Disconnected

So ... if you check my blog you probably also have Facebook, which means you probably already know that we have had no internet/laptop. Perfect timing, eh? Our laptop stopped charging, so it's on its way to Texas to be repaired - free of charge, so yay for warranties. My mom brought her laptop with her in order for me to at least be able to post pictures ... and then the internet died. It was out for several days and finally got reestablished today. At least we have TV again now!

All that to say, pictures to come soon! :) Well, eventually.

Lauryn Elyse McKinney Pittard ~ July 16, 2013

Well, our little girl has arrived! They always say babies will come when you least expect them, and our Lauryn certainly proved that to be true. Tuesday afternoon I had a doctor's appointment and my parents came to take the kids to see a movie while I was busy with that. The news was disappointing but expected - no progress, come back next week. We said goodbye to my parents and headed off to our next errand. I had to pick Jeff up from work and then we had to get to the mechanic's shop to pick up the van, ready from its repairs. By the time we got there I was tired and ready to go home already! I had run several errands and been very busy, leaving the house at 9:30 that morning.

I walked Joe inside so he could ride with Daddy, and then I turned to leave ... which is when my water broke. That was at 5:10. My first contraction hit at 5:30. By the time we made it home, got the kids settled to stay overnight with our friends the Buells, packed my suitcase and made it to the hospital, my contractions were coming just a few minutes apart. I was admitted at about 7:15 and Lauryn was born at 8:24. She weighed in at six pounds, twelve ounces and measured twenty inches long - our smallest baby!

Thankfully, my parents turned around and came back after they got the call, making it to the hospital in time to see Lauryn make her entrance.

Wearing daddy's/Uncle Joe's outfit.

She and I are doing great, home from the hospital today and letting Daddy and Grammie take care of us. We are blessed!

Pistachio Ice Cream, Anyone?

I don't have any before pictures of this project, but "imagine, if you will ..." white. Boring, dirty, white. That sums up our upstairs bathroom. After 7 years, it is literally the only room in our house that I never painted, and it still is! Because my wonderful mother painted it.

After being overwhelmed with boredom at the sight of the kids' bathroom on a recent visit, Mom was determined to fix it up. While Kaity stayed with her for a few days, they picked out a shower curtain and made plans. Tuesday, Mom arrived and immediately put the kiddos to work. They got the upstairs cleaned, sorted, organized, decluttered, etc.

Meanwhile, I went to the hardware store and picked out paint! I wanted a light, fresh color in the blue/aqua/green family and I fell in love with Pistachio Ice Cream right away. (Ironic, considering I don't like ice cream. But I do love pistachios, so I guess it evens out.)

It feels so nice to have the upstairs ready for baby's arrival! I haven't mentioned it on here, but this pregnancy has been really physically challenging. The last three were a breeze comparatively (no age jokes, please!) but this one ... Phew! I mean, I'm perfectly healthy, Lauryn is healthy, it's just been ... challenging. Anyway, it was absolutely lovely having my mom here for a few days to help out with everything. I am so very thankful for her!

Dressing Up A Dresser

Some time ago, my friend Lisa gave me a little cabinet. I had plans at the time to turn it into a dresser for Selah, but then realized we had nowhere to put it in the girls' room, so it's been languishing in storage at Jeff's parents' house ever since. With juggling things around for Lauryn's arrival, Joe and Selah now share a room and a dresser, and Kaity will share a room with Lauryn. I decided to pull the cabinet out of storage and fix it up to place in our closet for Lauryn's little clothes. We may eventually put it upstairs in their room, it's just that for now it's more convenient to have it downstairs.

Hm, what's that sticking out of the back of the cabinet? If you guessed a tiny hand, you're right!

Selah loved playing in the cupboard! I snapped these pics before I'd done anything to it. This is straight out of storage, other than the fact that I required Jeff to despiderize it (Yes, that's a word. At least in this house.) before it could come near me.

After a good scrubbing, removing the old cabinet/drawer pulls, and nailing the backing into place, I sat back and made some decisions about what to do with it. Considering how much trouble it is to sand and repaint, the current decent condition of the paint, not to mention my looming due date ... I elected not to go that route. I ended up doing a little painting and a little decoupage to dress up the dresser.

I had Jeff tighten the handles fully, because I thought my linguini arms weren't up to the task. Turns out I had already tightened them as far as they would go, the screws were just a touch too long. Duh.

The new drawer pulls ...

The final product!

Here's another pic that shows my poor job of decoupage on the top ... I almost took the paper off, but it's really not as noticeable in person - the picture shows every flaw!

Total, the whole project cost me $5 for the scrapbooking paper pack, which I can use for lots of other projects, plus $11 for the little nails to secure the backing and the cabinet hardware. The paint, the clear spray sealant, and my homemade "Mod-Podge" were all leftover from other projects. Not bad for a "brand new" dresser!

On a funny side note, those of you who know my sweetie pie best will appreciate this:

Me: What do you think of the dresser? Does it look okay to you?
Jeff: Anything you did would have been an improvement.
Me: Well, yeah, but I mean, do you like it?
Jeff: I like the brown.

Clearly, words of affirmation are not his love language! Thankfully, after 15 years of marriage, I'm completely aware of this and our conversation just gave us both a good laugh!

Mommy ~ Son Date

It's been a while since I had a date with a good looking blonde, but that's just what happened last night! Joe requested that we go out for Mexican food and then to the local "family fun center", Funopolis. 

Sorry for the poor quality - I was facing the window.

Miniature golf! Joe was my ball retriever since the ground is a lot farther away for me these days!

Air hockey next ...

Then we played a few rounds of Skee Ball so he could earn some tickets to redeem for prizes.

When we left, I gave Joe the option of going to Sonic for a slushie. We pondered the pros and cons while the car idled. He finally made his decision, opting to definitely go for a slushie. As I shifted into first gear and took off, Joe pointed and said, in his best Jean-Luc Picard voice, "Engage." Grandpa Rick would be so proud!

Bathing Beauties

Last week, I went to dinner with a friend and while I was gone, Jeff decided to wash his Beetle and let the kids play in the pool.

The German plate on the Beetle is one he ordered on-line. He chose that one because it's from the city where I was born, though it's a modern plate (not vintage like one from my birth year would surely be!). The German plate I keep on the van is one my family actually used when we lived in Germany back in the 80's.

I think it's a little small.

Silly kids.

*****

On another note, baby Lauryn and I are doing well. I skipped my appointment this week because I frankly didn't feel like going (sheer laziness) - so no real update. But we did tour the hospital this afternoon (we're delivering at a different hospital this time and had never been there). Jeff got to drive around and figure out where to go when the time comes. The house is slowly coming together to prepare for the arrival of our new little one. Thankfully, my mom is coming to help out for a couple of days - the whole "nesting instinct" thing has definitely not kicked in this time and I'm beginning to think it won't! Having my mom here will be motivating, if nothing else. We shall see ...

Mommy-Daughter Date

One of my "Before Lauryn Arrives" goals has been to take each of the big kids on a Mommy date. I took advantage of Jeff getting off work early last Saturday to take Kaity out. We went to The Pottery Palette, (where I painted the coasters) because Kaity has been wanting to go since they opened. I gave her a budget and we took almost as long picking out what we wanted to paint as it took to actually paint them!

Kaity chose a set of owl salt and pepper shakers and a small plate.

It was almost as difficult choosing our colors - we had quite a variety, as you can see.

Here's mine, before being painted. (Those are owls, if you're like Jeff and wondered why the cats have such big mouths. Again, the limitations of being creative but not talented!

 

Here's mine, all done! I hope they look more like owls and less like cats now. Once fired, the colors will be a lot darker.

After we finished up with our pottery, we went to Sonic for Lemon-Berry Cream Slushes. They were delicious!

Yesterday we got to pick up our finished pottery pieces!

Kaity's owls keeping my Doctor Who and Star Trek salt and pepper shakers company. :)

A Light in the Attic

Several days ago, I ventured into the attic in search of a particular box. Naturally, I found everything but what I was looking for! One gem I uncovered was my sewing box. It's been missing for months while my mending pile has grown to wild proportions. Apparently it had been sitting on top of a box I asked Jeff to store up there at some point.

I also came across a box of miscellaneous baby things, including ...

A hand-crocheted baby blanket from Jeff's baby days, as well as two newborn outfits that he and his twin brother Joe wore as babies. Since they were so little at birth, these were too big for our Joe to wear (he was 8 pounds, 8 ounces!) but the girls have worn them. (I remembered I have a post where Selah is wearing one of the outfits! Selah's First Bath)

"vintage" 1977 sleepers Ha!

I also found Kaity's "big sister" T-shirt that I made for her to wear to the hospital to see Joe the first time. I can't wait for Selah to wear it to come and see Lauryn!

I had Jeff bring down the bassinet so I could wash all the linens and get it ready for our new arrival. Kaity, Joe, Selah, and one of my nephews all used this bassinet. Selah was so eager to see a baby in it that she tucked her own Baby in. In fact, the first morning after I assembled it, she came running in my room to check it for Lauryn!