Still No 'Before' & 'After' Pics....

Sorry folks, I still can't bring myself to take the 'after' pics of the basement yet, despite the fact that the carpeting was installed today. Unfortunately, two sets of closet doors and the crawl space door need to be cut down and rehung after the carpet installation and I just can't bring myself to take 'after' pictures with doors off their hinges...

But on the bright side, Mike had a productive trip to Staples which involved getting 2 desks, 2 office chairs, 2 rubber floor mat thingies for the chairs, and a new printer. But, sadly, the desks were not available in the store and had to be ordered online, hence their arrival is set for a vague 'next week sometime'. Sigh....

Tomorrow the cable guy and the heating/air conditioning guy are coming, and Charlie's playroom will be set up by hook or by crook by Monday afternoon because I have a playdate scheduled for him for Monday afternoon and for Tuesday afternoon... So I promise some 'after' pics will be coming soon!!

Amelia's Room Decor

In preperation for Amelia having her own room I purchased this crib bedding as well as the rug, wall border, diaper stacker and fleece blanket to match. I also purchased these wall letters to spell her name. So excited to decorate my sweet baby girl nursery!

Yet Another House Update

I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel -- the basement really truly should be done by wednesday, which is when the carpet is being installed. I must say I am rather proud of myself for managing to wrangle over $1,000 off the initial quote I was given for the carpet. (This did mean agreeing to an "Empire Today" sign on my lawn, but hey...) Next week the contractors will be finishing up a few minor things in the basement: touching up some paint, putting a cuouple more doorknobs on, snd doing the vents for the heat. They'll also be working on the upstairs, patching the holes in the diningroom ceiling among other things. I have high hopes that the house will be better than new by the end of the week and that I will have some "before" and "after" pictures by then too!

A "Medium" Boy

CHARLIE: "Mommy, can I have a sip of your coffee?"
ME: "No honey, it's a grown up drink."
CHARLIE: "But Mommy you're not sharing!!"
ME: "I'm sorry honey, but it's not for little boys."
CHARLIE: "But I'm not a little boy Mommy -- I'm a medium boy!"

Future Clarkies?

We visited Dave at Clark University today; I was happy to discover that not too much had changed in the twelve (!) years since I had graduated. Charlie had a great time playing with Cousin Dave, although he was a little bit dismayed over the messy state of Dave's dorm room. Here are some pictures we took with the statue of Sigmund Freud, at the time capsule, and playing on the lawn. Thanks for having us, Cousin Dave!

Amelia's Film Debut

A Perfect Evening According to Charlie?

Apparently it does not involve much quality time together:
"Mommy -- I will watch a Scooby Doo movie with a giant on the big tv in your room and Daddy can play his games upstairs. You can watch the girl tv downstairs."

Where Are You, Scooby Do?

Yesterday was a yucky rainy day so I asked Charlie, "What do you want to do today?" This was obviously a mistake.
"I want to get Scooby Doo for a pet," he replied.
"You mean a stuffed Scooby Doo?" I tried.
"No, I want to go to the pet store and get a pet Scooby Doo."
"Honey," I tried, "Scooby Doo is pretend. There's no such thing as a real Scooby Doo."
"But Mommy, please can I get a Scooby Doo?" Charlie insisted, "He would be my best friend!"
I tried again: "Honey, if there was such a thing as a talking dog who ate sandwhiches I would get him for you in a heartbeat, but there isn't!"
"Can we go to the pet store?"
Well, it *was* raining out, and I'm never opposed to a trip to the mall.
"We can go to the pet store but there's not going to be a Scooby Doo there," I told him.
Charlie was still not dissuaded. "Can I ask the pet store lady if there is a Scooby Doo dog and if she says yes can I bring him home?"
I sighed. "Sure, but there's not going to be one."
At the pet store Charlie looked forlornely at the beagles and chihuahas. "Where's Scooby?"

Amelia's 2 Month Stats & Another House Update

Amelia had her two month check up this morning; she is officially growing like a weed, measuring in at 23 3/4 inches long and 13 lbs 5 oz which are both in the 90th - 95th percentile. She also had to get a bunch of shots which she did not enjoy at all and which caused her to spike a temp this afternoon and to be extremely ratty. But after some tylenol I did get some smiles out of her before bed.

The basement is coming along; they have officially been working for one week and have done all the framing, insulation and the subfloor, and will begin hanging the sheet rock for the walls tomorrow. They also gave us an estimate to do the repair work from the flood, which will include putting recessed lighting in the livingroom and diningroom so we finally have some light downstairs, after 6 years of having entirely inadequate lighting on the first floor. So you could say something good came out of the whole flooded toilet thing... Maybe...

I'm A Big Blue Monster

(aka Daddy plans to embarrass you with with this picture in about ten years.)

Save the Date!

Charlie's 4th birthday party will be Sunday May 2nd from 1:30p to 3:30p at the Weymouth Club. Details to be announced soon!

Almost Spring

Today was the first day that you could almost call Spring -- it was sunny and 57, which really is almost shorts weather for the folks up here after a long winter ;) So we took Charlie to the park to play some baseball and then to the splash park. Here are some pictures:

House Update

So the house is getting back to normal -- the big machines and fans are all gone and now we are just left with holes in the ceiling, ripped up carpets and ripped up baseboard and door casements... But the good news is that the contractor started working on the basement today and he will happily fix the rest of the house for us too, whew :) Just have to wait for the adjuster to get back to us next week before he can start on any of it. In the meantime we are just happy to not have to climb over a blowing fan every time we want to go to the bathroom, not to mention the house was getting awfully *cold* with all those fans going 24/7... Anyway, here's to a much better weekend than last weekend!!

Damage Control

Our house is currently a disaster area, with contractors working to repair the damage from sunday morning's flood. Charlie took one look at the scenes below and said, "Mommy, when can I go back to school?"

The only upside is that, perhaps lulled by the white noise of the fans running, Amelia slept right through the night!

Finally Home!

We are home from the hospital today and like the good Mommy that I am I took some pictures on my cell phone of Amelia's weekend...
Not so happy right after her spinal tap:

Happier, dosed up on tylenol:

And here are both kiddos passed out in Amelia's hospital room: