Around here lately...

Well, it's September! The unofficial start to fall & a regular routine. I have no clue what I'm going to do when I have children who will go off to school. Routine + fancy school supplies + back to school clothes = I lose my mind. Anyway! I'm kind of pumped that fall is here. A little sad that summer flew by so fast, but meh...I guess I'm over it. Upward & onward!

We've been taking advantage of our local farmer's market. Only two more months left (sniff, sniff)! Man, are we going to miss all these great fruits & veggies come winter. It's so easy to feed Emme when we've got so much fresh stuff on hand.

 

 

And no trip to the farmer's market is complete without a stop to listen to whatever musician is playing that day. In this case it was a fiddler (who's been there the last 2 weeks). We take our live music very seriously! Either that or she's totally unimpressed.

 

 



 

 

Lately, we've spent every last waking hour saying the word NO. Like, 9,291 times a day. Seriously, you think I'm joking. This child is going to grow up thinking mommy only knows one word! Some days I get to the point where it's just easier to remove a problem all together...

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, seriously. I had pretty much had it that day. And this was all before 9:30 a.m. Good thing she's so cute, it's hard to resist this face!

 



 

We celebrated the last weekend of summer at the wedding of the husband's childhood friend. The husband was also in the wedding, so it was a busy weekend of rehearsals, celebrating, brunches, etc. The wedding was so much fun & just gorge. In this day & age of Pinterest, it's hard for weddings not to be!

 

 

 

 

 

That weekend was also our first overnight away from Emme (thanks to my mom who babysat)! The wedding was local, and we stayed only 15 minutes from our house. But ahhh....it was awesome. I was totally looking forward to catching up on sleep. But we're parents, so you just automatically wake up at 7:00 a.m....baby or no baby. And we didn't get to bed until late since we were some of the last people to leave the wedding. We danced all night like we were 21 years old (and then woke up the next morning to find out that--surprise!--we are in fact, not 21 years old). We practically had to be escorted out of the place.

 

 

 

And while we were out celebrating, this girl was busy turning 10 months! I took this pic a few days late, but getting her to sit still for any sort of picture these days is just impossible. She's over it.

 



 

 

It's hard to believe I've already begun to plan her first birthday party! I know every mama says it, but when did this happen? It seems like just yesterday she was born!

 

 

I hosted a play date for Emme & her "friends" this past weekend. These girls are going to be the bestest of friends when they get older (because their parents told them so)!

 

 



 

 

Emme was kind of over the whole play date thing shortly after it began. I guess that's the hard thing about hosting in your own home...it's the same old toys & tricks. Eh. Anyway, she and baby Brynn are the same size & Emme has a whole 5 months on her! I swear, she is such a little peanut. She had on 9 month jeans that day, and they were sagging off of her. If she wasn't wearing diapers, she'd be sporting major plumber's crack. 

 

We also broke out the Bills gear for the season home opener! My girlfriend gave us this outfit (so cute, right?), and I figured we should wear it now...because our excitement for the team will likely fade by game two. And wouldn't you know, they lost to the Patriots that day! They were winning for most of the game too. The husband was running around the house declaring that the Bills were this year's "team of destiny". And by the time I had come home from a Wegman's run, they had lost (evidently they were no longer a "team of destiny"). Oh well, you win some, you lose some. And if you're from Buffalo, you continue to hold onto hope...because this.just.might.be.the.year. Or something like that.

 

 

Emme also started with a new sitter last week! I'm officially back to work four days a week, and home with her every Friday. I'm a little sad about the transition, but this is a great thing for both of us. She gets to socialize 2 days a week (she's with my mom the other 2 days), and I get to go to work and do adult things like, working without interruptions & having adult conversations and blogging. See? A win-win for everyone!

 

I also think I mentioned it in my last post, but I'm just about finished with Emme's playroom! You should know better than to expect I'll post pictures when I say I will (soon, I promise!), but just a few more finishing touches, and this room will be 100% Emme's. Which is pretty awesome since she already loves it in there. And it's pretty much a worry free zone (for the most part), since she can't get into too much trouble in there (it keeps her away from touching the dvd player 800 times a day). We just need to get a baby gate to keep her from escaping, and then mommy can happily (or so they say) tend to the laundry and/or other assorted house chores. You take your pick.

 

So bye, bye for now (says Emme in the new playroom)!

 



Oh, um...

....hi blog! Nice to see you again.

It seems I took a bit of a blog sabbatical. I guess that's to be expected when you're busy enjoying the summer and chasing after a 10 month old who does.not.stop. Um, like ever. And yeah, our house should have been baby proofed ages ago.

So anyway, I'm back! It's hard to believe the summer is almost over. We just got back from our annual trip to Cape May where we learned a cold, hard lesson that vacations are no longer about working on your tan & reading the latest US Weekly. No, no it's not, my friends. Vacations are now all about occupying your baby on the beach (while she gets sand in every imaginable crevice), still trying to honor a nap schedule, and eating dinner at 5:00 sharp in an effort to be in bed by 7:30 (parents included!). And to think next year we'll be chasing a toddler down the beach. Hold onto your swim trunks folks!

the baby tent that we used all of an hour...and then it took 17 hours to figure out how to fold it up

 

 

yep, we carted ourselves to the beach everyday with that thing behind me...all 827 lbs. of baby gear

 

 

 

first day at the beach...meh (meltdown to ensue in 5, 4, 3....)

 

 

playing in the town fountains was WAY more fun (and a daily must-do)

 

 

 

 

lobster salad sammies at the Lobster House (touché)

 

 

second day at the beach, much more successful...that, and we got her to keep a hat on...finally.

 

 

 

 

for the record, I hadn't even noticed him.

 

 

 

 

day 3: beach living is easy

 

 

 

 

 

And...because I couldn't go without including this pic from this past weekend at the husband's family cabin....

 

 

 

OMG. What in the world?? She looks like a toddler in this picture!! I can barely believe my girl is almost a year. I know, I know, every mother says that. But seriously, I still can't believe it! Miss thing & her eight (yes EIGHT!) teeth. She polished off a steak last night.

Just kidding (obvs)!

In other news, I've been working on Emme's playroom. It's coming along, and we are SO freaking happy to have a place to contain all of the toys! Not to mention the room is adjacent to the living room, so it could not be more perfect. I never thought I'd be that person who required a toy/playroom in our next house. But would you look at that, I've become her. I'll share progress pics soon!

Or in 4 months, or whatever.

 

 

New kitchen floors!

So we got new kitchen floors. Almost 4 years post kitchen remodel (but who's counting?). Whew. So now that that embarrassing admission is out of the way...

We finally got around to having the floors replaced 3 weeks ago. It was one of those moments of "why didn't we do this sooner"?! We're so, so happy with how they look. And naturally, I meant to share photos sooner, but life just got the best of us. We spent some time at Lake Chatauqua for the 4th where this cute face enjoyed the water & two boat rides for the first time in her life.

 

 

I'm kind of obsessed with her. That's why I don't blog much. I'm sure you understand.

Anyway, we just got the 'ol bill for the floors, so I figured that was an excellent reminder to finally share pics of our kitchen, alright already.

Lest you forget (or have blocked from memory) the beauty that was the before....

 

 

Mmmm...tasty. I have no idea why our realtor insisted we have these updated before listing our house.

  

So anyway, what was supposed to be a 2-day job, turned into a 3-day job (raise your hand if you naively believed the flooring sales guy when he tells you it will only take two days....ME! ME!). The contractors worked their tails off while they were here. Which I suppose makes it easier to cope with the fact that I took a day off of work to accommodate the new schedule. Because I would have been uber ticked had they been sitting around & picking their noses the entire time.

 

Day one: the old floors come out & the subfloors are in! This seemed to be the most time consuming part of their job. And to think that the husband wanted to do the demo (this is after talking him down from doing the ENTIRE job himself...of which he has zero experience in the tiling department, btw). Yeah, ain't nobody got time for that.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Proof that I was too lazy to move the fridge when we painted, oh....3.5 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

By the way--things still look the same back there. Hello my name is: LAZY.

 

 



 

 

While all of that was going on, the rest of our house was looking a little something like this...

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

I have no idea why I was so stressed out for 3 days. Because, feeding a baby next to a stove in the dining room is totally normal.

 

 

Day two: tile is in! Woot, woot!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, down the hall, someone was perfecting her crawling skills when she should have been napping.

 

 

 

 

We've since lowered the crib after we discovered that she also figured out how to grab the monitor & play with it in her crib. Never a dull moment around here...the baby proofing has begun!

 

 

Day three: a new crew came back to grout, install thresholds, & moldings--a supposed 2-hour job that turned into an all day event. Again, I guess I can't be too upset as they continued to work their hind ends off. Those, my friends, are the types of contractors I love to work with...the one's who you don't have to babysit, who do their job, do it right, clean up after themselves & then get the hell out.

 

 

 

 

 



And here ya go...official "after" shots of the kitchen...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

It's almost impossible to take pictures of this space, since it's enclosed and small (but this should give you an idea, right?). I also didn't bother to remove the crap from the fridge or clean up the counters before taking these pictures. Styled shots aren't our reality folks! The bottles, box of Cheerios & vitamins is our everyday life. Although, true story--our pantry really is that tidy & and organized on a daily basis. And that's saying a lot since a certain someone--cough, husband, cough--never puts anything away.

 

So there you have it, the kitchen! Now what project can we start working on next? 

 

Oh, by the way

We have grass.

 

 

Lest you forgot how awesome it looked before...

 

 

 

 

And because I'm bragging, check out the entire yard! 

 

 

 

Looking good yard, looking good. Not that I'm enjoying the fact that it rains every day, but dear mother nature...our lawn thanks you.

 

 

Also, I need a new camera. For reals. Or my Iphone needs a new operator.

 

 

The end.

 



House hunting

Get ready for a wordy post folks, because this family (points to self) is officially in the market for a new house. We actually started the whole house hunting process back in February--when the husband informed me that he had contacted a realtor who was coming over to take a look at our house, like, um...that next night. Say what now?

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We've always known this isn't our forever home, as our living space is comfortable, but not large by any stretch of the imagination (adding a baby into the mix only drove home that point). But look, this mama ain't looking to move anytime soon. Besides, just weeks before meeting with the realtor I got on a major purging kick. It's what I like to refer to as the 'everything must go, we must clean, organize and ship it off to Goodwill' mode. I became a borderline hoarder when I was pregnant...must be I was coming out of my new mommy haze, and finally got my wits about me to get all of this shit out of here. Aiming to live simply, I was.

Our realtor gave us good news. Really good news, in fact. He offered to list our house for significantly more than I'd imagined. Makes you feel good about all that love & hard work you put into a place. But again, this mama ain't really ready to move--a point I drove home to our realtor no less than 6,402 times during our meeting. But as resistant as I was to moving (the thought makes me a bit--okay a lot--emotional), I couldn't help but get a little excited at the thought of a new home.

We've already seen some places--some we've both hated, some we both liked (but were sadly over budget) and another that I loved but the husband did not. The husband is the first to admit he can't see past the awful. Me? Well, I totally envisioned us living in the House 'o Liberace. But I guess buying a house is a big enough decision that you should both be on board, right? I can usually win when it comes to what color we'll paint a room, or what throw pillows we'll toss on the couch. But in this case my other half won (Spoiler alert: House 'o Liberace sold just weeks later...evidentally to someone who saw past the ugly, or at the very least loved mirrors on every.single.wall in the house).

I should mention that our house is not currently on the market. It's also worth mentioning that there's really not much out there. Well, at least to our liking. We're looking at two desirable & in-demand neighborhoods...you know, with everyone else in Buffalo. So I guess for the time being, we're not moving. Or looking (but really we're always looking even if we're not looking...did you get that?).

My mind kind of exploded at the thought of making any changes to our house when we were thinking about a move. But now that we're at a house hunting stand still, girlfriend is all about making some changes! First off, we're getting the kitchen floors replaced next week. Yep, the floors in that room we had remodeled almost 4 years ago now (hello, embarrassing admission!). I'm also tweaking some pieces that won't be coming with us...nightstands for our bedroom--finally!--that have been collecting dust in our garage since last summer, I'm changing up a wall in the kitchen (that was in desperate need of a makeover), and I've also gotten to work on Emme's play room (aka the old scrapbooking room). Here's a crappy shot of how things are looking right now...

 

 

 

It's hard to believe this is the smallest room in the house & I can already see that it's going to take me the longest to finish (there's only so much Baby Einstein I can force let my child watch). I'm using Behr paint which (in my opinion) is pretty much the suckiest paint on the planet (eh...have Home Depot credits, will use). It's hard to tell from this amazing shot, but the new color is a pale, pale pink. Ironically, a color I was thinking about for Emme's nursery way back when. Hello, full circle. I have no other plans for this room aside from wanting a taller book shelf. I love the one that's here now (my grandfather made these for me and my cousins way back when) but it's kind of dwarfed against this wall & likely going to get a complex.

I came across this idea earlier today. Um, amazing, right?

 

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Granted, I haven't stenciled a wall since college (a pretty amaze-fest floral border). Something makes me think this will be a bit more complicated, but whatevs. I think it would be kind of fun as an accent wall. At the rate I'm moving along on this room, I might have to ship baby off to her grandparents' house for the weekend!?

Anyhoo, I'm alive & it feels good to be blogging today. And getting my ass in gear when it comes to tackling projects around here. Mama got her mojo back!