House tour - some little projects

I know, I know, it's taken me five months to post any pictures of the new house.  We've been busy, ya know, with a baby and all. =)  Anyway, I am just starting to get some things done around here to make it prettier, homier, and more us.  We have a long list of little things we'd like to do.  This house was in GREAT shape compared to most of the foreclosures that we saw in our super long house search, but cosmetically, kinda blah-meets-ugh.  The carpets are nearly white (WHY????) and grossly stained everywhere, and the paint through the entire house is cheap, flat, and white, white, white ... except where it is dirty.  And the drywall is a little banged up and full of old tv mounting hardware.  Like I said - GREAT for a foreclosure, and really, even a house that was well cared for but not our style would need most of the same work.  (Except for the banged up front door, the splintering deck,  and the yard full of weeds, but ...)   So, to sum up - we are super thankful for this house, and how little needed to be done to make it livable, and enjoying making some little changes to make it prettier. 

Here are some things I've been working on - pictures of the rooms to come later.

My "mudroom" area - which is basically just a tiny wall in the kitchen between the dining room doorway and the main hallway through the house.  I wanted the kids to be able to be in charge of putting away their own things as we come in and go out every day, but there was no room by the garage or back door to do that.  I decided that even if it was not so pretty to have it right in the middle of everything, it would be convenient, which might help it to really work!  So, here it is, so far:

empty, but pretty

Lots of hooks that everyone can reach,  and every day shoes in the chest underneath.  (The chest was made for Patrick by his uncle Jimmy - each of the kids in his family got one.  It's perfect!)

and in use

I still would like to add a shelf above the hooks for baskets to hold hats and mittens and all that jazz.  It is working pretty well so far, though the kids are not quite automatically putting their things away just yet, I'm sure we'll get there.

Just on the other side of that dining room doorway, I put up some more organization help - my little version of what is known around the blogs and pintrest as a command center.  Nothing fancy, just some wall pockets (for mail and school papers) a chalkboard (for the weekly menu plan and lists) and a clock.  I don't have a chalk pen yet, but it's gonna be fun!

I am still looking for something pretty to put on that counter to the left to hold phones, sunglasses and keys, and a small book shelf to put at the end of the cabinet for cookbooks and such (instead of that cute but way too tiny cabinet thing).

In the playroom, I put up an art cable (inspired by this one, and others on pintrest) to hang up the kids' art work.

We also hung these initial fingerpaints that I had the kids do this summer.  (Finn's was done by Elijah.)

More to come!

Wonderful

This afternoon, something amazing and wonderful happened.

While doing my normal scan of the blogs/facebook for sales and deals, I saw a great clearance sale on little girls summer clothes. Yay! There were a few things that I saw that I thought would be great for Molly for next year, and the prices were fantastic.

Now, all that is great, and I was excited, but finding great deals on stuff we need does happen pretty often, and I wouldn't normally write a blog post about it.

But then, I realized that I could just GO DOWNSTAIRS to our basement, and check the bin for next year and see what we needed! Like, in the very minute that I found the deal, not like making the trek out to the storage unit and not even being able to find the right bin, and three days later when all the clearance stuff is gone figuring out that I don't even know what we need ...

So, I got some great stuff - the right stuff, in the right sizes - and realized again how much I love having a house. Hooray for our basement!

Still moving in - and some new house firsts

So, I think I would say we're 50% unpacked. It's the really important 50% that is done, which is good, but there's still plenty to do. We got some new appliances to fill in what was missing or not working here, but we've had some issues getting everything to work correctly. Our new dishwasher wasn't draining correctly, so Patrick did huge loads of dishes by hand this week, and we've mostly still been using disposable plates, but the maintenance guy came today and it seems to be working again now. Yay! We did not replace the stove, but did have to get an electrician come and fix the power to the stove last week, then discovered the gas to the stove was not on, and then discovered that the oven does not work. Patrick got it all figured out, and the part ordered, so hopefully we'll really be cookin' again soon. =) The washing machine and dryer that we got seem to be working fine (once we got the gas to the dryer turned back on!) but we did have some wiggling and scooting to do to get them to fit into the 2nd floor laundry closet correctly. I can now open and close the closet doors and the washer and dryer doors, but the detergent drawer is still a little tricky. =) We also had the electrician install the boxes for overhead lights in the kids' rooms, but haven't actually gotten any lights to put up yet.

We've had lots of fun first experiences in our new house, and I thought it would be interesting to write them down, so I can remember how huge this was for us someday when we're all used to having our own house. =)

Just for a little perspective - this was our 10th move in the 8 1/2 years that Patrick and I have been married. We have lived in three states, owned our own home (a 3rd floor condo) only once before, and lived in only one stand-alone house before this (that we did not own).

This is the kids' first yard! Patrick and I had a yard for a while (7 years ago), but this is a first for the kids. We have a lot to learn about how to how to stay safe out there, since we don't have a fence yet, but I am so excited about this one!!!! I am so thankful for our yard and the space for the kids to just play. We will be even more excited and love it even more someday when the yard is actually grass, and not 90% weeds. =)


Along with our yard, we have our first driveway. (Again, we'll have to learn some new safety rules.) How fun to have somewhere to learn to ride bikes and stuff!

In this house we have a dining room! A couple of days after we moved in, Elijah pointed to the kitchen table (in the eat-in kitchen where we have eaten all our meals so far) and said, "Why is this still here?" When I asked him what he meant, he said, "THAT's the dining room! That means we should be DINING in there!" Well, I guess we'd better get busy and clear it out (that's where all the boxes that we are still unpacking are right now) so we can actually eat dinner in there sometime - it will make him feel a lot better. =)

We decided to use the formal living room space for a playroom. I love that all (well, almost, so far) the toys can be in one place, and that that place is NOT the family room floor! The kids are overjoyed to see a bunch of their toys that we have had packed away - we haven't had room to have them all out at once before.

I am still adjusting to the idea of having a more permanent address. I am so excited to not have to constantly update everything - once we're done getting everything switched over to this address, that is. I still have to log in to Amazon sometimes to check my address book - when I am updating addresses I often find the old address is actually one or two (or more!) addresses back, and I can't even remember all the street numbers and zip codes anymore. It's a good thing someone kept a list for me!

Some other things we had to/have to get - a second shower curtain and bath mat, more towel racks (it seems like we always need more towel racks, every time we've moved anywhere!), new toilet brushes (we've only ever had one before!), a lawn mower, and a broom. We also get to go through all of our cleaning products and give away the ones that we won't use at this house, instead of hauling around our collection of things specific to other houses. =)

In case you missed it earlier, I am excited to be able to decorate our new house! It's going to take me a while, but I'll try to post pictures as I start to get things done. So far, we've rearranged the living/family room furniture a few times, but that's about it. We'll probably be ready to unpack the fun stuff - books and pictures and all that jazz - pretty soon. I think I'll have plenty of time to think about anything I want to do beyond that as we continue to get unpacked and then bring home a new baby, before I'll actually be able to do anything. That's OK - then I will really know what I want! In addition to decorating and making it feel like us, we have plenty of little projects to keep us (Patrick, mostly - sorry, babe) busy, since this house was a little neglected when we got here. Neither of us is new to working on projects like this, but it's been a long time since these things have been our responsibility at our own house. Cool, but a little scary!

Elijah's 5th Birthday!

Happy Fifth Birthday, Elijah!

Wow! Elijah turned five yesterday! He is growing up so fast. It's been one week since we moved in, so we didn't get to do everything that we would've wanted to do for Elijah's special day, but it was still great! He chose blueberry pancakes for breakfast (anyone surprised?) and loved coming downstairs to streamers and his Lightening McQueen balloons.




Since our house was not really party-ready yet, Danny and Lorrie graciously hosted Elijah's birthday party. He loved celebrating with all of Patrick's family and we all had a fun time together. (We also discovered the night before that our oven was not working, so I was very thankful to be able to run over and bake his cupcakes at Danny & Lorrie's, too!)

We just did some simple cupcakes, but all of Elijah's cars helped make them fun and festive!

Yay, presents!

Elijah had a great time at his party, and wore that birthday hat all day. =) We had so much fun celebrating him! Love you, chum!

Five years ago.

Knoebels!

Monday was our annual trip to Knoebels amusement park with Patrick's family. This year, Patrick took the kids and let me spend the day sleeping and trying to rest up after a crazy weekend of moving! I was pretty worn out, and we decided that a long day of walking around and being too pregnant to take the kids on any rides wasn't the best idea. (Last year, I took the kids while Patrick had a work conference - maybe next year we'll all get to go together again!)

Getting moved in ...

Well, moving is always a crazy adventure, and we are certainly still right in the middle of the crazy. But we are excited to be living in our new house, and that everything in the past week has gone quite well, considering all the extra complications. Patrick had to be traveling for work for three days last week, and was gone again over the weekend, and during the day today, so this was NOT the best time to move. But thanks to lots of help from my mom and Patrick's dad (and some professional movers), we survived the week, and all of our stuff made it from one place to the other without any major disasters. We are loving our new house and all the extra space, and I am excited to have already met some of our neighbors, who all seem really nice. Wow - neighbors! So cool! We have a lot of unpacking and setting up still to do, but I'm excited about how things are working out.

First sunset in our new house - this is the view out our back door.

The kids are loving the new playroom, and their new kitchen!

Wow - we're finally moving!

Well, after eight months of looking at houses, four offers that didn't work out, a whole lot of waiting and wondering, and a couple of weeks of near-panic when we suddenly couldn't close when we thought we would, we are finally moving! Closing is scheduled (FOR SURE this time!) for Friday, and we are moving on Saturday - just in time to prevent being homeless. =)

The past couple of weeks have been, wow, a nightmare headache to say the least. I'm sure that in a few months or years it will be just a crazy story that we laugh at and tell to amaze our friends (like the refrigerator in the bathroom closet in our first apartment), but right now it feels traumatic and stressful, and not really a story I want to tell on our public blog. God has been very gracious to us throughout, and we are so thankful for all the ways that He has blessed and protected us and we continue to trust that His way is the best way.

We are so thankful for this new house - the space and the YARD that we have been hoping for for so long, and just the blessing of having a place of our own. And I am very glad to be moving before baby comes, and that we will likely even have a few weeks to get settled before we become a family of five. Hopefully we can post some pictures as we get settled in, but we won't be doing a whole lot of improving right away, so no exciting before-and-afters just now. =) I am just thrilled to have the space to unpack!

Really a big girl - yay!

As of today, Molly has been wearing her big girl undies for two days! She kept her training pants dry for three straight days, so on Sunday night we gave her her new undies - she got Hello Kitty, Jessie (Toy Story), and Princess and the Frog. (Well, she really stayed dry for four days, but one day we had to drive to Baltimore to pick up Nana, and so she was in the van for almost five hours, and she wore a diaper for that, and that shouldn't count.) And, she has kept her panties dry since she's been wearing them - yay!

Molly is so proud to be a big girl! I am so proud of her, and so excited that potty training has been relatively painless this time. (Although I'm sure that we are still a long way from being accident-free all the time.) I don't think I would have chosen this particular time to work on potty training, with moving and everything else that is happening, but I am glad to take it, if this is when she wants to do it - she made it so easy for me!

Baby update - 31 weeks

The weeks seem to be flying by as we wait to know for sure if we are really and truly moving ... in only 9 days. Yikes! Despite the moving question, and potty-training, and the traveling that Patrick has and will be doing this month, and the kids' birthdays coming up, and all the craziness, the wee bairn (aka baby boy) is growing and developing and seems to be well and healthy. I had my glucose test a few weeks ago, which came back normal (hooray!) and the blood tests done again. The Rh antibodies test was negative (yay) but my iron was still low, so they actually increased my dose. I was very much hoping to be able to quit taking the iron, but it isn't the worst thing in the world. It's just a lot to remember - twice a day, not with the prenatal vitamin, but with food, but not with dairy, which inhibits the body's ability to absorb the iron ... Anyway, I got my regularly scheduled RhoGAM shot two weeks ago, and was only sore for a couple of days. Yuck. I think that was my 7th dose over the past 5 pregnancies? Maybe this time the wee bairn will be Rh negative and I won't have to do it again after he is born. =) Now we are back to the quick, boring appointments - every 2 weeks for now.

According to the baby development book, the wee bairn is now approximately 16-17 inches long, 3-4 pounds, and almost a skinny little version of his full-term self! He is still very active whenever I am not, and pretty still during the day while I am busy. Soon he will start to run out room for all this activity, but we are enjoying feeling his big crazy wiggles for now. Molly is not at all sure she wants to be able to feel the baby move, and usually frowns on him if he happens to move when she is snuggled with me. But the rest of us think it's great. =)

Patrick and I went on a tour of the hospital where I'll be delivering, just so we know where to go and what to do when it's time. I think it's crazy that we have had to do this with each baby - learning all over again at a different place with different procedures. I should get a job writing reviews of maternity wards around the country. (Queen size beds in the maternity ward, people. Dads DO NOT like those horrible fold-out chairs!) I'm glad to have that done, though. Now we just have to map out the best route from the new house to the hospital. Of course, we don't want to have to use any of this just yet - hopefully we'll have more than 10 days after the move before the baby comes this time.

Crossing the finish line!

New job. Check.

Move to temporary space. Check.

Search for house. Check.

Get pregnant? Check!

Have offer accepted on house. Check.

Successful inspection. _______

Move-in date. Feb. 25-28

Have friends and family help with move. Promising beer and pizza to any takers...

:)

Update: house and moving on hold for now. :(

Number 3

We are having a baby! Our third little Shmuffin is about 8 weeks along, and is due August 8th. Another summer baby. We seem to be continuing several streaks here - each new baby in a different state, moving each time I've been pregnant ... lots of fun stuff. I am feeling pretty sick and miserable (also for the third time) but thankfully only actually puking occasionally. We were pretty excited to have a good ultrasound and see a healthy little heartbeat (right where it is supposed to be!) before Christmas, and to be able to tell both our families when they were all together for Christmas.

We are now especially thankful to be at least in the process of finding and buying a bigger house where there will be enough room for all five of us, plus any of all of you very loved people who might want to come and stay. =) We are in the waiting and hoping stage after putting in an offer on a house - our third in the past couple of months. We're praying that it will all work out, if this really is the house for us.

So, lots of big news.

Finger Paint!

We have been busy getting settled into our new place! Things seem to be finding new homes pretty quickly, and we are glad that things have been relatively normal for the kids. We found the art supplies and were excited to get out the finger paint and create some fun!

Moving

Well, we moved. Goodbye to our little townhouse in Rhode Island ...

... and hello big yellow moving truck and Pennsylvania!



We had lots of great help unloading the truck and unpacking from family and friends in the area. We are so thankful for everyone pitching in! The new place has enough rooms for the kids to each have their own, for the first time. They missed each other a little bit at first, but they are loving their new rooms. I made each of them a cozy little reading corner, which they have really enjoyed too. I am thankful that they have both been sleeping better on their own. Hooray for a little more space!

First breakfast in the new place - french toast! Yum!

Elijah in his new room!

Playing

Just a last couple of pictures of the kids enjoying play time before we moved.

One of Elijah's favorite activities in this yard - digging!

Miss Molly loved digging too. They spent so many fun hours in the sandbox and the dirt and mulch around the yard. (Nice hat, Molly!)

Labor Day

We got to spend Labor Day in Connecticut with Jackie & Luke and the kids. We had a fun day, as usual, and I took very few pictures, as usual. =) The kids and Jasper the dog all enjoyed going to the park! We are really going to miss these quick visits now that we are moving further away, but I'm sure we'll still manage some weekends together. Thanks guys, for being our family while we lived in New England. It was so much fun to be so close!

Big News!

Well, I have a lot of posting to do to catch up here, but things are a little busy right now. We're moving! Patrick got a new job in Pennsylvania, and we're all headed down to start a new part of our lives next week. So, I may be falling even further behind with this blog for a while, but I hope to be up and posting again soon.

We are sad to be leaving our little church family (we have loved this church so much!) and Elijah's preschool and living so close to the beach, but we are excited to be moving close to family and friends and to have more space. We'll even be looking for a house of our own once we get there! Patrick is excited about learning and growing in his new job. We are so thankful for God's grace and look forward to what He has for us in the next part of our lives.

End of summer - playing at the park

Here are just a few pictures of the kids playing at the park. We had a lovely, warm sunny day on Monday that felt like the last day of summer. We made the most of it and had lots of fun at a local park that we found recently. I think we're starting to get to know our new town now, even though the kids and I have been gone more than we've been home since we moved.

We're back!

Hey! We finally have internet access again! I will try to get caught up on July, moving, August, and the trip the kids' and I took to Colorado as soon as I can. Here are a couple of pictures from the end of July to tide you all over for now!

Elijah's giant train tracks

Boxes are the best part of moving! They were using this one as a drum.

More posts coming soon!

Moving

So, we moved yesterday. Well, our furniture and stuff did, anyway. Not a big move this time - it's just about 20 minutes from the old place to the new place. The new place is a lot closer to Patrick's office, which means more a little more time with him in the evenings - hooray! The old and new places are about the same size, but we will have interior stairs at the new place (Molly will be thrilled) and our own, ground floor front door. I am excited not to have to carry the groceries and a kid (and hold another hand) half a block from the parking lot and up a flight of stairs to our front door anymore. Yeah! There are some things I am not as excited about - the kitchen is the size of a closet, and there's no room for the sewing machine, and anyone taller than Elijah has to duck going down the stairs, and there is very little storage space - but I am going to focus on the good things. Patrick and I got to spend the day unpacking and getting things set up at the new place, thanks to Jackie who watched the kids for us, and Luke who helped us unpack, and Becky & Charlie who kept their kids while they were here. We really got a lot done, and I was encouraged to see that things are fitting pretty well, and we're finding solutions for most things. We aren't really moved in yet - we're all still sleeping at the old place at this point (the kids in their own beds and us on the air mattress), but we'll get there soon. Patrick's parents are coming up tomorrow to help us get completely moved in and baby-proof and all that jazz. We're so thankful for all the help we've had this week and all month as we've been packing and getting ready. Maybe soon I can put up some pictures of the new place.

Here we are!

Welcome to the new Shmuffin Baby, coming to you now from lovely (windy!!) Rhode Island! Yes, it's been a while since we posted. Packing up and moving across the country have kept us a little busy lately. Here is a quick update of our last few weeks.

We (that is, Patrick) got the old house all packed up and ready to go, and then we had some great help from family and friends as we packed the truck. Here are Elijah and Daddy - E thought the big yellow truck was the coolest thing ever, and is very sad that we had to give it back. "Dadda! Kruck! Yeh-yow!"

Elijah and I outside our old house. Bye-bye!

Patrick's dad came out to help him drive the moving truck and one of our cars (they towed the other one) from Colorado to Rhode Island. They made the trip in four days. Elijah and I stayed with my parents while Patrick drove out, and then unloaded the truck (with more help from friends). We had a good time with Nana and Grandpa, and I had a chance to see a few friends before we left.

On a random side note, Elijah had his first haircut the week that we were packing the house. I took the camera, but did not get any pictures because I was holding him the whole time. He did not enjoy the experience, and although his hair looks a lot better, he didn't let her finish cutting, so I'll still have to trim around his ears soon. Oh well!

Elijah had a tough few weeks while we packed up and then while Daddy was gone. He really relies on the consistency of his routine and this was a big disruption to his life! He enjoyed playing in the yard at Nana & Grandpa's house and playing with his cousins, but most days he was clingy, grumpy, fussing for several hours a night, and had major meltdowns with every little thing. We survived on graham crackers, Bob the Builder on demand, and unlimited pacifier time. Boy were we both tired!

On Saturday, Elijah, my mom and I flew out to Rhode Island with more luggage than we could carry (thanks, Dad and Stuart!). Elijah did amazingly well through two flights and three crazy airports - of course, it was spring break and the lines were nuts! We missed breakfast entirely and barely managed to grab lunch, but we got here - hooray! Thank goodness for packed snacks and fun new toys. Elijah and I were both so glad to see Patrick, and it was nice to sleep in our own beds again.

This week we have been trying to finish unpacking and getting to know our new home. Mom is staying all week and she's been a big help. There is a playground and green space half a block from our apartment here, and Elijah is obsessed with the slides. He's been at least once a day since we've been here, even if it's been windy and chilly.

Elijah enjoying his new playground