Basement - Week One

Our weekend was all about the basement. When I got home on Friday, this is what I saw:
It started to seem very real. I couldn't believe how much progress they had made in only one week. Initially I freaked about the size of the cubbies, but Casey reassured me it would be fine when the entire unit was up. He was right...this is what I saw when I got home today:

Awesome! The biggest task at hand now is painting. Not sure I knew exactly what I signed up for when I thought, "Why pay someone to do what I can do?" Um...several reasons. 1. They are better at it. 2. More free time for me. 3. Less work for me. 4. Why not? Anyway, you get the point. This coming weekend is devoted to painting, painting and more painting. It will be good for the muscles:)

Saturday we went researching a TV and sofa. If there is anything I have learned in my 6 years with Casey, it is researching actually means we are going to buy something. Which is fine. At least we have a decisive way of going about it. I trusted Casey to make the call on the TV. As long as we stayed in budget I was cool with it. After scoping out Best Buy and Sam's for deals, he decided to take his knowledge home and do some more research online. Seriously, what did we do before the Internet? I know it sounds ridiculous, but it truly takes comparison shopping to a whole new level. Later that evening he pulled the trigger. I am nervous about how large it is going to seem, but I can't wait to watch a good ol' Packer game on it. I know that much.

Next mission: sofa. We went to La-Z-Boy Galleries because we saw one online we were interested in. Walked in and through the entire store without a single person greeting us. Hmmm. Next we went to Scandinavian Designs. We at least got a hello when we walked in, but nothing more than that. Geez. I didn't realize that during a "recession" I would have to work so hard to actually spend my money. Curse you IKEA - there are about 10 sofas there I would be content with. Oh well. We headed back to Sofa Mart - where I originally saw a couch I loved when we were just browsing months back. I still liked it as much as I did that first day and Kate assured me it was a good fabric to have with kids because it is easy to clean. Sold. We even made a sale with the orginal salesperson we spoke with. And he convinced me to get an ottoman too:) Take that La-Z-Boy and Scandinavian Designs.

Ian was a trooper throughout it all. He sure has logged a lot of miles in his new car seat. I love having him face forward. The first day we drove to daycare I swear his mouth was hanging open at the whole new world he had been missing out on! There is so much for him to see, but the best part is that we can easily see each other:) What a cutie!

He is such a big boy. This weekend he started climbing...on everything! He loves to help me unload the dishwasher and I welcome the help. I remove the knives and then he would help me with the silverware. Occassionally he helped with dishes, but when they ended up broken on the kitchen floor I decided that we should keep it simple. Not anymore - he has moved up to the top rack. Yikes! This happened overnight. What?! I am thankful for his kind, sensitive nature though. He is a helper at heart. It is sweet. He loves to help carry things too! Like his "new" favorite toy of the week: a cane. He loves to carry this cane around the house with him. It belonged to his Great-Grandpa Rais - hand carved by him. I know he is smiling...

His 7th tooth popped through on Sunday. His bottom left. I am afraid we have a biter on our hands. I am not quite sure how to handle it. The first of many parenting challenges to come my way, for this I am sure of. I need to do some research, i.e. Google it. Any pointers?

Stay tuned for a status update on the basement and garden. For now, I must go. Casey is waiting on me for a double dose of HIMYM. Best show ever. I heart Doogie!

Seal Pup, Silverware and Chartreuse

Ian and I arrived home a bit early on Friday night. We had an appointment with the bookcase designer at 4:30 - I will always accept an offer to come home early on Friday and hang with my 2 favorite guys. Casey had a surprise for Ian...his wagon from Uncle Jon and Aunt Heather was ready to go! We couldn't wait to break it in. He spent several minutes inspecting it and pushing it around the dining room. It's a pretty pimp ride! Mommy is hoping it is the motivation she needs to get her legs a walkin' this summer.

The designer did an amazing job! It helped us envision our basement and become motivated about this project. We started out early Saturday morning by cleaning out the basement. A lot of the items being stored there will go on the bookshelves once complete, but for now they are crammed in every nook we have. Casey removed all the trim and casing, then cut the carpet where the bookshelves will be. Our contractor called as we were heading out the door to let us know he will be here Monday AM to start. This is so cool...

With that in mind, we had several errands to run. Casey had to get supplies for his AV project and we needed to get paint samples. We were also able to get a carpet sample from Lowe's to test with the paint colors. Our carpet is Chartreuse and the walls will be Seal Pup & Silverware. They are not the best images, but below will give you an idea. #1 - this is the main wall that will house the bookshelves. #2 - Seal Pup on the left, this will cover the South wall and be the background of the bookshelves. Silverware is a shade lighter than what is pictured and it will cover the remaining walls. #3 - Shag-A-Delic Chartreuse and Seal Pup. Once the radon pipe is framed in I will start painting and then they will start on the bookshelves. Stay tuned for all the progress:)

Saturday was a gorgeous day. It was 65 and sunny. You can't beat that! Ian and Daddy hung outside in the hammock for a bit. We are looking forward to spending a lot of time in the backyard this summer. Casey is going to build us a raised garden bed and we are going to get Ian a swing for Easter so he can enjoy the outdoors right along with us. I would really like to pay more attention to the front of our house this summer, but I am not sure that is a cost we can incur at the moment. It is not going to be cheap to overhaul what is out there now!


We ended the day with a wagon ride to the park. Ian enjoyed the swing and slide, sand on his feet...not so much. Two out of three not bad.

I am sure I have already mentioned this to anyone who would listen, but Ian hasn't had the best sleep since his journey back from WI in January. It took him about a month to get back to sleeping through the night. Once he found his groove he got sick, and on top of being sick, he started to cut a tooth. Ugh! Needless to say, there have been a lot of sleepless nights in our house lately. This morning he woke up crying and couldn't get settled down. We tried everything and he wasn't having it. We joined J&H for breakfast this AM and he was okay then. Mainly because I let him go to town on the yogurt and grits - he was covered from head to toe. I had to strim him down in the restaurant, but he didn't mind one bit. He started to get tired when we were out running errands and quickly crashed...for a 4 hour nap?! He was bagged. I even went into his room and starting cleaning up and that didn't wake him. I decided I had to get a video of him snoring. He's just like his Daddy!

We ended the day with another wagon ride. This time to the ice cream parlor. Yippee! It was so worth it (I had some Junior Mint for you, Dad!). Ian loved the wagon ride, until about 2 blocks from home. He hit a brick wall. We tried dinner but he wasn't interested. I decided to skip bath night and he was pleased to head straight to bed. Casey did some work in the garage and I planted our future garden. Yummy! We are starting out with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, mint, parsley, rosemary, cilantro, spinach and basil. Wish me luck! I have never started with seeds before. We will see how well it works. I also got some lavender, but I have it in a planter on my window sill in the kitchen. I had to have something to enjoy now:) For now...a pic of our future garden.

Trumped

I was so excited to come back with cute pictures of Ian with Colin, Elana and Sofia...Liz & Michelle too. In my head, I had planned an amazing trip. I was nervous about flying with Ian alone, but reminded myself I had done it before and all would be fine. I started packing on Tuesday and finalized my list so it would be a cinch to wrap up on Wednesday night.

Casey turned 35 on Wednesday. Other than that it was a routine day. I felt bad we didn't have something exciting planned for Casey, but since I was to head out on Thursday we just couldn't fit it in. He was gearing up for a weekend with his childhood friends, Zach and Ben, so I don't think he was too concerned. Casey enjoyed breakfast with Ian and then we both got ready for work. It was any other day...not!

I was enjoying lunch with Maggie and Courtney @ Efrain's (yum - you were there in spirit, Laura!) when Maggie's cell phone rang and it was Casey. Odd. I mean, they are friends - but not call each other type friends. So, I answered and what do you know? He was looking for me. Apparently, Kristin had been trying to reach me but I was so focused on the cheese enchiladas and complaining about work that I didn't hear my phone ringing. Oops. Ian had a temp. between 102 & 104. He was crying (I heard it in the background of my messages - it broke my heart a little bit) and inconsolable, refusing to eat accompanied by the squirts. Oh no! Needless to say, lunch was over. I took the girls back to the office, called my boss and hit the road. On my way to get Ian I called the dr. and they could get him in at 2:30. Thank goodness. Ian has never had a fever. A very low-grade temp for a couple days while he was teething, but that was it. He looked so sad when I picked him up at Kristin's. You could tell he was not feeling well. By then the Motrin had kicked in so his temp. was down and she was able to get him to eat some fruit and liquids.

The dr. checked him out, confirmed it was a virus and he was contagious. She said we could travel if we wanted to, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. As soon as I got the call from Casey I knew my trip was cancelled, but I wasn't ready to admit that to myself yet. I called my boss to let her know I was out for the rest of the day and took our little man home to rest. Poor little thing. He was exhausted and fortunately fell asleep on the drive home. I called Casey, my girlfriends and Southwest. The verdict was in: trip cancelled. Bummer. Major bummer. Good news - Southwest rocks. They give you a credit and don't charge you all these ridiculous fees. I just need to travel before January 2010. Doable. At least Liz and Colin were still able to make the road trip and spend the weekend with Michelle. I will reschedule, but it was so disappointing at the moment. I just had to focus on getting Ian well.

Thursday I stayed home with Ian. I did some work and tried to get the house cleaned in time for our visitors. Ian had a fever throughout the day, but was able to nap and drink - food not so much. We played a little bit, but mostly rocked and read books. We tried to make the best of the day:) Zach and Ben arrived Thursday night. It was really good to see them. I know Casey was so happy to spend time with good friends. Nothing cures the soul quite like it. Casey and the guys were gracious enough to stay home with Ian on Friday so I could get a few hours of work done at the office. Fortunately, they are all Dads so they had been down this road and were probably just thankful it wasn't their kid. Happy Friday - three men and a baby. Nothing like the movie I am told.

Ian and I spent the weekend inside. It was nice, but he just wasn't up to it. Or was it that I wasn't up to it? Either way, inside it was for us. General fussiness was expected. He did continue to sleep well despite the coughs and sneezes every few seconds. Getting him to actually go down for a nap was a bigger challenge, but still okay. I was beat by Saturday night. We enjoyed a nice dinner. Casey spent some QT with the guys. I layed on the couch catching up on my shows. Hey, cleaning out your scheduled recordings cache on your DVR could be considered an activity. Right?

Sunday came and it was time to say goodbye. Casey enjoyed one last morning with the guys. I stayed home with Ian while he napped. He was feeling better by Sunday so after the guys left we ran some errands. It was a gorgeous day out. Sunny, slight wind. Perfect spring day. Ian is slowing getting back to his old self. He got to test out Daddy's new hammock on Sunday. Perhaps a family nap on Lake Michigan this summer?

Monday was back to the grind. Ian went to daycare and we headed to work. We had to get back on our routine! Now I just hope the cold doesn't catch up with either of us. The rest of the month is pretty low-key for us. I hope to get something rescheduled with my girlfriends. In the meantime, we will focus on our basement project. I can't wait to get it started. The IKEA catalog is already out and wish lists are being made. Fun, fun!

Snowboarding 101

Saturday we headed up to Eldora with Maggie & John. It was the moment I have been waiting for. All this talk about snowboarding - I was so nervous! We left Ian in the ever so capable hands of the Courtney family. He loved it. He must have had a grand day because he was in bed by 6 PM that night. I wasn't far behind...

John and Casey hit the slopes while Maggie and I took a first-timers snowboarding lesson. It took us some time to get all our gear rented and on, so we arrived a few minutes late to our lesson. At first we thought we would be on a level playing field, but we quickly realized not everyone in our class was a first-timer. Annoying. There were 12 people total and I would say, including Maggie and myself, half were first-timers. The others were there for moral support or something. Who knows. We spent 45 minutes trying out some moves. My moves were mostly showing the group how uncoordinated I was. Just as I started to get the hang of it our instructor said, "Let's hit the lift." What?! Yikes! Maggie assured me it would be fine, but I was convinced this would be the beginning of the end. I was sweating, out of breath, hungry, dehydrated and trying to ignore the burning sensation in my right calf. Once I got over myself we headed to the lift. We strolled passed the ski school and the little kids were just too cute. That is when I realized how parallel my life was to Ian's at that exact moment. He spends each day falling, getting back up, falling again, getting back up and then resorts to what he knows best...crawling. I had to get myself in that lift chair and get back down the hill before I could resort to what I know best - any guesses? That is right - a beer.

I got onto the lift no problem. Getting off another story. Maggie and I both went flying despite our best efforts to be graceful. At least we could laugh about it. We spent the next hour trying to learn how to stop ourselves. Once I got up I was good and I probably could have made it down the slope without too much incident. But the point was to learn how to stop. I never did. Stopping with my tailbone hurt like hell, but it worked. At one point the instructor asked how I was doing and I told him that childbirth was easier. Don't get me wrong peeps - I am not saying I would rather give birth than go snowboarding, but seriously I was more exhausted after an hour and a half with that board strapped to my foot than I was during a few hours of labor. I hope I didn't just jinx myself for next time. Anyway, it was true! Casey and John caught up to us towards the end of our lesson and helped us down the rest of the slope. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. We could not have asked for anything better!

Maggie & I decided we could not make it for the second half of our lesson. We needed a drink and food - stat! Plus, we had to get back and relieve the Courtney family so they could get on about their day. We were saving our appetite for Mountain Burger, so we headed to the Lodge for a drink. Casey hit a couple more runs. I am glad he had a lot of fun! He was so happy to be out there and I was happy for him. I definitely want to return. Perhaps on a weekday when there are less people so I can go at my own pace. I have the basics in place, now I just need to build on them.

Casey met up with us after his runs and we headed back to the truck. It was now time for Mountain Burger! Can I get a hell yeah? John grew up in Nederland and had told us about this burger stand in the local grocery store. We had to check it out. With the appetite we had built up there was no way this place could disappoint. Good call John - it was delish! Not evidenced by the photo below, however. Birmingham's still #1 in our book, but Mountain Burger is a close second for me.

With full bellies, we got back in the truck for a quick tour around Nederland. John showed us the house he grew up in and pointed out the local folk to us. Nederland is an interesting town to say the least. Every March they host the Frozen Dead Guy Days. A good time. You can read about it here: http://www.nederlandchamber.org/events_fdgd-home.html. Casey and I went the first year we lived here and had a blast. Casey is hoping to make it this year with some friends, but Ian and I will miss it due to our trip out East. Maybe next year! John showed us the Tuff Shed where Grandpa is housed year round. Too cool. He hangs out in the building to the left of the gray building. How cool - an entire town celebrates the fact that you are frozen and dead.

This brought our trip to a close. We headed back home - reminiscing about our day. We all had a great time despite how exhausted we were. I hope to head back again soon to give it one more whirl. Casey would go back every weekend if we could afford it. I can only hope that one day we will make it a family affair!

This is a short week for Ian and I. We are heading to Baltimore on Thursday, then road trippin' it to Pittsburgh with Liz & Colin on Friday. We will be back home the following Tuesday. It is going to be so great to see my 708 girls and for them to meet Ian. We can't wait to meet Sofia - the newest offspring! I also get to meet up with my best friend from high school. We haven't seen each other since 2004 I think. I can't wait! I will be back with photos and stories for sure.