The clothing chaos

One of the reasons I’ve been SO excited to know the gender of my little peanut was the opportunity to GET RID OF THE FLIPPIN CLOTHES!!!  Because we know this will be the last, I’ve been very excited to get rid of an entire gender worth of clothing.  I knew I had kid clothes all over the place, but I did not realize just how bad it was until I actually started to pull them out.

For your perusal:

Holly Heifer!  And this is me being half way done! Yesterday I spent several hours organizing all the girl stuff – including THREE boxes of tiny baby clothes to pass down to my sis!  And now I get to figure out all the boy stuff . . . .

Wish me luck. If I don’t resurface from the chaos in 12 hours, call out the search parties!

The Results are in!

Sorry I didn’t get this up last night – we were having some computer issues that are thankfully resolved!

Well, it looks like this little one:

has an overwhelming majority preference for gender from  you guys!

Out of 10 people, 9 (ish) of you said boy. And even the one naysayer (and the one person who said both!) mentioned a boy would be great!

Well, before I tell you if you were right, (hah! Love to keep you in suspense!) Let’s see who won the new book!

And who is #4?

It’s Lynn! Hooray for you!  I’ll try to get that mailed out soon.

And just so you know . . .

The majority was right!  Now I just have to see if I can convince Hubby that my boy names ROCK!!!

Last minute joy

Our house has a problem. A very small problem.  A problem that only emerges once a year.

We have a leprechaun infestation.

They first appeared when we lived in Euless.

It's amazing just what chaos those little guys can cause.

In the past, we've tried to trap them, but with no success.

This year, we forgot they were even coming.  St Patrick's Day was Saturday. I was awoken at 7:45 am by Happy Mom knocking on my door.  (I hate it when I sleep through my alarm!). Her Girly-Whirl was coming over to spend the morning.  No one else was awake.  I went downstairs and failed to notice any problems, but sat the computer to check something.  Then I realized that it was St Patrick's Day.  My children began to awaken.  I started them on some breakfast (and managed to smuggle some loot downstairs).  10 minutes later, I broke the news.  Girly-Lou was in the middle of elaborate trap ideas.   I informed her that it was too late - the infestation had already occurred.

The children followed me downstairs to look at the damage. 

The party this year was mild compared to years past.  And the leprechauns did leave a payment of chocolate coins.

There just happened to be enough for the three older kids to have the same amount, with a few left over for 'Lil.

I love having children young enough to believe in the impossible.  And I love even more that with 10 minute preparation on my part, that last minute joy can be found.

The Countdown is on . . . and a Giveaway!

Hey all!

I’ve been MIA too much, I know. But life rolls that way sometimes! So here’s the quick run down:

We’re on official countdown at our house.  One of them is done today (‘Lil starts speech therapy!!!), but the bigger one is next Monday, the 26th.  In one week, I’ll finally know which half of our kid clothes I can get rid of!!!!!!!
Also,

This book is now out!  Again, wonderful. Some really great growth of characters this time around.  And it didn’t freak me out like the last book did!

I’ve got a book to giveaway to one of my wonderful readers. To enter, leave a comment on this post guessing what gender my baby will be, and also WHY you think it should be that way.  I’ll pick one at random, and you’ll win an awesome, autographed book!

(this contest will end Sunday night or so, and I’ll be sure to post as soon as I know something on Monday!  Well, maybe not AS soon as I know. I should call my mom first I guess.  But there is a distinct possibility that the rest of my siblings will find out here – sorry for my laziness girls!)

The final bathroom, at last!

It’s done, guys! The bathroom is finally done!!*





My big hang ups on getting this finished were the mirror and the hook shelf.  I knew what I wanted, it was getting Hubby to agree to it.  First of all, he hated the mirror I planned on using.  I had an old regular mirror that I was planning on using molding for a frame.  I’ve seen dozens of these, it would have been great!

But Hubby honestly has an aversion to used things. And there was this small scratch in the glass.  I thought we could work around it, but Hubby wouldn’t hear of it.  So we spent a couple of days looking for a suitable replacement.  Finally, we found a clearance mirror at Hobby Lobby for $60. WAY more than my $10 plan, but I did love it.  It was the most beautiful aqua color – I had a very hard time sanding it down!  But I knew the aqua would have clashed horribly, and finally did it.


If you look close, you can see a bit of that aqua peeking through!


Hard to see with that light on!


Now you can see the mirror!

From the first, Hubby hated the idea of hooks. He wanted a regular towel rack.  But we need to hang up 5 towels in this room!  He was sure that my shelf idea would be ugly and obnoxious (he also has a hard time visualizing things before they are finished!).  But when my friend gave me this black shelf for free, I knew it would be perfect!


If I had a million dollars I would have bought coordinating towels too. But honestly, using what you’ve got is so more my style!

Hubby also has this shave kit that needs to be hung up (along with a hand towel, of course!). I put together a bar style drawer pull on a plaque from hobby lobby, and we were in business!



Tonight, I finally finished it all.  And did some quick decorating too.  Ever the classy one, and lacking frames, I just taped up the pintables I’m thinking of using!



This little stool was the cutest spring green – but also would have clashed. So it also got a coat of  white.  I love the idea of a wire basket for the kids bath toys (but not this one. It was a use what you have night!)  However, ‘Lil loves to throw them all into the tub, so I’m looking for a better option!



Here’s all the nitty gritty details:
Tub: american standard clean artic white, Lowes $300
Faucets: Moen Caldwell, Lowes $220
Tile: Roman stone thru color porcelain in beige, Lowes $255
Decorative stripe: 12x12 mosaic (cut into 3x12 pieces), Lowes $30
Vanity: craigslist, $200
Light: craigslist, $20
Mirror: Hobby Lobby, $60 (clearance)
Fan/light: Harbor Breeze alta, Lowes, $90
Shelf: from neighbor, free
Hooks: hobby lobby, $9
small stool: hobby lobby, $12 (clearance)
large stool: Amazon, $30 (but they sell them at bed bath beyond for a lot cheaper I found out later!)
Little towel bar: drawer pull, Lowes, $8.  Plaque, hobby lobby, $5
Paint: all from Sherwin Williams: Rain drop (walls) $30. Alabaster (trim) $18. Plus ceiling and primer $50
Door: prehung, Lowes, $80
Knob: from Lowes, $20
Shower Curtain: Lowes, $17
Bath mat: Kohls, $20
Printables: (all hotlinked to sources) Gratitude, We Become, Simple Things. Free
Various plumbing, lumber, electrical, etc. $1275

Grand total: $2730.  We went $230 over budget, which actually surprised me. Everything was so much less than what I had thought. . . except that last category.  I had budgeted 600, and it was SO much more than that! Oh well, live and learn!

And because who can resist a great before/after, here you go!
How we first lived with it:



After my freebie makeover:



and now!


*Wow, you actually read clear to the end of my ramblings! Yes, I say this is done, but I know I need to get frames for those quotes, and actually figure out how to decorate in here with stuff that can stay in this room as opposed to stuff I swiped from the rest of the house. And I do want to repaint sometime, and put up crown molding and. . . ! But for now, it’s done!

Bathroom redo, days 9-17

So, as the title might suggest, there’s a big need to combine a WHOLE bunch of days in here!

 

Let’s start with days nine and ten.  On day nine, Dad and I grouted the walls, he laid all the floor, and then we also grouted the floor. It was a big day!

Day 10 I did some touch up painting, and Dad did a TON!  He set the vanity, set the top, hooked up all the fixtures for the sink, set the toilet, and hung the door.  In one day, we went from needing to make progress to having a useable bathroom!

Then Dad had to go back home, and work ground to almost a halt.  Once the toilet worked, my motivation to get things done quickly vanished.  Of course, there was also the detail of me not being able to do that much with ‘Lil awake!

 

Once  Hubby came home, more progress was made.  He fixed the fan/light, I hung baseboards.   He hooked up the shower/tub stuff, I caulked the vanity and tub.  Then he went back to work, and I veeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyy slowly made progress on the rest of the room.  And next time I’ll FINALLY show off the whole thing!

She Failed!! HOORAY!!!

Remember back several months ago when we started the process of getting ‘Lil tested?  And remember how she wasn’t delayed enough to qualify?  It’s been 4 months, so we went ahead and retested.


And she failed! With flying colors!
 



Ok, so it totally feels wrong that I’m celebrating my child’s failure.  But because her language skills are so bad, she actually qualifies for help this time.  It’s possibly some of the best news I’ve received all week.

We are also having her hearing tested – just to make sure there isn’t a problem there that would explain her lack of talking.  Can I just say, pediatric audiologists are TROOPERS!!!  We only got through one ear, and there is actually a possibility of a problem in that ear. However, it was at the end of the test, and it’s also ENTIRELY possible that ‘Lil was just DONE, so they’ll retest that frequency on the next try. 

We’re just at the first of this venture, but we officially qualify for services.  Next we’ll do a full meeting where we write up the full service plan and all that, and then we can start therapy!


Hooray for the possibility of communicating with my daughter!!!