CONTAIN YOURSELF!

Last week, I was watching an episode of "Oprah" (at 1 in the morning while nursing the baby - thank God for good late-night television to keep me awake!) that featured clutter expert Peter Walsh tackling yet another set of viewers' messes. This time, he was helping one couple organize their car, which Oprah had secretly shipped to the studio for all the world to see (it was pretty bad), and some fraternity brothers clean out their frat house bedroom (now this was downright disgusting!). I was really motivated by Peter Walsh, mainly because he gave really straightforward, simple steps for decluttering any space. I headed to Oprah's website and found some really great de-cluttering "homework" for different rooms that Walsh guarantees will have your house cleaned out in 6 months.

While our house is generally in pretty good shape, my home office is one of the last bastions of disorganization, mainly because it never really got properly put together when we moved in August. I am actually excited to tackle the mess after seeing this episode and checking out the website. The best part of it all is that Oprah has gotten the Container Store to offer a 25% discount off your total purchase from now until April 13. I've set this as my own deadline for getting my office in order - mainly because I want to justify my buying some new cute organizational gear. Hey - if shopping is what motivates me, why fight it?

"YOU'RE GONNA LOVE MY NUTS..." AND OTHER LATE-NIGHT HILARITY...

I was lying in bed the other night, having trouble falling asleep after getting up for the 23rd potty break of the evening, and this commercial came on:

**BE SURE TO DISABLE THE MUSIC PLAYER TO THE LEFT OF THE SCREEN BEFORE VIEWING!!!**

Who knew that one little kitchen gadget can "make America skinny again, one slap at a time"?! BTW, this is the same guy of "Sham-WOW!" fame (which I have told Steve I wanted, like, 47 times and yet I did not find it in my stocking this Christmas... sigh). Feel free to post your favorite quotes from the commercial in the comment section!

THE BABY'S ROOM (AKA MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION)...

As I headed into the new year, I swore to myself that January was going to be entitled "Get Ready for #2," starting with making some decisions about the new baby's room. Well, like clockwork, I woke up on New Year's Day in pretty much a panic - or should we call it nesting mode?! I headed straight to Pottery Barn Kids and finally made some decisions about the direction in which I want to head.

Basics-wise, we needed to buy a new crib, since we've decided to keep Caroline in hers for as long as humanly possible. I know her days in it are limited, but I have to say I find it to be such a relief that I can keep her in some sort of socially-acceptable cage for just a bit longer. :) We have a table that I am using as a changing table (the traditional ones aren't open underneath, which makes them tricky for my wheelchair), and Caroline's new room has built-in drawers, which means the armoire we used in her nursery at the old house is up for grabs. The swivel glider that's currently in the corner of her room is going to move into the baby's room, as well.

As much as I've been complaining about getting myself in gear about this room, now that I'm working on some of the creative parts of it, I'm getting excited! Caroline's nursery was somewhat preppy, with a cute seersucker patchwork bumper and a variety of pastels. Weirdly enough, I fell in love with this bedding that I think resembles Anthropologie a bit more than Ralph Lauren. I have more decisions to make about window coverings (I'm leaning towards blackout shades with simple white drapes), paint color, rug, and any additional storage we might need, but I'm feeling pretty good about where things are headed! Here are some of the purchases or ideas I've had so far...

BEDDING

I decided on the Brooke quilt and bumper, but decided to forgo the sheets, bedskirt, etc. that went with it - it was all a bit too much and I'm certain it would have had emotional and/or psychological ramifications should #2 have had to stare at it every day for the next few years (hee hee). We're just going to go with some plain jersey sheets and a solid bed skirt that coordinates.

FURNITURE

We're using Caroline's swivel glider, but it's not covered in blue. Instead, it's the green chenille that you'll see in the swatch below (it just needs a really good cleaning!).

I bought the Kendall crib (below) on New Year's day - it was on sale for $300 less than it is usually priced! They had to do a little bit of searching to find it in white, but my girls at PBK can work magic, it seems. The Berkley armoire that we purchased for Caroline's nursery is also going in the baby's room.

ACCESSORIES AND DECOR
I just thought these little coordinating owls were too cute. They were also on sale, so I picked them up, too! Caroline thinks one is the big sister and one is the little sister. The hatching chick art (below) is something I'm debating, but I don't know what we're painting the room yet, so it might just be too much green. We'll see!

BACK TO SCHOOL... AND BACK FROM HIATUS!

So we've been more than a little MIA over the past few months! I am so sorry for that - it seems that being a blogger and dealing with a busy summer were a bit too much for me! Things are finally settling down though, and I am back and running - just gotta bite the bullet and not let any more time pass before writing in again. If I wait any longer, I might never be able to catch up! So here's what we've been up to this summer...



1) We've finally moved! Although we're still dealing with some construction (more on that in another post...), unpacking, and decorating, we've got the basic bones of what we need (mainly, an elevator... more on that in another post, too!), and that's what counts. I feel like our workers are going to move in with us and live here forever, but at least they are nice and really good with Caroline. :) BTW, if anyone in the DC Metro area is looking for a really good builder/renovator, we definitely reccommend Hemingway Homes in Bethesda - they have been beyond fabulous! I promise to post some pictures soon, especially of some of the before and after.



2) We sold our other house! We were lucky - even in this market, we got an offer after about 40 days. We went to settlement the Monday after we moved in to our new home. We felt good because it was going to a really nice older couple who could benefit from the one-floor living that the house provided us, and the fact that they had no plans to tear it down and build a McMansion (which is common in our old neighborhood) made me happy - I don't like change, so it's nice to imagine that our house is like the one in one of my favorite children's books, The Little House, where everything around the house changes but the house for the most part stays the same.



3) Steve finished his thesis and is officially finished with his MS in Engineering at Hopkins! It has been a REALLY long road for all of us (him, in particular!), and the past 8 months while he was writing what turned out to be an over-400-page document has been hard. I didn't realize how much I missed him until I had him back again! He even got an A - not that I'm surprised! I am so happy for him about that - it's nice to know that all your hard work and time away from work, family, and friends has paid off. We were really smart with our timing - he defended his thesis on a Friday afternoon, we moved on Saturday, and sold our house on Monday. Nothing like cramming in all the life changes into one weekend, which brings me to my next bit of news...



4) We're expecting our second baby! I'm a little over 16 weeks, or 4 months, along, and I'm due in February. I held back about posting the news when we first found out earlier this summer because I wanted to wait a bit, and then time just got away and life got crazy for me. I'm feeling good after a long first trimester - not sure if it was the baby or the move or both, but I'm glad it's better. We are really excited and although I'm a bit nervous about the whole two-kid thing, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Caroline taught me that. I'll keep you posted on how things are going in the upcoming weeks and months!



5) ...And finally, last but not least, our baby girl Caroline turned two in August and started pre-school last week! I can't believe how fast time has flown - she is such a little person now and totally not a baby. On the first day, after we got her out of the car, she bolted straight for the front door and didn't even notice us following her because she was so excited to get in there. While I have to admit part of me was hoping she'd at least realize that she and I would no longer be hanging out together every day like the wacky sidekicks we've become, I was also really proud of her for jumping right in and gearing up for her next adventure. Ultimately, that's the kind of kid that we are trying so hard to raise, and it was cool to see that spirit in her, even so early in her little life.



Aside from a few trips to the Bay here and there, that's what our summer has basically been all about - house, thesis, baby, getting ready for school. I can't wait until things are put together and we can all calm down - which will probably be just in time for Number 2's arrival. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be, though?!



Until next time - and I promise it won't be too long...

AT LONG LAST...

I have finally had a moment to get on here to post! What a week it has been since getting home from our trip to Fort Myers Beach for my cousin Brian's wedding to his new bride, Kara. I'll spare you most of the details, mainly because I'm finally a little less furious and don't really feel like getting myself all worked up again. Let's just say that the installation of the granite countertops, which our friend, who is our realtor, promised to supervise (and who decided that oversight, not to mention the promise he made to us, wasn't necessary and therefore wasn't in our home with these strangers for most of the day), didn't go so well.

We came home from our lovely family vacation to find bottles of Drano and Windex - which had been under the sink - out on the kitchen floor where Caroline made a beeline for them, chunks of drywall missing behind the backsplash that needed to be spackled and repainted, our plumbing disconnected so that when we turned the water on we had floods in not only the crawlspace under the kitchen but also under our sink, and our pantry, and every shelf in the pantry cabinet - which is adjacent to the counters - collapsed and in need of clean-up. We also found the old backsplash out on our deck and the old sink in our garage, apparently left for us to dispose of. Needless to say, it was not a happy scene at our house that night and in the days after.

People often talk about feeling violated when they have had a break-in or after being pick-pocketed or something. That's exactly how I felt upon seeing my kitchen. We had not contracted this work - our realtor had done this on our behalf. People I didn't know were in my home while I was not, and took something that I have loved for almost 5 years - our very first house, the place we brought our daughter home to for the first time - and tore it apart. While our realtor thought he could trust these people - as he had done business with them many times before, and whose children his children often play with - they clearly didn't hold as much value in this place as we do. The realtor has since apologized, and knows that his relationship with the contractor, as well as us, will never be the same.

Fortunately, my father is quite adept at lots of things related to home maintanence, and he helped us to put our little house back together again. He and Steve spackled and painted, cleared out and cleaned up the debris, and things are back to normal again. My Mom and Aunt Karen helped me to reconstruct the pantry while I chased Caroline and worked on packing the other parts of our house. We got everything fixed and ready for the dual baby shower I hosted this past Friday for my good friends Kristy and Michelle, who are due next month - just a week apart! While my trust in some people is still somewhat broken, my home is not, and should be ready to put on the market this week. I'll be posting next about our trip, but I wanted to share why I've been so out of the loop for the past few days...