Happy Easter

Our new buddy, Nico


the Easter grass aftermath...


knitted slipper socks!


he will not enjoy this someday...

Hayden-isms

Hayden is 3.5 now, and full of funny stories and comments... he makes me laugh every day. Last night we enjoyed dinner at Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse, where you sit around a hibachi grill and a chef makes your dinner fresh in front of you. We had a fun young chef and he wanted to impress Hayden I think, so he kept setting things on fire. First the whole grill, then the "onion volcano" to which he added "fireworks." Then he flipped that over and set the whole grill on fire again. Hayden looked at him as serious as can be and said, "Can you stop doing that?" I think he was intrigued but a little freaked out with all the flames haha.

Both kids were extremely well-behaved and ate so well too. I was really impressed! And bonus, we get to take their leftovers to work for lunch today!

He loved the kiddie chopsticks :)

Woah that's a hot fire

onion volcano!

Pink and Brown

I love the combination of pink and brown :)



I found this pattern in a crochet magazine I picked up. This is the first bib I made, and I used acrylic yarn without realizing it wouldn't absorb anything! The next ones I make will be out of cotton yarn.

These little cell phone cases were my first real project. I actually developed this pattern on my own and I need to write it out. There is a long back loop and a short front loop and when you loop one through the other, it closes the case. The case fits through the larger loop, so you can hang it on anything, and the soft yarn keeps the phone cushioned and safe.

The other little case is for a stick of lipbalm and has a little lanyard clip on it. I created this pattern also.

Toddler Sun Hat

I wanted to crochet a little sun hat for a friend's little girl and Google found this pattern for me:



I added extra rows in the ruffled brim because I wanted more coverage for her. I used Simply Soft by Caron yarn, and a size 6 hook. I'll post an update if she ever sends me a photo of her wearing it! Next one I make will be using cotton though, especially for a summer hat.

Free pattern here:

http://iroiroknits.blogspot.com/2008/01/caitlins-summer-hat.html

Dusting it off

I've decided to give the blogging thing another shot. I've been doing some crafty projects and realized I can post about them here. Here's a big update of what's been going on the past 6 months with us :)

• Haleigh is 4 now, and finished her first year of preschool. She can't wait to go back in the fall.
• Hayden will be 2 in August, and adds 5 more words to his vocabulary every day it seems. I just converted his crib to a toddler bed, and he's doing great with it.
• I still have cats Shan, Belle and Lillie... and have added a Cocker Spaniel puppy named Oscar to the household. He was surrendered at TAHS and is about 9 months old now. He's crazy!
• I have put away my single mom card for the past six months as Rob came into my life early this year and I haven't let him go. He understands my geekyness.
• The house is still fantastic... Haleigh shares the upstairs part-time with Rob's daughter Kenzie. We started painting it, but only got so far as getting everything white. Still want to add some pink and Tinkerbell stuff.
• The bathroom is in process of being updated... dad already installed the new vanity. Next is pulling the tile off and re-drywalling.
• I think the kitchen floor will be the next big project... the carpet has to go!
• We tore out the gnarly bushes in the front and made some nice flower beds. Looking for some small bushes and I'll plant bulbs this fall. Next is powerwashing the porch to get all of the blue paint off, and talking to Invisible Fence about containing that puppy to the backyard :)
• C's dad built the kids a swingset with a slide... they absolutely love it. We're outside as much as we can be with the bikes and the swinging, and the hose if it's warm enough. The dog loves trying to eat the water as it comes out of the hose.

So that's what's been happening the past few months... I've also been doing a lot of crocheting and trying to learn how to knit. I'll be posting some of my projects here probably shortly.

A Nice Weekend

Though the weather was super crappy and I think I've got a cold now, we had a great weekend!

Friday night I brought home our office-cat from work. We have new motion sensors in the office so she can't be left to roam at night anymore, and I didn't want to put her in a kennel for the weekend. So she came home with me. She's pretty much adopted me as her person anyway - she lies on my desk ALL DAY at work. I knew my cats Shan and Belle would have an issue with a new cat, so I put them in the basement for a few hours and let Lily check out the house. Then I let the other cats out so they all could meet. Well, they chased Lily upstairs and didn't let her come down until Sunday morning. I set her up with food and a box though, so she just hung out in Haleigh's princess castle tent (awww) until Shanahan settled down enough to tolerate her. Sunday morning, I found all 3 cats in my bed with me, so I guess things will be okay.

Friday night I also decided that Hayden would have to learn to put himself to sleep in his crib - 15 months of rocking and co-sleeping is enough! I had been spending about an hour rocking him, only to put him in his crib and have him wake up two hours later, and then have to bring him to bed with me to avoid spending another hour rocking him back to sleep... then when I get up at 5:30, he would either wake up with me or I'd have to leave him sleeping in my bed and worry about him trying to get out while I'm in the shower because he would wake up if I tried to sneak him into his crib.

So, Haleigh went to bed easy at 8:30, and around 9 I could tell Hayden was ready. So I read a story, kissed him goodnight, and put him in his crib. He immediately stood up and started screaming, but I shut the light off and left. He was furious and screamed, stomped, shook his crib, banged on the wall, threw his blankets and binky, and acted like he was freaking dying, but I stood my ground and did the SuperNanny thing where the first time, I told him nite-nite again and I love him, and see you tomorrow. That made him even more angry. The second time I went in, I just said nite-nite Hayden, layed him down, covered him up and left. I did that a couple more times, and after 40 minutes he stayed down, gave a big sigh and was quiet. He woke up once during the night, probably to see if I'd come get him, but I just comforted him, made sure he had his binky, layed him down, covered him up, and left. I heard him sit up and whine a bit, but then he was quiet and he slept until 8am!

Saturday, we lounged around in the morning, eating donuts and bananas and watching movies. Then I babysat the best kiddos ever from 11a to 11p... I had four babies, three and under! It was fun though, and they all got along brilliantly. Around 2pm, Hayden desperately needed a nap, so I just told him it was naptime, layed him down in the crib and left, and surprisingly he went right to sleep! So I tried it again at bedtime, and it worked! He now puts himself to sleep! Freedom!

Sunday, we really lounged around all morning... we didn't even get dressed until after lunch :) I cleaned up around the house while Hayden napped (again with the good sleeping!!), then we picked up C and headed out to buy hats and gloves for the kiddos (they are soooo cute), and to get Hayden's hair cut. He did pretty well... the lady made the mistake of praising him too early though and he started to get bored. She wasn't that good with little boy cuts, and it's kind of too long on the top, but at least it's cleaned up on the sides and back. Looks good enough. Then we headed over to get photos taken with my family. I hope they turned out well... it "sounded" like they will be great because the guy really had Hayden giggling.

Then we went to Red Robin for dinner with my parents and brother, where Haleigh devoured the spaghetti I promised her, and Hayden discovered he loves canteloupe. The kids got balloons, we headed home, had baths, we all rocked out to some Guitar Hero, the kids went to bed early (no rocking! no crying!), I coaxed Lily down from upstairs to watch the Toledo Extreme Makeover Home Edition with me, and then I went to bed early to hopefully get rid of this cold!

The house is fantastic, and I love love love it. I still have to paint the entire upstairs, but with it not having any heat yet, I'm not worried about getting it totally finished. I set up Haleigh's room and her bed, but she doesn't have to sleep up there if she doesn't want to. She comes home tomorrow from being with her grandparents for a week, so I'm excited to see her reaction to our new home. We were still living at the apartment when she left.

Hayden's walking everywhere now, copying animal sounds, yelling "MAMA!", and is still obsessed with fans, lights, and switches. Oh and tools also. So guess what he's getting for Christmas!

Some fun house photos!!

The living room is finished!



Looking into the kitchen. The last thing I need is some blinds for the windows. And maybe an area rug for the bad patch of carpet by the kitchen entry. Shanny's doing some weird demon-cat thing, sitting on the counter in the kitchen.



Hayden says hi! I'm noticing now that I need to get another valance for that small window.



Small but perfect.

Hayden's room! It is so perfect for a little boy and he loves it.

Haleigh helped me paint my bedroom in her Halloween costume.

I helped out at her Halloween party at preschool. Here, she's showing me her donut she won. They tied mini donuts to a pole with yarn, and the kids raced to eat them without using their hands. Too funny.

I took this photo as the kids were coming in from the Halloween parade. All of the parents were there to surprise them, and most got really emotional! Haleigh was just beside herself that I was there, and she really lost it, except she couldn't get to me right that second with all the people. It took her quite a while to let go of me and participate in the Halloween games, but eventually she went off with her group and had a good time. I'm so glad I was able to go help out!

I am so happy with our little house. We have not moved in yet, but we have to within the next week. Scurrying to get everything done and cleaned up for this weekend so I can recruit some strong people to help me move!



My little house :) :) :)




Living Room (BEFORE)


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)


Living Room (MORE PROGRESS)
Still have to paint the trim, it will be even lighter than what's already there.


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)


Living Room (IN PROGRESS)
Bedrooms to the left, galley kitchen and dining straight ahead


Large Bedroom (BEFORE)
This archway will be covered to turn the once-bedroom-turned-diningroom back into my bedroom! Thanks Dad!


Large Bedroom (IN PROGRESS)
In the middle of mudding the drywall


Large Bedroom (IN PROGRESS)
There was a large china cabinet built into the corner that Dad had way too much fun demo'ing. The room will be Kilz primed and then painted the same as the living room for now. I plan to replace the fugly chandelier with a ceiling fan.


Dining Room (IN PROGRESS)
The other side of that patched wall. The door leads to the basement, galley kitchen to the left, back door to the right.


Dining Room (IN PROGRESS)
Cool bay windows that look out onto the back yard :)


Kitchen (IN PROGRESS)
Basement door on the right. Lori and Mom already started tearing down the two layers of wallpaper. The stove is gone, it was in need of repair but I am looking for something new. Probably will put up shelving and hopefully get my microwave out of the way. That black one was the seller's; mine is white.


Kitchen (IN PROGRESS)
I have lovely orange counters :) The cabinets are in really good shape, just a little outdated. I'm going to look for some new hardware, and probably a new countertop and backsplash sooner rather than later. The carpeting is in okay condition... I may wait to replace that until the kids can keep all their food on the table.


The Basement
The basement is huge, and the seller painted it with DryLoc right before we closed. All I wanted him to do was leave me the paint so I could do it myself! The brighter area has a work table and a peg board but has a wall separating it from the other side.


The Basement
The other side with the washer, dryer, sink and counter. The seller left a rolling clothes rack in the dormer that I brought down here, so with the clothes line there, I've got a nice laundry area! There's a clothes chute from the bathroom also, but it drops right where the nasty floor drain is. I may have to come up with something to catch the clothes up high if we're going to use it.


The Bathroom
Lovely green tile :) Jeanne gave me a great idea to re-grout the tile with black grout. I think that would look cool. The wallpaper has to go. And the floor is tiny pastel tiles. I found a great pedestal sink that's perfect for tiny bathrooms. But that is a project for next year.


The Dormer (aka Haleigh's Room)
This is at the top of the stairs... a little space for maybe a desk or something. There's some built in shelves on the right.


The Dormer
Down the hallway to Haleigh's room. The walls are some weird paneling material... My dad mentioned taping it off and painting it with a sprayer. At the end of the hallway right before the bedroom is a huge cedar closet.


The Dormer
This is the bedroom part. Both sides are the same size, and there's the built-in drawers on both sides. It's cute for a little girl's room, and Haleigh loves it. We had Hayden up here taking a nap the other day. I want to replace the two ceiling lights with chandeliers, and do some other girly things with the walls.


The Dormer
There's no heating duct up into the dormer! The thermometer reads about 58F if you can't see that. This is obviously something I'm going [to ask Dad] to take care of soon. Haleigh will share Hayden's room until we get heat up there.


The Backyard
We love the little backyard. I'm sure there will be many more photos to come. You can see the cute bay windows here, and I can actually fit my van back here! I was afraid the driveway would be too narrow with the neighbor's fence right there. I'm getting good at it now :)

I talked with the neighbor... they are a couple my age with a 10 month old son! She and I are so excited that our boys can be buddies :)


The Backyard
Hayden likes the grass, but finds it too uneven to walk on yet.



And one last cute photo... Haleigh found another backpack in her closet, so she graciously let Hayden wear her Disney Princess preschool backpack and they "went to school"... which really meant they did like 40 laps around the apartment in their PJs!

I Took The Plunge

No, not that plunge... but I did buy a HOUSE yesterday!

It's so cute and absolutely perfect for us. Two bedrooms downstairs, dormer upstairs, huge basement that the seller dry-lock painted for me (I just wanted him to leave me the paint!), small garage, cute yard with a privacy fence on one side, nice quiet safe street, preschool and elementary are right down the street, YMCA is at the end of our street, close to shopping and restaurants, 5 minutes from the babysitter, 10 minutes from work... I think I picked a good one!

Last night after I closed at the title company, I picked up the kids and we stopped to pick up some dinner to eat at the house. The seller had left a few items - a sewing machine/desk, a dresser, microwave and stand, another small stand, lamp, fans, brooms, ladders, misc kitchen and bathroom stuff, work benches in the basement and garage - so I set the kids up on a little table with footstools to sit on, and with a small lamp, we ate our Wendy's chicken nuggets :)

Then the kids ran through the house like maniacs, Haleigh claiming her room and learning where all the light switches are. Hayden just wanted to keep eating.

The entire place needs wallpaper stripped and painted, carpets cleaned, some drywall hung, a bathroom update, and some new light fixtures. I will probably keep updating with before and after pictures. I'm so excited to get started!!!

Photos and Walking

My little preschooler :)

Hayden is now officially walking, and actually sleeping all night for the first time. His little brain must finally be able to shut off at night, now that he's mastered the walking. It's wonderful :)

October Updates

Since we'll actually have a neighborhood to go trick-or-treating in this year (YAHOO!!), and Haleigh is having a parade and a party at school next week, I've decided to get/make the kids costumes this year. (I didn't do anything last year and that was just fine with everybody)

So. Haleigh has mentioned the following things she "wants to be" lately:

Pink Power Ranger
Hannah Montana
Sleeping Beauty "Lororora" (her name is Aurora lol)
a butterfly
Tinkerbell
Iron Man

I love the idea of having the kids kind of match, like a princess and a knight... but I just have no good ideas, so any are welcome :)

Hayden is officially a toddler now, and no longer my sweet immobile infant baby. Just this weekend, at 14 months old, he started standing up from the floor without holding on to anything, and he can now walk all over the place. This is upsetting and thrilling both at the same time to Haleigh, who now has someone to chase her, but also now has someone to chase her. I am constantly hearing, "NO Hayden!! Leave my baby/markers/paper/stuff/breathing air/carpet... alone!!" She's taken to barricading herself in the corner of the dining room with chairs, and playing with her stuff up on the table. And Hayden doesn't like that at all.

He still listens very well when he's told NO, but he gets that "look" now, that testing what-are-you-going-to-do look that shows he kinda wants to know what will happen if he does touch mommy's BlackBerry, but not enough to actually go for it.

Haleigh is still loving preschool... she had school photos taken, which is just unbelievable that my 3 year-old will bring home school pictures this week. But totally cool. She has been practicing writing letters and drawing snowpeople and cutting little shapes out of paper. I have all of her assignments and papers from school in a little file, except the last two because she cut them into tiny triangles. I should save the triangles.

Enjoying a small bonfire at my parents' this weekend... and some marshmallows :)

Happy Hayden :)

First Words

For the past 13 months I've whined almost daily that my son does not sleep. I was spoiled with Haleigh, who ASKS to go to bed and take naps, and averages about 15 hours of sleep every day. Hayden, on the other hand, loves to cuddle, and if he realizes he's not in someone's arms, he screams.

Around 2am this morning I was rocking him, pleading for him to close his little sleepy eyes, because mine already were. Please just go night-night, Hayden. All of a sudden, he sat up and put his face close to mine...

'night-night! night-night!'

Not just nah-nah, it was clearly 'night' and nobody was there to hear it but myself and the cats. He had the biggest grin on his face because he was so proud of himself. It was making me smile, and in turn he'd smile even bigger and say it even more.

So, the first words of my non-walking 13 month-old...

night-night

Yeah kid, sounds good to me.

From the Preschooler

Haleigh is learning so much in school, it didn't surprise me when she asked to play with a tape measure. I thought, wow! She is learning this stuff already! So I happily handed it over and sat back to watch.

"I have to measure how big this is"

She stretched it out across a table.

"I think it weighs eighty degrees down to forty"

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree...

Both kiddos had well-checks yesterday afternoon... Haleigh's was long overdue (tax season! I swear!) and Hayden was about a month late. But they're both healthy and happy and growing just fine.

Haleigh is in the 25th percentile for both weight (30 lbs) and height, she got one vaccine which she was so brave for, and her ears still look great. We did get a referral to a pediatric cardiologist though, to do an echo on her heart to make sure it isn't too close to her breast bone. Like her dad, her little chest caves inward, called something like pectus excavatum, and it would be good to get a baseline test done so they can take action quicker if the condition worsens. Right now she's not having any pain or trouble breathing. She spiked quite a fever last night due to that vaccine I assume, but seems better this morning.

Hayden is also in the 25th percentile for both weight (21 lbs) and height, and he got three vaccines, about which he screamed his widdle head off. His foot is much better and not turned out hardly at all anymore... he just needed to start walking. He takes about 4 steps at a time alone, and he's really good at walking along a wall. He was kind of grouchy last night, but a dose of Tylenol around dinner time helped and he ended up sleeping all night in his own bed. Wow!

Of course our doctor's office changed over to paperless medical records YESTERDAY, so the staff was extra slow in processing everything and it's exactly why two easy appointments took 2.5 hours. But I was patient, and my iPod, Cheerios, and a camera phone really saved us from complete meltdowns.

Other news... Haleigh loves preschool and I love the work she brings home. She's learning to draw in the lines, and she can already recognize just about every letter of the alphabet and even write a few of them.

I looked at another house last night... in a great neighborhood with a really great elementary school. It's super close to the preschool and is closer to my work. It needs some updating, but for the right price I think it's a great house.

rain rain

I graduated high school in, yikes, 1997.

Did you marry someone from your high school?
Not married yet, so who knows?

Did you car pool to school?
Bus for 2 years, rode with Judi our junior year, and had my own car senior year.

What kind of car did you have?
'95 Grand Am

What kind of car do you have now?
'08 Grand Caravan LOL

It's Friday night... where were you?
Football games in the fall, work the rest of the year.

It's Friday night... where are you now?
Home with the kiddos, or dinner with my parents.

What kind of job did you have in high school?
Customer service at Food Town

What do you do now?
Accounting/HR Manager for a non profit animal shelter

Were you a party animal?
Not even a little

Were you considered a flirt?
I don't know

Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
Um, all of the bands

Did you get suspended/expelled?
One detention?

Can you sing the fight song?
Of course

Who was/were your favorite teacher(s)?
Mr. Malcolm, Frau Kohler

Where did you sit during lunch?
The cafeteria?

What was your school's full name?
Whitmer Senior High School

When did you graduate?
Ninety-seven ninety-seven ninety ninety ninety-seven

What was your school mascot?
Panther (Pete, right?)

If you could go back and do it again... would you?
Hmmm... I might

What do you remember most about graduation?
How long it was

Who took you to your sr prom?
Did not go

Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?
Well I hung out with Laura L that night and yep, we still talk

Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion?
Oh wow, it was last yèar! I didn't go because Hayden was only 2 weeks old

Do you still talk to people from school?
Sure do

Charlie, Bob and Sam

Me: Let's go have lunch at Charlie's

H1: Okay... Who is Charlie?

Me: No, it's a place you eat, called Charlie's. Kinda like Bob Evans. You like Bob Evans, remember? Then we have to run to Sam's.

H1: Oh, okay!

A few minutes later, in the van, pretending to talk to her dad on an old cell phone...

H1: ... Yeah Dad, we're going to Charlie's house to have lunch with Bob, and Sam too... And Hay-Bob too! (laughs hysterically... Hayden Robert, get it? Yeah, I can thank the grandparents for that and she knows I don't like that nickname lol)

Some new photos are finally on Flickr... Link is over on the right.

Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

First day of school! *sob*

Haleigh did so great today... She had new shoes, and her shiny new (and huge!) backpack with her 'homework' in it. I took her to work with me for a few minutes this morning to kill some time, where she fell in love with a giant bunny (whoops), then we were off to the pre-school.

I definitely cried more than she did... She bounced off to play and barely said goodbye to me! But when I returned to pick her up, she was not happy to see me at all, and pouted the whole way back to the babysitter's. Most of that was because she was ready for lunch and a nap though, I suspect.

But I think she's going to do great! Hayden was really happy when I brought her back to him at the sitter, but then he had to say goodbye to me again! Oh poor baby, so tough!
Sent from my BlackBerry Smartphone provided by Alltel

Busy Busy

I was waiting to update until I had some good pictures to share, but I have a minute now so I'll throw something together.

The kids are well... Haleigh is coming home today after spending the week with her grandparents up north. Hayden and I missed her really a lot. She starts preschool next Tuesday, just two mornings a week. I think she's really excited.

Hayden has been sick for about a week now... a fever is his only symptom. Hopefully these antibiotics the dr. gave us will start to work soon. He turned one year old a couple of weeks ago, and has started babbling like crazy. He has his own little language. No walking yet, but cruising around holding onto things like crazy. He has six teeth now, and eats anything and everything. Dry cereal is his favorite.

Hayden and I looked at a few houses last night, and found one we really like. Going back this weekend to take another look. So exciting!

Some not-so-good-quality cell phone pics...