June 29, 2011

Some favorite things!

Just wanted to share some of my favorite things!

1.
Switched at Birth on ABC Family. I caught this show one night and got hooked! I DVR it and think it's so great. Such a good show and Marlee Matlin is a producer, and I love how they are really portraying the deaf character and how she's able to function normally in a hearing world (as opposed to other movies I've seen where they make it seem like such a burden to not be able to hear.) And that Constance Marie (who plays Daphne's mom) really uses sign language...just a neat idea and a great show.

2.
The Glee Project on Oxygen. Is anyone else watching this show? I love the idea (winner gets a 7 week stint on Glee!) and love the kids. Although some annoy me - the Latina girl who dubs herself as "flirty" is annoying. And the know it all girl who said she doesn't feel like it's a competition has an amazing voice but seriously I want to smack her all.the.time. The only issue I have with the show is that all of these kids seem to be in characters that are exactly like the current Glee cast. So I don't know how the winner would be put into the show as a "new" and fresh character, but I'm liking watching it so far!

3. Grilling! We've busted out our grill for the first time this season! We could have used it before then but we were lazy and I refused to clean it and Tito just put it off. But we had friends over for a barbecue on Sunday so we had to clean it off and use it! I grilled chicken last night (with lemon pepper seasoning - yum!) and Santi and Tito gobbled it up. Tonight we're having turkey burgers and veggies...and it used to be Tito's job to grill but ever since he burned the crap out of the burgers on Sunday, he's forbidden. So I will be making non-charred food tonight!

4. Naps! Santi is now taking 3-4 hour naps once a day consistently. Usually he'll go down after we get back from Stroller Strides in the morning (about 11am) and sleep until at least 2 and then have lunch and then we'll run errands or play or go to the park. Sometimes when we don't go to Stroller Strides, he'll go down at about 10am and sleep for a few hours and on days like yesterday when he was really cranky, I was able to put him down at 3pm and have him rest (he didn't sleep but just hung out in his crib playing with his puppies and his lovie) for about an hour or so. It's allowing me to get a lot done (such as starting packing for the move!) Or occasionally if I'm really tired, I'll take a nap too! :)

June 27, 2011

News!

So the biggest news is....

I'm pregnant!

#2 is due February 2, 2012! We thought we were 7 weeks along but the ultrasound and measurements last week bumped me up a week, so I'm now 8 weeks and 3 days along. We were trying, but didn't think it would happen as quickly as it did, so that was the surprise. We found out when we were back visiting family in Boston.

Here's a little video of our bean:





And to start the updates with this pregnancy, I'm going to go with 9 weeks:

How Far Along: 9 weeks


What "They" Say About Our Baby's Development: "You can’t feel it yet, but those newly formed arms and legs might just very well start your baby moving during this week. Almost a full inch long and about 1/8 an ounce, your baby is looking every day more and more like a little person. This is helped by the shrinking of the embryonic tail we all start with at the base of the spinal cord. The growth of your baby's head, now almost half the size of his or her body, has been impressive in this time, though babies keep them tucked down close to the chest. This week also sees the beginning of nipples and hair follicles. Internally, reproductive organs, either testes or ovaries, are forming as do other internal organs including the pancreas, bile ducts, gallbladder and anus."

Weekly Food Comparison: A Grape

The Good: My injections aren't as hard to take this time around, although I'm definitely looking forward to stopping them after the pregnancy.

The Bad: Nausea. I feel horrible. Which makes it hard to do anything, but especially take care of Santi. I live for when he naps so I can nap. I haven't thrown up much, but just the general nausea all day is enough to take me out.

The Weird: I'm nauseous all the time and hungry all the time. In fact, the only time I'm not nauseous is when I'm eating!

Currently Avoiding: I haven't had any real food aversions this time around. My aversions are to fabrics. Such as I have a pair of sweat pants I was wearing the other night with a drawstring waist I'd long ago knotted. I wanted to untie it but the fabric in my fingers made me nauseous and I eventually threw up!

Craving: Sweets. I never craved sweets with Santi and it's like I can't get enough of them this time!

The Weekly Belly Bump: It's there. I have to take a photo and upload. I feel like I'm bigger than I was at this time with Santi but smaller in a way if that makes sense. I've been working out consistently for the past year, and running too, and I think that's allowing me to fit into non-maternity clothes for longer than last time.

June 15, 2011

Finally!

So I can officially announce this on here - we're in escrow on a house! We're so excited! Our closing date is July 22nd, and we'll take some time to paint and do some minor cosmetic repairs before moving over officially.

Let's take a tour!



Kitchen area - this photo is from the staged house. They have since put in a black dishwasher (too short) and a white range/microwave and stove, and there is no fridge.) To the left of the fridge is the pantry which extends back underneath the stairs.

View from the kitchen into the great room. This room gets TONS of light. We will not be putting our dining area there, and would actually move it farther to the right, where that chaise is and have our livingroom area on the left side.

Another view of the great room area

Back yard...we need to buy a mower!


Another view of the back yard where you can see the trampoline set INTO the ground and a little of the patio area. We'll be getting rid of this...too much of a hazard with a toddler!

Master bedroom (staged, obviously). This room gets tons of light too. And we don't have that ceiling fan.


Master bathroom. To the left is the HUGE master closet. It's the length from about the middle of the first sink you see back to the back wall and is about as wide as from the doorway on the left to the tub area. The back door on the right is the toilet room. The bad is that this room has carpeting but we'll eventually rip it out and put finishers down for the bedroom door and the closet door to keep carpet in there, and put tile down in this bathroom.


Bath tub. It's calling my name. And since this room is on the back of the house, it gets TONS of light.

Bonus area at the top of the stairs. They repainted it a nice green, which we'll be keeping, before we saw it. We'll use this as an office space with our "L" shaped desk in the left corner, and Santi's play area on the right. Just to the left at the front of the photo is the laundry area. And there's one bedroom with a walk in closet to the left of this area, another bedroom with another walk in closet behind where you're standing in this photo and another bathroom (kids bathroom) off this area too. And the master is off this area as well.



What will be Santi's room - over looks the street and is over the garage. We're planning on doing the airplane theme that we have in his existing room, but we'll be able to paint here! :) Not sure what color to paint the walls but since his colors in his room are light green, light blue, tan and chocolate brown, we'll find some combo of that. Probably lead more towards the tan though since it'll be more neutral.


Santi's walk in closet - since he won't be needing all of that space for clothes, I'm planning on creating a little reading nook/fort/play area in there for him on the floor along with using it to store his clothes.


Laundry area (upstairs!) and part of the bonus area. We like this color and are keeping it. We'll be adding a couple of shelves in the laundry area.


Second room. It used to be blue and then they painted a pinkish color on it (but you can still see the blue.) So we'll be repainting this, although we're not sure what color.


Kid's bathroom. We'll eventually replace the counter tops (or put in a whole new vanity with a vessel sink?)  and the flooring, but for now it'll do. We have to buy a shower curtain rod since they took that too!


Our room...Tito and I keep saying we love being adults and moving into a new house because we automatically get the biggest and best room! :) We'll paint in here as well, although we're not sure what color yet.


Our bathroom - like mentioned before, we'll eventually rip out the carpet here and tile, and then we'll replace the counters and maybe the sinks (the one on the left has a rust stain around the stopper that I need to work some magic on, but otherwise, we'll replace them. We love the vanities though - so much storage space!


Looking left into the master closet - we'll eventually do some built ins in here


In the closet - built ins will happen on the left wall and I want to build in a desk area on the back wall and use the area behind the door for shelving to house my craft stuff, and turn part of this "room" into my craft room. That way it'll be out of the public view, and I can work on something and shut the door to keep things from getting touched by little hands!


Our shower


View down the stairs - we'll eventually put hardwoods on the lower level


Garage! And our realtor and inspector! :) We'll paint this white or beige - we hate the look of bare sheetrock! We'll also probably paint the floor since they seem to have used it for some random spray painting and painted shapes on the floor (you can see one near our realtor's feet!)  We'll also install shelving on the back wall and want to get some hanging storage so we can put things like luggage, etc up and out of reach.

We have a few repairs to do (it was a foreclosure so they took all of the shelving in the pantry, all of the forced air grates in the floors, and all of the outlet covers in the kitchen, as well as the towel bars and toilet paper holders in the bathrooms and the front door handle.) So we've got to replace all of that stuff and we'll be painting our bedroom and bathroom, the kid's bathroom, guest bedroom and Santi's room. We like all of the colors in the bonus area and in the downstairs, aside from the blood red 1/2 bath on the first floor, so we'll repaint that too.

There's also great crown molding in parts of the house which we're excited about. We can't wait to move in and spread out - I am going from having all of my kitchen/dining room stuff shoved into 11 cabinets and a sideboard to 26 cabinets and a pantry! I'm so excited!

I'll be posting more home photos as we get closer and move in! And then there's all of the personalizing and making it "ours!"

15 months old!

So today, I am the mommy to a 15 month old. Time has FLOWN by and I am truly amazed at what an amazing person Santi is becoming. In just a few short months, he has gone from crawling to walking and running, from not talking to talking up a storm. He's such a fun little person, and I feel so lucky to be his mom.

Here are a few things I'd like to remember about this month:

1. You have more new words this month! You started saying "Bus" and now also pluralize a lot of things, such as I can be called "Mamas", Daddy is called "Papas", when you see other kids you say "Babies", etc.

2. You have not only learned how to say "No!" but you understand it. It's actually pretty helpful when we are trying to figure out if you are finished eating, or if you want to do something.


3. We got your some forks and you started eating food with them and do this pretty regularly! We are so proud and when you did it for the first time we clapped and cheered, so you started clapping after every time that you used the fork. :)

4. You're wearing size 12-18 month clothes and size 4 and 5 shoes. You are also wearing size 5 diapers still and rarely have accidents anymore.


5. You traveled on a plane to Maine/Massachusetts this month, and did great! Your slept for basically the entire flights, and you loved being in the airport and using your puppy leash to walk around with mommy.



It's been a great month Santi, and we're so lucky and happy to be your parents! Happy 15 months!


Love, 
Mommy and Daddy

June 7, 2011

I'm back!

So I've been out of town, visiting friends and family in Maine and Massachusetts and attending a family wedding. We had a great time, and had a chance to introduce Santi to family and friends who hadn't met him yet!

I'm working on getting back up to speed, and we're in the midst of home buying (just getting the signed contract back from the bank has been a struggle, but we think we're there now and should hopefully close within a month or so!)

Be back soon!