June 7, 2009

• Massive Update: We're Settled!

  Warning: This entry is really long! There's a lot to write about: the move, Johnny's birthday, pregnancy update, Jack report. I've broken it up into subsections, so you can pick and choose which one(s) to read.

  Our New House

  I've been waiting to write a blog entry until we were completely settled and unpacked. As of yesterday, everything was in its place and all the decorations were up on the walls ... not bad for nine days! I unpacked like a madwoman, June commissioned a couple of her strapping young lad friends (David and Matt) to help us assemble large items on moving day (such a huge help!), and the weekend before the move, Chris helped Johnny put together our TV stand and take care of some things around the house. My mom came over last weekend (Johnny had to go oversee a commercial shoot in Vancouver for two days starting the day after we moved in) to do our bedroom curtains and help me out with Jack -- having a house full of partially unpacked boxes while trying to chase a toddler and avoid overstraining a huge belly is a lot to juggle. So, we definitely did not do it alone! I also have to give props to Johnny for being so handy -- he hung all of the curtains, put together our awesome backyard grill, did everything involving measuring, drilling and the use of a level, and in general performed a bunch of "maintenance man" tasks. I'm really glad, because for all the things I know how to do, my handy skills extend no further than changing out a light bulb. I suppose I could learn, but I have to have at least one flaw, right? 

  We love our new digs. All our late nights to settle in were definitely worth it. I've been promising before and after pics for a while now, so here they are. They are a bit smaller than usual because I want to fit them side by side, so if you want to see enlarged versions, just click on the picture itself. I hope this goes without saying, but with each pair, the left side is before, and the right side is after.

  Exterior and windows. These aren't as dramatic, but we refreshed the paint and replaced all of the windows with new double-pane windows (without the ugly criss-crossing). The lawn also looks much better!

   

   

  Entry hallway

   

  The house has three bedrooms, and thankfully it also as a den. We put new floors and windows in the den, widened the doorway from the entryway and put in a recessed sliding door to give privacy -- the room will be used as an office, guest room, and also nursery during the year my mom lives with us. After that year, the third bedroom will become Baby Surprise's room. The den is really big, so it works well to break it up into different areas.

  A guest twin bed will go next to the night stand. That's coming courtesy of my mom. In the future the twin will be Baby's big boy bed, and we'll get a full-sized bed for the den for guests.

    

  We didn't take any more old pics of the den, so here are the rest of the "new" den pics.

  The top row, left side is my office corner. Next to that is the closet we put in, as you come in from the entryway, with a play mat in front of it, on which we'll set the glider and ottoman we've ordered. Below that row is the nursery corner. We got Baby Surprise some letters to spell out his name, which we'll string on the wall above his crib, but we can't do that before we've revealed the name! Hee hee.

  

  

  We changed the kitchen/great room layout so dramatically that I'm not sure how best to illustrate the change in pairs. I'll do my best. The old kitchen was basically an island with a stove, dishwasher, cabinets and counters, set in front of an (very old, very small) oven. By the way, when the oven door was open, you couldn't walk into the island part. Then there were no other cabinets or countertops in the kitchen. Instead, there was a huge amount of wasted space in the rest of the kitchen area, leaving an extremely small living area. And there was a painted-on fireplace (literally, the bricks were painted onto the wall) without a mantel. The huge washer and dryer were set in a corner of the kitchen. It was odd. 

   

   

  If you can believe it, our dining area now is where the old oven/island used to be!

  

  

  We didn't have any good pics of the old cheesy fireplace (darn), but here is the after.

  

  The master bedroom had really old closets where the doors were falling off the tracks (actually, all the bedroom closets had that problem), as well as opaque windows. So, the room was really dark. Unfortunately we only have one "before" pic of the master bedroom, but you get the idea.

   

  My mom did our curtains for us -- one layer of sheer white with polka dots on it, and a layer of thin white curtain with a black floral design that matches my favorite thing about our room: the light fixture! The pic doesn't do it justice.

  

  We also have pics of our master bath, but that wasn't changed from before, so I won't bother with those.

  Now, on to Jack's bedroom, which connects to the hallway bathroom. I have to say, I love Jack's big boy room. I got the bedding, repositionable decals, lamp and toy organizing trays at Target (for a total price that was less than what I would have paid for a comforter alone at Pottery Barn Kids), and picked up some other car-related accessories in other places, including the curtain rods with the red truck finials. We also got him a big boy dresser in a cheery blue from Ikea. Bonus: The drawers have a yellow-and-white striped lining! Go Ikea!

   

  

  

  For what it's worth, Jack loves his big boy room. When he saw it all set up, his face lit up, and he kept exclaiming "Cars! Trucks! Cars! Trucks!" For about two nights, he couldn't fall asleep because he was too excited by all the cars on the walls. Now, whenever people come over, Jack runs to show them his room.

  Next are pictures of the hall bath. Previously, it had one very low sink (perfect for toddlers, not not anyone else!), an old bathtub, and a toilet that faced the tub. So strange.

  

  

  And here's the third bedroom before and after. Right now it's empty, awaiting my mom's arrival in a couple of weekends.

  

  So there's the house report! We love being in a house. It feels like there's an infinite amount of space, and cooking in the new kitchen is a pleasure. It's also very refreshing to have a bathroom in our own room. Previously, we also had two bathrooms, but both were in the hallway. This feels more private and secluded. The mortgage is definitely worth tightening our budgets for! Now, on to ...

  Johnny's Birthday 

  My darling husband turned 29 yesterday. I love the three months and 24 days of the year when I can say he's a chronological year older than I am. It makes me feel like a prized young trophy wife. Ha. We had Chris, Victoria, Zach and Sandi over for dinner and a night of gaming on our new 52" TV. (I love saying that, only because it's worlds better than our old TV!) I bought marinated short ribs and side dishes at the Korean market, and made some rice and spinach. We had ourselves quite a spread. Johnny and Chris grilled the meat on our new grill. Instead of a cake, I made mini cheesecake cupcakes -- less overwhelming to eat, and besides, as much as I love baking, I'm not much of a cake chef or decorator. Jack enjoyed eating dinner with everyone and was in great spirits until Johnny dropped a Darth Vader collectible figurine on the floor. It made quite a clatter and frightened Jack into tears.

  Sandi, Zach, Chris, Victoria and Johnny in a very silly picture

  

  I gave Johnny the game Left 4 Dead for the XBox 360. Apparently it's a popular game (thanks for the recommendation, Zach!). Johnny got some great loot from our guests. It was fun to have a gathering in our new place! We kept it small, but wanted to do something (other than Jack's birthday in a couple of weeks) before Baby Surprise arrives.

  Pregnancy Update

  Of course, that's a nice segue into an update about the baby. I hit 35 weeks yesterday. Unbelievable!

  I am really starting to feel the burden of the belly.

  

  Things are going well. An ultrasound last Wednesday confirmed that the baby is head down. Awesome! I was so, so happy to see that round image on the screen when the technician moved the wand over my lower belly. That was something I desperately wanted to see during my last few prenatal appointments with Jack, and part of me was thinking I'd never see that. Now, I hope he stays this way. The technician and the midwife both said that he's too big now to move around much, though. He's already (so they say) five pounds six ounces, and they estimate he'll be an eight-pound baby, which would be several ounces larger than Jack, even though I've put on 10 fewer pounds this time around. Go figure. Better him than me, though. They also did a 4D image, and Baby Surprise is so cute (if I do say so myself). He looks a lot like Jack, especially in the nose. Of course you can't tell until they come out, but if you guys were expecting a more "white-looking" baby with a taller nose, you can probably ditch those expectations now.  The ultrasound also showed that he didn't have much hair yet, but then again, I don't know when Jack got all his hair ... it could very well have been in these last few weeks. I can't wait to meet him (but I do hope he stays in there a few more weeks).

  Physically, I'm feeling pretty good. This second pregnancy has been harder on me lately. My hips hurt when I move positions at night, and when I recline or lie on my back, my lungs feel really squashed, and I can't breathe (so I lay on my side). But, these are minor issues, and I can still walk around fast, bend over, put on my own shoes, carry Jack, etc. I do have to watch how much I do at once -- when I get stressed or too busy, I get a ton of Braxton-Hicks contractions. However, the blood pressure is still great, and I don't have swelling (maybe a bit by the end of the day), so I'm thankful to my body for handling the pregnancy well, for the most part. I don't think I want to spend another 40 weeks pregnant, though -- after this, Johnny and I are pretty sure that the O'Neal Baby Factory is closed.

  It did make me sad to see the next door neighbors send their daughter off to her high school prom last night. I remember when my dates for formals came to pick me up. Johnny and I realized we'll never be on the receiving end of that scenario. We'll just send our sons off with their corsages with pleas to be safe and treat their dates with respect. We won't be the ones standing with cameras to take the adorable pictures. And let's face it, shopping for a tux is just not as fun. On the other hand, it will be fun to see Jack and his little brother all dressed up when they're older, and reminisce about their toddler days.

  Jack Report

  Speaking of toddler days, our little monster has been quite busy lately, what with his verbal explosion, running around the house and yard with Atari, and ever-developing utensil skills. I'll start with the last one. Since moving to the house, we've stored the high chair in the garage and transitioned Jack to eating at the table with us in his booster seat. I took this cue from many fellow mommy friends and decided it was time for family dinners to begin. As much as Johnny and I enjoyed our alone-time dinners after Jack went to bed at night, it was ridiculous to begin cooking at 7:30 p.m. and eat dinner in front of our favorite prime-time shows every night. Since sitting at the table with us, Jack's eaten a lot better and shown a huge interest in utensils. Here was last week's spaghetti night. He surprised me by using his fork to finish a huge plate of pasta and green beans.

  Notice that a huge mess was still made!

   

   

  Jack's still really into fruit. He goes crazy when he sees it. He turns down bananas if there's something more exotic in the house, like mangoes. Here he is chomping on a mango pit. He cried when he'd sucked all the fruit off of it. He is his mother's son.

   

  Now, Jack can have all the oranges he wants, because we have an orange tree in our yard! He loves to help Johnny pick the oranges. Or rather, he watches Johnny pluck the fruit with an orange picker, and then he puts the oranges in a bucket.

   

  The oranges have great flavor, but I think they're better for juice than for eating. Johnny now has several gardening tomes; he'll work on trying to make the fruit sweeter. I've already made two batches of freshly-squeezed OJ. Depending on how you look at it, it's either free OJ ... or the most expensive OJ we've ever had. Usually you go to the store and pay $3.50 for a carton ... instead of mailing a huge check to a bank every month for it. Haha.

  Anyway, back to Jack. He is quite the big boy these days. I'm not sure if it's the fact that he's grown a couple of inches, or that his room really does look like a "big boy" room, sans crib and everything, but he just suddenly seems like a "real" boy, no longer a baby. He's stringing two or three words together -- the other day he said, "Ai Mama," which means "love Mama" in Mandarin. He'll also say "Uv oo," which is "I love you," and ask for "Mo juice peese" and similar things. He has a ton of observations lately, and loves to ask for hugs, especially after bathtime. Just look at this!

  

  Of course, not everything is roses. For all of his increased verbal abilities (and new skill of being able to converse if the topic is very simple, like "Do you want [fill in the blank]?), there are still a lot of things he either can't express or is too impatient to express. As a result, there is a lot of whining, especially when he's tired. When I'm cooking dinner in the late afternoon, I usually have a high-pitched ringing in my ears and arms around my legs. He'll also get into this manic mode where he just runs around a room at top speeds, screeching. We're working on impulse control ... wish us luck. For the most part, Jack's pretty cooperative, especially when I need to work or be on a conference call, but occasionally he becomes extremely difficult to handle. It does break my heart when I need to do something right away for work, and Jack tugs at me and says, "No, mama, down. Mo pway." (He wants me to come "down" from my desk chair and engage in "more play.")  But, soon my mom will be here, and that will be one more person to give Jack the attention he needs. I do try to concentrate my working time for weekends, naps and after bedtime, but sometimes I need to be on a call while he's awake. It's hard!

  Anyway, that's everything! I am feeling much more settled now. The baby's newborn clothes are washed, his pack and play and crib are all set up, and we're just getting some gear in order (cleaning the stroller, putting in the infant car seat, etc.). I packed my hospital bag, too (Tina, I made sure that was done by 35 weeks!).

  If you made it this far, thanks for reading! 

  • 3:51 pm
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