Still alive

Hello out there! I can't believe I haven't posted since the beginning of June, but things continue to stay busy in our neck of the woods. I'll try to catch everyone up as to what has been going on....

JUNE

In June we were DYING with the kids home and both of us trying to work. I was still working ALL.THE.TIME (actually I haven't stopped) and since camp wasn't starting, we managed to find someone who babysit for us a few times before that could babysit the kids for 8 hours/day during the week. She had been really good about social distancing so we felt okay with our decision. She made life a lot easier for the month that she was with us and there were only a few times when Wes came into a video call I was having for work (one with elected officials as I was trying to give a presentation to cry about his broken shark toy- good times).

These are our crumbling concrete front steps....

Wes really enjoyed watching the men that were fixing them.

Not quite finished product, but close enough

The cicadas at our house were SO LOUD this summer. I guess this year was both a 13 year brood and early risers from the next 17 year brood. The kids had fun catching them, helping them fly away, and Wes even named a few. Thankfully they are mostly gone now, but they left dead carcasses everywhere.

We celebrated CP's birthday in style by ordering out Alinea, a super fancy multi-Michelin star restaurant that costs something like $400/plate for a 15 course meal if you are dining in person (before adding alcohol). During COVID-19 though, they offered a much less expensive 6 course delicious meal, so I surprised CP with take out. It was really, really good.

Like with Mother's Day, Izzy wanted to make sure that CP had a good birthday so she made him a pinata and a scavenger hunt. It was adorable and I loved how she put so much thought and effort into it.

JULY

We spent a long Fourth of July weekend with my parents at their house in Michigan. I was supposed to take one day off (Thursday) but then ended up working half the day because meetings popped up that I had to attend (sigh). We had a great time otherwise with a family party for Wes' birthday and then on Sunday CP and I got to drive back to IL WITHOUT THE KIDS. My mom had offered to take the kids for a week earlier in the year and it was desperately needed to spend some time away, just the two of us. CP and I still had to work during the day but I didn't work at night (well, one night) and we got to hang out, go to dinner almost every night, and enjoy each other's company. The next weekend we drove back to MI to spend the weekend there and pick up the kids. They had a great time; grandma was a little exhausted (lol).

Once getting back from MI the kids went to summer camp which meant they were out of the house (!), back on a schedule, and playing with friends. The camp does an excellent job with safety (temperature checks, questions upon arrival, masks inside, etc.) so we felt comfortable with the kids there all day. Wes had about two weeks of rough drop-offs because he wanted to be home with me, but got back into the schedule and enjoyed being back with friends. I'm happy to report NO COVID cases for either camp!

Enjoying the dinosaur sprinkler, the baby pool, and the watermelon beach ball given to Wes by my sister for his birthday.

Watching Hamilton our outdoor movie screen on July 3rd. Izzy LOVED it and cried at the end when Hamilton died. Wes stayed awake the entire time. Both kids frequently request us to play the soundtrack- parenting win!

Wes obviously helped decorate his cake. :-)

Enjoying ice cream during grandma week.

Michigan beach

Wes came home to open a lot of Star Wars-themed gifts from family members.

We ended up having a very small birthday party for Wes in our back yard with our "quaranteam families" where our slip and slide that CP bought earlier in the year made an appearance. 

Oh and halfway through July I read an intermittent fasting book because I had gained some weight during our shelter in place and started fasting for slightly longer periods than I had been doing. I also started to try to drink black coffee which I still choke down, but it's getting a little better every day. 

I also got fed up with my daily plantar fasciitis pain no matter what I did so I saw a doctor and decided to get a cortisone shot. It's been nice to walk/work out without pain but I'm not sure I will ever run again......

AUGUST

So far in August the kids finished up camp. We learned that Izzy would be starting off going remote for 1st grade so we have essentially enrolled her in 1st grade daycare (*groan*)....but it will be outside of our house, she will be with 9 other friends, and will have teachers helping her do her e-learning. CP is back at work every day but with remote e-learning he has gotten the go-ahead to work from home two days a week starting next week. 

We were supposed to go to Wisconsin for a week of camping with friends but didn't go because then we would have to quarantine for two weeks as a family and Wes couldn't go to daycare. Sadly, I didn't get my badly-needed vacation time.....hopefully soon.

Today was Wes' first day of Pre-K and he had a great day ("Mommy, I didn't have any consequences!"). This week is going to be tough as I found a camp that will take Izzy from 9-3 (school/1st grade daycare doesn't start until next week) but I generally have calls from 9-6 so she will be watching tv/amusing herself while I am on those calls until CP gets home with Wes.

Izzy has now lost 7 teeth!

We are trying to make sure the kids get out and get a lot of exercise. Our local pool is open for up to 100 people during a two hour block so we often reserve time slots when we can. Both kids are going off the small diving board and Wes is actually swimming without floaties! Now that Wes is on a two wheeler we have been doing long family bike rides too- up to 7 miles for the kids and they are doing great!

I thought it would be fun to get this bird feeder so that the cats could watch birds come to the window. Cocoa is OBSESSED and the birds couldn't care less these days that he is jumping at them in the window. Keeps him nice and occupied for some of the day.

Brain dump over. Time to get back to work (*sigh*).

New patio

While we were away camping our landscaper finally finished our new patio! This is our one big house project this year and it was something that needed to be done because half of the old concrete patio was ripped up when we did our house renovation last year.

Here is what it looked like this spring:

Pretty sad right? And quite the muddy mess whenever it rained.

Here is what we were going for (sort of):

I happened to be home on the day that they started work because Wes was sick so I got to take a few "during" pictures.

Pouring sand

Leveled and pounded down sand

The next day the landscapers worked to install the Unilock pavers that look like bricks

Then they put in the white border and put together the arbor

Next they came back with plants- two big hydrangeas on each side of the arbor

New sod after leveling the ground (the lawn was too high)

New plants- tall grasses to the right, boxwoods to the left to hide the huge A/C

Finally, the final new patio with our new patio furniture!

Sorry for the rainy picture but this is looking out from our window in our family room

In the fall I will move two clematis plants from the backyard to each side of the arbor for some color. Izzy picked out banana cream shasta daisy plants for alongside of the garage which add some nice color as well. When the hydrangeas bloom they will look great, and then later this summer the rose of sharon tree on the right will bloom for a while. 

It's so nice to have a nice, new patio!

Catching up

I feel like I have no time to blog anymore! This will have to be a short one, mostly with updates.

*I had to push back my neck surgery from June to July because my doctor doesn’t want me traveling for at least two weeks after the surgery. We are scheduled to go camping in Door County, WI for a week less than two weeks after the surgery, so now the surgery will be July 20. 

*CP decided to join Weight Watchers! I was surprised that he was interested but he lost about 15 pounds after he started running a few times a week last year and has since stayed steady. He was getting frustrated that he wasn’t losing any more so this week he joined. He hung out with a work friend on Tuesday night and was shocked to blow through most of his points for the week after three beers, a Reuben sandwich, and fries.  I suspect he will also have an awakening after he starts to seriously track his food intake.

*I was selected to be part of a prestigious leadership program that would have had a few weeks of travel over the next year. A few days before I was scheduled to go, my division’s participation was cancelled by higher ups (no reason given but my boss seems to think it was money-related). To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement. It underscored how unhappy I am at my current job and how, although I have said this before and obviously not followed through, I think that it is time to leave after 10 years here.

*Leaving is not super easy though because I want to leave my industry and move to a new one. So I reached out to friends and contacted two different career counselors to see how they can help and how much money it would cost. I don't just want to jump to any job but I would like to plan out my career a little more. Fingers crossed I can do that with one of these counselors and that it is within our budget.

*Speaking of lots of money, our new patio goes in next week while I am out of town for work. I'm excited to have not only a nice patio but new patio furniture as well! It's actually been warm enough recently where we could eat outside if we had a patio so hopefully we can do that soon.

*Getting older sucks. I have been having trouble with my contacts for a while- blurry vision, dry eyes by the end of the day, etc. so my doctor prescribed some eyelid wipes and a different contact solution. Neither worked so my next step is daily contacts which are more expensive.....and of course the only ones that my eyes will tolerate are the most expensive ones. I also updated my glasses as it has been about 10 years but I wore them all day today and like usual, my nose hurts from not being used to glasses. :-( I should seriously look into LASIK so that I don't have to deal with this anymore.

*My plantar fasciitis has not gone away despite wearing my oh-so-sexy night splint and orthodics every day. This week I made it worse by playing softball with colleagues- running to first base after a hit was painful! The day after was spent working from home, alternating icing my foot and stretching. My next step is to start physical therapy at the end of the month. I've got races to run later this year and I need to start running!

*CP and I were going to spend the weekend mulching but now it is supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend. Then on Mother’s Day I have to drive down to St Louis for a work meeting that starts Monday morning. Booooo. At least I will be out of the office for most of next week.

What is new with you?

Staying busy since Christmas

We have certainly stayed busy since Christmas.

Working on the house

I did have to go into work the day after Christmas, but the rest of that week I took off so that CP and I could do some work around the house while the kids were at daycare. The first day was spent organizing the unfinished part of our basement- figuring out what could be taken to Goodwill, what needed a new home somewhere else in the house, what could be organized on the shelves, and what just needed to go into the garbage.

The mess that was the unfinished section of the basement

The pile of stuff to donate or throw out

Organized!

Organized stuff!

The second day we were a bit lazier as we took the kids out to breakfast and spent some time at Home Depot, but we still got a few things done. On the final day we painted parts of the basement (mostly concrete) that were untouched during our house rehab, hung out some wires for the kids to put their artwork on, and hung up two picture compilations of the kids from birth to 11 months old.

The new hallway after the house remodel....the new wall on the left got painted but other parts did not

The part that didn't get redone

New paint! Can't wait to get rid of the stairs, but that's a project to be done after we do a patio outside

Kids artwork on the wall!

Racks to organize Izzy's art supplies in the basement

Buster

One of the places I dropped off some stuff was some of Koda and Buster's stuff to the local animal shelter. CP and I decided that we aren't quite ready for another animal just yet and even then, we would like to start over with new stuff. So the shelter got dog beds, leashes, bowls, a soft cone, etc. As I was dropping the stuff off at the shelter I SO wanted to go into the back to see what kind of dogs and cats were back there to take one home, but thankfully the office was closed off from the adoptable pets so I didn't have a chance to check any out. CP and I agree that we should wait until we at least come back from our trip to CA later this month....afterwards, we'll see. We still have pictures up in a few places in the house of Buster and Koda and every so often, I just start to cry (last time was yesterday when walking upstairs to put Wes to bed....he pointed at a picture of Buster when he was just a puppy and said "arf arf.") :-(

Izzy's speech

Before Christmas and probably only one week after I wrote up Izzy's 4 year old update, she started to say the letter "s" before consonants! Her teachers in Pre-K have been working on it with her but it literally was like a light switch went off in her head one day and she came home and would slow down to say the word or correct herself. Chris and I were pretty excited because it is much easier to understand her, but we were also a little sad because it means that she is growing up so fast!

Mama!

Speaking of words, guess who is now walking around saying "mama" all the time? That's right- Wes! This is doubly exciting because he is NOT saying "dada" so I win! I kid of course but I did have three months of Izzy saying "dada" before she started to say "mama" so this is payback CP! Lol.

New Years Eve

New Years Eve was spent with friends who have an 8 year old daughter. Izzy totally looks up to her and surprisingly, they have a lot of fun together so it was a fun night. CP made Cajun food- duck gumbo, shrimp & grits, corn/tomato side dish, and a collard greens side dish. It was delicious! Our friends left around 10:30 to get their kid to bed; Izzy then went to bed (which means she was cranky the next day). I went to bed before midnight but CP came up at 11:59 to go to bed so technically we were up at midnight? :-)

Stitch Fix

I got my latest Stitch Fix this weekend and decided to cancel the service because the only thing that I kept was a necklace (mostly because it was only going to cost me $5). The clothes just don't fit right and one pair of pants the stylist sent because it is "on trend" right now. I am not an "on trend" kind of girl and could care less about that. I would rather go to Loft and buy clothes there since I seem to really like the patterns/styles and they fit me well. 

Ice skating lessons for Izzy

Izzy took beginning ice skating lessons right after Christmas and by the second night started to get the hang out getting up onto her skates after falling and gliding a little bit. She enjoyed herself so hopefully we can find some time to take her again this winter to practice her new skills.

Izzy is in the black coat

Wes in the ER

Finally, Wes decided on New Years Day, after I didn't get quite enough sleep the night before, to get sick enough to necessitate a trip to the ER. I could tell that he was having trouble breathing and he was constantly coughing so we broke out the nebulizer....which made him better for about an hour, hour and a half before he would start to take a turn for the worse again. His ped was concerned that the treatments weren't helping him for the whole four hours inbetween so off to the ER we went at 8pm where he promptly spiked a 102.3 fever and started wheezing. He tested positive for RSV and they finally got his fever down, but we ended up getting admitted for the night. Wes refused to sleep in the baby cage like last time, so around 1:45am he finally fell asleep on the twin bed with me. I didn't sleep well because throughout the night I would have to give him a breathing treatment, or the nurse would come in and need to check his breathing, etc. Thankfully he were released the next day and he only needed the nebulizer for another day before he started to get better. I most likely caught RSV from Wes and have been battling a terrible cold since then. 

Waiting in the ER with a fever

Feeling better the next day and trying to hide from me

Okay, that's probably enough for now. How has 2018 treated you so far?

Final house renovations

Okay so I can wait until our house is completely clean and ready, or I can just show you what we did to our house when it is super close to being complete, but not completely clean. :-)

If you forget what our house looked like before the reno, I have a few pictures on this post and a few more on this post. I also posted updates throughout the renovation here and here. And if you are feeling extra bored, you can go to the "house stuff" tag on my sidebar and read all of the posts since August 2012 detailing what we have done so far.

Without further ado, our new and improved house! We'll start upstairs and make our way down.

First up- our new master closet. It was just one door a few months ago which meant that CP's stuff on the right hand side was getting lost. We had the contractor re-do the door frame and put on two doors so that we both have access to the closet- my stuff on the left, his stuff on the right.

Not a super exciting change, but it makes CP's life a lot easier.

Next up, the second floor bathroom, our only full bathroom in the house. We made a few changes to make the room feel bigger (raised the ceiling above the shower- it used to be curved), shortened the closet to the right of the shower so that it is flush with the tub instead of sticking out, and moved the door so that it now swings out into the hallway. A few things make this room feel bigger even if the footprint did not. Plus it's soooooo nice to not have a black bathtub anymore!!

I wish we had room for a larger counter, but we try to put most of our stuff in the medicine cabinet.

Now down to the first floor where we knocked down the entire exterior fireplace because it was a disaster. If you have brick, please don't paint it. Not only is it bad for the brick but then it makes it impossible for contractors to figure out where there are problems. So instead of worrying about our fireplace falling over in high winds, we now have a lovely new one outside!

Inside there was a problem with the actual firebox (or something- I didn't quite understand what was going on) so we had to get one of these firebox covers/faces (the black thing). I think that it will actually work out well because it is a bit of a hybrid and while it burns real wood, there is a fan that circulates the hot air into the room, potentially heating up more than just the 5 foot area around the fire. Because the white mantle wood came too close to the black box we had to get new stone to surround it as well as you can see below. I love the way it turned out! (Now we don't love the red tiles surrounding the fireplace but that is not a high priority right now.)

Next up our first floor half bath. We moved the wall that juts out on the left back a little bit so that when you sit on the toilet you are not as closed in as before. Whomever put up the walls of the bathroom did not use drywall or plaster so in order to fix that we had to totally rip everything down and start fresh.

Next up is CP's favorite new room, the new and improved kitchen! We totally gutted the old one and bumped out the back of the house about 8 feet to create the new open kitchen that we love! I love how open the room is with both the dining room and the new family room. Izzy loves sitting at the island on the stools to eat.

Hard to see in the picture but the island is a dark blue and there is some blue in the countertops as well.

CP's new baby- a Wolf commercial oven/stove. We had a different backsplash but happened to come upon this awesome Ann Sacks concrete tile (thankfully not expensive) and decided to go for a big pop instead! I love it (hard to see but it is blue).

A bookshelf for all of CP's cookbooks!

The kitchen opens up into the new family room which is also a few feet bigger than the old one. We still need some shelving, curtains, and at some point, a sectional instead of the couch and armchair but the latter isn't financially feasible right now.

The new larger opening between the dining room and the family room:

The new larger opening between the dining room and the new kitchen:

Next we head down to the basement. We walled off the mechanical stuff and now have a large space for shelving and storage, but at least we have separate rooms now. Here is the new hallway with new flooring and a painted wall which leads to the new  basement. Clearly we haven't unpacked the kids' toys just yet. :-)

My new laundry set up which is just okay.

The new basement (it resides under the expanded part of the kitchen and the new family room). It two will eventually house a sectional, cubbies for the kids, and of course, my lovely new treadmill (pictured).

Outside is where most of the final work is to be done. The contractors ripped up most of our patio so every time it rains this area is a mess. I'm not sure where the big pavers have gone so we might just have to make do until the spring when we can hopefully cobble together enough money to get the patio done.

The new back part of our house (they still have to fix the driveway).

Other than that we did mainly not-so-fun things like revamped our HVAC system to install another zone on the second floor, installed another sump pump and battery backup for the new part of the basement, etc. Can't wait for the entire project to be done!