Finished Kitchen

Well...almost finished. Gabe still has to do a little more painting touch up. But you can't really tell in pictures anyway. So here's the long awaited kitchen reveal.The pictures are a little dark since I took them at 8 o'clock last night. And they're distorted because I wanted to use the fish eye to get the entire room in the shots. But for those who haven't seen it yet, you get the idea.

I can't even tell you how happy we are with this new kitchen. We've got several other big house projects planned for this summer. But, we'll never do something this big again. Being without a working kitchen for 2 months is not something I ever want to do again. I am so proud of all the work Gabe put into it. He did a great job. And I'm thankful to all the friends and family that helped along the way. I'm just glad I now have this wonderful space to bake and cook in.

Thanksgiving Festivities

Here's our Thanksgiving 2010 celebration in pictures! To document the event, I had this idea to set up the tripod and camera to take a picture every 2 minutes. Put the fish eye lens on to get everyone into the shot, and just see what happened. So here are 2, of the many, shots of us enjoying our wonderful thanksgiving feast.After dinner Levi enjoyed burning off all the cranberries he ate by playing with mommy's big exercise ball.And here's what you should do if you want to get out of helping clean up the huge dinner mess.Another successful Thanksgiving dinner. We still haven't found the perfect stuffing recipe yet. So if anyone has one they love, send it our way for next year!

I'm thankful for...

~My beautiful, happy, and healthy son. He's such a silly goof ball and his laughter is contagious. He brings me the kind of joy I never thought was possible. His curiosity and intensity surprise me every day.

~Gabe, my extremely devoted and nerdy husband. He's amazing in all the areas I fall short. I'm so thankful he loves me and brings perspective and balance to my often neurotic thought process.

~Our home. Especially our new kitchen (which I will post pictures of by the end of the weekend).

~My job. In this time where so many are struggling and are unemployed, I do feel fortunate. Yes, it's a challenging and stressful job, but middle school students are also quirky and weird. I fit right in. And I'm so thankful I can go to work every day knowing my son is in the most loving hands possible.

Today, I'm giving thanks for everyone and everything I have in my life! I'll add pictures this evening or tomorrow.

Levi is thankful for...

I know I promised pictures of our cute 15 month old boy and the kitchen this week. I figured I should deliver on at least one of those promises. Even though I have a list of things I need to do that's a mile long, I'll take the next twenty minutes (while the garlic is roasting in the oven) to follow through on my promise.
Levi has some things that are the highlights of his day. So I figured for posterity's sake, I'd document those things Levi is very thankful for every day.

Levi is thankful for the 1/2 hour of TV time he gets everyday! He only watches Baby Signing Time while we're getting a meal (lunch or dinner) ready for him. But when you mention, "Do you want to watch Baby Signing Time?" he gets the biggest grin and starts giggling as he walks toward his big red chair.

Another thing Levi is thankful for is his afternoon snack. Which he eats in his big red chair. He is always so happy and proud sitting in that chair having his apples and milk. I had to take a picture of him just to prove how big he's gotten. He definitely looks like a big kid enjoying his snack.Levi is also thankful for his Grandma G. I can't even tell you how excited this kid gets when she walks through the door each morning! Plus, Grandma came over and helped nurse Levi back to health last week. I don't know what I would have done without her. There was no way I wanted Levi next to me while I was upchucking into the toilet.

And finally, Levi is thankful for his cat. Other than saying Momma and Dadda, the only other word Levi is saying is Dat (Cat). Pretty sure that's because he loves that cat as much as he loves his mom and dad. And I know Jupiter feels the same way about Levi. I've never seen a cat so loving and patient with a kid who just wants to pull his tail and give him big slobbery kisses.

Levi is thankful for many more things...but right now my kitchen timer is going off and the to do list is calling my name. Maybe I can include a few more of Levi's when I write my own list tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Unprepared

This post might be a little too personal for some of you. I know I rarely post much in the way of serious content, but this has been on my mind for the last week. I guess it was because of the abrupt ending to it all.

In so many ways I was unprepared for breast feeding my son. I knew I wanted to because of all the evidence that supports breast feeding's benefits. We took the class through the hospital and I really, seriously thought that's all I needed to know. After all, it's one of the most natural things humans do and experience. Well, no one prepared me for the difficulty Levi would have latching because of his severe tongue tie. And the frustration that caused all three of us. I wanted to quit from the very start. But I was determined! No one prepared me for the cracked, sore nipples or the number of times I would wake up completely soaking my entire side of the bed. No one prepared me for hauling my nemesis (the evil breast pump) to work with me for 6 months. Or the fact that I'd have 15 minutes to eat lunch and go to the bathroom since the other half of my short lunch was spent hooked up to a machine. I always set small goals for us. We can make it to six months at least...We'll just keep going until a year. I always assumed that when Levi's first birthday came that would be the end of it. I'm not one of those people who LOVES the experience of breast feeding their child. But now I realize I do love that snuggle time with my son and I'm having a much harder time admitting that he's ready to move on. It might be so difficult for me because I think this is the first of many ways he's showing me he's really not a baby anymore. So more than anything, I think I've just been mourning the fact that my baby isn't really a baby anymore. Plus, after being sick this week, he just cut me off cold turkey and I just wasn't prepared for it. Like I said...I'm just feeling unprepared. Me, the queen of always being prepared, also has a hard time letting go. Guess I better just get use to it.

There's no doubt you're a parent when...

you're catching your child's vomit in your hand to avoid getting it all over your bed, and you were just hugging the toilet 10 minutes ago yourself.
That's the week we've had around here. Gabe and I recovered pretty quickly, but poor little Levi is just now looking to be on the mend.

Well, I'm off for the entire week (3 furlough days, 2 days for the holiday) so I'm committing to do some serious posting. Gabe's almost finished with the final touches on the kitchen, so I at least need to show off our new kitchen before we put it to work preparing the Thanksgiving feast. Plus, I realize this blog is missing pictures of the cutest little 15 month old kid I know.