June in Review

We had a busy month of June. We finally bought a dining room set, Charles took three overnight-out-of-town trips, Grandma Judy came up for a much-needed week long visit, I learned how to thread my sewing machine, we had playdate after playdate, we finished two more projects in the (soon to be completed) mud room, and we took an extended weekend trip up north to visit Uncle Iain and Auntie Katie.

As cute as they are, don't let them fool you. They are still very much eating in their high chairs. But, just like us, they love to sit at the table. It's kind of a novelty, and it's crazy how much more appreciative we are to have one after eating on the couch, floor, and bar area for over a year. Now we even have a more comfortable place to pay bills, go through mail, do laundry, etc. You know, all of the fun stuff.

The girls relaxing with Grandma J.

Lucy loves her Grandma so much. They had such a great week together that when Grandma left to go home, Lucy went through withdraw for almost the whole next week. She moped around and kept running into the guest room to see if there was anybody in there. So sad.

Here we are trying to figure out how this blasted machine works. It was a Christmas gift from Judy, and we finally cracked open the box earlier this month. I cannot believe how long it took for us to apply the directions (with pictures) to the machine. You'd think the darn thing was written in a foreign language or that neither of us had ever seen a sewing machine. Four hours later...Victory!

When we had the basement finished we kept a small space off of the the garage to use for clean up and coat/shoe storage, as well as a place for my dusty treadmill. We painted months ago, after the reno was completed, but we still had to tile the back splash behind the slop sink, electrical wires were still dangling from the ceiling, and trim couldn't be done until the floor was laid. Ugh, there was so much to do, but after months of staring at an unfinished space and the motivation of the baby's arrival, we got our crap together and completed phase one of the mud room.

Here she is, in all her unfinished glory. The bookshelves will eventually be refinished and re-cut to flank our still unfinished fireplace. Are you noticing a trend yet?

I have to give it to my husband. He has transformed into the handiest person, or maybe he's always been, but has just decided now that out of necessity he can show off his sweet skills. Here here is with the wet saw. We rented it on a Friday night at 8 PM, he figured out how to use it shortly after, and tiling was completed by 11 PM. We already had a bit of practice in the kitchen, but amazingly hadn't needed to cut any pieces.


Ta Da! No more dangling cords and no more exposed concrete floor. The electrical work is also that of Charles. I keep telling him he needs to go into business as a handy man, but strangely enough, my suggestions have gone unheeded.


Check out that fancy tile job! I also have to say that I was not entirely unhelpful. I laid all of the tile and I cut all of the shoe molding with the miter saw. I thought that I would be afraid, but working with power tools is quite liberating. That's not to say that I want to make a career out of home improvements, but it feels good to do something start to finish. Charles, the plumber aka Charles the electrician, hooked up the slop sink last night. All that's left is to get some lockers and benches and install them. We'll see how long that takes to complete...


Last week the girls and I headed over to Auntie Aprils (aka Lucy's BFF) to visit and see her Mom, Crystal. Sarah and Miss G also made an appearance. The girls had a grand time playing and I even managed to get a nap out of both of them that afternoon.

Lucy is still learning how to "be gentle". Poor Zoe is used to being man-handled/loved on, but this was new territory for Greta. Here they are "hugging" or rather, Lucy putting Greta in the sleeper hold/head lock. Greta didn't seem to mind the "attention" one bit.

In fact, while they were together for the afternoon, they were inseparable. What most people would call attempting to destroy furniture, we call "durability-testing", and fortunately for April, her end table passed with flying colors. Can the bottom shelf hold fifty pounds worth of children? Check!

More durability-testing on the moses basket that Crystal bought at a garage sale for her grandson. Yup, it passes inspection.




This is not the best picture, but it is the only one I have of Uncle Iain from this past weekend. Not only do I never have my camera out, ready to take pictures, but when I finally remembered to get it, the batteries went dead. I suck.

Anyway, we had a fantastic weekend. The girls did great. They road-tripped well, slept in an unfamiliar environment well, and played well, given the fact that we packed as few toys as possible. We loved catching up with Iain and Katie (even if it meant staying up until the wee hours the morning), and couldn't believe how lucky we were when we also got to see Grandma J, Grandpa Dave, and Auntie Peggy and Uncle Jim for a few hours on Friday and Saturday night. Thank you so much Iain and Katie. Your new home is beautiful and we can't wait to see you guys again!

My SIL Katie and I in the requisite "belly-bump" pose. Here we are at 23 weeks and 20 weeks. I am so happy we get to experience this together. My first pregnancy I got to be pregnant with Vadsana, the second with Sue, so I've shared every pregnancy with a sister. I am so lucky!

We have first trimester shot, here is our second trimester shot, and hopefully we'll get to see them again in August to get the third shot. She has the sweetest little belly and I can't wait for October to meet my nephew!

More evidence that Miss Zoe is a ham!

It's probably just me, but since it's fairly obvious Lucy mostly takes after me (if Lucy and Zoe traded eyebrows, she would be my twin), these two are twinkies. Two, pretty cute twinkies, at that.

Lucy is the most fickle girl when it comes to her BFF. Let's just say she's a social butterfly. She could not get enough of Auntie Katie this weekend. It's good practice for Katie, although it doesn't seem she needs much. She is so very maternal already. Much more so than I ever was before children.


My gut has told me all along this baby is a girl, so it was nice to get confirmation today. We saw the doctor, and she is as healthy as can be. Everything checks out and I am grateful. We are so blessed to have another baby on the way. She was so quick and active during the ultrasound as well as being incredibly stubborn. I specifically wanted a profile shot, but the child would not give. Every time to inducer came near her face, she turned her head or put the arm block up. Little stinker. This is the best one we got. Still, I think she's pretty cute, even though she resembles the characters from the Peanuts comic strip (does anyone else see that?). We do get to see her again in six weeks, but not for her, but rather to check my placenta location, again. It's still low-lying, so they want to keep an eye on it. I am hopeful it moves so I can have another vaginal delivery, but you never know. Anything can happen, and we will just prepare ourselves for that. We hope everyone has safe and fun Fourth of July!