Last weekend Matt & I flew to Las Vegas for my younger sister's wedding (sorry men, no more single Walburg ladies available!). The girls stayed home and Grandma Karen watched them. GG & Papa came up for a visit, and Myron, Lori & Coen stopped by too. So they stayed fairly busy. Plus Addie was sick on-and-off.
Anyways, we talked about our weekend-away ahead of time so Addie knew we would be leaving. At one point she said, "why is Vegas lost?" because she kept hearing & saying it as "lost Vegas". We thought that was pretty great. Especially since when you think about it, there is some truth there. First off, it is really easy to get lost when you are in some of the hotels & casinos in Vegas - those places are huge. Also, on a deeper level it is true that it is easy to lose yourself there. You can lose yourself in the blinking lights, the alcohol, the heat, the shows, the food, the slots - it is an alternate universe. It is so surprising to me how many people are there on a random Thurs on Oct. Why? How often do they visit? How much money do they spend/lose?
It was fun to be there for a weekend with my family. We talked & laughed a lot. We relaxed by the pool. We went to a show ("Marriage can be Murder" - very funny, I totally recommend it). We got glammed up for my sister Diane's wedding. We walked through the old downtown area. We ate (but not too much). We drank (some more than others). There were some plain delays, some serious frustrations with hotel rooms & hotel management, a migraine that made the bride miss half her wedding reception, a snafu with a spray-tan and other incidents that made it a weekend we will remember & talk about over the years. It was fun. But Matt & I were ready to go home at the end of it.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Showering like a big girl
Addie has decided that she likes taking showers. Alone. Not as in unassisted, but as in only her body in the shower/tub. I just stand outside it and rub shampoo, etc in when appropriate. This was prompted by the discovery that the adjustable height shower head it just her size when at its lowest!
She still wants my help with wiping after she poops so I am not worried yet about her being completely independent :)
She still wants my help with wiping after she poops so I am not worried yet about her being completely independent :)
The house
Here is one of the exterior of our new house. The front door is hiding behind the tall bush/tree (which we plan to trim back).
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Blame it on Reality TV
We knew the kitchen at our house had a dishwasher at some point. We just did not know when & why they took it out (and where exactly it was, but we could guess that). It turns out that the dishwasher was removed about a year ago as part of a reality tv show that the previous owners were in. It is some Seattle-based cable tv show about doing room makeovers for less than $100. The owners agreed to be part of this show and they "remodeled" the master bedroom, living room & kitchen. Really it sounded like it was mostly rearranging, changing out curtains & building a thing or two. As part of this, they took the dishwasher out. It was a small dishwasher to start & not in a great location but in my mind something is better than nothing - the previous owner agrees because that is one of the changes he said he was not thrilled with. We found this out because he came by tonight asking if any mail had come for him (nope) and I asked about a few things. He and his wife divorced, but they both moved to separate houses that are only a couple blocks away from this house. So they drive and walk by often. Kind of weird but also understandable that if they like the neighborhood and want their kids in the same school they would stick close by (especially if they have shared custody but that is a detail I did not ask). The husband said at more than one point that he was glad to see young kids in the house and he was chatting with us about possible yard renovations. It is obviously a house they were invested in and cared about. Which I can understand because I purposefully chose a driving route that will take us buy our old house once or twice a week. Since we still own it, it is good to keep an eye on it. But there is also still a sense of possession and pride and nostalgia.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Bloody lip (times 4)
Yesterday I commented to Matt that he was the only one of us not to get a bloody lip this week. Oops! A few hours later he had one too!
I got mine first. Etta was being silly and her forehead bumped into my lip/chin. With braces on my teeth, any bonk on my lip is painful and most likely bloody. The inside of my lip was tender and raw for a few days but is almost healed now.
Etta was next I think. Again she was being silly/playing rough, this time with Matt. They conked into each other and Etta got a bloody lip. It was actually a bit bruised and swollen looking the next day too.
Then Addie somehow slipped and bonked herself and ended up with a bloody lip. Again it was visible for a day or so after.
Last night Matt had no clue how his happened. He was doing fix-it projects and was taking a break to hold Etta I think. Next thing he knew, Etta was pointing out blood to him.
No pictures of the lips or the house or anything else for that matter. I will pretend I am keeping you in suspense but in reality I have just not picked up the camera in a while.
I got mine first. Etta was being silly and her forehead bumped into my lip/chin. With braces on my teeth, any bonk on my lip is painful and most likely bloody. The inside of my lip was tender and raw for a few days but is almost healed now.
Etta was next I think. Again she was being silly/playing rough, this time with Matt. They conked into each other and Etta got a bloody lip. It was actually a bit bruised and swollen looking the next day too.
Then Addie somehow slipped and bonked herself and ended up with a bloody lip. Again it was visible for a day or so after.
Last night Matt had no clue how his happened. He was doing fix-it projects and was taking a break to hold Etta I think. Next thing he knew, Etta was pointing out blood to him.
No pictures of the lips or the house or anything else for that matter. I will pretend I am keeping you in suspense but in reality I have just not picked up the camera in a while.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Etta's independent
We are all still adjusting to Addie's class schedule. class from 12-3 three days in a row means no nap for Addie those days. It also means Etta gets woken up from her nap in order for us to go pick up Addie. In addition, Thursdays are tricky because I have Etta's class right before Addie's. Some weeks all three of us are at school from 9:30-3 (and hope Etta will nap ok in the sibling care room). Other weeks Matt is working from home so we juggle the 2 kids between home & school with the one car. Yesterday what that meant was that Etta & I took the bus to school (a quick easy trip which will be much less pleasant on soggy rainy days), Addie stayed home to (theoretically) have quiet alone play while Matt worked from home but he ended up popping in a video to keep her occupied. Then at 11:30 Matt came with the car to drop off Addie. He took the bus home with Etta and left me with the car so I could drive Addie & I home after school plus drop a friend from her class off at home as well.
When Addie gets home from school she is usually sleepy and cranky and wants some alone time. Etta might be a little hungry but she is not sleepy and she wants interaction. So there has been much screaming, fighting, fussing between the two of them. Yesterday Etta followed Addie upstairs and I was worried Addie would get upset and want to be alone. So I asked Etta if she wanted to help me with a project. Etta said no, but Addie said yes so at least they were separated.
Etta was upstairs for quite a while. Being pretty quite. My suspicions grew. A few days before she had emptied the contents of her entire dresser, book shelf and dirty clothes hamper in the middle of the floor. So I was pleasantly surprised when the only mess I found was a few sweaters off their hangers.That was after I had to decide which closed door she was behind. So a small mess plus she had one skirt around her neck, one skirt around her waist, and no diaper and pants on. Not ideal but not a disaster. Since her diaper was off I set her on the potty then asked if she had already gone. Yes, she informed me she had already gone and had already wiped. It was just pee so no big deal. She loves being independent. I assumed she needed to wash her hands still, but then noticed that her shirt sleeves were wet. I asked if she had already washed her hands and she said yes, so I asked her to show me how she did it. She climbed on the stool and attempted to turn on the water but could not reach. So I was not sure where the wet shirt came from but was pretty certain there was no way she washed her own hands in their bathroom.
I took her shirt off and was getting ready to get clean clothes and diaper on her, but decided I would open the other closed doors to make sure there was not a large mess or surprise waiting for me. Nothing out of the ordinary in Addie's room. No mess in my bedroom. But did I hear water running? Yes, there was most definitely water running in my bathroom. And water splashed on the floor. And a tall decorative step-stool had been pushed from our bedroom into the bathroom and up against the sink. Little monkey Etta is quite a trouble-shooter! She knew how to pull her diaper and pants off. She knew how to sit on the potty and wipe after going pee. She knew she needed to wash her hands. She realized she could not reach the sink in their bathroom even with the short step-stool, so she remembered the tall stool, pushed it to the sink in our bathroom and climbed up. Only thing my resourceful little smarty forgot was to turn off the water and put the stool back! I was pretty impressed with her. But also realized that I should not be leaving her alone long enough for her to accomplish all of that. Wasted water, wet shirt and wet floor aside, we could have had a much bigger problem. She could have gone poop and tried to wipe herself and made quite a mess of it. Or scarier still she could have slipped off the wet stool and really hurt herself.
Miss Etta is about to turn 2. A lot of people joke about the terrible two's. Addie was pretty terrific at two, it is a really fun age! But there are also serious power-struggles and desires for independence. Etta has a very strong streak of this. I need to continually improve my parenting skills to figure out how to best curb the disobedience without squashing the curiosity and independence.
When Addie gets home from school she is usually sleepy and cranky and wants some alone time. Etta might be a little hungry but she is not sleepy and she wants interaction. So there has been much screaming, fighting, fussing between the two of them. Yesterday Etta followed Addie upstairs and I was worried Addie would get upset and want to be alone. So I asked Etta if she wanted to help me with a project. Etta said no, but Addie said yes so at least they were separated.
Etta was upstairs for quite a while. Being pretty quite. My suspicions grew. A few days before she had emptied the contents of her entire dresser, book shelf and dirty clothes hamper in the middle of the floor. So I was pleasantly surprised when the only mess I found was a few sweaters off their hangers.That was after I had to decide which closed door she was behind. So a small mess plus she had one skirt around her neck, one skirt around her waist, and no diaper and pants on. Not ideal but not a disaster. Since her diaper was off I set her on the potty then asked if she had already gone. Yes, she informed me she had already gone and had already wiped. It was just pee so no big deal. She loves being independent. I assumed she needed to wash her hands still, but then noticed that her shirt sleeves were wet. I asked if she had already washed her hands and she said yes, so I asked her to show me how she did it. She climbed on the stool and attempted to turn on the water but could not reach. So I was not sure where the wet shirt came from but was pretty certain there was no way she washed her own hands in their bathroom.
I took her shirt off and was getting ready to get clean clothes and diaper on her, but decided I would open the other closed doors to make sure there was not a large mess or surprise waiting for me. Nothing out of the ordinary in Addie's room. No mess in my bedroom. But did I hear water running? Yes, there was most definitely water running in my bathroom. And water splashed on the floor. And a tall decorative step-stool had been pushed from our bedroom into the bathroom and up against the sink. Little monkey Etta is quite a trouble-shooter! She knew how to pull her diaper and pants off. She knew how to sit on the potty and wipe after going pee. She knew she needed to wash her hands. She realized she could not reach the sink in their bathroom even with the short step-stool, so she remembered the tall stool, pushed it to the sink in our bathroom and climbed up. Only thing my resourceful little smarty forgot was to turn off the water and put the stool back! I was pretty impressed with her. But also realized that I should not be leaving her alone long enough for her to accomplish all of that. Wasted water, wet shirt and wet floor aside, we could have had a much bigger problem. She could have gone poop and tried to wipe herself and made quite a mess of it. Or scarier still she could have slipped off the wet stool and really hurt herself.
Miss Etta is about to turn 2. A lot of people joke about the terrible two's. Addie was pretty terrific at two, it is a really fun age! But there are also serious power-struggles and desires for independence. Etta has a very strong streak of this. I need to continually improve my parenting skills to figure out how to best curb the disobedience without squashing the curiosity and independence.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
First week in the new house
We are in and getting settled! The list of things to buy, things to fix, things to re-arrange, etc is always in my head but things are quite livable.
Friday morning my parents came up to help with painting and projects at the new house.
We did the big furniture move on Saturday and it went well, great weather and lots of willing hands (hooray!).
Sunday my good friend Becky came over to help me organize the kitchen. I stuck her with the tedious job of cutting the shelf liner to fit our cupboards while I opened boxes and tried to organize things. The kitchen has very little counter space, more limited cupboard space (although some cupboards go up so high I have to be on the 2nd step of a step-stool to reach things!) has no dishwasher and had no microwave. The microwave I decided was a priority so purchased one on Sunday. Dishwasher we will wait and see on. If we put one in, that means less cupboard space for me. Counter-space we plan to supplement with some sort of table or butcher block counter or something. Before move-in we had talked about remodeling the kitchen in a year or two so I do not want to spend much money if things are going to change and old things will no longer fit after the remodel. We will see. The stove and oven are gas and are an adjustment for me, not to mention that there is no working exhaust fan for them which makes me nervous.
I have only walked through the yard once. It is small and in need of some serious TLC!
We upgraded from 1 bathroom to 2 1/2 and they all get a lot of use! Etta is using the potty consistently for poops and we decided we were sick of her using the little babybjorn potty that we had to clean out. So Matt installed toilet seats that have a built-in kid-size seat (genius!). Within one minute of him installing it upstairs int he girls bathroom, we had one girl sitting on it to poop and the other waiting to try it out for pee. Then 10 minutes later he put one in on the main floor toilet and they both had to try again!
The neighborhood feels so quite! We have taken some nice walks around the block on the sidewalks, and the girls love looking at the different houses and yards and seeing how many cats they can spot. Yesterday we walked to Greenlake so we could play at the playground there. Pushing the double stroller up the hill to our house afterwords was quite an effort, but we will try to do it a few more times before the weather gets too nasty. Along the way to Greenlake, just a short walk from our house, is the elementary school that Addie will most likely attend in 2 years.
My mom took some pictures but I have not had the time to look through them yet. I will try to take some of my own soon too.
In other news: our old house now officially has the upstairs rented as well (I need to take the keys off my key-ring!). Matt spent some late nights doing fix-it projects there and it looked really nice, but I was not too emotional about the transition. The girls and I had been visiting the old house once a day so I could check my email on the laptop I left there, because we did not get internet set up here until last night. So we had time to see it vacant and run around the empty rooms and then come back to our new home. While we were there today doing walk-through paperwork with the new renters, I picked what might be my last load of tomatoes. They have been flourishing! I made a quadruple batch of homemade pasta sauce earlier this week, and now I need to again! I won't say I am actually sick of homegrown tomatoes, but my enthusiasm for them has been satiated for now. In a month or so the apples should be ripe on the trees at the old house, and the renters know we intend to come back to pick them!
And lastly, a quick snippet of our first night here: at 3:30am Matt & I were woken by a thud! and a crying girl. Addie had fallen out of her bed. And gotten a bloody nose! When her bed was moved in, the safety rails were put on the wall side, but when I pointed it out to her she said she wanted to try sleeping in it like that. I thought it was worth a try, but we switched the bed around after that experience :)
That's all for now. I am going to go enjoy the new house some more!
Friday morning my parents came up to help with painting and projects at the new house.
We did the big furniture move on Saturday and it went well, great weather and lots of willing hands (hooray!).
Sunday my good friend Becky came over to help me organize the kitchen. I stuck her with the tedious job of cutting the shelf liner to fit our cupboards while I opened boxes and tried to organize things. The kitchen has very little counter space, more limited cupboard space (although some cupboards go up so high I have to be on the 2nd step of a step-stool to reach things!) has no dishwasher and had no microwave. The microwave I decided was a priority so purchased one on Sunday. Dishwasher we will wait and see on. If we put one in, that means less cupboard space for me. Counter-space we plan to supplement with some sort of table or butcher block counter or something. Before move-in we had talked about remodeling the kitchen in a year or two so I do not want to spend much money if things are going to change and old things will no longer fit after the remodel. We will see. The stove and oven are gas and are an adjustment for me, not to mention that there is no working exhaust fan for them which makes me nervous.
I have only walked through the yard once. It is small and in need of some serious TLC!
We upgraded from 1 bathroom to 2 1/2 and they all get a lot of use! Etta is using the potty consistently for poops and we decided we were sick of her using the little babybjorn potty that we had to clean out. So Matt installed toilet seats that have a built-in kid-size seat (genius!). Within one minute of him installing it upstairs int he girls bathroom, we had one girl sitting on it to poop and the other waiting to try it out for pee. Then 10 minutes later he put one in on the main floor toilet and they both had to try again!
The neighborhood feels so quite! We have taken some nice walks around the block on the sidewalks, and the girls love looking at the different houses and yards and seeing how many cats they can spot. Yesterday we walked to Greenlake so we could play at the playground there. Pushing the double stroller up the hill to our house afterwords was quite an effort, but we will try to do it a few more times before the weather gets too nasty. Along the way to Greenlake, just a short walk from our house, is the elementary school that Addie will most likely attend in 2 years.
My mom took some pictures but I have not had the time to look through them yet. I will try to take some of my own soon too.
In other news: our old house now officially has the upstairs rented as well (I need to take the keys off my key-ring!). Matt spent some late nights doing fix-it projects there and it looked really nice, but I was not too emotional about the transition. The girls and I had been visiting the old house once a day so I could check my email on the laptop I left there, because we did not get internet set up here until last night. So we had time to see it vacant and run around the empty rooms and then come back to our new home. While we were there today doing walk-through paperwork with the new renters, I picked what might be my last load of tomatoes. They have been flourishing! I made a quadruple batch of homemade pasta sauce earlier this week, and now I need to again! I won't say I am actually sick of homegrown tomatoes, but my enthusiasm for them has been satiated for now. In a month or so the apples should be ripe on the trees at the old house, and the renters know we intend to come back to pick them!
And lastly, a quick snippet of our first night here: at 3:30am Matt & I were woken by a thud! and a crying girl. Addie had fallen out of her bed. And gotten a bloody nose! When her bed was moved in, the safety rails were put on the wall side, but when I pointed it out to her she said she wanted to try sleeping in it like that. I thought it was worth a try, but we switched the bed around after that experience :)
That's all for now. I am going to go enjoy the new house some more!
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