Hey all! I've finally given my other website a facelift. I've been playing around with it all weekend, and I think it's finally starting to look the way I've been wanting it to look.
The idea behind that blog is basically going to be community focused. I'll keep it updated with some fun stuff that is happening in the community, some real estate, and anything else I'm inclined to write about!
I would love any feedback, constructive criticism is welcome!

Dear God, Give Me Strength

I love my children, very very much. But some days...some days are just plain hard. Today is one of those days. It builds up slowly through the week, and then that one day hits, the one that I spend every minute after noon looking out the window for Josh's car to pull up so I can hand at least one boy off to him. I feel like I have to occassionally share these days, so someday when the kids are older and they possibly read this, they'll know what life was really like. Not just the fun things, and smiling at the camera, but the other stuff. The stuff that I'll probably block out as they get older.
Gavin, typically, is my easy one. I say that knowing full well that by teenage years the opposite might be true. He's pretty happy just to wonder around the house playing with odd toys, stacking boxes, and going through cabinets. Our only difficulties here is that he still doesn't sleep through the night, and we'll have those odd days that he just wants to be carried ALL day. So really, this post isn't so much about him.
Jayden is what you'd call a spirited child. Depending on the stage of the phase that he's in, this can be wonderful or overwhelming. Right now, I think I'll call this the Light Bulb Stage. Any of you reading this that has been around Jayden in the last month knows exactly what I'm talking about. He is obsessed with burnt out light bulbs. He could find the light bulb on the back of the tree, a foot back that was burnt out, and he would tell everyone. The first week or so, it was kind of funny. The second week, we were all stocking up on light bulbs to give Jayden less to talk about. By now, it's just getting annoying. Some of the light sockets in our house just don't work. We can't do anything about it, we tell him this, but he does not let up. I know, that sounds harsh, but try going through Walmart with this kid, and you'll see. (He also points out broken floor tiles, broken shopping cart handles, and if he's out of the cart he is facing the shelves).
Jayden is a kid that is always moving, thinking, and talking. He has to see how everything works, and then ask about a million questions, or at least enough questions that he inevitably loops right back to the first question he asked. His emotions are loud, and they can go to one extreme to another in a split second. It's probably obvious, he spends a lot of time in time out. He isn't a bad kid, he just gets wrapped up into what he's doing so much that he loses sight of the rules.
Today, just didn't start out right. It was the day that Gavin wanted to be held to start with, which is fine some days, but today it just wasn't working. Jayden was Jayden time ten. He had a million things to ask and to say, I could hardly start one task without him asking me to do 3 or 4 other things..."Mommy, come here! Want to play a game? Look at THIS! I want more milk."
There were a few times that I had peace. Peace that I paid for. The first time, I was showering, and Jayden and Gavin were playing in Gavin's room with the door shut. The sounds were happy, so I left them to it as I dressed and got ready. Jayden finally came barging into my room with his super loud "Mommy, look at this!!" and then ran back into Gavin's room. I took my time. I knew it was something I wasn't going to want to see, so I delayed it. I made my way into Gavin's room, and Jayden exclaimed, "Look, EXPLOSION!!" Every single toy, rug, book off the bookshelf, and anything else that was within reach was thrown into a huge pile in the middle of Gavin's room. Jayden was thrilled, until I made him clean Gavin's room.
The second time, I had just made Jayden a special snack while Gavin was napping. I had just finished making a snack for Jayden, and hopped on the computer for a couple of minutes. I heard giggling coming from the kitchen, and Jayden occassionally whisper "come here Jasper." Once again, I suspected something, but I really didn't think it was anything too major. Then Jasper came running into the room with an almost empty bottle of green food coloring. I ran into the kitchen to find food coloring EVERYWHERE, on the cabinets, the floor, and Jasper. I was livid. Jayden was promptly put in time out as I scrubbed the floor, fuming, scrubbed the cabinets, still fuming, and washed Jasper. As I watched the green water wash off of Jasper and go down the drain...the laughter started. Of course, as a parent, I've learned NEVER to let a kid see you laugh, so I hid it, dismissed Jayden from time out, and looked out the window for Josh.
I know it wasn't a horrible day, just one of those days. One out of many many days.

Gavin's Baptism

On December 21st, Gavin was baptized at Saint John's Church. His Godparents are our good friends, Liz Toal and Steve Ballinger. It went very well, Gavin was squirmy as usual, but pretty behaved for the most part.


Afterward, we had a few people over to our house for snacks and cake.
Here he is with his Godparents getting ready to open up some presents!

Thanks so everyone who came to celebrate his special day!

New Years Update

New Years Eve I had really, really good intentions. My idea was to get my life in as much order as possible so I could start the new year off good. I had very symbolic thoughts going through my head as I rushed through the house trying to get all of the new toys put away, as I straightened and cleaned, and had another battle with my never ending pile of laundry. I thought, if my house is clean when I enter the new year, maybe it'll be a sign that I can keep it that way. I went to the grocery store and loaded our fridge up with fruits and veggies and good stuff, hoping this would symbolize that our fridge will always be full in the next year. Needless to say, by evening I was taking things pretty seriously. My intentions for the rest of the evening was to go out with friends, and to stay up until midnight with Josh to welcome the New Year. So we met with friends for some Mexican food, and headed down to our favorite bar, the Paddlewheel. I had a margarita, and while enjoying an evening our socializing (this seldom happens outside of our family) I started to feel horrible. Thankfully the Paddlewheel boasts the cleanest bathrooms of any bar with good reason, because I spent a good amount of time on floor...I won't go into much more detail, but I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning. So Josh dropped me off at home so he could go pick up the kids. I was in bed by 9, and vaugly remember midnight due to Gavin waking up the first of a handfull of times.
Even though I may not have rang in the New Year as expected, I'm hoping that maybe it will symbolize something else. An empty stomach and lack of appetite may actually mean that I'll finally lose this stupid baby weight. If only it were so simple, right?

On to other things New Year related. Two years ago I developed a list of everything that needed to be done on the house. I came back last year to update everything we'd done so far. Last year I highlighted everything in red that had been accomplished...really, it was pretty impressive. This year, I'll use blue. I'm not sure if there will be much blue used, but we had a baby this year, so we'll just blame it on that.

Jayden's Room

  • Touch up floor paint
  • Install and paint quarter round and floor trim
  • Finish shelving (this is partly done)
  • Install dimmer switch
  • Blank covers for obsolete outlets
  • Install lighting in closet
  • Paint door

Master Bedroom

  • One more coat of paint on walls
  • Edging on ceiling
  • Plate covers
  • Finish Trim
  • Install Door
  • Install closet lights
  • Run cable to our room

Upstairs Hallway

  • Finish patching cracks
  • Sand
  • Primer and paint ceilings and walls
  • Install lighting
  • Switch plate covers
  • Paint woodwork
  • Install shelving

Kid's Bath

  • Finish Floor
  • Plumbing
  • Order faucet for tub
  • Sand walls
  • Primer and Paint walls and ceiling
  • Finish painting bead board
  • Put up trim
  • Put up and finish door
  • Install Lighting
  • Hang medicine cabinet

Stairway

  • Sand, primer, paint walls and ceiling
  • Sand and varnish woodwork (this is partly done)

Living Room

  • Finish woodwork
  • Finish installing built in media cabinet
  • Finish dresser
  • Finish and install french doors
  • Touch up paint

Family Room

  • Touch up paint
  • Put up woodwork
  • Finish woodwork
  • Install built in bookshelves

Dining Room

  • One more coat of regular paint
  • Top coat paints
  • Woodwork
  • Switch plate covers
  • Door on closet

Half bath

  • Put in ceiling
  • Plaster, sand, primer, and paint walls and ceiling
  • Paint bead board and woodwork
  • Plate covers (all but the lightswitch)
  • Hang medicine cabinet

Kitchen

  • Electrical
  • Plumbing
  • Drywall walls and ceiling
  • Plaster, Sand, Primer and paint walls and ceiling
  • Install and paint woodwork
  • Sand and varnish floor <--We painted instead
  • Install lighting
  • Install cabinets
  • Install appliances

Outside

  • Scrape paint
  • Primer (partial!)
  • Paint (partial!)
  • Begin landscaping
Gavin's Room wasn't on here when I started the list, so I'll add it now. This is everything that still needs to be finished.

Gavin's Room
  • Burn paint off closet door and bedroom door
  • Primer doors
  • Paint doors
  • Fix floor
  • Install quarter round
  • Touch up wall

My big hope is that this year I'll defy the odds in Real Estate and make enough money to hire all of this work done!


ps. I'll get to the Christmas update someday. It was so overwhelming, that the thought of revisiting it is exhausting to think about.