Then and Now

These first several videos were taken April 16, 2007, when Eleanor was 18 months old (a year and a half, for those of you who no longer think of age in terms of months). I was trying to catch some of the words she could say and different things she could do.


In this first one, I caught how she said the sound the kitty cat makes. I love how it sounds more like "how" than "meow." Plus, I loved how she would go on and on with it once you got her going. Of course, this was a time when she constantly wanted to see the other side of the camera, where you could actually see the picture, so you'll see a lot of begging for that. I think I used, "say hi to Mommy," back then to get her to look up at the camera, which is why she keeps saying, "hi," as if it's going to get her a desired result. I also loved how instead of saying, "uh-huh," she said, "huh-huh."


You can hear "baby" and "bear" in this one. I think she was giving that bear loves long before it ever occurred to her to give the baby loves. Nowadays, she calls that baby her "heavy baby" because it has beans in it (and her other main baby is filled with air). Again, she's frustrated because Mommy seems not to be getting the hint about what she wants. I knew what she wanted. She loved to watch the baby through the camera viewer, and we would touch the camera to the baby's face and pretend it was giving the camera a kiss. That's the request she is so desperately trying to communicate.


This one's pretty self-explanatory. When she would beg for something, such as a bite of food or the camera, she would make a panting sound like a dog. That was her way of asking for the camera. Then, when I had her say doggy and she did, she was mad because she was giving me what I wanted and I wasn't giving her what she wanted. I really didn't take these videos to show how I would torment and torture her. I just wanted to document how she talked at the time.


This is an all-time favorite of mine. She could hardly climb up on the couch! I love how she would ask, "Where did it go?" by saying "Goeee?" and holding her hands up. She shows so much personality in her little chubby face. It's not on this video, but about this time, when she would find something, she would say, "dee-see," for "there it is." That eventually turned into, "Dee-see are," when her vocabulary started to expand.


This one was taken April 29, 2008, when Eleanor was 31 months old (2 and a half years). At first, the file was too big to upload, so I had to have Grant fiddle with it and cut out unimportant parts, which is why it's a little choppy in places. That's also why I didn't post this in April when I took the video. I tried to have her say many of the words that are on the older movies so I could compare the change that has taken place in just a year. I added a few things. A brief explanation: Eleanor does this thing where she scrunches up her face on one side, practically winking one eye, whenever she says a new, more complicated word or when she tells you she doesn't like something. The first time she tried telling me "It was an accident," without any prompting from me, she made that face. I thought she might make it again if I had her say those words, but it didn't work. So, I tried for the cottage cheese. Her likes and dislikes of food change more than the weather, but she has stayed pretty strong and steady with her dislike of cottage cheese. I thought I was sure to get her to make the face if I got her talking about cottage cheese, and in the end, I did! That's why there was so much conversation about food, though. Her horsey sound wasn't quite like she usually does it since we had been watching the old movies of her together, and she mimicked her younger self making the sound when I asked her. I still want to take a video of her saying some of the words she still has trouble pronouncing now, such as octopus, elevator, etc. I'll have to remember to do that soon before I run out of words she can't pronounce. She's getting better every day!

Repaint! Repaint! and Thin No More!

What a crazy, busy week/weekend we had last week! I don't even know where to begin!

With the counter tops basically done, Grant moved on to getting ready to tile the back splash. He took Thursday and Friday off (except for a brief meeting on Thurs.) to work on things. Thursday, my Gary came over to help Grant get going on putting the tiles up since Grant didn't have any experience. By that evening, he had all the tiles up except around the desk area, and it looks great!

Friday, I spent the whole day painting the kitchen. We had to paint because Grant had patched over a couple of small holes in the wall from when he did the electrical for the dishwasher, and we didn't have any of the original paint. One project leads to another, and we (I, with help from Grant on the corners) had to paint the whole kitchen. We just painted it an antique white. We're trying to stay as neutral as possible so it will appeal to many. We mostly had small spaces under the cabinets and a few larger areas above the cabinets, so I tried to get away with using a small roller for the whole job. For some reason, the small roller just wasn't leaving the paint on the wall the same way a nine inch roller does. Once things started drying, you could tell the paint layer was really thin, and you could see the old white shining through. So, I broke out the 9-incher and that seemed to do the trick, but it was so annoying to have to go over what I had already painted. It was exhausting! Meanwhile, Grant glued the laminate onto the board for the desk area and installed our very last section of counter top! He also filed down any overhanging edges and corners. The whole time, Eleanor was under-foot for both of us, trying to "help" and join in the work. Grant finally had a great idea and set her up with a painting station so she could "paint" like Mommy. He gave her a brush and a bucket with some water in it, and told her to paint on a cookie sheet over a towel. It worked great for a good part of the time.

The weekend was scorching hot! I was too busy to ever get a chance to check the actual temperature, but I know it was supposed to get up to 95 or so. That may not sound like much, but when you go from weather in the 60s and 70s where you're jumping for joy that the sun has come out and you can take off your jacket, weather in the 90s feels like you've died and haven't gone to Heaven. Our house wasn't able to stay cool at all with us going in and out of the door for supplies and working on things outside.

Saturday was swim lessons and running errands. We got to stop by the Caulders' house for a short visit. I had to borrow Eclipse, the third book in the Twilight series because I was almost done with New Moon. I tried to pace myself on that one, but it still went really quickly. I still helped with the work on the house projects, though. I just read any chance I got-- in the car, eating lunch, staying up way too late at night. . . I finished it yesterday, so it was a good thing we went and got Eclipse. I'm really enjoying the books. They are entertaining. It was fun to be able to agree with Kari about some of the things that can get on your nerves about them, though. I don't know if it would bug other people, or if it's just us English majors. If only I had a nickel for every time someone "whispered" in those books. . .

After that, we ran errands and came back to more work. Grant had a couple of tiles he needed to re-cut, and after that, he was able to get all the tile done around the desk.

Sunday was our 6th wedding anniversary. We decided to have a more official celebration at a later date since it's just been too hectic around here for either of us to even think about planning anything. I have a hard time getting really personal on my blog since I never know to whom I'm baring my soul (or maybe it's because I know to whom I'm baring it-- either way). Just know that there are much stronger feelings about things like this than I might always express. I have a wonderful husband, and I'm grateful to have him in my life. It's amazing to me that it has already been 6 years. I can't wait to see what the next 6 years will bring. And, I hope we'll be able to celebrate this anniversary more "officially" soon.

Today, I repainted under the cabinets in the kitchen since the paint was still pretty thin under there. Grant plans to come home and grout the tiles. I'm pretty sure after that, all that's left in the kitchen is to use a special seam sealer a few places on the counter top (we ordered it and hope it comes soon). Then, we just have to fix up the yard a bit and de-clutter the place (I'm dreading this part) before we put it on the market.

Grant scared me to death on Thursday. Eleanor was napping while Grant was at his meeting in McMinnville, so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some rest myself. I had been asleep for a while when Grant came storming into our room and angrily informed me, "There's someone viewing our house right now!"
I tried to understand through the fog of just having been woken up. "Our house?" I asked him in horror.
"Yes. They're there to look at it right now," was his reply.
I don't know how many questions I fired at him. Probably something like, "Where? They're right outside? Who? Why are they here?" I was so confused. Our house was an absolute mess. Eleanor was sleeping. The kitchen was torn apart. Clean and dirty laundry was strewn about the whole house. There was clutter everywhere. How could someone possibly be there to look at our house right at that very moment?

Apparently, Grant had driven by the house we want (the house he was calling "our" house), and there were two cars parked outside and some people were apparently viewing the house. It sent him into a frenzy, and as a consequence, gave me a rather rude awakening from my pleasant nap. Hopefully we get all our improvements done soon and get this place on the market so we can make our offer!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try to plug in the Internet cable and upload some in these next few days, though I haven't taken any new ones of the house project.

I Feel Sheepish

I'm eating my words now (though I knew I probably would). After having SO many friends and family members tell me I would love Twilight, I was skeptical but starting to believe them. Just as I suspected, I got totally engrossed in the book. And, well, I kind of finished it yesterday. Oops! Didn't savor that one a bit! I could have put it down and taken more time to read it, but I partly wanted to just get it over with so I could end the distraction from all the projects and housework that needs to get done around here. I really enjoyed it. The book just really has a way of creating a strong anticipation for more, and then the pace picks up. There were a few things I thought could be different, but no major complaints. I won't talk about it more than that (unless you've read it and want to e-mail or call me to chat) because I wouldn't want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it. There's nothing I despise MORE than a spoiler!!!

I think it's funny how my sister has been telling me how much more romantic I will feel toward my husband. I've heard that husbands complain while their wives are reading these books because they ignore the house/kids, etc., but it's worth it to them in the end because their wives pay so much attention to them afterward from having all those romantic thoughts in their heads. Yet, when Beth told her husband I had finished the book in less than a week, he said, "Oh. Tell Grant I'm sorry." :)

I'm probably picking up the second book from a friend this evening; so much for getting the distraction over with ~guilty snicker~!

Happy Mother's Day!

My sister e-mailed this to me a while back, and I thought other mothers might find it funny. Happy Mother's Day!

Enjoy!

Stayin' Alive

Here was our (last) weekend:


We went to early swim class on Saturday because David wasn't going to the later class, so we went to the class that Eleanor's friend, Larissa, attends. It was Daddy's turn to swim with Eleanor, and as always, she had lots of fun.

Blowing bubbles in the water. She is so good at participating this year. I just love watching how much she gets into it.


Kicking and splashing Daddy in the face.

Riding on Daddy's back.

Then, we went home to our lovely mess. . .

This is where I set up the drop cloth to paint the drawers and shelf from the bathroom. Then, Grant used it to glue the strips of laminate to go on the edges of the counters. That glue is some really nasty stuff, but we couldn't trust the weather for him to do it outside.

While Grant worked on this, Eleanor and I hung out in the backyard so we wouldn't be breathing toxic fumes. I wish I had taken some pictures of Eleanor out there. We blew bubbles. Eleanor couldn't figure out our dog, Lane's lack of interest in the bubbles. She kept asking me, "He wanna chase them?" After a while, she gave up on Lane and decided she should chase bubbles while I blew them. Our grass was pretty long, probably just over a foot, and she would just flop her body down in the grass as if she were trying to tackle the bubbles. It was hilarious!

I've been having a hard time with having my house torn apart right at the time when all my hormones are telling me to get it in order. I think I cried without provocation every night last weekend. So, while we were in the backyard and I was feeling desperate for something I could control, something I could accomplish, I did something really out of character for me that may not happen again for a long time; I did yard work. Grant had trimmed the rosebushes a while back (translation: long time ago), and the branches were still in piles on the ground. Eleanor kept following the dog by them and snagging her clothes on thorns, so I dragged the yard debris can to the backyard and got the clippers and some gloves to cut down the branches to put them into the can. I just felt good to be doing something. Meanwhile, Eleanor decided to play in her sandbox.

After I filled the yard debris can until it could hold no more, I started lunch for us. This is what my kitchen looked like on Saturday. . .

That's water boiling on our stove, in the middle of the floor, for our lunch.
If you can see the counter on the left under all the junk, that's the new counter top we're putting in over the old. And that's my hard-working husband (if only I could whistle. . . ).

By the time lunch was ready, Eleanor had gotten so, shall we say, involved in playing in the sandbox that she had sand from head to toe, ingrained in her clothes and sprinkling from her hair. The skies had been threatening rain all day, and Grant said he felt a few drops. We decided to chance it and picnic on the back patio since we didn't have time to bathe her before eating. We didn't get rained on. We brushed Eleanor off and gave her a bowl of mac & cheese to eat. She made it through with only a little "pepper" sprinkling from her hair into her food. After that, it was straight to the bath and nap time.

See my sink? Me neither. Grant took it out Friday night. Luckily, it was back in and functional by Monday evening. Woohoo!

Here I am, finishing this post on Sunday evening (bad blogger!), and I can hardly remember what day I started it. I took these pictures on Tuesday. With our mess of a kitchen, we had a picnic in the living room (next to the drop cloth) for lunch. Eleanor kept saying, "We're having a pic-pic!" Gotta love it!

We recently got her a new set of headbands, and she has scattered them around the house (don't know how that could happen with my impeccable housekeeping of late), and she finds them now and then. She put this one on herself, happy in her independence, and every time I looked at her, the song, "Staying Alive," popped into my head. Either that or "Eye of the Tiger."

"You can tell by the way I use my walk. . ."


Wednesday was very busy. Maybe I'll post about it later, but that evening, we drove out to the coast, and guess what I took with me to read?

I have finally succumbed to all the peer pressure. I saw through blogs that many of the people I knew were reading it at one point. Curious, I looked it up on Amazon and read a brief description (which, I have been informed by my sis-in-law, is inaccurate). All it took for me was finding out it was about a vampire in order for me to immediately lose interest. A vampire? A love story about a vampire?! Give me a break! But then everyone kept telling me they read it and loved it, and when I went to Utah, my sister (who hated reading probably until a few years ago) and sister-in-law, Lia ganged up on me to convince me I had to give it a shot. I left with my sister's copy, still skeptical, telling her I had to finish what I was reading before I would start it. I have found more and more people who have read it and loved it wherever I bring up the subject. Beth kept checking up on me, asking if I had started it yet, and I kept telling her I was still trying to finish Mansfield Park. She would tell me I had to hurry so we could call each other and girl-talk about it the same way she and Lia do. Some of her enthusiasm rubbed off on me, and I found myself picking up the pace trying to finish Mansfield Park. Once that was done, my house was in shambles, and as much as people kept telling me I would ignore my house and family until I finished the book, I knew it wasn't the right time to start reading it.

So I figured a trip to the beach would be the perfect time. I'm really getting into it. It's a very large leap from Jane Austen, but it reads easily and quickly. I can't say that I group myself with the many who gush about how much they love the book, but I'm trying to keep an open mind. Every now and then it's difficult because we are talking about a vampire here! I told Grant I wouldn't possibly be attracted to that character because his skin is always cold, and being the always freezing person that I am, it just wouldn't work out. I love my warm husband!