Home Improvements

I have no excuse for why I haven't blogged, I just haven't. Honesty is the best policy, or so they say.

School has started which in reality means nothing to us, except that parks, splash pads, indoor play areas and everything in between no longer entails musical chairs in the parking lot, long wait lines and the need for more coffee wine by the end. The latter is still needed, just in less quantity. We are frequenting these activities more and more because oh dear child, the energy....so. much. energy. And trouble! Luckily nothing serious but this guy pushes his limits in the most adorable way. If it's not feeding the dog his plate of food, it's pouring cups of water on the floor...or throwing all the piles of clothes to the ground...or stealing my phone and calling dad...or pulling his diaper off. But I still think we will keep him.

We just finished up a toddler gymnastics class which was so fun, and taught Caleb how to climb even higher (joy!) but he loved it all the same. Summer has ended and we can't wait for all the activities fall brings with it. Caleb typically makes a beeline to any pumpkins he sees at the store. His newest favorite words are gookie (cookie) that is spoken with the utmost enthusiasm and geeeeese, which either means keys, or cheese depending on the context.

As for house projects, we finally have them done! Word to the wise, NEVER hire us as contractors. We will go way beyond the quoted time (try months), but the upside is it will look good! The one I enjoyed most was the laundry room- it was so great to make use of the small space in there.

Before:

After:

Ta da! Paint, cabinets, shelves and a coat hanger. There are a few small things here and there that we need to finish up but we feel it's good enough to post pictures.

Next up, we built a small retaining wall on the side of our house to level the land and allow us to store our trash and recycling on the side of our house. This allowed us to reorganize our garage a bit and move our treadmill to the garage to use after hours (aka, once Caleb is asleep).

Life as we know it

 

We have been enjoying so much time with the family. Errands, walks, trips to the park, almost anywhere is so much fun to take Caleb to. He is wide eyed and exploring the world, grabbing the attention of strangers with his infectious smile and bright blue eyes. Caleb has become quite the climber and has now realized he can push a chair anywhere, climb on top and what do you know, access anything. It's fun. Not really. Now I have to not only make sure the the floor is clean (ish), but the counters, drawers, sinks, really anything is clear of dangerous objects. Like knives, dog toothbrushes, clippers....this era of the toddler is whole new world. Did I mention I caught Caleb with the dogs toothbrush in his mouth? Not my proudest parenting moment but one for the record books I am sure. Game on Caleb, game on.

We have been meeting a lot more people in our neighborhood lately, mainly thanks to Caleb. It's becoming a much more friendly place with more families moving in surrounding us with younger children and activities. Playdates within the neighborhood have been a weekly occurrence along trips to the library. When I take Caleb, about 60 percent of the time he enjoys it (sometimes attempting to take all the books off the shelves) while the other 40 percent he seems bored out of his mind. But he loves books. A lot of times he will go grab a book and plop down on one of our laps asking to read to him. He has found an interest in slugs and snails, dirt, rocks, mud and everything that makes up a little boy. Maddie is still his best friend and Caleb has so much fun taking Maddie to the lake when it's warm outside. His laugh is beyond contagious and Caleb doesn't hesitate attempting to get in the water with Maddie. We love watching these two together.

Around the house Danny and I are updating our laundry room by adding shelves, cabinets and a fresh coat of paint. We will add pictures soon since for once we remembered a before picture. I love it. It is so much more functional and a much better use of the space. It has taken us much longer than we care to admit but in my mind it looks amazing (finished).