House Remodel - end of week 15

Luke and I both very nicely expressed to Dan that we were frustrated with the progress of the never-ending ghost-town project lately. After those conversations with him nothing much changed. Then we (I) began to put it not so subtly. And more than once. I'm not sure if it was my trembling lips, cracking voice, combined with a crabby 3 year-old and a baby clinging to my hip with spit up down my shirt and tears in my eyes that did it or what, but something lit a fire and now things have finally picked back up over the past week. Apparently the squeaky wheel does get the grease. That or maybe he was responding to our very friendly threats to find someone else to finish the project if he's too busy (threats to "fire him," as he put it). Alas, we seem to be back on track.

Last week the downstairs carpet was installed. The master carpet was delivered with a run down the middle (defective) so they had to send that back and order new. It should be in within a week or so. They removed the bamboo flooring upstairs and re-installed it (it was done poorly the first time). The appliances were delivered. The trim is almost finished. They've put in some finishing touches like the tops of the ledges in the upstairs hall above the living room and the 1/2 wall by the dining room. Also the outside is shaping up really well. The front gable posts have been put in place, the soffit is almost done and the siding on the front gable is almost finished!

We practically had to threaten Dan to give us an estimated time of completion (the inside) but he finally has. He said "a couple weeks." Yay! Two weeks! Little did I know that "a couple of weeks" is the big construction joke - as featured all over the place including SNL - as in "Sure lady. A couple of weeks. Mmmm hmmm."

Sweet Sweet Boys!

Just when I am on the verge of a Mommy Mental Breakdown Will does the sweetest things. Last night he sat next to me and I can't even count the number of kisses and hugs and pats that I received. They kept on coming. For at least 30 minutes. And he always loves to hold hands which I LOVE. It re-energized my patience and my mental state like you wouldn't believe!!

Some things I love...

Will just spelled his name! "W-I-L-L, Will"

I love how when I hand Will something that he really wants, like pieces of candy, he tries to grab them so fiercely, getting each one, that he's practically shaking and there is NO WAY he's going to let anything drop.

Dane scratching at things, opening and closing his fist, as he explores new textures and figures out what things feel like.

Mental Health Day!

That's right! I'm taking a mental health day! Spa? Nap? Reading my book? Pedicure you might ask? Nope! I'm cleaning my house! I'm talking de-cluttering, cleaning, tidying, organizing. I couldn't be happier! The boys' babysitter picked up an extra day and I jumped at the opportunity to have this day to get our house in order. Life has been extra crazy (waaay too crazy for my liking) ever since we started remodeling the house, combined with a baby and a 3-year-old, housekeeping has slipped on my list of priorities. It's been a very long time since I've done a thorough cleaning, and usually things get done only when I actually see the dirt on the floor, or am sickened by the buildup of dust. So today I'm doing all of the normal cleaning and also removing and sorting through the ridiculous piles, doing laundry, getting the boys fall clothes washed and put in their closet. It's wonderful! I'm a happier Momma and wife when I have things in order. When the house is in constant disarray it makes my mental state feel messy and cluttered as well.

I knew it was definitely time for a day like this last night. I was standing in the kitchen talking on the phone when I noticed what Will was doing. He was crouched down on his hands and knees on the kitchen floor with his chest practically on the floor, actually blowing a dust bunny from one side of the room to the other. Like it was a new game.

Will taking Dane hostage. It looked like Dane was playing dead. "If I just lie here maybe it will stop." Dane loves baths and I don't think there's much of anything cuter than a naked baby bundled up in a towel after bath time.

Here is Dane in his new winter hat! :) I said he is ready for winter, a friend of mine said yes, that, or ready to rob a bank.

House Remodel - weeks 13 & 14

Just as we were beginning to let ourselves get excited for the end, we've had a setback. On Friday night Luke and I had a date night (first one since Dane was born!!) and on our way home we stopped by the house. To our surprise and major disappointment we realized that our new, beautiful, (expensive!) bamboo floors that were about 1/2 way installed looked pretty bad. Large spaces between some of the boards where you could actually see the tongue (of the tonge & groove) between the boards. The pattern of the boards was also less than desirable. Long story short, the installation has come to a halt and our builder is meeting with the owner of the company who installed them. Dan (our builder) said not to worry, he will get this fixed. They are going to pull up the floor that's already been laid and have it done correctly. So what it really means is more time. Probably 2-5 extra weeks depending on whether we have to order more flooring.

On another brighter note, they have begun laying our tile! (no grout yet) This is the 1/2 bath upstairs. We will be using this same tile in the boys bathroom downstairs.

Here is the laundry room. I especially love this tile.

House Remodel - Weeks 11 & 12

Things are starting to move quickly. The past two weeks they have put up almost all of the trim. (and painted!) Our cabinets are in and our counter tops (quartz) and sink were installed. Most of our lighting fixtures are in.

We are SO happy that we've gone with Dan Wesley as our "superintendent/builder." He has been nothing but wonderful. He is adding great touches to the house and has been honest, thorough and pleasant. One of the things we love about this house is not only that it is the house that Luke grew up in, but it's on the Payton land which includes farmland, woods and pasture. There is a beautiful old barn on the land that Luke absolutely loves. Dan took an old beam from that barn and cut it to fit on the end of the wall in our kitchen area. It looks incredible. He is also making our banister out of the old barn wood (which has "buckshot" (sp?) in it - when Luke's grandfather would shoot his shotgun some of the metal would lodge itself in the wood. You can actually see the tiny pieces in our banister if you look closely. What character!) It's gorgeous.

Things are coming together! We hope to be able to start moving in 2 weeks from now. That will be pushing it, but time will tell..

I don't know who came up with the term "terrible twos" because in our experience the twos had absolutely NOTHING on the threes. I'm sure that having to adjust to a new baby has had something to do with it, but there has been an overload of back-talking, refusing, screaming, defying, and even kicking, hitting and pushing.

The other day I was feeding Dane and pumping and Will was doing something that he wasn't supposed to be doing. I asked him to stop. He ignores me. I tell him to stop again. He tells me he doesn't want to stop. I let him know if he doesn't stop that he's going to get a time-out. He said (in nastiest, whiniest voice imaginable) "I don't waaaant to stop" (ugly face and glare at me) Me: Go. Time-out. Now. He yells "I don't waaant a time-out!" and picks up a shoe and throws it in my direction. Ok, these are always the most difficult moments as a parent. What I want to do is...well...something not in the parenting books. So I take a deep breath and tell him that I'm going to spank his bottom if he doesn't go to time-out right now. And then the kicker... He says "You're not going to stop pumping." The look I gave him must have told him that I absolutely would stop pumping because he started scooting backwards towards the time-out bench.

And the drama! The other day Will was in a mood and it seemed like everything led to whining and fake crying. He walked over to Dane, who was in the swing in the kitchen, and bent over to get in his face. Dane kicked his legs in and out, like all babies do when they're excited, and Will dramatically fell backwards onto the floor. The scrunched up face. The bottom lip out. "HE KICKED ME!!!!"

Today we had to purchase all of the tile for the house. After at least 30 minutes of Will being a little too wild for our liking and us constantly telling him to stop, put it down, he started digging in things on the shelves. I told him his boundaries... (you can play with these sponges, but not with any of these sharp tools. They're dangerous.) He gets the sharp tools out. Luke and I tell him to put them away. He doesn't. Luke removes the sharp tool from his hand and he swats away Luke's hand. I'm not sure exactly what escalated from there but all I know is I ended up putting him in the cart and we tried to ignore his crying. The screaming starts. The screeching. Then he starts turning around in the cart and grabbing Dane. Threats to take him out to the car. Screaming. Threats to spank his bottom. Screaming. So I leave Luke to make the final decisions regarding the tile and take the boys out to the car. All the way Will is crying and screaming "I DON'T WANT A SPANKING!! (sobbing, tears and snot streaming down his face) I DON'T WANT A SPANKING! all the way out. Of course everybody was staring at us.

Today was one of those days that my patience had completely run out. I found myself chanting "just get through the day. just get through the day." Yes, the two's had nothing on the three's.

House Remodel - Week 10

This past week they completely finished the drywall and ceilings. I finished picking out the paint colors. The painter got everything primed and should finish the painting this upcoming week. The interior doors came in and they are installed. Kitchen cabinets are in!!!

Labor Day Weekend in Michigan!

We had a great trip up to Michigan this weekend! The Thompsons bailed on us so it was just us and my mom and Chuck. The weather was pleasantly fall-like in the 60s and 70s. We had eucher tournaments each night which was really fun. Chuck and I against my mom and Luke. Chuck had never played before so he was learning the game the first couple of nights. By the last night the true winners dominated (Chuck and I of course). Sunday was the nicest day weather-wise. We decided to take a hike up The Dune. The Dune is a huge sand dune that you can get to walking behind my mom's cottage. It's about 3 properties over and you hike up the back of it in the woods, get to the top to enjoy the view of the lake and then run down the front of it. It's a ton of fun and we decided that we were all going to go - Dane in the Baby Bjorn with Daddy and Will with help from us.

Dane and Daddy ready to go!On the way up to The Dune you pass "Blueberry Hill." This is after you've already gone up quite a bit, but before you hit the REAL hill. Will and Momma taking a rest on Blueberry Hill.
Here is Will crawling up the back of the dune with my mom and Chuck. You literally have to crawl up it to get to the top. You crawl/scamper from one tree to the next and look for any roots or branches to help pull yourself up. This is when I was at the top and it was beginning to level off. The real climb is even steeper than this. Will did a great job! Here are Daddy and Dane and Will, my mom and Chuck approaching the top. The Paytons at the top. Here is Will climbing a wall of sand at the top before we ran down. Running down - it doesn't look NEAR as steep as it actually is. You literally have to run down - you take a step and slide at least 3 feet then take another step and slide 3 feet, etc. It's a lot of fun. Will took a couple of spills and a face full of sand but was having so much fun he would pop right up and keep on going. Getting to the bottom...So much fun!!

As soon as we got to the bottom Will was already asking to climb it again and run back down. When we got to the bottom and had all emptied out our shoes full of sand, we walked down to the beach for a while. Chuck spotted a bald eagle. We watched him take off and soar - without flapping his wings one time - for at least a mile. Until he was out of sight - and he never flapped his wings once. It was beautiful.

We had dinner with BG & GG on Saturday night which was fun. When they were ready to head home my mom and Will walked them across the street since it was dark. When they were on their way back they decided to run home. While they were running back apparently my mom passed gas. Will replied: "It's ok, Nana! I'm tootin' too!!"

Grandma Becca got some shin guards at a garage sale for Will's big cousins. They didn't need them so they were passed along to Will. He's been wearing them all evening. He said he was going to take them to Michigan to put on Chut and Nana.

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