The Beginnings of a Baby Room

This was the room before I bought the house.  The teddy bear wall paper in a girl that I know is now in college's room tells me that perhaps she did not spend too much time with her dad.

Just another view.

I did not document the transformation of this room very well, but see the heater below.  While my parents were here, my dad took that off the wall since I now have heating to the top floor.  Here is my mom showing us all how to clean the windows prior to priming them.

This is a view of the room with me standing at the window. I could not get a picture that direction because there was too much light.  For those of you who are not oriented...the door on the right you are looking at my bed with a carseat on it.  The door on the right goes out to the hallway and the middle door is a closet that does no have a whole lot of space because the vents now go through it.  The gray was a little darker than I expected, but I could only pain with what I already had, so I can't complain.  I will make it work.  Now that it is dry I don't think it it too bad anyway.

This is the new light in the room.  If you look at the first picture you will see that there was a lovely white fan in the room before, which has now been replaced.  Updates to come as they are completed.

The Kitchen Update

 Remember this kitchen.  Well it is no more.

Here is a walk down memory lane...with some new memories.

Yucky floor.

Here is the doorway that I had to remove the frame off the door.  I ended up putting spakling all round and just painting the walls blue like the rest of the kitchen.

This is not a very clear picture, but the wall is completely primed.  Covering up the old green wall enough to paint it. 

Prepping all around the kitchen window above the sink.

This is what the painting around that window now looks like, minus the tape and plastic.

Here is the finished blue wall and freshly painted window and door frame.  Painted the same off-white color as the cabinets.  All done with help of my mom.

Here I am...not looking my best, but you can see my big belly and the wall that is painted completely blue around the door frame.  Plus, you can see the tiling behind the stove that me and both my parents did.

Well, there you have it.  Thanks Mom and Dad for your help.  Could not have completed it without you.  More projects that were completed while they were here to come.

Christmas Gift

This is a picture from the back as I started gluing on the bulbs.

 Prior to Christmas I had a gift exchange at work.  As usual I thought, "I can make something amazing!"  I saw this wreath and thought, this is perfect.  I can do this.  We had a $25 limit and so off I went to buy the goods.

I did not like all the green that was left between the bulbs, but it was what I ended up with.

In fact, I was a little embarrassed to give it as a gift.  I tied a big red ribbon to hand it with and had to make a homemade box out of cardboard to fit it into.  I skulked to the party and was a bit ashamed to have someone draw my name for the gift, but it turned out there were many people who wanted the wreath.  I suppose that I should be happy they liked it, but it still did not meet my expectations.  Next time, if there is one, I will be spray painting of covering up the wreath underneath somehow.  Oh well.

Christmas Photos

 I forgot that Brent and I had a little surgical adventure.  Of course I was there for the photographic documentation.  It is amazing that you can fit parts of your body through tight spaces, but for some reason they just don't come back out.  Elli got to learn that.

 Don't worry Brent worked his magic.

 You can tell because here is Elli after with Harley.  Duke does not hold still long enough to get a picture with him.

 The night of the candy trains.

 Brent and my train wreck.  I am biased, but it was awesome!

 Amber's little creation.

 Sammie showing off her skills as well.

 The warm old man in the park.

 Duke's backside and Harley again showing his love.

 Ann and Andrew took me to Miracle on 34th St.  Miracle it was...plus the hot chocolate was awesome.

 Then the rest are the National Mall. 

Continued Christmas

After Christmas was over the fun continued.  I got to spend a few time babysitting "Baby Lydia."  She and I had a wealth of fun on the floor playing with her new wooden blocks, checking out items in the fridge, but most importantly the recycling items.  We found the the items awaiting recycling were the most exciting toys in the house.  I will openly admit that it was a bit boring watching a 9 month old.  I then began to feel the instant increase of concern about my ability to care for my own child.  I knew there was a reason that I made my mother get a babysitter whenever she left, babysitting is not my thing.  Yes, I do love kids, but they need to be sick...reality is going to come sooner than I am ready for.  Don't take it personally Lydia, you were cute.

The dogs and I continued to check out every dog park within the vicinity of the Coy home.  It was way too much work to control the boys from eating the trash and attempting to find the homes of all of Baltimore's resident vermin.  The dog parks in Baltimore were very different than those that are in the twin cities.  The parks were about 25% the size of those that my dogs typically go to and one of the best parts of the park was the AstroTurf that was placed over mounds to create the feeling of a grassy hill. There were also a few large boulders and maybe even a tree that had fallen which made one almost feel as though they were standing in the middle of nature.  After spending hours in the car the boys were always ready for some laps in the dog park.

In the mornings the boys and I headed to the reservoir.  There were days that it snowed and we were blessed by sheets of whiteness.  There are old tree stumps that have been carved into old men.  I swear I have seen them before, but I cannot figure out where.  I was most grateful to see that one of the men had a warm hat on.  I thought that it made him look much warmer.

Ann and I spent one day at the local organic/natural baby store.  There we checked out baby carriers and all things made of wood and organic cotton.  We had fun seeing what was available and checking out the another lovely shop in the area....name already forgotten, but I do know that Ann and Andrew bought their couch there.

One night we spent at the theater.  I had been wanting to see Lincoln, but knew that Abdu would not want be extremely interested.  He loves action movies and comedies.  I figured Lincoln would be a little slow for his taste.  I am happy to admit that I found Lincoln quite humorous.  I was not aware of Lincoln's humor, but have since been educated on his excellent story telling skills.  I would definitely recommend the movie.

Since I had never been to DC, the Coys took me to the National Mall to tour some of the sites.  The boys were able to come and walk around with us, although they were required to stay outside many of monuments.  I left them with Ann, Andrew, and Lydia as I saw Lincoln and MLK.  We even took a look at the White House "Holiday" (Christmas) Tree.  It was lovely weather for a walk.  Ann said that all "you" people who keep coming to visit DC in the summer have your timing wrong.  For the future, if you would like a comfortable visit to the National Mall I would recommend late fall, winter, or early spring.

I was also able to meet Aunt Debbie and Uncle Kent.  We ate the required cheese and crackers.  Additionally, we had some amazing food.  Ann was right, see is a good cook.  We played some games.  We actually played games almost any night that I was in Baltimore, but I just had to brag about the fact that it even occurred at Aunt Debbie's.

I even made a token trip to Ikea.  One of the walks that the Coys, the boys, and I made was in a similar direction to Ikea.  Andrew had some church needs to meet, so we headed to Ikea for some Swedish meatballs.  Lydia out ate all of us.  I was pretty certain that she was hitting a growth spurt, although I can't verify that fact.  There I got my first frozen yogurt from Ikea, which I was told was a Coy family tradition.

The last full day I was there in Baltimore, Ann made freezer meals.  I was basically there for moral support.  I attempted to send encouragement her way, while I surfed Pintrest. I believe that I was successful because I went home with many meals frozen in a Styrofoam cooler.

The drive back to the Cities was much longer than the one out to TN and MD.  I was more tired.  I had bought myself some support socks at the local CVS, but they only helped so much with the swelling.  I made multiple stops throughout the drive, but by the end I was sleeping for one hour and then driving for one hour, off and on.  About two hours away from home I was pulled over by an officer in Wisconsin for driving 75 in a 65 mph zone.  Ouch! The ticket was $200. I was happy to make it home safely though.