Switch-A-Roo!

Whew! I'm tired! 

Dan and I have been talking about moving Hattie to a "big girl" bed since she turned 2 back in March. For the first time, I don't NEED to move the baby out... because I don't have baby moving IN. 

But that is a blogpost for another day. Sigh.... 

A few weeks back, I stumbled across an amazing bedroom set on Craigslist. While it needed a little "updating," the set was gorgeous, solid wood...and the price was right: 

(I never thought to take pictures of the set BEFORE I removed all the hardware and starting sanding it. Duh!) 

Anyway... my parents offered to take the girls up north for a long weekend over Memorial Day. This, coupled with our upcoming rummage sale, really lit a fire under both Dan and I to get the rooms all switched out. Most normal people would have simply moved Hattie from the crib to a big girl bed and been done. But... I don't work that way. I am not quite ready to take down the "baby room" yet. I have not given up all hope of there ever being another squeaky newborn to lay in that crib, so we had to have a Plan B. Our home is a 4 bedroom house, with the "baby room" being the smallest of the bedrooms, and our "guest room" being the largest (don't ask- it just is). The big girls share the third bedroom at the end of the hall- which was never really big enough for the two of them to begin with. So.... the plan was to move the TWO beds (and the 2 littler girls) into the large guest bedroom and redo THAT room into Maggie's new room. Confused yet? 

The girls left early Thursday morning and were planning to return around dinner time on Sunday. Dan and I planned to have everything switched and moved by the time they returned as a huge surprise. Except I forgot to mention 2 little things: 

* Dan worked on Thursday and Friday- which meant a lot of stuff didn't get done. 

* My parents only took the two BIG girls, and left Hattie home with us- which also meant a lot of stuff didn't get done (or got promptly UNDONE) 

The weekend prior, Dan borrowed a paint sprayer and painted the furniture. I had some big plans for it, but after seeing it a pretty, pristine ivory, I almost changed my mind. But then I remembered it was bedroom furniture to be used by a seven year old, and I knew the pretty paint job wouldn't last long anyway. 

My main job while Dan was at work was to finish the furniture so it would be dry enough to polycoat and move back into the house by Sunday morning. Overall, I did really well... and am so proud of how the furniture turned out (see photos below) I simply rubbed a dark, walnut stain on each piece, then rubbed it off to give it an aged, antiqued look. Easy, but time-consuming. I was finishing the dresser on Friday evening when I dumped (no exaggeration) 3/4 of the quart of stain. Most of it landed on me. Some of it landed on the garage floor. It was a huge mess. My first priority was keeping Hattie out of it (while she ran around me in circles repeating the expletive I had just said when the stain spilled) I also had to stop the huge puddle from spreading to the newly finished furniture. Then, I shut the garage door, stripped down to my underwear, and went inside to shower. What. A. Mess. No amount of soap was helping. I had a huge stain from my hip to my toes. It was not cool (note- I have learned since that vegetable oil is AMAZING at removing stain from skin!) Hattie walked around confused, and kept telling Dan "Momma unnerpants in da garage!" Dan was absolutely devastated that I had to throw away a pair of my beloved yoga pants. (cough, cough) 

Saturday morning was lots and lots and lots of painting. Two rooms, four colors. Too many coats to count. Oh, and did I tell you? I have (slight) ADD.... painting is possibly the most boring job known to man. I can handle the first couple rolls, and after that, I. AM. SO. BORED. Dan, however, is a meticulous and wonderful painter. My plan was to suck- a lot, and frustrate him so much that he'd just take over and I could move on to the next project. I didn't work that way. We just had too much to do and not enough hands (or time!) to get it all done. Blech. Did I mention how boring I think painting is? This might also be a good time to point out that we didn't bother to take any "before" pictures of either room. While we were cleaning up the paint, I mentioned that I forgot, and Dan said, "I was going to take some pictures, but I figured you already had." Grrr.

Anyway, by Sunday night we were exhausted. And filthy. And smelly. And paint-covered. But... it was worth it. While Maggie's room still has a few finishing touches needed, the surprise was a HUGE hit. The girls were SO excited and for the most part, Hattie's transition to her "big girl" bed has gone fairly smoothly. 
So. here are the pictures you've all been waiting for. Drumroll, please: 

LUCY & HATTIE'S ROOM 

 The Ladybug wall! Hattie LOVES the "polka-lots!" 

 Lucy once told me that if she didn't get her own room, she at least wanted butterflies with the ladybugs. So... there are her butterflies! (she's helped me put up more since she's been home!) 

Reading nook!

MAGGIE'S ROOM

 Window treatments to come. I ordered the most AWESOME brown matryoshka (nesting doll) fabric. We're still waiting for it to arrive... 

 So... the paneling. The walls were half wallpapered. After we moved out of our old house and removed the most awful wallpaper from almost every room, I vowed I would never remove wallpaper again in my life. So... we didn't. We just covered it up. 

 Her dresser... all "antiqued" and stuff.... 

 Found this print on clearance. Knew Maggie had to have it.  Painted the frame to match the room... and Viola! 

 I'm not sure who was more excited about the owl lamp... Maggie.... or me!

 Yup. It will look better with window treatments. I promise more pix when those are finished and up!

 Her desk. I was on the fence about painting the chair to match the furniture... or this funky aqua. I am SO happy with how it turned out! (PS: I ordered enough fabric to do a seat cover, too!) 

 I was ridiculously excited about this hardware I found... for half price!!! It was a perfect match to her comforter... and really helped make the furniture a little more "young," don't you think? 

 I'm so proud of this dresser, I thought I'd throw another picture in here just for fun. 

 My favorite part of the room? This artwork that I made! 

The heaviest mirror on earth. It's hanging up now- and she has a cute little "dressing" corner. I haven't found any dirty laundry on the floor this entire week! Success!

One more of the dresser, because, well... why not? 

***UPDATE***

We've put a few more "finishing" touches on the room in the last few weeks. In addition, the fabric came for the valances, so we got those hung, too! I have also decided that we need to do some sort of moulding by the ceiling. That's next......

 I knew I wanted some sort of quote above Maggie's mirror, but couldn't find something I loved... until a friend of mine pinned this on Pinterest- and I realized I was SO over-thinking the entire thing! What a simple sentiment... but so, so perfect. So- there it is... right above her mirror where she can see it and be reminded every day!

Nesting doll valances! 

 We had this wrought iron/wood shelf in our kitchen for the longest time. Last year, it made it's way into the garage when we bought an antique buffet instead. There it sat... until I decided to repaint it as a bookshelf. I'm still not convinced that I love it, but it's nice to have some additional space for all of her books (it's been filled up since this picture!) 

I had to take a picture of Maggie's desk chair. I was planning to recover the seat with some of the fabric from the valances. Unfortunately, the fabric came oriented a different direction than we had planned, so we had to cut and use more than we had anticipated. About the same time, I happened to find THIS fabric at my neighbor's garage sale. SCORE! I loved this sooooo much, I *almost* changed my mind on the valances, too! 

Sweet Dreams!

With the huge room rearrange nearly over (blog post coming soon... I promise!) it was time to move Hattie to her "big girl bed" last night. Surprisingly, she did great! When Dan and I went to bed, this is how we found her... she obviously got up at least once to get a book, but it looks like she read it to the end... and then fell asleep! 

Now... to figure out what to do with that empty crib. Sigh....

Rant

Pardon me while I throw a teeny little hissy fit. It's my blog, so I'm allowed to do that here. 

Today is Mother's Day. Per Wikipedia, a mother is: "a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the egg which in union with a sperm grew into a child." 

I am a mother. Today is MY day. I endured 40 weeks of pregnancy. Stretch marks. Stitches in my nether regions. Leaking boobs and mastitis (twice). Countless sleepless nights. I have been pooped on. Peed on. Barfed on. I take my kids to doctor appointments and cry harder than they do when they get shots. I make sure they are registered for school, brush their teeth and wear their shoes on the right feet. I drive a minivan. My purse is full of smooshed up fruit snacks, baby wipes, and broken crayons. I use a Tracfone instead of a fancy iPhone so that my kid can wear her school-approved Lands End uniform. I have not taken a shower longer than 8 minutes in the past seven years. I haven't peed without an audience in almost as long. I've given up Friday night Happy Hour for cheese (and ONLY cheese!) pizza and watching movies with talking dogs and singing unicorns. I push the ridiculously obnoxious "car carts" at the grocery store.  I am tired. 

For all those reasons listed above is exactly WHY moms deserve Mother's Day (not to mention all the fun moms of teenagers endure... yikes!) So... when I see posts on Facebook and cards in the Hallmark store for moms of "fur babies," it kinds of pisses me off. I love animals. I do. I am not a pet owner myself however, so forgive me. 

However, moms EARNED this day. Please, please just let us have it. Please, please don't make us share. We already have to share every OTHER  part of our lives. Let us have this ONE SINGLE DAY to celebrate. I have never served in the armed forces. I don't get to bask in the honor bestowed upon Veterans on November 11. They have earned that day. It's theirs to celebrate, not mine. 

I have NO DOUBT that you love your pet as if it were your human child... but, it's not. 

I also realize pet owners also experience sacrifice and heartache on behalf of their pets... but, in the end, you can leave your dog in a crate and go out to dinner. I get to celebrate Mother's Day because I have to bring my children with.... and cut their chicken fingers, pick their crayons up off the floor, and wipe up their chocolate milk when it spills all over my lap. 

PS: Did you know that April 18, 2014 was National Pet Owners day? And (no matter how much my children remind me of wild animals) I promise I won't claim to be a "pet owner" on THAT day.
So there. 

Seven!

Happy 7th birthday, Margaret Julia. 

Seven. Whoa. 

I know, I know. There are people reading this who's children have celebrated their 17th birthday. Or 27th. Or 37th (hi, mom!) But today my girl turns seven. And that's huge for me.

As I watched her working on homework one night last week, chewing on her pencil eraser (she totally gets that from me) I was kind of overcome with the realization that she is growing into a GIRL. I mean, duh... I always knew she was a girl... but all of a sudden she's not a toddler, not a preschooler, not even a kindergartener... she is this... PERSON. This little lady with ideas and stories and dreams. She can read chapter books. She can make her own bed. She answers the phone on her own. She likes to have "alone time" in her bedroom to write in her journal. When did this happen? 

I always, always, always hoped and dreamed about being a mommy. I have been blessed... times three. In all my dreams, however, I was holding a baby or pushing a toddler on a swing set, or snuggling a teeny one in a rocking chair. I never really thought past that part... yet, here it is, staring me in the face. Right now we're in that super spot where Barbies and Disney movies are still fun. She still wants mom to chaperone her field trips. And she can be easily persuaded into wearing the clothes I so lovingly choose for her, even when she has other ideas. Soon enough we'll be entering the world of makeup, and bras, and boy bands, and girl drama.... and while that scares me something fierce, I can't imagine a better kid to take this crazy journey with. 

I made you, but you made me a mom. Happy 7th birthday, Mags. I love you with every part of my heart!

Birthday p"ART"y Time!

Maggie chose to have a birthday party this year... and wanted to invite her entire class. After tossing around lots of different party ideas that would be fun for both girls AND boys... we came up with an "art" theme... and had so much fun! (side note: my vote was for a tie-dye party, but Maggie was just not having it... Thank GOD because it rained all day today..... and that was not a project I was willing to take on INSIDE my house!) 

We made the invitations a few weeks back. As complicated as they look, they were actually quite simple. The words were printed on white cardstock and we simply cut them out in a "palette" shape. Maggie and Lucy fingerpainted some colors on them, and we added a brush. Originally, we had planned to stick a real paintbrush in slits in the invitation, but the dollar store by us didn't have the package of cheap brushes I wanted, so we moved on to Plan B. Oh, and my favorite part of the invitations? The fact that I printed my parents' phone number as an RSVP instead of ours. I blame the anesthesia from my foot surgery. Duh. 

The first few days after Maggie passed them out, a handful of RSVPs trickled in. We had about 8 (with Maggie and Lucy) the day before the RSVPs were due, and I was feeling pretty good. Then.... there were more. And more. And more. Three MORE kids RSVP'd in the 2 days leading up to the party. In the end, we had 18 kids. But no sweat, I've worked with larger groups of first graders... for longer periods of time. Maggie and I worked hard all week to prepare for her party. I'm not gonna lie. The "inner teacher" in me had a total plan in my head of how the party was going to flow. We set up one big group project first, then had a handful of other "stations" for the kids to work on while the big project was drying. Then cake, presents, and BOOM! time to go home. 

And... surprisingly, everything went pretty smoothly! I did learn a few things however: 

* Boys play different. Rough, different. Girls are loud and silly. Boys like to wrestle and jump off furniture. This is new to me. 

* Kids love juice. Although I didn't take a picture of it, I bought enough "creative juice" bottles for each kid to have 2. They were all gone in the first hour. Holy crap. Next time, I'll put enough out for every one to have one, and save the rest for cake. 

* Kids freakin' love spin art. I spent around $10 on a spin art machine at Toys R Us to use as a "station." I think everyone would have spent their entire time making them. When we surveyed the kids during cake time, 90% of them said this was their favorite activity. So... need an easy, gender-neutral birthday gift idea for the 5-8 year old set? Spin Art machine. 

* I miss working with first graders. Today was fun!

Here are some party highlights: 

  Rainbow cake! I was too lazy to frost the sides. 

I think it was more fun this way, anyway!

 Station 1: Playdough! We made a homemade batch on Saturday, and divided them up into little containers (10/$1- thanks, Dollar Tree!) There was food coloring and glitter for the kids to add to make it more "fun!" 

 Snacks! I (conveniently) planned the party for AFTER lunch... snacks were "rainbow" fruit, rice krispie paint brushes, and pretzel "pencils." I had cute juice bottles labeled "creative juice" but took the picture before I took them out of the fridge. Oops. 

 Rice Krispie paint brushes! I'll admit, I cheated here, too. The treats were store bought. We only dipped them and added the stick. Shhh. 

Self-Portraits. Thank goodness for Google Images of "blank picture" frames!

 The super popular "spin art!" 

 "Let's Draw Maggie" game- the kids were blindfolded and told to draw a different "part" of the birthday girl. The end result was ridiculous!

 Party favors! The original plan was for a set of Crayola watercolors... but we found these for $1 each at OfficeMax... so there was a quick change of plans!

 Table set and ready for the big paint project. Each child had their initial to paint, and then an 8X10 canvas to decorate. We glued their letter to the canvas when dry. In all the chaos, I never took any pictures of the finished products- but they turned out great!

 Art Easel Greeting

 Hard at work. I took a million and one pictures of the kids working all afternoon, but don't feel comfortable posting other people's kids on my blog. Trust me when I say they worked hard and were paint-covered! 

My little artist!

 Maggie and the finished product of the "Let's Draw Maggie" activity. She was not as amused as the rest of us!

 Lots of presents to open! (which means lots of 'thank you' cards to write!) 

 The cake turned out so cool. There were EXACTLY 18 pieces. Which meant the grown ups (namely, me... ) got NONE. 

Art gallery of self-portraits!

Ouch

So... Friday I had a little surgery on my foot. It was a long time coming. Back in July, we were headed home from a weekend in Minnesota, when I noticed my right foot was a little sore. Not a huge deal, but it was a little uncomfortable. A week later, my foot (specifically the joint where my second toe meets my foot) was super sore and starting to swell. Because I didn't have a primary care physician, it ended up with a visit to Urgent Care where, without taking any x-rays, diagnosed it as gout and prescribed some pain meds. It helped somewhat. Eventually the swelling went down, but the pain never completely went away. In fact, shortly after Christmas, the pain became much, much worse. Frustrated, I finally made an appointment to see a foot doctor (um, duh!) Because of the location of the pain, he was quick to diagnose a "plantar plate tear" - a fairly common problem that most occurs most often in the joint of the second toe. 

TA DA! There were several treatment options- but most of the less invasive ones were temporary fixes... leading back to a surgical "fix" in a matter of time. So... I opted for  surgery. THIS is what should have happened on Friday... but it's not quite what transpired. 

When the doctor opened my foot up, there was no plantar plate tear after all. What he did find, however, what that the cartilage in my foot was flapping and unattached to any bone. Hmmm. He ended up trimming the loose cartilage, shooting my toe full of cortisone, and still proceeded with some of the bone shortening, screws, etc to alleviate the pressure on my toe. Lovely. At some point prior to surgery, my foot suffered some sort of "trauma." While I can't specifically remember injuring it last summer, I did fall in the shower about a week before Hattie was born (try NOT to picture that, OK?) and I bruised my foot pretty bad and was fairly certain I had broken my toe (Dan was under strict orders to not let ANY nurse come near my foot when they were in stirrups for delivery....) I may never know if that was the source of the problem... and, because it wasn't the repair he was planning on, my foot doctor cannot guarantee that I won't have more problems with this toe in the future... Sigh. 

Long story short- I have 3 inch incision across the top of my foot, a prescription for Vicodin, and a wonderful "boot" I get to wear for the next 4-6 weeks. Dan and the girls have been outstandingly patient and helpful. Today Dan went back to work and my parents were so amazing and jumped in to help drive me to doctor appointments and get the girls to and from school. 

Oh, and at the rate we're going in Wisconsin, my foot will be healed LOOOOOOOONG before flip-flop season gets here. 

So.. This Happened Today...

Today started out normal. Typical Thursday. Get Lucy on the bus. Get Maggie to school. Hang out with Hattie. Thursdays are normally our "stay-home-and-catch-up-on-all-the-things-that-didn't-get-done-during-the-week-so-we-can-enjoy-our-weekend" day. But not today. Let me explain:

* Yesterday I bought the big girls a bag of gummy worms. We put them in a candy dish on the counter in the kitchen. Hattie got to sample one last night and has been a little obsessed ever since. The begging ("I want one dose nacks, peeeze Momma!") started shortly after breakfast. I kept putting her off, telling her she could have one when Lucy came home from school. A little bit before 9:00, I ran downstairs to switch a load into the dryer. Gone 2 minutes... max. When I came back up, one of the kitchen chairs was next to the cupboard. The candy dish was empty. And Hattie was nowhere to be seen. I wishwishwishwishwish I had a camera on hand... I found her hiding behind the recliner in the family room, cheeks FULL, with 2 little gummy worm tails dangling from her lips, and an "OH SH*T!" look in her eyes. It was so, so funny, I couldn't even get mad. 

* Fast forward a few hours. Had to wake Hattie up from a nap (I HATE doing that!) in order to pick Maggie up from school to get to a dentist appointment on time. Lucy was getting into the van, and I was busy chasing Hattie in circles AROUND the van in an attempt to get her into her carseat. As I closed in on her, she made a dash for the door- the same door Lucy was starting to slide closed. Everything happened in slow motion- as I leapt towards Hattie and yelled at Lucy to stop closing the door. Too little. Too late. Thank God Lucy doesn't have much strength and the door didn't close all the way. Hattie started crying so hard I was afraid she was going to throw up. Her hand had a horrible indentation from the door, and she was screaming so hard I was certain she had broken her hand in a million pieces. I got her into her carseat, frantically called my mom- unsure of whether I should still go pick up Maggie or drive poor Hattie to the ER.... Thank goodness for mommies... mine talked me down and offered to meet me at the dentists' office to sit with the girls if I needed to take Hattie in. By the time I got Maggie signed out and drove across town, Hattie had settled down and was busy singing along to the Frozen soundtrack. Her hand seems fine- she doesn't seem to have any pain, but she will have one heck of a bruise come tomorrow. Whew. Crisis averted. 

*Now, we're at the dentist. The 2 big girls had an appointment to get their teeth cleaned. While I got them signed in, all three of the girls ran into the little side room of the waiting room with all the toys. I sat down with the latest issue of "O" magazine and took a deep breath, happy to have a few minutes of peace and quiet with everyone occupied and a few minutes to wait until the appointment. Then I smelled it. Perfect timing, Hattie had a load in her pants. Lovely. I had not packed a real diaper bag for an hour long visit to the dentist. Thank goodness I always keep a spare diaper in my car and wipes in my purse. Dentist bathrooms, however, are NOT conducive to changing an angry two year old who would much rather be playing with the dentists' Legos than getting her butt wiped. And then... what do I do with the diaper? There was no way I could leave that stinky thing in that small bathroom. Thank goodness for a friendly office staff... I asked for an extra plastic bag and offered to set it outside and take it with me to throw away at home when I left... but they took care of it for me. I really shouldn't have been too embarrassed. The best was yet to come. Just wait.... 

*Maggie gets to get her teeth cleaned first, because she's the "big sister." (This would be a great time to point out that this was NOT either's first visit... and they both LOVE to go to the dentist) While she was in the chair, I sent Lucy back out to the waiting room to grab a book for Hattie. All of a sudden, I heard Lucy's frantic footsteps in the tile hallway and heard her yelling "MOM! I have to go potty!" Then I saw her in the doorway, legs crossed, and a puddle growing between her feet. She looked at me with her big, blue eyes and said, "I couldn't hold it. Someone was in the bathroom!" Oh, my. I jumped up and grabbed her to run to the potty (Why is this a mom's first instinct? Obviously it's too late.... ) When I got in the hallway, I saw it. Not only did she pee in the doorway, she peed ALL. THE. WAY. DOWN. THE. HALL. Holy God- I thought for sure I was going to be one of the first people ever kicked out of a dentists' office. Again, I am so thankful for amazing, wonderful, patient, kind, understanding staff... While I took Lucy into the bathroom to clean up, someone else offered to sit with Hattie and keep her busy, a different staff member started mopping (even though I offered to do that myself, too!) and my dear dentist knocked on the bathroom door and handed Lucy her cardigan to wear (because I haven't carried spare clothes for my four year old in years!) This would also be a great time to mention that Lucy was wearing a skirt, tights, and boots. I am not lying when I tell you I POURED pee out of her boots. It was lovely. The tights, well.. I just threw those away. I rinsed her underpants and skirt out the best I could in the sink and washed Lucy up. We put on the dentists' sweater (and not much else) and Lucy went on to get her teeth cleaned. Like I told Dan, better her wearing the dentists' sweater and no underpants NOW than in 20 years.... Gramma saved the day (again) by bringing some spare clothes and meeting us at the office so the ride home wasn't  too cold! 

Poor Lucy was so upset about having an accident (she hasn't had one in almost 2 years!) but I reassured her that one day we would laugh about her wetting her pants at the dentists' office. She just looked at me and said, "I'm just not ready for that today, Mom." My life is never, ever dull. But... I wouldn't change it for the world... but I do deserve a beer tonight.