The New Purple

After the tan debacle from downstairs, you would think I would learn, right?  Wrong.  We painted the entire room, cut in and rolled only to discover we didn't like the purple we had chosen.  So, we went back to the drawing board.  Hubby suggested taking some of the bedding and color matching the color we wanted.  What a novel idea!  So silly we didn't think of it sooner.  Off to the Dee-Pot I went, where I purchased 2 gallons of color matched paint.  Then, I went to cut in around the walls.

Only to find that while the color was supposed to be color matched, it was too dark.  Much too dark.  Like, much too muchy dark.

Forced with the choice of spending more money on more paint that may not match, or other options such as chair rails or accent walls, hubby and I decided on trying to just add white.  I went and got one of the 5 gallon buckets from hubby's stash and mixed to my hearts content...  Right.  Because this is just what my heart wants :p  You can see that I took my job seriously, getting out my rarely used hair dryer (blow dry my air in the humid south?!?!  Yeah.  Right.) to completely dry the sample before deciding if I liked it or not.  I used every bit of white I had, from several different cans that were partially used, and we ended up going with the color on the far left.  You can see it is significantly lighter than the color matched (the edging) or any of the other mixes I had.

Well, the color is now on the walls, and the white trim/doors are done.  Actually, that bedroom is complete except for a light switch.  We replaced all the old electircal outlets and switch because at some point they had all been painted in.  We even got so far as to turn off the power and take the old one off.  It was then that we discovered we didn't have another switch to put on.  So, I have no light to take a final picture at the moment.   But I promise, the color is pleasing to the eye, as well as calming to the soul...  We are attempting to move the girls in, so hold your horses!  There is more to come :)

Wake Up!

Occasionally, I put Kelsey on my bed in an attempt to get her to sleep longer.  I don't know whether it is that my bed is more comfortable than hers or more comforting because it smells like me, but it usually does the trick. This has also occasionally caused me a small heart attack when I go down to check on her, and find her bed empty...  More than "occasionally" the kids will hear Kelsey wake up and ask to go down and see her while I finish up whatever it is I am currently doing. 

I love the cute burrito look.  I have actually had to go and buy the swaddle blanket one size up.  She still sleeps best when she can't pull out her own pacifier or gouge out her own eyes.  I also love the look of happy adoration on her face.

This is why.  By the time I got the camera out, it wasn't the deep belly laugh anymore.  But, you get the idea.

It is a good thing she is so easy to entertain :)

Part Tres

Enter Tuesday.  We had to be at the hospital by 6:30 in the morning.  We decided to take the kids with us because I had been told it was a 15 minute procedure.  Since it was at the hospital, and they were putting me under general anesthesia, we tacked on a few hours, and figured we could drop the kids off at school around 9am.  That way, we wouldn't have to bother anyone (again) to watch our kids super early in the morning...  Truthfully, I am very glad they planned to put me all the way under, as the proposition of "moving" my nose made me very nervous.

 

Hubby woke the kids while I was in the shower.  When I went up stairs to pack a breakfast for the kids (I didn't get any because of the anesthesia), Kaitlyn said she wasn't feeling well.  She had been coughing since the day before, and continued to do so, so I figured it was just a cold.  We threw everyone into the van and away we went.  About halfway to our destination, Kari called from the back seat "Kaitlyn just threw up!"  Um, great.  The "out patient procedure" I had scheduled was time sensitive.  At this point, we were going on 8 days.  We didn't have time to go back home and get her another shirt, so when we pulled into the parking garage, we cleaned her the best we could with baby wipes, and checked in.  I know there isn't really every a good time to get sick, but it seemed that the universe was trying to give me a lesson on "bad timing".

 

Because I will never understand why you have appointments that cause you to wait for several hours, and because I will ever understand why there is so much paper work involved, I will more than likely never understand hospitals.  Nor will I ever stop underestimating the time it takes when you are in a hospital.  I was called back around 8:15. I got doped up at 9.  I was in recovery around 9:15 (see?!?!  15 minutes!!!)  and was awake around 9:45...  I was moved to my post op room around 10, where I was greeted by hubby and the kids.  Meanwhile, all this time, poor hubby had been going back and forth between the waiting room and the bathroom.  Kaitlyn had thrown up a few more times, and had also started being sick at the other end.  While I had brought a movie for the kids to watch, hoping to keep them quiet and entertained, they never got the chance to start it.  Kari pushed Kelsey in the stroller, and Dylan just tagged along while hubby and Kaitlyn went in and out of stalls.

 

Before I could go home, I had to show the ability to drink something, and pee (which was NOT a problem, as they had emptied a whole bag of saline into my arm).  However, as paperwork and hospital always do, the discharge paperwork took forever, and I didn't leave the hospital until after 12:30.  None of us had eaten lunch, and by the time we got home (again stopping for Kaitlyn to go the bathroom) and eaten, Kari wouldn't have been able to return to school until after 1pm.  School gets out at 3:15.  It hardly seemed worth it.  So, she agreed to stay home and play video games, rather than go for such a short amount of time.

 

If you look closely at my hand, you can see the two IV sites.  Yes, I said two for a 15 minute procedure.  The one on my wrist at the bottom of my thumb only lasted for about 30 minutes before it hurt, and I had to ask the nurse to take it out.  Actually, it was quite tender for several days afterwards, even though it seemed to be flowing nicely.  The one in the middle of my hand, directly below my ring finger, lasted the surgery, but it might be true only because she had finished inserting it, literally 3 minutes before they gave me the anesthesia.  Also take notice of my fabulous watch line.  So, see!?!?!  I do have a tan!

 I went to sleep with a crooked nose, and awoke with this fabulous cast/brace thing super glued (yes, pretty much super glued) to my nose.  Doc says I only have to wear it until it falls off, which is usually about a week.  For the record, I don't plan on leaving the house with it on...  Yeah.  I am that vain.

As of this writing, I have no idea what my nose looks like, or how it will heal.  As explained by my doc, there will still be a chance of deformity even if he tries to fix it.  There is no guarantee that it will be perfect, or even back to the way it was.  But, since we know that it had one to start with, we can only try.  The complete healing process takes about 4 weeks.  But, ain't I a beaut?!?! :)

Part Dos

When we checked out of the ER, they gave me the number for a local ENT doctor.  As soon as he was open on Monday, I called to schedule an appointment for Friday.  When they asked what the nature of the appointment was, I said "I went to the ER last night with a broken nose.  I need to have it set."  Bam.  Done.  Nothing doing.  Right?  Hubby re-arranged his entire schedule to come with me to the doctor, to hold my hand (because, in truth, I was extremely nervous!) and we proceeded with the rest of the week.  Friday arrives, and I took a few more pictures on the way there. 

 

4 days later.  Still doesn't look all that horrible. 

Left side.  Minimal bruising. 

 Right side.  Even less bruising.

 We get to the doctor, and he asks if we had any xrays, or anything to prove that it was broken...  You mean, besides the off-setted-ness and the large bump to one side?  It seems that I had some incorrect expectations.  When I go back and think about it logically, it makes total sense that a doctor that has never seen you is going to want a consult and possibly xrays before he sets your broken bone.  Logically I know this now.  But at the time, the appointment was highly frustrating.  And, because the office is only open until noon on Fridays, by the time I got the xrays, it was much too late to do anything about it. 

 

Enter Monday.  We have a follow up appointment.  He has the results from the radiologist which suggest a "probable broken bone at the tip of the nose."  In other words: kinda inconclusive.  So, this is where some of my frustration comes in.  By this point, I didn't care what the official diagnosis was.  I didn't care whether it was "broken", "dislocated", or just plain "smooshed".  It seems we may have had a difference of communication.  While I was talking about a crooked nose, to the doctor it wasn't synonomous with "broken." Finally, when it came down to it, he said "Do you feel like you now have a deformity in your nose."  I said "YES!"  He said "Do you want it fixed?"  Now you are speaking my language!  "Yes!!!"  And we hastily scheduled my appointment for the following day.

Epitome of Bad Timing

I don't talk about my husband on here very often.  He chooses not to have a strong Internet presence, and I can respect that.  In truth, it took a decent amount of persuasion to allow this story to go up.  I think it was probably because he felt guilty.  Which is good, because I didn't have to play the "you kinda owe me" card :)  Remember last Wednesday when I posted this picture as a teaser?

Did you figure out what was wrong?  Look at my nose...  Does it look exactly centered to you?

 

Poor Hubby.  Poor, poor hubby. 

 

Sunday night I climbed into bed around 1am.  Kelsey had just woken up, and I gave her back her pacifier and cuddled for a minute as it was not time to nurse yet. When I got back into bed, I laid behind hubby and threw my arm over his middle.  I know this because I spent a good 10 minutes concluding this was the most optimal pose.  Now, it may sound silly to you, but I have gotten into the habit of thinking about my sleeping pose while I sit and stare at my bed while holding Kelsey.  I find if I don't focus on some little thing, my mind starts going, and it makes getting back to sleep difficult.  So, if I focus on something easily solvable and simple, it seems to help.  About an hour after climbing into bed I awoke in a not so pleasant way.  It appears that hubby was having a bad dream in which bad guys were chasing him.  One had gotten a hold of him, bear hug style, from the back.  My husband, who is prior military and a second degree black belt (and I mean the real stuff...  not the black belt when I was 8 yrs old thing) neatly side stepped the ruffian and threw an elbow.  Enter cuddling wife.

 

I woke with a loud "OW!" and hubby says he immediately crossed from dream state to thoroughly awake.  My nose was bleeding profusely.  I stumbled to the sink where I leaned over to just let it flow, as leaning back caused it to go down my throat :p  At one point I got extremely nauseous, and hubby had to bring down a chair for me to sit on.  He also, quite thoughtfully, brought down the computer to try to figure out what to do.  WebMD said that if I thought my nose was broken, to go see a doctor.  Once the bleeding had slowed down quite a bit, I sat up so hubby could look at it.  At that point he said, "Yup!  Its broke."

 

So, at 2 in the morning, we called a dear dear dear dear dear dear friend (and, thankfully, almost neighbor).  She awoke to her phone ringing, and in her bleary, half awake state heard my hubby on the other end say "So...  Wanna come and sleep on my couch for a while?"  She immediately made her way over, and volunteered to keep all of my children, even the baby who would want to eat in a little while (thank goodness for a freezer full of breast milk).  She also reminded me to take a picture, knowing that I am a dedicated blogger.

 

So, here I am, in all my 3am, freshly broken nose glory.

Yes, I am smiling.  Mostly because I think unsmiling pictures of me look dumb.

Doesn't really look all that bad, does it?  We had, by this time, wiped off all the blood that had run down my face and neck, and only left a tiny bit on the edge of my nose there.  It had already swollen a bit, notice the ice pack and paper towel?

 

We went to the ER, where the doctor caught us in the hallway, before we even went into the room.  He took one look at me, and said, "Yup.  Looks broken."  Come to find out, that (at least in our case) they don't usually set a broken nose for several days.  Usually they wait 3-4 days, but so long as they do it before 7-10 days, it shouldn't require surgery.  He gave me some pain meds, and sent me on my merry way.  We arrived home to relieve my dearest friend from couch sleeping duty, and eventually went back to sleep for approx 2 hours before the rest of the house woke up.  It was a fabulous day :p

 

Hubby thoughtfully stayed home that morning to help get everyone ready, and then we sat on the couch and cuddled for a bit.  He felt bad.  Like really bad.  Like really really really bad.  I think he thought he might be in real danger of being carted off to jail for spousal abuse.  Since this has happened though, I have already run into two people who have had similar encounters.  I am beginning to think that being hit by a spouse in bed is actually a common occurrence.  It just so happens that where I was hit was not such a great spot.

 

As for hubby, he actually has a bruise on his elbow.

I have seen this man get hit with a 2x4 and not bruise.  So, he must have actually hit me quite hard.  That, or my head is just as hard as my mother always said it was.  It is kinda hard to see, but I promise, it is there.  I also joked with hubby a bit, because, if you look closely, it is not in the center of his arm...  Bad form man.  Shoddy technique!

 

It reminds me of that stand up routine (I think) I heard a looooooooong time ago. "And then I hit him in the fist with my face!  And I did some serious damage to his knee with my stomach."

Cuteness

Kelsey has a large wardrobe to pick from.  Her sisters had a lot of clothes to hand down.

 But it strikes me as odd that I love different outfits on her than I did on her bigger sisters.

 Oops.  Fell over :)

We've had this outfit since Kari I think.  And while I thought it was cute, it just wasn't my fav.  However, pair it with this cute face, sweet hair bow, and perfect smile....  Man I'm toast :)

 

Later in the day, big sister wanted to hold her.  You can see the whole outfit.  Rainbow pants, ruffly shirt and all.

 But, Kelsey didn't seem as thrilled with it as Kari was :)

 And then, this one.  Not sharing clothes, but totally cute on his own.  Who is totally thinning out.  Look!  He has a neck!  And dimples.  And semi blond hair.  And a totally sweet and winning personality.

 

Ah!!! I am surrounded by cuteness!

Have you heard of....

Rainbow Brite?  Well, this is RAMBO Brite :)

I also love her pose, done by herself :)  Oh, what am I getting myself into?  Is it too late to put her back?

What is wrong with this picture?

Nope.  Not that I haven't plucked my eyebrows recently.  Or that I have very little make up.  I'll give you a hint.  It involved a bad dream and a 2am trip to the ER.

More later....  Bwahaha! :)

Exersaucer

She is not crawling yet.  Which I am fine with.  Totally and completely 100% fine with.  She is usually still content to sit in my lap.  I'm cool with that.  But, when I have to put her down, sitting in her Bumbo isn't always enough anymore.  So, we broke out the exersaucer.

I think she likes to stand up for a time.

But it looks like this toy is a winner....  It was with her siblings too.

Sweet slobber :p

Trash

I love watching her grow up.  And figuring things out.  Like how to grab something.  And how, when you shake it, it makes noise.  I also love that I don't have to buy my children toys.  Just give them bits of trash, like bags and boxes, and they are good for hours!

I also love that she has good taste in food.  Yummy cheetos :)

Little Things

 

I know.  It is kinda stupid.  But it is the little things in life that make us truly happy.  Since we have moved into the house, pretty much the first week, that area of the hall has been unfinished (between the bathroom door and the stair rail).  We took out a closet, moved and widened the door, so there has been a piece of unfinished drywall about 10 inches wide.  It covered the bathroom.  It wasn't a big deal.  But, having it mudded and primed so it sorta blends into the dirty rest of the wall...  Well...  It just completes me.

*Happy, Contented Sigh*  *Smile* {Think}  *Frown*  Now onto finishing the rooms and moving and cleaning....  *Different kind of sigh*

Perspective

I kinda love this picture.  Kaitlyn had already left the table to brush her teeth for school.  But I love Kelsey, looking up from slightly below the table.  Never mind that she is actually sucking on it.... I am sure there are leftovers from the night before :)

Get used to it little sister.  Life from the bottom of the food chain :)

Hanging with Daddy

Daddies are busy people.  They work during the day, and at night want some relaxing time.  So, I love it when we can spend just some regular time, hanging out.  I also love when I get cute pictures from it....  Like this one:  When all you pretty much see of Kelsey is her big, cute eyes.

 Or this one, which includes the dog, when they were just hanging out on the couch, similar postures.

 Again, with the soul penetrating eyes.  And chubby, short legs. 

 We have also been doing alot of this.  Playing our old school Nintendo.  I find, at least for Kari (eh, who am I kidding...  for me too!), the simple buttons are easier to maneuver than having lots of special buttons to push, or combinations to remember.  Also, I feel like the more simple games, like Dr Mario, may, actually, be kinda good for her spacial relations or improve some other skills.  Also, less violence and blood, even in the "punching game" that Dylan "plays" (Double Dragon).  Can I also just say, that the Nintendo has also provided lots of entertainment for me as well (in the past and the present).

Lastly, a video.  Of her cute little laugh/growl. 


We love Daddy!  So glad he is with us!

Girls New Room

With the drywall finished, it was on to some other things.  Such as priming and painting.    We picked a purple color based on the bedding the girls got for Christmas, oh, 9 months ago.

 

I am much too lazy to tape things off, especially since I usually have to go back and touch up anyway. So, I follow the advice of a professional painter I heard waaaaaaaaaaaay back when I watched Trading Spaces. He said to get a good angled brush and just cut in around the edges. "Take your time and be careful." I honestly don't know if the time it takes for me to cut in is equal to the time it takes to tape and then paint, but I prefer to think so and I prefer this method, so...

 Last Thursday, I was finally able to roll 2 coats of "Magic Purple Moon" on the wall.  Such a pretty color!  It managed to simultaneously warm up the stark white walls, while cooling it down. 

Problem is, while it doesn't translate as well over the picture, the purple that looked awesome on the swatch, is too yellow for the grey/dirty looking purple in the bedding.  The color is pretty, it just doesn't match :(  I used to think those testers for $3 each were insanely expensive and silly.  Having gone through several gallons of paint in different rooms, looking for the right one, I can now see how buying even eight $3 testers may make more sense sometimes.  So, hubby offered to help me repaint (something he doesn't normally do...  painting is my department).  Back to the drawing board :p 

On a good note, the bathroom is doing well.  We found a shower curtain that has both green and purple in it (that doesn't look either too childish or too fuddy duddy.  Believe me, it was harder than it sounds!)  But it was one of those cloth decorative ones.  And, since our shower curtain rod is one of those curved ones, the cloth one would hang out over into the toilet space.  So, we put it over to the side, and will tie it back (once I find a good color ribbon) to the side.  Decoration.  You know.

 

Still moving forward.  One coat of purple paint at a time :p

Bach

We've been pretty busy around here lately.  I'm not gonna lie.  I don't really like it.  I do, however, like the progress we are slowly making.  Mostly it has been painting.  Painting.  And more painting.  And while I would love to keep you updated on the progress, and take a picture between each and every coat, it would be akin to watching paint dry.  :)  So, I'm not gonna do that. 

I will, however, post a video of our little piano enthusiast.  Again narrated by her big sister.

I am looking forward to the many more lessons to come :)

Big # 30

Hubby had a birthday on Tuesday.  He turned the big three - oh.  He requested a store made cake with buttercream icing.   Since he seemed to be not so excited about this birthday, I obliged. 


Then the girls wanted to sing a song for daddy that they sing in Primary (at church).  I think it is very humorous because they both clap at the wrong time....  It is supposed to go "Ha-ppy Birthday {clap} to you!" (at the end).   Oh well :)  I also love Kelsey joining in in the middle.

The kids helped him take all 30 candles off.

And lick them too.

Couldn't help it.  I know it isn't his birthday, but the sprinkles around the lips were pretty fabulous!

 

For his birthday, hubby asked for a set of Brad Point bits.  Ask, as ye shall receive.

What is a Brad Point Bit, you say?  It is a drill bit that has a special tip on the end, to make for more exact drilling.

Not my ideal present.  But what can I say?  I bought myself a crock pot.  Looks like a bit of the pot calling the drill bit black.  Am I right? *snicker snicker* ;)

 

Laundry Room

Besides the bathrooms, we had taken one weekend to get the laundry room ready for the mudders.  We had to update some of the electrical a bit (very minor things) and then install about 5 sheets of drywall.  The kids and I had moved the storage shelves (along with everything on them) out to the pool room (unfortunately rendering it pretty much unplayable for a while).  We will have to do the ceiling at some point, we just haven't gotten around to it yet.  Nor have we figured out exactly what we are going to do with it.  Since it is a "utility" space, we aren't really all that concerned with it yet.

 

The view from the door.  The CMU wall that used to be the exterior before our master suite was added (not by us).

If you come in the door and turn slightly, you see my new chest freezer (on a roll-y thing that hubby built, so that we can get to the door to the pump room behind the freezer).

 The pump room holds these fabulous things: sump pump, sewage pump, water alarms, hot water heater, and major HVAC lines. 

The wall across from the washer/dryer is just empty.  For now.  Once I finish priming and painting (anybody want to suggest a color?  I am honestly thinking about going something nice and bright, and completely not matching...  like turquoise) then we can move the storage shelves back in.  They hold some of the dry groceries that I buy in bulk, but mostly they hold clothes that I am saving from the older girls to pass onto the younger ones. 

 The day the mudders came.  Rather than moving the heavy machines all the way out of the room, we just moved them to the middle, since they wouldn't need to get to that far wall anyway.

 

At the moment, it looks fairly similar to this.  Except the seams and screws have been covered and the washing machine has been hooked back up.  We are a family of 6, for goodness sake!  How long do you expect we can go without doing laundry?!?!  (Regardless of my laziness/busy attention to other matters).

Solids

It's sad.  It really is.  My baby is growing up.  She is officially over 6 months old, and we have been doing solids for a few weeks.  For your viewing pleasure, here is her first taste of something other than mothers milk.  Ever.


This is from Kari's perspective.  (The previous one is from daddy's)


She is actually doing pretty well at figuring out how to get the food to the back of her mouth. She is taking to it much better than Dylan, thank goodness.  Since these pictures were taken, her menu has increased to include rice cereal, squash, and sweet potatoes.

 

A little interview, in which she shares how she really feels about all this solid food stuff.

It makes me so very sad.  True, she is much more interactive now, and I think she even reached for me yesterday.  But, she is no longer my cuddly lump of baby anymore.  And since we probably won't be having anymore, it makes me even more sad that that stage of my life has officially passed me by :(

On a side note, I can't say that I am super excited about the new developments in her diapers either.  No more breastmilk diapers...  As Bill Cosby said, "God put odor in the poopoo"...  I honestly can't say which passing makes me more sad...  Get it?  Passing? *snicker snicker*   I kill myself :)

Blue Bathroom

Is it weird to refer to the rooms of your house the way they will be once you are finally done with them?  Good.  I didn't think so either.  So, this is the hall bathroom.  Hereto forward known as the "Blue Bathroom" because it will be blue when we are done.  So, here is the floor plan again.  Before on the left, after on the right.  Notice we walled off the closet into the bedroom, and included that space in the blue bathroom for a bathtub.  We moved the sink to the other side (after we took out the closet) and hubby is custom making a cabinet for the sink that will fit over the angle of the stair beneath.  And moved the toilet to the other side as well.  I still get a linen closet, but it is moved to the other side.

So, here is the bathroom, post framing and surround.  I don't seem to have a lot of pictures of the in between, but you can see at least some of the plumbing and framing here.   Story with the surround: We ordered it back in Jan, got it in in Feb, and then had a baby...  When we finally got around to installing it almost 6 months later, we opened the box to find a crack.  Well that won't do at all!  So, we ordered another one (they were kind enough to take back the old/broken one back) and installed it along with the rest of the drywall just in time for the mudders to come.  In fact, we were waiting on the surround to schedule the mudders to come in.  The hole deal hinged on it.  It was kinda frustrating when it didn't get delivered on time, but it got done, and that is all that counts.

 

So you see the tub there, and the wall of the linen closet.

After drywall and tile.

 

The other side of the bathroom.  The toilet will be on the floor right underneath that large hole in the wall.  Actually, it will be a niche (thanks for the idea Pop) for some decorations and a towel or two.  Also notice the sink plumbing pop outs over the angle of the stairs.

 After mud and tile.  It doesn't seem to transfer into the pictures well, but there is a definite blue tint to the tile.  Hence the reason we will call it the "Blue Bathroom".  Also notice the cabinet niche above the toilet.  We had space to put that there because we had to move the wall forward a bit for plumbing and cabinet purposes.

 Here is the cabinet hubby is building.  We tiled the top because we couldn't fine a laminate that matched or was cheap enough to use...  It was silly really.  I am not super fond of tiled counter tops, but it makes sense for what we want.  It may be hard to see from the perspective of the picture, but the bottom shelf will only be about 12 inches deep.  At that point, the back will rise up to the second shelf, and cover the angle.

We discovered during the process of the kitchen, we could make the cabinets cheaper than buying them.  They would also be (theoretically) better quality because they are actual wood instead of MDF veneer.  So, hubby has custom made several of our cabinets.  Sometimes, it must stink to be so handy :)