Jumping ahead of the game

I have an issue. Before I finish one project I'm off thinking about the next. So I'm not moving forward on the office at all and yet I'm thinking about Halloween.

I asked Liv the other day what she wanted to be for Halloween. In all honesty, I didn't think she knew what Halloween was or understood the concept of picking a costume. She told me very clearly Go Go Go Gabba Gabba Gabba. Normally I try to convince them away from the overly commercial characters but I'm almost inclined to cater to her this time. Of course even Oct 31st here can be hot so I try to find a costume that she won't melt in during the day but I can add layers to for the evening. A Foofa tutu costume is cute and comfortable if not exactly Foofaish but the image on her chest could help in identifying her.


Or I could sew her a little fabric sandwich board like last years ladybug costume and add an flower in her hair or a hat.


I'm not sure anyone will actually know who she is suppose to be. Maybe some shoes will help?



I of course have a couple of ideas of my own. Olivia the pig would be cute and super simple if I just modified a red dress and buy some striped tights. This might be better if I could get her to wear pig ears and a nose. Not sure that will happen but by the time I can be confident she'll wear accessories on she may no longer let me decide what to dress her as.



This PBK owl cape is adorable but probably too hot.


I could make a modified thinner version and she might actually get some use out of it this fall.


Add in a cute embellished t-shirt?



Tinkerbell would be sweet with her little blond bob. Not a great evening tricker treating costume.



And I'm fairly sure I can convince Kian to be Spiderman. Maybe he needs a Wonder Woman side kick.





Favorites?

Office in Progress

I still need to find a before shot of my home office but suffice it to say it was bad... very, very bad. We spent the last 6 years with our office as a small, dreary room with no closet or shelving and a table with no drawers as a desk. Once kids came I stuck a lock on the door to baby proof and continued to toss everything that I didn't want a child to touch in the room (sometimes without actually entering the room - just a toss). Then I shut the door.

So this room has been on the to do list for a while. Someday I'd love built-ins like this...



With glass doors like this...



But for now, I'm going with something that requires a little less of an investment. I started with a $50 Craigslist dresser *with drawers* that I updated with new paint and hardware (more before and after pictures to come). I hate to say it but I spent more on the rental of a truck to transport it and materials to refinish it then I did on the piece. And time, a lot of time - but at least now I can say I have officially refinished a piece of furniture. Cross it off the list and know better next time. Refinishing furniture is not worth my time.


Then a lot of organizing and a bright coat of paint. Its Benjamin Moore Pale Avocado but I think it might be not quite ripe avocado. I'm getting use to it and hoping that once the rest of the pieces are put in it will be the perfect pick me up color.


A tailored slipcover like this one is in the works for the table. It was built by my grandfather so something I want to keep but not exactly my style so this seems like a good solution. Also to come are 4 large photographs of the kids with big thick mats. My original plan was to hang these above the table since the table is too deep to make the wall space above it use able with shelves or a whiteboard or anything. I just can't decide if it would be better to center them on the wall or center them over the table or come up with some other purpose for the wall.


The wall above the painted desk could be left as is or add something like these picture ledges or deeper shelves. I could use some magazine storage. Any thoughts on what to do with the tiny off centered windows?




Does the window treatment need to be coordinated with the french doors?


And the final wall... I feel like I should have a nice upholstered chair or bench here but that conflicts with the decorate without spending money plan. Other options are to paint a big chalkboard wall, add a pottery barn organization center, these chalkboard calendar decals which may or may not stick to my walls, or make my own with two fabric covered large frames - one as a pin board and one with glass as a white board.











I think the ceiling fan will stay or maybe get spray painted in oil rubbed bronze. Part of me wants a big drum shade, part of me remembers I live in Houston and those french doors and not well insulated.




The more that's done, the more there still seems to be that needs to be done.

One of my favorite moments

Zac and I trade off who gets the kids to bed each night. I tell Kian that daddy and I have to take turns so that we each get a chance to read them stories but in truth we both savor our nights off. Most evenings one of us will look at the other one and asks - "Is it your night?" Hoping, wishing it isn't our night. I love my off nights with no battles to brush teeth, no whining over one more book, an extra 20 minutes to straighten up the house or just sit in bed and waste time in silence.

Just as I sit and relish the silence of my night off I hear footsteps padding down the hallway. That positively adorable sound of chunky little legs awkwardly running in diapers. I hope I always remember the preciousness of that sound. Liv pops in with her cute little expectant smile. "Do I get my hug?" "Yeeesss!" "And a kiss?" "Yeeess!" A sweet little hug and kiss and off she goes running again with that perfect little sound all over again.

I'll always savor my nights off.

Goodbye Clutter

For some reason I have a hard time actually getting off the computer and being productive in the evening (or when Kian wakes me up at 1:30 and I can not go back to sleep). So the room by room purge of the house is still incomplete but at least I have officially purged my favorites list on one computer. It was a laundry list of so many blogs and inspiration pictures that I probably would never find what I was looking for again. Goodbye digital clutter - hello Blog Role and Pinterest... You are already addictive my new friends.

Wearing your heart on you sleeve

Ah Livie... my sweet, happy, easy girl. You certainly know how do do things with impact. Nothing small scale for you. If its worth doing, do it big.

Daddy got the call from daycare Monday that you had eaten a mushroom in the playground and EMS had been called. I was out the door and heading to the parking garage within seconds. Funny, with two working parents, whenever child issues come up, you normally compare schedules and decide who can drop everything to respond. In crisis mode the same mentality hits and both of us responded - my afternoon is okay, I'll cover this one. There was no way in hell either of us were not getting in the car as soon as the call came in regardless of whose schedule was clear or whose turn it was. I got halfway to the garage before I realized - maybe I should figure out where you were going to be. Daddy didn't know either so another round of calls with daycare and off I went to Kingwood Medical Center. All we knew at that point was that your airways were not blocked.

Somehow I decide 80 seemed a "safe" driving speed. Logically I figured getting pulled over may actually speed up time because then I could get a police escort. I blessed the two trucks that had been pulled over before I got there and were otherwise occupying the cops as I sped past. Of course no parking - how can their be no parking. So I literally ran from my remote parking spot to the emergency room. The desk sent me to registration. Registration told me that I could sit out in the waiting room and they would call me in a few minutes - um... no... I think I stayed remarkably calm as I explained that I didn't know if you were okay, I didn't know where you were, I didn't know anything - and luckily she made the quick assumption that I was not going to go sit and wait for an answer. She checked the computer, she called back to the ER - is there a young lady in there. I explained - only 18 months, not a young lady, my baby. No record of you in the emergency room, no record of you in transit. I called back Daddy - Kingwood, right? Yes. I called daycare - Kingwood Hospital. I confirmed with registration - there is no separate Kingwood Hospital its just Kingwood Medical Center, right? Yes. That's where I am? Yes. I got the cell phone for Miss Susanna who went in the ambulance with you and left a message. And then back to speaking to the woman from registration - Can you check again? No, we don't have an 18 month old. Is it possible that she is here but not in the computer yet? No. What do you recommend that I do - should I walk in the ambulance bay and start looking for her? I swear I was calm and polite but clearly I was not going to sit and wait. She called back again and I was directed back through the double doors. Apparently a scared mom can get from downtown to the hospital faster then the ambulance from the next town over.

The nurses station was talking about the mushroom girl and looking in the direction of a room. I rushed past in that direction. And there you lay on the hospital bed. So lethargic, head slumped over. Your eyes and nose red and swollen. Your body covered in a red spotty rash. Your eyes so tired and worn down. Wires and monitors everywhere. So much bigger then your last time in the emergency room but still so small. It doesn't fit someone so small should not be in a big, stark hospital bed. When you saw me you just reached out your hand and grabbed mine. I tried to move around the hospital bed so I could come sit next to you but you did not want to let go.

I think there were 6 or 7 people in your cramped little room. The questions started. Do you know her social security number - no. Any medications - nothing right now, Zyrtec last week, an inhaler - Advair, a nebulizer - um whats the name - I can't remember. Weight - we went to the doctor's Thursday. I don't remember. You were in the 40th percentile on weight and in the 80th percentile for height. That sparked a flurry of activity. Not 40 pounds, no. Maybe metric, no. Finally someone shouted about the rest - no, percentile, she doesn't remember the weight. Had you ever been sick before, like serious sickness - yes, meningitis, when you were 7 days old (Like I said - might as well do it big). Even the nurse agreed - wow, meningitis, at 7 days old, that counts as serious.

The doctor came in and explained that he had spoken to the poison center and mushrooms in Texas rarely have serious problems. Some cause liver damage but its unlikely that that is what you ate. We had the stem that Miss Karen or Miss Trena thoughtfully saved after grabbing it from your mouth but no cap so not enough for identification. We could watch for vomiting but it seemed like the mushroom was unlikely to cause serious damages. And then Daddy got there and you reached out for him with both hands - already the Benedryl was seeming to take effect and you were looking and feeling better. So the doctor recapped and then continued.

The thing is its highly unlikely that mushrooms in Texas would cause a rash. I explained our family history - allergies are prevalent, everything causes a rash. And he continued, it was more likely that we should look for an alternative cause. And here it is - in amidst the spotty rash are a couple of fire ant bits on your hand. So when eating a mushroom wasn't big enough, you simultaneously got fire ant bites and identified yourself as highly allergic to bug bites. I had noticed your wrists were particualirly red and the rash seemed to be lasting more then the other spots that were slowly subsidding and thought - weird with her wrists.

I would have preferred the mushroom. Mushrooms you can avoid. How the hell are we going to keep you from avoiding fire ants. You are lucky you have Daddy to balance me out. If it were only me we may never go outside again. You may never go to school again. We might even just pack up and get the hell out of the South. I hate fire ants and am very conscious of them and I still get a couple of bites every year.

The doctor explained - the first time you get exposed to an allergen its likely that you will have no reaction, check. The second exposure may cause a reaction, check. The third exposure will l be worse. I understand. The nurse reiterated it after he left. Its likely that next time you get bitten by a fire ant it is likely you will stop breathing. The issue is the EpiPen Jr is designed for children who are 33 pounds. You are 23. Following the 50th percentile charts for girls. You won't be 33 for another two years. The EpiPen will give you approximately 1/3 more medicine then you should get for your size and as of right now we don't have any good alternatives. And from the patient insert overdose on epinephrine is not an insignificant matter. Nothing like wearing your heart on your sleeve. An unprotected, risky, fire ant laden sleeve.

When talking to your teachers later they said they saw you put the mushroom in your mouth and ran across the playground and grabbed it out. You bit down but probably didn't swallow anything. They saw the fireant bites on your arm and pulled off your clothes and diaper to make sure there weren't any other ants on you (the ant part somehow got left out of translation). At that point they saw the rash all over you and called the front desk to have the director come back and look. Before she got finished processing a payment and around the corner, your eyes were swollen shut and Miss Trena picked you up and was running for help. She said your body was limp and they were in tears. Miss Susanna came around the corner and you grabbed on to her and would not let anyone else calm you. She said you were struggling for breath. I'm not sure if anaphalaxix was setting in or if you were just hyperventalating. I'm not sure I want to know.

I once told Grandpa Rod that living in Texas was fine but the three things I hated were fire ants, George Bush Jr, and mosquitoes, in that order. I'd like to revise that statement. I hate fire ants, fire ants, and fire ants.