Uncovering a Multitude of Sins

I hate this couch. I selected it when I was young and easily influenced. I hate to admit that we actually purchased it. I would like to tell people that I got this set (yes! it's a set - the loveseat graces my living room) from my grandma when she moved into a nursing home. Not the case. My grandma is not in a nursing home and her sense of decor puts mine to shame. I have to take responsibility for the choice of this hulking, ugly mass of blue chenille.

This week, I tried to hide it with a slipcover. I know I promised my blogfans a detailed story of my slipcovering adventures. As it turns out the story is rather short. Slipcover arrived. I did my best. But, like the beating of the telltale heart, the couch refused to be hid.

Most slipcovers are made for sofas. I need one for an upholstered continent. I wish I would have taken a picture of my handy work, but I didn't. A mental image will have to do: Picture an obese woman wearing a tube top. Picture this tube top being visible only where it covers the most essential part of her upper torso. The rest of the tube top is swallowed up in rolls of fat - front fat, back fat, side fat, every variety of fat the human body can offer. Picture the thin slit of tube top visible from the rear, overlapped by flaps of back breasts. It's not the fault of the tube top. It's giving all it can. And so it was with the slipcover.

In the end I decided to spruce up the blue monster with a couple new throw pillows. I think they make quite a difference. In any event, it looks like I am stuck with this mountain of foam and fabric until I go back to work. So be looking forward to pictures of the most stunning sofa this world has ever seen in t-minus 2 years. And in the meantime, mine is one house where you don't need to feel guilty about farting in the couch cushions. Nothing can harm this beast.

Ottoman is a Funny Word

Five years ago when we moved into this house, it was just Chris and me and a (seemingly) huge, empty house. After we transferred everything from our tiny rental, we were left with empty drawers, an unused bathroom, one bedroom that was entirely vacant except for a twin bed that had seen better days and a living room that lacked furnishing. While my living room is still effectively unfurnished, having children has quickly filled up the rest of the house with hairbows, Barbies, diapers, wipes and stuffed animal after infernal stuffed animal.

At the end of the day, I would try to put everything away, but there was no "away". Stacks of toys adorned the family room and the girls' rooms. The huge amounts of toys that were welcomed into our house at Christmas were giving me nightmares. The house was closing in on us. So for the last few days, we have been organizing like it's 1999.

I started with the bow drawer (this is actually an ongoing effort I started a few months ago but have added to in recent days):

I'm very proud of the re-purposed baby food containers.

That felt so good that we decided it was time for Emily to store her toys in her room. So we got some storage drawers for her closet.

Let me tell you - the ability to actually be able to put all the toys in the family room away almost made me weep with joy. And oddly Emily seems much less willing to destroy her own room than the family room.

Then Chris got in on the effort by putting his x-box crap... er... uh... accessories, I mean, into this fabulous storage ottoman.

If you think this is a boring blog, you've never lived in a house with small children. And some days, I envy you.

Next week, I plan on slipcovering my couch to add to the streamlined feel of my reclaimed family room. And, don't worry, I will be blogging about that effort as well.

What We've Been Up To

I haven't blogged in awhile, so I thought I would catch my reading public up on the most important happenings of late.

Jane is cruising and using her little arm to hold things against her body. I'll get a picture of this sometime and post it. It's super cute.

Emily is still the most determined human being I have ever met. She summed it up when I asked her to stop doing something bad and she told me, "I don't have a choice".

Chris is working like crazy and we are thankful that he has work at a time when so many are being laid off.

And me? The most important thing that's happened to me lately is that I got this slammin' hoodie for $5. I was so excited about it I could hardly sleep that night.

(Of course, the part about the hoodie is all in jest - although I did really get it for $5. Thanks for a great week, Chris. I love you.)

The Magic of Christmas

Before you have children, people tell you life is more fun with kids. Four thousand poopy diapers into the process, you begin to wonder if you were sold a bill of goods. And then Christmas comes along. There are few things more fun in life than a preschooler on Christmas day who has been asking every day since the first snow, "Is it Christmas yet?". Well, today the answer was finally yes.

On Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas Story. It went fairly well. I am amazed at how attentive my small children were through the accounts of Christ's birth in both the new and old worlds.


After that, we started a new tradition. We decided to give the girls new pajamas on Christmas Eve, thus serving the two fold purpose of 1) Giving them something to open that they can use immediately instead of handing them a toy and then saying "Go to bed. You can play with it tomorrow". And, 2)Giving them something to wear that won't look ratty and gross in the Christmas morning pictures. That's the background behind this lively video:



I don't believe there has ever been a human being so excited about a pair of clearance pajamas ever in the history of the world. Jane cleverly used the distraction to steal Emily's sippy, thus resulting in an off-camera fight.

Christmas morning was almost more excitement than Emily could stand. As soon as she saw her castle she exclaimed, "Oh! I wished for a castle!". Perhaps she watches too many princess movies.

Jane just went with the flow - enjoying her own gifts and carefully choosing her moments to help herself to Emily's gifts. And then helping those gifts into her mouth.

It was a wonderful Christmas. Someday I will look back and miss Christmas with small children. And then I will rejoice in the knowledge that my poopy diaper days are over.

The Big One

Yesterday, Jane turned 1. Everyone keeps telling me how they can't believe how quickly time flew. I always just smile and say "yeah, where does that time go?", but really I'm thinking "Seriously, it's only been a year? It feels like it's been 20 years". But that's one of those things you don't really say in polite conversation.

Here's how Jane looked a year ago:

And here's how she looks now:

It's amazing to see how much she has changed. A year ago she was just a screaming lump. Now she is a happy, mischievous girl that laughs all the time and calls anything with a face "baby". We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Jane has the dubious honor of having quadrupled her birth weight by 1 year of age. As much as my arms and neck and legs ache from hauling her around, I am much happier with her entering this flu season at 23 pounds than I was at her entering last season at 5 pounds, 12 ounces.

We kept Jane's first birthday pretty low-key. We ate her favorites for dinner - hot dogs and mac and cheese. You don't have to eat vegetables on your birthday.

This was followed by presents

And cake

And then a very necessary bath.

Yay for Jane!
Yay for birthdays!
Yay for whole milk, honey and forward facing carseats!
How time flies!

O Christmas Tree

For future reference: December 5th is a bit late to get a fresh Christmas tree. But through perseverance and a bit of luck, Christmas was saved by the firefighter's Christmas tree sale which had just started a couple days earlier. Not only did we get a beautiful tree, the proceeds went to a local charity.

Last night for Family Home Evening, we decorated our tree and I successfully resisted the desire to spread out some of Emily's ornament clusters.

While we decorated, Jane practiced her stair climbing skills. She still doesn't walk, or crawl with her tummy off the ground but she has figured out the stairs, thus making her a danger to herself which is, I believe, exactly what she intended.
Sorry about the picture. I think I had the camera on Bigfoot Capture mode.

Talent Show

Last night, Chris taught a Family Home Evening lesson on talents (and despite being assigned well in advance, Jane totally fell through on the treat). We talked about magnifying our talents and then about talents that each member of our family possesses.

What is Daddy's talent?

Emily: Hanging out at work.

What is Jane's talent?

Emily: The puking up talent.


Apparently Emily's talent is keen observation skills.