updates

Abby was born last sunday.  We found out yesterday she has a heart defect that will require open heart surgery in 2 months.  I will be posting any updates on my family website: mikeamyandizzy.typepad.com

structure update

After Day 8:

play structure, Day 2

Wow, that was a lot of work!  We got home at 4 and worked till 7:30 with a quick break for dinner.  We first chose the flatest spot we could imagine and measured the grade of the backyard (it rose 4-6 inches over 8 feet!)  Then we started building the thing, but quickly realized we would never get the structure sqare if we build it on a sloped lot, so we carried everything over to the patio.  We will continue there today and hopefully get to the point where it is time to stake it into the ground. We will then carry back and start digging to make the ground more level underneath the little house.  I have no idea how we are going to carry it back from the patio since we barely made it to the patio and we are adding lots more pieces on the patio.  We are building this one, by the way:

don’t do it!

I am in a wall paper nightmare.

The wall paper was removed after about 20 hours of work leaving thick glue patterns and/or exposed drywall.  (If we scraped the glue off, the drywall would rip.)   It took another 4 hours to skim coat the whole thing then sand and in some regions the drywall is now bubbling.  I just read on “ask the builder” that before skim coating, we were supposed to cover the exposed drywall with a primer to prevent moisture from getting in there.  Now what?  I don’t have any idea.  We may just have to re-wall paper with a flat paper and paint over that?  It is a mess and a half.  All the sanding of the skim coat has left my house covered in a thick white dust and it looks like CRAP. 

If you want to remove thick textured wall paper, my advise?  DON”T.  Learn to love it.

family eating out

We usually don’t eat out as a family and when we do, everyone lets me pick the restaurant.  The scenario you described would drive me nuts too!

My wee babe is headed home with grandma leaving Mike and I with a free weekend.  What would I do with a free weekend, you ask? Why, paint Iz’s room of course!  I am going to paint her bedroom a light purple while they are gone.   I am doing it very loosy goosy (i.e., without taping and just shoving the furniture to the center of the room) just to see how it goes.  If I can do a fast paint job that I like, maybe I will be encouraged to paint the other rooms in our house.

I am also trying to update her room and give it more of a unified look.  When she was little, we didn’t care what her room looked like, but now that she can notice and enjoy it, we are going to try to make it a little nicer for her.

Maintaining

I currently weigh around 180.  From my heaviest pregnancy weight, that is about a 100 lbs loss.  From my heaviest non-pregnancy weight, that is an 80 lb loss and from January 2005 when I started all this mess, the loss is around 60 lbs.  When I was at those larger weights, I thought of 180 as being super skinny, an almost unobtainable goal, but now here I am, and it doesn’t feel too skinny at all.  I still feel somewhat heavy, but I can fit into size 12/14, shop at all the stores *except* Lane Bryant, cross my legs, run around with my daughter without distress. It seems like I have accomplished my goal.

Part of me, a large part of me, say 177 lbs worth, says 180 is good enough.  Just try to stay here for the rest of your life.  We all know that maintaining isn’t a picnic.  I will always have to be on guard for bad habits returning and fight to keep exercising because it does not come naturally to me.  In my mind, maintaining means that I have to do weight watchers 80% of the time, but one day a week or so, I can eat out and not worry about it.  It means that I have to exercise several days each week, but it can be for 40 minutes instead of an hour.  Maintaining is still work, but just not as much work as losing (I hope).

The remaining 3 lbs that wants to continue losing is the grey matter between my ears.  Though my body, my stomach, my muscles are happy and content to stay at this weight indefinitely, my mind keeps wishing I would push on through to see a lower number on the scale.  One reason is that I haven’t seen a lower number in A Very Long Time and I think I should do, should do it, both for health reasons and to simply prove that I can.  Another reason is that I feel that stopping now would just be out of laziness.  I recognize that I still have weight to lose and no real reason to stop working on it.

I don’t know where that leaves me.  I had an ok week, a week when I wouldn’t expect a gain, but not a loss either.  A week where I exercised a little every day, but not at a crazy intensity.  A good week.

Cat, what do you think?  Maintaining at a heavier weight or keep working at losing?

Lucky 27th

Since my birthday is September 27th and Paul’s birthday is November 27, we split the difference and were handfasted on October 27th, 1996. (We later were married by a City Hall clerk to make it legal and had a little ceremony there too.)

So Friday is our tenth anniversary and we decided since we never got to be married by a minister, we’d do it this year at the preschool.  We joke about getting married in some Las Vegas Elvis chapel on our 20th anniversary and then getting married by the captain in international waters on a cruise for our 30th. I really liked the smalleness of our wedding(s) and having one that’s kid-friendly seems good at this stage of our lives. If I were ever to do a big shebang, I think I’d rather save it for our 50th anniversary.  More to celebrate.

We just finished blowing up 6 ballons and exploding 2, packing party loot bags for 12 kids, and making our hats. Paul’s black visor reads “Help the groom.” My white one says “Kiss the bride.” Julia’s says “Love Child” and hers is red. We got enough stickers and visors for all the kids in attendance to make one.

Between here and there I need to retype our original vows on cards, chill the sparkling grape juice and make the chili and chips and tie about a dozen tulle bows to decorate the little preschool chairs. Nothing terribly hard but I also have two parties on the next two days that I have to help in and then one more party that I’m just a guest in.

And no matter how low key the gatherings, having four in a row is a whole mess of time in the kitchen!

Back to work!

wedding vows

You are renewing your wedding vows?  How fun is that!  Is there a special reason (a big anniversary)?  Is this something you always intended to do or a last minute decision?  Will it be a big party?

I would love to do that too.  We had such a small wedding, it would be fun to have a big party and invite everyone.

This is a crazy week for me.  I am on a panel which means lots of prep work (already done), 10 hour meetings for  2 days (Monday and Wednesday), and lots of wrap up work which has to be completed before we can adjourn.  I am already exhausted and am not even half way through the process.  One thing that makes me happy is that we (mom, Iz and me) are going to see my sister in Nashville this weekend, a little girl’s getaway with loads of shopping, I hope.

We had a nice weekend of laying around.  Iz was with her grandma so Mike and I took advantage and rested.  It was cold outside anyway.  And I finished the top of Iz’s quilt.  This quilt has been 3 years in the making.  I will post a picture as soon as I hang it back up again.  I just need to get a back for it and I will quilt it up.  I can’t wait to completely finish it, it is my inspiration for her room.  My plan is to paint her room by the weekend before thanksgiving, so I would love to have the quilt done by then.

I have been struggling with Iz’s room.  I am not good at decorating.  I would love to give her a neat little room, one that she will remember as magical.  But making it happen is another thing.

I am definitely going with a light purple on the walls with green being the strongest accent color.  The theme of the room will be bugs, mainly of the flying variety.  The quilt is buttlerflies, and my sister has painted some things for her with bees and ladybugs and dragonflies on them.  Do I want to express that theme in the fabrics only, or in some additional painting?  Like a border? (I normally don’t like borders, but maybe I could do something about halfway down the walls?) Stencils or free hand?  I just don’t know.

Another big question is whether or not to paint the furniture.  Other than the crib, the furniture in Iz’s room is from an old bedroom set of mine that I refinished many years ago.  I would be happy to paint the furniture some fun way, or we could get a new bedroom set for her.  Right now she is still in the crib, but she won’t stay in that bed much longer.

This thursday is the day my period is due.  We timed everything just right this month, but I am still not hopeful.  When you think about it, it is amazing anyone gets pregnant ever.  Things have to happen so perfectly, the timing, the positioning.  Then this one little sperm , left on its own, has to fight gravity and my body’s desire to kill it to find its way to the egg.  One little sperm and one little egg, each so much smaller than we are.  Crazy.

I am off to exercise with my PT.