Love Beadboard

The carpentry is done in Charlie's room, paint is up next.
Here are a few 'in progress' shots:

All beadboard will be painted white.

And the blue paint chip below is not very representative of the actual color,

it's several shades deeper.

Finally, my bean playing in our empty, unpainted living room.

Have a great weekend!

Pack and Pray

That's what I've been doing a lot of lately when the bean is sleeping.

Our wonderful carpenter friends started working on Charlie's room this morning. I stopped in later in the day to get a peek. The room is already transformed and it's only half-way finished. I chose three inch beadboard and it looks great, yeah!

One design decision down, lots to go. I will definitely post pictures once the paint is on the walls.

If I had an unlimited budget I think I would do moldings and trimwork in every room of my house, similar to this design by Campbell1082 on Rate My Space:
The reason for all the prayers: This Friday the buyers have scheduled the inspection on our old house. Our last deal fell through after the inspection, so I am just sending out little prayers to God that eveything will go smoothly this time and that ultimately this couple will buy our house. I know he has a plan, I just have to continue to remind myself of that.

technicolor

Today I am new homeowner :o) Our closing today went as smoothly as it could have. Joe, Charlie and I went back to the house with keys in hand and walked through the empty rooms feeling overwhelmed, nervous, giddy. Empty rooms that will soon be filled with the sounds of our family; hopefully lots of Charlie giggles.

A new chapter has begun for us. Many adventures in store as we make this new-old house our home.

In the backyard there were patches flowers in a riotous bloom, asking to be picked. I use such strong words because the colors were so saturated it almost hurt my eyes to look at them. I'm wondering if they are a type of poppy? The petals look more like flames to me.

Weekend Review

Friday night was my 30th birthday and coincidentally it was amazingly beautiful outside, so Joe and I decided to take the bean out to dine alfresco with us. Everyone else in our town apparently had the same idea so we were seated inside our chosen Italian restaurant- not a big deal unless you take into account how loud a toddler can be.

We order our food and the very kind waiter hands us crayons for Charlie. I was very proud of my little man, instead of trying to eat them he actually played with them and had fun decorating the table---until he discovered the wall right next to him. Charlie thought the wall needed some color so he insisted on using the crayons. Each time he reached and attempted I would say 'no' pull them away from him, which would lead to loud protesting.

Then the food came and Charlie felt the table, floor and walkway could also use some sprucing up so he started launching his food everywhere. Deep breath. In addition to spraying the area with mini food missiles, the bean could not sit still and so he was doing acrobatics in the high chair, trying to fling himself off the edge. We asked for the check after I was able to wolf down a few bites.

Then we topped the night off with near vomiting 6 times, and crying for 45 mins until we could get him to settle down to sleep. Lesson learned. The bean cannot do dinner but he can lunch in a somewhat civilized manner.

Saturday we made a trip up to a Sears Outlet (scratch and dent) for appliances for the new house. We ended up spending five hours up there and in some karmic move Charlie was a complete angel. He had tons of fun sitting on the tractors and playing with Daddy. When we left Sears at 7pm we were starving (I fed Charlie in the car) and picked up some Burger King. Charlie seemed like he still wanted a little something to eat, so I gave him tiny pieces of chicken. Bad idea. He threw up in the car, but luckily I was able to contain the mess. Next week we go to see a new specialist.

I cannot believe how active my little man is now. He is walking like a champ and talking more every day. Favorite words right now are light, up, off and red...oh and Dada. But he hasn't said Mama in a looonnng time :o(

Bean Shots

Because I've been remiss in posting new bean shots:

walking bean

happy bean

the end :o)

How cute...

...is this nautical bedroom? And home to another Charlie too :o)

tomorrow's post- my birthday dinner with 'the beast'!

Art for the new-old house

I just picked up this set from Overstock.com as a mothers/birth day gift.
Gives me that peaceful, easy feeling ;o)

Vomit & Verbena

The saga with Charlie's (near) daily projectile vomiting continues. This afternoon after having major issues trying to find anything nutritious that the bean would eat for breakfast and lunch, we had yet another font d'puke.

I was feeding him a bottle before nap-time and out of nowhere he threw everything the whole bottle and his lunch from hours prior all over himself, me the glider. I hate to be graphic but hell I'm already blogging about throw up. I was soaked through to my underwear. I had a mini breakdown today, cried it out myself and then pulled myself back together. Talked to my pediatrician and left yet another message for my gastroenterologist.

These doctors promised me that by 6 months, the time he started crawling, the time he started walking, his first birthday --that he would be much better. He isn't. Something is not right so I scheduled another appointment with a specialist, Charlie's 3rd gastroenterologist in a year. I need answers.

In the interim I will be consoling myself with copious amounts of Pepperridge farm cookies, the entertaining collection to be specific.

As for the verbena titled in this post, well I had a real estate agent call in the midst of vomitfest this afternoon. She wanted to show the house in -oh 30 mins. I scrubbed down the gilder as quickly as I could but the smell was still errr lingering. So I whipped out my L'Occitane Verbena Room Spray and went to town. I had to laugh because the room ended up just smelling like lemony throw up- but what can you do....

Bathroom Love

All images are from This Old House :o)

Light and bright

Our theme for our new-old house is going to be comfy coastal. Not that I come up with themes for houses but Joe and I love all things nautical, so there you have it.

I'm currently knee-deep in paint chips. I'd swear I'm about ten chips away from having the whole Benjamin Moore fan deck. I should have saved myself the trouble and just bought the whole deck in the first place....

Since I'm not really going with any of the colors in our current house it's been a bit daunting trying to decide on a whole new scheme before we move in. I feel a little schizophrenic the way I sway between "Go for the dramatic deep color" or "Gosh, a creamy white is so fresh and such a perfect neutral backdrop for beachy theme."

On my most recent internet search for inspiration I have noticed one underlying detail about the rooms...they are all white (or shades thereof). Take a look:

Love the clock in this pic:
And the slipcovered chairs (but not the drapes) in this one:

This bedroom is delicious

As is this bathroom with the built-ins
And this bath with a mantel framing the tub
Lovely living rooms
Looking at these pictures gives me feeling of peacefulness. So maybe there's my answer, stick with shades of white. What do you think?

New Tricks

Well it's official. My bean is walking. He started making the effort a few weeks ago, but the last two days he has really kicked it into high gear. If anyone has bubble wrap lying around I could use it since it's apparent I need to either A: cover every surface of my house with it OR B: wrap Charlie in it.

Here's the only shot I was able to snap of him in action today, he's so proud of himself when he's walking (and I like to be right beside him in case he starts to tumble).

Another recent favorite is flushing the toilet, lovely eh?

Refuses the sippy cup, but loves the straw

Those wheels are turning...

Happy Mother's Day weekend everyone :o)

Blog Award

Thanks so much Amanda for the blog award :o)

Here are the guidelines for this award:
1) Put the logo on your blog or post.
2) Nominate at least 5 blogs with great attitude and/or gratitude. Be sure to link to your nominees in your post.
3) Let your nominees know they have received the award by leaving them a comment on their blog.
4) Be sure to link this post to the person who nominated you for the award.

I nominate the following:

Into the Womb

Geek Incubator

Living Life one day at a time

The Littlest Loban

Mommy Wanna-be

More Inspiration for the new-old house...

Excuse me while I take a little fantasy vacation from being thrown up on every night by my son (whom I love more than anything).






Ahh, much better now....

Bargain Hunter Potpourri

Can you tell me the difference between this lamp:

And this one?

About $320 worth of differences!
Thank you Christmas tree shop for the Restoration Hardware knock-off :o)

This past weekend Joe, the bean and I spent lots of quality time at a local tag sale.
We picked up this lovely in-laid table for $12:

Also found a beautiful dining room table for $30.
I am going to paint it a beachy creamy white and pair it with chairs similar to this one from ballard designs:
We're refinishing the floor in the dining room, so it will end up being a darker walnut color.

Here are a few shots that I'm using as 'inspiration' for the new-old house:
All from Coastal Living (I think).

This time last year...

I remember being afraid to sleep while Charlie slept because he was so tiny and fragile. Now he likes to hang upside down in his Daddy's arms- what a difference a year makes.

One thing that has not changed that I wish had-the vomiting. I have not had the time to post much because of the moving/house selling but also because Charlie had a test at Yale New Haven Children's hospital this week because of his continued throwing up.

Oh, it was awful-I think I sprouted some gray hairs from the stress. Charlie had to be strapped down, I had to hold his arms down and all while a nurse shoved barium into his mouth. He was wailing, choking and having a fit- but what tore right through me was looking into his eyes and seeing the fear there. It was a short test thank God- I'm speaking with his specialist about the results tomorrow. Charlie is super picky with what he eats and has gotten much worse in the last month. In addition to that all the work I do to nourish his with good foods (lean proteins, whole grains, fresh fruit and veggies) is often thrown up at the end of the day.

Despite the tummy sensitivities Charlie is still thriving, happy and a real sponge- soaking up every detail in an experience that he can identify. He interacts amazingly well now too. He says 'vroom' when he plays with his cars, can say "up, light, mama and dada" and has this adorable sense of humor. He still working on the walking too, taking a few steps every day, but I'm told usually its a slow progression unlike the crawling.

Since I've been very focused on the new-old house when Charlie isn't awake I may start to include some of the design inspiration I've been collecting from different sites and include it on the blog.

I'm off for now to go and make bottles for tomorrow. Charlie has his one year appointment in the afternoon, I'm looking forward to talking with his doctor about a bunch of topics.