Office Space

The day after Thanksgiving we began our newest home renovation project - turning our "nook" into our home office space.  We have three bedrooms in our house and when we first moved in in 2010 our office was in the front bedroom.

When we found out we were expecting our first baby, we decided to put the nursery in the spare room, move the spare room to the office, and renovate our three season room into a four season room and make that our new office.  Brian was working from home during all these transitions so he definitely needed a spot to call his own.

Then, Brian got a new job.  Outside of the house.  In another building.  In downtown Columbus.  So then we had a whole renovated office space that didn't get much use.  So we decided to make it Kate's play room.  Even though Brian didn't need an official "office" anymore, we still wanted a spot where we could put our desktop computer and house some of our office things...

So we embarked on transforming our little kitchen nook.  This little nook has always been a favorite part of our kitchen.  It's cute and quaint, but up until now it hasn't been the most useful use of space in our house.

Nov. 2010 - Moving day - Our nook!

We have a table and chairs opposite of the nook where we do the majority of our dining.  We also have a breakfast bar.  The high top table and chairs that has lived in this nook since we moved in was hardly ever used.  And by "hardly ever" I mean it was used daily to pile stuff on but only really "used" once a year when we turned it horizontally and set up alcoholic drinks on it for our Christmas party.

The high top table and chairs in the nook.

The Christmas party usage.  I don't even think we turned it
horizontally last year...we just put a bunch of alcohol on it and...
...they came.

We debated on what to do in this area until Brian found a perfect solution on Houzz and the dimensions were nearly identical to ours.  We looked into several different contractors to assist us with this space and ultimately decided on a wonderful Amish company per a recommendation.  Jerald came to our house, measured the area, saw what we wanted, built everything at his shop, brought it all back to our house, and then came and installed it.  It was fascinating!

He was so friendly and Kate and I made cookies and played Christmas music while he installed our new office space.  We are so in love with our new nook!

Before - our cozy, quaint little nook, minus the
table and chairs!

Before - with the nook light on!

Let the demo begin!  Bye-bye, shelves!

Kate and I build towers while the demo happened.

And then we knocked them down!

Removing the baseboard!

Just the perfect amount was removed for our space.

Meanwhile, it was snack time under the breakfast
bar area!

First cabinet was hung!

And the second was placed!  Jerald works magic!

Kate and I started on our cookies.

She peeled and sampled.  I took the trash.

Both cabinets hung perfectly!

Then it was time for the desktop!

We waited and watched and played while the
desktop was installed and our cookies baked!

Before we knew it, the bottom cabinets were
getting installed!

And the house was filled with baked cookie aroma!
YUM!

Look at that transformation!  All in one day!

Kate and I took selfies with her monsters!

And then tested the waters with our new cabinets!

Surely we made this area for her to play with/in.

Yes, she has already taken it over.

An efficient use of space, huh?!

Several trips later...

...and it's just like home for her babies!

Brian painted the magnetic/chalk board paint on
the walls a few days later.

And we are so happy with how it turned out!

AFTER: our new nook/office space!  Including
a brand new light and chair!
Perfection, right!?

We are so happy with this new space!  It completes our kitchen wonderfully and makes an otherwise hardly used space into a space that is used at least once a day!  We are working with what we've got here, folks, and we are so excited about this newest addition!

Back to the Eye Doc

When Kate was just two months old, we noticed that one of her pupils appeared slightly larger than the other.  We took her into her pediatrician's office who referred us to a pediatric opthamologist.  When we went, all checked out fine and normal and she was diagnosed as having a teensy bit of anisocoria.  They sent us on our way and told us to come back in two years.

Over the last couple of years, the anisocoria seems to have gotten less dramatic.  We notice it more when she is tired or in low light, like when we noticed it at first, but it has since become something that we kind of have to "look" for rather than just see.  Nonetheless, the doc said to come back in two years so that is what we did.

(Side note: As I was going through pictures for Kate's birthday banner a couple of months ago, I noticed a photo where her eye had a white-ish glow instead of the reddish glow from the flash.  I once again nearly gave myself a panic attack after Googling what this could be a result of and have been very anxious about getting Kate into this appointment.)

Our patient patient!

Oooohh!  This area where Mommy told me not to
go looks VERY interesting!

That little stinker!

I captured her, gave her a pop, and we took an
eye doc visit selfie!

Our appointment was just yesterday, and, fortunately, all checked out perfectly fine again.  The doctor said her eyes are progressing wonderfully.  When she dilated them and looked into them she said she saw normal, healthy, red areas which apparently is what you want to see.  Deep breath out.  What a relief!

And Kate did such a fantastic job!  It was a long day!  We were there for a couple of hours because we had to wait while her eyes dilated.  And the appointment spread right over her nap so she was on her best behavior without having a nap!  She listened well to me and to the doctor!  At one point, the doctor put some 3-D glasses on Kate and held up a 3-D photo.  She said, "This is probably too young for her but we'll try it."  And then she asked Kate what she saw.

Kate responded, "Fow-fer!"  (That's "flower" in Kate speak.)

And the doctor then said, "Yeah, she's too young."

I promptly asked the doctor what the picture was of and she said it was a butterfly.  "Oh," I said, "Kate calls butterflies "flowers" right now!"

The doctor was super impressed that Kate was able to recognize and verbally say what she saw once she realized that she did see the image and I was super proud that I spoke up and really got to the bottom of this.  After all, I know my child best, right?!  And I highly doubted that Kate was "too young" to tell us the picture she saw.  Kate is extremely intelligent and I knew she wouldn't just say "flower" out of nowhere if it didn't look similar to a flower.  I was so proud of Kate too!

As soon as we were finished and out to the car, Kate crashed.  And she crashed hard!  It was a long day, but we are all so glad that everything is looking normal and perfect in her beautiful baby blues!

Our little angel.  We love you!

Oh, Christmas Tree

A couple of years ago we found a fantastic deal on Christmas trees at our local hardware store.  It wasn't very glamorous - picking up a tree from a hardware store - but it worked for us.

We ended up doing the same thing last year!

This year was no different!  Yesterday, after our Pajama Day at the Park, Brian suggested getting a tree.  We all thought that would be a good idea but also thought it would be good to get Little Miss Early Bird down for a nap at some point.  So, once again, Brian ventured out alone to pick up our Christmas tree.  He stopped at Menard's and selected a great tree.  He tied it up on top of his car, drove home, and hauled it in the house like the strong husband and daddy he is.

Meanwhile, Kate and I napped and then played!

Our tree!

Untied and letting the branches settle!

Kate and I played with our marble track while
we waited.

She loves this!

And so do I!

I promise our Christmas Tree traditions will become way more family friendly, even if that means we all drive out to our local store and pick out a wrapped tree together!  For now, we do what we can to make our lives easier and Daddy picking up the tree again this year worked perfectly!

Happy Christmas!

PJ Park Day

When you're an early riser, you get up when the world is still quiet.  People are still sleeping, pets are still sleeping, animals are still sleeping, and the outside is silent.  There are no cars driving by, no people taking walks, no children riding bicycles, no planes flying over - just quiet.  This is my happy time - when I can get up early enough.  I am totally an early bird as opposed to a night owl.  Brian is totally a night owl!

After all, "The early worm gets the...worm,"  as Michael Scott from The Office would say!

This morning Kate got up SUPER early.  Like, way earlier than normal for her.  So after we had breakfast and played for a bit, we decided to walk to the park in our pajamas and play for a bit more.  We got there just around 8 am and had the entire playground to ourselves!  Minus some people who met up with their dogs for a little dog social out in the field!

We had a blast!  It was a little chilly and a little windy, but we dressed appropriately and got some fresh air!  Plus, I captured the cutest video ever!  Want to know what the park looks like to a two-year old?!  Watch this:

The swings are typically our first stop!

Swinging in our bone jammies!

Checking out the dog social!

Be still my heart!

This one makes me smile!

Even Baby gets a turn!

Getting up early makes me feel like I get so much more accomplished during the day.  When I've been up for a few hours and it's only 8 am I feel like I've got the whole rest of the day ahead!  I wonder if Kate will be an early bird like her Mommy or a night owl like her Daddy!  She seems to have moments of both!  If today is any precursor, then she is totally an early bird!

And that is perfectly fine by me!  #earlybirdsunite

Thanksgiving 2014

This Thanksgiving found us in Ohio celebrating with Brian's Dad's family and Brian's Mom's family.  We rotate our holidays each year so we get to see our Ohio families and our Maryland families.  Wherever we are for Thanksgiving, we are at the opposite place for Christmas, and then we swap holidays the next year.  This has worked out pretty well for us.  I'm not sure it'll stay like this forever, but this is what it is now!

We spent the day enjoying our time with our families and eating lots of Thanksgiving food.  After all, that's what Thanksgiving is all about, right?!

Sadly enough, I didn't take any photos.  The only ones I have are the ones that other people sent me, and even that only amounts to three...  Enjoy the photo below, compliments of our guest photographer - Aunt Katy!

Happy Turkey Day to all our fellow turkeys!!!

Cousins - Gina, Courtney, Wyatt & Kate!

Big Girl Bed

If you recall, Kate just recently started climbing out of her crib consistently.  And by 'recently' I mean this past week and by 'consistently' I mean every time she wakes up she climbs out.  It doesn't matter what time it is.  If she wakes up, she climbs out, and promptly makes her way into our room.  

Therefore, we hightailed it over to Ikea and selected a new bed!  And by 'we' I mean Brian and Tom and by 'new bed' I mean Ikea's Hemnes Daybed.  Brian and I had contemplated the toddler bed for maybe one second when we bought the crib before we even had Kate.  Our decision was always "hopefully we will be using that crib for another baby by the time Kate needs a bed".  So we bought a crib that is only a crib and does not convert into any sort of toddler bed or full size bed.  We also didn't have much interest in transitioning from a crib to a toddler bed and then again from a toddler bed to a big girl bed, so this daybed was our perfect solution!

Three of the four sides are enclosed and it also pulls out to fit another twin size mattress.  This makes it even more awesome!  I can envision many-a-sleepovers in the not so distant future where Kate and her friends will fit and sleep in this same bed!  This bed is also grown-up enough that we can decorate her room now and ten years from now using the same furniture (if we want to) and not have it look too childish.  This bed is awesome!  And by 'awesome' I mean perfect for many different scenarios so go buy one!

Our plans were not to head to Ikea this weekend, or spend the whole weekend putting together Ikea furniture, but, like I mentioned, Kate started climbing out of her crib and that is not a safe choice in our household, so we moved our trip up to accommodate our local monkey.

Brian and Tom drove down and back to Ikea on Friday night.  It's just under two hours from us, right outside of Cincinnati, OH.  They loaded up on lots of boxes while Mary, Kate, Jack and I hung out at the homestead.  (Totally my kind of Friday!)

Tom - yes, Gangsta Tom - and the loot from Ikea!

We bought this bed in the white color and chose to buy the matching dresser and nightstand and a white bookshelf as well since the rest of Kate's furniture in her room was about to be looted and moved to our spare room.

Mary and Tom returned on Saturday to help us build our new furniture.  Brian and Tom spent ALL DAY working on the bed and dresser.  And by 'ALL DAY' I mean they started in the morning when they arrived aroun 10 am and didn't stop until nearly 9 pm when they finished.  I don't think Brian or Tom have any interest in ever building an Ikea bed again.  Oh, and also, that bed won't fit through the doorway, so it's in that room for good now!

Kate and I played on the Ikea boxes before the building started
while Daddy caught up on some zzz's!

Love that little leg!

The builders...realizing their undertaking.

Once they were finally done building, Kate tested the new bed out!

It looks so comfy, right?!  She even said so herself and that totally
made us laugh!!!  Love!

Kate thought so too!

She looks so little in this big bed!!!

Our big girl in her big girl bed!

The mattresses that we bought from Ikea have a bit of a chemical smell to them, and this really freaks me out, so they are airing out in the garage.  I'm not entirely sure what that smell is, but I refuse to let them in our house or let Kate sleep on them with the way that they smell, so she's still sleeping in our bed for the time being, but at least when we are ready to put them on the bed it will be good to go.  And, yes, I said mattresses as a plural because we did buy two for when we need to pull out the bottom half of the bed and use it!

Later on Sunday, Kate helped Daddy build her nightstand!  Such a good helper!

I heart her!

Such a dainty way to use a screw driver, right?!

We spent all weekend, literally, going to Ikea and building furniture for Kate's big girl room.  I am so excited to decorate again and pick out some fun things for her new room!  I'm thinking a canopy with twinkle lights of some sort and lots of color!

Stay tuned!  I will try to post updates as we get to them!

UPDATE:

We ended up buying completely new and a different brand of mattresses because that chemical smell never faded from the Ikea ones.  I was too afraid to use them for my baby.  But we have brand new ones that don't have an odor and are perfectly comfy!

Cabinet Play

There are just some cabinets in our kitchen that are way more fun to play in than others.  There's this one cabinet in particular that has always been a favorite.  I'm not sure if it's because there's not much stuff in it, so it's easy to remove the stuff and play in it, or if it's because it's the quickest to get to from the family room.  It's the closest one to the table.  Regardless of the reason, this is Kate's favorite cabinet, and Girlfriend plays in it...A LOT!

Just her size!

This is it.  The infamous cabinet!

And, yes, someone IS hiding in there!

Gently closing the door...

Being very careful of fingers!

Anyone there now?!

Why, yes, of course!

I adore those tiny fingers!

My heart...in a cabinet!

H is for Hendricks

A is for AMAZING because this is no small feat.
B is for BUSTED because we've watched this feat repeat.
C is for CRIB that Kate continues to climb out of.
D is for DOG who is unsure of this new love.
E is for EXCITING because this new chapter will start.
F is for FRIGHTENING because our little Kate is smart.
G is for GOODNESS because we didn't expect this so soon.
H is for HENDRICKS which is how we sleep in our room.
I is for IKEA - a sooner trip than planned.
J is for JUMP which clearly won't be banned.
K is for KATE who is the culprit of the crime.
L is for LITTLE because she is still so this time.
M is for MOMENTS because these things keep us on our toes.
N is for NIGHTTIME when this situation first arose.
O is for OPPOSITION because Kate knows what she would like.
P is for PERSISTENT because she's a persistent little tyke.
Q is for QUIET which we are missing come midnight.
R is for REALLY?! We've lost our bed outright.
S is for SILLY because that is what Kate thinks.
T is for TOTALLY GIRL because her only request was pinks.
U is for UPSTAIRS because it is the location of this concern.
V is for VICTIMS for Brian and I toss and turn.
W is for WONDER how long this will take undoing.
X is for e-XTREME we imagine the amount of times we'll be pursuing.
Y is for YAWN which we all do the next day.
Z is for ZOO which describes our bed today.

Need a further explanation?!

Last Saturday Kate decided to climb out of her crib.  She does so very cautiously and elegantly.  This we did not expect at all and while we had talked about getting a big girl bed soon, it was just that - soon.  On our radar...but not this coming weekend.  Plans have quickly changed.

We sit with Kate until she falls asleep, place her in her crib, and wait with baited breath.  Every night since Saturday she has woken up in the middle of the night and climbed into bed with Brian, Jack, and me.  If Brian and I are sleeping vertically, she tends to complete our 'H' for Hendricks by sleeping horizontally in between us.  This has led to some less than stellar sleeping conditions and while it is wonderful to wake up cuddling next to your little girl, I am terrified of the difficulties we are going to face trying to undo allowing this to happen.

At the same time we don't want Kate climbing out of her crib in the middle of the night, even though she does possess very solid climbing skills.  (Our teachers at Kate's school have also told us this based on how many times she climbs up the pile of cots...)

We have scheduled a trip to Ikea on Firday.  Brian will be leaving work early to pick up a new bedroom set and we'll get it put together on Saturday.  We've talked to Kate about getting a new bed and told her it would be white.  Her only request thus far has been, "pink".  Bless her dear little heart.  We will make her bed pink.

C is for CURVEBALLS.  P is for PARENTING.  H is for HAND-IN-HAND.

E is for ENOUGH SAID.

Bundled Bunch

I am determined to keep us able to play outside this winter.  It is so much fun, so nice to get fresh air, and so good for our bodies.  My parents have just spent the last three years in Ottawa, Canada, and there are kids that walk to school every single day throughout the entire year.  This is what my brother, James, did.  He walked to school in negative temperatures.  So, I figure with the right gear, we can do it too!  Especially since we won't be in negative temperatures anytime soon!

We attempted this for the first time today.  We bundled up and headed to the park.  It was a quiet day.  We had the park to ourselves.  But we got outside and moved our bodies.  It was fun!  Plus we got nice and cozy when we got back home which totally made it all worth it!

It's not as easy to crawl through tunnels when
you're all bundled up!

But is sure does keep us warm!

Taking a chilly motorcycle ride!

"Rolling down the street..."  Thanks, Snoop.

We are a bundled bunch!