home
big boy room
This weekend, we put another piece of babyhood behind us.
hold me
We took down Colin's crib and replaced it with a new big boy bed. This is a big deal. We've been trying to get him into a bed for about six weeks now, but whenever we've even mentioned the words "big boy bed" he would scream "NOOOOO! Wike my bed! No big boy bed!" So due to the apparent trauma this was causing, we weren't pushing it, just mentioning big boy beds often and getting about the same reaction. But on Friday in Target, we saw a toddler bed and Colin went nuts. He loved it and asked if we could buy it.
I was floored. After all that drama and tears and whining, he was asking for a bed!! And since it was on clearance, I said "Sure!"
He is so so proud of his new room. He picked out his bedding himself, which was on clearance. (That's my boy!) Mama picked out the carpet. Which was only $20!! Seriously, we ROCKED that clearance aisle!
And he's doing a great job! His first night in his new bed, he just lay down and went right to sleep! Naptime seems to be a bit trickier… he doesn't love naps, so now its easier for him to fight me on that. But for now, he looooves that bed!
So another step towards growing up has been taken.
How is this going so fast?
IKEA 2011 Catalog Preview
Today I spent the morning in one of my happy places:
IKEA.
Today I got to get a special sneak peek and the new 2011 IKEA catalog and see all the new yumminess Ikea has to offer – many at even lower prices. There are gorgeous new sofas, entertainment centers, bedroom set… oh, the yumminess just goes on!
Ikea is one of the companies I truly love – they have a commitment to their customers, the community and the environment that you just don’t see very often. I was especially impressed with the Sunnan Lamp project: since June 2009, UNICEF receives one Sunnan solar-powered lamp for every Sunnan sold in IKEA stores worldwide, which enables children in homes without electricity to do their homework even after dusk. What an amazing project!
I also love that while IKEA’s stuff is super affordable,it is still high quality. Our first apartment was about 2 miles from an IKEA, so almost all of our furniture is from there. And – more than ten years later – we still have it all! And it is even surviving our three kids. (Well, the white slipcovers… notsomuch, but the rest is fine 😉
My first rule of furniture is that it has to be usable. While that gorgeous sofa in the showroom is absolutely fabulous and drool-worthy, its not practical. I have no desire to have a home where my kids can not play in certain rooms, or where I’m constantly worried about things getting dirty. I want a home that can be lived in and enjoyed and loved…
Yes, I want a couch that’s stylish and comfortable, but I also want one that my kids can take apart and make a fort out of the cushions and we can all snuggle up on with a big bowl of popcorn.
Yes, I want a kitchen table that is beautiful and big enough to sharing meals with friends, but I also need one that can be used for finger painting, coloring, frosting super messy cupcakes (with sprinkles) and can withstand a two-year-old banging his fork on it.
Personally, I was thrilled to see not only the new items but the loads of lower prices! Coincidently, the sofa I want is like $100 cheaper! Yipee! And this Extorp loveseat and chaise lounge would be just perfect for our family room… But what I fell in love with is this:
Mama just found her dream kitchen.
A special thanks to the adorable Jennifer, from IKEA who organized this special review event! It was fabulous!
selling your house sucks. selling your house when you have children REALLY sucks.
I realized I haven't posted much interesting stuff lately.
Having our house on the market is taking up approximately 85% of my energy units. The kids are taking up the remaining 50%, leaving a mere -35% left for blogging and other recreational activities. Except drinking wine, which I am still managing to squeeze in because it requires very little energy. Thank goodness.
Anyway… its going about as well as can be expected in this market. We've had about 7 showings and our open house yesterday was really well attended. We had a little nibble – one couple came back three times (Woo-Hoo!), but still haven't made an offer. (D'oh!) Everyone who has seen it "just loves it!" thinks "its so adorable!" or "just gorgeous!" and says its "priced just right."
Gee, thanks. So MAKE AN OFFER ALREADY! Don't just come to see it and then tell us how much you like it! There is a REASON we're letting you poke your nose into every crevice of our home! This is not fun for us, what with the three small children and all! And on that note, could you stop requesting showings every day at naptime? Would it kill you to come at a time when Colin is normally awake?
(Sorry. Its the stress. It makes me grumpy.)
Everyone is constantly asking, "Are you moving?" "Well, aren't you clever! Why would you think that? Our house is on the market, but we're planning on staying there after we sell it."
(Sorry. Stress also makes me sarcastic.)
Its KILLING us. Because we're only moving if we sell the house, so we don't want to talk about the new house very much just in case we don't end up moving because we didn't sell our house, blah blah blah, you understand. So we're trying not to get too excited about the new house, but we ARE because we LOVE IT, but we're afraid we won't get it….
Nevermind the stress of keeping the house spotless with three children bent on making as much chaos as possible wherever they go. The girls keep begging me to let them play play-doh. To which I reply, "Are you kidding me? Of course not! Go play with the vacuum instead." We're rarely at home these days. My new strategy is to banish them outside – usually to the car – while I do a quick clean before a showing. Its the only way I can keep them from undo-ing everything I just did.
And – are you ready for this? My mother-in-law is arriving from India in three days. To live with us for two months. So now we're going to have an extra person around to try and keep from making messes. The bright side is she is WONDERFUL and loves helping with the kids, so can hopefully distract the children while I clean. But, we were really, REALLY hoping to be done with this nonsense before she arrived. But, doesn't look like we will be.
Pray for us.
our house
So I thought you might like to see pictures of our house, since I've been talking about it so much. And since its on the market and all, its probably looking as clean as it ever has, so might as well show it off now 😉
Here is the outside:
the first floor – living room:
dining room and kitchen:
downstairs is the family room, mudroom and newly de-wallpapered powder room:
upstairs are the kids' bedrooms:
and our bedroom and bath (redecorated when extremely pregnant with Colin)
fourth bedroom (in-laws' room) and kids' bath
Do you see how in the bathroom picture the curtain isn't right? And the soap is on the windowsill for some reason? This really annoys me. I really want to take another one and ask our agent to replace it. Is that being too high-maintenance and anal? You can tell me if it is… I won't be offended…