesday, April 29th. We did make it to the pediatrician at 830 Wednesday morning, but the infection was spreading rapidly and 12 hours later we found ourselves at the children’s hospital ER. As you can see, Dexter was not happy to be there. At this point he was very uncomfortable and desperate for relief. Breaks my heart.04-29-2015If I had to choose a “favorite” from this week of photos (which wasnt’s a bad week up until the last picture you see here), it would have to be Day 113…the B&W of Dexter being silly on our bed. Do you have a favorite?

xo,

~C~

Linking up with Mindi at Stavish Stills Photography, Carrie at My Life, Our Journey, and Stephanie at Behind the Camera and Dreaming.