Double Check

Let's see, before you spend hours upon hours painting spindles, and deciding you can strip the existing railing and re-stain it, you might want to make sure you can take it apart without damaging the whole thing.  Yes you see, it needs to be taken off, so that we can replace the treads.  Except we attempted tonight and could not get it to budge.
So tomorrow we will really have to tackle removing it, and I'm thinking there might be a few casualties. As in we might be buying a new railing and new spindles.  Well that will only add about $500+ to the project.  So let's all pray tonight that we will be successful tomorrow without doing major damage.  Okay maybe we should stick to praying for world peace, and we will just hope that all goes well tomorrow.
And at least if we have to replace the spindles we can upgrade to nice black metal ones, except that only makes the price go up even more.  But hey I'm trying to look on the bright side if needed.

Stories From School

I'm going to tell you a story about Ben.  Ben is a new little friend at Bella's school.  This was told to me by Bella's teacher.

Ben is Bella's new best friend.  He says that Bella is beautiful.  He talks about Bella all the time, even at home.  So much so that his mom called the teacher to ask "Who is Bella?"  Ben likes to play with Bella and stack toys on her tray.  He always makes sure that she gets a turn while playing.  He also tells her "Pick your head up Bella, you can't see me."  They have such a good time playing the teachers have bought new toys that will better suite the two of them to play on her tray.

*Bella's turn while playing is still initiated by the teachers, maybe with enough time and practice, Bella will actually take turns on her own.  We will wait and see.

Lots of work with no gain

First I have to show you my DIY mishap, except I'm not exactly sure how I got this very large bruise on my arm.  I believe it came from unloading and carrying the 14 foot ladder we rented the other weekend.  It looked bad, but didn't hurt much, until I made the unfortunate mistake of landing the edge of a 5 gallon bucket of paint right in the middle of it.  Now it's raised up, still ugly looking, and hurts at the slightest touch.  Here's hoping it goes away sometime soon.

On another note.  We have been busy the past week doing little projects for the entryway.

Things like painting the spindles a new lighter trim color, except you can't even really tell they have been painted.  In the picture the 2 spindles on the right are actually a little bit lighter than the 2 on the left.  Nothing like a 3 hour project that doesn't show any results.

I also had to paint all the trim, which meant 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of white trim paint.  It was a debate as to buy new primed boards that would need to be cut, or spend all the time painting the existing boards.  Even though it took 4 hours to paint, I decided not to waste the perfectly good boards just because I wanted a different color, not to mention it was money not spent.

We also received the new square newel posts from our friend Toby who has been busy putting in many hours making these and the new oak treads for the stairs.

I agreed to stain the pieces, and after 3 hours of staining and 3 more coats to go, I'm wondering why I said I would do it myself.

But the pieces are looking great already.

I still need to attempt to strip the old stain off the railing, so it can match the newly stained posts and stairs.  I have a feeling that it is going to be a very toxic smelly mess.  But we are getting closer to having the project wrapped up!

2 Blondies

Do we look alike?

I think Bella's hair might even be a little lighter than mine was when I was younger.  When I was going through my old baby/toddler pictures, I realized that Bella looks young for her age.  It probably has something to do with the fact that she isn't walking around.  The picture of me is when I was approximately 2 years old, while in this picture Bella is almost 3 years old.  I need to get a picture of Jesse when he was younger, as I have a feeling Bella looks more like him than she does me.

Casual Fridays

How long has this carpet been up?

We removed the carpet in the house before we even moved in over a year ago.  But we left it on the stairs since we were going to be changing them into oak treads.  Well we are finally getting around to removing the carpet.

Is it just me, or does the rough pine look better than the crappy carpet?

Where's the Beach?

Everyday I pick Bella up from school and can't help but smile.  They put on her sunglasses and sun hat while she waits outside for me to pick her up.  It just cracks me up.

Of course today when I remember to take my camera, her hat fell down so I couldn't get the greatest pictures.  But I think you get the idea.

3 Year Check Up

We went in yesterday for our 3 year checkup with the pediatrician.  Bella weighed in at 26lbs 7oz, and was 34.5 inches long.  This puts her at the bottom of both the height and weight curves, but she is on them and still obviously growing.  And my back and arms are definitely glad she is on the low end instead of the high end of the percentiles.
Everything went well with the checkup, but there are some housekeeping visits we are going to make to other doctors.  Bella needed an eye screening to start school.  And since she can't tell people what she sees, we have to go see an ophthalmologist who will check out the structure of her eye to see if there are any problems.  Then we are going to go see a pediatric dentist at children's mercy.  She might have to be put under to give her a proper checkup and cleaning.
Lastly we are going to have some x-rays done on her spine and hips.  With her low muscle tone, she is more prone to having problems with her joints and bones not properly aligning, since there are no muscles to keep them.  And her hips have always been tight, so we just want to double check those too, while we are at it.
So it looks like we have quite a few additional appointments coming up in the near future.  Guess I better start making calls and scheduling everything.  Especially since some of the clinics at children's mercy take months to get an appointment.

Entryway

How do you change a chandelier that hangs from a 17 foot ceiling?  How do you paint 17 foot high walls?  Well you have to borrow or rent a 14 foot step ladder, which basically takes up the whole space.

It took a full day to edge and roll the entryway with 2 coats of paint, and by full day I mean from 8am till 8pm.  We had just finished up the first coat of edging when we stopped for lunch.  We had picked up a 12 pack of Bud Light Lime, you need beer when you paint, according to Jesse.  I had two beers with my lunch, and by the time we started painting the walls, I was a little drunk (I guess it doesn't take much anymore).

So I got to hold the paint tray when needed on the ladder.

While we had the ladder we decided to change the chandelier.

We had to get up early Sunday morning to get it done in time to return the ladder and not accrue a late fee.

And replacing the chandelier went well, we got it done in time with only a little bit of sweat trying to hold it up as it got wired and attached to the ceiling.

Now we are about half way done with the space.

Weekend Work

While Mom and Dad were busy painting the entryway.

Bella and Grandma have been busy playing.

We Talked

Something new happened today.  We were at the store today and in front of us was another little girl standing in her mother's cart.  The little girl looked at Bella and said "la la na".  She was probably around 2 years old.  And for the first time ever, Bella immediately looked at the little girl and said "ma ma na na na".  This little girl spoke Bella's language perfectly and they conversed for a short bit, before the other girls mom moved on from the area we were in.  I was so excited for Bella to have actually responded so quickly to another child.  Other kids have always said hello to Bella, and she pretty much ignores them.  I guess there is something to be said for speaking her language to getting a response from her.

Bella's Room

In addition to working on the entryway and the exterior, I am also working on Bella's bedroom.  I bought the paint during Sherwin Williams paint sale, so now I need to get busy working on some details before I can start painting.  I need to prime and paint the trim, as hers in the only room with dark wood trim.  And then we also need to create a closet system, and install a ceiling fan or new light fixture.
We have also decided to upgrade Bella to a full size bed.  Her toddler bed has such a hard mattress that she has been using for the past 3 years.  And it seems so mean to keep her on it.  Since her crib changes into a full size bed frame, we are going to go for it.  I will be creating some kind of system to keep her safely inside the beds perimeter so she doesn't fall out.  But the new bed will also be a great place to change her, as it isn't quite safe to keep using the top of the dresser.  Not to mention the dresser is not so silently begging us to keep the 30 pound toddler off of it.

This is Bella's new color scheme, pink and coral.  The big question is whether to spend the $160 for the quilt or to take a big leap and try to sew one myself.  My sewing machine has the quilting guides, so I'm thinking I might go for it.  Of course finding the time is always the big setback.

A Nervous Mom

Is it wrong that I was more nervous about the drop off and pick up procedure, than I was about leaving Bella at school for the first time on her own?  I think it might be a little backwards.
We got to school 10 minutes early this morning, and I ended up being the second vehicle in line.  This gave me time to get her cart out and get back in the car, before the teachers came to get the kids out.
You see they have very specific rules, and parents are not supposed to get out of their cars, teachers do not have time to talk to parents, etc, etc.  Except when a teacher/assistant made it to our car, she wasn't comfortable getting Bella out of the car and into her cart.  So we had to wait for Bella's actual teacher to make it out and get her, holding up the line in the process.
When I went back to get her, I was 5 minutes early, this time I was probably the 15th car in line.  I also noticed that I was definitely the rookie in line.  We had been given color coded signs with our children's names on them, and they are supposed to be placed in your front window, so they can get the correct kid to the correct car.  Well, 90% of the moms had taken the time to string ribbon on their signs and had them hanging on their rear view mirror.  I, on the other hand, had to hold it up (it laid too flat on the dash to be seen).  Looks like I will be doing a little ribbon adding of my own this weekend.
Picking Bella up went pretty smoothly, and three of her teachers came out to say how much they loved having Bella in the classroom.  I was able to quickly pop out and load her cart, as they loaded her into the car seat.  And we didn't even hold anyone up in the process.
So it looks like for the next month before Bella starts riding the bus, we will have success with the drop off and pick up.  Although I'm going to have to make sure I'm wearing decent clothing, as I do have to exit the car and be seen by all.
And Bella seemed to enjoy class and talked to me the whole way home...the whole 5 minutes that is.  We miss everyone down at Children's TLC, but we definitely don't miss the 45 minute drive.

First Day at a New School

Do you have a picture taken in front of your vehicle for the first day of school?  I still remember my first day of kindergarten photograph.  I was wearing a dress, my hair was bright white from being in the sun all summer, and I was standing in front of my parents big huge brown and green station wagon.

I attempted to recreate this with Bella, we have the dress, we have the light blonde hair, we are sitting in front of the vehicle.  Problem being, it has to be an outside picture, and Bella wasn't about to pick her head up for a photograph.

We made it to class and had an orientation for the parents.  Mainly a 20 minute speech about how to drop off and pick up your child.  It sounds a little bit like a nightmare, but I guess we will get to experience it all tomorrow.  Then we meet with the physical therapist who wanted to try out all their equipment and see which pieces would work best for Bella to be integrated into the classroom.  Lastly we wanted to feed Bella in front of all her teachers and therapists so they could see how she ate.  We probably had an audience of about 10 people while she was eating.  She did a great job, and all the teachers are very excited to have her in the class.  Here is hoping we have a great school year!

This was Bella after doing hard work on all the new equipment.  Needless to say we haven't gotten a good picture of her yet today.

Entry Way Tile

We finished our tiling project a couple of weekends ago.  It was a long 3 days of working.  Now we have all the finishing touches to do, to include: painting trim, painting the walls, adding batten board, and replacing the chandelier.  Not to mention refinishing the handrail, adding new posts, and changing the stairs to wood.  So in other words we still have most of the work left to do.  We hope to get the project finished in the next month or two.  Then after we paint the exterior of our house, we might take a break from doing home projects for a little while.  Well, until I just can't stand the bathroom anymore and decide to take a sledgehammer to it, that is.

Sunday at the Zoo

We decided that Sunday might be the best day for our family to visit the zoo with Bella.  We had gift certificates that expired in less than a month, so we headed out for a day of fun, or an attempt at fun.  It didn't start out so great, as it was sunny and in the sun Bella refuses to keep her head up.  So the first few exhibits were not witnessed by Bella, no matter how much we tried to pull up her head.  But we finally had luck in the monkey house, which was thankfully inside.  Bella immediately put her head up, and while she paid more attention to all the kids around her, she did notice the very noisy chimp.

Next stop was out to the elephants, and again Bella would  not look up.  So we decided to turn back around and try the carousel.

Bella enjoyed it, although I think that was because she got to lay down with her head upside down, more so than being on the ride.

Then it was time for ice cream, which was the highlight of our trip.  Maybe next time we should just go to the custard shop for a family outing!  This was the first time I had seen Bella eat a lot of ice cream, and by a lot, I just mean 10 spoonfuls or so.  Meanwhile Jesse and I polished off some large waffle cones.
And lastly we rode the train.

Bella enjoyed the ride, and would get big smiles when we went through the dark tunnels, a nice break from the bright sun.

All in all in was a okay time, although it might be best to try again on a cloudy day, as maybe then Bella would actually get to see the animals.  I was a little surprised at how expensive the zoo was.  It would have been a big disappointment for us if we actually had to spend our own money on the excursion.  I imagine that some of the larger families that were there, enjoying all the rides and food, probably dropped a $100 or more.

We have a new toy

After trying to work out all the kinks in our old computer, we decided it was time to upgrade to a laptop.  So I can finally add pictures again.

So now you can see this picture taken from Bella's last day of preschool downtown.

I just have to get used to all the new features and we will be back up and running.

The First Day of School is Coming Up

I once again am having troubles downloading pictures, which is why I haven't written anything.  It's usually pretty boring to read a post and not see anything to go along with it. So here is a picture of Bella's first day of school from last year.  This week we are preparing for Bella to start at her new school.  We have the long list of supplies needed, and most have been bought.  And we have mainly been relaxing and enjoying the few mornings we get to sleep in.  Granted for Bella sleeping in means at the latest 7am, but I'll take it.

Next week on Monday her school is opening the doors so you can drop off the supplies early, and then they are having an all school bbq at 4pm.  I've seen them before, they usually rent the big moonwalks and all the families go.  But since we don't know anybody at the school yet, I have a feeling we will skip it this year.  I'm not quite ready to tackle all the stares.  Although I'm sure I will get to deal with them next Wednesday when we arrive for the first day of class.

New news

We just spent the week in Nebraska, well everyone except Jesse, who had to stay home and work.  The ride up went fairly well, but I was thinking to myself that hopefully I wouldn't have to stop and pee, as I'm not sure how I would have accomplished that.  But luckily I didn't have to figure that out.  I spent a couple of days going through all of my old toys, books, papers, yearbooks, etc.  I'll have some funny posts to come with a few things that gave me a good laugh.

Then I spent an afternoon and evening helping my sister paint her living room and dining room.  And as you can see from the picture below, Erin and David (my sister and brother-in-law) are having their first child.

Congratulations Erin and David.......

And as I mentioned before, when we got home, we had to run and get 23 gallons of paint on Saturday.  We are currently prepping the entryway, so we can get started painting in there.  One small problem being that the ceiling is up at 17 feet.  If anyone happens to have a 12 foot step ladder that we could borrow it would be appreciated.  Otherwise you should all come over and have a good laugh as Jesse and I try to accomplish it using the 20 foot extension ladder.

Where are we?

Well Bella, the dogs, and myself are in Nebraska for the week.  This means Jesse is living the bachelor life at home by himself.  I'm guessing there will be some frozen pizzas in his near future. 
This also means there will be a short hiatus from posts.  Being gone from home for over a week, means there is a lot to get done once we make it back.  Oh that and the fact we are going to be buying probably close to 15 gallons of paint this weekend, which obviously means we are going to be doing a lot of painting.