First Haircut!

What to do, What to do?

For about two months now Mike and I have been working round the clock on this house. As most of you know,we are putting it on the market and renting for awhile. Well, today is D-day. The house is clean (pretty spotless actually). Eden's asleep. Mike's out working. I feel useless. I think I have forgotten how to relax. The house work really went full swing when we painted the outside (with A LOT of help from an amazing mother-in-law). Not as bad of a job as I envisioned. Once that was done we moved on to a lot of other odds and ends (with A LOT of help from an amazing-father-in-law). Put up white paneling stuff in our kitchen to mask the hideous linoleum that was there. Put a real door on our bathroom. Concreted the broken front step. Painted the hallway, all because of a spot that we were too lazy to touch up when we originally painted it. painted our bedroom. Put trim on the windows outside. Got a new roof (thank you State Farm and hail storm). And our latest project- drywalling the basement. Found out that had to be done to include it in the square footage. Mike and I both felt like punching our realtor in the face when she said that- but then returned to smiles when we did the numbers. So... that's a whole lot of rambling. Just wanted to let everyone know why this blog has remained a deserted place for the past few months (and let you know how exhausted we are). So here I sit waiting for the realtor to come and photograph the house, praying Eden doesn't wake up too soon and mess it up again- and that will become our new challenge over the next little bit (hopefully not a long bit), keeping a house virtually spotless while taking care of a messy little 2 year old. Here are a few pics for your viewing enjoyment! Wish us all the best!!!

We can sing now too! Sorry this is a little long- really more for the grandparents, as they'll tolerate the length (and Lily- Eden's #1 fan of her original twinkle post). We're still working on the house a lot and trying to get it on the market in the next 2 weeks! Hopefully this long weekend will help out. Happy 4th of July to you all- enjoy the weekend!

We are still here- just busy

This is where our time has been spent- painting the outside of our house. We will resume posts soon- I promise. So sorry for the massive delay.

Check out my new Minnie Mouse Underwear!

And for those of you wondering- it is as frustrating as I imagined. Keep us in your prayers.

I Did It Mommy! Did It!

I just got to hear this coming form the bathroom. That's right- you guessed it, she did it! We are on the road to potty training. For about a week now she's been getting the two's in there, and I think we're going to try for the one's this week! Too much information for you all? Sorry if it is, but that's life with Eden right now. I'll spare you a picture (no I don't have any, in case you were wondering). She's growing up fast and communicating more and more everyday. Here's a little snapshot that Angela took at the zoo last week- more to come.

Doubting yourself

As most of you know Mike and I really struggle with the whole cry it out method. Eden hasn't been a great sleeper from day 1- not sure when she'll be. But if this is the biggest challenge she presents us in her life we'll make it through. She has slept with us so that we could all get the sleep we need. It works for us. In fact we love it. There's nothing like waking up and seeing your shining 2 year old looking at you and saying as loudly as she can "Hi Mommy". Or getting into bed with her after she's been in bed for a few hours and watching her laugh in her sleep. Precious.

Recently Eden told Mike that she wanted to sleep in her "special bed"(her crib mattress that was on the floor for one of the kids that I watch.) It was a Sunday and Mike and I both looked at each other like "do we have to?" If we do this she may not nap- and I need her to nap today. Well we decided that we were the parents and we needed to suck it up and let her try it out- spread her wings if you will. She did it- slept there for 3 hours. Amazing. we both felt a since of sadness and a since of relief. She's not a baby anymore.So for a little over a week we've been going back and forth on this. She's been great about it at nap- not so much at night, but it's okay with us. She's a child that I believe will get it over time. And for those out there that are going- "she'll never get out of your bed"- Call me when she's still in our bed in High School- then we'll talk. She will in her own time. Sorry, just a little soap box of mine.Anyways- I just put Eden down for her nap and she was overly tired form a morning spent at the zoo. She was protesting her princess bed (yes- we went and got her princess sheets for her bed- something I swore I would never do). Mike and I left the room while she was screaming and throwing a temper tantrum- "Mommy's bed, Mommy's bed". Oh, Eden. I figured she'd get there eventually. So after about ten minutes of this I went in there to tell her that it was time to take a nap and was debating on putting her in our bed. I walked in the room with my lecture on the tip of my tongue, looked at my sweet girl and she goes- "pass (pacifier in Eden speak) please Mommy". The kid had dropped (or thrown) her pass on the floor and knows she's not aloud to get out of bed (or at least she hasn't tested us on that yet) and so she was just laying there looking at it. All of that to say- I guess I'm glad that I gave in this time.*disclaimer- I realize that to most of you this is a really long boring blog post- I guess to me it's my version of a journal of our daily trials. thanks for reading!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to all! Eden had a good Easter- a brisk 59 degrees so we didn't spend a lot of time outside but it was good all the same. We started off with giving Eden her basket in our bed, as we were too lazy to get up. After that we went to church in our Easter best. I made Eden's Easter dress this year and that was fun. It's fun to make it and see her in it. After church we went to breakfast/lunch at Satellite (a local favorite) with Ti and Chach- where bunny Ti got her another basket. She tore into the chocolate Easter bunny like she was on a mission- amazing how she knew there was candy in there. We just finished a meal (Ham, salad, mashed potatoes and rolls) with Chach, Ti and Chris- We were supposed to go to our friends Susan and Andrews- but Eden has a bit of a cold and we didn't want to pass it on. Next year. Well that's our summary of Easter- hope it was good for you all too!

Horton Hears a Who

Today I had the pleasure of taking Eden to her first movie theatre experience. It started with her whining and fussing as I took her out of the car because I wouldn't let her take her book in with her. I was wondering what had gotten into me that I had decided to take my barely 2 year old to a 1 and a half hour long movie. And then it hit her. We walked into the theater and she was in awe. MOVIE she screamed. We got a kids snack complete with popcorn, a small coke (of which she was enthralled to have about 1 oz mixed with water in her sippy cup) and some skittles. We walked towards the theater with a mob of kids following us- grabbed a safe chair (Eden lingo for a booster seat that she is now required to sit in after falling out of a regular chair) and headed in. The whole way in Eden couldn't stop looking at the strips of lights on the walls. The kid takes it all in. We found a seat and the previews started. She sat pretty still because she was munching on her skittles- when I offered her popcorn she informed me- "no momma candy first." How could I have been so wrong as to try and divert her for a bit from the candy. Then the movie started and she remained still. and the movie continued and she remained in awe. My barely 2 year old sat through the entire movie (more or less, in her safe chair, on my lap and standing to look over the seats in front of her.) When the movie was ending she had the biggest smile on her face. Part of me feels a little guilty for letting my 2 year old watch an entire movie in one day and in one sitting- but then I step back and realize that it's also part of the magic of being a kid- not something we'll do everyday or every week or probably every month- but for those special days it's pretty cool to watch her experience something so new. Ans for those of you who haven't seen it- go. It's a fun movie.

Eden's 2nd

I took a year off from the blog-o-sphere to do a little professional development, which was to involve long hours with extremely boring books that most people would put to better use as, say, a doorstop or stepstool. I failed to develop much professionally, although I did develop a new appreciation for 60 hour workweeks and an odd addiction to Naked Juice Protein Zone. That's right, out of the galaxy of fruit juices Naked Juice makes, I had to get hooked on the 500-calorie-per-shot version. So I'm back, baby, with grand plans to post just as infrequently as I did a year ago.

This is not a post about me. I promise.

This is all about Eden, who amazingly made number 2 on the 26th.

Wait, that didn't come out quite right. Let me try again:

Eden turned 2 years old on February 26th and, being the hipster parents we are, we threw her a pink monkey party (no one in their right mind is doing it, and you can't get cooler than that [although if you have actually used the word cool to describe yourself, you have just forfeited your hipster ID badge]). We had food, friends, food, drinks of various varieties, food, music, food, presents, food, a glowingly-pink monkey cake, food, and, um, something else I can't remember off the top of my head. Oh, that's right, food.

We asked that nobody bring gifts to the party, but apparently that message was garbled in mid-transmission to please bring as many presents as your checking account can possibly afford, the upshot of which was that Eden spent about half the party trying to dig her way out of a very boxy but brightly colored mountain. She got all kinds of stuff--clothes, books, toy kitchen utensils, toy fruits and veggies, toy pots and pans, and assorted other items which I can't remember but I'm sure are scattered around my feet at the moment. Coincidentally enough, Sarah and I made her a kitchen out of cardboard, which despite our best efforts ended up working out pretty well anyway with the pots and pans, fake foodstuffs, and other kitchen items. That's right, I said made. Under no circumstances do I ever recommend anyone else even toying with the idea of building one of these unless you have unlimited amounts of patience, a magical never-dull box cutter, and/or actual talent.

Eden had the time of her very short-but-full life, which was all we really wanted out of the party (well, that and to see how much food our friends could actually pack into their stomachs in a two hour window. The answer: quite an amazing amount). She asked us if we could do it all again the next day. We thought about it for a bit, but decided in the end to push it off for a year or so.

For those of you not able to be here, we've thrown in a few pics to hold you over until you can make next year's. Enjoy the party.