Remodel: Blue Room Part I

I have the worlds best partner, he deals with so many shenanigans

Orange you glad I didn't say banana?

     While the Yellow room is not quite done (I am still trying to find the time to get those dang curtains done), we started painting the now Blue room. This room used to be my younger brother's and his paint choice was Irish flag inspired. Needless to say, that was not quite the idea that I wanted in the room that I would be sleeping in and I figured that we would paint it a little bit more of a fun but kind of neutral color in case my dad resells the house before repainting. We were going to go with a light gray with a slate gray accent wall, but the room is really too small for an accent wall in the way that we were thinking, it also helped that the paint (Glidden Duo, which I totally recommend, no smell, one coat and gorgeous coloring!!!) that we had used covered the obnoxious orange and green with only one coat and no primer!!! It was awesome considering that Hubby had to do most of it while I tended to Baby. The room is 11x11 so we did not want to paint it too dark (which it totally ended up being) and I hate tan or white. I was hoping that the colour was more blue tinted light grey but it ended up being purple tinted medium grey, but we will live with it for now. I am figuring that once I get our blue toned bed set in the room, it will make it seem more blue. On the other hand, it might completely enunciate the purple-ness of the grey.

     We finished the whole room in under three hours, with breaks for Baby and such. I had to go back later on that night to touch up after I pulled all the tape off but we finished much quicker then I had anticipated. Now we just have to move that furniture out so that I can put mine in and it will be just about done. The closet in that room needs handles on the doors and the cedar lining finished but it is a much fancier closet then the one in the Yellow room. 

     So with fingers crossed and the Hubbs home this weekend and the weatherman calling for rain, we should be able to finish up both rooms this weekend. Maybe a nice hike and a movie, too, any suggestions?

Weekend yardsale and family time

    We have had a relatively quiet couple of days, although quiet for me generally consists of Steven not having projectile vomit and him napping long enough for me to get dressed, use the bathroom and have a cup of coffee (those are usually spread over three naps and may get done by the time Hubby gets home from work). Last weekend we had a decent sized family yard sale where we attempted to sell things from four different parts of our family and keep the money in some kind of order. Hubby had off from work on Saturday so he was there to help which was awesome, it ended up being a low key day that we spent outside and made a couple dollars. The goal was to have another sale this weekend to finish off what was left and then donate the rest but the weather looks like rain so that plan may change. 

A friendly little grasshopper came to visit 

     In other news, we are still working on the "remodels" of the bedrooms in my dad's house but James' new store has been pretty draining on him to progress has been in baby steps. Yesterday was supposed to be the big move and paint day but he had to go in for a short meeting that ended with him coming home ten hours later and just making it in time for us to get to the pharmacy. I also got a text from the Hubbs yesterday warning that he may have to work numerous overnights in the next couple weeks so that will make the days a little awkward. I can almost say that Steven and I have a schedule on the days that James works (that completely goes out the window when he is home) so him working overnights might make that a little more weird. Outside of those few things, we here at the Rogers' house are just enjoying the decent weather and Steven's newly found and occasional smile!

Attachment Parenting: Independent or Entitled Children, Or is there a happy medium?

what I wake up to every morning

     James and I have been arguing the difference between healthy attachment parenting and Steven just training us to do what he wants through unhealthy attachment. Arguing is probably a strong word, James tells me to let Steven cry for a bit if we know that nothing is wrong and I give him puppy-dog eyes because I hate hearing the baby cry. But he has a point, does self soothing at his age (6 weeks) really help his independence as a growing child and later as an adult?
     James worries that we are creating an adult that cannot survive on their own, that complains until they get their way, an entitled individual that perpetuates the entitled generations that we have now. Children, and adults that do not understand hard work or earning their keep or living within their means or having to wait on something. I understand that, and I have seen children grow up who are like that, but I have seen children who seemed very spoiled grow into very independent, individualist adults as well.
     My thoughts are based purely on my childhood. We were not a family that hugged or touched or coddled. My parents divorced when I was seven and while some siblings grow closer during a divorce, my brother and I just pulled into ourselves. Not to say we were freakish and not socialized or had complete inability to carry on social interactions, but we had (and still have) plenty of issues. Even now, I have the hardest time hugging my parents, it generally feels awkward, the same with hugging my brothers. My grandparents, James and the kids are about the only ones that it isn't too weird. I am a one arm hugger for everyone else, to me that is showing the proper social interaction with little commitment. Because of that and knowing how hard it is even now for me to connect to people, I argue that it is more important at this stage of his life to know that we will always be there, that he can trust us to never leave him and if he needs us that we will come. I figure that independence is achieved in a healthy way by children slowly reaching out to try new things on their own with the complete awareness that a parent will always be there to come back to, if needed. I want the kids to know that he can always come back. When they are learning how to walk or swim or ride a bike, they can go as far as they want, but as soon as it is too much, we will be there. When they are older and start driving or dating, if the situation is too much, that we will be there to talk to and sit with. When they are adults, I will cook them dinner on their birthday, we will help them look for interview clothes or a first house or explain the different settings on a drill (I am still figuring it out). But I definitely think that that trust in your parents is built at this age.
     I wish that there was a way to figure out exactly what style of parenting has the best chance of creating a functional adult out of your child, but each child is different let alone never knowing how each will react. In the end, I will completely agree with James on this point, our job is purely and simply to create happy adults.

This was sent to me on Facebook and it is a perfect thing to share:
Promise to My Daughter by Lisa-Jo Baker
    This absolute pulled on my heart strings. A friend from college (who just announced that baby #2 is on the way) shared this on Facebook and I almost didn't even read it. I am so glad that I did. Even though this is to her daughter, the thought is universal no matter the gender of your child. I loved this so much, I loved how it is almost exactly what I tell Steven. He is just realizing that he can fall, so when we put him down he reaches out really quickly. Every time he does that, I tell him that I will always catch him, no matter what. That I will always be there for him when he thinks he is falling or when he is unsure of himself.

Tuesday Recap: Lazy Day and Curtain Progress

I stalk this kid so much when he sleeps

     Yesterday was James' kind of day off, he started the new job on Monday and then texted me half way through the day telling me that he would be working an overnight shift Tuesday into Wednesday. When Steven first came home, James had to work a few overnights and I stressed thoroughly about being home alone with him at night. Last night went so well, that it definitely was no different then when James has a day shift.

milk coma face

     We spent most of the day just hanging out, I try not to create too much of a crazy honey-do list for his days off, although it does happen and as soon as he wakes up from his nap, he will be on today's list. It was nice that he and Steven were able to spend some not-crying time together. There are days where I start to worry because James only sees Steven during his nightly temper tantrum about falling asleep. We then ran out to the post office before they closed where there was junk mail and a lovely letter from James' mom thanking us for mailing her pictures of the baby and telling us that she will be coming over towards the end of September (soooo much pressure!!!). We then went to the dollar store too look for more stationary, I am surprisingly running out, stopped at McDonald's so I could get a caramel frappe and then came back home in time to eat dinner and watch a few episodes of How I met Your Mother before James had to start getting ready for work.

where I sew now, thank you dining room!

naptime! Video games are hard work

     Steven had fallen asleep on him and when James got in the shower, I nursed him and he went back to sleep. My younger brother then took him while he was watching tv so I could get some sewing in, but he complained that Steven was too sweaty so I laid the baby down in bed and finished hemming one of the panels. I kept checking on Steven because he usually wakes up to eat and then freak out that he is too tired to fall back asleep, but he was quietly sleeping away. I ran into a stumbling block trying to design the curtains so instead I crawled into bed with him and fell asleep watching Alphas. Steven slept from 7pm until 5am, he woke up nursed, I changed his diaper and we stayed up for two hours, playing and talking. I made my morning coffee (almost four hours earlier then usual) so when he fell back asleep at seven thirty, I had a really hard time and ended up zoning out to BBC's Robin Hood show. Steven woke back up around 930, ate, diaper change and I cleaned up a bit, walked around aimlessly (because I can't do anything too involved or loud and because I can't remember what I am doing all of the time) and then James finally came home around 11am. Steven and I met him outside, still in our pajamas where we stared at our pumpkins for awhile and then we came in to make hamburgers for breakfast and spent some of Steven's awake time playing Capcom vs Marvel on the 360, which was pretty fun. They both then fell asleep, when I stealthily took many pictures of them, posted them here and on Facebook to ensure that as many people as possible saw how cute the two of them are together. Since they fell asleep, I took out a turkey to defrost, caught up on my blogs to read, checked up on Pinterest, found a perfect pattern for a RenFaire chemise and drank more coffee.
     Hopefully, they will wake up soon to take a walk and pack up some things to go into storage before we watch Supernatural tonight and I can get some more sewing in. Tomorrow, Baby and I both have doctor appointments so we will update about that and see how much of an argument I get into with the doctor over not vaccinating the baby.

This is why younger brothers should not be trusted with small babies, I asked him to hold Steve during our yardsale and turned around to see my sleeping infant cuddled up in a old copy paper box. *sigh* I did leave him there until he woke up, I wouldn't have done that a month ago!

Monday Recap: Couplehood and the Perfect Mate

     Yesterday was James' first day at his new store, while he had been in the store over a year ago, a lot of things have changed including the entire management team that he would be part of now. It was a little stressful and while he is trying to figure out where he will fit in, I am attempting, probably unsuccessfully, to keep the stress that I cause him to a minimum. 
     Yesterday, I tried to be loving and caring but we are trying to get over a bump in our relationship. The way we socialize with other people is so very different that it can sometimes lead to confusion and a complete miscommunication. I am a rather introverted person, so when he spends a lot of time talking to other people, I feel abandoned. He is very much an extrovert, an amazing personality, and great charisma, all things that I find so very attractive, unfortunately so do a lot of other people. As far as his work is concerned, it has made his job so much easier, but socially I am the one with the problem generally. I am happy keeping my social group to five or so people and never really branching out, it is something that I am working on. I was making some headway while I went back to school, but since staying home getting ready for baby and now with baby all day, my socializing has shrunk considerably. Since James tries very hard to make me happy, I think he has been subduing his extrovert nature to try and meld more to my introverted ways but it tends to make neither one of us happy. 
     So we did end up having a conversation when he came home because he noticed me acting odd. But we talked and came to a bit of an understanding. We then talked about his work and his new coworkers, moving (yes it is still in the plan book), the kids (I am too strict and he is too lax), cooking and television. We made up and went to relax and watch television for a few hours, while I am not a huge television person and if we never had tv when we have our own house, I will not miss anything, I do understand how watching something that your partner enjoys can be a bonding activity. He watches True Blood with me (omg the season finale on Sunday was crazy) and last night we watched Monday Night Raw together. I like watching the characters and talking about the storyline with him, while I would rather watch Property Brothers reruns (they are so very lumberjack sexy) or back episodes of Doctor Who, once in a while I can handle wrestling if it means connecting with him about something that he enjoys. We went to bed relatively at the same time, which hasn't been happening lately-another point in the earlier conversation- and spent a quiet night, all three of us cuddled up in bed. Although, James supposedly was less comfortable because Steven and I tend to be bed hogs. James woke up today with his entire back side hanging off the bed, me snuggled as close to him as possible and Steven with an entire half of a queen size bed. 
     When we laugh about silly things like that, all still together in bed, I have such deep seeded love for this man who has given me a family to be proud of, encouraged me to grow in every aspect of my life and loves me for the person that I am, even when I don't know who that is. He is so strong so much of the time and I hate when he needs me to be strong and I get too worried about overcooking the pasta, or finishing a load of laundry to let him vent to me from time to time. I am so much of a better person than when he and I met, but I love that he needs me and that makes me want to be an even better person for him, every single day of our lives together. I am grateful down to my core for him. 

Family Adventures: Lake Minnewaska State Preserve, Lake Minnewaska Trail

beautiful picture bridge

pretty, giant boulders everywhere make for great climbing

     On Hubby's day off this week, we talked about either going to the zoo (which is always my first choice for a day out and about) or to go hiking. Since we are trying to reign in some of our excess spending, we decided that hiking would be the better choice. While we have year memberships to the zoo, the money we end up spending on food (while I do pack lunch, we still end up stopping on the way home to eat again) and gas. We live right in the middle of the Catskills, less then an hour from the Appalachian Trail and in a very rural area so hiking options are pretty limitless. Although that is true, we then had to narrow down our options based on me not being able to do much climbing, toting the newborn around and the two older kids hiking skills. We settled on going to Lake Minnewaska State Preserve in New Paltz, NY, based on a friends recommendation. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why I never went hiking here after living in this area for 25 years! It was amazing. The park charges $8 for parking and $5 for a map of the trails. The parking was a little crowded but still easy enough to find a spot and the parking lot is where almost all of the trails begin and end. There are port-a-pottys at the parking lot and dispersed through the trails but they are pretty funky so I would avoid them if possible. We all used the facilities before we started and one of our party still had to use the woods. We definitely packed water and some snacks for a halfway break, granola bars, trail mix (carmel cashew from Target, my fav!) and apples. There are a few large, graveled trails all marked really well and we saw lots of bikers using them but the signs also said that horses can use the paths so be careful where you walk.

candid shot that Hubbs was unhappy about

Gorgeous view from the top of the mountain

really creepy bug on a sign

     There are also tons of just hiking paths, all marked but they do not look more then deer paths through the woods, I would not recommend them for hikers with kids...especially a newborn and a recovering mama. The trail that we did was only two miles which shouldn't take too long but we lollygagged and it ended up taking us over three hours. The park is also dog friendly so you meet plenty of dogs hiking the trails too, they must be leashed and there are no trash cans on the property, you should be prepared with trashbags to take anythign with you that you bring into the park. I came prepared with dog clean up bags and a large shopping bag.

view over the lake

      The views were amazing, luckily it was a clear day so we could see really far into the distance. At our usual hiking place, we see some hawks and mostly vultures which we saw here too. As far as wildlife goes, we mostly saw bugs and birds, nothing too scary although E was trying to find a snake. I am assuming that if you get up there early enough then there are deer and maybe fox or coyote. There are two swimming places, one public and one that is a membership area only. The membership section requires a test, all the information can be found here. The public area is small but would be plenty sufficient for us to go swimming, which we definitely plan on as soon as it warms up a bit. It is a mountain lake, so even in high summer, it is chilly. The lifeguards are only there certain times, so if swimming is your goal then check when they will be there before heading out. At the end of the trail (well the beginning too, since it looks in a giant circle) is a pretty grand picnic area that also overlooks the lake. After spending a few more minutes having light saber battles with our acquired hiking sticks, we headed towards home, made a pit stop for dinner and grocery shopping (where I stupidly left all my coupons at home and my reusable shopping bags!).

Lake Minnewaska State Preserve: New York State Website

Potentially terrified by what he is seeing in the mirror

Finally seeing in the mirror

lunch of fresh nectarines with homemade whipped cream the next day!

Garden Update: Waiting on Cinderella!

     Our peas are finally all gone and the vines are starting to dry up. In between sales at our yard sale in the morning, I'll see if I can get the Hubbs and kids to help me weed the garden and pull out the pea plants to give our new stars a bit more room to grow: the Pumpkins!!! The vines have grown to reach about ten foot from end to end and in a few more days the Jack-Be-Little pumpkin vines will meet the Jack o'Lanterns and we will have twenty feet length of just pumpkins. The carrot plants never came back and while the tomato plants have grown, they haven't flowered at all so I am not sure if they will fruit this year at all. Other than one small moonflower vine that somehow made it through our late frost. The leaves of our plants are so large, three times the size of my hand, although my petite little hand is not a fair judge of size. They are easily fourteen inches across. 

This was a pumpkin at the beginning of the week

This was the same pumpkin today!

 I counted at least a dozen pumpkins started and twice that many flowers still blooming. So I think we will be okay for carving this year. Plenty of roasted pumpkin seeds for everyone and maybe a few to sell farm-stand style. I hope they get huge and beautiful because they are the most exciting thing going on in that garden!

two more peaking through the weeds

I hopefully will have an equally exciting garden update next week and a great update on how our yardsale went. For now here is a picture of Handsome taking a nap in our bed, it is by far is favorite place to sleep, curled up in my arm, preferably right after a cuddly nursing session. Enjoy the weekend!!!