Photos from Dallas

Dylan and I went to Dallas last weekend to visit my family. Here are some photos of Dylan with my nine year old nephew Maverick, my mom teaching Dylan how to eat with chopsticks. Also some quick shots of Dylan with Nicole's 2 year old daughter, Landry and Jill's 8 month old son, Jak. The kids are getting so big and growing so fast. It is still amazing that we all have children now!

Mom feeding Dylan with chopsticks.

My sister's 8 year old son, Maverick. Dylan with Bunny Ears. 

Cousins lovin on each other.

In Plano, TX with my girlfriends kids. From the front left: Landry, Jak, Dylan and Maverick.

Aunt Angela comes to visit

Joe's good friend Angela came to town for a quick visit. Here we are at Hooters. It was my first time at a Hooters and Dylan's second (no I am not proud of that fact!). I was surprised to find that the place was actually very kid friendly, and there were lots of other families there with kids. Not that we are going back anytime soon.
I am almost 8 months pregant here, but luckily the bump was well hidden!

I was so nice to see Angela and for her to get to meet Dylan. We had to go to Hooters because it was one of the few places in NWI that was showing the Michigan/Penn State game. Angela went to Penn State. Unfortunately, they got their butts kicked again. At least the wings were good! (We didn't actually eat any wings, but you gotta mention them when you talk about Hooters, right?)

Chaos has consumed us.

I didn't think that our house could get any worse, but it has. Every room in the house has been affected by this remodel.
Here are more photos of our chaos.

Our garage is piled high with trash waiting to be recycled or hauled away.






Our basement, backyard, living room, all bedrooms are also piled high with stuff. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, literally.

We finally have the recessed lighting in the kitchen almost complete.



We hope to have the electrical finished and drywall up and painted this weekend. Then we can get the hardwood floors down. And hopefully the cabinets installed by the end of the month. Baby steps.

Speaking of baby steps, the baby will be here in less than 8 weeks. The doctor wants to induce at 39 weeks, which makes me so happy. Hopefully our house will have some order before then and the baby doesn't decide to pop out earlier.

Kitchen remodels aren't for the faint hearted.

It has been a slow process this kitchen remodeling project. Joe spent last weekend ripping out more drywall, pulling down the ceiling and pulling up old flooring.


There must have been a thousand nails and staples in the subfloor.



The worst was pulling down the old ceiling, dust was everywhere. Joe is still blowing black stuff out of his sinuses.


Joe ripped out more dry-wall last night (because why not, he does it so well and there are still two walls not touched!) and Bob our builder friend has done a little electrical work, but mainly our kitchen still looks like condemded house.
Here is a wall that Joe ripped out last night.

And this one too.


Hey, at least the foyer tile is completed. Yippee!
Here is the old ceramic tile.

Here is the new porcelain tile.


Dylan and I are getting out of dodge this weekend, flying down to Dallas to visit my family. It should be *fun* traveling with a 2 1/2 year old while 7 months pregnant. I'll post about our adventures when I return next week.

Dear Dylan on your second birthday - December 14, 2006

Here is something I wrote when Dylan turned two last year. I can't believe he will be three soon. This year is zooming by!

Dylan's daycare helped him make this "hat" for his 2nd birthday.


Dylan is already multi-tasking at 2 years old! (Also, notice that he already favors his left hand.)


We do a small celebration on his actual birthday and then a big party with friends and family later.


December 14, 2006

Today you turn two. Happy Birthday baby, we are so blessed to have you in our lives. You have been such a joy, and a whole new world of discovery to us and so full of fun. We love seeing the world through your big blue eyes. It is like everything is new again, but in full Technicolor and high definition.

The other day you noticed the Christmas lights strung in the trees along the road and you squealed with delight. “WHAT’S THAT!!!” you demanded, I craned my head around to see what you were looking at and it was so wonderful to see how the simplest things make you happy and curious. You see everything like that, with amazement and wonder. I said “Christmas lights in the trees Dylan, pretty huh?” and you said “uh huh” nodding your head furiously and making twinkle twinkle motions with your hands, like you do when you sing the song “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star”. I am so amazed by how well you can comprehend things now. The lights really did look like twinkling stars in the trees.

The teacher at daycare calls you “our little genius”. She tells me that you are a quiet and smart little guy. You sometimes don’t say much, but then out of the blue you’ll start counting to ten or singing the alphabet. We never knew it was in you and it is like a little miracle when you show us that there is a smart, curious person inside that brain of yours.

When we were at your annual cardiologist appointment earlier this week, you made us so proud. You were fascinated by the stickers and wires used for the EKG. You let the nurse practitioner stick the wires on you, helping her count “one, two, three”, etc as they were being placed on you, so cooperative and without a fuss. You sat really still while the machine did the reading. We were all holding our breath, and it was like you knew that it was a serious thing and we were all praying for a good reading. You let Dr. Randolph lay you down while he took your pelvic blood pressure. Your EKG and blood pressure readings were excellent. Your coarctation repair is a great success. We were so relieved and overjoyed with your development and heart health. We were so proud of your cooperation during the appointment. When the doctor left the room you exclaimed in great excitement “ALL DONE! Bye bye”. Well said little buddy, our sentiments exactly. We don’t have to see Dr. Randolph again for a year. Another blessing.

For your birthday party we are doing a Thomas the train theme. You love “choo, choos” and also Blues Clues. Elmo is still a favorite. For a time there you knew how to say Elmo before you could say ma ma. I broke my heart a little, but I am over it now. Lol. You are so incredibly attached to your daddy. You have so much fun playing hiding games, and rough housing. He is so wonderful with you, very hands-on and always excited to see you after work, so much so that sometimes you don’t get to bed until past 10 pm because you are both playing so together for so long. I love to see the special relationship you have with your daddy. I hope that you will grow up to be best buddies – even if it means that you’ll both leave me at home alone to go golfing or to a Bears game.

Today is also a very special day because our friend Max received a new heart earlier this morning, so it is kind of his birthday today too! We are praying for his health, praying for his family and praying for the donor’s family. It is a true Christmas miracle, and a very generous and selfless Christmas gift. I urge everyone to become an organ donor, what better gift than to give the gift of life?

I am truly changed after giving life to you Dylan. I love you very much.
Love, Mama

Mini projects

Baby blanket I am (slowly and painfully) knitting.

I hope that you don't think that I am sitting around eating bon bons and getting fat while Joe is rebuilding our house (although I won't argue that I am getting fat). I have a few mini projects that I am working on myself.

I bought a DVD on knitting a few months ago and taught myself to knit in a week. I know like 3 stitches now and have made several scarves, 2 cellphone holders, and a purse. Currently, I am working on a blue and white striped baby blanket. It is a painfully long process, especially since I am still learning the craft. With each project I learn something new, like if you only have 3 months before the baby's due, don't ever make a baby blanket with size 6 needles and light #3 yarn - this thing is going to take me months to finish! It is like knitting with thread, very fine and tedious. If I weren't so stubborn, I would have ditched the project by now. I want to also make matching booties, so I have a lot of work ahead of me in the next 2 months.

I also want to make curtains for the baby's room. That room gets the most light out of all the rooms upstairs. I am just going to make simple white curtains with a pale blue border to add some interest, I am also going to make them with white blackout liner. I made some blue and red denim curtains with a blackout liner for Dylan's room. It is amazing what a difference the blackout material makes - it keeps the room in total darkness and it is also a good insulator in the winter.

From two rooms to one

The wall that is about to be knocked down.

Another view of the wall.

We have studs.


The gold ceiling is finally pulled down. Bye bye 80's!

Two rooms become one!



Here are photos of our demolished kitchen and dining room. As you can see by the progress, Joe worked his butt off this weekend. He gutted the kitchen and knocked down the wall between the kitchen and dining room. He also pulled down the lovely gold ceiling and took up the ceramic floor in the foyer. We were happy to get back to our "day jobs" to get some rest!

Big Feet

I am constantly told that Dylan has pretty big feet for a kid his age. Right now he is in a size 11 shoe. He started walking at 12 months old and we have had to buy him a newpair of shoes almost every 2-3 months since, not only are his feet big, but they grow so fast.

I usually buy shoes at Stride Rite on sale or look for discounted shoes at Marshall's or TJ Max. Last week I bought him a very expensive pair of sneakers, that he picked out himself. When we got home he wouldn't wear them. He walked around limping in them like they hurt his feet, even though he was properly sized and loved the shoes at the store. Of course, I ended up returning the pair, I am not keeping a pair of $60 shoes that the kid won't wear.

Now he won't wear his old size 10's. He barely wants to wear his sandles. Any advice? He doesn't like to be barefoot either. Should I break down and buy him another pair of Crocs? Winter will soon be here and they will be worthless. On the other hand, at least I know he is comfortable in them and they are a cheap solution for the time being.

I hope this behavior doesn't continue, it is hard enough finding cute, reasonably priced shoes but ones that are good for his feet and comfortable too, I am finding it almost impossible. Actually, it is a problem I have had all my life too. Being a size 10 feet by 8th grade and almost 5'10" tall wasn't fun when your friends (and especially the boys) were much much shorter. Co-ed mandatory ballroom dancing classes in 9th grade was pure torture for me!

I went to a few local stores looking for size 11 shoes today for Dylan and didn't have any luck. I have no idea what to send him in to daycare in tomorrow. Hopefully, he won't give daddy too much of a fight in the morning with his old size 10's.

Major Project #2: Renovating our English Tudor

For the last month we haven't had windows on one side of our house. Which has been so much fun (not) with a dog, a toddler and a month of torrential storms. None of us has had a decent night of sleep - do you know how loud storms and night noises are without windows! Of course we had a sheet of Tyvek covering the holes, but still.

Joe can go into detail about what he is doing to the house. But here are some photos of our kitchen cabinets waiting to be assembled, our new stainless steel appliances waiting to be unwrapped and Joe removing the stucco and windows, with his friend Bob Jen.

Joe is amazing with home renovations. I am always impressed of the work he does, most of it self-taught. In the past, he has installed new hardwood floors, tile, plumbing and even some electrical. The coolest project was the 9 foot pergola and flagstone patio he built at his old townhouse. I still drive by that house when I am in that neighborhood to check it out -always secretly hoping that the new owner has growing bougainvillea on it.

Today we are finally installing the new stucco and windows, which will finally make the rooms usable again - one being Dylan's room and the other the baby's room. I am so excited, because I will finally be able to start decorating the baby's room.

Originally, we wanted to do a surfer/beach theme. But since I haven't found anything locally with that theme and didn't want to buy everything off the internet we are now changing the theme to a retro baseball/sport theme. I love the Land of Nod stuff and will try to replicate it.

We (when I say we, I mean Joe) will also start gutting out the kitchen this weekend. Which kinda puts me in a panic mode. It is going to be a long month of sandwiches and take out. Not to mention the dust and Dylan and the dog getting into everything. On the bright side, I don't have to do any cooking or housekeeping for awhile! Cool!