The kitchen is DONE!

Holy shit ya'll!  The kitchen is done!  Well, besides putting the handles onto the cabinets.  But it is close enough!  :)  I ordered the chairs for our table on Tuesday so they aren't here yet and therefore the picture isn't showing the whole kitchen but I'll post one once those are in as well. 

I LOVE it.  Wade did a spectacular job.  I am always impressed with his handywork but even more so now.  He outdid himself.  He even handbuilt a custom sized table for our kitchen. (You can see the end of it in the top picture)  Our kitchen is considered an "alley" kitchen and is so small that it won't fit a normal square table and 4 chairs so he built a long bar like table that takes up the entire available wall with enough space for us 3 to sit and eat at.  I can't wait to be able to all sit down and have dinner in there together!

These are the chairs I bought.  They are from West Elm.  Wade will have to cut the legs about 2 inches shorter to fit under our table but I really like their simplicity.

And just to show you how far we've come, here is a picture of what our kitchen looked like right when we moved in.  I'll even put them side by side so you can fully appreciate the improvement.  Wow, what a mess.  It was HORRIBLE.  We used to have ZERO counter space, an awkward layout, no disposal or dishwasher, old ass appliances and windows, gross old and stained cabinets, boring tan on tan walls... I could go on and on.  By simply moving the sink to the corner we freed up all that countertop to the left and I finally have space to lay out 2 slices of bread and make a sandwich!  Seriously, it was THAT bad before.

I am so thrilled we have this done and can finally enjoy our small kitchen space.  And who knows?  Maybe now I'll even cook from time to time.  (But don't hold your breath!)

Xoxo~
Kellie

All fixed up!

Sick & sleepy Charlie

Well, after 4 1/2 days of a fever Charlie finally kicked the virus.  It ended up being Roseola which is a very common virus.  The bad thing is that they can't determine it is Roseola until the fever breaks and then the child gets a rash.  So until then you are left wondering (and googling which is NEVER good) what is wrong w/ your poor, sick baby!  Thank God she is healthy now!

Sick baby = cuddle bug

Once we determined she was healthy again we got to drive down to Des Moines to see some family and help surprise our friend Keith for his 30th birthday party.  It was a lot of fun, although the hangover definitely wasn't!  :)  I miss that Bormann clan! 

Happy birthday Keith you old fart! 

Mason REALLY enjoyed the cupcake!

Nice stache Mitch! 

And some more great news...  Charlie took her first unassisted steps!  She was walking between my mom, Kara and myself on the floor and she got pretty good at it!  We let her go and she actually stopped, steadied herself and kept going!  I was one proud mama!!!  So finally at 13 1/2 months she is starting to walk.  Although she definitely still scoots around for the most part b/c she is still to scared to do it w/o having someone to walk to but she's getting there!  I'm guessing that in the next 2 weeks she'll get a lot better at it and we'll have to FULLY babyproof!

And finally, our kitchen is 95% complete.  Wade is finishing putting up the backsplash as I type this and then all that needs to be done is to grout it, paint the walls where the paint came off and put up the baseboards.  I LOVE it.  I'm one lucky lady to have such a handyman hubby!  I'll get a picture up of it once it's done! 

xoxo~
Kellie

Time: It is a flyin’!

Since Charlie’s birthday earlier this month she has made huge strides in not only her vocabulary but also her physical feats! She now constantly screams ‘Mama’ at me whether it be she’s happy, sad, pissed off or any other reason. I get the brunt of it, but I’m totally ok with that. She also is starting to try to say other words. She’s saying what I SWEAR is “doggie” but I really can’t be sure so whenever she says it I search for one of her million doggie toys and pick it up and say “Yes! Doggie! Ruff, ruff!” So I’m sure I sound like an idiot.

Also, she’s finally standing on her own! She’s gotten dramatically braver just in the last week and has finally cut the strings attached to our hands/couch/ottoman/toy that she happens to be closest to and LET GO! The first few times she would stand on her own a few seconds, get a HUGE grin on her face and dive bomb into me. But now, she let’s go, grins from ear to ear and continues to stand there all on her own! I’m so proud that I almost cry, start clapping and congratulate her and she gets excited and falls to her bum. But seriously, I KNOW she is close to walking now. She’s getting that bravery thing down pat and she’ll soon be all over the place! My baby is turning into a little girl right before my eyes.

I can honestly say that the past month has been the most fun with her. She is turning into a little person with ideas and desires and she is starting to voice them. And she is so entertaining! I could sit and watch her play all day (and sometimes I do b/c that laundry can wait!).

She’s starting to eat better (some days) and I’m hoping this will help her gain some needed weight. I’ve been spreading butter on a waffle for her for breakfast almost every morning and I’ve tried to get her to drink Pedialite but she’s not interested in it. So what else can I do? She eats what she wants, when she wants. I’m hoping the additional teeth she’s getting now will help b/c she eats SO DAMN SLOW I want to poke my eyes out w/ her fork. Seriously a meal w/ her easily lasts an hour.



Pizza Hut breadsticks & marinara = a HIT!



She now has 5 teeth (I think). It’s hard to get a look in that little mouth of hers! But I think her other top middle one finally broke through just last night. Her silly, crooked grin will soon be evened out!



Notice lopsided, goofy grin.  :)



Last Friday we took Charlie to the fair w/ our neighbor, Beth and her boys, Hunter and Mason. It was Charlie’s first time and although she was in her stroller for most of it I think she had a good time. She loves to people watch and what better place to do that than the state fair??? Hunter and Mason got to go on a handful of kiddie rides and stop in the butterfly exhibit but I think their highlight of the trip was the cotton candy and the chrysalis’ they got to buy and bring home! The first butterfly emerged Sunday and they were ecstatic and promptly named it Cedric Jack. What a name for a butterfly! That butterfly is going places I tell ya!



The boys & their cotton candy (and a Charlie sighting in the background)


In other household news, we’ve finally gotten our cabinets installed and the countertop fella is coming today to do final measurements for the granite we are ordering. Then it will be 2 weeks for delivery and installation. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that our project will be mosty complete as of September 12th (besides the backsplash and paint)! I’ll be sure to post a final picture once it is done but here is how it looks as of now.


I'm LOVING it!


Other than that we’ve just been living the life w/ the great MN summer weather! I am so sad to report that our crabapple tree’s leaves have started the annual change already. I guess it’s that time of year. We’ve got to get out and enjoy the last few weeks of summer b/c once it starts to get cold it gets cold FAST here and the damn winter seems to last forever. I love Autumn, I just HATE what comes after it.


Xoxo~
Kellie

Spoiled lil Charlie

We traveled down to Galesburg last weekend so Charlie could celebrate her birthday with the rest of her family that couldn't make it up here for her party.  We took her out for her 3rd boat ride and she loved it again.  She's a water baby for sure!

Then she got another smash cake to tear into.  This time it was white cake instead of chocolate and she seemed to like it just as much.  Sugar is sugar right?  She definitely needed another bath after that!

I got to go golfing with my mother in law for the first time in 2 years and I did pretty good for not having played for so long.  It was a lot of fun to get out there!

We got back late Monday night and are recuperating from all the activity! Up this weekend is our kitchen remodel! We ordered new cabinets over 2 weeks ago and they finally came in last week so now we have to tear out the old ones to put the new ones in. I can't wait! I will post pics but just so you can see how badly we need it, here is a picture of what the cabinets looked like when we moved in

And here is a pic of what it currently looks like since I painted it a couple years ago.  I swear the only thing holding these cabinets together are the thousands of layers of paint on them.  They are bad!!!  There is also NO counter top space to work with.  The cabinets we currently have are hung too low and stick out too far.  The new ones will be hung at the appropriate height and go all the way up to the ceiling so that we'll be able to use the counter space underneath them.  We also are going to relocate the sink to be at a diagonal in the corner so we'll have a long piece of counter top to be able to cook on.  (Not that I cook a lot.  Ha!)  We also ordered a tall pantry type of cabinet for next to the stove and an over the stove cabinet that we will hand a wall mounted microwave under.  So that will give our small kitchen more room as well.  I'm totally stoked to get this done.  It's way overdue!

Bring it on!!!

2010 Year Review

Since basically the entire year of 2010 I was pregnant we were a bit on the slow side for happenings in our family. That is until August 6th came around and we found ourselves w/ one more family member. Like years past I’ll do a quick little 2010 review.

January
I came out of the baby closet and shared my news with the interwebs that we were expecting little nugget late July.
Kara and Todd got engaged! Yippee!

February
We worked on getting the house ready for a baby. Painting, building and installing. Fun and exciting stuff!

March
Went wedding dress shopping with Kara and she found the perfect dress!
Found out nugget was a GIRL!
April
Finished up our garden in the back.
Celebrated E’s 30th birthday at Stellas.

My grandpa passed away. Miss you Paps. :(

May
Participated in the Des Moines MS Walk.

Family came up to celebrate Wade and his MBA graduation.

We remodeled our shower.
I got pregnant fat face and turned 31! Ahhh!!!
We went to our first Twins game at Target Field.
June
Drove to Indy to celebrate Shannon and Derik’s wedding where I raised the roof.July
Wade broke his wrist racing his motorcycles and had to have surgery to repair it. Todd broke his dancing at a wedding reception (numerous drinks were involved so we'll let it slide... I guess.)

We finally finished the nursery just in time!
Remodeled the rest of our bathroom (halleluiah!)
My due date came and went and no baby!

August
Nugget (aka Charlie) is here after 16+ hours of labor that would not progress and ended in a c-section!!!

The rest of August is a blur. :)

September
Road trips to Des Moines and Galesburg so that Charlie could meet more family and friends.

October
Charlie attended her first ISU game!

Kara had 2 bridal showers that Charlie and I went to.
My maternity leave ended and I went back to work part time.
Charlie’s first Halloween and she dressed as a cute bee.
November
Charlie started daycare.
Kara had her bachelorette party and I had a 2 day hangover.

Wade and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary.

December
We said goodbye to our wonderful neighbors, the Bormann’s, who moved back to Iowa (we miss you guys!)
Charlie learned how to roll over front to back like a champ and is SUPER close to going back to front.
We got 17.1 inches of snow in one day which was the 5th largest on record! We were stranded in!
We celebrated our 1st Christmas as a family of 3 (+ Kobe). (Now if only I had a picture of all of us together...)

All in all not a super eventful year unless you count the birth! But you can’t do much when you’re pregnant! And through the ups and downs of the year we realize we are very blessed. What a life we have!

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2011 to you all!

Cheers!

I'm going to let the pictures do the talking

Kobe looks wasted. Funniest picture of him, I love it!

The bathroom is DONE!

My most recent belly shot taken on Friday @ 39 weeks 1 day. Six days until my due date. I've been having some wicked cramping too so hopefully this is a sign that I'll pop Nugget out soon b/c I have never been so uncomfortable. It's awful.

Nugget's room is complete. The bookcase was the last item we were waiting for and now that it's hung up the room looks great! I love how it all turned out.

My two boys. Seriously the cutest picture ever.

I did a lot of walking/shopping this weekend hoping to bring labor on. Unfortunately all it did was make me crampy. But Nugget has dropped lower so that is something. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have her by her due date but I don't see that happening. I think she's going to take after her mama and be late. Damn.