pooped

Construction is wearing us out. 

Literally.


We'll be back with an update and progress photos soon.

redneck skylight

Sorry I kept you waiting...  it's been a little hectic around these parts.


Without further ado:: Our ceiling-less bathroom

A lovely little peak into our attic, isn't it?  The blue you see in the left of the photo is our former "toilet closet", to the right {the pinkish wall} is Reese's closet.  I might have mentioned before that we are taking part of Reese's closet to give our bathroom some additional room.  

I'm still trusting that Lofton is just as capable of putting the bathroom back together as he is at taking it apart.  It was mildly alarming to see him jump through the attic floor to bust the bathroom ceiling.


And now:

Our day.


As illustrated by the photo above, Reese and I spent a good portion of our day snuggled on the couch.  He has been home all week with a horrible cold.  I'm talking chest rattling cough, green snotty nose, and fever as high as 103.6.  Once again we are oh so thankful to have family close by.  Lofton kept Reese Monday {and we made trip #1 to the doctor}, Mamie & Paw Paw kept him Tuesday, Sally { Mimi} kept him Wednesday, and today I stayed home {and we made doctor trip #2}.  Whew!  


The good news? Despite high fevers and other ailments, we have no ear infection and Reese's lungs are clear.  Praise the Lord.  I would literally stroke out if he had another ear infection.


We are thankful for a great pediatrician who pretends like I'm not crazy and overly obsessed with my child's health, jobs that allow us some flexibility, and family that never mind stepping in on a moments notice.


This weekend we will be resting. Well, 2/3 of us will, the other 1/3 will be working in the bathroom.  Until then...

bathroom reno- part one: demo

We are definitely in it for the long haul, friends.  There is absolutely no going back now.  The bathroom has been demolished by my hammer-wielding husband.  

Demolition in soccer clothes = sexy

It was noisy.  There's a trail of dust through the house and we are now sharing one small {vintage} bathroom until.... well, until Lofton gets this project complete.


There is a 500 pound bathtub in my driveway, light fixtures and an under-mount sink in my hall, and cabinets on order.  Sheesh.  What have we gotten ourselves into?

Information gleaned from demo days 1 & 2 ::

• The people who previously lived in our house only thought they were DIYsters.  They jacked up this bathroom.  Like bad.  We knew we had mold {as evidenced by our rotting window} but it is really bad.  I'm talking rotting wood on the floor under the tub bad.  
• Demo is messy.  And loud.  And there are going to be surprises.  Expensive surprises. Thank God for this husband of mine.  He is super handy.  Without him, we would be up a creek. And thank the Lord for my parents being here this weekend.  My dad can come up with a financial plan for anything.  He's smart like that.
• One person's trash is another person's treasure.  Lofton hauled the old vanity, lights, medicine cabinet and sink out to the curb yesterday.  Our trash was instantly snapped up by an older couple with a bathroom project of their own.  The tub is still out there--  so if you live in our neck of the woods {and want an old, jetted, garden tub} have at it!

Stay tuned... tomorrow the ceiling comes down.

growing pains

Struggling.  That describes me these days.

Watching my baby boy become more of a boy is hard.  I've shed lots of tears lately.  Tears while he's on the potty, tears while I say prayers with him at night, tears when I drop him off at school and he squeezes my neck and says "luh-you, mama."

Not that I thought this would be easy, but sheesh...

And this song is NOT helping.  It gets me every time.  

Anything like Me

Brad Paisley

back to the real world

This time of year I slip into robot mode.  I'm really no fun.  My mind is focused on work, work, things that need to be done, work, Reese, and some more work.  Something about the sweltering August heat makes it worse.  Although I can happily report that my class seems to be survivable {as in I might not need to pour a glass of wine upon immediately entering the house}, I still spend my days cramming knowledge into their brains and helping them to adjust to a new {and bigger} environment.  

This routine leaves me little time for phone chats, me time, or cooking.

As much as I love to cook {and bake}, the beginning of the school year is not the time for me to emulate Julia Child.  I mean who am I kidding?  

That being said, I like to whip up something hearty and satisfying on Sunday afternoons that will appease Lofton until at least Tuesday.  Love that husband of mine who LOVES him some leftovers.

Sunday I modified a yummy chicken casserole recipe to include shrimp not chicken.  Why?  Because I had shrimp on hand.  

Here goes::

Ingredients:

• 2 bags of frozen peeled and de-veined medium sized shrimp {thawed}
• 1 box of chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed
• 1 can of cream of celery soup {I use fat free}
• 1 and 1/2 cups of reduced fat sour cream
• 1 and 1/2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup white wine or lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• cooked rice

The first thing to do is par-cook the shrimp.  I boil them for about two minutes in salty water.  You don't want them over-cooked, as they will continue to cook in the oven.  Drain the shrimp then mix all the ingredients together.  Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes.  

It's that easy.  And I can say that because while making it I ran Reese to potty eight times.  I mixed the cooked rice into the casserole for convenience but you could certainly serve it over the rice.  Curry gives this boring casserole a new kick!

Enjoy!

ready, set, go...

I'm big on plans.  You know... in five years we'll be ______ or next summer I'm going to ______.  God, however, is not such a fan of my big plans.  He takes every opportunity to remind of this fact.

Case in point::

Lofton picked Reese up from school Wednesday and was greeted with BIG news.  Our baby, our not even TWO years old baby, tee-teed in the potty at school.  He asked to tee-tee in the potty and then did.  

I was flabbergasted to say the least.  Potty training?  Are you kidding me?  I have plans to do that NEXT summer.  I'm not potty training right now.  It's the start of school {and football season} and Lofton is days away from dismantling one of our bathrooms.

Although I excitedly shared the news, I also told myself {and Lofton} that this was probably a fluke.  Again I reiterated: We are NOT potty training him now.

Parts have been blurred for privacy.

Except in the last four days he's gone to the bathroom twice more at school and a few times at home.  And he is SO excited.  

I don't want to temper his spirit, so it looks like ready or not here we go.  The potty seat has been purchased {thanks mimi} and we have M&M's ready for a reward.  We are going to take this very slow.  Snail pace, my friends, and just see what happens.

On a side note, today while I sat in the bathroom with Reese I had an epiphany.  Sometime, I'm not sure when, Reese and I transitioned from me talking at him to us actually talking. Are we having a full-blown conversation? Not exactly.  But we are communicating.  

Just another sign times are changing, I suppose.

oh happy day

This first week of school is draining me of energy {not to mention the yucky crud my beloved toddler has passed on}. However, energy or not, I need to blog about a very important event:  my daddy’s birthday!


My dad is without a doubt amazing.  He is funny and smart, selfless and generous. He’s also quite feisty {which could explain my attitude problem}. 


If it’s even possible, I think his qualities as a grandfather surpass those of father.

Reese and Rice are the best of friends, with is just fine with me. This boy loves his Buck.

Today, Buck turns 54.  Hard to believe he came into this world weighing barely three pounds. 


{* Not because he's big just because he was a kind of a miracle baby!}

We celebrated his birthday a little early so we could all be together.  He finally got the bag he’s always wanted, and we indulged in some super chocolaty German Chocolate cake. 

Happy Birthday, Daddy Buck!  We love you to pieces.  The whole menagerie of us:: me, Lofton, Little Man, Jake, Raleigh, Alvin, and Henry.

twenty-two months

It's hard to believe, but our little one turned twenty-two months old last week.  We are knocking on the door of being two:: UNBELIEVABLE.  I swear it seems like yesterday I was bringing this sweet boy home!

Twenty-two months is bringing lots of changes.  Reese starts a new class at school tomorrow.  He is officially moving into the two-year old preschool class and skipping the older toddler room.  

Although he'll be the youngest in his class, his teachers {and Lofton and I} are in agreement that he's ready.  In his new class he'll be one of seven kids.  The main change will be that this class follows a set curriculum and he'll be participating in more structured play and activities {i.e. music, art, story time}.  He visited some last week and did great.

My teacher heart is happy, but my mama heart longs for him to go back to the baby hall for a few more years! 

Speaking of teacher heart, I spent so many hours worrying Reese would never talk and now he talks ALL THE TIME.  Most of what he says is pretty understandable, although occasionally Lofton and I still have to translate.

Favorite words?  "Scuse Me!", "suitcase", "Raleigh", "backpack", "Holland", "guitar", and "mitamin" {vitamin}.  My dad also taught him to say "Banana in the tail pipe!"  Thanks Buck.  He can also correctly identify {and say} eyes, ears, hair, knees, shoulders, arms, toes, and feet.  And most of the time if you ask him his name he'll tell you.  Sometimes he calls himself Boo instead of Reese.  Oops.

We have finally graduated to falling asleep on our own-- if Lofton puts him to bed.  If I put him to bed there is lots of crying and yelling for mama.  I like to think he cries because he wants to hang out with me a little longer! Abe has been a life saver at night.  His batteries went out a few weeks ago and it was tragic.  Needless to say we made a early run to Target for the jumbo pack of triple A's.

Even after twenty-two months Lofton and I are constantly amazed at Reese's pleasant temperament.  He's not perfect, and with his strong will we definitely have our moments, but overall he is the happiest and funniest child.  We laugh more than we cry, and I consider that to mean we have a happy child!  He goes with the flow, schedule disruptions don't really phase him, and we can take him almost anywhere.  It's possible he may be a comedian.  He loves to make people laugh... and he LOVES to laugh at himself {wonder whom he gets that from???}.

To say we are blessed would be an understatement.  I can't imagine anything more perfect than this little man.

short and sweet

Going back to work has made blogging virtually impossible this week.  If teaching has a busy season, this is it.  I'm spent.  And every bit of my extra energy is thrown into soaking up the little time left in my afternoon with Reese.  I miss him so.  And clearly he misses me.  My hip is worn out from the hours he's been logging at night.


But in an effort to appease my faithful readers {hi Aunt Linda}, here is a brief synopsis of our week thus far:

• Monday sucked.  There is no nice way to put it.  Reese screamed hysterically when I left him at school.  He could not be appeased with toys OR snacks.  And let me also add, there is an added element of suckiness and heartbreak when your child not only cries but screams your name at the top of his lungs.  I cried on and off all morning {although I called around breakfast time to check on him and he was perfectly fine}.
• Yesterday and today were 100% better.  Although he is very tired in the afternoons when I pick him up, he is also very happy.  I love a happy baby.  He loves playing with his friends and is actually moving into the two year old room next week ahead of schedule.    
• I'm tired.  I think I might have already mentioned that but it's worth repeating.  I got my class list today, and tomorrow {hopefully} all my new kiddos will come and introduce themselves in person.  The first official day for students is Monday.  The highlight of my day?  Putting my new shelves together last night and taking them to my room today.  My old ones collapsed.  These are much more durable than my last set, but also lots heavier.  I carried them in myself and lost a toenail in the process.  Yep, you can call me wonder woman.  

Oh and lest we forget Lofton-- he is bearing the brunt of Reese's Mommy-itis and my exhaustion.  Bless him.