spring cleaning

Jesse tells me it's been 15 days since my last post and that it's time to update again.  So I'm back to it today and trying to remember where I left off. 

Lily was sick.  And then, she demonstrated, quite effectively, that she is listening as Jesse and I try and teach her the concept of "sharing," and proceeded to share her bug with me.  And then Jesse took his turn.  Then poor Emma came down with a particularly nasty cold...we almost didn't get to go celebrate Easter at my parent's house because we just all seemed to be struggling to get healthy!

We survived though, and made it to Findlay late Friday night.  Lily was her usual silly self and super excited to see everyone.  A typical trip to Findlay involves kenneling Zeke, which kicks off our Friday mornings.  Normally on this trip to the kennel, I fill Lily in on the weekend plans.  On this trip though, she started asking about who we'd get to see and then listed everyone she could think of.  And really, we got to see everyone she listed over the weekend!  Which made for a super busy weekend, but we got to see so much family that it was worth the busyness, I think.  

checking out a new bath toy, thanks to Nikki and Rick! 

My aunt from Florida drove up to celebrate with us, and finally got to meet Emma.  Additionally, Great Grandpa Pagano and Pat came to visit, as well as Aunt Terri!  On top of all this, I got to see one of my best friends before she heads off to Alaska to be awesome AND Jesse and I got to go out to lunch with the Brennan family.  Nikki, Rick (with their twins), Uncle Don, Aunt Patty and Paul came down from Toledo to see us.  We had quite the party and family filled day.  Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera for any of it, apparently.  Bummer.  Jess, please send me some pictures of the Easter egg dying?  I heard that Lily loved it.  And my mom should be the Zout spokesperson, because apparently, there was dye and paint or something everywhere...and Lily's shirt is perfectly clean.

Easter Sunday came and we all went to church then headed to Primrose to have dinner with my grandparents.  Delicious food, good company and it was all over way too soon.

Lily's "Easter basket" was a Rasca this year!  incredibly excited to be able to use these for everything!

Lily was unchallenged in the Easter egg hunt this year.  Daddy was just being nice..

blowing bubbles with Gigi

stealing Poppo's cake

Now.  This past weekend.  Whew buddy.  I looked at Jesse yesterday and said "well, I think we can consider this weekend carpe'd!"

We further procrastinated on all indoor chores and projects to work on outside things because the weather was so.gorgeous.  Oh, how good spring is for me.  The main thing we tackled was the garage. Jesse has a beautiful workbench out there that is huge and flat, so of course we stack piles and boxes there which makes the space unusable.  Well, it's usable now!  We worked very hard to clean it up out there and even unburied and unpacked a box that may or may not have been even looked in the past 3 years because when we started unpacking it, we were shocked at what we were finding and have no idea when or where we used it last.  So that was a success.  Jesse did some modifications to our chicken coop taught me to change the oil in my car!  I'm pretty excited about that, and plan on doing it myself next time.

Oh!  I forgot!  We finally got our chickens.  Lily is a huge fan and loves going to check on them and greets them with a "hi, ladies!' and when we leave, she says "bye, friends!"  Zeke isn't too sure about them.

Anyway, today was another gorgeous day.  I got to hang up 2 loads of laundry on my clothes line and then decided that I should take some 10 month pictures of Emma, especially since I think I never got around to taking 9 month pictures...

At 10 (give or take a week) months, Emma is awesome but grumpy.  She is trying to get the hang of sleeping better through the night, she is napping much better, finally is getting her first tooth and has decided that crawling is for the slowpokes and is about 70% walking.  She will attempt walking the majority of the time, but will fall, stand back up to take a few steps, fall, stand back up for a few more steps, then give up and crawl.  But she is able to easily walk short distances.  

Then Lily wanted her picture taken...

I just need to take more pictures down in our field when the trees and grass are green...so we actually would have a pretty backdrop.

Lily loved her "scarf"...I'm not really sure why she thinks skirts are called scarves..

oh my word I love this.

Lily was twirling for the chickens

I have more pictures..but both girls are awake now so that will have to wait. 

please pass the Lysol..

Well.  Lily is currently working her way through her first stomach bug.  We've all passed around multiple colds, possible sinus infections and she's had RSV, but this is the first stomach bug we've had in the house- excluding morning sickness from me.  It.  is.  misery.  Poor kid (since she corrects me when I call her baby and tells me her name is Lily, not baby...).

She started crying in the middle of Friday night and when I went in, she told me she had "spit" everywhere.  Sure enough, puke alllll over the place.  I cleaned her up and then dumped her in our bed to cuddle daddy (what a lovely awakening for Jesse) while I cleaned up and changed the sheets on her bed.  I'd finally settled back down and was just dozing off- which took much longer than normal because I was now worried about her- and she was calling for me again.  More "spit."  After the third such episode, I was now mostly out of clean pajamas for her and definitely out of clean sheets.  Unfortunately timed, I hadn't gotten to those loads of laundry yet.  Anyway, I cleaned her up again and set Jesse to covering the couch and making her a place to sleep up front and getting me a blanket and pillow to join her up there.  We both slept eventually, and between the two girls, I was up quite a bit that night. 

Laundry seriously took all day.  This is not an exaggeration in the least, and I probably ran 4-5 loads through the wash.  Our poor leach field was struggling to keep up by the end, I think.  To be fair, one load didn't pass the fresh smell test, so it had to be re-done.  Lily laid around all day, watching Mickey Mouse and trying to drink water, watered down juice or Pedialite, all of which just bounced shortly after hitting her stomach.  She finally was feeling better after a very long nap, and happily walked/frolicked down to the barn with us later to see the chicken coop.  Of course she over did it, and barely could move the rest of the evening, though she was able to keep liquids down.  She had a bite of banana and tried to be interested in apple sauce, but really just went to bed after a nice bath.  

She's doing a little better today..only in that she hasn't thrown up, is still keeping liquids down and had half a banana.  I hate that she feels so miserable.  

Emma is avoiding whatever it is so far, so that's good, but she was just off all day yesterday too, which made me extra paranoid.  Between the two girls, I was probably up every hour last night, so that wasn't too fun, and am running on fumes today.  And coffee.  Plenty of that. 

All the sickness aside, Jesse was able to get a lot accomplished yesterday while still helping out with the girls.  He worked/finished out chicken coop, completed 75% of the bathroom floor, went into town for a Lowe's and Wal-Mart trip for sick Lily foods, grill some chicken and was still up and kicking long enough to tinker on my 4wheeler some.  I was just pleased to sit down after the girls went to bed, forget doing anything else.  

So let's do see about some pictures now.  Sorry my brain is semi-fried, I had a lot more to say but will have to try and find motivation later this week. 

spring is here and flowers are coming up :)

Jesse teased me for taking pictures of a muskrat, but I told him I was trying to document different wildlife that I see at our house.  so there.  plus, I couldn't see exactly what it was and found my camera (with the zoom) before I found binoculars.  and for some reason, he didn't think it was silly when I didn't get a picture of the mink I saw..he asked if I got pictures that time.  I don't know what he wants.

And now, finally...progress pictures of our "winter project."

the best before picture I have.  you can't see the dingy linoleum that well..

oh hey, there's me.  note the lovely light fixture.  possibly the best part.  right after the peeling wallpaper.

Lily liked trying to help pull the wallpaper down.  which was horrible.

goodbye ugly medicine cabinet mirror

changing the main light/fan

ahhhhh better

much better

hm.  ok, well this is the best picture of the cabinet area I have.  I painted it white.

bathrooms have a surprising amount of space if there is no toilet in there...

pretty new floor!  it isn't quite done in this picture, but it is now!

So, what we have done: removed wallpaper- sanded, spackle, sanded; primed and painted the walls; replaced the over the sink light fixture; replaced the main light fixture- which involved patching a hole in the ceiling; added texture (because it was smooth?) to the ceiling and painted the ceiling; painted the cabinet; replaced the flooring.  We are close to being done.  Jesse is currently replacing the faucet fixture in the sink and then will be working on cutting moulding for me to paint before we get that replaced.  Then add our mirror and I think we'll be done!  Final pictures will come eventually.

For pictures of the girls, go to my other blog.

 

a breath of fresh air.

I.  Love.  Spring.

Like so many, we experienced some outstanding weather this past weekend, and it was so needed and welcomed.  Saturday hit 60s and Sunday was in the 70s.  I think that everyone I talked to was enjoying the weather immensely, taking full advantage of it and being outside as much as possible.  The fresh air did wonders for me, and I actually had the windows open yesterday afternoon.  Don't get me wrong, I am ok with winter...as long as there is pretty and deep snow where I can go sledding or build snowmen with Lily.  Other than that...the dreary just drags on too long and I get down and moody.  Evident by my last several posts and lack thereof.

However.  Spring.  ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saturday started off kind of chilly, but was warm enough for me to go for a nice run outside during naptime while Jesse started smoking some chicken on our grill.  We bought a Weber charcoal grill last summer and have gotten more than our money's worth out of that thing, and I am completely fine with grilling/smoking being one of Jesse's hobbies, because he's pretty good at it and the results are delicious.  Anyway, with the nice weather, Jesse "got to hankerin'" (his words...) some smoked chicken and that just made Saturday the best day we've had in awhile.  The girls and I played outside and Emma just loved it.  Lily was all kinds of excited too, of course, but Emma was too little last summer/fall to really enjoy anything besides the texture of grass, but she was happy as a clam crawling around our patio and eating dirt before I pulled her bouncer outside to confine her.  AND *drumroll please* she has only been up one time in the night the past two nights.  This.  is an outstandingly new record and if playing outside and fresh air is the reason, you can bet the girls and I will be outside every day that we can.

Yesterday went way too fast.  We did some work inside, some outside, and Jesse even got a chance to try out his new clay pigeon thrower.  I didn't get to this time, but I will soon enough and show him up.  Or I will just get to give it a try...

big girl at 8 months

spinning in circles

I think as a parent, some days, you can absolutely be exempt from work outs and lifting weights.  because let's be honest, Lily loves this and she is heavy.  especially when she wants to do this for minutes on end and when you set her down she says "again, again!"

why yes, we are now standing unassisted.

I felt like I had so many stories to share, and now that I've sat down, I can't think up too many.  We had a great weekend and it was over too fast: we are absolutely looking forward to many more like it as the weather continues to warm up.  

alright, spring please!

Well, here I am again.  I've tried a few times to post in the past month and just haven't felt like it when I've had time, or when I've sat down to write, I've just stared at the blank screen for a few minutes and then given up.  There just hasn't been anything really interesting enough (in my mind) to overcome the lack of motivation I have.  

But here I am today.  I've had a change of mood because I've finally figured out what my problem is, which I should have known.  SAD.  Seasonal Affective Disorder.  

I know that a ton of people deal with this and honestly, I thought that it was just an excuse or something made up when I was younger.  According to the ever informative and highly reliable (hah) Wikipedia, I learned that in many circles it really was something that people were skeptical of, but now, the DSM-IV (the all-knowing psychology Bible) now labels it as a "specifier" of regular, good old fashioned depression.  Please know that this has been a self-diagnosis and though I'm not positive that I legitimately have this, I do have many of the symptoms.  And also, according to the DSM-IV, I do meet the criteria to be diagnosed this way.  I think Jesse thinks (in the back of his mind) that I am a hypochondriac and love to diagnose myself, but when I briefly described it to him this morning he kind of had a look of "oh, that makes sense.." and kind of half-heartedly agreed by saying, "yeah, maybe."  I think the part that is most annoying right now is that I hit this same "funk" every year, and every year am caught off guard by my extreme moodiness and lack of motivation.  Duh.  The lightbulb finally clicked on the other day when Mom and I were texting and she asked about my vitamin D intake.  

All this to say: with a new mindset, extra vitamin D and a few encouraging people, I am in a much better mood but please, bring on spring.  And THIS is why our bathroom is still a wreck and half completed, though we've made some excellent progress and should be finished pretty quickly when the evenings and weekends cooperate with us.  We had some extra help with the ceiling this past week, so that was really great.  We (read: Jesse) had a general idea of what was going on, but wasn't positive, so why not call in reinforcements who have done it before?

The girls are doing great.  Lily is all kinds of two.  That's just the best answer I can give when people ask how she is doing.  Parents who've been there before give me knowing smiles and nod their heads when I tell them of something she's doing; my friends who have kids the same age laugh at my stories, but only because they know and secretly, are probably pretty glad their kid isn't the only one acting out like that; and my friends who don't have children yet offer me kind words of encouragement and just tell me how cute my girls are, which really is almost the most helpful because there are days...oh there are days.  Some of the things that Lily comes up with are hilarious.  She has never been one to really parrot what other people say constantly like some kids I've met.  She says a few words or phrases that I know I say-- like "bummer!"-- but I don't really hear my phrases coming out of her mouth too often.  The other day though, I said we were going up to the store for a few things and she said "mmm, my don't think so," which made me laugh because I know I say that.  And yes, she refers to herself as "my" now.  However, it wasn't quite as funny when Jesse told her to pick up some toys and she said "my don't think so."  That earned her some discipline before picking up.  She has also started telling me "my not baby, my name Lily!" when I refer to her as baby.  Such as, "go get your shoes, baby."  This morning on the way to work, she told me her name was Lily and then I decided I should probably try and explain middle and last names.  She thought that was great, but when I tried to get her to say our last name, she said "my too little to say that!"  I don't blame her..it's a long one!  But I was really amused.  And then she asked my name, and attempted to say "Hildebrand Mommy."  She is doing great with her vocabulary, but leave Jesse and me laughing with how she confuses the order of the words in her sentences.  Besides that, our favorite is when she tells us that she's too heavy to do something that weight doesn't apply.  Like turn on the lights in a room, where height is really more the issue. 

big helper, taking out the trash.  she grabbed the bag and got the door open then stopped to put her boots on.

Emma is cute.  Can I leave it at that?  She is chunky, happy and adorable, but a terrible sleeper.  I was telling a mom friend that I feed her (what feels like) a ton in hopes that she'll sleep a bit longer at night but all that is happening is she's not sleeping and just getting fatter.  But she's still fitting in the right size clothes, so I guess that's not too bad.  She actually was sleeping better until last week and then has been up frequently through the night again.  Partly, I'm sure, because she knows I'll come, but I also think we've hit another growth spurt and hopefully we will finally be seeing some teeth soon.  She is starting to get grumpy that she isn't eating the same thing we are, but without teeth, there is only so much I can feed her of table food.  I think we are going to have our hands full with her, even more so than we do with Lily.  Emma loves to be into everything.  I could sit Lily in a room and she would either play for a few minutes, or cry to be near me again.  Emma...I put her down and she's off.  Into the dog food, trying to get into the bathroom to splash in the toilet (don't worry, we keep the lid down and doors closed now), or trying to take all of Lily's toys (who is having a hard time sharing).  She thinks she's quite clever that she can stand and cruise, and she thinks she's a big enough girl that she doesn't need to hold onto things when she's standing.  Which isn't true, but she likes to pull herself up and let go, but then quickly falls.

see?  you can tell she is proud of herself.

I guess that's it.  The girls love each other, and I think they'll have even more fun when Lily can wrestle Emma a bit easier and Emma can defend herself without pulling hair.  Lily loves to wake Emma up in the mornings with an excited "EMMA WAKE UP!  Hiiiiiiiiii Sweetie!" and it just melts my heart when she tries to calm Emma down when she's upset.  Emma looks at Lily and always has the biggest smile for her, and I just love it.

I will update pictures soon, I am having formatting issues with that blog and every time I try and post, it crashes.  Dumb.  So we'll get those eventually.

hey check it out, I updated!

Hello friends and family.  I have so much to fill you in on.

Ok, not really.  But I figured that was as good of a hook as any.  Maybe I shouldn't have given away my secret about nothing exciting until the end of this post to make you stick around and read the whole thing..hm.  Oh well.  I will compensate for boring-ness with pictures of my kiddos.  Because yes, I am one of THOSE moms.

Nothing really has changed since my last post.  It snowed again, and I continue to be confused by the weather, but am taking it as it comes by playing outside in the snow with Lily one day, and taking both girls on a 2.5-3 mile walk down the road and back.  Details on those adventures in a minute.

Most importantly, this past weekend, Jesse and I (and the girls) went to Toledo for the baptism of our godchildren!  Woohoo!  We drove to Findlay Friday evening, spent the night with my parents and were able to see and visit them for a few hours before quickly running to see Mama and Poppy before heading on to Toledo to crash the Brennan party up north.  The timing worked out great, and we were glad to we could see my mom for a little bit so close to her having her hip replacement surgery.  She's doing great and will be back to tap dancing in no time.

In Toledo, Lily very excitedly smothered Noah and Brianna with love and did all that she could to "help" Nikki with everything baby related.  Dear Nikki and Rick, thank you for being so patient and understanding with my little crazy ball of energy.  Lily liked to "help" feed the babies and particularly enjoyed shaking the bottle ("Nikki does") and holding both babies ("TWO babies!").  Unfortunately, I was terrible about taking pictures, so Rick, please send me one or two if you have a minute so I can brag and show off?  I was kind of nervous about how my girls would do during the baptism/Mass on Sunday morning, especially since Jesse and I were supposed to do godparenting things, but Emma didn't care where she was or who was holding her-- and loved hearing herself "sing" and echo off the ceiling-- and Lily found this middle of the Mass to be the best time to root through the diaper bag and pull out a pair of her panties and parade them around our row before handing them proudly to Rick.

Candy Land did NOT go so well..but she enjoyed it anyway.  and Nikki and I learned that when you open the box, all the colors are together.  so your first 5 draws might all be purple.

The weekend was over way too fast and we had to head home on Sunday.

So, other stories.  We had a good amount of snowfall the other day, so while Emma was snoozing one afternoon after work, Lily and I bundled up and headed out to play in the snow, so I could show her how fun it is.  This outing went MUCH better than the first.

she needed her "Toon Car" (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse)

go ahead and judge ours snowman.  Jesse did a ton and told Lily they would build a "real" snowman on the next snow, complete with arms and a scarf.  at least I got it pretty big..I made the second level too big and couldn't lift it, so I had to make it a smaller.

"look,  my crawling!"

making a snow angel.  which she thinks are called "androids."  ah, raising children in this technology age.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day, taking another afternoon off napping, I put Lily in the backpack and Emma in a stroller and off we went down the road to buy some honey from the neighbors.  That.  was. a.  workout.  Whew.  Lily may have been easier in the stroller, but Emma happily napped there and back and Lily loved looking around and pointing out different colors and shapes we saw, so I don't mind the sore back I've had the past few days.

Amazon got smart and sent us two boxes of diapers and wipes in one big box verses 3 separate boxes.  the girls loved it.

someone thinks she's pretty clever for getting in the basket all by herself.

 We have a romantic night planned for Valentine's Day, filled with sanding and priming walls for painting in our bathroom.  Special, I know.  But honestly, I think I got Jesse a card once?   Neither of us really think of today as a "holiday," and really kind of view it as a waste of time and breath.  And a good way for Hallmark to make some extra money.  But seeing as how neither of us really are card people we just move on with life.  Plus, his birthday is Sunday, so I'll make him something yummy then.  

I will hopefully be back with more posts soon... 

more snow days!

Oh, what can I tell you about today. 

Our bathroom progress is slow and steady.  I have pictures, but I probably will wait until we are finished to do a before-during-after progression for you.  So you will have to wait with baited breath.

Not much has been going on.  We have basically been snowed in this weekend, and it has been so pretty and nice.  When Jesse and I woke up to make breakfast Friday morning, I told him I would probably have to take him to work, since I was sure his truck would barely be able to back out of the driveway.  He took one look outside and said "yeah, I'm not going anywhere, do you see how deep that snow is!?"  Which I took as permission, and called my supervisors and bosses to let them know that we had too much snow out our back country roads and that the girls and I would be staying home. I really do feel that was the best decision made all day.  I wasn't feeling good anyway, so being able to stay home was so nice.  We did (slowly) leave the house yesterday for the afternoon and evening, so we did get some fresh air.  We headed to a birthday party and then dinner/games/play time for kiddos at some friend's house.  The snow had started again by the time we were leaving and has been snowing steadily all day today.  And we still haven't seen a snow plow, so heading to work tomorrow will be an adventure.  

All this snow would be perfect to take Lily out to play in.  And I might still later.  However, the last snow we got, I excitedly got Lily all dressed and ready and out we went, with Zeke happily along.  She enjoyed kicking the snow, but panicked when I laid down to make a snow angel because I got "dirty" and she hurriedly brushed the snow off when I stood up.  She also didn't like it when I threw snow at Zeke (which he loves) and kept telling me to stop and tried brushing Zeke off, too.  Who is this kid?  We later tried to take her sledding with some friends.  Needless to say, she was a stick in the mud and no fun and so neither of us really got to sled too much either.  What a bummer of a girl.  She needs to snap out of this fast.  The other evening when Jesse went out to shovel the steps, she did enjoy going out with him (and kicking snow safely without getting any on her).  All this to say, I don't have any first snowing pictures because she was a party pooper and boring.  I did, however, get a (bad) picture of a humongous woodpecker that was across our road in one of the trees.  I took them from our living room window and then told Jesse to come look.  He sent me outside to try and get some better pictures, but unfortunately, it flew off when I got closer.  That didn't matter to future-homeschooling-dad, because he told me I had to figure out what kind it was.  After I did some google-ing, I announced it to be a pileated woodpecker, which he agreed about.  

sorry about the poor quality

 Other than that, nothing too much is going on.  The weather has just been weird: snow one weekend, 70s and rain during the week, and enough snow to keep us in all weekend now.  What.  In.  The.  World.  Mom text and asked how we were all doing health-wise, and I told her that we seem to be doing better, but really, who would be able to stay healthy 100% in such nonsense?  The girls are doing well: I've started having Lily help me regularly with more than just playing the water when we do dishes, and she helps me unload the dishwasher now.  She thinks it's great, and I have her help me before she is allowed to watch an episode of Mickey Mouse, so hopefully, we are starting some good habits.  Emma is silly as ever and pulling herself up on everything, including Zeke.  She is even trying to start crusing..ugh.  Too soon.  She does also enjoy standing up when she is done with her nap, so we definitely need to lower her crib...(hint, hint, Jesse.  Put your tablet down and go do it, please).

That's it for now!  Emma just woke up (and was standing up), so I guess it's time to go do other things. Go check out the pictures I posted here.