So about 5 years ago I bought these doormats that have been deemed “death mats”.  I refused to get rid of them, they were perfect, we even got the rubber lining underneath, it didn’t help.  We’ve had (and so have some of our house guests) a few slips and many near misses but tonight Noah took the cake.  He walked on top of one and turned the corner and down he went.  The poor kid wasn’t even running.  Man, did he scream!  As with most wounds you can’t really see the extent right away.  As soon as the tears stopped it was pretty obvious though.  Our son looks like he’s trying to become a unicorn.  Maybe I should toss the mats now, that is after I accept my Mother Of The Year Award.  Yikes!

I’ve blogged about “Monkey” before but we have some sweet new photos of Noah’s favorite pal to share.  I’m afraid he’ll take this poor thing to college with him, should he still be in one piece by then (monkey that is). 

We’ve moved in!  We’ve filled every kitchen cabinet and cleaned the madness off our dining room table.  We even removed all the storage behind the table, we haven’t seen the back wall of the dining room in over a year!  It looks AWESOME!  We hope to put a buffet on the back wall at some point since our light and table are off center (can you believe this room is supposed to be a family room?!) and we could certainly use the storage space but for now the emptiness looks so great, especially compared to the boxes of junk and extra furniture that doesn’t belong in a home with children.  Also, although everyone wished us the glory of eternally clean and empty countertops it just isn’t practical.  The microwave, coffee station, toaster and wine rack have no other home.  Everything else you see was for dinner and was quickly cleaned and stored.  I’m so in love with my kitchen! 

So how did we break it in?  We had my family over – mom, dad, sister and niece – and we served an awesome pot roast with all the fixings.  The recipe is ridiculously easy and so delicious.  You can find it here.  We actually got a fresh cut of roast from the Fresh Market (and without grossing you out I’ll say it was as fresh as physically possible) and it made for an amazing meal.  We’d love to do this more often and all we ask is that you bring dessert!  Pregnant ladies are suckers for dessert! 

The fam brought an awesome ice cream cake from Publix.  And of course since Noah is OBSESSED with fire we lit a candle and let him blow it out.  It says “Happy Kitchen” in case you can’t make it out.

My boys have cooties!  Well, Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, or the coxsackie virus, to be more exact.  We think Noah picked it up at school but we had no idea, we are such first time parents!  On Tuesday we saw a blister under his toe so on Wednesday after school I was going to take him shoe shopping, since his shoes must be getting too tight – right?  WRONG!  I took his shoe off after school that day and his feet were covered in them!  We went straight to the doctor’s office to learn it was in deed HFTM, which sounds so gross!  And since it could be dangerous if I get exposed, because of the baby, Walter took two days off of work to handle cootie duty and guess what, now he has it.  Everything we read and everything the doctor’s say tells us that adults *shouldn’t* be able to really catch it, that it’s a children’s disease.  I guess for Walter there are downfalls to never wanting to grow up! 

Here was Noah at the doctor’s office -

And my boys this morning.  Noah’s is getting better, Walter’s is just starting.  Please pray I don’t start showing symptoms!  On the bright side it doesn’t seem to be slowing either of them down, they haven’t caught the fever or loss of appetite portion of the virus and it’s so nice to have all of us together for a few extra days.

I have a gorgeous house AND internet!  Woohoo!  Who could ask for more?  The house is *almost* done!  My contractor managed to redeem himself slightly and has come through with an almost complete addition and kitchen in two days.  The only things left are painting and replacing our kitchen window, all which should be done next week.  But in the meantime we can cook, clean, wash dishes and work (being without a computer was like being without air – ok,  a little dramatic).  I am beyond thrilled!  Now we just need to put it all together and put away the dishes that are living in the guest room half of the office.  I keep telling myself one drawer at a time. 

Our next project is Kate’s room.  With 80 days left until my due date (which I doubt she’ll make it to) we need to get going! 

In the meantime here are the latest photos of the kitchen and the office.  They struggled so much with our hood that it’s covered in fingerprints.  Anyone know how to get prints off of stainless?  The popcorn goes up this afternoon.

And here’s the office.  We’re used to a 10×10 room so our stuff only takes up a 1/4 of the space in our 18×24 addition.  I’m sure we’ll fill it up in no time.  On the other side of the office we’re planning a pull out couch/day bed/futon, coffee table and tv/entertainment system.  The rest of the house will be obsolete before you know it! 

Here’s the whole office for those of you just tuning in.  And yes, that’s a lot of junk.  When we get the window treatments up and the kitchen filled back up I’ll get you a photo of the room the way it should be.

I’m sure you’re tired of hearing about our kitchen, trust me, I’m tired of not having a kitchen.  Because I have to suffer so do you.  We got most of our counter top yesterday.  One piece was cut too small so they’ll bring another one (hopefully this week) for the area next to the fridge.  You can also see my (our) gorgeous new fridge!  I know, it’s huge, I love it!  My mom calls it the Hummer of refrigerators.  Of course nothing, and I seriously mean nothing, has happened without a ton of drama, dissatisfaction and a few tears.  I won’t get into that, you all know I now hate my contractor, I’m trying to focus on the end results when everything is gorgeous, there are no more strangers in my house, and as long as you don’t look too hard the slight imperfections are totally acceptable.  Sigh.

I love coffee.  I hardly make it through a day without a cup, although these days it’s decaf.  Because of this addiction, Noah and I have spent several mornings watching strangers and playing on furniture at Starbucks.  I love Starbucks.  Well yesterday as we’re driving home from school he says he wants a treat from Toolbox.  It took me a few minutes but I finally asked him “Starbucks?”, his face lit up and he said “YES!”.  I guess we both love Toolbox, umm, I mean Starbucks. 

As promised I am updating our kitchen photos.  We hope to have it COMPLETED this week.  How exciting if we can actually cook next weekend!  Here are photos from last Thursday.  Things should be moving by Tuesday and done on Friday if all goes well. 

Very unfortunately our refrigerator will be the last appliance to be replaced.  We purchased it with everything else but the new model is on backorder until the middle of August.  Luckily we have this one in the meantime but it’s just such an eye sore!

And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is DEAD SPACE!  It’s in the corner between the refrigerator and sink and it is absolutely killing Walter.  I wish they could just put a counter top on already so it didn’t hurt so much.  He would love to find a solution where he could cut a hole into the cabinet in order to use it but I’m afraid we would be sorry we did it.  I wish our contractor actually LISTENED to us but it seems the more money he gets and the closer to the end we are the worse his hearing, uhhh… listening, becomes.  Oh the joys of home ownership!

I also had Walter snap a few photos of Kate and Noah this weekend.  Unfortunately I had to be in the photos too.  I’m definitely bigger around this pregnancy and getting a lot more of the lovely stranger comments (“You must be due any day!”, “Are you sure you’re not having twins!?”, “You may want to double check with your doctor, you must be further along!”).  I’m fat and pregnant people, get over it.  Hopefully I don’t get too much bigger though!  It’s a hot summer and I’m already starting to waddle!  Noah wasn’t very interested in being a part of this exercise so we’re lucky to have gotten something.

He and Walter love to talk to Kate.  They lean down, bury their mouths and in their loudest, deepest voices say “Helllllooooo Kaaatttte”.  Noah felt Kate kick for the first time this weekend.  He jumped and said “Oh!  Do it again!”.  Just wait until he finds out she’s moving in!

We seem to have become a home improvement blog.  Did you know – we have a two year old too?  Just kidding.  It just seems it’s been awhile since he’s made an appearance.  So, here you go – some new photos.  On a side note the kitchen cabinets are all done, I’ll show you later!

Noah is loving swim lessons and now could spend hours in the tub just floating, swimming and playing.  I couldn’t resist grabbing the camera the other day.

And here’s how you know it’s summer.  Check out that WHITE BUTT!  He tans up very quickly!  Too bad mom doesn’t have that luck!

The first photo is the proper response to “where’s your smile?”.  These were just before a haircut.

Walter is lovingly referring to anyone (ahem, Katie and Warren) who wants renderings with all their options to help decide on details – TROUBLE MAKERS.  But for you (and for us) he has done a rendering with both countertops.  He wants to point out that it’s a very quick mock up and not nearly as pretty as his usual work but we have a two year old and it’s what he had time for tonight.

Seeing this makes him waver.  He was so into the dark countertop but now he’s afraid it will just look black because we don’t have great lighting in the kitchen.  The beautiful detail will only been seen on the pass through to the patio and I think it makes him nervous.  I think the other looks a bit matchy-matchy though and quite leopard print in the rendering.  So here’s what you asked for – now which would you choose for YOUR kitchen.

P.S.  We went against the grain and opted for faucet number two.  It’s more expensive but we love it and we are the ones who have to use it, right?  We also heard an awful story about a pull-down faucet (that had as long of a moving neck) that eventually got tired and couldn’t stay up against the rest of the faucet.  We’re hoping the pull-out faucet (with much smaller moving piece) of a better quality brand can keep it together a little better.  Thanks for your votes though!